Silver Dollars and Babies: Discussing Probability

Results after coin tossing game 1

"Life is a school of probability."

-Walter Bagehot

I don't believe that we have ever really talked much about probability before, but we had fun discussing the concept the other day while playing a classic coin toss.

Hunter loves coin tossing (he's a little bit competitive) and will often initiate a game randomly, usually asking me to guess which side it will be.

After being prompted for my guess several dozen times, I told him that my guess would always be heads. We then decided to start recording how many we each got right. Over the course of many throws, this illustrated the idea that they would be pretty much even, if though it wasn't a perfect pattern of heads; tails; heads; tails... etc.

He had fun watching the game progress on paper. Sometimes we would get tails after tails after tails, sometimes the other way around, but one person would always end up catching up, or switching between who was in the lead.

We discussed why this was, and the concept of probability.

Seeing it written down on paper really made it stick about the concept of chance, and that the chances were even, even if the pattern wasn't exactly even.

We discussed that because there were two choices, and it was pure chance which side it landed on, about half of the throws would be heads, and half would be tails, or in other words, 50 out of every 100.

We said this many different ways throughout the process of the game:

There is a 50% chance that it will be one or the other.

It is a 50:50 chance it will be one or the other.

There is a 1 in 2 chance it will be one or the other.

etc., etc.

We talked about how there was a 1 in 2 chance of a baby being a boy or a girl, but just like with coin tossing, it is not always an even pattern. Sometimes you get boy, girl, boy, girl, and sometimes you get several of the same in a row, like us having two boys!

We talked about how if you had something that had more than two side, the chances would be different, like if you had a die. But we will come back to that later.

Just a lot of fun math talk, while sitting on the couch and playing a silly little game. I have been inspired to make the language of math a bigger part of our vocabulary, and it has been fun seeing the many places it has taken us - if only I wrote about all the many discussions we have had! Truly, mathematics is everywhere, we just have to notice it.

First game results - Hunter, 48: Mom, 52

Second game results - Hunter, 56: Mom, 44

"Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal." 

Psalm 17:2

Hunter is 5 years, 11 months old

Hunter's First Basket (basketball)

Hunter made his first basket today at a basketball game.

They are a few weeks into the season, and he has been wanting to get a basket at an actual game for the longest time.

He was so proud of himself.

"Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store." 

Deuteronomy 28:5

Hunter is 5 years, 11 months old

Our Daily Homeschool Schedule, Winter 2011

Making designs out of leftover dough while
helping make dinner

Our schedule has changed a lot over the past few months, not only as life circumstances have changed - deployments, work schedules, pregnancy, health, etc. - but, more importantly, as Hunter has changed.

But then again, this is always the case. It seems like he changes so rapidly even every few weeks, as does, but to a lesser extent, life. I've found that usually I don't post about our schedule because of this. But I figure that I probably should post about it anyway, so I can have a keepsake of what life was like at a particular period in our life.

I am sure this is going to change a lot once the baby is born, and probably before that too, but this is what is working for us right now, mid "kindergarten" year:

Early Morning

6:00-8:15  For the first time in his life, Hunter has become an early riser. This a fairly new thing, but it has actually been working amazingly well for both of us and Hunter loves it. I have been waking him up as I'm going downstairs, usually just a little before 6:00, and he comes down in his pajamas and starts working on his independent work until breakfast.

Right now, this includes

• reading (one chapter from the KJV Bible and one chapter of a middle- to late-elementary chapter book)

• math worksheets (Facts Masters [timed], word problems, and one or two other math worksheets, generally in the 2nd - 4th grade level [I know it's a lot, but the kid loves math!])

• building thinking skills (2 pages a day from level 1)

• penmanship (I make my own practice sheets from this site, right now he does an upper- and lowercase letter a day of both cursive and D'Nealian print) 

• spelling (using the same site as above, he practices tracing and then copying related spelling words, right now I just use common words, such as number words, color words, etc.)

Amazingly, he seems to accomplish more in this two-hour time block than he often would in a six-hour time block before! I think that he is more alert, focused, motivated, and free from distractions at this time,  and am really glad we went out and tried something different!

It is also amazing how much he can do independently now. Six months ago I had to sit next to him and hold his hand through virtually everything. It is nice seeing him blossom into a self-motivated, independent learner.

A recent morning Hunter chose to build a park of "sculptures" out
of Jenga pieces

Morning

8:15-9:15 - Breakfast  At about 8:15 I usually send him upstairs to get dressed, and we have breakfast at 8:30 or a little after with the daycare kids. Mealtimes with daycare kids are somewhat of a drawn-out process, so even a simple meal, setup and cleanup takes at least an hour. I try to read him the Proverb of the day during breakfast from the KJV. After breakfast cleanup I review Hunter's memory work (bits) with him.

9:15-9:45 Circle Time  At about 9:15, I sit down with the daycare kids to do a circle time and Hunter usually participates. We say the pledge of allegiance, sing the national anthem, sing one or two children's songs that usually involve actions or hand motions, do calendar and weather time, read one or two short stories, and then do our Jones Geniuses Early Learning work for a few minutes - right now my daycare kids are all still working on their letter sounds and counting forwards and backwards, and a little arithmetic. Hunter generally sits in on all this, or sometimes he will choose an activity from his workboxes to do during this time.

Writing a story and learning about word processing in his free time

9:45-11:15 - Free Choice  Hunter doesn't really have a "schedule" for a lot of the day. Once he has completed his independent work, he can choose to do, for the most part, whatever he wants. I put different activities in his bottom workboxes, and encourage him to choose at least some of those each day, but sometimes if he asks to do something else, he can.

He will often choose to draw (this is a favorite of his), write a story on the computer, play a board game by himself, or build something. I usually send him outside to exercise for at least fifteen minutes to a half hour during this time.

11:30-12:30 - Lunch  I start making lunch around 11:00 while Hunter continues to do whatever he's doing, and we will eat around 11:30. He is in charge of the cleanup for both breakfast and lunch, and is usually done with lunch cleanup by about 12:30. I try to read him a chapter of whatever part of the Bible we're currently on during lunch, and review memory work (bits).

Singing hymns

Afternoon

12:30-1:00  By the time he's done with cleanup I usually have all the kids laid down for their naps. At this point I like to sing our hymns that we're working on. Right now we read the actual sheet music out of a hymn book while the instrumental music to the song plays off of a youtube video. I find that this really helps me relax and unwind after a long morning, refocus, and put my mind in a peaceful state.

After hymns, we will read a little poetry, and then read a chapter of whatever chapter book we're on at the moment. These are generally pieces of literature that are slightly above Hunter's reading level, and we really enjoy the stories together. Then we review our memory work (bits) for the third and final time.

1:00-3:00  From 1-3 is mom and Hunter teaching time while the daycare kids nap and listen to classical music. This is when I will sit down with him, maybe read from a history or science book and have a discussion, help him with a project, craft, or experiment, or introduce a new concept in math or language arts. 

Often we finish early and he goes up into his room to play. I also try to send him outside for another set of fun exercises.

Afternoon keyboarding time

Late Afternoon

3:00-3:15 - Chores  When the kids wake up, Hunter does his "after daycare chores" and vacuums, cleans the bathroom, empties the trash, and straightens shelves.

3:15-3:30 Piano  At 3:15 or 3:30, Hunter has a short piano (keyboard) lesson. He works on fingering, perfect pitch, music theory, and a song.

3:30  Hunter usually goes outside and plays with his friends until dinner time or some other event, such as going on errands, basketball practice, or doing something with Brandon.

Evening

Our evenings vary quite a bit. We eat dinner at some point, often play board games together, try and go for a daily walk/run, sometimes watch a movie. In slightly warmer weather we usually swim every night. On Tuesdays we are running errands most of the evening, Mondays are often a big cleaning day. Fridays we usually go out.

7:00-8:00  Hunter usually starts getting ready for bed at 7:00. He showers, lays out his clothes and anything else he needs for tomorrow, and writes in his calendar and day planner (this part he does with me).  At bedtime Brandon or I will usually read him a story, and find flags/countries/landmarks with him on his bedside geography display. He is in bed by 8:00 and falls asleep with a recording of the New Testament (KJV) on his mp3 player.

For now, this is the general outline of our days...

Well, most of the time. I hope this was helpful!

"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." 

Psalm 118:24

Hunter is 5 years, 11 months old

Happy Valentine's Day

"We love him, because he first loved us." 

1 John 4:19

Hunter is 5 years, 10 months old

Learning the Order of the Scientific Method

Putting in order the steps of the scientific method

One of the things we have been learning about in our biology lessons is the definition of hypothesis, theory, and scientific law.

With a hypothesis being an educated guess, a theory being a hypothesis that has been tested with a significant amount of data, and a scientific law being a theory that is consistent with generations of data. On a side note, we have also discussed how even if something is a "scientific law", that does not necessarily mean we have "proved" it. Many, many "scientific laws" of the past have been overturned by new data, and many more of today will be found false in the future. Simply put, science has it's limits, and we can never truly say that science has "proved" a fact. Science is wonderful, but isn't the "god" that humanistic cultures make it out to be.

Nonetheless, this lead us to explore the steps that one takes to test a hypothesis ("like a real scientist") and how a hypothesis, through many generations of testing and collecting data, can turn into a scientific law.

I made a puzzle of the six steps of the scientific method and, as usual, it was presented with great fanfare and anticipation of the "secret steps that real scientists use" and, quite frankly, he loved it.

We discussed each step and what it meant, this time using the example of something very simple - wondering whether or not blocks would float in water. We went through each step using block floating as an example of what we wanted to find out. (Hunter's hypothesis is that it depends on what kind of block it is)

Then we practiced mixing up all the pieces and putting them back in order. We also "chanted" to steps, hoping to aid in auditory memory - "The Scientific Method: purpose, research, hypothesis, experiment, analysis, conclusion!"

Not too original I know, but it'll hopefully get the job done.

Here is a printable of the puzzle we used, this time with a "board" to match the tiles to the correct number. Enjoy!
Scientific Method Puzzle

"That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not." 

Judges 2:22

This post is linked to Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom

Hunter is 5 years, 10 months old

Hunter's Chores (at almost 6 years old)

Hunter, 5 years 10 months old, taking care
of his personal belongings

I have heard that the amish have a saying that children before seven are (chore wise) a burden, between seven and fourteen they can carry their own weight, and from fourteen on upwards they bring in a profit to the household.

So in other words, a house full of amish seven-year-olds would be able to run self-sufficiently.

Not exactly within the realm of our current cultural expectations. But I think it can serve as a reminder that children, when given the chance, can and do rise to the occasion of responsibility.

Hunter, at 13 months old, "helping" with the dishes

Hunter has "helped" out with anything and everything possible from the time he could sit up by himself. He grew up believing that work was part of life and that he was part of life too, so work has always been second nature to him.

I think that this parenting and educational philosophy has really helped him in developing a strong work ethic, and, at almost six years old, being able to be almost completely self-sufficient as well as a genuinely contributing member of the family.

Hunter at 4 years, 7 months old, vacuuming his room

Since I've found it helpful to see other people's kids' chore lists, I thought I would share what Hunter does around the house at this point in his life:

General Chores 
Checklist type stuff Hunter does on a regular basis

• Clean bedroom weekly
• vacuum floor and closet, 
• dust shelves and windows, 
• organize and straighten bookshelf, closet, drawers
• empty trash can
• Clean own bathroom weekly
• clean and sanitize sink, toilet, mirrors, shower
• sweep and mop floor
• empty trash, clean trash can
• Deep clean bedroom periodically
• declutter
• clean windows, walls, TV, toys, etc.
• Laundry
• sort dirty laundry into dark and light
• often, put family laundry in washer or switch to dryer (he knows how to run the washer and dryer and can do this by himself, but I usually do this with him as he's still learning what can and can't go in the dryer and how to load the washer evenly)
• fold or hang up all of own laundry and put away 
• help fold family laundry, towels, blankets, etc.
• help gather and transport clean or dirty laundry
• change own sheets and bedding
• Empty kitchen trash as needed
• Take trash and recycling to street weekly
• Sweep sidewalks, patio, driveway weekly 
• Check mailbox daily
• Bring in newspaper

Helping prepare dinner, age 4 years 5 months old

Being Part of a Family

Besides his "chores", Hunter helps out around the house whenever and with whatever needed (these are usually some of his favorite things to do)

• Kitchen
• set and clear table
• load and unload dishwasher
• wash dishes for fun
• help prepare food (all the time)
• put leftovers away
• make own meals and snacks
• Carry in and put away groceries, other purchased items
• Help bag items while at the store
• Rake yard
• Help out with desk work 
• cutting, sorting papers, shredding
• Help wash the car
• Help out when mom does deep cleaning
• dusting, washing windows, mopping, vacuuming, etc.
• Help with all projects
• use tools, assemble things, run errands
• Organizing projects
• Basically, anything that we're doing, he's doing too!

Hunter, after a shower, at 4 years 5 months old

Self Care

Personally, I think this stuff goes without saying and isn't necessarily a "chore", but since it's generally on other people's chore lists for younger kids I thought I would include it:

• Hygiene
• shower, brush and floss teeth, comb hair, trim nails, etc.
• Routines
• Make bed, lay out clothes and other items for next day
• Pick up after self
• Keep self organized
• manage calendar, day planner (with help)
• Independent school work
• all school work that he can do independently, such as math practice sheets, reading, penmanship, much more

Hunter, at age 3 years 0 months,
carrying in groceries

His "Employed" Chores
I don't believe in paying kids to contribute to the family, and am not really comfortable with an "allowance", but Hunter has jobs he does to contribute to my home business (part time child care) that he gets paid a small sum for each week.

• Clean up after the kids' meals 
• clear table, put away food, clean entire kitchen
• Clean kids play area daily
• straightening and organizing all toys
• vacuuming carpet
• Clean bathroom used by kids daily
• sanitize sink, toilet, walls, trash can, sweep floor
• Empty diaper pail, take dirty diapers outside as needed
• Help with kids whenever needed
• read stories during circle time
• help with whatever I need assistance with
• Also included on his list is setting a good example, being gentle, focusing on assigned task, etc.

So, there you have it, life in our house right now!

What kind of things do your kids do to help out around the house?

"It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." 

Lamentations 3:27

Hunter is 5 years, 10 months old

Finding the Difference: Word Problems

Finding the difference between 37 and 19

"Rob caught 73 shrimp. Tanner caught 25 fewer shrimp than Rob. How many shrimp did Tanner catch? How many shrimp did Rob and Tanner catch in all?"

Hunter just (finally, my bad) started his first official "word problem" text: Skill Builders: Word Problems 3rd Grade Math.

Sure, we've done tons of real-life "word problems" and math application, but this is his first time working with it textbook-wise.

So far the computation aspect of his word problems book has been extremely simple for him. The skill here, of course, for him, is determining how to solve the problem: what operations, and in what order, etc.

One thing I have found useful here in helping him determine how to solve the problem is by using the math vocabulary words such as difference and sum.

A visual explanation of the equation

For example, if the question is "Ken has 37 goldfish, and Rob has 19. How many more goldfish does Ken have than Rob?" it makes it a lot easier when you explain what we're doing here is finding the difference.

And when we know that the definition of "difference" is "the quantity that remains after one quantity is subtracted from another", it's pretty easy to see that what we need to do here to find the answer is subtract.

I like visual aids. We used large graph paper and checked off 37 purple boxes and 19 red ones. Then I asked, "They want to know who has more. Does Ken or Rob?"

As he already knew, Ken.

"Well how many more? Does he have one more? Ten more? A hundred more? How can we find out?"

To find out the difference, we crossed out with a black marker 19 of Ken's 37 goldfish. I explained, "If they both had 19, this is what it would look like - Rob's red fish over here and Ken's black fish over here. But they don't both have 19, Ken has 37, which we can see is this many more than 19."

This led to the discussion and realization that what we had really done was subtracted 19 from Ken's goldfish to find out how many more he had - to find the difference. We did a few more problems with this type of visual representation and then it was pretty comprehensible to Hunter how to do this type of problem (finding the difference) - and why - with just using the numbers and no visual aids.

The word sum has also come in handy when the problem involves addition - "We need to know what the sum of both of their fish is. How do we do that?".

Since these words have suddenly become so useful in handling our math discussions, I have finally made up some defintion cards of my own (included are the words sum, difference, product, quotient and augend/addend, subtrahend/minuend, multiplicand/multiplier, dividend/divisor, factor, and remainder) Definitions and examples are the back. Enjoy!

Arithmetic Operation Vocabulary Cards

"Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean..." 

Leviticus 20:25

Hunter is 5 years, 10 months old


This post is linked to Math Links at Joyful Learner

Hunter Learning How to Blow a Bubble

Have you ever tried to explain to a little kid how to blow a bubble with bubble gum?

Hunter has been asking me for the longest time, with intense fascination and curiosity, how to blow bubbles. It is not exactly the easiest thing to show and/or explain to someone how to do.

(Especially when that person is three years old, which is when he started asking me).

Yet finally, randomly the other day he sort of just figured it out.

Here are some of his first (semi-successful) attempts.

Whether learning how to blow bubbles with bubble gum or solve cube roots, it is definitely not all serious business in this house.

"A wise man will hear, and will increase learning..." 

Proverbs 1:5

Hunter is 5 years, 10 months old

Hunter's Bedroom, Volume II

Last time I posted pictures of Hunter's bedroom, we had been living here in California for a couple of weeks.

It was, to say the least, a little, er, empty.

Now, after living here for sixteen months, we have acquired a few more things, mostly second hand, and I thought I would put a new update of what Hunter's room looks like now.

View 1 (click to enlarge)

• His bed, which now has a space-themed comforter and pillow case that I found at a consignment sale. His drawers harbor clothes and, two of them, toys (not quite as empty anymore).

• Basketball and baseball rugs.

• A new world map, which is very detailedly labeled (unlike the simple outline map that he had before, which had no labels). This is much better now that he can read really well, and he is discovering a lot of things on his own. He also has a new detailed label USA map.

• A sports shelf, which very suitably is holding his trophies and team pictures.

• His own bulletin board, where he hangs his patches, the occasional note or picture, pins, used stickers that he doesn't want to throw away, whatever he wants really.

• His whale hamper, and a light-up world globe.

View 2 (click to enlarge)

• At the head of his bed, his make-shift headboard. The top shelf holds some books that he currently enjoys reading in bed (we now have a much larger collection in the house), a football bank that doubles as a bookend, a "Dictionary of Aviation", and a little tin solider can which serves as a sort of junk drawer. On the bottom shelf there is his alarm clock, his tools, and some DVDs.

• Space curtain. 

• On his window sill, a picture frame and his chap stick, his telescope, a motorcycle from Color Me Mine, and a favorite astronomy book.

• His Cars TV, a DVD player, and Vtech system. (We do not have cable TV in our house and he uses these things maybe a couple times a month)

• His tent and play tunnel, which he got in Christmas 2009 and plays in all the time.

View 3 (click to enlarge)

• His tent again.

• Fiber-optic nightlight.

• Space border stickers, which we got at the dollar store. 

View 4 (click to enlarge)

•  On the wall to the left, is some sort of planets "thing". We are going to fill in the holes (I think it was intended to be a beanbag toss) with pictures of the planets, either painted pictures by Hunter or real-life pictures from the internet.

• Below, his calendar, which this year is themed "National Parks". Next to the calendar is his morning and evening routines.

• His garbage can, and his five-pound weights (testosterone, anyone?). 

• Above his closet are some minor league baseball flags that we got at a game.

Closet, detail (click to enlarge)

Shelf inside his closet, which harbors (from top)

• Aircraft carrier toy.

• His spiderman and ninja costumes, and his new legos (currently in bags / cardboard box).

• WWE arena, world champion belt, and puzzles.

• An Ironman truck, and all of his Hotwheels racetracks.

• To the left, hanging stuffed animal mesh cubbies, and, not pictured, some toy swords and guns.

Closet, detail (click to enlarge)

• Other side of his closet: Clothes, shoes, and hats!

Now that we have a bigger house, his room no longer doubles as a school room and most teaching aids and educational toys have been moved downstairs, where we spend most of our time.

Even still, Hunter still enjoys lots of educational pursuits in here on his own, such as reading, watching science and history videos, his avid astronomy interests, lots of geography, doing puzzles, drawing, or other quiet activities, learning to stay organized and responsible in his personal space, keeping his calendar up to date, and, of course, good old fashioned pretend play.

See the just-moved-in post of what Hunter's bedroom looked like before, and the five-part series of our old bedroom/school room in Indiana. 

"...I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake." 

Genesis 30:27

Hunter is 5 years, 10 months old

Monkey Learns to Play the Piano

"And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy." 

1 Chronicles 15:16

Hunter is 5 years, 9 months old

Bike Riding (Physical Excellence Friday)

"Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving."   

-Albert Einstein

One of Hunter's favorite things.

And who can blame him?

Mom really loves it when he bike rides, too. Not only is it a great aerobic and general mobility activity, it is wonderful for vestibular (balance) stimulation and is also a cross-pattern activity, using both the left and right sides to peddle and steer simultaneously, strengthening the corpus callosum and general brain function.

Plus? It is just plain, good old-fashioned fun.

"Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance." 

Job 30:22

Hunter is 5 years, 8 months old

Little Man (No Comment)

"I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD..." 

Jeremiah 5:5

Hunter is 5 years, 8 months old

Brachiation Joy (Physical Excellence Friday)

Hunter loves brachiating.

Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

He could do this all day.

Too bad right now he can only do it at the park. But we're working on that, hopefully by Christmas, we will finally have one (a brachiation ladder) in our house again.

Because it's not only a really, really good upper body exercise. The cross pattern motion is good for your brain, too.

"Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye valiant..." 

2 Samuel 2:7

Hunter is 5 years, 7 months old

No Comment: I Love You

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children" 

Ephesians 5:1

Hunter is 5 years, 8 months old

Doman Quote of the Month: The Land of Knowledge

"At this moment there is a world - a world of great beauty, of great truth, an enchanting, beguiling, thrilling, bewitching, and enriching world of facts - out there in fact land. It is a land of great riches. There are riches for the soul, there are riches for the spirit, there are riches for science. It is a land beyond imagining, but strangely it is very uncrowded. It is crowded only in spots. There are lots of artists looking at great paintings, and there are lots of musicians listening to orchestras, and there are lots of scientists looking at space shuttles, and there are lots of doctors looking at hearts, and there are lots of mathematicians looking at numbers, but very, very few people are seeing it all... They're a group called "Genius"... True geniuses have always been few in number and immensely curious about everything."

Glenn Doman

How to Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge

Fall Poetry

The closest we got to a jack-o-lantern 

Hunter and I have long enjoyed poetry together, although I realized that I don't often write about it on my blog.

We have been reading some fall poetry lately. Even though we don't get fall here. It is perpetual summer until November and then, around December the leaves will turn brown and fall off. Yes, brown.

But maybe the poetry keeps us closer to home, so at least we can enjoy autumn in our imaginations.

WHEN THE FROST IS ON THE PUNKIN
by James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey-cock,
And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens,
And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,
With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here–
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;
But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock–
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries–kindo’ lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below–the clover over-head!–
O, it sets my hart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin’ ‘s over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! …
I don’t know how to tell it–but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin’ boardin’, and they’d call around on me–
I’d want to ‘commodate ‘em–all the whole-indurin’ flock–
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

"O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth." 

Psalm 96:9

Hunter is 5 years, 7 months old