Thanks to Daryl over at HE&OS for pointing to this moving article in my Wilmington DE News-Journal. “The Return Home” article is a very moving article. Very moving.

Living relatively close to Dover, we have military personnel or retired personnel in our little development. Last night on a walk around our neighborhood the family with the retired Air Force Officer had at least 2 dozen flags along their sidewalk and posted from their home. Whether or not you agree with the war in Iraq or with Bush’s policy, please go display our nation’s flag .

Display the flag. Remember the men and women who fought and died for us in the Civil War, WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf,……

When I was in high school, back in the 70’s there were three science teachers that formed the Worthington Field Studies (WFSI). WFSI, back in the 70’s took high school students on fascinating field trips throughout the school year. I am quite pleased that this group is still in operation today, and still taking high school students on fascinating trips.

During my freshman year I joined them on fossil expeditions in Ohio, and the following summer I ventured on their Rockies Mountain Field Trip. This trip lasted 30 days and we traveled to the Rocky Mountain National Park in CO, over to Dinosaur National Park in UT, up to the Tetons and Yellowstone Parks in Wyoming and to many other spots across the nation. It was a trip that affected this city girl who had never camped, hiked or been to a museum greatly. Two summers later I joined WFSI on their Southwest Rocky Mountain trip. Each summer field trip earned me one science credit in Ecology.
Over the years I have dreamed about a time when I could revisit these sites with my own children, and that time has come.

This coming week my boys and I will head west, travel to many of the parks I visited way back when, and return home in early July. We will camp, and hike, and visit museums across the northern Rockies states. Some things will be different for them on this trip as compared to my trip, but we will focus on learning about the environment, the area’s geology, the people, and other science concepts unattainable inside a science classroom. As I did, my boys will keep daily journals of their experience. It was fun to read my journal to them this week and we so laughed about my writing style and my thoughts. Perhaps I will be able to check in to this blog over the next month, but if I don’t look for a lengthy update in early July.

Today we (the boys and I) started formal planning of our western trip. We plan to leave in less then 2 weeks for approximately 36 days. Quite a lot to do in little time.MilitaryKid was instructed today to either read a book or work on his math sheets. He is slow at recalling math facts and he needs to speed things up. Of course he would rather fold paper into an airplanes and fly them around the room. Today I gave him the choice of either spending his time reading books or working on math facts. When he chose neither and was caught folding paper I informed to go upstairs and clean his Dad’s bathroom sink.Later while I was working through all those piles of paper that accumulate while your mind is elsewhere I asked MilitaryKid what he was doing. “Drawing a landing field.” was his response.

“Aren’t you supposed to be reading a book or working on your math facts? If you are not doing either task there will be my bathroom sink to clean, and the whirlpool tub, the shower and the toilet in my bathroom to clean.”I finished going through the papers, when a very excited boy showed me the landing strip he had drawn and colored. I praised his effort, admired his work, and then informed him to go clean my sink.

He’s cleaning the sink, and I’m hoping that he will learn, someday soon, that there are choices in life and consequences for not choosing wisely.

ScienceKid took the GOLD MEDAL in Storm the Castle on May 20th at the National Science Olympiad Competition held at Indiana University!!!

We are so thrilled. A totally thrilling day!!!

Saturday began for us early in the morning impounding the Trebuchet first thing at 6:30 am. We then moved quickly to the other end of campus to impound the Wheeled Vehicle, and get ScienceKid to his first event, Meteorology that began at 7am.

WHEW!!! That was a very hectic and active hour.

At 8am ScienceKid met his partner M for their wheeled vehicle event; a rubber band powered vehicle that had to travel between 5 and 10 meters, and the exact distance was not announced until competition day. On Saturday the distance was 8.25 meters. Their vehicle traveled exactly in their estimated time, and traveled just shy of the 8.25 meters, but was off-center by 2 cm. That is less then 1 inch from the center-line after traveling 27.06 feet! Later that evening they would learn that they placed 19th. What stiff competition!!!

Just before noon ScienceKid met M, and K for Mission Possible. In this Rube Goldberg event a tennis ball is dropped onto a first class level that triggers a series of simple machines finally resulting in toilet paper dispensing between 25 to 35 cm. The exact running time is given to the competitors just prior to their start and they are given a chance to adjust one operation to meet the time restriction. The boys were ecstatic when their box operated perfectly and it finished within 2 seconds of the required run time. To illustrate how demanding the National level is, their score in this event was up in the 900’s, and only 4 points away from perfect. At the awards ceremony they would receive FIFTH PLACE in Mission Possible! That is a wonderful finish, and ahead of 55 other teams.
Finally we walked into Mellancamp Pavilion for the Storm the Castle event. ScienceKid met KC and they moved the trebuchet from the impound area to the firing range. The judge came over and began looking through their graph package — the competitors were required to provide 5 graphs and an explanation of how to use the graphs to set up their machine. I heard him exclaim; ‘nice write-up, LOOK at these graphs, and all this raw data. This is the BEST package I have seen today!‘ He then moved the trebuchet’s arm through the firing motion to make sure that it did not break the energy rule—at no point could the arm move in the direction of firing since that would indicate that there was potential energy stored in the arm. The judge remarked that the arm was very well balanced and asked ScienceKid where he wanted the target set.

“27 meters please”

ScienceKid aimed the trebuchet, KC and ScienceKid loaded the machine, shouted “1, 2, 3, FIRE” and we watched the projectile fire through the air and land in the box!!! It couldn’t have been a more perfect shot. We knew then that ScienceKid had a good shot at a medal, or a top 6 finish. It would be 6 hours later when we would learn that it was a GOLD MEDAL SHOT!!!!

ScienceKid did not walk away with just these medals, but with a wealth of new skills; he first learned to draw out his building plans with scaled blueprint drawings; he learned his way around his Dad’s woodworking shop and can now operate the sander, drill press, lathe, various saws, router, and other tools; and he learned to do metal-working and even welding. Aside from these physical skills he gained while building the trebuchet, wheeled vehicle and Mission Possible, there were the many mental skills he practiced as he problem-solved design issues, attempted to build some creative idea, or improve the machine’s performance. He also experienced the frustrations and joys of working with his partners, as they worked to translate event rules into an operational machine that would perform the prescribed task. ScienceKid had 3 build events but also one study event this year. For the study event he not only learned about a specific science area (Ecology for State’s and Meteorology for Nationals) but he demonstrated his ability to obtain the necessary resources to educate oneself about a topic.
As we traveled back from Indiana today I heard ScienceKid ask MilitaryKid (10y) whether he learned anything at NSO? ScienceKid then conversed with MilitaryKid that he should have seen how hard work, persistence and dedication to your task pays off, and how there is always room for improvement. That working really hard, even when you’d rather be doing something else, is so worth it. I smiled very big — he has really enjoyed SO and learned so much from this experience.

I would encourage everyone to visit the Science Olympiad website, read about SO, and consider joining or starting a SO team in your area.

As a side-note, 4 other homeschool teams participated this year at the National Competition. It was thrilling to chat with these other hs’ers and hear about how their team arrived at Nationals too.

Today we spent walking across the Indiana University campus. IU is a beautiful campus with stone buildings, immense trees, and all set on rolling hills. On Thursday and Friday before the competition, the various departments roll out the red carpet for the 5000 students and ‘teachers’ with lectures, demonstrations, and tours of their facilities. It is a unique experience for both camps. Like last year’s visit to U of IL ScienceKid finally found other people who passionately discussed science-intense topics with him such as salt-solubility and its affect on freezing points. He loves discussing these topics in-depth and often cannot understand why others do not share his passion. At least at the National Science Olympiad he meets others who do share his science passion.

We also checked-out each of his competition sites. Storm the Castle will be held in a huge pavilion with 72′ high ceilings. Wheeled Vehicle is taking place on a basketball court, in a room with 5 basketball courts, in a building that has dozen and dozen of basketball courts. Did you know that IU is a basketball power-house? We did, but I was still surprised by all the basketball courts. Mission Possible (Rube Goldberg device) is being held in the same building as Wheeled Vehicle and of course in a room with a basketball court. Finally Meteorology is in a classroom, in the Chemistry building which we will check out on Friday.

After the tours all the NSO students were invited to a Pizza Party on one of the many open grassy areas on the IU campus. The party was hindered at the start by a typical mid-west thunderstorm, but when the sun emerged the pizza eating kids turned to the enjoy the various inflatable fun toys the IU folks provided. Kids did Bungi Runs, or enjoyed the Moon Bounce or wrestling toys. Of course there were Freesbies, and ball games, and all sorts of fun going on across the field.

The fun didn’t end there. In the evening we enjoyed 2 more lectures; one on Andredoids, and the other on Planetary Protection by NASA. Finally we headed back to the hotel where the kids played in the pool while I relaxed in a chair.

One day to go! We’ll spend it visiting the Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Astronomy Departments, and end the day participating in Opening Ceremonies.

We left home this morning at 4:30am, and just a little over 12 hrs later arrived at our hotel in IN. The boys and I had just enough room in our car for all the ’stuff”. Our trip was uneventful, except for when an 18-wheeler traveling next to us blew out a tire. Thankfully only small tire shreds came flying at us, and no one lost control. Tomorrow we will tour the University, visit the various departments and catch a few lectures, such as one on Android’s and another on BUGS!

No sleep for the weary here. This has been an ultra-busy week and month for us as ScienceKid finishes his preparation for National’s (National Science Olympiad) on this coming Saturday. Preparing meant that we Mom’s had to cart the kids to some meeting spot; sometimes at our home, sometimes at the partner’s home, sometimes at a local public school or church to use their floor or gym space. It also meant that we mom’s spent time gathering resources; college textbooks or finding subject tests on-line, or gathering wood and miscellanous other supplies so the kids could build their ‘build’ event. It has meant tons of running around Northern DE, and lots of stops at the gas station too, but it is well worth it. ScienceKid has learned about unit testing, system testing; the Laws of Physics and Murphy’s Law; he has dealt with sleep deprivation, and learned a bit about time management along the way.

Wish him luck please. He has put in tons of effort, rebuilt his three build events several times since State’s, and each time fully re-testing it before his creative juices kicked-in again, presenting him some new adjustment to his creation, that has allowed him to out-perform his previous design. I’m quite proud of the effort he has put forth, how he has prepared, and just hope now that all goes as planned.

That’s right, it is not Mother’s Day here, but Mom’s Day.

It takes a special person to be a Mom or a Mommy, and that is who this day is for. Mother’s are formal and stiff, and tell their children to not mess up her home, and one to never play or explore with her children. No, in this home we play together, we explore together, we get our home messy together, and we enjoy each other’s company.

Last year a family friend—a good woman in every aspect except for this—told me that someday I would get over the notion that it is fun and enjoyable to be with my children.

I never want to get over this notion. I do enjoy being a Mom, even when our home is messy and I’m being called to play games or to read some books, or to tuck someone in goodnight. I love them so much that I do want to be with them, and am too blessed to ever desire to get over this notion.

A dear friend wrote a piece that sums up my thoughts on Mom’s Day, so pay her a visit and read her post.

For the last several months I’ve had a pain in the upper back of my right leg. It wasn’t a continuous pain, and wasn’t there when I was walking, but if I tried to cross my right leg over my left—OUCH!!! A dull-pain running from my butt to the back of my knee was what I felt. It felt like somthing was stiff and sore, and like a muscle needed to be stretched so I did my normal stretching exercises.

Nothing helped. I have hypertension, a genetic blessing or curse, so on Thursday I had my 6-month check-up with my Dr. He examined the movement in my legs and said that my right hamstring was tight and significantly less mobile than my left. I like this Dr but his answer to any exercise or muscle problem is—Go Swimming. Well, we don’t have a pool and for some reason Pat doesn’t want one in our yard. Instead I surfed the net; even though I’d much rather go surfing in the water, and discovered that a tight hamstring is a common injury with older athletes whose exercise is primary walking.

OK, great, not only do my boys tease me about how I will soon be over-the-hill, but even the internet is pegging me as older.

The stretching exercises I found include:

• The most common technique is to simply bend forward at the waist, with legs relatively straight, and try to touch the toes and hold this position.

• If this approach is not well tolerated, less strain is applied to the back by sitting on a chair and placing the legs straight out in front on another chair, then reaching forward to try to touch the toes. One leg at a time may be stretched.

• One of the least stressful stretching techniques is to lie on the floor and pull the leg up and straighten by holding onto a towel that is wrapped behind the foot. One leg at a time may be stretched.

• Another less stressful option is to lie on the floor, with the buttocks against a wall, and place the foot up against the wall and then try to push the knee straight. One leg at a time may be stretched.

• Sit down and straighten your left leg. The sole of your right foot should rest next to the inside of your straightened leg. Lean slightly forward and touch your foot with your fingers. Keep your left foot upright with the ankle and toes relaxed. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat with right leg.

• Lie on your back, keeping the back flat and your eyes focused upward. Grasp the back of one thigh with both your hands and (leg bent) pull that thigh into a 90-degree position vs. the floor. Then slowly straighten your knee. After you’ve gotten used to doing this exercise, you can achieve a better stretch by pulling your thigh closer to your chest—but don’t overdo it!

I’ve now been stretching for 3 days and the pain is less. Amazing. The internet saves the day again.