Olympics, Shakespeare...and Chester Comix

We have been watching the Olympics and really enjoying them. Alex tries not to, I think, but does despite himself. So far I've noticed that the speed skating, luge & bob sledding seem to get his attention the most. Morgan likes most of it, although she was most excited about men's snowboarding because of Shaun White. She's taken a liking to speed skating too. However, she is getting into cheering on Team USA no matter what the sport. :-) It has been fun to watch the kids get excited about it. I just learned about this website from a fellow homeschooler. It is the Science of the Olympic Winter Games . It looks great and I can't wait to show the kids. Check it out for your kids if they are interested in the Olympics, science,etc.

We had Shakespeare Club Friday night and were performing a Readers' Theatre version of The Tempest. Morgan was Miranda and Alex was Trinculo. A few people were missing so I volunteered for a part and became Prospero. It was great fun and everyone did a wonderful job with their parts. This was the first time Alex took on a speaking role and did great. His comedic timing is pretty darn good. LOL! Next month we will be doing As You Like It.

We received our Chester Comix book from Lexi at Pink and Orange Coffee . I won a drawing she had for 2 extra books that she was giving away. We received The First Americans. I read through the first half and then handed it off to Alex to check out. I think he likes it so far. So far I think it gives some good information in a fun way. I'll let you know more of what we think when we finish it. :-) But, so far so good.

Snow & Chester Comix

We are getting snow again. Thankfully, it isn't accummulating (yet?) so we can enjoy it without it causing any problems. I have to tell you that my children who have been begging for snow for years....are over it. Not because they aren't enjoying playing in it but because it is causing other activities to be cancelled and they do NOT like that. I've reminded them that we need to be thankful we aren't on the east coast this year where they've received over 55 inches of snow. LOL!

Now, on to Chester Comix. These are comic books about history. Cool! I had just learned about these books and was discussing them with Corey & the kids. I was looking into our library & another library to see if they had them so we could check them out before buying any. When lo & behold, a fellow hs'er blogged about having 2 duplicates and she was going to do a random drawing to give them away. Here is her blog about it Pink and Orange Coffee . I entered...and won one of the books! I will let you know what we think after we receive it and read it. :-)

CPR rhythm

This morning I took a 4 hour Basic Life Support /CPR for Health Providers class at our local hospital. I need to have my certification for the midwifery assistant workshop that I'm taking in March. When you are doing chest compressions for CPR you are aiming for 100 beats per minute. We were told we could hum a song while we were doing those compressions to help us hit that 100 bpm compression rate. The song was...are you ready for this? Ok, Another One Bites the Dust by Queen. Yes, really!! Who knew? LOL! So, we hummed & compressed and sure enough we all got 100 bpm or just above. You are humming it right now trying to picture this, aren't you? We all found it hilarious. However, our instructor did ask us to please NOT hum it while doing CPR in case family/friends were around to overhear us. She said they might think we were pretty sick. ;-) She then told us the story about how she found out about the song...she heard someone humming it DURING a code! Afterwards she asked someone else "Was that Another One Bites the Dust he was humming??" And they told her about the beat helping reach the right compression rate.

So that was my fun this morning. The class went great. I got 100% on my skills and 95% on the written test (darn trick question that almost everyone missed).

Science

Today it would seem is a science day at our house. Alex received a few science kits for Christmas and decided that he wanted to work with one today. He picked this one Electronics Lab with Fiber Optics . He worked with Morgan and the two of them set up the transmitter and receiver boxes and then started testing & experimenting. So far all of their experiments have worked...and only one was annoying. LOL! That was the "control sound with light" experiment. The brighter the light the higher pitched sound that came out of it. Omigosh, the dogs and I weren't happy with that one.

During all of this we received our package from PhysicsQuest . This year we will be doing lasers! Last year we did Nicola Tesla and light, magnetism, and electricity.

Mama goes to school

We are adding something new to our typical family day. Mama will be going to school. Well, not registered back at college (yet)...but I will be taking a workshop. I will be attending a Midwife Assistant workshop at The Farm Midwifery Center for 1 week in March. I've done my required reading and am doing some extra reading...all the birth stuff I can get my hands on. :-) Next week I take a CPR class and then I need to make sure I have everything I'm supposed to bring. I will be staying in the dorm for the week with 7 other women taking the workshop. Corey and the kids will be on their own. Registering for this workshop was a big step for me and as it gets closer it has really been making me think. I've wanted to be a midwife for years now and that is what drew me to nursing...it was on the path to becoming a CNM (Certified Nurse-Midwife). I knew the steps to take to become one in FL. Well, many years have passed and things have changed...marriage, kids, moving to a few different states, and homeschooling the kids. My idea of becoming a midwife had gone by the wayside. Not that anyone was stopping me, other than me, but that I didn't feel it would/could happen...not the "right" timing. Soooo...registering for this workshop has got me thinking. I think this is all still possible. I am finding out what all I need to do to become a midwife in TN...and I want to do it. If that means heading back to the classroom than that is what I'll be doing. We will figure out the logistics and make it work. I want the kids to see that Mama has a goal and she's working towards that goal, doing what it takes to make it happen. I want them to see that learning is a life long process. There is ALWAYS something you will want to learn about. And...you are never to old to be what you want to be when you grow up. :-)