Prepared At Home

Arrest Ye Merry Gentlemen

2011-11-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

This is that difficult time of the year when there are so many distractions, homeschooling can be difficult. While you strive all year to maintain a schedule and some structure in your homeschooling efforts, days get shorter as decorating, visits from friends, Christmas pageants, church events and relatives seem to have no respect for that schedule you have worked so hard to maintain.

This Christmas season, a great project and experience for your homeschoolers may be to turn them into the Christmas Safety Police. First, let’s start with the art project…

Have the kids make badges for themselves using Christmas shapes cut out of construction paper. Using markers, crayon or even glitter (glitter is ALWAYS a sign of authority), each child should design a badge for themselves that in no uncertain terms says they are in charge of a safe Christmas.

Now that that is over, they need to go to school in order to be deputized.

Assist the children in researching Christmas safety tips for the home. I will be posting some below, but you can get online and find myriads of sources on kid-safe websites. Have each child prepare a report on Christmas safety tips and then let’s go back to the art room…

We are going to need some laws if we are going to be the Safety Police; after all, you can’t arrest somebody for breaking a law that does not exist! Each child should make a poster to be hung somewhere in the home with the “Christmas Safety Laws” such as Do not leave the Christmas lights on overnight.

Once the posters are in place and the “laws” are written, the children are in charge. This job is going to involve daily inspections that include making sure that lights are turned off before bedtime, that large icicles have not formed over doorways, that nobody piles gifts over extension cords, that the tree is watered daily, etc.

Have fun with it! Perhaps they should make tickets they can give to violators?

During the season of interruptions, this may be a great way to fill those odd moments during the holidays by sending the kids off on an inspection. Wanna take it a bit further? Perhaps a letter from your new police force to your relatives and friends on Christmas safety should be stuffed in this year’s Christmas card envelopes…

Each year, Christmas tree fires destroy homes across the country. The leading cause of Christmas tree fires and property damage was short circuit or poor wiring such as overloaded extension cords.

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), cords and plugs were the leading type of equipment involved in the ignition of Christmas trees.

Safety points to remember:

Any string of lights with worn, frayed or broken cords or loose bulb connections should not be used.
Always unplug Christmas tree lights before leaving home or going to sleep.
Never use lit candles to decorate a tree, and place them well away from tree branches.
Try to keep live trees as moist as possible by giving them plenty of water daily. Do not purchase a tree that is dry or dropping needles.
Choose a sturdy tree stand designed not to tip over.
When purchasing an artificial tree, be sure it is labeled as fire-retardant.
Make sure the tree is at least three feet (one meter) away from any heat source and try to position it near an outlet so that cords are not running long distances.
Do not place the tree where it may block exits.
Safely dispose of the tree when it begins dropping needles. Dried-out trees are highly flammable and should not be left in a house or garage, or placed against the house.

Holiday Fire Safety

The winter holidays are a time for celebration, and that means more cooking, home decorating, entertaining, and an increased risk of fire due to heating equipment.

Unattended cooking is the leading cause of home fires in the U.S. When cooking for holiday visitors, remember to keep an eye on the range.
Provide plenty of large, deep ashtrays for guests who smoke and check them frequently. Cigarette butts can smolder in the trash and cause a fire, so completely douse cigarette butts with water before discarding.
After a party, always check on, between and under upholstery and cushions and inside trashcans for cigarette butts that may be smoldering.
Keep matches and lighters up high, out of sight and reach of children (preferably in a locked cabinet). When smokers visit your home, ask that they keep smoking materials with them.

Candle Fire Safety

December is the peak month for candle fires, with nearly twice the average number of incidents.

44% of reported candle fires in the home started in the bedroom.

Safety points to remember:

Extinguish all candles when leaving the room or going to sleep.
Keep candles away from items that can catch fire.
Use candleholders that are sturdy, won't tip over easily, are made from a material that can't burn and are large enough to collect dripping wax.
Don't place lit candles in windows, where blinds and curtains can close over them.
Place candleholders on a sturdy, uncluttered surface and do not use candles in places where they could be knocked over by children or pets.
Keep candles and all open flames away from flammable liquids.
Keep candlewicks trimmed to one-quarter inch and extinguish taper and pillar candles when they get to within two inches of the holder or decorative material. Votives and containers should be extinguished before the last half-inch of wax starts to melt.
Avoid candles with combustible items embedded in them.

For more ideas on Fire Safety or Holiday Safety, search the net or watch for tips on our Chasing4Life FaceBook Page this season! We’ll be posting ‘em!

How we do it

2011-11-09T18:55:00.001-08:00

If you are a parent of kids who go to school, you have probably heard many times expressions like "I hate homework", "I hate school" or "I don't want to learn". I have several children myself, and believe me, we’ve been through this a thousand times.
As a program coordinator or even a volunteer for an organization, it is easy to fall into the trap of supplying entertainment for kids simply because your educational events don’t go over well; it is probably because those educational events resemble that “school learning” and the “draw is certainly not going to be as great as that of a magician, a haunted house or a pizza party.
Here’s the truth: learning is harder when you do not understand WHY you should learn, how you learn and what you gain from learning. Unfortunately, most kids do not know what happens to them in the process of learning, so they only see the pain associated with it, instead of the pleasure. There is a reason why Chasing4Life programs are not only popular, but SUCCESSFUL, and by that, I mean that children RETAIN what they are taught at these events, and they actually are motivated to become educators themselves.
The brain
Our brain has 100 billion cells. Each cell carries a single thought, experience or feeling. This single thing, which the brain registers as an experience, moves in the brain the way electricity flows from the power station to your house.
We do not use all the cells we have in the brain. Some people say we use only a small portion of the brain, others say we use a bit more, but everyone agrees there are plenty of brain cells we do not use. Everything you do in life helps you use more of the cells in your brain. When you play, sleep, eat, laugh, cry or learn, you use more cells in your brain. The theory then? DO MORE STUFF.
When the same experience happens again and again, we no longer need to learn it - we do it automatically. Take walking, for example. At first, you need to concentrate on sending the right messages from your brain to your legs and back and you still wobble and fall down. But after some practice, you do it automatically - you no longer think about it. It is easy. The system I created years ago when I founded Chasing4Life is the same teaching system I use to this day and it is embedded in the Cahokia’s Kids Programming: repetition. People will ask if their child can attend only those programs in the series that sound interesting to them, but with this system we are using, each program overlaps the next, repeating lessons learned and intertwining them with the next lessons being taught. Each program begins with a review so the repetition is constant throughout the year.
How successful is this? We have children in Junior High School now that can still, to this day, repeat the severe weather facts they learned in First Grade at Chasing4Life programs!
“We need to be smarter”
We have a lot of phrases that the kids learn throughout the programs. One phrase is, “We need to get smarter”. The brain is like a machine that needs oil. Learning is that oil. The more you oil your brain, the better it runs. If you want to be smart, you need to make sure your brain works all the time. Every new thing you learn and repeat until it is automatic makes your brain machine faster and smarter. When you are talking about disaster planning and preparedness, you need to be able to operate like a machine quickly and there is no time to try to re-engage your brain last minute.
If you want to use your thinking brain more, you have to do more of the things that make you happy. If you need to learn something that is important to you, do it in a way that will make you happy. The Chasing4Life programs are fun, they relate to current events, they cause families to interact, and they are FUN. Remember, when you are happy, you remember everything.
So, if you have not done so yet, visit www.cahokiaskids.com and check out a new and exciting way to learn.

Joplin

2011-06-29T09:31:00.001-07:00

The Army Corps of Engineers sent out a press release this morning regarding the work that is continuing in Joplin, Missouri. I noted one phrase they used in the release especially; the release stated that Joplin recovery was "evaporating" from the new coverage. This is true, just like the coverage of Tuscaloosa did. There comes a time after a disaster that the news crews move on. Sure, like the other day, Mike Bettes visited Joplin and did a "30 days later" special, adopted a dog from ASPCA and showed the continuing work, but today, Mike isn't there. And neither is anyone else. The country is moving on.

While I remember the advice of President Bush after 9-11 to "return to normal", there is another side of it as well. We cannot forget.

With heat indexes rising, resources still in short supply, news coverage spotty at best and years of work to be done, I am not content to simply watch Joplin's tragedy slip into the archives on some television station's website. During the intial phases after an event, the help is overwhelming. We watched truckloads of goods dropped in the city. We watched youth groups and church groups show up by the bus-loads. Red Cross trucks dotted the streets, The Salvation Army stopped regularly to check on our team. The military and law enforcement where everywhere, and any church with a roof had become a distribution center.

Now it is changing.

We are hearing from youth groups and churches planning missions trips for a year from now. Caylee Anthony fills the news. The weather, for the most part in the United States has been pleasant, and the July 4th weekend is quickly approaching.

Yesterday, a woman in Bloomington, Indiana was speaking to our team at an event and made this statement: "The tornado in Joplin was tragic!".

We corrected her.

The tornado in Joplin IS tragic. It will be tragic for a long time to come and we need to remember

You see, long after the debris falls to the ground, long after the streets dry, long after the tents are folded up, the tornado is still in the town spinning through the streets causing problems with recovery, with infrastructure, with emotions, with families, with health, with economy, with life.

That tornado will be churning through that town for years, and we need to think about what we can do. The initial campaign to volunteer or to give is over, but each hour we receive word that there are very real needs for crews, for specialists, for volunteers.

It is now that we can step up. The initial surge is over. It is time to start making longer-term commitments. If you can't go, GIVE. The Chasing4Life DRT's are ready to go back as are hundreds of others, but the funding to go just doesn't exist. Is this something you can help with?

Joplin is a community of Americans, just like you and me. They are our family and our neighbors.

This July 4th while we fly our flags over pristine porches and emerald green lawns, there are tattered flags flying over piles that were once the homes of the citizens of Joplin.

This 4th of July, don't celebrate freedom. Celebrate A freedom. Celebrate the specific freedom to support teams willing and ready and geared to go to Joplin. Celebrate the freedom to give. Celebrate the freedom to help. You have these freedoms.

This 4th of July, while you sit on a blanket with your family and watch the brightly colored fireworks over your town, remember the bright lights of bursting transformers lighting up the Joplin sky just over one month ago. Remember the families in Southern Missouri that are sitting on a blanket with THEIR families because that blanket is one of the few things they have left.

It may not be the headline news story, but it should still be the heartline story...

The Flooding Of Louisiana - Sophies Choice

2011-05-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

From guest-blogger Dr. William H. Hooke, Ph.D.

The 1982 movie by this name may be unfamiliar to younger blog readers, but bears on events unfolding in Louisiana as this year’s Mississippi-River floodwaters continue to rise.

Here is the background.

First – the movie. Sophie’s Choice was a truly extraordinary film on every level. Based on a novel by William Styron, the picture won Meryl Streep an Academy Award for her performance in the title role and cemented her justly deserved reputation as one of the greatest actresses of any time.

The full story is complex and tragic; there is no way to do it justice in a few sentences. Here’s the bit that you and I need to know for today’s purposes. Sophie, living in post-World-War-II New York, is tormented by a decision she had been forced to make, on the fly, in a Nazi concentration camp, a few years earlier, during the war. A Nazi guard made her choose which of her two children would go to a children’s camp, and thereby have at least a chance to live; and which would go directly to the crematorium. The only alternative the Nazi offered? That both children could die, then and there. At the end, this memory helps drive Sophie to suicide.

Second – Louisiana today. News media have been covering this breaking story in recent weeks. Faced with record spring runoff throughout the Mississippi watershed, the US Army Corps of Engineers, other federal agencies and state and local officials, have been assessing the inundation likely under a range of scenarios. Under the first, they open the Morganza Floodway above New Orleans. Under the second, they allow the full volume of water to head south uncontrolled. Under the last, they divert excess water through the Old River Control structure. Officials are essentially making a trade: certain flooding of about 3000 square miles of small towns and countryside in rural Louisiana in order to prevent a potentially worse disaster – levee failures in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and flooding exceeding that of Katrina, wiping out whole neighborhoods as well as countless chemical facilities and oil refineries. Those responsible have made the decision – to open the Floodway. They may be implementing that choice even as I write this. Thousands of people are evacuating the areas of likely flooding, sandbagging in an effort to minimize their local loss, and grieving.

Psychologists and social scientists, most notably Paul Slovic, a psychologist at the University of Oregon, tell us that when we hear about disasters of this magnitude, we experience numbing. We’re incapable of grasping the enormity of such events as the aggregated sum of immense, overwhelming personal tragedies. Instead, we allow them to become empty statistics. So when we learn of starving millions, when we study the Holocaust, or Stalin’s execution of millions as he cemented his power in the former Soviet Union, or the fact that a third of the population between Iceland and India died of the Black Death in the winter of 1347-1348, we quickly consign that to some compartment in our brain where we store other factoids (how many ounces in a pound? How many games in Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak? How many calories in a Big Mac? etc.).

Just this once, let’s try consciously to override this universal tendency. Let’s use this occasion to see if we can make ourselves a bit less calloused about the tragedy that is unfolding.

How to do this?

Here are a few ideas.

First, let’s put ourselves in the place of people packing up, preparing to leave the only homes they’ve ever known. Picture the decisions we’re trying to make. Which paltry few things are we going to take? Where are we going to go? What resources can we draw on, given that we’re losing our jobs as well as our homes? What do we tell the kids, who know something terrible is happening but can’t comprehend it? For that matter, how can we explain to grandma, who’s in advanced stage of Alzheimers, who’s being asked to move out of her room? What do we do about the one child who picked today to be sick? Maybe the car broke down last night. Any chance to get that fixed? How do we get our heads around the idea that this has happened after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and last year’s oil spill, have already drained our resilience and our energies?

Or…put yourself in the shoes of people in New Orleans or Baton Rouge. There’s relief…and right behind it there’s guilt. You’ve been saved from the worst – maybe. And only at the price of immense suffering – distress and misery for thousands of folks no better or worse, no less deserving, than you, all across the surrounding area. Some of them are family. How can you look them in the eye next time you see them? What can you possibly do to make them whole? To show your gratitude for the sacrifice they made? To demonstrate that you all really were in this together?

Don’t move quickly on. Dwell on these realities. Let them sink in. Expand this short list, which doesn’t begin to do justice to the state of things. Come up with your better set of thoughts. Remember…this is how it felt to be Sophie’s kids. “What’s happening to my sister? Why is she going that way?” “Why am I being separated from my brother and mother? Mommy!”

Second, let’s now put ourselves in the shoes of those who are making the decision to open the Morganza Floodway. Is there any joy here? Any self-congratulation? Of course not. None of these men and women, from Army Corps of Engineers generals and Governor Bobby Jindal on down, can find any reason for satisfaction. They didn’t sign on for this…destruction. They’re builders. Rejuvenators! Givers of hope! This is wrong! They’re today’s Sophie. They were forced to choose.

And here’s a key point. Like Sophie, they simply found themselves in this role. Few of these people played any part in creating the conditions that made this choice necessary. For that, we have to look back to their predecessors – the long line of thousands and thousands of state and local officials, and those serving in the Corps of Engineers over the past 150 years. And none of those people deliberately set out to sabotage cities and towns. Each day out of those 60,000 days, they made small decisions and infinitesimal compromises needed to get through the day. On this scale, it was impossible to see how that ratcheted up the risk, bit by bit.

And they weren’t the only ones. Land developers and business leaders made the decision to snuggle up more and more resources right behind the levees all up and down the Mississippi. And all those who are being flooded out get annual notices from the Corps to the effect that flooding would be a distinct possibility.

Third, we don’t have to put ourselves in others’ shoes. Instead, we need to honestly take stock of our own lives. No quarter of the United States is free from risk from natural hazards, industrial accidents, or willful acts of terror. And every action we take throughout our lives – where to set down roots and start a family, what jobs to accept, whether to be active in community affairs or sit on the sidelines – each decision and its sequelae set into motion a local ratcheting up of risk. Each day, we’re thoughtlessly, opportunistically, setting up a problem for either ourselves or our children.

What’s happening in Louisiana is not just happening to someone else, someone faceless. It’s our destiny unless we consciously make decisions to get off this cycle of inevitable disaster and repetitive loss. Across the nation, each of us has played a small part in what’s unfolding today. And we’re playing a bigger part in similar tragedies lining up to happen tomorrow. We can and should do better. The starting point? Building-in community resilience into every aspect of our thinking, rather than just treating it as an afterthought.

It’s not just Sophie’s choice.

TO FOLLOW DR. HOOKE'S BLOG "LIVING ON THE REAL WORLD" CLICK HERE

Disaster Response Team

2011-04-26T10:13:00.001-07:00

Over the years, many of our Disaster Response Team members have come from the homeschool circles. Perhaps it is because those circles have SAH family members, perhaps it is because of the way we have incorporated children into our efforts. Either way, we want to encourage you to consider becoming involved in the C4LDRT.

We remember well the assistance we received from young people during the Eldora, Iowa deployment, and we are looking at historic severe weather already this year throughout the United States and could use more of you...

Over the course of the years, Chasing4Life’s Disaster Response Team has grown, shrunk, and then grown again in numbers. We have sought for a DRT Coordinator for some time that would take over the responsibilities of coordination, direction and organization of the C4LDRT for some time and we are excited to announce that we have secured a new C4LDRT Lead Coordinator.

This team is a team of volunteers that possess the skills and passion needed to respond to disaster situations and scenes throughout the country with little to no notice. Because the team is volunteer, we know that not everyone can respond every time, and we also know that skill-sets differ and thus make some more instrumental at one scene while not as much at another.

Because of all this, we are looking to connect with new volunteers and looking to reconnect with those that, over the years, have slipped into another world or have not contacted us in a while.

Everyone has a gift, and it is this truth that we stand on as we re-build the C4LDRT. If you are interested in joining this effort, please visit the link below.

Joining the team will require online classes, trainings, assembling your response gear, and assisting us in recruiting new members as well as supporters. It is our goal to rebuild the team so that it resembles the original with Regional Coordinators and area teams.

Skills and interests we are looking for include, but are not limited to: severe weather tracking, debris removal, counseling, heavy equipment operation, construction, search & rescue, medical, fire, communications, hazmat, education and more.

Again, if you are interested, visit the link below and contact us. You will receive a listing of requirements, a description of operational procedures and protocols, and will be contacted directly by our new coordinator.

If you are interested in simply becoming a supporter or a sponsor of this newly revived team, please use our website to contact us directly.

With all that said, we want to thank those members that have been with us through the years; the lives saved and the lives changed are numerous, and it has been all because of you...

Access the new web page at http://www.chasing4life.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=181&Itemid=197

Is YOUR family ready to Shakeout?

2011-03-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

With more the 40 million people living and working in the central U.S., a major earthquake could cause unprecedented devastation. What we do now, before a big earthquake, will determine what our lives will be like afterwards. With earthquakes an inevitable part of this region’s future, we must act quickly to ensure that disasters do not become catastrophes.

The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut in April 2011 will involve more than one million people through a broad-based outreach program, partnership with media, and public advocacy by hundreds of partners. This event is being organized by the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (http://www.cusec.org) and the states of: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The 2011 Great Central U.S. ShakeOut earthquake drill will be held at 10:15 AM local time on April 28, 2011 (April 19 in Indiana)

A key aspect of the ShakeOut is the integration of comprehensive science-based earthquake research and the lessons learned from decades of social science research about why people get prepared. The result is a “teachable moment” on par with having an actual earthquake (often followed by increased interest in getting ready for earthquakes). ShakeOut creates the sense of urgency that is needed for people, organizations, and communities to get prepared, to practice what to do to be safe, and to learn what plans need to be improved.

Not just any drill will accomplish this; it needs to be big. It must inspire communities to come together. It must involve children at school and parents at work, prompting conversations at home. It must allow every organization, city, etc., to make it their own event.

The 2011 ShakeOut drill will be the largest preparedness event in central U.S. history. To participate, go to www.ShakeOut.org/centralus and pledge your family, school, business, or organization’s participation in the drill. Registered participants will receive information on how to plan their drill and how to create a dialogue with others about earthquake preparedness. All organizers ask is that participants register (so they can be counted and receive communications), and at the minimum practice "drop, cover, and hold on" at the specified time. It is only a five minute commitment for something that can save your life. It all begins with registering, which is free and open to everyone.

For more information, visit www.ShakeOut.org/centralus.

FUNDRAISING

2011-02-25T14:02:00.002-08:00

IF YOUR HOME SCHOOL ASSOCIATION IS LOOKING FOR AN EDUCATIONAL FUNDRAISER WITH NO INVESTMENT AND A GREAT RETURN, CONTACT OUR OFFICE BY SENDING AN EMAIL TO INFO AT CHASING4LIFE.ORG AND PUT "HELP ME RAISE MONEY" IN THE SUBJECT LINE!

2011-02-25T14:02:00.001-08:00

Nick Walker

2011-02-25T13:55:00.001-08:00

Creating curriculum for homeschool can be just as difficult as you want to make it. Extravagant curriculum that fits somewhere in the course of the day can take hours upon hours to create with very little return. On the other hand, the right website or resource can open up weeks of learning experiences for the homeschooler.
While a lot of homeschooling families that I know have set limits on television-watching, we cannot deny that television is still one of the most powerful influences on our children. It is this fact that we use every day as we tour... we KNOW that the kids watch television, so we use that connection to educate them. They watch storm stories and storm chasers, so we gear programs to that interest! That is just one example...

There is a an on-air personality with The Weather Channel by the name of Nick Walker. Watching his afternoon show, you would place him as a normal meteorologist with salt-n-pepper hair; not really standing out amongst the likes of Greg Forbes, Mike Bettes and surely not the adventurer Jim Cantore. While Mr. Walker seems like a mild-mannered weather guy, let your kids look a little further...

Nick Walker is an amazing educator with a great website. The links he has created has become a library of fodder for homeschool curriculum, and there is no better time of year than right now to start integrating these subjects into your lesson plans!

Check out the weather dude (wxdude actually) at http://www.wxdude.com/ and see what you and your kids come up with! Let them watch Walker on TWC in the afternoon as he reports on current weather conditions, and then go check the facts on his site!

Learn safely!

2011-01-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

2011-01-04T06:23:00.001-08:00

And so, as it is with every January... we have reached the beginning of a new year and new tours. The team is set to tour more than ever before and we have big plans for 2011.
Efficiency. The office staff will be handling much more this year, allowing the instructors the time needed to create programming and concentrate on touring itself. Starting in 2011 we will be adding more resource pages to the website so that contracts, itinerary templates and marketing materials will all be downloadable.
Technology. With the addition of STORMPULSE to our featured product list, you will see that we are attempting to venture into more technologies that will allow families and communities to become more prepared. In mid-winter we will release our Chasing4Life Application as well; another exciting addition! ThreatNet will become a HUGE focus this year as we have arranged to feature it at over a dozen large conferences this year.
Marketing. If you are sponsoring any events this year and have sponsored events in the past, you will notice that we have changed our paperwork and have added new guidelines that coincide with the new marketing strategy we created in mid-2010. All of you will notice new marketing materials, new pictures and even new staff this year on the website. We have added a "Girl Scouts Only" page to the site, but a newer addition is our "Boy Scouts Only" page as we will be providing a program series for Boy Scouts this year due to the incredible demand we received.
You'll see that we are investing in larger shows. Watch our FaceBook and website for the conventions, conferences and showcases coming up.
Social Media. More than ever before we are using social media to stay connected to you. If you have not checked us out on FaceBook, simply go to our home page and head there today!
Sponsors. You will see new sponsors this year. Chasing4Life is already signing with companies and organizations that have made a commitment to stay with us all year, maintaining involvement throughout the touring seasons so that we can see greater things happen like scholarships for small groups and schools.
Instructors. In anticipation of the New Year, we added new instructors. While we are not finished, we feel we have an experienced team that can meet the needs of more and more communities and organizations as the year progresses. Go meet them on the site!
Focus. We feel like we have more focus than ever before. You are going to see larger programs, more subjects, more involvement and a fresh new focus on simple disaster preparedness for the family.
It is going to be a good year. Let's create a more resilient America together!

2010-12-17T07:55:00.001-08:00

Fire Safety For the Holidays

2010-12-17T07:37:00.000-08:00

I remember responding to a fire call years ago on Christmas Eve. It was a split-level house in a nicer neighborhood, around midnight, and the temperatures were sub-zero. I had been cuddled up with family watching a Christmas movie, and a fire call was not what I expected.

The house was fully engulfed, and as a young firefighter, this was the first large fire I had ever been to. The roof caved in shortly after we arrived and the sparks sailed high into the air along with a lrge plume of smoke. In that plume was a family’s Christmas…

Everything was gone. I remember as the sun came up, we were still knocking down small fires within the foundation and talking about how we could help this family. They not only had lost their Christmas, but their home.

A rough way to start Christmas morning.

Did you know that each year fires occurring on the holidays claim the lives of over 400 people, injure 1,650 more and cause over $990 Million in damage? This year, despite the distractions and trappings of the holiday, take the time to make sure you have followed some of these simple rules from the United States Fire Administration:

Preventing Christmas Tree Fires

* Christmas Tree Fire Hazards - Movie segments demonstrating how fast a live Christmas tree can become fully engulfed in flames. Special fire safety precautions need to be taken when keeping a live tree in the house. A burning tree can rapidly fill a room with fire and deadly gases.
* Selecting a Tree for the Holiday
Needles on fresh trees should be green and hard to pull back from the branches, and the needle should not break if the tree has been freshly cut. The trunk should be sticky to the touch. Old trees can be identified by bouncing the tree trunk on the ground. If many needles fall off, the tree has been cut too long, has probably dried out, and is a fire hazard.
* Caring for Your Tree
Do not place your tree close to a heat source, including a fireplace or heat vent. The heat will dry out the tree, causing it to be more easily ignited by heat, flame or sparks. Be careful not to drop or flick cigarette ashes near a tree. Do not put your live tree up too early or leave it up for longer than two weeks. Keep the tree stand filled with water at all times.
* Disposing of Your Tree
Never put tree branches or needles in a fireplace or woodburning stove. When the tree becomes dry, discard it promptly. The best way to dispose of your tree is by taking it to a recycling center or having it hauled away by a community pick-up service.

Holiday Lights

* Maintain Your Holiday Lights
Inspect holiday lights each year for frayed wires, bare spots, gaps in the insulation, broken or cracked sockets, and excessive kinking or wear before putting them up. Use only lighting listed by an approved testing laboratory.
* Do Not Overload Electrical Outlets
Do not link more than three light strands, unless the directions indicate it is safe. Connect strings of lights to an extension cord before plugging the cord into the outlet. Make sure to periodically check the wires - they should not be warm to the touch.
* Do Not Leave Holiday Lights on Unattended

Holiday Decorations

* Use Only Nonflammable Decorations
All decorations should be nonflammable or flame-retardant and placed away from heat vents.
* Never Put Wrapping Paper in a Fireplace
It can result in a very large fire, throwing off dangerous sparks and embers and may result in a chimney fire.
* Artificial Christmas Trees
If you are using a metallic or artificial tree, make sure it is flame retardant.

Candle Care

* Avoid Using Lit Candles
If you do use them, make sure they are in stable holders and place them where they cannot be easily knocked down. Never leave the house with candles burning.
* Never Put Lit Candles on a Tree
Do not go near a Christmas tree with an open flame - candles, lighters or matches.

Finally, as in every season, have working smoke alarms installed on every level of your home, test them monthly and keep them clean and equipped with fresh batteries at all times. Know when and how to call for help. And remember to practice your home escape plan.

Make sure that YOU, YOUR FAMILY and YOUR HOME are still there on Christmas morning. Have a safe and happy holiday.

Christmas Investigations Make Great Lessons

2010-11-25T20:40:00.000-08:00

Hard to keep the kids focused with all the Christmas hustle and bustle around you? Take advantage of it this year and turn everything “Christmas” into everything “home-school”! Life is about learning, so why not?
The other day I was looking at some real reindeer someone had on their farm. They are pretty amazing creatures. With all these “tiny reindeer” we keep hearing about during the season, is there really such a thing?
Do some “reindeer Research” this year to start off your “Christmas Curriculum”. Turn your kids into “Super Slueths” and take them to WalMart to create a list of things they could investigate!

Did you know that a reindeer’s shoulders are 4 to 5 feet long?

I just watched a Christmas special where the reindeer were brown, but actually, they are only brown in the SUMMER! What color are they in winter?

Unlike regular deer, both the female and the male reindeer have antlers.

So much for the Christmas Specials…reindeer shed their antlers in winter.

Not sure how Santa deals with this, but did you know reindeer go south in the fall and leave the frozen tundra?

Did you know that reindeer are great swimmers?

See? This could be the best season for getting your kids to do research and report on subjects that EVERYONE seems to care about but few KNOW about!

Send us an email and let us know what you find out!

2010-11-24T09:12:00.000-08:00

Pets at Thanksgiving

2010-11-18T07:07:00.000-08:00

“Don’t be giving that to the dog!”

I hear that a lot at Thanksgiving. After all, the kitchen is a frenzied mess and food is flying so it only makes sense to toss a few things to Mac who is lying on the floor right in the middle of it all. For the bigger chunks, we of course, have a St. Bernard just outside the door. The argument is always that “it is okay” because dogs can eat anything.

Turns out, that is not true; in fact, in an article I recently read put out by the ASPCA, I found out that there is A LOT of Thanksgiving food we probably should not be feeding our pets.

The article made a pretty good point: pets won’t be so thankful if they munch on undercooked turkey or a pet-unfriendly floral arrangement, or if they stumble upon an unattended alcoholic drink.

Here are some of the tips they had in the article…

Turkey
If you decide to feed your pet a little nibble of turkey, make sure it’s boneless and well-cooked. Don't offer her raw or undercooked turkey, which may contain salmonella bacteria.

Sage
Who would have guessed this one? Sage is used in a lot of dishes at Thanksgiving but it and many other herbs contain essential oils and resins that can cause gastrointestinal upset and central nervous system depression to pets if eaten in large quantities. Cats are especially sensitive to the effects of certain essential oils.

Bread Dough
Don’t feed your pets raw bread dough and if you drop some, pick it up right away. According to ASPCA experts, when raw bread dough is ingested, an animal's body heat causes the dough to rise in his stomach. As it expands, the pet may experience vomiting, severe abdominal pain and bloating, which could become a life-threatening emergency, requiring surgery.

Cake
If you’re baking up Thanksgiving cakes, be sure your pets keep their noses out of the batter, especially if it includes raw eggs—they could contain salmonella bacteria that may lead to food poisoning.

Too Much
A few small boneless pieces of cooked turkey, a taste of mashed potato or even a lick of pumpkin pie shouldn’t pose a problem. However, don't allow your pets to overindulge, as they could wind up with a case of stomach upset, diarrhea or even worse—an inflammatory condition of the pancreas known as pancreatitis. In fact, it’s best keep pets on their regular diets during the holidays.

After the new Year, we’ll be running a series on pet safety, pets in disasters and how to make an emergency plan that includes your pets but for now, let’s just get through the holiday without killing Fluffy and Spot with Thanksgiving food.

Stay safe while you travel, make sure you have that safety/preparedness kit in your car and enjoy your holiday!

Special Note: We have truly enjoyed meeting all our new homeschooling friends these past few months as we toured. NOW is the time to make sure your HomeSchool Association or group gets on our calendar for the all-day workshops! Dates are going quickly!

Scaring up some safety tips...

2010-10-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Halloween is probably the most controversial of all the holidays; especially amongst homeschoolers.

Do we? Don’t we? If we do, HOW?

For those of you celebrating the Halloween Holiday with a home school association or local church, you are probably making the safest choice, but traditions die hard and despite the growing number of indoor theme parties and events, there will still be thousands of little ones running around this weekend amidst the leaves, cold weather and dangers that a holiday can bring.

Here's some tips that we have just for you kids, to help keep you safe on Halloween night!

Never, ever go into a strangers house or even ring their door for treats unless your parents are with you and say that it's okay. There are some people in life that aren't very nice to kids and you have to be careful. Always make sure that your mom or dad is within sight when you go out trick-or-treating.

Be careful when you cross a street. Make sure to look in both directions and make sure that there are no cars coming. If you have a little brother or sister with you, take their hand and help them get across the street, too. If the street has a stop light, wait until the cross walk light tells you that it's okay to cross now, but still check before you cross, look both ways.

While we are mentioning traffic-related safety, make sure that your costume does not inhibit your eyesight or peripheral vision. Strangers approaching you can be seen a lot easier if you can see all around you. While the “robot” cost from a large cardboard box is still pretty cool, you cannot see very well!

If you are an older kid or young teen, and going out with friends, make sure that your parents know where you are going and who you are going with. This may seem like a pain but they are your parents and they love you. They just want you to be safe.

If you can drive and are taking a bunch of friends to a party, make sure that you have enough gas to get there. You don't want to run out on a dark street, all alone, like a bad horror movie!

If you parents give you a curfew, be home when they say. It builds trust between you and them and they are doing it for your own safety. If you are going to be late, call them and let them know.

Vandalism is never cool! Throwing eggs at cars and houses is not cool. Someone has to clean it up and it could be you, if you get caught. You can also be arrested and punished as a juvenile. So, don't think that it's fun only if you can get away with it. It's never the right thing to do! Think about how you would feel if someone did that to your house and how bad it would make you feel.

Hurting animals is never acceptable behavior! Some people use Halloween as an excuse to hurt cats and that is just wrong! Not only is it illegal in most places to hurt or torture animals and punishable by law, you should never hurt a helpless living thing.

One source we used for this blog post was http://www.halloween-safety.com/
Please visit the site for a lot more on Halloween safety tips and ideas!

Cyber-Security Month!

2010-10-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

October is Cyber-Security Month, and while we are covering a lot on this on our other blogs, I thought it might be appropriate for our homeschool families to share this Google Video on Child Internet Safety.

Fire Prevention Month

2010-10-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

(Image to the left is from "Learning at Home". You can visit this website for Fire Prevention Month ideas HERE)

It really is not that cold yet, but some of the recent nights have been a great excuse to throw a small log in that wood burner and sit in front of the television enjoying that wonderful smell of a fire. Chimneys will soon all be in use throughout the homes across our country shortly, fire wood piles we have worked on all summer will soon be utilized, and fire in general will become a part of everyday life for the next few months. Personally I cannot wait.

I love the sound of crackling logs and the smell of a wood fire, but with all of this comes risk and danger.

October is Fire Prevention Month, and now is the time to begin thinking through evacuation plans, fire safety, smoke alarm maintenance and maybe the process of having a fire drill in your home.

Don't let your family become a statistic this year. A fire drill in your home with your children can save lives. Take a few minutes this month to fire-proof your home and get your family prepared.

I found a website with some pretty easy activities and coloring pages for all our homeschoolers to use while making fire prevention part of their curriculum. You can visit the site HERE.

Here's some facts from the NFPA:

Smoke alarms

Smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a reported fire in half.
Most homes (96%) have at least one smoke alarm (according to a 2008 telephone survey.)
Overall, three-quarters of all U.S. homes have at least one working smoke alarm.
Each year, nearly 3,000 people die in U.S. home fires.
In 2003-2006, roughly two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from home fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
- No smoke alarms were present in 40% of the home fire deaths.
- In 23% of the home fire deaths, smoke alarms were present but did not sound.
In more than half of the reported home fires in which the smoke alarms were present but did not operate even though the fire was large enough, batteries were missing or disconnected. Nuisance alarms were the leading reason for disconnected alarms.
More than half of the smoke alarms found in reported fires and two-thirds of the alarms found in homes with fire deaths were powered by battery only.
Most homes still have smoke alarms powered by battery only. In a 2007 American Housing Survey (AHS), 67% of the respondents who reported having smoke alarms said they were powered by battery only.
In a 2008 telephone survey, only 12% knew that smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years.
In fires considered large enough to activate a smoke alarm, hard-wired alarms operated 91% of the time; battery-powered smoke alarms operated 75% of the time.
Interconnected smoke alarms on all floors increase safety.
- In a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) survey of households with any fires, interconnected smoke alarms were more likely to operate and alert occupants to a fire. (This includes fires in which the fire department was not called.)

Fire

Cooking is the #1 cause of home fires and injuries.
Smoking is the leading cause of fire deaths.
Heating is the second leading cause of home fires, fire deaths and fire injuries.
Electrical failures or malfunctions are factors in roughly 50,000 reported fires each year.
Roughly 30, 000 intentionally set home structure fires are reported each year.

In 2008

U.S. fire departments responded to 386,500 home fires.
Home fires killed 2,755 people and injured 13,160.
Someone was injured in a reported home fire every 40 minutes.
Roughly eight people died in home fires every day.
A fire department responded to a home fire every 82 seconds.
83% of all fire deaths and 79% of fire injuries resulted from home fires.

Keep A Kid Creative

2010-09-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

With Farm Safety Week over, we have entered another special week: Did you know that this week is NATIONAL KEEP KIDS CREATIVE WEEK?

I believe all kids are creative. Each child has an imagination and a curiosity that adds to life each and every day, but so often we allow that creative spirit and ability to be sucked out of their heads by television shows, video games, and most recently, the IPOD.

I remember following my uncle around the farm listening as he talked about how it used to be. he showed me our old saw mill and took me into the barn and talked about how it was built. I spent long hours enjoying his stories, but more importantly, I enjoyed long DAYS of pretending I was living in the mid-1800's. My uncle had ignited curiosity and imagination in his educational talks!

This week, find something around the farm, around your house, around the community or even just in your State that will spark that imagination in a young child. encourage them to write or draw, encourage them to play outside in the autumn air. If only for a moment, unplug, disconnect or hide that ONE THING that is killing the creativity and imagination in YOUR home.

Go keep a kid creative.

For more info on the week and for more ideas, hit the following address:

http://www.brucevanpatter.com/keepkidscreative.html

2010-09-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

The first leg of the Girl Scout Tour is almost over and to be honest, it is hard to believe. We have been so fortunate to have the very best girls in the world show up at our events and we are enjoying the energy and willingness to learn.
If you have not stayed on top of Chasing4Life news, the team has partnered with the Girl Scouts to povide programming that focuses on disaster preparedness. Each tour focuses on a special theme and has been designed for the different age groups. Right now we are on our weather watching tour. Following tours include Home Disaster Kits, Climate Change and Animals in Disasters!
Stay tuned for an "End of Tour" Update!

NATIONAL FARM SAFETY AND HEALTH WEEK

2010-09-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

If you have been following the Chasing4Life blogs, you know we are still out on the road touring the country and presenting educational programs to every age group in every corner of the country. Ithas been a busy year and while we have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of great people, we have also had the opportunity to see a lot of tragedy. Amidst the things we have seen on tour, perhaps the most horrific have been the ATV accidents.

We are excited that this week is finally here...

It is National Farm Safety and Health Week!

Each year, the National Center For Educational Safety determines a theme for this special week and the 2010 theme is "ATV's: Work Smart, Ride Safe."

Each year, about 800 deaths are reported nationally associated with ATV accidents. In Missouri, 68 deaths were recorded from 2006 through 2008, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. According to government statistics, four out of 10 people treated in emergency rooms for ATV injuries are under the age of 16. The exact number is not known because many ATV injuries are treated at home and not reported.

We have been so encouraged by the response and the results of this year's tour and we know that there is power in communicating. Make this week the week you and your family sit down and discuss new guidelines for ATV use and make sure that you check your ATV for excessive wear and the warning signs of a breakdown.

As always, we want you to have a safe and prosperous harvest season, so Work Smart. (and Ride Safe!)

For more information about Farm Safety and Health Week, see www.necasag.org/nfsnhw.php.

September 11

2010-09-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

photo by Robert Pears
www.robertpears.com

September is National Preparedness Month

2010-08-29T07:08:00.001-07:00

The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is reminding everyone that September is National Preparedness Month. Throughout National Preparedness Month, which is sponsored by FEMA's Ready Campaign, FEMA is encouraging all Americans to visit Ready.gov to learn how they can better prepare themselves and their families for the next emergency or disaster.

"Disaster can strike any time, anywhere. By taking a few simple steps now, you can ensure that your family and your community are prepared before the next emergency arises," said FEMA's Acting Regional Administrator Doug Gore. "We urge everyone to take steps necessary to keep their family safe, which includes getting a kit, making a plan, being informed and getting involved."

National Preparedness Month focuses on changing perceptions about emergency preparedness and helping Americans understand what it means to "Be Ready." National Preparedness Month coalition members have agreed to distribute emergency preparedness information and sponsor activities across the country that will promote emergency preparedness. Membership is open to all public and private sector organizations.

FEMA's Citizen Corps is also an important partner in this campaign. Citizen Corps is FEMA's grassroots strategy to bring together government and community leaders to involve citizens in all-hazards emergency preparedness and resilience.

Chasing4Life has been a pledging part of National Preparedness Month for several years. We are presently on the road beginning a 4-state National Preparedness Month Tour featuring 36 preparedness events during September from Nebraska to Indiana.

To see a list of national, regional, tribal, state, local businesses and organizations that have pledged their support and joined the 2009 National Preparedness Month Coalition, please visit www.ready.gov

Teaching Disaster Response to your Children

2010-08-20T12:45:00.001-07:00

THE MAN FROM NEVERGO

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe,

a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his

thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest,

a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion

is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires

and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task

must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our

circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures

and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Albert Einstein

A religious man is a person who holds God and man in

one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm

done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose

greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

An individual has not started living until he can rise above

the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the

broader concerns of all humanity.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Beware...

The concept for the story of the man from Nevergo is not

a new story, but it is unfortunately one that is seldom

heard, told, revisted, or re-lived. Written as I returned

from the ravaged area of Louisiana following Hurricane

Katrina, this story dripped from my pen with ease as I had

just undergone the most drastic change in my life.

While our hero is found in a land far from here, his home

may be the same that we call home; an apathetic world of

self-indulgence and inward focus.

This is not a children’s story, yet the simplicity of it all

compels us to perhaps take on a new childlike innocense

and see the world with a new perspective.

Read on, but be aware; while devoid of what our world

deems requirements for a good story such as violence, sex

and intrigue, this story holds far more than you can imagine

such a short story could...

Within the lines lurks a challenge that may perhaps grip

your heart and cause you to desire change.

____________

There once was a man of heart.

He lived in the village of Nevergo, a small, uncelebrated

village in the heart of a poverty-stricken

area near the desert.

One day, the man heard news of a large city by the sea. The city was

called Ignorance, and was known to be the richest and most beautiful

city in the world. According to the news, the city of Ignorance had been

attacked by a terrorists from a far-a-way land called Apathy.

The man went to his village leaders and told them of Ignorance’s plight,

but the leaders of Nevergo told the man that it was not the worry of a

small poverty-stricken village to care about those in Ignorance.

The man set out to rescue the city under siege with nothing but a bicycle

and a backpack of supplies. It was to be a long haul, for the only way

to the city of Ignorance was to ride over a very tall mountain covered

with obstacles.

The man had never ridden his bicycle over a mountain before, in fact,

his only rides had been on flat ground or over small hills. While it was a

very beautiful and well-built bicycle, it was not really even meant for

such an arduous journey.

The man’s health had failed him many years before, and the bicycle had

been given to him by his father as a means of getting back into good

health. The plan had worked, for the man had ridden faithfully, actually

creating a small business where he would run errands on his bicycle for

the people in his village that had no bicycles.

After telling his closest friends of the city under siege, he had packed his

backpack with a few days of food, some water, bandages and a tire

patch kit.

As the man rode up the mountain, he got stronger, his legs became like

tree trunks! Despite the pain and aches, the man continued, over rocks,

through small crevices, and even through snow and severe thunderstorms.

Along the way, the man encountered others on the mountain; they were

on their own quests, and had never heard of the city under siege. The

other travelers listened to his vision to rescue them, and, as they could,

gave to him from their own supplies. Some gave food, some water.

Others even shared weapons, ammunition and building materials.

The man was grateful, but the backpack had now become an immense

pile upon his back, and travel was more difficult. The air was thinner up

on the mountain, and the man found that he had to stop more often.

“I wonder if I should throw all of these gifts away?” wondered the man.

“Surely my trip would be easier if I did not have this burden upon my

back!”

It was a thought that only lasted moments, for he realized that the gifts

he had received would be needed when he reached the city under siege.

And so he continued.

It was more than halfway up the mountain that the man stopped to catch

his breath when he noticed a small road running up the side of the

mountain. The man had never seen the road before as it had been

obscured by bushes and branches. Here, on the higher side of the

mountain, the scraggly brush barely covered the road, and it was quite

visible. This road had been there all along! He could have been on it!

As he walked over to investigate, a voice called from the thickest of the

brush.

“What are you looking at?” said the voice.

Startled, the man answered, “This small road running up the mountain

appears to run parallel to my own path, yet is much smoother than my

own path!”

A large, powerful-looking figure stepped from the brush. He was quite

But the work tired the weary traveler, and he had to stop even more

often under the weight of his pack and the workload of peddling his

bicycle and clearing the road.

It seemed like years, but was only a few months when the man could

see the summit. Excited, the man re-packed his load, but when he went

to lift it, found that he had no strength to place it on his back where it

had been all these long miles.

“I am tired,” said the man, “But I cannot leave this all here. I am close

enough now, if I can get to the summit, I can coast all the way to the

city.”

But when the man went to lift the pack, he could not. His legs no longer

worked! Fatigue had finally taken its toll…

“What will I do?” cried the man. “I will never get to the city, they will

never get my supplies, and they will never find the road of escape!”

And the man cried.

It could have been minutes and it could have been hours. The man cried

so hard, time stood still on the side of the mountain… just one mile from

the summit. Suddenly, the man felt a hand on his shoulder, and he raised

his tired head to see the silhouette of small elf-like man standing next to

him.

“My name is Hearten,” said the little man. “I come from a small tribe of

little people that live here near the summit of the mountain. Why do you

weep?”

The bicyclist shared his story, his vision, and the tale of the road of

escape.

“I wish I had met you before you left” said the Hearten. “I care about

such things, and will assist you in your journey.

Tired, hungry and depressed, the bicyclist almost laughed. Surely this

little man could never hoist his load nor carry him on the rest of his

journey, but even as this thought entered his mind, Hearten put two

fingers in his mouth and the loudest shrill whistle came out and echoed

across the mountainside.

Suddenly, the tired rescuer was surrounded by no less than 50 of these

little people, all chattering loudly. Hearten, in a language the man had

never heard, explained the story to his friends and family, and no sooner

had they all nodded in understanding, did they pick up the man, the

large pack, and his bicycle.

The city of Ignorance was in ruins when the band of rescuers arrived,

but with the help of Hearten and his tribe, the city was evacuated and

the road of escape was used to bring those in Ignorance to safety. Over

a period of time, the refugees from Ignorance settled in a lush valley

near Nevergo and with the help of Hearten and his people built a new

city and named it Neveragain.

Often times, especially times of disaster, we see a problem so large that we think we cannot help because we are too small. Use this story as a discussion starter with your children.

The man was from what town? What do we know of the town from its name?

What do we know of the city he was heading to from its name?

Is there a lesson in this story? Perhaps more than one?

How could we be the man on the bicycle when the next disaster strikes?

Could it be that we are supposed to be Hearten?

It's SMORE heat than I can take!

2010-07-20T08:37:00.001-07:00

Okay, we have been spending a lot of time camping outdoors on this tour and I gotta say one thing...IT IS TOO HOT TO MAKE S'MORES!
I refuse to light a campfire in 100 degree weather, and so I looked for a way to teach kids, beat the heat (or at least take advantage of it), and enjoy a S'more before October.

Well, in today's homeschool lesson, we can learn that Solar Energy is the energy given off by the sun. When light energy is absorbed by something, it becomes HEAT energy. Remember that DARK objects absorb more light energy than lighter objects. This is a good way to open a discussion on how we should dress when outdoors to prevent heat exhaustion or heat stroke. (I just posted a new blog at my KRVN site on heat stroke- see www.chasing4life.org).

Ready to do this?

Okay, go get the following ingredients:

4 graham crackers
16 mini marshmallows
2 plain milk chocolate candy bars
8-by-11-inch glass baking pan
a clear glass lid for the baking pan
1 thermometer

This is an outdoor experiment and you need to have a place in direct sunlight (no shade) and where animals won’t come by to eat the ingredients or disturb the pan! Use your thermometer to see what temperature it is outside. You need to do this experiment when it is at least 85° F. this should NOT be a problem!

Now, let's learn and then eat...

Put four graham crackers side by side in the bottom of the glass baking pan.
Place a chocolate bar on top of two of the graham crackers.
Put 8 mini-marshmallows on top of the other two graham crackers.
Cover the baking pan with the clear glass lid.
Put the pan out in an area where it will get full sunlight—no shade!
Let the pan just sit there until the chocolate bars and marshmallows melt.
To make a S’More, put one chocolate and one marshmallow graham cracker together to make a sandwich.

While you are eating your campfire-free S'mores, CLICK HERE and check out another cool solar experiment I found!

HOT HOT HOT

2010-07-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Yuk. Last week we were near the New Mexico border and could not believe how warm it was. It was hard to believe that after spending a week near the mountains that there was such a temperature difference. Heat is definitely a large part of the summer months, and now is the time to educate your homeschoolers about heat and safety. you can visit our KRVN blog today for tips on summer heat safety or visit www.cdc.gov

Meanwhile, I found a cool little experiment on Solar heating you can do at home! CLICK HERE

The "cool" thing about this experiment is that you get to use ICE CUBES!!!

FAST FOOD FREE

2010-06-26T16:24:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah, we are still on the road so updates are hard to get up here for you, but in the meantime, we have found something well worth your time and incredibly inspiring! A real home-schooled hero!
At an event in Centennial, Colorado, front row center sat Koa Halpern and his mother. As conversation began, we found out that Koa was the President of an organization called Fast Food Free. Now, while that is not really all that incredible, what WAS incredible, is that Koa is 12 YEARS OLD!
In October of 2008, Koa started Fast Food Free, a powerful organization focusing on health, animal welfare and more!
Make this a website you visit with your kids TODAY!
We'll admit, we eat a lot of fast food on tour, so our initial reaction to Koa's work was a bit mixed, but after visiting his website, our habits on this tour are starting to change. Maybe yours will too...

www.fastfoodfree.org

THE FIRST WEEK OF THE TOUR

2010-06-14T06:08:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week of touring and weather monitoring for the team! We are doing our very best to update everything including the blogs, but as you will see, time has been a hard thing to find! Please CLICK HERE to see the almost 2 full pages of the latest pictures and updates from the 2010 Summer Tour!

A "MUST HAVE" BOOK FOR YOUR FAMILY

2010-05-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the last several weeks, we have been working on some pretty big things here at Chasing4Life. As the team members have changed some, Chasing4Life has narrowed its focus more than ever and we are looking at a year of more powerful educational events than our fans and followers have ever seen before.

In a partnership with Fedhealth, Chasing4Life is now a part of a fantastic program featuring the "It's A Disaster" books (see previous blog entry). Chasing4Life members will be presenting special programs with this partnership across the country and will be assisting communities in acquiring these comprehensive books for entire populations. We are working with more EMA's, chambers, libraries, health departments, churches and non-profits than ever before!

The opportunity for YOUR homeschool association to use these books as a fundraiser is here! Email us directly and one of our staff members will explain to you how easy it is to raise funds while passing along incredibly valuable disaster preparedness education.

We have found this book to so comprehensive, yet so easy to read! This is the PERFECT BOOK for any homeschooling family! Use chapters as lessons and prepare your family starting now! Don't wait until it happens in your community...take education to the next level and let us help!

In a partnership with several Girl Scout Councils, Eddy and Alannah will be touring the United States beginning in September of 2010 for 12 months presenting new programs on animals in disaster, severe weather science, severe weather safety, earthquakes, disaster preparedness and more as Girl Scouts are now being given the opportunity to actually earn a CHASING4LIFE merit badge! This is huge for us and we want to thank Courtney in Vernon Hills, Illinois for her efforts in making all this possible! Watch our online calendar for Girl Scout dates and make sure if your GS Council has not booked yet, that they do it soon! Dates have filled into mid 2011 pretty quick!

The Vollmer Family

2010-05-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Vollmer family in New Lenox on the installation of their new weather station. Check out the pictures below!
There it sits, proudly on top of the family's playset with Emma (in the picture), who is learning how to track weather and monitor severe weather conditions right from the family's computer! Brandi got to visit with the kids at the Vollmer house and showed the family some weather games while we prepared to go to an event at a local school.
Read on to the previous blog to learn more on how to get a weather station for YOUR FAMILY...

2010-05-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

Weather Stations and Homeschooling

2010-04-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

For years and years, families stood on the porches of their homes looking across the plains at darkening skies anticipating the worst. In front of our KRVN Radio Station office is a statue of a family huddled around an old radio listening intently for a snippet of news.

I am glad those days are over. Technology and education has advanced so much in the last several decades that we no longer have to be ignorant of severe weather simply relying on grandpa’s trick knee or a scratchy voice on an old radio.

Understanding your local weather (even global weather) can be relatively easy and information abounds if you care to look for it.

If you are homeschooling, there is no reason why weather cannot become a part of your everyday curriculum, in fact it should be!

You do not have to be a meteorologist in order to teach your kids about weather! If you have been homeschooling for any length of time, you know that often times, our teaching occurs while we learn ourselves! From traditional thermometers and barometers to state of the art multi-sensor wireless weather stations, observing, interpreting and forecasting local weather patterns has never been simpler.

I believe monitoring in your home, the activity will generate interests in other areas of not only science, but world news, geology, geography, math, reading, history and more!

Let’s not forget that as you become a weather-monitoring family, you will also become a more prepared and safer family as you become more able to predict and monitor threats!

Home weather stations, whether simple or sophisticated, provide information that is often not covered by weather forecasting or reporting services . To get the most enjoyment from your weather equipment, three major questions will need to be answered.

1. Which type of weather recording equipment will let you achieve your aims? - traditional; constantly recording but without a memory; or top of the range digital weather stations.

2. How to identify the best instruments to match your plans, at the best value.

3. How to make the most of your weather station by increasing your understanding of weather, including the relationship between weather and climate, and the causes of extreme weather events, such as tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes or severe electrical storms.

I have found that a simple home weather station can be extremely affordable. Now, at your local WalMart you can purchase a simple console-style weather station for as little as $20. Most of these little monitors will tell you barometric pressure, humidity, temperature and winds. The problem with these smaller stations is that they are limited. The weather stations I recommend to homeschooling families require sensors and an anemometer with a rain guage that can be mounted outside the house while sending information to the family’s computer.
Sounds expensive, right?

Think about this: A Gameboy game will run you $70. A weather station like what I am talking about can sell for as little as $90.

Ready to turn your home into a weather tracking center?

Not only do you have a choice of many stations but the accuracy, ease of use and general flexibility of fully automatic, continuously monitoring, wireless weather stations has recently set new standards.

Your first move should be to decide what you require from your home weather station. Do you just wish to know how cold it is outside, or are you looking for a full blown system which records temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed and direction, and rainfall?

Today's weather stations can do all this and more.

Once you have decided just what information you want, the next decision is whether to use traditional instruments which must be read manually, or whether to select one of the many wireless weather stations which continuously transmit data from outside sensors to an inside receiver/display. This is the way I would go.

Many manufacturers have both cable and wireless versions of their weather systems, including Davis Instruments, while the 1-Wire Weather Station from Texas Weather Instruments is a relatively uncomplicated system.

If you are seriously interested in local weather, the options available with modern wireless weather stations are almost beyond imagination.

Below is some links to sources for weather stations. Choose the one that best fits your family and get ready to open up a whole new world of discovery and safety! We’ll talk more about weather monitoring in the months to come, but don’t be afraid to contact me, if for no other reason but to tell me your family has their new weather station up and running!

Davis Weather Stations
Oregon Scientific
Ambient Weather

Back home

2010-03-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

What a tour! We just arrived back home and have already spent HOURS on new stuff!
Faith World Outreach in Bartlett, Illinois hosted one of the best days we have had in a long time and we got to meet a lot of new friends from area homeschool groups!
Guess what? Looks like we are going to have a 2 day homeschool event in September!
Many of the folks that were there at FWO came out to the Sci-Tech Museum in Aurora on Friday to see Dorothy and we had a blast!
We will be keeping you all updated on the new stuff, the new hands-on stuff and hopefully we will be sending out a pdf update.
Thanks to ALL of the homeschoolers for a great time and MANY thanks to Erica who put it all together and was the perfect host!
Check out the TEAM blog on the website for some pics from the tour and we'll try to get some up here as well.

2010-02-18T10:48:00.000-08:00

Update for you all

2010-01-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

Between playing catch up after last week's work in Haiti and the demands of preparing for the launch of our upcoming tours, the blog will be a little quiet this week. Please make sure you visit the website at www.chasing4life.org and follow us on Twitter and become a fan on our new FaceBook page! This will keep you in the loop and will help pass some time until we get to you here in the blog with an update about all the changes, new sponsors and new tour dates!

if you have a good homeschool-focused article, an experiment you'd like to share or maybe a lesson plan for everyone, we'd welcome the chance to publish it here for you! While we unpack, pack, fix, modify and plan, just send us what you have using the email contact on the website!

Earthquake in Haiti

2010-01-13T00:50:00.001-08:00

Our prayers are with those affected by this earthquake in Haiti. We are attempting to reach several families in Haiti and passing along what we find on our Twitter (visit www.chasing4life.org).

Ps 46:1-2 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble... tho the earth give way and the mtns fall into the sea.

Once in a blue moon

2009-12-29T13:33:00.000-08:00

"My husband changes diapers once in a blue moon".

You have all heard the expression. It is really our way of saying it NEVER happens; kind of like "When pigs fly".

Well, if you believe that a blue moon never happens, you are wrong. In fact, this New Years Eve, we'll have a blue moon.

A blue moon is a full moon that is not timed to the regular monthly pattern. Most years have twelve full moons which occur approximately monthly, but in addition to those twelve full lunar cycles, each solar calendar year contains an excess of roughly eleven days compared to the lunar year. The extra days accumulate, so that every two or three years (on average about every 2.7154 years), there is an extra full moon. The extra moon is called a "blue moon."

Now, before you are HORRIBLY disappointed on New Years Eve, the blue moon...IS NOT BLUE.

The New Year's Eve non-blue blue moon will be visible in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa. For partygoers in Australia and Asia, the full moon does not show up until New Year's Day, making January a blue moon month for them.

However, the Eastern Hemisphere can celebrate with a partial lunar eclipse on New Year's Eve when part of the moon enters the Earth's shadow. The eclipse will not be visible in the Americas.

A full moon occurred on Dec. 2 this year. It will appear again on Thursday in time for the New Year's countdown.

The popular definition of blue moon came about after a writer for Sky&Telescope magazine in 1946 misinterpreted the Maine Farmer's Almanac and labeled a blue moon as the second full moon in a month. In fact, the almanac defined a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons, not the usual three.

Though Sky&Telescope corrected the error decades later, the definition caught on.

For purists, however, this New Year's Eve full moon doesn't even qualify as a blue moon. It's just the first full moon of the winter season.

Any way you look at, it won't be blue, but it WILL be interesting and could be a great way to begin some research into lunar cycles.

Now, if you would like to begin a HISTORY lesson, show your kids how old you are and try singing the rest of this...

"Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone, Without a dream in my heart, Without a love of my own..."

CURIOUS EVENTS IN NEBRASKA LAST WEEK

2009-12-29T12:26:00.000-08:00

FROM DECEMBER 17. WWW.SPACEWEATHER.COM

"Last night, Dec. 16th at 9 p.m. CST, a very bright meteor lit up the completely overcast sky like lightning in southeast Nebraska," reports Trooper Jerry Chab of the Nebraska State Patrol. "It flashed for approximately 2 seconds and was followed by sonic booms and ground shaking, which prompted many calls by the public to law enforcement in a three county wide area." Meanwhile, the USGS says there was a magnitude 3.5 earthquake near Auburn, Nebraska, at 8:53 pm, about the same time and place as the fireball.

"If the earthquake is confirmed, as it appears to be, I think we have the most cosmic of coincidences: A large fireball around the same time of an earthquake," says Chab. "I am simply amazed!"

One possible interpretation of these events is that a small asteroid hit Earth's atmosphere and caused the ground to shake when it exploded in mid-air. However, the timing might not be right. The quake seems to have preceded the fireball. Several readers have pointed out studies that associate lightning-like phenomena with earthquakes: #1, #2, #3. So, the earthquake might be responsible for both the shaking and the light show. Or it might be a big coincidence just as Chab suggests.

More reports could help sort out the possibilities. Readers in Nebraska with photos or eyewitness accounts have been encouraged to submit their observations.

Some eyewitness accounts include:

Eyewitness Accounts:

Location: 5 miles NW of Pawnee City, Nebraska
Comments: Nebraska State Trooper Jerry Chab: "At 2100 CST tonight a very bright meteor lit up the entire completely overcast sky like lightning in southeast Nebraska. It flashed for approximately 1.5-2 seconds and was followed by sonic booms and ground shaking which prompted many calls by the public to law enforcement in a three County wide area."

"I was approximately 5 miles NW of Pawnee City, Ne. when I observed the flashes," Chab continues. "It was a very bright one, the sky dimmed a bit and it was followed by another bright flash. Between the two bright flashes the sky never completely dimmed. Again, this all occurred within 1.5-2 seconds. I talked to a truck driver who was approx. 8 miles straight East of me who saw the same thing. A local Deputy was about 16 miles ENE of me and also saw it. The first 911 call came at 2201. The calls were about explosions AND earthquakes. One individual call mentioned 'two' explosions. I attributed the calls to sonic booms."

"If the Earthquake is confirmed, as it appears to be, I think we have the most cosmic of coincidences: A large fireball around the same time of an Earthquake. I am simply amazed!!"

For more accounts or to submit yours, CLICK HERE

This week, research earthquake lightning, meteors and Nebraska Earthquakes.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

2009-12-22T21:19:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays

2009-12-22T21:07:00.000-08:00

With 2009's final blast hitting the country, the Chasing4Life team will be busy navigating roads and reporting conditions throughout the holiday. We want to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and the very happiest of holidays. If you are in the path of all this weather, please do not let our efforts this year go to waste...stay prepared at home!

We want to thank all of you that supported us this year and we are looking forward to what looks to be an AMAZING new year.

As you spend some time with your families this next week, stay tuned to our Twitter and keep us in your prayers.

Happy Holidays!

Tragic Loss in Henderson, TN

2009-12-13T19:06:00.001-08:00

As we tour, we make friends and those friends quickly become family. This Monday was to be the day that we touched base with our new friends and family in Tennessee to arrange for a return tour. It is tonight that we are truly saddened to find that one of the towns we grew to love has suffered a horrible, tragic loss.
Captain Dennis Cagle, a police officer in Henderson, Tennessee (Chester County) was shot on Thursday and passed away this morning. Alannah and I were shocked to hear of the loss and are truly saddened. Our prayers and thoughts are with the folks in Chester County as they deal with this horrible loss during what should be such a joyous season.

Energy...

2009-12-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

One thing I know for sure is that trudging through 4 foot snow drifts for days on end has me running out of energy. I spent HOURS shoveling and ran out of energy again! Last night, I was too tired to eat.
Energy is in the news all the time, we say that we want to save energy and so we turn off a light, we even say we have run out of energy physically, but do we really know what energy is? It is a hard concept to teach, especially to the younger ones. My sons understand a little about energy, but no matter how much we talk of recycling and saving energy, do they really get the science of it?
I found a great site to help you talk and teach about energy. The great thing is, YOU will save energy by using this site because it is interactive and you really let the kids just "go at it"!
To find the site, simply CLICK HERE

The flu close up and personal

2009-11-29T22:52:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a GREAT site with you today. Take a look at the flu close up by CLICKING HERE.

This site is a blog created to be a unique health information source. The graphics are great and a fantastic resource for teaching your kids about the SCIENCE of this flu!

Breathe!

2009-11-27T22:04:00.000-08:00

We have been talking a lot about H1N1 around our house, taking precautions, limiting interaction with families where we know someone is sick, and of course, we have scrubbed our own fingerprints off washing our hands. So what can we learn as we talk about swine flu? Well, the subjects are actually endless. The last few days we have discussed forensics, actually figuring out ways that the flu can be spread from person to person, thinking about how many people we come in contact with each and every day, but the REALLY interesting subjects can come from talking about WHAT the flu does.

Trying to explain to my kids that the flu is a respiratory illness was pretty pointless until I could explain to them what RESPIRATORY was.

Have your kids ever asked how do you breathe? What are lungs? What do they look like and how do they work? Have you ever wondered this yourself? Here is a super simple, super easy project to explain this.

SUPPLIES:

One 1-liter or 1-quart clear plastic bottle ( a good way to recycle those water bottles!)
One large balloon
One small balloon
Two rubber bands
One straw
Modeling clay

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut off the bottom of the bottle. You can use a serrated knife, a utility knife, or scissors … what ever sharp instrument you use, please use standard safety rules.
2. Cut the neck off of the large balloon.
3. Stretch this balloon over the bottom of the bottle. Put a rubber band around it to hold it in place.
4. Insert the straw into the neck of the balloon.
5. Tie the balloon to the straw using the other rubber band.
6. Put the balloon end of the straw into the bottle so that the balloon is all the way into the bottle but does not touch the balloon over the bottom of the bottle.
7. Secure the straw in the bottle by using the modeling clay. Make sure the clay completely covers the mouth of the bottle, but does not crimp the straw.
8. Push on the rubber at the bottom of the bottle. What happens? Is this like breathing in or out?
9. Pull the rubber down. Which way would you be breathing now?

What happens? The stretched balloon across the bottom of the bottle acts like a diaphragm. This is the flat muscle at the bottom of the chest cavity. This muscle forces air in and out of your lungs. Your lungs do not inflate or deflate by themselves … a muscle, your diaphragm, is pulling or pushing so that you can breathe.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

2009-11-24T17:09:00.001-08:00

Home School Expo

2009-11-24T06:28:00.000-08:00

We have added the RSS feed from the Chicago Home School Expo to the blog site! You can see the latest updates regarding the expo to your right under the Flu.gov box. For more information about the Expo, CLICK HERE.

Thanksgiving Weather

2009-11-20T15:59:00.000-08:00

I love history. Really, ANY history. The problem with history is that I have a hard time teaching it to my kids sometimes. I fear that in a microwave society where everything is about the next minute, what happened 300 years ago sometimes gets lost in the shuffle.

There are a ton of blogs out there on homeschool sites right now talking about activities surrounding the “Being thankful” theme, so I wanted to do something different. As always, I can teach almost subject as long as I can relate it to severe weather, so let’s take a look at Thanksgiving weather and see if we can find a way to teach history to the kiddies during the holiday week ahead…

We can pull almost any book off the shelf in our homes and quickly show the children that the Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock, but can we tell them why?

The Pilgrims actually made the decision to land on the shores of Massachusetts because of the weather! At the time that the ship was was passing the southeastern tip of Cape Cod, the wind and waves pushed the crews to make landfall to save the ship from the turbulent seas! You see, the folks on the Mayflower originally intended on going all the way to New York Harbor. The Mayflower only weighed about 180 tons, which seems large, but if you compare it to ships of today was actually not large at all! On November 19, 1620, the ship found itself in the dangerous shoals east of Monomoy Point.

MONOMOY POINT

With a south wind, the Pilgrims were able to backtrack northward and using the wind for two more days finally made it to Provincetown Harbor after 65 days at sea! According to historical reports, the Pilgrims knew they were in trouble, for the weather had forced them to land in a place they were very unfamiliar with no place for them to take shelter. The reputation of the North American winters had been widely spread back home…

While the winter was mild that year, the beginning of December was not. This made it very difficult for the Pilgrims to explore the strange land they had “found” by way of foul weather. By December 7th, the ground was covered with snow and frozen solid. Some reports say the snow was at least 6 inches deep. As if things could not get worse, the wind became so bad on the 17th of December that old journals say the Pilgrims were coated with ice from the ocean spray.

Imagine wind, snow and ice in New England in mid-December! Remember, there was no place to live!

Exploration parties were formed and they went out in search of shelter and on the 18th, it began to snow and rain. YUCK! The search for a sheltered location continued through December 18 and 19 when the decision was made to actually land the boat at Plymouth Rock, thus ending the trip on December 21 from a small rowboat and not from the larger Mayflower.

For the record, the Pilgrims stepped foot on a sandy beach despite the location’s name!

Why the rowboat? With wicked weather and an unknown land ahead, the women and children were left on the Mayflower and only ten men rowed to shore. Hostile natives were definitely a concern…

Once satisfied that Plymouth Rock was the best place to weather the new world’s weather, the small crew went back to the Mayflower and everyone came to Plymouth on the Mayflower on December 26 where a decision was made to start the colony right there.

PLYMOUTH

The winter of 1620-'21 was "a calm winter, such as was never seen here since," wrote Thomas Dudley of Massachusetts Bay in 1630. Edward Winslow, one of the original Pilgrims, also wrote about the "remarkable mildness" of that first winter in “Good Newes From New England” published in 1624. There was testimony by others to a mild end of December, a moderate January, a brief cold spell with sleet and some snow in early February, followed by definitely mild conditions and an early spring.

Despite the generally warmer than normal conditions, almost half of the original passengers and crew of the Mayflower succumbed to disease during the first winter on the shores of Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bay.

Could it have been because of their journey through bad weather as well? Records show that most of the Pilgrims came ashore with HORRIBLE coughs at Plymouth!

Many lived on board the Mayflower anchored a mile-and-a-half offshore and went to the land each day, weather permitting, to build adequate shelters. It was wet and windy most of that winter, but thankfully little snow came after the Pilgrims landed.

There are not many more records of the weather from the Pilgrim’s early days here, and it is thought that this was a marketing issue; you see, if they wrote home about harsh winters, nobody else would come!

WEATHER IN NEW ENGLAND

Are you watching the weather this week in New England?

MASSACHUSETTS MAP

Look at the map of Massachusetts and journal this week’s weather! Could you have made the last of the journey? Would the Pilgrims have gotten a wind from the south this year? What would the weather have been this year for the Pilgrims? What’s the long term forecast for the next 30 days? How many obstacles did the Pilgrims face and how many of them were worsened because of weather?

What might have changed if the Pilgrims had landed at New York where there was businesses, shelter and trade already?

How many historical moments in history have been governed by weather?

Watch your mouth!

2009-11-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

Touring the country I get to hear a lot of cool things out of kid's mouths. As a parent, I know that sometimes not everything that comes out of a child's mouth is funny, especially when they are repeating something they heard you say that you shouldn't have...

I have gotten several hundred letters from kids in the last several months, most of them are from school children I met on tour. I love the things they remembered and laugh at how they focused on the LEAST important thing out of a 90 minute assembly.

One letter I got recently from a girl that attended a 90 minute presentation for her 5th grade class was this:

"Thanks for coming. I liked your boots!"

Here's another:

I learned alot about bad weather like when you said you still get scared!"

It is what makes children fun isn't it? It reminds me that they ARE listening. ALL the time...just not to what we THINK they are listening to...be careful what you say!

I remember the show "Kids say the darndest things" and was a big fan so I was excited to find a list of things kids have said about science that they THOUGHT they had learned at school.

Enjoy!

"One horsepower is the amount of energy it takes to drag a horse 500 feet in one second."
"You can listen to thunder after lightning and tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don't hear it, you got hit, so never mind."
"Talc is found on rocks and on babies."
"Isn't inertia when something is moving, then it stops moving and keeps moving?"
"The law of gravity says no fair jumping up without coming back down."
"When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions."
"When people run around and around in circles we say they are crazy. When planets do it we say they are orbiting."
"Rainbows are just to look at, not to really understand."
"While the earth seems to be knowingly keeping its distance from the sun, it is really only centrificating."
"Someday we may discover how to make magnets that can point in any direction."
"South America has cold summers and hot winters, but somehow they still manage."
"Water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees. There are 180 degrees between freezing and boiling because there are 180 degrees between north and south."
"A vibration is a motion that cannot make up its mind which way it wants to go."
"There are 26 vitamins in all, but some of the letters are yet to be discovered. Finding them all means living forever."
"There is a tremendous weight pushing down on the center of the Earth because of so much population stomping around up there these days."
"Lime is a green-tasting rock."
"Many dead animals in the past changed to fossils, while others preferred to be oil."
"Genetics explain why you look like your father, and if you don't why you should."
"Vacuums are nothings. We only mention them to let them know we know they're there."
"Some oxygen molecules help fires burn, while others help make water, so sometimes it's brother against brother."
"Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers."
"We say the cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation. Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on."
"To most people, solutions mean finding the answers. But to chemists, solutions are things that are still all mixed up."
"In looking at a drop of water under a microscope, we find there are twice as many H's as O's."
"Clouds are high flying fogs."
"I am not sure how clouds get formed. But the clouds know how to do it, and that is the important thing."
"Clouds just keep circling the earth around and around. And around. There is not much else to do."
"Water vapor gets together in a cloud. When it is big enough to be called a drop, it does."
"Humidity is the experience of looking for air and finding water."
"We keep track of the humidity in the air so we won't drown when we breathe."
"Rain is often known as soft water, oppositely known as hail."
"Rain is saved up in cloud banks."
"In some rocks you can find the fossil footprints of fishes."
"Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dog's tongue will kill the strongest man."
"The wind is like the air, only pushier."
"A blizzard is when it snows sideways."
"A hurricane is a breeze of a bigly size."
"A monsoon is a French gentleman."
"Thunder is a rich source of loudness."
"Isotherms and isobars are even more important than their names sound."
"It is so hot in some places that the people there have to live in other places."
"Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the daytime."

2009-11-16T20:17:00.001-08:00

We are pretty excited about what has been happening around the office. New sponsors are calling, and more importantly, more schools, more libraries, more agencies. It looks like 2010 could be the best year we have ever had here at Chasing4Life and we know it is because of the many friends that we have made and met over the last two years. Your recommendations, your word-of-mouth advertising on our behalf is spreading the word like a wildfire in high winds.
Our blog numbers are up, our homeschool numbers are up, our web hits are up.
If you have not yet called or emailed to see when we are in your area, NOW IS THE TIME to do it! Our tours are filling up and the new programs for 2010 look better than any we have ever had. So far, we have dates lining up in at least 20 states (see map)! We have NEVER had interest this widespread this early in the season before!
Looking forward to a great year with more opportunities than ever before...creating a more resilient America one community at a time!

2009-11-13T12:50:00.001-08:00

Homeschooling the sick

2009-11-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share this as soon as I heard about. I felt that it validated some of the reasons for homeschooling, but even more so, supported programs we have been trying to create here at Chasing4Life. I found this to VERY exciting that National Geographic was stepping up like this!

Here's the news release:

Washington, D.C. - As the nation heeds the significance of President Obama’s declaration of a national emergency to deal with the H1N1 flu, educators are bracing for the possibility of widespread impact on student learning as a result of the virus. National Geographic Channel (NGC) and National Geographic School Publishing (NGSP) are responding to the urgent call of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to provide continuity of learning to keep students, sick or well, engaged in meaningful education activities if they are kept home during flu season. To help address the needs of students who will be impacted, NGC and NGSP today announced the launch of a special programming block and free education resources that will be made available during what is expected to be peak flu season.

Beginning November 16, NGC will air two-hour programming blocks from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET, weekdays, over a six-week period, as well as provide select programs available anytime online at www.natgeotv.com/education. All programs in this educational block will be complemented with free Web-based activity guides and resources provided by NGSP via a special "continuity of learning" portal, National Geographic Home Zone (www.NGSP.com/homezone). The G-rated programming will be culled from the network’s award-winning specials and ongoing series, including Explorer, Naked Science and Wild Spaces, while the educational materials will be suitable for elementary, middle school and high school students, applicable to science, social studies and other disciplines. The intent is to provide students who are absent from school with opportunities to engage in a relevant learning experience.

Commenting on this announcement, John Fahey, president and CEO of National Geographic, said, "This effort underscores the commitment of National Geographic to partner with educators and parents, and is totally consistent with our mission of inspiring people to care about the planet. The National Geographic Channel and our school publishing unit are in a unique position to bring relevant learning resources into homes during the flu season. We hope students of all ages will both enjoy and benefit from the wonderfully engaging programs and related materials being offered"

Sci Tech Unveiling

2009-11-13T07:33:00.001-08:00

We are now getting pictures from the SciTech unveiling of Dorothy in her new home. We have posted a brief story up on the website if you would like to see it. Just CLICK HERE.
We would like to thank John Gudenas, David James, Mayor Tom Weisner and the other folks from Aurora that helped make this possible.
Special thanks this week goes to Dan Bocklund who has worked very hard the last week at the museum and will be completing construction of the display alongside of the museum.

2009-11-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

They Did Their Share

2009-11-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

On Veteran’s Day we honor
Soldiers who protect our nation.
For their service as our warriors,
They deserve our admiration.

Some of them were drafted;
Some were volunteers;
For some it was just yesterday;
For some it’s been many years;

In the jungle or the desert,
On land or on the sea,
They did whatever was assigned
To produce a victory.

Some came back; some didn’t.
They defended us everywhere.
Some saw combat; some rode a desk;
All of them did their share.

No matter what the duty,
For low pay and little glory,
These soldiers gave up normal lives,
For duties mundane and gory.

Let every veteran be honored;
Don’t let politics get in the way.
Without them, freedom would have died;
What they did, we can’t repay.

We owe so much to them,
Who kept us safe from terror,
So when we see a uniform,
Let’s say "thank you" to every wearer.

By Joanna Fuchs

HOMESCHOOL EXPOS

2009-11-09T12:26:00.001-08:00

Make sure you check out the new page on the website this week! Chasing4Life will be at the Southeast Homeschool Expo and the Chicago Homeschool Expo!
CLICK HERE!

Why be different?

2009-11-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

Being on the road the last few days and dealing with the business end of things, I have found little time to write for this blog (or any of my other blogs for that matter). I did find time to browse through some recommended articles and happened upon a GREAT article I think is well worth reading, so as you patiently wait for my next tidbit of wisdom or creative idea, please make sure you read this article by Wendy McMillian:

The Nile River - located in the Sudan and Egypt in Africa - is an interesting river. What makes this river so interesting and unusual as compared to other rivers? Unlike the majority of the world's waterways, the Nile flows from south to north.

The Nile is the life of the desert. Many boats and ships travel its waters to make trade in cities found along its banks. Many natives farm along the bank of the Nile because of the rich soil and available water. At 4,160 miles long, the Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world, beginning its journey at Lake Victoria, and ending at the Mediterranean Sea.

Although the river seems to defy gravity by flowing from south to north, it actually is flowing downhill. It is not the mystery it appears to be. Lake Victoria, where the river begins, is located high in the mountains of East Central Africa. Its course is downhill from there.

Home schooling is not the mystery it appears to be either. It has actually been around for many centuries, in many forms. All through history, children have been taught skills and trades by older family members. Family history and heritage have been handed down through generations of teachings. Home schooling could be traced back as early as Adam and Eve when they taught their children.

But why home school your children today? Why not just send them away and let someone else do the teaching? In short, why be different? The answer is actually quite simple: Because lessons are just waiting to be learned in the life that surrounds us...

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE

2009-11-03T11:29:00.002-08:00

We lost a friend

2009-11-03T11:29:00.001-08:00

A good friend of Chasing4Life passed away this weekend and we are truly mourning his passing. John Bernardi (Nov 21, 1950-Oct 31, 2009) was the Branch Manager of the Washington Branch Library in Omaha. He was also the editor of NLAQ, board member of The Literacy Center of Omaha, member of the American Library Association and also the Public Library Association. John believed in Chasing4Life and did his best to promote our events and the message of disaster preparedness. He was fun to work with, scattered in many directions at all times, and made learning fun for everyone he came in contact with. John was one of those librarians that REALLY believed in the power of a book and that passion is what we will miss the most.
Rest In Peace, John.

Time Change

2009-11-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

How many clocks did you have to set back in your house? Alot?

Your cellular phones probably did it themselves, but the worst is sometimes the one in the car! For a while, none of the clocks in my house matched! Did you ever wonder when this started? Here's today's lesson:

The idea of daylight saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin. During a trip to Paris in 1784, Franklin wrote an essay called "An Economical Project". Some of Franklin's friends, inventors of a new kind of oil lamp, were so taken by the scheme that they continued corresponding with Franklin even after he returned to America.
The idea was first advocated seriously by London builder William Willett (1857-1915) in the pamphlet, "Waste of Daylight" (1907), that proposed advancing clocks 20 minutes on each of four Sundays in April, and setting them back by the same amount on four Sundays in September.

As he was taking an early morning ride through Petts Wood, near Croydon, the builder was struck by the fact that the blinds of nearby houses were closed, even though the sun was fully up!

Willet wrote: "Everyone appreciates the long, light evenings. Everyone laments their shortage as Autumn approaches; and everyone has given utterance to regret that the clear, bright light of an early morning during Spring and Summer months is so seldom seen or used."

Willet spent most of the rest of his life trying to convince the government that Daylight Savings made sense. He died still being made fun of...

Wanna know the rest?

CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE STORY

Have a TWISTED Holiday

2009-10-29T18:05:00.001-07:00

Website Troubles

2009-10-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Aplus, the company that hosts our website, has been at this for 30 hours. Our website is still not working properly and we want to apologize to everyone that is trying to reach us via the site. Use info@chasing4life.org as an address and please be patient. We are not getting solid answers from the company and we know that many of you are attempting to access the web site pages. So are we.

Safety First

2009-10-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

While we all want Halloween to be just as scary as possible, there is no point in making it dangerous and there is no reason to make the danger REAL.

This blog is supposed to be about safety and preparedness, so with the Halloween holiday upon us, let’s get down to business.

Growing up, Halloween was one of those holidays that we did not always participate in. The family bounced back and forth between the history of Halloween and our religious beliefs so it was a pretty confusing time for me as a kid. By the time I became an adult, I had decided that I was going to celebrate Halloween like nobody had ever done before. I went to every haunted house, every maze, and went to several Halloween parties. As for my kids? I sent them out trick-or-treating with the biggest plastic pumpkins I could buy!

We cleaned up! We had candy for two years! A year later, while sitting around eating stale Bit-O-Honeys, I began to think about how irresponsible I had been all in the name of “celebrating”.

Parents of trick-or-treating kids can get so caught up in the fun themselves that they might forget some simple safety ideas that could save everyone some trouble. Here are some things to remember…

Know where your kids are at all times. Have you been watching the news? What a great night for child abductors, huh? Unattended kids distracted by mobs of other kids and adults, decorations and candy… they are quite a target. There has been some sad stories in the news lately, so know the route your kids are taking, accompany them if at all possible, or make sure they are in a group.

Make sure the costume is safe. Can your child safely look both ways before crossing the street with their mask on? Can they run in their costume? Defend themselves?

Know what activities your kids may be taking part in. I have some older kids that will not be trick-or-treating and I want to know WHERE they are going and WHO they are going with! As the father of several teenagers, I have figured out that the older the kid, the dumber decision.

Do not assume that the mall functions are safe. GO WITH YOUR KID.

Set a curfew. Make it very clear that you expect your child home at a set time. Any tardiness will indicate a problem so you can act quickly. Take a picture of your child in their costume before they leave the house so you have one should anything happen.

Explain to your children the difference between tricks and vandalism. Spooking people can be fun, but vandalism is not acceptable.

Think about the weather. Make sure that you do not sacrifice health for a cool costume. The forecast for 32 degrees has TOTALLY ruined my plans to go as a belly dancer.

Lastly, make sure your child has a flashlight with them.

Be safe, enjoy the holiday. Give out cool candy. Peeps left over from Easter are NOT acceptable.

They found Elizabeth today

2009-10-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

The body of missing 9-year-old Elizabeth was found in a wooded area near Missouri's capital city today, two days after she was last seen walking from a neighbor's home. According to the latest news, the suspect is a juvenile.

The sheriff did not give any details on how Elizabeth died or about the juvenile in custody except to say that the person lived in the area west of Jefferson City and was older than the girl. Police said Elizabeth's body was found just before 3 p.m.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Olten family. Friends, please watch your kids. The world is becoming a very tough place to grow up.

2009-10-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you with snow...

2009-10-22T08:36:00.001-07:00

As adults we see snow as one of those things we dread. Sure it is pretty and can make for a very romantic Christmas Eve, but the bottom line is this: we have to shovel, get out the snowblower, scrape our car windows, drive through it to get to the store, and the worst part is that we have to find boots that go with our “adult clothes” that don’t make us look like the kid in the Malt-O-Meal commercial!

As a child, things are different. Not only can snow transform the landscape into a wonderland, but it can provide a lot of material for learning.

While most of the country does not have any snow yet, back in Nebraska we have plenty already! The snowflakes today are the size of baseballs!
While October is not the best time to discuss snow in most situations, it seems pretty appropriate for our little homeschool here today.

Today we may work on finding out where snow comes from. We will talk about how snow crystals are born in the clouds when water vapor freezes on a particle of dust, a floating bit of bacteria, or another solid material. Today’s snow is just more of yesterday’s rain that has gotten too cold!

We will talk about when cloud temperatures are at the freezing point or below, and there is an ample supply of moisture in the air, ice crystals form around a core particle. As water vapor condenses and freezes, the complex pattern of a snowflake is born, one molecule at a time. A snowflake's hexagonal shape is born at the atomic level. It is here that water molecules bond together into stable crystal structures.

With flakes this big, we will classify snow into six basic patterns called: Needles, columns, plates, columns capped with plates, dendrites, and stars. Each type is the result of different atmospheric and temperature conditions within the cloud. You can find out what each of these are by clicking on http://school.familyeducation.com/science/teaching-methods/37626.html?detoured=1

There are several ways you can “investigate” snow flakes.

What you'll need:
Viewing platform: black velvet, dark cloth, or black construction paper
Magnifying glass

Snowflakes are delicate creatures and their fine crystalline shape can vanish at the touch of warmth. You'll need to freeze your viewing surface (keep it in the fridge or outside in a cold dry area). If the snow is falling, just hold your platform aloft to catch a few flakes and view with your magnifying glass. You may need to wear a scarf over the mouth and nose to avoid melting the flakes with a warm breath.

Try photography. Years ago it was expensive to hand your kids a camera and have them blow through a $4 roll of film that cost $5 to develop, but now, with digital cameras, teaching and journaling can be fun! See how close you can get to take a picture! Can you capture the whole snow fall and then a single flake?

Keeping journals is a great way to interest any child in observation. My son amazed the filmmaker from Canada that was visiting a few weeks ago by explaining to him that he had journaled all of our regional weather for the last six months!
In your snow journal, keep 1. Date, time and amount of the snowfall 2. Temperature of the air and how it effects “snowball making” 3. The kinds of crystals you observe and if your are ambitious, 4. The weight unit of the snow. Use a small container such as a measuring cup and gather enough snow to fill the container without packing it. Use a ruler or knife to level the snow with the top of the container and weigh it on a postage scale. The idea is, after several “readings” to find that the higher the weight, the higher the water content, so make sure you keep the amounts of snow approximately the same each time. Taking measurements every few hours will allow your child to see how “heavy” the snowfall is. You may want to look back over your midday readings and evening readings to see if colder air effects snow weight!

Now, when all this has been done and your child has become a snow expert ready for the rest of winter, find their coat, gloves, hat, scarf and boots and go make snow angels!

Are you ready to RUMBLE???

2009-10-21T08:43:00.001-07:00

If you have been to one of my presentations, you probably know I am into earthquakes. You can connect earth science with real life y simply going to https://sslearthquake.usgs.gov/ens/ and signing up for the USGS Earthquake notification service!
Each day you will get an email telling you where earthquakes occurred. You can set boundaries within the system so you only get US earthquakes. I just got one for a 1.8 in Missouri!
This is a great discussion starter, and fun to journal as you learn about earthquakes, The New Madrid Zone, the San Andreas Fault and how much of our terrain came to be the way it is!
The site has a lot more to offer than just this. It is a GREAT resource for teaching! Check out http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/ for all kinds of lesson ideas and activity ideas.

It's a fact!

2009-10-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

I found a GREAT site filled with factoids and weather science stuff for today's homeschooling lesson! CLICK HERE to check it out!

Did you know one inch of rain over one square mile equals to 17.4 million gallons (66 million liters) of water?
Did you know that the weight of one inch of water over one square mile equals over 145 million pounds (66 million kg)?
Did you know 145 million pounds of water is almost 73,000 tons or the weight of 241 locomotives?
This is a lot of water held up by wind.

Clouds are made of trillions of tiny droplets of water (or when cold enough, ice crystals)!
There is so much water in the air that if it all fell as rain at the same time, it could fill enough buckets to reach from the earth to the sun 57 million times!

Here is something you can try...You can tell the temperature by counting the clicks a cricket makes in 15 seconds and adding 37!

Lilapsowhat?

2009-10-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

Winter tornadoes are not as rare as you may think. Anyone with Lilapsophobia (the fear of tornadoes) certainly had something to be afraid of on February 5th and 6th, 2008. A series of massive tornadoes struck at least 5 Southern states (Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama) causing at least 52 deaths and 150 injuries. Do not forget the children of Oconto, Nebraska who had their Halloween trick-or-treating horribly interrupted by a tornado that swept through the center of town.
No time of year is entirely free from tornado risk. Like spring, fall is a transitional period when masses of warm and cool air are more likely to collide and create the thunderstorms that can trigger twisters. During summer, tornadoes can also form within hurricanes, which can turn a relatively benign outer arm of a hurricane into a locally devastating event.
Winter tornadoes can be particularly deadly, not because they're stronger, but because they tend to move faster.

Hot holidays

2009-10-20T08:54:00.001-07:00

A week or so ago we talked a little about fire safety. With October being the month that we focus on fire safety, it is important that we remember to add this into our curriculums while we are thinking about it. Ever wonder why Fire Safety Month is in October?
In the next several weeks our homes will be cluttered with tons of flammable materials. From large Thanksgiving centerpieces full of dried flowers to Christmas lights and garland, the potential for a fire increases drastically in November and December! Add in wrapping paper and a live tree and POOF!

Homeschool Fire Safety Lesson Ideas

Fire safety lessons should include several layers of instruction, including helping children understand fires, how to prevent fires and how to react safely in case of a fire.

About Fire

It glows, dances, flickers and fascinates children, and teaching them about how fire works can help snare their interest in fire safety lessons. Ideas for learning about fire include:

Studying the mechanics of combustion, including its chemical and thermal properties by testing materials before and after burning, as well as measuring the temperatures generated by fires
Testing the combustibility of different household materials in a fireplace or barbecue grill, such as burning newspapers, cloth, Styrofoam and other items and comparing the smoke, smell, combustion speed and fire color
Visiting a local fire house and learning what equipment firefighters use and what training they have to deal with fires
Learning the composition of smoke and why it cannot be breathed
Studying historical fires, both on a local and national scale, and learning how devastating a fire can be to real people
Studying how fire can burn skin and what other bodily damage it can do

For more ideas on how to teach about fire and fire safety in the home, just CLICK HERE.

Weather Science Camp

2009-10-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

The subject of holding a weather science camp has been brought up again this year. If this is something you would be interested in, we could use your help. Our thoughts are that we could create a one-day camp experience for elementary school age children with a focus on homeschooled children. While we have done camps before, this would be a large effort for us and in order to begin work on this project, we need your input.
In order to hold the camp, we would need a venue in your area and an idea of what your budget might be to enroll a child in such a camp.
Obviously shared costs will keep costs lower, and so we would love to see churches or home school associations or organizations take on booking a camp in their area.
We want your thoughts and input.
Please use the Chasing4Life contact page at www.Chasing4Life.org to send us your thoughts. Let us know about homeschool groups in your area, possible venues and how many homeschool families you are connected to. If you would like to volunteer at one of these camps, let us know that too!
We look forward to hearing from you!

Shaken, not stirred

2009-10-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

With all the earthquakes in the news, what better time to teach your kids about earthquakes? I recently visited my old school and spoke about The New Madrid Zone and was amazed at how interested they were! Try visiting the USGS site for kids by clicking HERE and check out the games, activities and more!

There are TONS of links for teaching (watch the left hand menu) and make sure you incorporate a little TV time so you can make that connection between today's news and all these new resources!

Are you energetic?

2009-10-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

It is a little more than halfway through October and I am tired. I have been in many states in the last 30 days and I am exhausted! I AM OUT OF ENERGY!

That reminds me.

October is Energy Month!

What is energy? Where do we get our energy? Have we always done this the same way? How much energy is OUR house using each month?

CLICK HERE for a great site where you can find out all tthe answers to these questions and you will also find activities for the whole family! Moms and Dads can find an energy calculator too!

Partly Cloudy

2009-10-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

So here is today's weather lesson.
What do you know about clouds?
Can you recognize them?

Just click here.

When you are done, here's a simple song you can learn!

Clouds are Floating
(to the tune of Frere Jacques)
Clouds are floating, clouds are floating,
Up so high, up so high,
Floating up above us, floating up above us,
In the sky, in the sky.

Activate your kid's mind!

2009-10-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all of our new friends in Mundelein!
As I promised to so many of you over the last week of this tour, here is the link and some information to the Edheads website.

Edheads will create unique, educational Web experiences designed to make hard-to-teach concepts understandable using the power and interactivity of the Internet. They have set a new standard for excellence by delivering in-depth content in a fresh, exciting style allowing your child to learn intuitively in an online environment.

I encourage you to spend some serious time on the site so that you can see all of the things it has to offer your homeschooled student.

I will be revisiting this site for you in this blog over the next few weeks to recommend specific activities as promised.

To discover Edheads for yourself CLICK HERE

Sorry, not interested.

2009-10-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

I took a call today from a young mom doing her best to home school her kid. While some subjects seem to come easy, there are others that just seem too difficult to teach because she feels she is making "no connection" with her son.

Here's the most powerful way I have found to get that interest peaked and that attention span stretched beyond two minutes...

Let your child find a hobby.

Our daughter had the hardest time reading, in fact, reading was not a priority at all to her and of course, a lack of reading caused many problems in every subject. As she grew older, she bagen to show an interest in horses. The problem was solved. From field trips to 4H, from library books on horses, we finally had a means of incorporating her interest into what she needed to learn! It was exciting to watch her read books on horses, and of course, she eventually got her own horse. From there she learned math as she budgeted for tack, learned fractions as she figured out feed amounts, and even learned practical skills as we built a stable!

Now I realize that not everyone will go this extreme with a hobby, but it worked!

Take my son for example. He is a bright boy, but has little attention span for things that he deems "unneccesary". With a father that makes a living as a professional weather monitor and researcher, he wanted to grow up to be like dad. That was where we focused.

It is thrilling to watch as (at 7 years old) he can calculate the arrival of a storm based on wind speed and direction versus distance. calculating wind shear is not an easy task for a seasoned weather monitor, but Jon goes after it with a vengeance at only 7! Rainfall totals, average rainfalls, water temperatures all come from buoy readings he takes himself and I love watching him analyze weather systems.

Having trouble making that connection in certain subjects? Step away from the books for a moment and find what peaks their interest. Rockets. Dinosaurs. Dolls. Weather. Cars. It all holds a means to get them to read, learn math, explore science and more!

One book

2009-10-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

Are you taking advantage of your local library and its programs?
For years now I have spoken at thousands of schools, but never have I seen the fruit that I have seen come from the local library systems. In the last few years our library tours have increased dramatically and I could not be happier. I know, it sounds “corny” to talk about the power of a book, but I really believe in it.
A few years ago I met a very unique and odd little man. He told me a crazy story of a book he had taken from his local library as a boy…
It turns out that the book was about lightning and Benjamin Franklin. After a few weeks, the librarian wanted her book back, but the book had become the most valuable possession the little 5th grader had ever held and so he held onto the book, taking odd jobs to pay the overdue fines.
The book grew. It grew inside the boy and became a part of his life; it became a source of inspiration and gnawed at his curiosity. As an adult in his 40’s the man became an inventor and created a one-of-a-kind lightning detection system that is in use worldwide. The system is used to protect critical infrastructural equipment and facilities, railroads, telecommunications towers, hospitals, fire departments, dispatch centers and schools.
One boy.
One library.
One book.
In this country we are always looking for the latest thing, but have we taken time to look for the oldest? It is hidden in your local library.
I imagine a world for my children that is much different than the one we live in now. I imagine a world with better tornado warning systems, with cleaner air and cleaner fuels… it could very well be that YOUR child is the one that will discover it in a book somewhere. An unfinished experiment ages old could be lurking on a shelf very close to your home.
Dig deep.

Success Stories

2009-10-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

As I tour the nation, it is encouraging to receive letters of thanks and recommendation. It is that kind of encouragement that sometimes makes the difference between quitting and continuing when things are not so easy. It is for that reason that every once in a while, when we run across a family excelling in the homeschool world, that we will feature them here on this blog.
Jason and Andrea Soldini were married in 1994 and had their first child in 1996. They began homeschooling in 2001 with their oldest daughter. In 1999 they had another daughter and in 2008 they adopted a son.
Their site, http://www.homeschoolingbythebook.com/ is truly an amazing testament to what they have accomplished. Check out their online “store” run by their 10 and 12 year old children and make sure you browse through their incredible field trips under “adventures”!
Jason and Andrea have a new book available too!
The family is inspiring and their approach to homeschooling is absolutely exceptional.

Code Red Rover

2009-10-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

With the theme this month focusing on Fire Safety, take a moment to check out CODE RED ROVER where you will find online games, information and some teaching materials for your kids this month!

CLICK HERE FOR CODE RED ROVER

There's a great activity booklet you can download right on the site and tips for parents and teachers!

This is a great site for finding tips on EVERYTHING you need to know about home safety and how to teach it to your little ones!

FIRE SAFETY WEBSITE

2009-10-11T11:21:00.001-07:00

CLICK HERE for a great website with helpful fire safety tips and videos for your home!

FIRE!

2009-10-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Are you practicing fire safety at home? Trust me... a word from personal experience...you need to be doing this!

You know, October is Fire Prevention Month and at schools across the country, students are going through fire drills and having visits from local firefighters that teach them the basics about fire safety. Are you homeschooling? If so, this means that NOW is the time to make arrangements to stop by your local fire department with your kids. Have a firefighter walk them through the building and give them a field trip. Make sure that when you get home, you practice fire drills in the house.

Now, a few tips for you that I have found are effective in the home:

1. Sneak down the hall while the kids are doing their work and use a broom handle to set off your smoke alarm. Keep an eye on the clock and see how long it takes for them to get safely out of the house.

2. Now, wait until nightfall and simulate bedtime. Turn off the lights in the house (all of them) and hit that smoke alarm again. It is important that the kids understand that this is something they will have to do in the DARK.

3. Make sure they all go to the same place. Is it out by the mailbox? The neighbors porch? Across the street?

4. Give your kids a project. Have them make their own fire safety brochure or poster promoting what they have learned. Make sure they make at least two of these. Now, have your kids visit your nearest neighbors for a visit. Have the kids explain to the neighbors what they learned and have them give their new "promotional literature" to the neighbors. While you are there, make sure the neighbors know where you have chosen to meet outside YOUR house if fire ever strikes your family. This way, when the firefighters arrive, the neighbors can tell them where you SHOULD be so there are no firefighters needlessly searching your home for you!

Welcome

2009-10-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

According to statistics, homeschooling in the United States has increased 74% in the last eight years. Why? I do not believe that it is because of a lack of faith in our public school systems as much as it is a growing desire to see MORE education and more focus on real issues that will eventually effect the home.
I have toured this country for many years teaching and presenting in thousands of schools and have addressed not only hundreds of thousands of school students but their very concerned parents.
Disaster preparedness is always an issue that raises more questions than it provides answers. How do I teach it to my children without frightening them? How do I deal with the tough issues after a disaster? Do I allow my kids to see the news of current disasters? How do I involve them in our planning?
I have found that the world of disaster preparedness is a wide world of educational opportunity filled with science, history, social science, mathmatics and literature.
It is through this new blog that we intend to provide those tips, stories and insights that we have shared as we toured. Stay tuned here for programs, guides and curriculum additions as well.