Real Heros (aka Firefighters)

We 'home edders' like to bunk off book work every now and then and take a trip out & about.

This past week we joined the Portsmouth home ed group and visited the local Fire Station.

We had lots of fun!

Here is our guide fireman showing us how a fire hydrant works:

Everyone trying to listen carefully as the fireman taught us 

all a bit about the fire engine. 

 One of the girls was asked to dress up

in the fireman's heavy suit and boots!  lol

Then we got to see the massive ladder go up to full height - 100ft

I asked the boys if they fancied climbing to the top..

needless to say they were rather terrified at the thought!

Such brave men and women our firefighters!

 And then the lucky kiddies got to have a ride in the

ladder 'box'!  (only a few feet up from the ground I might add!!)

 Say cheese!

 Next we went inside the station and learnt about

how they receive their information on what the fire

is and where.  We even got to hear the alarm go off.  :O)

The sleeping quarters... aka (by the boys) the smelly room!  lol

(I have to kinda agree!)

 And then.. the best bit of all

The children got to have a go with the hose!!  

WOOHOO!

 Fireman pole demonstration

 Weeeeee

Nice fireman posed for the shot so we wouldn't have
blurry shots!   haha

Lastly the children were shown the cutting equipment.

The fireman rather enjoyed telling the children

that this piece of machinery was for picking bogies!  :S

Charming!  (Caden thought it was hilarious! sigh.. boys!)

 O and not forgetting the goodies at the end.  :O)

And there we have it!!  A school trip enjoyed by all.. well except for when the lovely fireman decided

to scare my 2 youngest out of their skins by honking the very loud engine horn!

Red, Blue & Green

Well we have been busy here at the Short household with some science this week and we've tried our hand at turning celery red & blue, amongst other things, but more on the other experiments and projects on a future blog post as those experiments/projects are not finished yet.  

Discovery

Caden went first with his celery stick and red food colouring.  We started off in a large glass pretty much filled with water, but we later decided that a small glass only partially filled was probably better.

Charlie went next, here he is prepping his water.  Quinn was our stirrer and carefully mixed the colouring into the water.

Excited to see what was going to happen..

And here - the finished experiment: 

24 hours later

How cool is this!  :O)

It was amazing watching the leaves slowly turn red!

Who would have thought this was a celery leaf! ?

Our God.. is an awesome God He reins.. in heaven and earth la la... la la la la lala la la la la la la!  

adding 1 more to the mix

Yikes...  Quinn has started school!  

How time flies!  I can't quite believe that the time has come for 3 little pupils in 

my classroom!

My life is one big balancing act between the responsibilities of being a wife, mother, teacher & friend.  I feel like I've joined the circus, but I'm still in training because I keep failing to keep everything in the air.. something inevitably gets dropped. (one just hopes it's not the baby) 

This is definitely an adjustment for us.

How cute is he!

So little Quinny started his first day of school on the 18th of April.  Bless him he was so excited about it!  I was/am excited too, but trying to fit everything in has been less exciting.  I'd like to say I'm getting there, but honestly I'm really quite struggling at the moment.  Home educating has never felt so much of a sacrifice as now.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning our decision to home educate.. not at all.  I'm as committed to it as ever.. just that I'm feeling the sacrifice it is for me more than ever.  I hope and pray that over the next few weeks I'll get into a good routine with it, one that works well for everyone.  I don't want to just get the job done though, I want to do it well, I want my children to love school, I don't want it to be just an education.. I want it to be enriching their lives.  With a bit of determination, a lot of help from upstairs, and perhaps a bit more sleep (hah who am I kidding!) I hope I manage to achieve this goal.


Life brings many challenges and I guess we just need to embrace them and let them change us for the better.. let them grow our characters and not let them swallow us.  Lord knows I feel swallowed many days...  so I'm working on that!  :O)  Troubles is.. character growth is usually painful.. and slow!  

“‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’” Isaiah 41:10