God Has Blessed America - Won't You sendCheer?

Thursday, I wrote about the contributions of our military including my grandfather’s time in WWII.  The purpose was to illustrate an easy way we can recognize our service men and women through sendCheer.  Today, at church, we honored the men of the congregation both living and passed who have spent time in uniform defending our freedoms.

This service really moved me.  There was a slideshow showing many of the men in their uniforms, some on foreign fronts.  An In Memoriam section reminded us of those who have passed on, but who had worn the uniform as well.  Afterwards, those who have or who are serving were asked to the front.  We applauded, we prayed, and then the entire church had the opportunity to shake each person’s hand and say Thank You!  It felt so good to say those two words knowing that our military sacrifice their time, their energy and sometimes their lives so that my family can live and worship freely. 

 

Cheerios is running the sendCheer campaign right now.  Stores like WalMart are carrying specially marked boxes that include a postcard you can simply cut out and mail in.   

What a quick and easy way to let those serving know they matter.  It’s a handshake for those you may never meet, but deserve to hear “Thank you!”

My middle son is very interested in the military and especially the timeframe of WWII.  As I noted, he just received his great-grandfather’s Japanese Ariskaka rifle from my father.  This is a heirloom he will treasure and plans to one day give to his children.  Both he and my youngest son were excited to learn about the sendCheer campaign.

I asked him to take the time to sit down and fill out the Cheerios postcard as a chance to thank a soldier.  He was happy to do it.  He wasn’t quite sure what to write and wished he could thank the recipient in person like he did the men of the church today, but I assured him his short message will mean a lot to whomever receives it.  We’ll get the postcard in the mail tomorrow. 

For each postcard received  between now and November 30^th, Cheerios will also donate $1 to the USO in addition to the $150,000 they have already donated up to $100,000. “There are more than 1.4 million active duty military members supported by more than 3.6 million family members, and 70 percent of married active duty military members have children.”  Wouldn't it be great if each of the 1.4 million could recieve a card?

Won’t you take a moment to send a little cheer? 

***This post has been compensated as part of a sponsored charitable opportunity for CollectiveBias.  #CBias #sendcheer

Anatomy of a Science Experiment - #ElmersScienceReady

We love science!  In fact, of all the classes we do in our homeschool, science in our favorite.  We’re experiential learners, so the opportunity to explore, dissect, interact and engage using science experiments really appeals to us. 

This year, my youngest son is taking General Science and participates in a homeschool science lab.  My older son is taking biology and lab through our local co-op.  We have a lot of science going on!

Learning the scientific method is critical to good experimentation.  The method of hypothesis, procedure, data and conclusion really allows the boys to not only predict what will happen, but learn to document how it happened, why it happened and what the actual outcome can be.  My youngest and I had the opportunity through our Elmer’s shopportunity to really breakdown an experiment he was doing for General Science into a display he can share with his science lab group.

The purpose of this science experiment is to understand sedimentation: how the layers of the earth are formed when water is present.  To complete this experiment, he first had to come up with a hypothesis: 

Next, he determined the supplies we would use to complete the experiment.

He documented each of the procedures:



Finally, he conducted the experiment:





Adding the dirt layer - he got to break out the shovel for this one!





Layer 2 - adding and equal amount of sand

Layer 3 - he chose colored rocks to make them more visible

All three layers are in place.

Time to shake is all up and see how the sediment settles - hence sedimentation.

The jar after being shaken up.  He'll do this two more times.

Much to his joy, his hypothesis was correct - the layers were rocks, sand, dirt.  Although, he did find he didn’t consider that the rocks would stack leaving gaps that the sand would filter through.

After it's all settled down.

Now to create his display.  I had him go shopping with me to buy supplies.  He chose the Elmer's tri-fold foam board, Elmer's X-TREME stick glue, and Elmer's clear glue.

Lots of supplies to choose from - Elmer's really hooked him up!

Next, he had to put his ideas into action documenting in a way that would be visually appealing to his lab class helping them understand what he did and how it happened.  He worked hard cutting, designing and gluing to make his perfect project.

The new Elmer's X-TREME was great for gluing on foam board - it held much better than regular glue sticks.

As he was working, he decided that he needed a visual and textural way to demonstrate what the outcome of the project was, so he created a "mock" jar with all the sediment inside.

Here's why he wanted clear glue - to stick the rocks, sand and dirt into for his mock jar.

Looks pretty good!

Now he was ready to finish the project! 

He added a couple pictures of the actual jar, and it was all done. 

I may be biased, but I think he did a wonderful job of laying this project out.  His explanations using the scientific method, his example jar and the pictures will all be very helpful when he explains his experiment in lab class.

Nice work!

Sometimes, as a homeschooling family, we forget the importance of demonstrated learning like this tri-fold board.  He had a good time doing it, and I had a fun time doing it with him.  Yay for hands-on learning and Yay! for #elmersscienceready for giving us the opportunity to once again use their products in a creative way!

What experiments do your children enjoy?

***  This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #elmersscienceready  #collectivebias #CBias Collective Bias

Probiotics Update

As promised, it's been two weeks and I'm posting an update.  (To see my initial posting - click here.)  I have faithfully taken the Member's Mark 4X Probiotic Digestive Care Supplement found at Sam's Club for two weeks.  My goal was to see if taking a probiotic helped my stomach and digestive system become more balanced and less irritable.

While I can't state anything conclusive, I can say my digestive system has been behaving better even through some very stressful events in our household.  I had noticed that I was feeling this odd bubbling sensation right below my right rib cage in the area of my gall bladder.  That has since stopped during this two weeks.  There's no official connection as it could just be coincidence; however, I felt like it was worth noting.

I've begun amping up my exercise with some basic running and additional taekwondo classes.  I feel good adding the probiotic supplement as digestion is one area that can create discomfort and hamper activity.

I do notice that when I eat healthy my system feels better than when I eat unhealthy or fatty foods.  I'm not sure how the probiotic plays into this either, but my digestive system seeks to quickly eliminate any unhealthy foods since I've been taking the pills.  It seems to me that that's how the body should work - eliminate waste and hold onto nutrition. 

Another note a comment prompted me to add is that I haven't felt bloated lately.  I HATE feeling bloated.  It's so uncomfortable.  I've tried diuretics and pills for gas to help reduce this issue to no avail.  Not sure why I didn't think to mention it as this has been a big benefit in my book!

All in all - I'm glad I was able to try this out.  I have a twelve week supply and will continue to take this probiotic supplement. 

Do you take a probiotic?  How has it helped you?  What other ways do you seek to improve your digestive health?

*** This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.

Gut Check - Probiotics?

My tummy and I are not always on speaking terms.  I don't know about you, but life has a way of dealing my stomach fits.  Some of it is being too busy to really pay attention to what I'm putting in it.  Some of it is stress.  And some of it, I believe, is just my body chemistry. 

Digestive health is very important; however, most of us tend to just take it for granted.  Unless you have issues with lactose intollerance or are allergic to glutens, etc., the tummy doesn't get a lot of think time unless we are simply trying to reduce its size.

As you know, I've been working on many aspects of health lately.  It started out as a journey to lose weight, morphed into an exploration of how to cleanse the body and has finally landed at being physically fit.  It's not as frenetic a journey as it sounds.

One popular dietary supplement we hear about today is probiotics.  What exactly are probiotics?  Well...  My understanding is this - there are microflora living in the intestine.  This symbiotic bacteria is necessary to aid in digestion and other aspects of the intestinal tract.  Age, stress, diet, etc. can all lead to a decrease in the numbers of helpful microflora in our intestines.  Ingesting a supplement that contains strains of this helpful bacteria helps to balance our digestive process.  Those strains include bifidobacterium infantis, bifidobacterium lactis, bifidobacterium longum, and bifidobacterium bifidum.  Several probiotic supplements I find in the stores have one of these bacterium, but not all of them.  From what I understand, to be complete, the probiotic should contain all.

One way to get probiotics is through some yogurts.  The problem here is convenience and sugars.  Yogurt isn't always convenient.  It's not a big deal, but there are days when I don't have time or don't want yogurt for breakfast.  Keeping it cold during the day can be a challege.  Additionally, yogurts often have added sugars.

The other solution is to take probiotic capsules.  To that end, I'm going to testdrive Member's Mark 4X Probiotic Digestive Care Supplement found at Sam's Club for two weeks.  The box states it contains the four strains of bacteria, and the directions state I only have to take one pill a day.  That is convenient.  Each pouch in the box contains seven pills, each labled with the day of the week.  Hard to forget if I have/have not taken the pill if it's labeled.  (You don't forget?  Wow!  I sure do...  Doh!)

I'll repost in two weeks and let you know how it's going.  I'm really hoping this will be one more key to my lifelong health. 

In the meantime, there will be a Twitter party on October 5 from 9 - 10 EST where you can participate and win the product, or gift cards. Here is the RSVP link for the Twitter Party: http://digestivehealthfor.me/2011/09/digestivehealth-twitter-party-fall-edition/


*** This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.