ask the librarian

Growing up, I never took advantage of the school or local librarians. I've always preferred to walk around the library (and stores, actually) myself rather than have someone show me around. I'm just now thinking that I might have had better success finding good books in CG's library if I'd enlisted the help of the librarians.

Maybe for this reason or maybe because we homeschool, I'm working hard to make sure my children know how to use both the online catalog and feel comfortable talking to the librarians. Jonah isn't so sure, but Caroline has embraced it completely.

For some reason or another, she has been very interested in The Lion King recently. At the library last week, she came up to me with a picture book version of the movie. She flipped open the book and asked me whether a particular cub was Simba or Nala. "The librarian wasn't sure, but she did find me this book!" Later, when Miriam wanted a copy of The Three Little Pigs, I tried to herd the kids to the computer. "No, Mom!" Caroline said, "I know what to do!" She marched right over to the librarian and asked for help finding a book for her sister.

I was so proud, even if she did tell me she didn't want my help.

it's an eclipse!

So there was an eclipse! Josh came home early, so we pulled the kids outside and enjoyed watching the sun disappear. These pictures are from early on in the process since things got too interesting for taking pictures pretty quickly. We followed it up with doughnuts and making chalk eclipses.

Could she really see with her hand over the glasses? Probably not.

The pinhole viewer was neat, but the image was very small. I hear really long boxes worked best.

Everything is better with Cinderella close by to watch.

Miriam's eclipse turned purple pretty early on. Then she flipped the page over and wrote her name. (I didn't even realize she could do that!) There wasn't enough room for the final "M," so she spent the next 15 minutes in her room crying that her project was ruined. It was a fun day, but we were all ready for bed by the end.

The Solar Eclipse (By Jonah)

This is mainly for Grandma Hunt, because she wants to hear what we think about the Solar Eclipse, but, what the heck, it's so weirdly interestingly cool, it's for everyone.

                THE SOLAR ECLIPSE---(by Jonah) 

So, the Solar Eclipse started at 2:45, gradually darkening the sky. About 3:00, it reached the maximum (when it was as dark as it would get). We weren't directly in it's path of totality, so to speak, but we were pretty close. Our house was 98%, meaning the sun was almost completely covered. It got very cool from 2:50-3:10 or so. It was sooo weird, it was like looking through invisible sunglasses. My brain said "take the sunglasses off, this is getting awkward, Sun!" but I couldn't, as I didn't actually have on sunglasses on!

                            *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *      
SO,  you're wondering, "how did you look at the Solar Eclipse?" well, there are a lot of ways. There are special cameras you can use to look at it. But daddy had some solar eclipse glasses, which when you look through them, you cannot see anything except for the sun. He also made a Pinhole Camera, as explained shortly. At one point, the mailman came to deliver a package. I asked her (it was a girl) if she wanted to look through the Solar Eclipse Glasses. She did, and said it was pretty cool. Then we opened the package, and inside was Caroline and my Nature Journals for school (we've started school already) there, I sketched what the solar eclipse looked like through the glasses, and also what they looked like through the Pinhole camera |
                                                                |
                                                               \/

      The pinhole camera is made by ( in this case, a Captain Crunch box ) cutting two holes in the top of the box. the first one tape foil over the top, and use a needle to poke a tiny hole. the second one you can look through, to see the light from the solar eclipse shining through. There will be two, and They will be in the same shape as the Solar Eclipse, too. It's pretty cool, actually.

Anyway, It was fun to see nighttime, literally  in the middle of the day!! -Jonah

You're lucky I like to blog, Grandmas . Now I will explode your brain! {by Jonah}

Today, we learn more about Heroes of the Storm!
Do you remember where we left off? We're due for a blog about Quests and Universe Identification!
If there's anything that sounds more like a boring math assignment..well..let me know!
So, go to where you choose your character. After you win/lose a game, click HOME (it may be different now) to get to your selection screen. You will see the character you played in the last game and your "exit" thingy. (How helpful is that?) click on that, and you will see two options (well, lots but two important ones). First, EXIT to quit your game, and second, QUESTS. There will be things like, 'win three games' or 'play a diablo hero' or 'play three warriors'. (By the way, Warriors have a lot of health and deal a bunch of damage, as apposed to healers which are the opposite, etc.)

                                        O     O      O      O      O


so, once you've checked your quests, then you click on the character you played for the last game.
This will bring you to the..er..something screen, (look, there's like, a thousand names that sound just like evil language arts homework, so cut me some slack,)which will give you a view of ALL the characters you own, and the ones you don't, meaning you see all the characters ever. Up on the top left, there is a row of symbols. One for Diablo III, Starcraft, Blizard, World of Warcraft, etc.
Example: If you click on one of the symbols (say, World of Warcraft,) Then all of the characters who have been re-created from that game, Malfurion, Brightwing, ETC, (actually a character!!) etc will be highlighted, so if you have a quest that says "PLAY THREE WARCRAFT CHARACTERS" click that and choose your hero!


    TO BE CONTINUED.........

    Jonah Mays

Imagination Studio presents: a step-by-step guide to creating your own calendar! (By Jonah)

                        HOW TO MAKE A HOME-MADE CALENDAR - BY JONAH

 step one: gather your resources. you will need: 1-12 sheets of paper, (12 if you are making
the entire calender at the same time, and vice versa.) one pencil, one pen, one ruler, patience and, if you are making a "trim" (see step 5 ), markers/colored pencils. You will also need a calender to copy off of.

step two: using your calender, starting at January, (or your present month,) start copying. 
using your ruler, create 5/6 straight lines across the paper. Now going vertically, create the separate days. This may be confusing, in which case you can create the day squares individually, one at a time.

step three: mark out your days. example: you have your squares, now mark the numbers.
1, 2, 3! once you have written down the numbers, you can (optionally) create a 2-centimeter thick bar across the top. Now divide that into seven rectangles, and write down MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY, and SUNDAY! Now, on top of your bar, on the left-hand side write '*month*, *year*' example, at this time of writing it is August. So I would write 'August 2017'. 

step four: mark out the events in your month. (i.e., solar eclipse, birthday, party, et cetera) 
here I don't really have to write much instruction. It's pretty simple.

step five: (OPTIONAL) create the "trim".
the "trim", as I am calling it, is a strip of a separate piece of paper attached with glue or tape to the other side. you could color on it to create a picture on top of your calender. Using your markers/colored pencils, draw your own design. From beautiful patterns to giraffes to a Jedi duel, you can create a decorative picture, as well as a useful tool!

hang on your wall and enjoy!




                       -JONAH MAYS

(for the first time in about a century, I finally get to type BY JONAH) Little Yellow Rock Star :D

Okay, it's been a while since I've blogged, summer break and all.
And it's kinda weird that I didn't blog until right before break, but, what the heck, I've got a funny story for you all.

               (NOTE: Story will be more funny for those who have watched the movie 'Minions'. )                                      
                 

                              LITTLE  RED RIDING HOOD (ADAPTED  BY JONAH MAYS)

               ONCE upon a time, there was a boy named Stuart. H e was off to his Grandminion's house
to give her some cake. (she was sick.) "Bebelulalofusji!" said Kevin (which was minion for "don't go through the woods!") Stu replied, "HAHAHA! no, no, Kevin!"  and he was off!
soon he had an anonymous encounter with a stick, a bowl, and a ball of string.                    Meanwhile,  ScarletOverwolf was eating his grandminion who for some reason was awed by her!
"Ooh-la-la!," she said. "Big Boooss? Big booss?" What gibberish!
Finally, he choked her down and put on her night gown, glasses and wig (he couldn't do anything about the one eye) and got into bed.
Then Stu opened the door. "Fmeihtaeahfeoiahfoaeiwhgnnneiahgeotiha!!" he said excitedly telling his daring escape from the moss patch.
"Oooh-hu Grandee! Big nose!" said Stuart
"Ooh-um-hooo Steve-I mean, erghhh...all the better to" her scarlet dress escaped the covers, and she hurriedly hid it but falling off the bed in the process. this was funny enough to Stuart to wipe the conversation from his mind. I mean, what the heck? that was horrible minnionesse!
"Ooh-hu Grandee! big teeth!" said Stuart.
"All the better to eat you-I mean bananas with!" ScarletOverwolf stuttered
"Ooh-hu Grandee! big eye!" said Stuart from routine from his other visits. Then he realized that Grandee didn't have one eye, she had two eyes!!
 "You not Grandee!" growled Stuart" then he performed something quite...unusual.
"SUPER-MEGA-UKELELE!!!!!!" screamed Stuart, swinging his uke which he had made from the anonymous encounter from earlier. Obviously, he didn't survive. I mean, who would?

That kid really needs some lessons. "NOOO! SUPER-MEGA-UKELELE!" BANG!!!