Creation Questions w/Kids

One question that I've gotten over the years of homeschooling is how do I address dinosaurs and evolution. After all most books and encyclopedias treat evolution as fact.

Here's a brief run down of what we believe here at Treehouse Schoolhouse.

The flood changed everything.

Before the flood it had never rained before.

Nor were there any volcanoes.

Dinosaurs existed when man existed.

Before the flood the earth was covered with a crystalline canopy. When the sunlight hit the earth through this canopy, the sunlight was spread out equally over the whole earth. The weather was tropical all over, a tropical paradise. This would explain why Greenland and Canada have had palm fronds found buried deep beneath the snow, why islands in the Arctic Circle have whole fruit trees, with fruit still on them, buried in their snow and why forests of Redwood trees can be found under the snow of the south pole.

At the time of the flood it rained for the first time (this explains why everyone thought Noah was crazy) and volcanoes erupted for the first time, (genesis 8:2). The land masses that covered the earth were pushed apart or together giving us the current continent set-up we have today.

Because of the canopy that surrounded the earth the atmosphere was better for the body's cells. There was more atmospheric pressure. More atmospheric pressure as in the beginning of creation, would mean the pressure of the air would be forced into the body's lungs and cells more than today. The people before and after the flood would have been in much better shape. This also allowed people and animals to grow larger and live longer. (Genesis 6:4)

Remember when God created the earth it was perfect, since the fall it got worse.

This would allow for dinosaurs to live and grow large. The atmosphere after the flood was not conducive for these larger animals to live so they died off. My boys believe that if we could get to the depths of the ocean we would still find dinosaurs living in the darkness of the sea.

How could man and dinosaur live in peace together? Haven't you seen the T-Rex?
There is an answer to this, you'll have to wait because I have an office to clean.

Hope you enjoyed this history/science lesson.
Until next time...

A System from Under the Laundry Pile

Systems.

Laundry. Still working out one that I like and that works real good.



The best thing in this area is this:

Do a load of laundry every day.



I'm sure I got this from Flylady. I discovered her back in 1997 and so much of what I've discovered that works comes from her.



Anyway,a load of laundry a day helps keep the smell away, or the large pile of laundry that takes over the corner of my bedroom away.



I'm not picky about separating whites and darks and colors. Most things get washed all together around the Span Ranch, if Uncle Rich ever reads this he's freaking out right now- don' worry Uncle Rich they still clean the same.



The only item(s) that get washed by themselves are Steve's work socks and clothes, although I've been known to throw in some darker stuff with those, and Vaughan's football clothes. If you could see the stink, yes it can be seen, you would stay away as well.



So a load of laundry a day is the first part of my laundry system, the second part is this:



Teach my children to do the laundry!



Easy to do, can't be messed up much and if you have an issue with how things are folded, fold yourself, teach them (and be patient when it's not perfect) or who gives a darn how it's folded, it's clean isn't it!



This second system took off great with Vaughan, he does his own laundry and is a great starter and pusher through of all things laundry here on the Span Ranch. I however take on the folding for Steve and I and Justin. Vaughan takes care of his own and I like my folding patterns best so I do it!



Justin, however is a great laundry pusher througher, since my washer knob is broken and it takes a pair of needle nose pliers to start the thing, along with a small degree in broken laundry room appliances, anyway Justin hasn't quite figured this part out yet, neither has his father, so I start and he pushes through!!



So I hope you've enjoyed this version of my systems, I know it's inspired me to implement them!!



Happy day!



-Michelle
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All Things on A List

I'm a system and list girl.

Things seem to flow better that way, especially during football season.

I'm also a procrastinator and a stop and smell the flower kinda girl.

So a list is a must, a system extremely helpful; that is if I implement them both.

A list in my calendar does me no good if I never open the calendar and a system does me no good if I never implement it.

We have a system for dishes, laundry, cleaning the bathroom, homeschool, prayer requests... you name it I have a system list in a notebook somewhere in my house. Oh yes, spiral bound notebooks- my dream. Heaven I am sure will have an unlimited supply of them, in every color. Green for house/finances, purple for spiritual stuff, red for school/learning, black for household things...

oops, I'm getting side-tracked (oh to not be ADHD?)

Anyway,

Dishes:
I don't have a dishwasher and my children just don't cut it when it comes to washing the dishes; Steve works too many hours outside the house to qualify as a dishwasher, so that leaves me and the dog. And let's face it- the dog thinks he's a cat not a human so he's out!

First of all dishes are my pet peeve. I hate doing them, yet I hate seeing them pile up on the counter. So I've come up with 2 systems in the pre-washing stage.

First I have a dish pan that sits under the kitchen sink. This is a good spot to house the dirty bowls and cups and plates that seem to multiply each time I leave the room. This also keeps them out of eyesight.

Second is silverware. I keep a large ice cream tub next to my sink, marked with "Silverware" on it. All dirty utensils go in here and when it's time to actually wash them, I fill the tub up with soapy water- let it sit while I wash the other dishes and when it comes time to do the silverware, viola! it's easy.

So I as I sit here typing this blog, my dishes sit waiting for some attention- perhaps I should now go and wash them. Yes that's the most important part of the whole system: doing it, and in the case of dishes doing them after every meal. Smaller loads are not so overwhelming, are qucik and easy to do and let's face it the longer dirty dishes sit the yuckier they are.

For some great housekeeping tips check out my favorite website for all things clean: www.flylady.net She'll help you get out of CHAOS and Fly to a happier home!

That is of course if you actually implement the systems!

And one last note since I near the sink, a nice litle tub for composte items works nice as well. The kids can definately empty this into the compost pile. Don't compost? That'll have to be another post.

-Michelle
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Week One Down

One week into our school year!
And today we had our first day off. I usually don't take Labor Day off from school but this year we did, just because we could, and Vaughan had to work.

Our first week had some bumps, OK so it was my worst week this year EVER! (homeschooling just a small part of it all; but we survived. By Wednesday J and I were already falling behind and by Friday we finished strong- still missing a few assignments, but how was I to know that our science experiments would take a little longer than planned.

Oh yes, a little longer than planned. Gotta keep that in mind as most things with children take a little longer or a little shorter than planned.

Handwriting lessons, much easier than planned- J finished 20 lessons in his first 2 days... not sure that's what handwriting is all about- finishing the whole book in the first 2 weeks, but good job; science, much more fun than I remembered, therefore taking a long time to complete, putting it in the longer than planned section.

This week I'll add math into the mix for J and language arts and science for Vaughan, yes we stagger start- works better for me. I leave out a subject or two for each of them for the first week.

First week for Vaughan went great- last year's self motivation has carried over, what a joy it is to have him take that initiative, Lord may it last 'til Christmas.

As I get ready to jump into our second week I must keep in mind that my planning must be structured and fairly well put together but flexible. So what if we take a little extra time on a particular lesson and run out of time to fit in another one, it's the love of learning I want to promote and to put it in the confines of a checklist, it just doesn't work out quite right for us.

I also need to cook my meals ahead of time- planned on doing that today but it just didn't work out, a quick beach swim, before getting instructed that dangerous marine life had been spotted, lunch with my mom and a cleaning job took up my day so I got one meal pre-made. Guess it's time to implement my plan of having the boys cook a night a week- wanted to do this last year, just have a hard time getting this to stick- not sure why.

Well gotta go guys just walked in.




-Michelle
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