Rawlins Family
Tuesday, February 03, 2015
Sassafras Science Review - Zoology
This year we are trying a new science curriculum that I'm really loving. It's called Sassafras Science Adventures, Volume 1. It's an elementary science course that teaches through literature. If you're looking for a super-intense, experiment-based science program for your five-year old, this is not for you (and also, you should slow down). If you're looking for a fun, age-appropriate, engaging science program with lots of hands-on projects, this program IS for you. I originally intended to use this with my 3rd grader, but after day one I realized I wouldn't be able to do that...because the rest of my kids wouldn't ever leave us alone! They were all hooked. So I ditched our plans and went with it. That is, after all, the point of homeschooling.
Sassafras Science is a book about Blaine and Tracy Sassafras, a twin brother and sister who hate science. After a dismal year, they are sent to spend the summer with their crazy Uncle Cecil who happens to be a scientist. He sends them on adventures where they are able to learn about various habits and wildlife. As students, you're encouraged to track what you're learning. You can do that in a simple blank notebook, or you can purchase the SCIDAT logbook. That was totally worth the money, in my opinion. It's great for keeping information organized, and it keeps the kids involved. There is also a separate teacher manual. It provides suggestions for how best to schedule your studies, additional reading material, experiments, activities, etc. I found it really helpful at the very beginning, but haven't used it much since. One activity from the manual that we've really come to love, though, is the habitat poster. As we learn about a habitat, we make a poster and then add the animals as we learn about them. It's my kids' favorite part.
I've read that this curricula is intended to take half of a school year, but I don't know...that would be moving at a pretty fast pace. We are taking the full school year, and it's given us plenty of time to do additional reading and activities without feeling like we're only ever doing science! I have to be careful not to let exciting subjects totally dominate our lives. But maybe that's just me...
We plan to continue on next year with the twins as they take on Anatomy. Cameron will be in sixth-grade, so I'll be adding more meat (pun intended) to his studies to make sure it's rigorous enough, but I think it will be great.
This series is still in production. Volume 3: Botany was published in late 2014, and Volume 4: Earth Science is slated for 2015 (hopefully!).
*This review was for my own purposes, and I am not affiliated with Sassafras Science. I was not compensated in any way for this review.
Revolutionary War unit and book review
Jean Fritz has written a slew of excellent children's books. We are big fans! We read Where was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May?; Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams; Sign Here, John Hancock; and George Washington's Breakfast. We own, but didn't get around to What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin; and And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? We also didn't get into Why Not, Lafayette? because it was a little over the kids' heads.
As a family, we listened to Johnny Tremain. I somehow escaped childhood without ever reading it. Cameron was originally going to read My Brother Sam is Dead but disliked it and read Give Me Liberty by LM Elliot instead. Miles' assigned personal reading was a Magic Tree House fact tracker book on the American Revolution. Together, the boys read George Washington: Spymaster for a book club we hosted. And we finished up with a few supplemental items from Kids Discover magazine: American Revolution!, and TIME magazine for kids. Kids Discover magazine has free vocabulary cards and lesson guides to go with several of their editions. Cameron used the vocab cards and the boys both completed the worksheets found here: http://www.kidsdiscover.com/free-lesson-plans/ . We found additional worksheets for the girls at education.com.
Activities/Field trips:
Certainly nothing brought history alive more than our trip north over the summer! Walking the grounds of Valley Forge, PA; Philadelphia; Mount Vernon; and Washington, D.C. was an incredible experience for my kids, and has given us something to refer to when we discuss the events that occurred in those places. (pictures to come...blogger is being super lame at the moment)
This Valley Forge, PA. This was the Continental Army headquarters during the brutal winter of 1777-78. Washington stayed in that house, and the soldiers stayed in small huts. Soldiers had little clothing, little food, and endured sickness. Thomas Paine wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls..." the previous winter, but I can't imagine a time more trying than the winter spent at Valley Forge.
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| Independence Hall! There's just something cool about walking around a building where Ben Franklin hung out. |
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| The Liberty Bell. |
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| The tomb of Ben Franklin. It's covered in coins, but I'm not sure why. We couldn't get into the actual cemetery without paying a ridiculous sum, so we stayed outside the bars. |
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| While in Philadelphia, we went to The Friends Meetinhouse - an active Quaker congregation still meets there. |
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| This is an inexplicable cat fountain in the courtyard in front of Betsy's house. My niece thought it looked like a nice cat. |
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| The burial site of Betsy Ross is located right in front of her house. It was a quick visit, and the actress playing Betsy was so snarky with me! I don't think she liked the questions I was asking. |
Friday, October 11, 2013
No matter how it tried...
All the water in the world
No matter how it tried
Could never sink the smallest ship
Unless it got inside.
And all the evil in the world
and every kind of sin
Can never harm a human soul
Unless we let it in.
-Author Unknown
I think this is a powerful message, and especially powerful for children. The world is crazy right now. There are so many things that are out of our control. There is so much sin, hatred, and sadness plaguing the human race. And, if we don't know better, we could feel like it's enough to drown us where we stand.
But we can be untouchable! We can create homes - and even better, HEARTS - where sin isn't permitted. Where we can feel a refuge from the storm, and a safe place to rest our heads regardless of what is happening outside our doors. Heavenly Father has given us the power to do this! It's just up to us to keep the water out of the boat. And, when that water gets in, because that water DOES get in, we can use the Atonement as the bailing bucket.
What a blessing.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
From my email...
Yeah. It's been that kind of morning.
Right? I kept thinking that. In my head I was all, "DON'T MENTION THE UNLIMITED CABLE AND FREE LAW DEGREES!!!!"Also, you know you've left them in solitary for too long when the sad silence becomes enthusiastic play sounds with all the kids in there. Dang it!From: Chase Rawlins < >
To: Anna Rawlins <>
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 9:48 AM
Subject: Re: It just got realAwesome. I'm so glad you are my wife. I love you.Also, don't let them find out what prison life is really like. I hear it's pretty nice...ChaseOn Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 9:44 AM, Anna Rawlins <> wrote:After yet another morning of the kids pitching a fit when I ask them to get out their books and join me at the table, I sent them to bed. Then we had a lovely talk wherein I presented them with two choices: Obedience, with it's freedom and ability to make choices; or disobedience. I told them that in real life when grown-ups choose to disobey the law of the land they are put in jail where they are forced to do hard work and they don't get to make choices. But grown-ups who obey the law get to choose what they do with their life. So I told them that since they had chosen disobedience I would have to treat them like prisoners who disobey the law - after all, they are big kids now, so I might as well treat them like grown-ups. I gave them the list of things they would be cleaning, and informed them there would be no play time and no Webelos for Cameron tonight.Then I told them that because mommies are sometimes nice, they give kids a second chance (but only a second chance...not lots of lots of chances at being nasty). I told them we could start over, and they could think about it. They can choose obedience to the law of the land (in mommy's land, the law is doing schoolwork and chores cheerfully, after which they can enjoy freedom and choices), or they can choose disobedience to the law of the land, with it's resulting imprisonment (chores all day, no free-time and no activities/privileges).They're thinking about it. I'll let you know what they choose.p.s. I really hope they choose disobedience one of these days. I've got quite a list of work to be done, and I think it would be a lovely taste of real life.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
My $10,000 Dyson
So, Chase got me a Dyson. Finally! And she is a BEAUT, let me tell you. It's cleaning capacity is off the hook. Crumbs? Got it. Wood chips dragged in by the kids? Got it. Dimes, nickles, pennies, Pokemon coins, Legos, hair ties, bits of toilet paper? Got. It.
But she truly shines in the kitchen where she's put to the test daily. She's easy to maneuver under the table and around the chairs, and she's a master in the corners.
She's changed my life for sure and for certain. I mean, sure she took about a year to get up to full cleaning strength, but I hear that's normal for my particular model (see below).
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Why?
Since I get this question 146 times a day (Why?) I thought I'd ask a few of my own whys.
Why are new shoes the best toys in the world?
Why, when I asked Sophia if she was REALLY going to leave me and go off to preschool, did she get the smiliest face and say, "YES!"?
Why are toys so difficult to see when it's time for children to pick them up?
Why does five pounds make me go from in shape, to whale-esque?
Why do I feel no need to correct the way Sophia pronounces freckle (frickle)?
Why do manufacturers continue to make children's clothing in white, and why do I continue to buy them?
Why do able-bodied eight year-olds find infant walking toys so much more satisfying than, say, the closet-full of their own toys?
Why did Chase task me with acquiring protective athletic supporters for our sons?
Why did I feel so incredibly uncomfortable with this task?
Why are athletic supporters packaged with large pictures of mens groins on them?
Why was I so traumatized that I spent last night giddily thinking of sending Chase to buy Sophia's first training bra?
Why is revenge always an appealing idea?
Now that I think about it, maybe some questions are better left unanswered...
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Wait, I have a blog?
I'm pretty sure no one reads this thing anymore, which is understandable. I mean, I can relate. I drop in and out of readership of other people's blogs. And those are blogs where the blogger actually blogs. And still I forget to check in.
So when the blogger in charge of blogging stops blogging there's bound to be some blog-nesia on the part of the readers.
So if there's anyone out there, just know this.
I'm cooooooooooming!
Also too, this afternoon whilst watching Word Girl (on pbskids...if you're not watching it you're seriously missing out) I said, "Miles check out Captain Huggieface's dance moves!" To this Miles, in a voice that can only be described as hushed and reverent, replied, "Yeah I know. He's a incredible dancer. I don't know how he does it."
Monday, March 07, 2011
I'm still standing...
Better than I ever did. Looking like a true survivor. Feeling like a little kid!
That title has no real relevance to anything in this post. I just have that song in my head.
So last week on Friday Cameron stayed home from school. I totally thought he was faking it and I was NOT nice about the whole thing. We got him off to school and Chase called and said, "I'm turning around and bringing him home. He doesn't feel good." When he walked in the door a few minutes later he looked FINE! I took one look and said, 'Get your bag and get in the van. You're going to school." And then he turned on the tears and started grabbing his stomach, which is what he had been doing on and off the night before and that morning. Frustrated with the fact that I was in my gym clothes and now my plans were changing I said, "Fine. You stay home. But you'll be in your bed all day. Don't think you're going to be out here watching movies or something."
By 4:30 I was calling Chase telling him to come home and take Cam to the hospital. Our pediatrician thought there was a chance he had appendicitis because he had spent the last several hours laying in bed clutching his stomach and screaming in pain. So as I shipped Cam off to the ER with daddy I was feeling like a super stellar mother. What kind of mother is mean to their sick kid?
Thankfully, after lots of prayers on my part, Cam did not have appendicitis. He had some weird, horrible stomach virus that manifested itself in nothing but violent stomach cramps. No vomiting, no fever. Just cramps that would come on suddenly and he'd be doubled over with tears streaming down his face. This went on from Thursday night until Sunday morning.
On the plus side, Cameron was really excited to explain, in detail, what an IV is and how they "stick a straw in your vein" to his friends. I'm really hoping he doesn't explain the enema he also got...
So the biggest of my littles is back to school today and feeling grand.
Miles, however, woke up with pink eye and a cold. Yet another day at the gym thwarted.
I don't really have much else to share as far as family news. My half-marathon training is going great. Jen and I completed our 8-miler in 80 minutes on Saturday. And the first three miles were straight into a head-wind. It sucked, to say the least. But we felt great at the end. I think we've really found a good pace.
Cameron got to check out Miles at gymnastics on Friday and decided he wanted to try it again, too. Our rec center offers a class for older boys that just happens to start this Wednesday, so it seems the stars were aligned on that one. I did tell him that he had to choose between gymnastics and martial arts. I feel like my kids are too young to be involved in multiple sports/activities at the same time. And it's too expensive! Cameron really had to think about it, though. He's got great plans for being a master ninja so putting that on hold is hard. But I think watching Miles get rolled around in the foam tube erased all doubt from his mind. Ninja training will have to wait.
Miles is doing really, really well in pre-school. It's been so fun to watch him go from this insanely wild toddler to a big kid who can sit and color for hours on end. He is an information sponge, too. He comes home from school and spouts the most awesome stuff about sharks, and where apples come from, and space... He finds every little thing fascinating!
And maybe he found some scissors and cut a sweet patch out of his hair last week.
Sophia is more than meets the eye. At first glance she's all bouncy blonde hair and blue-eyed sweetness. But take a closer look and you'll see an iron will and an attitude that rivals any teenager in a 10 mile radius. She's been a time-out corner resident a lot in the last few months. She can't wait to start pre-school in the fall when Miles heads off to school. She will probably start ballet or dance at the same time because cousin Natalie has been showing her some moves and it makes me turn to jello when I watch her copy them.
Haley is a sweet ball of baby goodness. Literally. If you drew a circle and put her in it she would fill up most of the space. A few weeks ago I decided she absolutely needed to sleep through the night. This was a hard one for me because she's been such a great baby! Since we brought her home from the hospital she has been able to fall asleep on her own in the crib. She's never needed a bottle or hours of rocking/bouncing/walking to get to sleep. I just stick her in the crib with her binkie and walk out. The problem was staying asleep after she lost her binkie - some nights she would wake up two or three times needing it! So we had to do the cry-it-out weekend, and guess what? She rocked it. Two nights and done. Sleeping through the night like a champ. Of course Miles and Sophia have more than made up for her...Sigh.
Chase is doing the usual work type stuff and church type stuff. I'm just keeping all the balls in the air and providing clean clothes and regular nourishment:) It's a great job if you can get it!
Sophia dressed up "like a princess." Um, I'm pretty sure most princesses own brushes, babe.
Ever wonder what happens when you leave the nutella on the counter while you're out of the room?
Cameron spent a lot of time doing this over the weekend. I like how he put squares of toilet paper under his hands:) That's my boy!
That's my paper cutter, and that's Cameron's playdough. They don't make a great match, I assure you.
Friday, February 18, 2011
I love when people do the work for me...
Do you love that I add ellipses to the end of so many blog titles? You should.
Over Christmas I went to Pennsylvania to visit my family. While I was there we were at my little sister's house. While there my kids discovered HER kids' stash of fabulous hats and sunglasses. I've seriously never seen a collection like that. It was great. My kids were in heaven.
So we did what every good parent does. We put them on our poor, defenseless baby.
I can't do it anymore justice than my sister did, and I really appreciate that she took the time to download pictures, then upload them to the blog because that means I didn't have to do it. So go here to check it out. You will not be sorry! Or maybe you will feel sorry for Haley that she got stuck with us for parents, but that's entirely beside the point.
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Some funnies
Miles says awesome stuff. I think I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.
On Thursday I told Miles we had to get in the car to go pick up Cameron from school. After thinking about it for a moment his eyes literally lit up and he said, "mommy, I know!" And then went on to describe, in detail, how he wanted me to open the garage door and he would hang on so it pulled him up in the air. And then I would back out allowing him to drop onto the top of the car, and then while the vehicle was still moving he would climb through the door and THEN put on his seatbelt. Because, you know, safety first.
And speaking of, "you know" Miles likes to throw that into his explanations. I'll ask him what he wants for lunch and his response will be, "Um, a sandwich with meat and, you know, cheese." Why the "you know" is necessary I actually don't know. But it's awesome, so that's that.
Also too, Miles likes to watch a show called Kipper. It's about a dog and his friends. It happens to be a British show. So Miles has picked up the accent, which is rad. He doesn't ask to watch Kipper. He asks to watch Kippah.
Lastly, tonight after Miles' bath he asked me to use the "hot wind maker" on him. You know, the blow dyer.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Soothing bedtime routines
I am really going to buckle down and blog this week. I'm not going to attempt to catch up with stuff that I've been up to over the last two months of my blogging hiatus. That's too daunting. But I really have to get back into the groove of blogging! It's just a lot of work. But it's good, worthwhile work.
So to start us off, here's a little video of daddy's version of bedtime.
Soothing, yes?
Monday, October 04, 2010
Bilingual
The other day as Sophia was in the bathroom she looked up and said, "Pee first and then poopy. That's English mommy."
Today while eating lunch she said, "Humongous. Hu-mon-gous. That's spanish mommy."
Just thought I'd share the awesomeness.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Meh
I just took Sophia to the potty and she managed to pee on the seat a little bit, at which point she tearfully said, "Oh no, I got pee on the potty. I didn't point my penis down!"
And that's when I realized I need to blog more often. Because what else do you do with that?
The problem with blogging, for me at least, is that I tend to think I need 'something to blog about." I've always leaned toward the side of the dramatic, and I really like to exaggerate. I do it about a bajillion times a day. So writing about the normal hum-drum of life doesn't always fuel my creative senses. And I don't like to blog unless I'm feeling creative-y.
Sigh.
So here I am. Mother of four with not very much drama going on. How is that even possible? Things are hectic for sure, but not dramatic.
Dear Grandma, send food. I'm starving over here.
In other news, The Haley has arrived (as pictured above and below) and it is FABULOUS. The mix of yellows, greens and blues is incredible. When Sara asked if I had any color preference for it I just told her I trusted her to make something beautiful. She delivered. Oh, did she deliver.
And speaking of deliveries, I have yet another niece!!!!! Jen had her baby on the 12th (Cameron's birthday!) and she is a juicy piece of baby. I still haven't figured out the physics of how such a big baby (9lbs. 4 oz.) fit inside such a tiny person. She honestly didn't even look that big at the end. But one way or the other, Courtney Lynne is here and we love her! So, for those of you who are counting, she is the THIRD Rawlins granddaughter born in the space of 8 weeks. Clearly we are a productive, hard-working group.
So yeah, that's about it. Not a whole lot going on aside from the usual, everyday biznass. But I thought my mom might appreciate knowing that I'm still alive.
That is all.
Go about your day.





























