All posts by Danielle Huddleston

Robbers Cave State Park ~Wilburton, OK

01/17/2019 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

I started working on this post at the beginning of the week but colds and allergy scares have hit hard this week.
So what can you do if you are worried about your child having an allergic reaction to something?

My best advice would be to carry a small first aid kit with you that has some children’s benadryl tablets in it.

It might buy you enough time to get help.

I carry it with me everywhere and it helps put my mind at ease.

My twins have some pretty bad allergies and while camping we have had some reactions pop up.

We do have epi-pens for them but benadryl has thankfully been enough so far.

I carry a small backpack with me on hikes like this so an epi-pen or benadryl is always close by.

I am glad that we can be prepared but still go on fun adventures like Robber’s Cave. This place is a great stop for adventure loving kids. Our camping spot was directly across from the path to the nature center which was nice! I like camping at places with natures centers(or museums nearby) and hiking paths.

It gives us some options on keeping the kids busy in different weather.

Robber’s cave has some fun boat rentals also.

Always something to work on when we take longer trips. This park is unique because of the amazing climbing it has. There are several trails to get to the cave and they range from very difficult to pretty easy. My boys of course wanted to take the hardest path.I might have gotten stuck once or twice.At the nature center.Our pretty spot.Back to the rock climbing.Goof A place like this terrified me when my boys were little and we still made sure to keep a close eye on all the kids and a tight hold on our littlest hand.There was a boy scout troop there when we were though and they were all just running around climbing like crazy. So maybe I am just paranoid. There are steep drop offs though so if you have little ones that is something to keep in mind. The CCC trail is about difficult but not the hardest way to the cave.This is the easiest way that I know off.

Still a bit of climbing at the end.

Great way to finish our trip last month!

Here is a video I made of our trip!

Museums/Events

Megalodon ~Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

01/07/2019 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

We went to see the Megalodon Exhibit at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History before it left and as a bonus found snow!My kids were so excited with this little bit of snow!

We ended up getting a membership because it cost almost the same as one visit for our family.

We run into this often as a larger family.

This museum had a great deal for large families though!

$45 for 2 adults and unlimited children!

We have often had to pay for additional children because a family membership only includes 2-4 children.

My second oldest loves everything dinosaur and ancient so this was an early birthday trip for him.

I asked him if he wanted to go see the Megalodon Exhibit before it left or wait and do something closer to his birthday and he said see the Megalodon Exhibit.

He was a bit disappointed with the amount of information about Megalodons in the exhibit and said he wished they had a scale replica of one though.

He seemed to still find it interesting though and always enjoys looking at the dinosaur exhibits at this museum so I am glad we got a membership and can hopefully go again a few more times this year.

They did have a lot of nice hands on things in the exhibit which is always nice.

This tuna display showing how much fish a Megalodon would eat in a day was a big hit with all of my kids.

We have discussed if he could make a living as an archeologist several times.

I used to want to be one also so I get it.

He often knows more information than they have on the exhibit and was asking a worker about one of their casts.

I think he was hoping it was the original but it was a copy.

Our youngest is not as big a fan of life size dinosaurs…

I like the exhibits upstairs the most.

This one showing the different habitats in Oklahoma is especially neat when you have been to all of them.

I always wonder what is going through his mind when he gets quiet like this.

He could talk about dinosaurs all day.

The Tallgrass Prairie exhibit was even more interesting since we were just there.

Their elevators are so much fun!

Do you have a dinosaur enthusiasts in your house?

Homeschooling

Switching from RightStart to McRuffy

01/04/2019 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

After using Right Start Math for over 7yrs I am trying something different for my twins!!!

I am trying out McRuffy Color Math Grade 2.

I love how hands on Right Start is and that part works really well for them but it is a little advanced and it is very teacher intensive.

Which is hard to work around when I am teaching it twice a day and have other kids that need my help at all!

We tried out the sample first before Christmas break and decided to give it a try on the full curriculum.

I liked that the sample included 10 lessons for the worksheet and the teachers manual.

It really gave me a chance to try it out.

It does seem more worksheet based then Right Start but also encourages a lot of hands on tools and I am using all that I have learned through the years of using Right Start (still love using an abacus).

The manipulatives are so similar to Right Start in fact that we did not even buy the ones that go with this curriculum.

We are just using the ones that came with our Right Start curriculum.

So far my girls are liking it but it is pretty easy right now since we started in the front of the book and it is 2nd grade.

I am hoping to get a really good feel for the differences between the two curriculums and let you know what I think in a few months!

Check out a look inside the curriculum on my youtube channel.

Anyone else make drastic changes to their homeschool mid-year?

I have liked Right Start so long that it feels disloyal to switch!