Fun Stuff in Red Bluff: Field Trips With Young Kids in Red Bluff

Here are some fun trips we have taken in good old Red Bluff (and some surrounding areas) with the kids.  In the spirit of me writing instead of not, I will be making a list instead of writing a lengthy review for each one:

The Aquarium Pet Store-surprising amount of animal variety for a small town-free, unless you get suckered into buying pet stuff :)-main street

The Sacramento River Discovery Center-cute little museum-free, but I'm sure they would take donations-sale lane

Ide Adobe-peek into the little one-room cabin to check out the furnishings and walk around to see the well, garden, farm animal housing, the carriage house, and the adobe brick making.  Visit the little museum.-I think you have to pay for parking on a trust basis, but the rest is free-adobe road

Rosser's (I think that's spelled wrong) Bakery- They told us how they grind wheat to make fresh bread and pointed out the ovens.  Bread's tasty-free, but I felt like we should at least buy a scone after they gave us a tour-antelope blvd.

Gaumers- Wow! I was not expecting there to be a full scale gem and mineral museum in this little place. Really cool!-free, but Cal got a polished rock souvenir for a few bucks-antelope blvd.

Fire Department/Police Department-  When they weren't busy we snuck in with someone we knew and those very nice firefighters/officers gave a little tour-free, and included plastic fire hat and sticker police badge.-that street behind Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Main

Tehama County Library-I can not write this with out mentioning the library.  It is far better than it should be for such a small town and the 9:30 pre-school story time on Wednesdays with Miss Sally is spectacular!  Stories, music, marching, crafts, educational topics, guest appearances, puppet shows, animal visits, snacks, prizes...awesome.-free!-unless you check out a book and bring it back late or completely loose it for 6 months behind the bed or under a pile of cr#p.-behind the jail-no affiliation

Red Bluff Garden Center-tons of different plants and knowledgeable staff-free, but it never is for me-I can't resist new baby plants :)-antelope blvd.

Coleman Fish Hatchery-lots of different aged salmon swimming around, some being smacked over the head and gutted for their reproductive goodies.  Informational boards too. -free-anderson/bfe

The worm farm-ok, it's in chico, but we had so much fun on the tour and this is where we got our worms for vermicomposting-free-chico

That's it for now, but I know there's more.  I guess we did more this year than I thought!

How I Get Anything Done While Simultaneously Homeschooling: My Favorite Playdoh Recipe

Ok, so most of the days I either get homeschooling done, cleaning done, blogging done, OR sewing done. This is because I swear the kids can make a mess faster than I can chase them around to clean it up.  In a conversation recently with another homeschool mom, we discussed how the kids just spend all day undoing what we are doing (getting unhungry, pooping in diapers, getting out toys, making bodies muddy, making dishes dirty, making laundry dirty, etc.).  Every Friday I think, "Yikes! How can I ever get the house clean WHILE the kids are stationarily (I know spellcheck, it's not a word, I made it up, get over it) enjoying something "educational" (besides T.V.)?"  And then I remember, PLAYDOH!  When will two little boys voluntarily sit still long enough for me to temporarily catch up with them?  When they are playing with playdoh.  Now, I know what you are thinking.  "But, Beck, that makes a huge mess and the 19 month old will eat it!"  Yes, it makes a little bit of a mess (less if you always insist on the playdoh staying on a plastic cutting board or if you play outside), but not as much of a mess as regular boy activities do.  And the  mess is hopefully contained to one area.  And yes, the 19 month old tried it once, and thought it was too salty, so he stopped.  I can't stand the smell of that awful "real" store bought playdoh, and that stuff can get pricey so I make my own.  When I first started making it I got a great recipe from my mother-in-law but it required cooking the playdoh in a pot (aka burning a sticky mixture of wet flour and salt to the bottom of one of my cooking pots that requires chipping off later).  Then I found the no cook recipe in More Mudpies to Magnets: Science for Young Children by Sherwood, Williams and Rockwell (our science curriculum) and fell in love.  I do add a bit more water because it is a little crumbly.

1 cup flour
1/3 cup salt
1/3 cup water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Put dry in first and stir, add wet in a nest, stir again, and mix with hands.

And now if you will excuse me, the magic of the playdoh is over, the dishes are not done (I was blogging instead) and Quentin is shaking the contents of a bag of Grapenuts all over the kitchen floor.  Happy doughing!

Now I'm Screwed: Our New Homeschool Area and A New Hole In My Thumb

I am preschool homeschooling my 4 1/2 year old son this year.  We got a bit off track around Thanksgiving and I think part of the reason was that we didn't really have a designated place to do and keep homeschooling stuff.  I had to search for his curriculum books and supplies every day and it was getting exhausting (before we even started trying to learn while his little brother pushed everything off the table).  So I decided to start moving everything homeschool related to one corner of the living room.  This is a work in progress because I have yet to move the books and stationary supplies around, but I wanted to show off the desk I built for it and the Ikea wire I hung up for the posters.  We had some untreated douglas fir wood scraps left over from the bed frames my husband put together during Christmas time.  I really didn't want to bother him to cut the wood because he is pretty busy teaching.  I wanted a desk for Cal that fit the Ikea chairs under it, allow Legos to be swept into a lower bin when playing was done, hold cups for pencils and such, store tubs on the side, and have a tabletop the same size as the plexiglass I had already had so that he can write and paint on a smooth non-markable surface.  I pieced together the scraps very carefully to make the desk and I only had to cut two pieces with a hand saw.  Unfortunately, halfway through the project I screwed myself...in the thumb...at the base of my thumbnail...there is a new hole that was bleeding and making me want to pass out.  I had to call up my friend and ask her to distract me so that I didn't.   It gives me the heebee-jeebees just thinking about it.  I am proud to say that after staring at the half-done desk for an hour, I got back on the horse, "cowboyed up" as they say in Red Bluff, and finished the desk and hung the wire with the very same "safe" power drill that scarred me for life earlier.  Yay me! The post would not be complete without photos of the excitement, so here they are!

There's the lego tub.

Does it look like a preschool instead of a living room yet?

The desk

And that's how I screwed myself.