Inuksuk

Evan's Inuksuk

On our first day of studying Canada, we covered the First Nations and the animals of Canada.  (The French and the English arrive later.)  Eskimo is an Algonquin word meaning "eaters of raw meat."  The 'eskimo' call themselves Inuit- "people".

Our hands-on project for the day was experimenting and building Inuksuk. 

Inuk means 'person' in the Inut language, suk means 'substitute'.

The inuksuk was used by the Inuit in Canada to show people the way.

Did you know Canada changed her map in 1995 to recognize the Nunavet Territory in Northeast Canada in 1995?  The Nunavut flag prominently features an Inuksuk and the North Star.

Xavier's first Inuksuk

The book we read to guide our project explained that the Inuksuk acted as Arctic messengers of stone.  It contained comments from several Inuit who were born in the 1915-1930s.  It seems that though Inuksuit are "people substitues", they are really not intended to look like people;  at least that is not the goal.  I saw many inuksuk trinkets in a Canadian souvenir shop this summer and I think that as their popularity spreads they will be increasingly equated with having a human like form.

A "hole" in an inuksuk communicates that direction that should be taken.

They can also have a more cairn like shape or arrow like features for pointing the way.

A larger inuksuk

Around the world in 15 weeks. . .

or maybe 16 or 17.  Evan requested studying other countries this semester.  We had somewhat skipped over a unit that included Japan in order to study New York and Connecticut (Ahem, boys where are those posts?) before our summer trip.   I had already collected some resources for that, so we're off!  We are taking the rest of the summer to do some miscellaneous stuff, but we already started reading Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (a French author- nice how that works out.) It's a hit with the boys so far, although the vocabulary is challenging for them.  The DVD of one of the movie versions is waiting for us, also. This past weekend, I outlined what our semester might look like.

Starting Monday August 26- Each country 1 week, unless noted.
Canada
France (2 weeks)
Spain
Mexico
South America (TBD)
Ancient Baghdad
Japan (2 weeks)
India
Morocco
Tanzania
South Africa
Australia (2 weeks)

The order is something similar to that, but I don't have my calendar in front of  me and I need to get off the computer instead of finding it.  We interrupted our sleep last night to go out and look at meteors from the Perseid shower.  Xavier was non-responsive at 4am, but very disappointed today that he missed it.  He told me to "drop him on the floor" to wake him up and if that didn't work to "pull his ears"!  He really wants to see a shooting star.

On a final note, the boys put together my old world map puzzle (pictured above).  Cole quickly pointed out that it has the USSR instead of Russia and the current countries; Evan is displeased with the Mercator projection which causes Greenland to appear larger than the United States; and it is missing two edge pieces. Update:  Both pieces have been found. . . though I had decided that since the earth has neither edges or corners, the missing pieces weren't such a big deal.   Hmmmm, maybe someone will get a new map puzzle for his birthday. . . .

Throwback Thursday

 I found this picture of Brad in Little League in a green and yellow uniform.  I wanted to recreate it with Evan and green and yellow uniform this year.  The programs that I tried to use to age Evan's picture kept crashing.  If I wait for it to be perfect, you'll never see it.  So I hope you enjoy it anyway.  Below are two "action shots" of Evan catching and batting.  Both Cole and Evan's teams won their little mid-season tournament, so they are "City Champs."

Easter pictures

 And lest you think we are a picture perfect family. . . ..

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Let's see if I can get this posted before we head back out to the ball field. . .
Our schedule today:
8:15 am Evan's baseball pictures
10:00 am Evan's game
11:00am Cole's pictures
12:15 Cole's game
2pm Xavier's pictures
3pm Brad has concession stand duty
5pm Xavier's game

I guess that means we are right about the 7th inning stretch now.

This year Cole is playing for the Cubs again.  Evan is on the Oakland A's "PeeWee" team, and XAVIER is on the field with the Corpus Christi Hooks and his dad as the head coach.  Evan had a good hit but wasn't able to score; Cole scored, had a hit, and pitched the last inning in his 5-1 win.  Xavier hasn't played yet, but it's TBall, so he wins.  Time for us to get back to the field!

Cole coming home

More Gym meet results

Evan on rings at Boerne meet

We have returned this evening from the Austin Spinner Invitational Meet and all the boys were in bed early, so I have a little time to get this post published.  These are pictures from the past two weeks, but not today.  Brad is also asleep on the couch, (I did say ALL the boys didn't I?) so I won't start downloading pictures, etc. but I will include results from today.

Cole did well today, and so did Evan, although Evan didn't medal today.  Evan's Level 4 Team did win 1st place in the Team category.  Evan's high score today was a 9.9 on rings which ranked him 15th out of 40.
Today, Cole competed against only age 9 Level 5's.  (He usually competes with 9 and 10 year olds.) He placed 3rd on Rings, 4th on Parallel bars, and 7th All Around, out of 24 competitors.

Here are the results from last week's meet in San Antonio.
Evan Schuelke
35 Total Competitors in the 7-8yo Age group
Event    Floor         Pommel    Rings     Vault      PBars      High Bar    AllAround
score     10.200      8.700         9.200     8.900      9.100      9.200          55.300
Rank     5               15T            23T        26T        24T         20T           19

Cole
50 total competitors in the Level 5, 9&10yos
Floor     Pommel    Rings      Vault     PBars     High Bar    AllAround
8.300    9.300         9.300       9.100    8.800      8.300        53.100
38T       19T           18            36T       27T        22T           24T

Evan on high bar at Boerne meet

Cole on high bar at Boerne meet

A different view of the back lever during the Alamo meet

The Back lever pictured below is a position that must be held to receive credit. These are not "in motion" snapshots.  Evan performs this skill also.

Cole "rockin' the back lever" at the Boerne meet

Cole on PBars at Alamo meet

Evan on pommel at Alamo meet

More to come!

Plethora of Perler beads

A little artwork for you today.  My boys have discovered perler beads, also known as melty beads and fuse beads.  Small cylindrical beads are placed on a peg board, then ironed to melt together.  Turns out, it is a somewhat addictive little past time.  That's fine by us because it is great fine motor skill training AND as Brad pointed out, considerably cheaper than LEGOs.

Evan's heart (for Mom)

Cole's gymnast on high bar:

His own creation (no pattern).  The instability of the letters USA led us to purchase another 11,000 beads in order to get some "clear" beads to try to stabilize the banner. 

 

Xavier's sunflower.  Picasso would be proud.  Xavier also invested in some "Biggie Beads" which are much larger and easier to work with.

 

 

Xavier also finally got to do a punch metal art project.  He painted the frame all by himself, too.

 

What did you create today?