Why I'm Voting This Year

Yesterday, I wrote about why I don't vote anymore. Despite the fact that I still feel that my vote doesn't matter, I will be voting this year. If there is any chance at all that my vote will be counted and will make a difference, I feel that I must vote...not for someone, but against someone.

I have paid more attention to this presidential election than any other with the exception of the Bush-Gore race in 2000. I have read news reports, watched the recent debate, read about the candidate's beliefs and records, and discussed the election with my husband. As a result, I am shocked and appalled that the American people would allow Barack Obama on the ticket, let alone elect him. According to an issue match survey, I should be voting Libertarian; however, I will not be voting that way. In a race as close as this one looks to be, voting for a third party candidate would risk handing the Presidency to Obama and I can't do that. While I am not impressed with McCain, he has my vote simply because he's the best chance at preventing Obama from winning the election. Obama MUST be prevented from winning the election! Below are a few of the reasons I believe Obama must be stopped.

1. Partial-birth abortion (a.k.a D&X) is wrong! Forcing a woman's body to go into labor prematurely and then delivering the baby's body while preventing the delivery of the head so that the doctor can shove a pair of surgical scissors into the base of his or her skull, is gruesome and inhumane. Had that same baby been born prematurely to another woman, she would have fought tooth and nail to save his or her life. I cannot support a candidate who supports this practice of murdering babies. (Jennifer at Et tu wrote a wonderful article about her conversion from pro-choice to pro-life, including how she feels people rationalize abortion like she had. It's worth reading.)
2. Leaving a newborn baby to die without any medical care, or at the very least euthanasia is despicable! When a baby survives an abortion, something needs to be done to help that infant. It is no longer in the woman's body; the woman's right to choose no longer applies. To leave a baby to gasp for breath and suffer while it dies, without any assistance at all, is inhumane. Obama opposed legislation that would require helping these poor babies because he feared giving these babies the same rights as a wanted baby born prematurely at the same stage of development would hurt abortion rights. Even the most staunch pro-choice advocates were okay with that legislation, but Obama still opposed it. How does the fact that the woman doesn't want her baby change his or her status as a living, breathing human being? If we can justify leaving these babies to die, can't we also justify a mother neglecting an older child until they die also?
3. I can't afford Obama to be President. We, like many families, are being hit by the rising costs of...well...everything. We've been able to stay afloat by changing our habits and doing without certain things. If Obama becomes president and manages to convince Congress to increase programs, and thus spending, we can expect to see an increase in taxes. Personally, I would rather remain standing on my own two feet than be forced into government programs because the government took too much of our income.
4. It isn't fair to tax people who make good decisions more than those who make poor decision. From everything I read and hear from Democratic candidates, I should support making the wealthy pay more taxes, because that would reduce my tax responsibility, but I don't. I don't believe it is fair to penalize people who make good financial decisions in order to support those who make poor financial decisions. A flat tax is the only fair tax.
5. It isn't fair to tax estates. Why should someone's estate (and the heirs of that estate) be penalized just because a rich person had the audacity to die? Besides, that money was already taxed when it was made. Obama wants to not only increase the income tax that these people pay when they are alive but force them to give 45% of their estate to the government when they die. Tax income, at a flat rate, one time when it is made.
6. Obama wants to be a dictator who removes our right to freedom of speech. Obama has asked Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who speaks "falsely" against him. His so called "Truth Squad" will be "reminding voters that Barack Obama is a Christian who wants to cut taxes for anyone making less than $250,000 a year." So, what if you're a Missouri resident that doesn't believe that? "Better not say so or else," threatens the truth squad. Only what Obama wants them to believe will be accepted as "truth". Where is the free speech in this? Not only that, but he wants to create a civilian national security force. Could this be the beginning of the American gestapo? I don't want to find out. (Ironically, today's history lesson for my kids included the explanation of dictatorship.)

There are more reasons why Obama is bad for America and should not be allowed to become president. These are only some of the more atrocious ones. I'm afraid of what could happen in our country if he succeeds in his bid for presidency.

Now back to our regular homeschool programming....

Tacoma Kids Weekly: Week of September 29, 2008

The event pickings are dismal now that public schools are back in session. I'll continue to post events that I can find though. In addition, I'll post a weekly idea for places to visit anytime or seasonal activities.

SEASONAL
The Amazing Money Maze began September 5th and continues through the end of October at the Rutledge Corn Maze down south off of I5's exit 99. There are 1.2 and 1.8 mile corn mazes available. Your family goes through the maze, answering financial questions at six checkpoints before completing the maze. Participants are entered into daily and weekly prize drawings. This sounds like a fun and educational activity the whole family can do together. Tickets are $7 for adults, $6 for military/seniors/children, and free for those four and under. The farm also offers a pumpkin patch (October 4-November 2) and free horse-drawn hay rides to and from the pumpkin patch. Five percent of ticket sales goes towards funding financial education programs throughout Thurston County.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Summit Library (Pierce County Library System) is hosting a family program called "Superpin: A Visual Comedy" at 4pm. Toy inventor, Rick Hartman, incorporates science, history, art, and storytelling into his performance.

Friday, October 3, 2008
Tacoma Children's Museum is open free for all on the first Friday of the month. They have two brand new exhibits that opened earlier in the week. Soar Into Story is based on the book The Adventures of Raven and Coyote. Becka's Studio is getting an overhaul. Visit anytime and let the kids play. Even my 8 year old still enjoys an occasional trip to the Tacoma Children's Museum.

Saturday, October 4, 2008
It's time for Home Depot's Kids Clinic again. October's project is a fire truck whistle. You can see it by clicking on the link. Show up anytime between 9am and 12pm with your child. They provide all the supplies you need to build an easy wooden craft with the kids. I suggest bringing along needle-nosed pliers for holding little nails while they hammer. We like to bring our own hammer, multi-tip screw driver, and glue as well. The clinic is completely free.

Pharaoh Cluckworthy - Part 3

We are entering our third week of dehydrating our dear Pharaoh Cluckworthy and turning him into a proper mummy. His salt was super wet this time. He still smells primarily of rubbing alcohol but this time it was mixed with the smell of the cinnamon I added to him last week. It was an odd scent. Regardless, I didn't' find him offensive at all.


Cleaning off the old salt was much easier this time and went much quicker. Then we weighed him. He's lost 11oz so far. Hey, maybe mummification is the secret to weight loss!


Anyway, here he is.


We resalted him and threw him back into his box. It will probably be a couple of weeks until we need to check on him again. I'll post his progress at that time. In the meantime, if you've missed his adventures so far, here's part 1 and part 2.

Why I Don't Vote

I am not a political person. I hate politics. I don't get involved.

Living in Washington State, I have learned that the politicians here don't care about my opinion or my vote. On more than one occasion the state legislature has gone against voter's wishes and done what they wanted to anyway. On several occasions, we were made promises that were broken. I've learned that most politicians are corrupt liars who will say or do anything to advance THEIR position and the past proves it.

Safeco Field, home of the Mariners, is a good example. In 1995, the Mariners demanded a new stadium be built for them. "Build us a new stadium or else," they said. The Legislature initially rejected the use of state taxes to fund a new stadium. So, they put it to a vote and the voters rejected it. We didn't want to pay more taxes to fund the building of a new stadium. So, the Mariners made more threats. A month after the voters rejected the proposal to increase taxes to build a new stadium, the state Legislature approved a measure to increase taxes to build a new stadium. Huh? I thought we said, "No!" (source here)

Another example comes from our car tabs. After years of paying high priced tabs and excessive government spending, voters approved I695 to repeal car tab taxes and bring the car tabs down to a flat rate of $30. Following the vote, we were shocked to find that we were still paying more than $30 for car tabs leading to I776. I776 was put to the voters to repeal the remain fees. "When we said $30 tabs, we meant it," we said. The initiative was approved by the votes and two counties and a city sued to keep the initiative from become law. The state supreme court upheld the initiative. So why, I ask, did I pay $80.75 for my husband's car tabs last month?

And finally, there's the 2004 election for Washington state governor. It was extremely close. Dino Rossi, the Republican candidate, was declared the winner in the initial automated count and again in the automated recount. It moved to a manual hand recount. During the recount, King County (a primarily democratic county) "found" 723 ballots that they said were uncounted or improperly rejected. Then it was revealed that five other counties included so called "found" ballots in their hand recount. These found ballots put Gregoire ahead by 129 votes. Then they found votes cast by dead people, felons, and people voting twice. There were also accusations made that military votes weren't counted because they were mailed out late by the counties. How can voters trust the vote with all of this happening?

These events have taught me several things:

1. When the voters say no, the politicians ignore us and do it anyway.
2. When the voters say reduce our taxes, the politicians raise taxes a different way.
3. When votes are close, the recounts get creative.
4. The vote outcome in Seattle is the outcome of the vote for the entire state.
5. Promises made are promises broken.

Why don't the politicians save us a lot of time and money and do away with voting altogether. They just do what they want anyway. Or, if they really want to have a vote, just ask Seattlites what they want as their vote always decide the outcome of the vote for the entire state. Check out this map (from Wikipedia) showing how many counties Gregoire won (green) and how many Rossi won (gray). I think it says it all.

And the federal government isn't any better.

So, now you know why I don't vote. It's a waste of time. Next, I'll tell you why I feel I MUST vote in this next Presidential election...even if my vote probably won't matter anyway.

Record Keeping

Yesterday's Heart of the Matter theme was record keeping. Do you keep a grade book? Does your state require attendance sheets or a portfolio? What are some of the best methods of organization that you have found to keep up with all of the school records for the year? Are you an organizational expert or do you find it to be a hassle? What about online forms--can you recommend some good sites to others? Share with us your greatest successes and your greatest flops in this area! To see what other people do for record keeping, check out Heart of the Matter.

Our homeschooling laws in Washington state are really easy. We are required to have our children tested or assessed annually and we are required to keep those tests (and the child's immunization records) for their permanent file. No other records are required and we are not required to show those records to anyone unless they transfer to public school.

Being enrolled in CVA, however, I must write a monthly progress review. In these reviews, I'm to "comment on each subject area, giving information on progress by rating or grading system of choice, a brief description of goals met, progress noted, and any areas of or reasons for difficulty." (taken from their handbook) Basically, I write a little bit about what we've done in the past month. Here's an except of one subject from Mika's latest review:

COURSE TITLE: Ancient History
We began our history studies with an introduction to archaeology. We covered the earliest nomads and beginning of farming in the Fertile Crescent. We learned about the old kingdom of ancient Egypt and how it was unified to King Narmer, the polytheistic beliefs of ancient Egypt, and hieroglyphs and cuneiform. We constructed and painted sugar-cube pyramids.

It's pretty simple. I probably write and share more than most homeschoolers using the program but I don't mind as I receive benefit from writing these reviews.

One benefit I get from writing these reviews is the accountability factor. I'm more likely to get school done if I have to report what we've done. Before CVA, I had a tendency to skip subjects or skip the whole day...a lot. Usually we took two to three months off for Christmas and another three months off for summer. It's amazing that my kids learned anything! My husband likes not having to prod me to do school.

Another benefit I get from writing these reviews is the assurance that my kids are accomplishing something. Having to stop and write what we've learned about and done reminds me of what we have done. It goes a long way towards easing the worry and doubt I sometimes feel about the job I'm doing as a homeschool teacher.

The last benefit I get from writing these reviews is record keeping. Not only to I save these reviews to my computer but I also print a copy out for a three ring binder that I keep for each student. In that binder, I place a copy of their test results, the monthly reviews that I write, writing samples (especially for Mika, my writer), and a few samples of work from each subject. If I ever do run into problems I'll have records detailing everything we've covered, the field trips we've taken, the projects we've completed, some of the books we've read, their test results, and some samples of their work from the year. I rest much easier knowing I have this proof of what we've done readily available.

If we ever quit CVA, I'll continue writing these reviews for my own records. They've worked very well for me.

Blog Awards

Learning About Bears

This evening we began chapter 3 in Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day. It began with a general overview of bears. Some of what we read, I already knew. I was surprised by one thing I learned. I shared it with my husband who was also unaware of the fact I was sharing. Then I looked it up online to verify what we had read. It left me surprised, yet again, but what we've been taught or not taught or taught incorrectly by public school.

So, what were the things I already knew? Simple things like bears what they eat and how large they are fit in that category. Polar bears eat primarily meat because that's what is available to them in their habitat. If you come across one of them, they'll look at you and size you up as their next meal. Meanwhile, pandas eat bamboo almost exclusively. Then there's the grizzly that prefers berries, shoots, and roots but will eat salmon when they need something more filling. And let's not forget the American black bear who probably just wants your chips and hot dogs.

Then there's the fact that bears are large animals. Some bears grow up to 11 feet tall. I had the kids look up to the ceiling and told them, "Now imagine standing in front of a bear that's two feet taller that that." Even sun bears, the smallest of the bears, grow up to 150 pounds. Yep, bears can be huge!

So what was the real surprise? Did you know that bear do NOT hibernate? Nope, they don't! The sleeping that they do is not considered true hibernation. True hibernation, like that done by chipmunks, involves drastically reduce heart rate, breathing rate, and body temperature. Those chipmunks for example breathe at a rate of 95 breaths per minute. During hibernation, their breathing rate drops to about one breath every two or three minutes. Their body temperature drops from 99 degrees to 39 degrees. Their heart rate drops significantly, as well. Hibernating animals are very difficult to arouse because of this. Bears, on the other hand, do not have this drop in breathing rate, heart rate, and body temperature; it remains the same as it would be during normal sleep. Bears also are easy to awaken and many will awaken during the winter for various reasons. Many females wake up to give birth before she, and her cubs, go back to sleep. So, what the bears are really doing is just sleeping a long time. It's called dormancy. I was shocked by this information as I was always taught that bears hibernate for the winter.

I couldn't help but comment to my husband that I was glad homeschool curriculum provides more truth than public school curriculum. This isn't the first time we've found our curriculum teaching things that we have never heard about or had been taught something totally different from the truth. At least our kids will learn more and better than we did.

What about you? What were you taught about bears? Did you know that they didn't hibernate? Have you learned things that you were surprised by?

Check out wikipedia for more about dormancy. It was my source for the chipmunk information.

School Bells

We've been trying out Time Chimes, an automatic school bell program that I heard about from Sprittibee. It's been a great help at keeping us on task so we can get stuff done. It's been wonderful at helping me not get too distracted. You don't know how nice that feels unless you are a chronically distracted, disorganized mess like I am. After years of trying to be more organized with my time, I just might have found the answer. In the words of Wheezie from Dragon Tales, "Loooooooove it!"


I can give you a wonderful example of how great the program is on a parenting level. This morning I opened my laptop to check my email (and to make sure Time Chimes would chime at the correct times). While I was on the computer, the 8am chime went off. My kids instantly got up off the couch, where they were watching the special features on our Spiderman 3 DVD, and began their morning chores. After chores, they have free time so they went outside to ride their bikes. At 9am, the program chimed again so I opened the door and called for the kids. I told them it was breakfast time. Without a single argument or sigh, they put their bikes away and came inside. There's no question about what to do because they know what comes next after the bell rings.


The program is a simple one. You simply tell it which sounds you want it to play at which times. Once you've created a day's worth of bells, you can save it. The program allows you to save different sets of times for each day of the week and an alternate set for each day of the week. In the morning, you just load which set you want (or it will default to the current day of the week) and leave your computer on for the day. It does the rest.


There are only two things I don't like about the program. The primary problem I have with it is that I run it on my laptop which means I have to leave my laptop open all day for it to work. My desk top is upstairs and we wouldn't hear the chimes if I ran the program on it. I would prefer something like a stand alone alarm clock that could be programmed in the same manner. The other thing is the cost. The website says you can download it for trial only but they want you to pay for it for long term use. There's nothing I can find in the program that limits the use, either in function or time, but I always follow the rules. The cost to purchase is high at $78 on sale. However, after just a few days of using it, it just may be worth it.

Edit: Oh, but wait! There are other programs out there that are much less expensive. Maybe I can find a free one.

A Schedule That Works

We have finally found a schedule that works for us. We kind of fell into it and have been loosely following it for a couple of weeks now and I just made the last little change that will make it work better for me. The new schedule seems to be allowing us to get nearly all of our school work done; I have to tweak it a tiny bit to fit in a few extras we've been skipping. In addition, that last little change I began Friday is giving me the time I need to get errands and a little cleaning done. I'm finally at the point where I feel like we have something that works.

Here's what we're doing. It's definitely not the traditional 9am to 3pm school schedule.

Before 8am: If you wake up early, this is free time.

8:00am - 9:00am: Morning Chore time. Everyone works on their morning chores independently. When they are done (it takes about 15 minutes unless we have laundry to fold), they have free time after.

9:00am - 9:50am: Eat breakfast and then get ready to leave. Sammy gets his taekwondo uniform on and Mika is responsible for packing the diaper bag.

9:50am - 12:30pm: Take Sammy to taekwondo. While he's at taekwondo, I run errands with Mika and Josh. Mondays, I do my Albertsons shopping. Tuesdays, I do my Safeway shopping. Other days I'll do errands at other stores, the bank, or run to the library as needed. After errands or on days I have no errands, I use this time to wash breakfast dishes, do laundry, do other housework, or do paperwork. Mika uses the time at home to do her writing curriculum once or twice a week. When not doing her writing curriculum, she can do independent reading or creative writing.

12:30pm - 1:00pm: Sammy changes out of his taekwondo uniform and then all the kids get free time until lunch is ready.

1:00pm - 1:30pm: Lunch time.

1:30pm - 3:00pm: School time. This time period is used to do spelling, phonics, grammar, vocabulary, poetry, penmanship, math, mindbenders, play Timez Attack, and typing. Not all of it fits into this time slot so I need to work out a schedule for what subjects we'll cover on what days. Then I'll make a weekly checklist for the kids so they know what to do.

3:00pm - 3:30pm: PE/Active play time. Right now, while the weather is still nice enough, the big kids go outside to ride bikes. I supervise this play time so that Josh can be outside too.

3:30pm - 4:30pm: History. We work on our history work together. We ready out of Story of the World, do the map work, color the coloring page, work on projects, and read library books to supplement the text.

4:30pm - 6:30pm: This time slot is when I cook dinner, we eat, and then (hopefully) do the dishes. While I cook dinner, the kids have free time to play. Occasionally, I'll have Mika help cook dinner since she is learning kitchen skills this year. After dinner, Sammy and Mika have some simple chores to do.

6:30pm - 7:00pm: We've been trying to walk around the block together after dinner. Sammy and Mika ride their bikes and Josh gets a free ride on his buggy.

7:00pm - 8:00pm: The kids and I do their science together. We read from the text, do notebooking pages, complete experiments, and read library books to supplement the text. Sometimes we'll do history projects or art projects during this time instead.

8:00pm - 9:00pm: Free time. Usually we watch TV. The kids can play or finish their computer time, if they have any left.

9:00pm - 9:30pm: Read aloud time. I try to choose classics or literature that goes with what what we are learning about. We are working our way through Where the Red Fern Grows right now and will be reading BFG next. After reading, it's bedtime.

We fit each kid's bath time wherever we can. If there's something scheduled outside the house, we just skip everything during that time. If we skipped something that I really don't want to get behind on, I'll replace something less important with it. For example, if we miss history I'd most likely do that instead of science in the evenings because that subject has more to cover than our science.

This has been working pretty well for us. It's good to have it figured out.

Emerald Downs

Saturday, we went to Emerald Downs for a homeschool field trip. We'll be studying horses in our science text soon and I wanted to take the kids to Emerald Downs before the live racing season was over.

One of the cool things about Emerald Downs is that on Fridays and Saturdays they offer a free tour for groups. After the tour, they give all adults a free ticket to the same day's races (children under 17 get in free all the time). The tickets would normally cost $5 per person, making this trip better than free.

After standing out in the rain waiting for the rest of the groups (there were two groups scheduled), we headed over to the winners circle. Our tour guide explained what happened at the end of the each race. A nice lady on a horse allowed everyone to pet her horse while we were there. Then we headed over to the paddock where our tour guide explained what happens there. Finally, we boarded the tram.

Here's Mika and Sammy on the tram. It was quite bumpy. Despite the look on their faces, they liked this part. The tram took us to the vet clinic. The vet explained what happens in each room, including the entire process of performing surgery on a horse. We learned about how they tranquilize a horse before coming to the clinic so they don't get too worked up and how they put to sleep before a procedure. It's quite involved. He explained how the horse is moved from the holding stall to the surgical table to the recovery room. He even showed us some of the tools they use like the different size tracheotomy tubes and laparoscopic instruments. He ended the presentation with a short question and answer time. After the vet clinic, the tram took us around the stables. They can house up to 1,400 horses! We also learned that Emerald Downs has a really good cafe that's open to the public where you can dine on good home-cooking type of food and meet jockeys and owners, a day care for the staff's children, and some living facilities.

After the tram tour, Mika and Sammy volunteered to hand out crayons and coloring packets.

Inside Emerald Downs, we found several things to look at. There was a giant horse-head sculpture and this metal horse sculpture. There was a hall of fame exhibit, a newcomers center (where they explain how the races and betting works), many places to eat (vending machines, concessions, and restaurants). They even have an arcade.

Here we are sitting in our reserved clubhouse seating waiting for the first races to begin. We got there quite early because there is a little more than two hours between the end of the tour and the beginning of the first race. The serious gamblers were in other areas with tables covered with stats and other information for the day's races, both at Emerald Downs and simulcasted races from other locations. Some people really get into horse racing!

This sign gave out all of the next or current races information. We loved the main track conditions..."sloppy". Indeed the track was quite sloppy from the rain. Later, the odds/bets were listed for each horse as people placed their bets. The numbers were constantly changing.

We watched the first race from the clubhouse. Then I took the kids down to the track level so we can see and hear the horses run by on the next race. I forgot to bring my camera downstairs with us so I didn't get photos of the horse...darn. That race started from the finish line so we also go to see them put into their starting gates. Mika wanted number 2 to win because it was the darkest horse (she likes black horses) and number 2 ended up winning. I told her that if we had bet on her horse, we would have won money. Too bad we weren't betting! After the race, we headed over to edge of the winners circle to see the horse brought in and the kids were surprised to see steam rising off his back.

We watched the third race of the day and then headed home. It wasn't the most exciting field trip we've been on but it was still interesting. We're thinking of returning next summer on a nice day so we can sit outside to watch the races and maybe placing a small bet on each race to give the kids a specific horse to root for. I think that would be more exciting for them.

As a follow up, we'll be looking through the program in the coming week and talking about the information given in it.

Tacoma Kids Weekly: Week of September 22, 2008

Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Henry Art Gallery in Seattle is free from 11am to 8pm on Thursdays.

The Arboretum is having a special program called "Park in the Dark" from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. The event teaches about nocturnal animals and is designed for families with children ages 4-12. It's free, but you need to pre-register. See link (scroll down to second event listed) for details.

Friday, September 26, 2008
There's another chance to do Park in the Dark tonight at 6:30pm. See Thursday for details.

Saturday, September 27, 2008
There's another chance to do Park in the Dark tonight at 6:30pm. See Thursday for details.

It is National Public Lands Day. On this day, volunteers can help restore natural lands by planting trees, removing invasive species, and clear trash. There are locations all across Washington state. Pick a location and call ahead to get more information and let them know you are calling.

Join in on the Harvest Celebration Farm Tour in King County from 10am to 4:30pm. This free ($10 donation per car suggested) event allows you to talk to farmers, see where your food is grown, and visit with farm animals. Activities include family hay rides, corn mazes, and more. Check out their website for a tour guide and other information.

The Seattle Centerhouse is the location for an Italian Festival this weekend. Activities include Italian food, dancing, and music. There will be kid's activities like a pizza toss, marionettes, singalong, soccer shoot, face painting, and crafts.

Today is the Smithsonian's Museum Day. Visit their website to download a pass for free admission to participating museums. Each pass is good for you and one guest, limited to one pass per household. Several local museums are participating. See website for pass and list of participating museums.

Borders Books is having a kids party and your invited. There will be activities for three age groups: ages 0-5, 6-8, and 9-12. It's free! Stop by the kids section between 2pm and 4 pm to join the fun.

Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Italian festival continues today. See Saturday for details.

Pharaoh Cluckworthy - Part 2

I mentioned last Tuesday that we are mummifying a chicken to go along with our Ancient Egypt studies. After four days, we saw that his salt was quite wet so we decided it was time to change out Cluckworthy's salt. The thing we noticed right away was his smell. There's no scent of decay anywhere. Instead we found the strong, overbearing stench of rubbing alcohol. My husband is grateful we decided to use the rubbing alcohol soak before dehydrating him. The kids, however, aren't aware of just how much better rubbing alcohol smells over decay.

Here's the kids and I doing our best to rub all of the salt off of his skin. The kids worked the outside while I worked his insides. His heart is looking pretty shriveled already but isn't quite there yet.

After removing as much salt as we could, we weighed him. He's lost 5 1/2 ounces already. I wonder what his total weight loss will be.

Here we are filling him back up with salt. I was holding the bag open and shifting things around so the kids could get the salt all around him. He's back in his Tupperware container now, resting peacefully.

Puyallup Fair Fun

The kids and I headed out to the Puyallup Fair Friday afternoon with a family friend. I planned our day around many of the educational activities that support our learning plan. Therefore, most of the time we spent at the fair can be counted towards our required hours for CVA. I love it when learning is fun and the kids enjoy themselves.


The first thing we did was locate our favorite caricature artist, Tom Huf. Scott and I first had him draw us when I was pregnant with Mika. After drawing your face(s), he asks you what you want to be doing in the picture. We asked him to draw me looking pregnant and Scott touching my belly. He did and it looked great. We returned the next year and every year since. This year was our ninth year. This stop fits our social studies goal of "learning about traditional and nontraditional careers."



Shortly after that, we found the new Animals of the World exhibit which proved to be perfect for our science studies (land animals) and really interesting. I made the college of some of the photos I took of those animals for ya'll. The llama looked so proud sitting so straight and upright. The Watusi cattle's horns were HUGE! The Jacob's sheep looked almost demonic with their four horns sticking our of their heads at all angles. The baby Nigerian pygmy goats were so very cute (and we even got to pet one). The mini zebu was just plain odd but very social. We also saw a camel, an alpaca, a longhorn steer (HUGE horns again), American heritage turkeys, and other animals. It was a great experience seeing these animals that we'd probably not ever see otherwise.

We also got to see a zebra and a ze-donk. We learned that a ze-donk is what you get when you cross a zebra with a mini donkey. The ze-donk is the one in the foreground. They also go by the terms zebroid, zebrass, and zonkey. Other interesting zebra hybrids are the zorse (offspring of a zebra stallion and horse mare) and the hebra (offspring of a zebra mare and horse stallion). Wikipedia provides some interesting information about zebra hybrids as does this website.


Walking around, we came upon a tractor dealer. The kids enjoyed climbing up into the seat of the tractor. Mika chose the largest tractor they had to climb into and Sammy found the tractor's horn.

While waiting for the older kids to ride a couple of rides (Josh was too young), I found a nearby vendor that had a bubble maker going to entertain Josh with. He loves bubbles. I caught this funny expression of Josh ax kicking the bubbles with a nice strong kiyop (Korean for yell). He learned to kick and kiyop by watching Sammy's taekwondo classes. I think he'll be ready for taekwondo classes early; he certainly has the spirit aspect down.
Speaking of bubbles. Isn't this the coolest picture? When I looked up and saw all these bubbles against the background of the clouds, I just had to try to get a good photo.


We found one ride that would let Josh on. Josh wasn't sure what to think about the canoe ride but he seemed to enjoy it. What he really wanted was to be allowed into the obstacle course that ends with a ball pit thingy and onto the carousel.

Sammy wanted to go on the Ferris wheel. Mika agreed to be brave and try it out too. I didn't want them going on it alone, especially because Mika tends to be easily frightened of rides. Besides, she wouldn't go on it without me anyway. So, I bought the extra tickets and took them up. We even called Daddy from the top of the Ferris wheel. Both kids, who've never been on the Ferris wheel, ended up loving it and have declared it their new favorite fair ride.

We were heading towards the fine arts exhibits when we came across these guys. Not only do they sound really cool but they are a lot of fun to watch. How many people can say they beat on water bottles and stools for a living?
After the drummers, we headed to the fine arts exhibit hall and spent some time looking at the quilts (well, I did at least). We spent some time watching and talking with Tim Jensen, an extremely talented artist who uses pencil and pastels. After that, we grabbed ballots and looked through the art to vote for our favorites for people's choice. Then we walked through the photography. Josh conveniently fell asleep and slept through all of this and got lots of "Aw, how cute" or "Aw, how sweet" comments.
From the photography, we headed to another nearby building to pick up a McCain/Palin button we saw several people wearing. In that building, we found a beekeeper's association table and checked out the bee hives they have available. The kids even found the queen.
Following that building, we headed for the exit to come home but got sidetracked by Roberto the Magnificent. He's a great juggler and funny actor. It makes for a great show. The kids asked to stay and watch so we did.
We ended our fair trip with this lovely photo by the fountain. Notice the fire department tattoo on his right arm, the police department tattoo on the left arm, the McCain button (he wanted to wear it), and his ever so attractive eyes.

Pretty Normal Day

Here's a pretty normal day at our house. It's roughly how Wednesday played out. While it was largely a successful day because we got a bunch of school done, it was one of those days that leave me wondering how in the world I'm ever going to get ahead enough to finish those bigger projects that I just have to get done.

7:30am-ish: Wake up, roll out of bed, wander down stairs, find my laptop and check my email. My head is pounding.

8am-ish: Think about breakfast and tell Mika she's going to cook breakfast today with my help (she's learning kitchen skills as part of her homeschooling this year). Change diaper.

8:15am-ish: Chase Josh out of the fridge and cabinets several times. Feed Josh a bowl of cereal because he can't wait until breakfast. Print registration for Woodland Park Zoo homeschool day. Start to fill out flyer. Call zoo with questions and have to leave a message.

8:45am-ish: The kids bring down a circus flyer they made upstairs and tell me about how they are going to put on a circus later tonight. I google circus flyers, show them to Mika, and suggest she try making her flyer more colorful and like the examples (thinking good school project)

9:00am-ish: Realize Mika doesn't know Word well enough to do what I suggested and that Word isn't the easiest program to work with for that kind of project and suggest she come downstairs and I'll help her do the flyer in Publisher.

10:10am: Oh shoot! Taekwondo class started ten minutes ago! We'll go to the 11am class. Sorry Sammy but you only get one hour of taekwondo today. Post about circus flyer.

10:30am-ish: Sammy get your uniform on. Mika find clothes for Josh. Make yourselves some toast for breakfast while I get dressed. Forgo shower...ugh! Get dressed, brush hair (where's my lost brush, I hate this brush), brush teeth, throw on deodorant and perfume to cover any body odor, brush Josh's teeth, change Josh's diaper, get Josh dressed.

10:45am: Oh shoot! I have to mail off that reimbursement today. Grab papers I need to copy, run upstairs, print required mapquest, scan and print two pages, grab pen and highlighter to finish at taekwondo.

10:58am: Get in the car. No Josh, don't fight me on the car seat now! We're late. We've got to go.

11:05am: Arrive at taekwondo. While Sammy is in class, finish reimbursement paperwork, chase Josh off of the door (he likes to hang from the door handle), chat with the other parents, watch the class, nurse Josh, lay Josh down only to have him wake up crying and wanting to nurse, show another parent our LA curriculum (because I knew she was interested so I brought it along) while trying to keep track of Josh

12:20pm: Class is over. Done talking with the parent interested in the LA. Need to talk to instructor about tournaments. Talk to him about it. Round up kids to leave.

1:00pm: Arrive home. Get kids started on LA, math, and penmanship. Wash some of the dishes. Chase Josh out of the kitchen by giving him a snack.

1:30pm: Walk Mika through making pancakes for lunch while continuing to wash dishes. She's afraid of burning herself and starts to cry. Prevent meltdown and talk her through finishing the pancakes.

1:55pm: Eat lunch. Clear table. Get kids to finish LA, math, and penmanship. Check email. Change diaper again. Have Sammy take out recycling.

2:30-ish: LA, math, penmanship is done. Sit down with kids and do history. Read Story of the World, look through two Ancient Egypt library books, do map pages, do coloring pages, get interrupted by two phone calls, one from Woodland Park Zoo returning my call. Josh falls asleep in toddler chair.

3:45-ish: Attempt to start science. Read a few pages of Patrol Dogs. Kids need a break so send them outside to ride bikes for PE. Check email. Call Emerald Downs to give new count for field trip based on emails I just received. Respond to two emails about Emerald Downs field trip Hear kids arguing outside. Call them inside and send each to different rooms for some quiet time apart.

4:30-ish: Let Mika run over to friend's house to see if she can play. Oh shoot! I have to call the library. Call library. Take Advil hoping my head will stop hurting. Start to wash some more dishes. Look up recipe for dinner idea. Talk to husband who's come home and using his laptop on the porch. Let kids play on computer and game cube to keep them busy.

5:30-ish: Wash some more dishes. Get phone call from mom (she calls 1 or 2 times a year). Start making dinner. Check on mummifying chicken. Give Josh a drink to keep him out of the kitchen a bit longer.

6:30ish: Call kids down for dinner. Call Scott in for dinner. Serve dinner. Clear table. Read more of Circus Dreams: The Making of a Circus Artist to kids (science/social studies). Scott gives Josh bath. Demonstrate something in the book. Google Who's Line is it Anyway to show/explain improv to kids.

7:15-ish: Josh is done with bath. Send Mika to take her bath. Show Scott couple of the funnier videos we found.

7:45-ish: Mika is done with bath. Send Sammy to take his bath. Check email. Nurse Josh.

8:20-ish: Start DVD. Family watches Stargate Atlantis episodes together. Mika is reading. Josh is nursing. Sammy falls asleep on couch.

10:00pm: Turn off TV. Kids to bed. Change diaper. Say goodnight to Mika. Try to sleep. Head still hurting and husband is snoring.

11:00pm: Can't sleep. Get up. Write this blog post. Oh shoot! I wanted to do spelling today since we haven't done it in two weeks.

12:15am: Maybe I'll try to sleep again.

Somewhere in there I needed to fit in laundry, paying bills, basic house cleaning, washing dinner dishes, and clearing out a couple of rooms full of clutter so we can move Mika into her own room in the near future.

Sometimes at the end of the day when I'm feeling like I've been run over by a dump truck, I wonder how other people get it all done.

That was School?

This evening we were reading a little bit more of the book Circus Dreams: The Making of a Circus Artist when we came to this one part that ended up leading us on a fun rabbit trail. The book came to a section talking about how the acting teacher at the circus was teaching them about improvisation and included the rules of doing improv. I got up and sort of acted out an improv scene that they mentioned in the book. The kids seem to like it when I jump up and start acting out scenes in books. This particular one involved people arriving at a meeting where the previous arrivals had taken off their shoes, noticing the smell, then noticing that no one has their shoes on, and the finally taking off their shoes also. It was funny.

Then I came up with an idea to explain improv better. I googled Who's Line Is It Anyway. Have you ever seen that show? My husband and I used to love watching it whenever it was on. I miss the fits of laughter that came with watching the show. Anyway, I found tons of videos on YouTube showing portions of the show and began watching them with the kids, explaining how the actors have no idea what they are going to be asked to do and therefore must improvise. I also explained how they have no idea what the other actors are going to do or say so they must instantly drop what they might have been planning on doing and react to the other actor. Improvisation...a difficult and often funny form of acting. We enjoyed that little lesson.

Who'd have thought we'd find ourselves watching Who's Line Is It Anyway for school?

Exploring Careers

A common theme in books, movies, television, and childhood development discussions is the subject of determining what the child will be when they grow up. Some parents know what they want their child to become and attempt to steer (gently or not) their children towards that career path. While others try very hard to leave that choice up to their children. I think I'm somewhere in the middle. I'd like my son to grow up to be a good provider and father while doing something he enjoys. Meanwhile, I have hopes that my daughter will grow up and fill the traditional role of wife and mother. Most importantly, though, I want them to have a complete and excellent education so that all possibilities are open to them for their choosing.

One way I open these doors of career choice is to expose them to both traditional and nontraditional careers. Every kid knows that they can grow up to be a doctor, fireman, police office, teacher, or veterinarian but do they also know that they can also be a guy who makes funny noises for a living, a flying trapeze artist, an advertising expert, or an animal trainer for the movies? There are so many choices out there that the average person doesn't stop to consider. It is these choices that I want to my children to know about. Often, it is these nontraditional careers that people create for themselves, that bring the most satisfaction in life. Try talking to a secretary or grocery store clerk and ask them if they find their jobs satisfying. Then trying asking the noise guy or the reptile man if they enjoy their work. These latter folk seem to be much more satisfied with their work, and their lives because of it. I want my children to find that kind of satisfaction, thus I expose them to the idea that they can do anything that they can think up if they wanted it bad enough.

With that in mind, I'm taking my kids on some rabbit trails that launched from our circus field trip earlier this month. We are reading an interesting book called Circus Dreams: The Making of a Circus Artist. It follows a young woman by the name of Montana Miller as she postpones college to attend a professional circus training school in France. She was the first American to attend the school back in 1988. Her dreams were to become a flying trapeze artists. It has been very interesting. It takes a lot of work to be in the circus!

Another spin-off from the circus trip has come in the form of the kids' pretend play. They have decided to put on their own circus and set out to complete a flyer to go with it. I jumped in to help Mika create a color flyer for their circus performance. As we explored Microsoft Publisher together and created her flyer, I explained that some people do this for a living. Below is the flyer Mika created...with a false address, phone, and email of course.



The neat thing for me...Mika was so excited when it printed out, in color, and looked so good.

Pharaoh Cluckworthy

Last night we began our newest homeschool adventure: mummifying a chicken. I forgot to take photos but will grab some when we change out the salt. But for now, Pharaoh Cluckworthy is resting peacefully in a tomb (tupperware container) in a bag full of salt and baking soda.

To make your own chicken mummy, check out these sites telling your how:

Thinkquest
Mummy Tombs (4 chicken recipes & 1 mouse one)
Ancient Egyptian Mummies (see links at left)
King Cluck
About.com (this one seems to not store the chicken in salt)

Have fun!

Timez Attack

We recently discovered this math video game which teaches multiplication facts. It doesn't just teach the facts, it ensures mastery. Unlike other free math games online, this one has excellent 3D video game graphics, making it much more fun to play. My son, who isn't even learning multiplication until next year, loves it. My daughter, who hates math (especially mastering the basic facts), tolerates it. She certainly chooses it over timed tests, flash cards, and other manipulatives.

The basics of the game is that you are the little green guy you see on the left of the picture above. You wander around a dungeon looking for keys that unlock doors. When you find the key, a multiplication fact appears on the wall along with a picture representation of the problem. Little snail-like creatures shoot out from the wall which you collect and throw back at the wall to skip count the answer. Then you type in the answer which opens the wall. When the wall opens, out comes an ogre whom you must "fight" not with swords or magic spells but with answers to multiplication facts that appear on his belly. You better be fast because there's a timer at the top of the screen. Get the answer wrong or take too long and you take a hit. Once you beat the ogre, you get another key and continue on your journey.

The game play proceeds in such a way that your student is both challenges and allowed to succeed at the same time. You start out with just one fact to learn (4x2) and build on that one fact at a time. As you proceed, you are expected to know all of the facts leading up to your current place. When you've beaten all of the ogres on the level, you challenge a giant ogre to demonstrate you know all of the facts in that family. Beat him and you move up to the next fact family. The game starts with 2's and moves up until you reach 12's. My children are on 4's right now. So far, each level has focused only on problems in that fact family rather than a mix from all of the previous fact families. I'm not sure if or when they'll reach a level that mixes the fact families.

Another thing that the game does is keep track of your student's progress and adapt accordingly. I believe that the timer speeds up or slows down based on your student's needs but I'm not 100% sure on that. I do know that when your student reaches the big ogre and does not win the battle, they are told which facts they had difficulty with and given the chance to practice those by fighting those specific little ogres again.

The best thing about the game? It's totally free. Fill in the form to receive the download link via email. The free version even tracks multiple students (I don't know how many) and saves their progress. If you wish to buy the upgrade, it only costs $39.99 to download and $5 extra if you want a copy on CD. The upgrade provides additional worlds to explore.

The only thing that could improve the game is to include addition, subtraction, and division versions of the game.

***Note: The Timez Attack makers offer an affiliate program. The links above are not affiliate links. I do not make any money for you following the link or purchasing the program. I did not receive anything in exchange for this review. I just like the program and wanted to let you know about it...especially since you can get all you really need for free.

He Can Sleep Anywhere

Sammy has always had this one quirk about him: he often falls asleep in the middle of the day. You expect this when they are young but you begin to wonder as they get older and older. It's not every day that you find a five or six year old passed out in some odd location and position in the middle of the day. Then you add to that the fact that I found Sammy apparently not breathing very early one morning and you begin to wonder if he's okay. We convinced the doctor (without much trouble) to order a sleep study for him. Unfortunately (or fortunately) they found nothing wrong and just declared him a tired boy.

Here he is passed out in an infant-toddler chair, still holding a birthday balloon. Of course, he's only one in the photo but check out how he's sleeping. He's not sitting in the chair, he's squatting in the chair.

Fast forward a year or so and we have this photo. The bottom's up photo is a common one in this family, especially with Sammy.

Fast forward some more and we have this photo. He fell asleep hunched over the chair but still standing on the floor. Somewhere in my archives of photos, I have another photo of him sleeping across two chairs about a foot apart.

The passed out at the top of the chairs is a classic photo. I guess the climb was just too much. LOL
This was last year. He was five in this photo. He still passes out in the car frequently even though is he nearly seven.

And finally, the inspiration for this post...

My husband sent out a tweet (twitter.com) that my son fell asleep during the third quarter of the Seahawks game. It's Sammy's first football game and he was really excited. What's more amazing about him falling asleep during the game is that Qwest Field is SOOOO loud that the Seahawks have been accused of piping in artificial crowd noise. Guess nothing gets in the way of his sleep!

Oh, and he often sleeps with his eyes partially open.

Sugar Cube Pyramids of Ancient Egypt

We are working our way through Story of the World: Ancient History this year. History wasn't my favorite subject in school but I've found it much more interesting this time around as a homeschool parent. I believe my children enjoy history much more than I did thanks to homeschooling and the ability we have to make learning more fun.

We start off by reading the story book portion of Story of the World. This is simply a very short (usually about a page and a half) narration written in a more conversational form than your typical textbook. Each lesson has two or three stories in it. Then we supplement that with books from our library. I look for books written for children with lots of interesting pictures (illustrations and/or photos). Finally, I look for arts/craft projects, experiments, and field trips to go with our study.

There's plenty of arts/craft projects to choose from when it comes to Ancient Egypt. We started with building pyramids with sugar cubes. You can find directions all over the web. My advise...don't believe them when they say you only need 200 sugar cubes. We used roughly 250 cubes for the big kids' pyramids and16 for Josh's. They way we made them was to start with a solid base that was 10 cubes by 10 cubes. After that, we just outlined each level with cubes and filled the hole in with granulated sugar. Using sugar cubes entirely would probably have been sturdier but more expensive. Using granulated sugar to fill in was trickier as the cubes wanted to topple towards the center. We used Elmer's Glue to stick the cubes together. The final product came out ok and the kids love making them so much that they wanted to finish them at 7:30am the next morning. My kids never want to do school that early. It took us about two hours total to finish the pyramids. When we were all done, we painted them.

Here's Mika with her finished pyramid.

And Sammy with his.
Josh was so insistent on being in the way that I finally figured out that he wanted to get into the action too. I placed good-sized drops of glue on the paper and directed him to put the sugar cubes on the glue. We did a 3x3 base and 3 levels total for his. He loved making his pyramid and loved painting it the next day. It was his first craft project and first time painting anything.

Next on our list...chicken mummy!

Tacoma Kids Weekly: Week of September 15, 2008

Tacoma Kids Weekly is back. Sorry for the long absence. First, let me provide some ideas for this weekend (since I didn't do a list last week) in case you are looking for something to do.

The first thing that you need to know about is that tomorrow is a free day at Pt. Definance Zoo for Tacoma City residence. All adults in the group need to show proof of residency using either a utility bill or photo ID.

If you are going to the Fair this weekend, make sure to stop by the Coca Cola Stage (in the center of the fairgrounds by the hobby hall) at 12:30pm, 2:15pm, or 5:30pm (today and tomorrow only) to catch the Coats in concert. The Coats are an awesome a capella group that's fun and family friendly. You can hear some samples at their website but their recorded music doesn't do their live shows any justice. We were planning on seeing them yesterday and tomorrow but I still can't be up and about that much.

Thursday, September 18, 2008
School may be back in session but the Tacoma Farmer's Market is still going strong. The market takes place between 9am and 2pm on Broadway between 9th and 11th streets. They will be showcasing Latino artists today. Family storytelling at 11am in the lobby of Theater in the Square with art displayed in the same location from 10am to 2pm. Music takes place on the mainstage in the Pierce Transit Park at noon.

It's also time for the Third Thursday Artwalk in Tacoma. The Tacoma Art Museum is free all day and other venues, including the Washington State History Museum, are free in the evening.

Friday, September 19, 2008
St. Demetrios Greek Festival is taking place up in Seattle Friday through Sunday. This Greek festival includes tours of the church, Greek food, Greek folk dancing, live Greek music, and Greek arts and crafts. Admission is free. This sounds like a great opportunity for anyone studying geography or Greek history (even though it isn't historical in nature, you get a taste of the culture and it can be a launch point for historical discussion).

Saturday, September 20, 2008
The Greek festival continues. See Friday.

The Seattle Fisherman's Festival takes place at fisherman's terminal in Seattle from 11am to 6pm. Admission is free. Activities include music, various competitions, ships, and model ships. Children's activities include miniture boat building, fish art, face painting, and an appearance by JP Patches.

Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Greek festival continues. See Friday.

Circus Fun

Last Sunday we drove up to Everett to see the circus. It was the first of many field trips for this school year. I was so excited when I found out that CVA, our virtual academy, approved the field trip and would be reimbursing us for three of the tickets (they cover enrolled students and one chaperon) and mileage. Without their help, we couldn't have afforded this trip. The circus is expensive!

The purpose of this field trip was more than just having a fun time. We are studying land animals and animal-based careers this year. We also always talk about traditional and nontraditional careers as part of our homeschooling. The circus covers each of these. We went to see the animals and what kind of things they could be taught to do, to spark discussion on animal trainers, and to see the variety of nontraditional careers that can be found at the circus.

Because we were all recovering from the flu, we skipped the most educational part of the trip, the pre-show. I was looking forward to seeing the animals up-close and whatever else would be available but I knew that the kids were not yet strong enough to do that much walking. So, we opted for just seeing the show. And it was a good show.

Here's Scott, Sammy, and Mika sitting in the stands. Scott was enjoying what was happening behind me. The kids, as you can see, were a bit subdued. Despite being subdued, they really did enjoy the show.

This lady was billed as the greatest part of the act which turned out to be entirely a comedy act. First, she got "stuck" hanging by her fancy head piece. Then she nearly hung herself by her flowing cape. At one point, she was hanging by her hair. All the while, she had two "helpers" who were doing everything BUT helping her. Finally, she ended up falling out of her outfit entirely. This final part was the only part I didn't care for because I found her undergarments ( a bra and corset which were covered by a full slip after moment) somewhat inappropriate for children.

Mika perked up the second she saw the first horse. Horses were used at several portions of the show. One portion involved vaulting, a sport we learned about recently at the Celebrate the Horse Festival a few months ago. Other horses seemed to be more for show with the riders wearing splendid costumes. These white ponies were very cute as well. We're not sure what breed they were but at least one of them was a true Shetland Pony with the ornery attitude typical of the breed.

During the intermission, they carefully brought out and readied the tigers. I was impressed with the care taken to ensure the public's safety. The tricks that the tigers performed weren't all that impressive, just lying down, sitting up, and climbing/jumping on platforms as commanded. However, the fact that the tigers could be trained to do these things was impressive. Most impressive of all (for us grownups at least) was the fact that the trainer lined up the tigers in a line and then turned his back on them to bow to the audience. Whoa! Would you turn your back on seven full-grown tigers?

This guy just made me laugh. The motorcycle runs up a steel wire and back down a few times with the lady hanging on down below. Then, working in unison, they rock the motorcycle until they are spinning around the wire in circles. Of course, it takes hanging on and balance to do this but I still found it amusing for two reasons. First, the motorcyclist himself looking kind of like Tommy Lee Jones and second because he was definitely getting up in years to be a circus performer. I kept thinking, "This is what circus performers do when they get old."

The elephants were a lot of fun. They walk out holding onto the tail of the elephant in front of them. Every other one had a beautiful female rider wearing a beautiful, colorful costume with a very long train over the elephants back. Some of the elephants walked around little stools with their front feet up on the stool. One elephant stool entirely on the stool and then sat down on his bottom. That same elephant later did a head/trunk stand. The finally was this scene here.

These guys were the coolest. They are sitting on what is basically a huge inflatable donut. They used their arms and bodies to get the donuts bouncing and then flipped with them and off of them. Sometimes in flipping off of them they landed on another donut being held by another member of their team; sometimes they landed on the ground. It was a unique and fun act.

I wish I could have gotten better photos in the low lighting. The ones I've shown here are the best I could get. What I couldn't get were the trapeze artists, the pole acrobats, and others. The human performers were, by far (for me), the most exciting and interesting part of the show. I kept waiting for the trapeze artists to fall or the pole acrobats to catch the pole between their legs a little too high up or the cage motorcyclists to crash into each other. Some of the acts really took a LOT of skill, training, and perfect timing. It was impressive.

I wanted to end by discussing the circus protesters we encountered outside the arena both before and after the show. I knew they would be there before we went and was happy to see that they were quietly protesting and well-behaved. I would have been unhappy if I felt they were unruly and causing safety concerns for the children. The police were there just in case also.

Because of the protesters, I was especially interested in the animals in the show. I wanted to see if there were any signs of their accusations. I'm happy to say that neither my husband nor myself could see any signs of neglect or abuse on the animals. On the contrary, every animal we saw appeared to be in perfect health. The animals that had fur (dogs, horses, tigers) had perfect coats that were shiny with health and very well groomed. The animals without fur (elephants) looked to be in perfect health as well. There wasn't a single scrape, sore, or smudge to be seen on any animal in the show. In fact, all of the animals appeared to be much healthier and in better shape than your typical well-loved pet. I've never seen a healthier dog or horse anywhere. Additionally, Ringling Brothers' website discusses the steps they take to maintain the health and happiness of their animals and how they exceed the federal guidelines. From what I saw, I believe them.