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Flower Photography, and History Repeating

June 3, 2012 By Laura 6 Comments

003_iris-flowers-150x150

I don’t know where time has gone, but I sure wish it would slow down some.  I’ve done the best I can all along, to cherish every moment of watching all of my children grow up, knowing it will all happen too fast. It’s yet another reason I school my kids myself. I don’t want to miss any of their fleeting childhood. Still, it seems like yesterday that my first baby girl, Alexis Grace, was born.  She grew up in the blink of an eye. Next thing I knew, she was in high school, and taller than me!  She’s athletic and strong, and it blows me away.

And now she has a real job! She’s been trying to figure out how to get one sooner for awhile now.  She has worked with both Michael and I in our businesses quite a bit, in the past few years, weeding and prepping truck lettering with Michael, and as my photographer’s assistant when I was doing a lot more portrait work. We’ve paid her of course.  Also, she’s actually been pretty creative at finding safe ways to make a little cash of her own, in the meantime, too. I’d venture to say she chooses to spend her time differently than typical girls her age. She’s a determined soul, who loves to research, earn her own way, and make things happen. If anyone is interested for their own young teen kids, I can share those ideas at another time. She’s always been diligent with every dollar she’s gotten.  Since she was little, she’s been strict with her own budget for spending and saving.  And now, she’ll be making a real pay check from someone else, other than us. There was a lot to consider, knowing she has a lot on her schedule, especially with schooling, and more upcoming heavy sport seasons. Not to mention of course, being such a young age still, at 14.  But she gets excellent grades, is self-disciplined with her daily responsibilities like clockwork, and has been really wise with her money. There was really no reason to not let her.  She was hired in a heart beat. We just had to get some extra paperwork signed off here and there, because of her age.

001_flower-nursery

She’ll be working at a nursery here in town, watering all of the flowers, helping customers, etc.  It’s a job we’re comfortable with as her parents, because we’ve known the owner for years.  He’s a good client of Michael’s, so we trust him to watch out for her, and he has a good staff. Also, it’s all outdoors, where Alexis loves to be.  It’ll be real hot some days this summer, when the humidity kicks in. But it’s still pretty ideal work for her.  I’m excited for her!

002_greenhouse-inside
The funny thing is, I used to work at a nursery and greenhouse for a couple of years in high school, right around the same age as she is. I have to admit, I was not all that interested in plants and flowers at that time. But I was working with my friend, so it wasn’t all that bad. I learned what I had to know, to take care of the plants and flowers, and help customers.  But it was just a job to me.  My second job, actually, working with a lot of plants and flowers. I started working when I was 9 years old, cleaning an older couple’s home and maintaining their impeccable landscaped yard on Saturdays, until I was about 14. I got paid well too!  But I was well into my married years, before I honestly took an interest in real gardening and such. However, when I fell in love with it all, I fell hard! I really love working in my gardens.

The funny thing is, my daughter is as passive as I was about gardening right now, as I was at her age. She’s not as into it as my younger daughter is. To her credit, she’ll volunteer to water the gardens on summer nights, which I always appreciate. But I have wished she would love gardening as much as I do.  So this job of hers, gives me hope. Already, she jumped in and helped plant some flowers the other night with me. It could very well be that all she learns at her job, will serve her well, years down the road. I think it’s a wonderful education to have. I know I was happy to have some agricultural knowledge and experience to draw on, once I decided to start gardens of my own.  I believe she’ll be a valued employee, because she is definitely a people-person, always smiling, loves to help people, takes pride in her work, and despite her supposed lack of interest, she really remembers the names of flower varieties!  I’m just so excited she’ll be working in this environment, in particular.  I mean, what a great first job on her own.

Well enough chatting. Yes? I’ve been having fun taking photos of the beautiful blooms around our home. Some are on the edge of neighbor’s property. I am always so happy with my camera in my hand.  So I thought I’d share with you some of my photos.


003_iris-flowers
An Iris.
–

004_geranium-flowers Geraniums.

005_chrysanthemum-flowers A Chrysanthemum.

006_azaleias-flowering-bush
Azaleias.

007_azaleias-flowering-bush
Azaleias.

008_foxglove-flowers
Foxglove.


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And more Foxglove.

I think this last shot is my favorite, tied with the Iris. What’s yours?

Also, I’d love to know how old you or your teens were when you got your first job, and what you did.  Scroll down and tell us about it.

So glad you came by. : )

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Filed Under: Gardening, Homeschooling, Life In General, Photography, Photography & Lettering, The Big Picture, The Homestead Tagged With: agriculture, azaleias, chrysanthemum, education, flower photography, flowers, foxglove, Gardening, gardens, geranium, greenhouse, homeschooling, iris, photography, plant-flower-nursery, yard-flowers

Learning at the Fair; (Come Stroll the Fair Series)

September 13, 2010 By Laura 7 Comments

As a home schooling mom, I often find myself speaking to others with inquiring minds regarding the home schooling choice, that daily opportunities to teach and to learn, are everywhere you turn throughout every day.  Home schooling is truly a lifestyle.  It’s not an activity or a part of any given day, but for most home schoolers, it is literally woven intricately throughout every aspect of their life.  It certainly is for us.  Being and living in that frame of mind, the opportunities to teach, and for our children (and often us as well) to learn are all the more evident in the course of our days at home, or out and about.

So knowing there was probably a lot we could learn at the fair, when we went as a family,  was expected. What we weren’t expecting, was for there to be such an organized and fun program put together by the fair, for the kids to learn.  It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least!! Nothing like this has ever been at the annual fair we usually attend.  Check this out:

Upon admission, each kid was given a pamphlet, like the one above.  As we walked around enjoying the fair, they were to keep their eyes open for various spots all over the fair, for a sign like this one:

(Missing Photo: We’re sorry.)

Their pamphlet had a question in it for each station participating, that they had to find the answer to at that specific station, by listening or watching the demo instructor there, reading the information around the exhibit, etc.  When they were ready, they went up to the head of the station, and the one in charge would ask them the question.  If they gave the correct answer, they got a stamp on their pamphlet for that station.  When all of the stations in their pamphlet had a stamp, (and there were LOTS of them), they went to a specific area to get a ribbon.

I thought it was the greatest thing, for all fair-going kids!  SUCH a learning experience.  It was much like an educational treasure hunt, and the treasures were bits of knowledge. ; )   My kids just love this stuff, so they were on a mission the whole time.    This post only shares some of the stations.

See the sign to the right?  The Birds of Prey was a Kid’s Station.  The question they needed to find the answer to was:

“Why are birds of prey also called raptors?”

There were several birds of prey on display here.   I thought this owl was so beautiful, and fascinating.

His wing span was beautiful and impressive too.

But right after I took this shot, he shot a sharp and forceful stream of urine, that actually startled me.  There was some definite wow factor to the action.  I think I stood there wide-eyed with my jaw hanging, for a second.   They may be wise, but I didn’t see a whole lot of dignity with this one.   Goodness.

The American Kestrel.


I loved watching the kids be questioned, and answer with such confidence.

The answer to the question was:  Because they catch their food with their feet.

Oh!  Another Kid’s Station!

This was in the Agricultural Building.

They didn’t really have to write the answers down, but they wanted to.  They just had to answer the question verbally, correctly.

Maybe because they had new pens that the guys from the Air Force station gave them.

We came to this cow milking stand, where kids could learn how to milk the cow.  It wasn’t a Kid’s Station, but they just wanted to try it.    So I assessed the situation, and learned something myself that I pretty much already new….

You just can’t trust any cowboy you meet.

And I sure did not trust this one.

I saw him help a little girl down from the steps, and I got a little chill.  So before my kids went up, I said to him quite clearly, “My kids can get up and down all by themselves, thanks.” With a little wink for good measure.  I think he caught my drift.  He went back to his shifty-eye-mode quick though.  He let each kid milk the cow for like…a mili-second, and he was like, “Alright clean your hands. ”   Which was fine with me really, because I couldn’t move on soon enough.

At this bird wood carving station, the kids had to identify 3 birds in the display case. They all manged that fine, as we do a lot of bird watching and identifying.

{A} was not doing the Kid Station pamphlet, as she was a little old for it all.  But she went in and named them all to the guy, because she couldn’t help herself.  Her bird-loving grandmother would have been proud.

This was my favorite Kid Station:

I even loved the sign.

{A} was not excited to go take a closer look around here.  You could say she had a bad experience with bees when she was little.  Very unnecessarily, due to another kid’s foolish action, who should have known better.  She got stung all over of course.  I can hardly talk about it without my blood boiling all over again.  I thank God she didn’t turn out allergic to bees, because up to that point that day, we didn’t know!

Anyway….I try to encourage her to face her fears little by little, as she can.  It’s not healthy to let them control you. (I apply the same philosophy to myself, by the way.) So she came in and looked around with us.   She just got the willies.  ; )

I loved this display.  What a science fair project, huh?

Check this out:   This honey comb box had a air vent tube to the outside, and all of these bees were local, and drawn to this honey comb.  They went out, collected pollen and came back to the honey comb.

The question was:   How many queen bees are in a hive?

The answer is one, in case you didn’t know.  ; )

They marked the queen bee here, with a dab of paint, so that exhibit visitors could spot it.

Do you see it?

The satisfaction of getting that stamp, at every station, never wore off.

We watched how glass blowing is done too.  This was one of my favorite shots from the fair.

~~~

Well that concludes our “Come Stroll the Fair Series.”   We hope you enjoyed it, as much as we did!  Did you?

Were you able to attend a fair this summer?  What is your favorite part of the fair?  Is it the fair food?  The crafts?  The rides?  The exhibits or performances?  Tell us.  We’d love to know what brings you to the fair.

Filed Under: Homeschooling Tagged With: bees, birds of prey, education, exhibits, fair, Home Schooling

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