Kelley's blog listings.

Still kicking believe it or not

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:10:06 -0500

We're homeschooling again this year with K-12 (5th year) and I'm going to try and blog more. Our family has been through a lot this past year and I haven't had much time to devote to writing about our journey. I hope you all are doing well & hope to catch up with you all soon.

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Friday Night Live Chats At MHSP

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:28:19 -0500

I'm thinking about a Friday night live chat session here at MHSP and would like to invite everyone to attend. I don't get home until after 7 pm so I guess we could say folks can come and go from 8 to 10 pm MST on Fridays. That might be too late for our east coast friends so we may have to change the time. If you are on the east coast and would like to meet earlier, just post it on the chat box and we'll all try to make it then.

To get to "Live Chat", click on the link at the top of the page under the kiddos on the MHSP banner. You can enter just your first name or even an alias of your choosing. Below the name is a space for your website. You all have a unique web page url listed as www.myhomeschoolplace.com/__________ . The blank is your personal site. If you want to, list this url in the website box and other members can click on your name to go directly to your site.

Hope to see you all then. Have a great day!

Kelley

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U Pick Farms & Community Supported Agriculture

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:31:33 -0500

My daughter and I were having a talk this morning about what we could do this weekend. The fall is such a beautiful time in New Mexico and there are so many things to do. The state fair is here and it's always a lot of fun so I suggested she choose between the fair and another annual event happening, which is raspberry picking at Heidi's Raspberry Farm in nearby Corrales, NM.

We talked about how much fun the midway rides are at the fair and the smell of barbeque cooking & cotton candy filling the air and all the wonderful merchants displaying their wares for all to see and buy. We talked about the exhibits, the animal barns, face painting, and the fact that we would not manage to escape the experience without spending a minimum of $150.00 for the day.

Then we began to talk about the raspberry farm and how beautiful all the ripened berries look and delicious they smell fresh on the vines. How nice it would be to walk through the raspberry fields with the Sandia Mountains as the backdrop, breathing the fresh air, and enjoying the simplicity of picking our own fruit from the vines. And if that weren't enough, we had to talk about the jam. The best raspberry jam in the world comes from Heidi's Raspberry Farms here in Corrales, NM. We calculated our take home supply to be about $12.00 in raspberries at $4.00 a pint, and another $24.00 in jams to be shared with family at holiday time.

I thought the farm wouldn't stand a change against ferris wheels, bumper cars, and face paint but my darling Hannah enthusiastically chose the raspberry farm. It made me proud of her choice so I began to think about how much local sustainable agriculture means to us. The main reason for me sharing this story is to encourage each of you to enjoy locally grown, freshly picked produce.

In communities all across the country there are U Pick community farms where you can go and pick pumpkins, fresh berries, apples, cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, squash, peaches, cherries, blueberries and so much more. Some are called "U Pick" farms, some are called "Pick Your Own" farms but all are worth checking out. Children learn so much from these "field trip" type experiences and have such a renewed appreciation for nature and how we, as humans, connect with it in such a personal way. It's beautiful to watch and I hope each of you are able to share agriculture with your children in one way or another.

To find U Pick farms in your area, go to http://www.pickyourown.org/ and select your state.

Another great experience to share with your children, if you can, is to support local CSA programs. CSA means Community Supported Agriculture. Throughout the course of human history, people have had a strong connection to the land. It has only been recently that our families and towns have struggled to keep that connection intact.

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a special relationship that a farmer, or a group of farmers, engages in with his or her local consumers. Members of the community sign up in advance for a "share" of all the fruits, vegetables, and flowers that a farmer will produce in a given season. Members of the CSA then either come to the farm once a week to pick up their "share" of the bounty, select to pick the box up at a location close to the member's home, or can now select to have the produce delivered to their home or office.

There is generally what is called a "work share" program and there can be different levels of involvement. A "work share" is an opportunity for a member to work on the farm in exchange for a reduction in the CSA fees.

I can't speak highly enough for U Pick farms & CSA programs and hope you all can find a program in your area.

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Name Initial Game - Per Jodi's Blog

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:03:33 -0600

I couldn't resist this one. It doesn't take long and I thought I do it tonight but didn't want to wait.

1. Famous Singer: Kelly Clarkson

2. Four Letter Word: Kind

3. Street: Katheryn Street

4. Color: Kelly Green

5. Gifts / Presents: Kokopelli placemats

6. Vehicle: Kia

7, Things in a Souvenir Shop: Key Ring

8. Boy Name; Keith

9. Girl Name: Kierstin

10. Movie Title; King Kong

11. Drink: Kiva Smoothie

12. Occupation: King

13. Celebrity: Katie Holmes

14. Magazine: Kidz Magazine

15. City: Kurkuit

16. Sport: Kick Boxing

17. Fruit: Kumquat

18. Reason for being late for work: Killed my dog by accidentially running her over.

19. Something you throw away: Kids trash leftover from art projects

20. Something you shout: Knock, knock!

Thanks Jodi, that's fun! The letter K is tough!

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Politics & Time Restraints

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:12:37 -0600

I haven't had much time to get online lately because school started back up on Monday and it's been a challenging week.

I worked for several weeks with the Richardson for President campaign but he withdrew from the race so I was pretty sad about that for some time this past week. I really don't like the direction our country is headed and feel like the presidential campaign had become a social experiment. I won't go into the details on how I feel about the whole thing, but I'll just say I have very strong feelings about politics and the future of our kids.

In addition to school, this time of year is our busiest for the flower business and putting together orders, and planning for Valentine's Day takes an enormous amount of time and effort.

Hannah also has begun Ice Skating lessons so we've been taking her to that as well. Since we moved from CA to NM she has really been taking a break from all activities so she hasn't done anything at all. We thought it would be good to get her going again on some activity so she chose Ice Skating and we'll see how it goes. So far so good.

I just wanted to let eveyone know what we've been up to in case anyone is wondering where we went.

I hope you all are doing well and staying warm in this frigid weather!

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Brantley Lake State Park

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 16:59:52 -0600

The 3rd stop on our Christmas Adventure was Brantley Lake State Park. This post will be really short because we really were only there a couple of hours. Long enough to watch the sunset.

This was about 10 minutes away from the KOA Campground we stayed at so I'll combine the Camping photos with the lake photos.

Carlsbad KOA Campground ....the folks there were super friendly and across from our cabin were thousands upon thousands of pecan trees. I would have loved to see them in the summer when they are in full bloom. The campground was almost like a vacation in itself and we roasted marshmallows for the first time in many years, I had forgotten how delicious they were!

Brantley Lake State Park has a beautiful landscape but the fish are catch and release only due to pesticide contaminates in the water. No surprise there, we didn't hang out for long. A lot of space for RV's, and a nice boat dock.

And that's pretty much all to share about this segment of the trip. The next one will be Carlsbad Caverns.

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Happy New Year!

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:22:42 -0600

I want to wish all of our friends at MHSP a very Happy New Year and send our best wishes for a healthy, inventive, and prosperous New Year.

Graphics for Happy New Year Comments

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UFO Museum and Research Center

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:43:15 -0600

The second stop on our Christmas Adventure was the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, NM. It was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it to all who are in the area.

Now I don't necessarily believe in aliens but I do believe there are so many unexplained things and the trip to the museum was really an eye opening experience. It really wasn't all that long ago scientists thought the earth was flat right? So there's no doubt there is much to be discovered in our vast universe.

The International UFO Museum and Research Center was organized to inform the public about what has come to be know as "The Roswell Incident". The museum is dedicated to the collection and preservation of materials and information in written, audio, and visual formats that are relevant to the 1947 Roswell Incident and other unexplained phenomena related to UFO research. The Museum endeavors to be the leading information source in history, science and research about UFO events worldwide.

There is a new multi-million dollar museum in the works just a few short blocks away from the current one and it looks like it is going to be amazing!

I wanted to share some photos with you and you can view the complete gallery of photos we took here.

This is the entrance of the museum

Here's some of the wonderful artwork that was on display

Here's some of the equipment that was used when the first reports of the UFO incidents hit the airwaves.

And here's the original

1947 RADIO BROADCAST OF "UFO CRASH NEAR ROSWELL"

Here are photos of the Hollywood version of the incident and the actual alien props used in 1994 movie "Roswell".

That's pretty gross, I know but to an 8 year old kid, it's VERY fascinating.

There were exhibits of photographs of crop circles, close encouters of the first, second, and third kinds.

And perhaps the most interesting of all was the exhibit of the Palenque Astronaut tomb-lid (base-relief) that was found in the sacred Temples of Palenque.

Translated from the original inscription dated 400-600 AD, it is truly a beautiful work of art. This is a replica of course, but it's beautiful none the less. Can you imagine stumbling upon this priceless piece of history?

Very interesting friends, very interesting.

Then, there's the UFO research center. The photos below are courtesy of the Roswell UFO Museum website. I didn't get photos of it but it was a pretty massive collection of research.

You can watch a short video tour of the museum

HERE

And if you are really inspired and would like to browse the gift shop to pick up some out of this world giftables, you can go shopping by clicking on the photo below

And that's a look at the International UFO Museum in Roswell, NM. It sure made me think twice about the age old question "Are we alone?" LOL!

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Valley of Fires

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:59:59 -0600

First stop on our Christmas adventure was the Valley of Fires. We initially were going to get to Carlsbad, NM via an eastern NM route but the roads were snow packed and icy so we ended up going south and then east. It was a much more exciting adventure.

Valley of Fires recreation area is located immediately adjacent to the Malpais Lava Flow. Approximately 5,000 years ago, Little Black Peak erupted and flowed 44 miles into the Tularosa Basin, filling the basin with molten rock. The resulting lava flow is four to six miles wide, 160 feet thick and covers 125 square miles. The lava flow is considered to be one of the youngest lava flows in the continental United States.

From a distance, Valley of Fires appears as barren rock but when you walk through the nature trail there are many varieties of flowers, cactus, trees and bushes typical of the Chihuahuan desert. Animals include bats, roadrunners, quail, cottontails, mule deer, barberry sheep, and lizards. It's also a virtual birdwatcher's paradise with great horned owls, burrowing owls, buzzards, hawks, gnat catchers, cactus wrens, sparrows and golden eagles.

We didn't stay long enough to enjoy all the animals but it sure was beautiful. A great detour and a nice place to enjoy peace and quite for a short while.

Here's a photo of the area from Google Earth. Pretty blackened I'd say.

Here's a photo of one of the rocks. The rock photo is courtesy of the NM Dept of Tourism.

There is a nice book & gift shop right at the top of the trails and as you stand at the top, it seems to go on forever and ever. It's really remarkable.

On to our next adventure......

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Christmas Adventures

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:25:44 -0600

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and getting a little break from school. We went on a rather adventurous journey this last weekend and made it back just in time for Christmas which was spent pretty much at rest due to exhaustion.

New Mexico is a large state with a lot of nature to explore. I'll be sharing our journey in several different posts to differentiate the locations.

In chronological order, this is a list of where we went & I'll be making a separate post for each.

1. Valley of Fires Recreation Area in southeastern New Mexico

2. International UFO Museum in Roswell, NM

3. Brantley Lake State Park

4. Carlsbad Caverns National Park

5. Sitting Bull Falls

6. Christmas on the Pecos

It might take awhile to get it all posted but I've got some photos posted under Family Trips if you'd like to take a sneak peek.

I didn't realize how much we were doing so when we got back, I was in so much pain from a condition called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). I haven't even been able to walk the last couple of days but I'm feeling much better now. I won't bore you with the details but any strenous exercise can produce this condition so it's best to get educated about it from someone else who has had it....LOL.

I'll post more soon, it's nice to be home and feeling well again!

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