Days of Our Lives

Patience and Faith

2011-09-09T11:48:00.003-04:00

Over the past year and half our lives have been in...~~turmoil~~ ~~confusion~~ maybe just unsettled. Essentially we have had control ripped out of our hands. This was especially difficult for me as I ~~can be controlling~~ like to plan.

Paul has lived in MD while we were here. Do we move there or stay here? Does he stay there until he can find a job here? It would have seemed like a no-brainer, he is there so we should move there. However I have a job here. The kids are involved in activites here. I have lived in GA my entire life. We did not like MD. Most of all, we never felt peace about it.

You might remember, we almost moved up there and then scratched the idea at the last minute. We decided to be patient, this oddly felt peaceful.

Then we finally gave in, threw control to the wind and Paul gave his notice in August and came home with no job lined up. This normally would have freaked me out but it didn't. After a year of waiting for God to show up before we moved, we stepped out in faith. And guess what? Once we showed our faith, he showed his promise. A year and half of applying to jobs with no real calls or interviews and the second week he is home he gets an interview and ends up getting the job.

Patience and faith are not easily obtained attributes for me. I will admit that I have trouble with both. I am glad that God is patient and forgiving, allowing me to grow in these areas.

For right now, I am very thankful that my family is back together again.

Where did summer go...

2011-08-23T09:32:00.004-04:00

Wow, it is hard to believe it has been 3 months since my last post. What happened to summer? Oh, I remember now - I worked all summer.

What else is going? Hmm...oh, the big news; Paul is home for good!!! Unfortunately he did not leave for a better job here in GA; he left to come home to his family! We are praying that he will find a good job here at home.

I have completely flip-flopped my work schedule. After 8 years of working nights, I am now working days (morning, early mornings) 5 days a week. This has been a transition for us, but for the most part it is working out well. I get home right after lunch and am home every night. The boys are doing independent work until I get home, then we work together.

Then, most days we go to football practice. My day’s start at 4:30 and end about 9:30 - not a lot of me time there, but it is worth it. Back to football; we love the Force. We are now having practice 3 nights a week, a high school game 1 night, and our game (MS/JV) on Saturday. It is a lot but so worth it. The coaches are wonderful and Austin likes his team.

As for school, we made some changes to my previous post. We are just in our 3rd week but so far, so good. We start a little earlier than some so that we can be into a routine by the time co-op starts, and this year we are in 2 co-ops. 24 Tuesdays and Thursdays, this school year, we meet with other families for educational and fun activities.

Well, I guess that is enough for now. Note to self, check in here more often or there will be too few memories to recall. :-)

2011-2012 Lesson Plans

2011-05-18T07:34:00.006-04:00

Yes, I said 2011-2012. I mean, it is already the middle of May - I am behind here. Well, truth be told I started my planning about a month or so ago, it has just taken me this long to decide.

Have I mentioned that we (I) really enjoyed this year - at least most of the year. :-) In review, both boys really progressed which is one of the reasons I had trouble deciding. Huh?

Well, Austin is going to be in the 7th grade next year. 7th grade, I have a 7th grader?, (the way that makes me feel is probably best for another day) Anyway, back to school stuff. 7th grade really makes me think about high school years and there are SO many options and things to consider:
-Continue as current
-Outsource to tutors
-Sign-up for one of the many homeschool "schools"
-Go traditional textbook route following the public schools
-Online classes

I was thinking about a combination of all of the above, and we may yet do that in the future. But after talking with several other parents of high schoolers and college students, I have relaxed somewhat which has allowed me to be okay with still bucking the traditional public school route (at least to an extent).

That being said, here is what we are planning for this next year.
Language Arts - Winston Basic Grammar, Daily Grams, Wordly Wise, Paragraph Books, Time4writing (maybe 2nd semester)
History - BJU 5 & 7, as well as lots of movies, field trips, and activities
Science - Noeo Science Biology II
(oops - forgot to add Math) Teaching Textbooks 6 & 7
Art - Meet the Masters

Now that the curriculum decisions have been made, I will have to start planning the lessons. 7th grade is a lot more work and is going to be a big adjustment for us all.

Warm weather ramblings...

2011-04-10T18:06:00.007-04:00

Spring is here at last, well at least I hope it is. Our seasons seem to have gotten a little confusing over the last few years. Many will argue that it is because of global warming. I am not going to start on that now, just hope that we will have at least a few weeks of spring before the blistering hear of summer overtakes us.

I love this time of the year, it is probably my favorite. Everything seems new and alive. Christmas seems to bring out the best in people - genoristy, kindness, and love. Spring is probably the next best time of year for these emotions.

Another fun thing about spring is planning for the coming school year. Yes, I know that many people wait until mid or even late summer for this. I love to plan though, and shop of course. There are so many choices out there, this has been my hardest time yet in choosing.

We contemplated sending Austin to a semi-private school for homeschoolers. Wow, that sounds complicated. It really seems like a great option, however we have decided to wait at least one more year. This has been our best year of homeschooling, in terms of learning and growing. Both boys have done so well that we feel it is best not to change anything at the moment.

So, I am in the process of completing my shopping list and searching for the best deals. Then I will likely spend a good part of the summer poring over my selections and planning our schedules. The other parts of summer will be spent; working, going to the waterpark, football practice (Austin), and playing.

As the boys are getting older, I am realizing that I need to really cherish these times. They will be over all too soon.

It's a Matter of Mass...or is it a Mass of Matter?

2011-01-20T22:14:00.015-05:00

Many people question homeschoolers, "Are you a certified teacher?", "How can you teach your child everything?". Well, the truth of the matter is; I can't teach my children everything. However, I am able to guide their studies, encourage them, and offer customized learning to their needs.

I admire the pioneer homeschoolers (10+ years ago) who had very few choices. Today we have such a selection of curriculum choices available that the problem we now face is how to choose. There are complete textbooks, online classes, co-op classes, tutors, and more.

I have found that a variety of the above works for us. This year I had planned a mini-coop with another family that would cover Art, Geography, History, and Science. Then my friend had to go and move to the Arctic so we made some changes. That is okay, we forgive them. :-)

For the most part, I have been very happy with our progress this year. We have been using a computerized Math program (Teaching Textbooks), and both boys seem to really enjoy it. Austin especially has really improved. For English we are using traditional textbooks (BJU). Spelling, Vocabulary, and Geography we are using online programs. History has been a combination of textbooks, videos and field trips.

The only area that I have really been lagging in is Science. I have never cared for Science, never really understood it. I have looked at curriculum after curriculum and it just doesn't seem to fit with me us. That is until this month, when I discovered a live video teacher for Science. (I told you, the choices are wonderful).

We had our first lesson this week about Matter and Mass. She was very good with the kids, there was about 15 children in the class - they were able to interact with the teacher and each other. We learned about the 3 main properties of matter; Solids, Liquids, and Gas. We learned the difference between them and then made a lava lamp to demonstrate. The boys really enjoyed that, and it really worked.

We are actually looking forward to the next session, who knows; I might have found the answer for Science. :-)

At night, they put a flashlight under the bottle and it looks just like a lava lamp. Matthew posted directions on how to make it over here.

I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore...or Georgia

2011-01-11T11:47:00.015-05:00

Having been born and raised in Georgia, I am very acclimated to mild winters; the very rare deep freeze or heavens forbid a snowflake or two. In Georgia, snow is so rare that the entire state usually shuts down for a day to enjoy it.

Most of us have a nice warm coat to wear from the car to the nice warm building, and maybe a couple of pretty sweaters. That is about the extent of our winter gear. Sleds? What are those? We have a reason for such things.

Until this year that is. I blame it on my friend Kathleen. She just moved a couple of months ago from Georgia to the Arctic and has been ever so anxious for some of that white stuff. I am pretty certain I heard some prayers being sent for it. I think she forgot to give God her new address though as we have been blessed with snow three times this very young winter. Yes, she did get her blizzard - I think she has been properly introduced now.

As for us left down here in the deep South; it has been chaos. Freezing temperatures in the teens and wind chills in the single digits, snow and ice, and now...now, we are buried (well, maybe not quite - but still)

Last week the meteorologists started predicting a snow storm on the way. "Go now", they said, "Stock up on milk, bread, batteries, and anything else you might need for a week or two". Yeah, right. At least that is what we all said up until Sunday. Sunday night, it came - it came worse than they thought, faster too.

We woke up Monday morning to a beautiful winter wonderland. The kids even convinced me to take a snow day. Sure, why not - we have milk and bread and there is about 7 or inches of white stuff everywhere.

With this much snow, you have to go sledding. Wait a minute, we don't have a sled. Oh well, a couple of cardboard boxes and the beach tube will have to do.

Lots of fun...

Then everything everywhere started shutting down. They announced the schools would be closed for a week. Businesses everywhere closed - even Walmart!

Wait a minute, this isn't as fun as I thought. Hundreds of motorists stranded on the interstate all night. Can't go to work, means can't make any money. AND, lots of fun in the snow (without proper winter gear) means LOTS of laundry. I ran out of laundry detergent. They said buy milk and bread - they did not say anything about laundry detergent. Sorry, kids no more snow.

Just kidding - though I was mean enough to resume school the second day.

Well, I guess I will still have to thank Kathleen. All this snow she requested makes me feel a little closer to them, and it really is beautiful.

Where did November go?

2010-12-15T00:20:00.003-05:00

My last post was November 7??? What happened to the last month (and half, but who's counting)?

Let me see if I can remember, after all the purpose of this blog is for me to record memories - right?

What did we do...

2 Art Classes
1 Field trip to Petco (noted already)
1 Airplane trip (noted already)
1 Field trip to the Rock Ranch (that was an awesome trip and would deserve it's own post if I ever find the time)
Last 2 classes of fall co-op
3 weeks of football practice
1 very long weekend of 5:00am mornings for football games
Matthew's birthday (Happy Birthday to my not so little boy - you are now 10)
I started another job (seemed like a good idea at the time, may need more thought next time)
Thanksgiving
Put up the Christmas tree
Gingerbread Decorating Christmas Party (yearly tradition)
Austin started wrestling

And now, here we are a mere 10 days until Christmas. Can someone please slow down the time?

We have started our annual 12 Days of Christmas - so far we have:
1st day - Adopt a Soldier (we are adopting a US soldier, more updates will follow)
2nd day - donate food to local pantry and toys to Toys for Tots
3rd day - to be continued...

Aviation

2010-11-08T13:43:00.021-05:00

Wow, we have been busy recently. This session Austin took an Aviation class in our co-op. The ladies who taught it did a great job, they even scheduled a free trip for the boys to fly.

So last Saturday morning we woke up early and braved the cold weather to go flying. It was a beautiful morning.

The flights were donated by pilots who volunteer their time, planes, and fuel for part of the Young Eagles program. Austin flew in a Cessna with just himself and the pilot. In case you don't remember, Austin is the one who was terrified to fly. When he first started the class he said he was not going to fly, but after the trip to MD he loves it. He also received a log book with this being his first flight to log. He can hold on to it and work toward getting his pilot's license. Not sure if we will go that far, but you never know.

They had a simulator

and a large hanger with planes that you can buy (a little out of our range)

Austin and his pilot...

Strapping in...

Taking off...he said that he got to handle the controls for a few moments. They were in the air about 20-25 minutes.

Safe landing :-)

Petco

2010-11-08T13:32:00.014-05:00

Last week we went on another field trip with our co-op to Petco. This can actually be a dangerous place for a field trip. We were able to pet most animals there, which resulted in many children wanting to add a new addition to their family. Here are just a few of the animals we were able to learn about.

Art and More Art

2010-11-08T13:02:00.025-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to Hudgen's Art Museum on a field trip with our co-op. It was the first time we had been there so I did not really know what to expect.

Austin was disappointed to see that the art display was mostly photographs. "What is art about that?", he asked. There were a few sculptures in the garden area, but the main exhibit area consisted of two different photography sections. One was by John Lawrence, he mostly takes photos of famous sculptures from museums in Rome, Italy, and Greece. His goal is to present the pieces in a different view. The students were sent on a scavenger hunt to locate various things from the paintings. Here are some pictures from the "hunt".

The other section was a display by local high schoolers called "Shutter Sense and Non-Sense". It was a contest with several themes. The displays here had lots of unusual pictures and, while Austin still did not get it, Matthew and I enjoyed it. Here are some photos from this display. Of course, we are taking pictures of pictures and our camera does not do them justice. Click to enlarge to get a better idea.

Then last week we went to one of our first (out of four) Art classes. The instructor was wonderful. She was not only very skilled in Art, but also in people. She very quickly learned (and remembered) the names of all 15 students, and was really able to point out the details of each child's piece.

Not only that, she made what I thought was a complicated project seem very easy. In fact, I plan to recreate the project at home.

Our friends, Bethany and Caleb, are also in the class. Bethany is very artistic and seemed to enjoy.

Native Indians Americans

2010-10-27T19:34:00.011-04:00

We are studying US History this year, and this pretty much started with the Native Americans. I grew up in an era in which we called them Indians. During our lessons, Austin has made it his job to correct me on this as they were not Indians. How would we feel after all, if we were invaded by people speaking a different language calling us Russians or Greeks. Okay, point made...I will make every effort to not disrespect them any further by calling them Indians.

I really like US History, maybe because it is here on home soil or just closer on the timeline so that I can recognize events and names a little easier. I mean I really drew a blank when we studied places like Ancient Japan and the Shoguns.

Back to the Native Americans. Wow, there were a lot of tribes in the North America. Really a lot (estimated to be between 700 & 1,000+). We studied them by geographic region, essentially selecting two of the more prominent tribes from four areas.

Our selected tribes were:
Northeastern Woodland Indians - Powhatan (Pocahontas) and the Iroquois
Southeastern Woodland Indians - Cherokee and Seminole
Southwestern Indians - Sioux and Apache
Northwestern Indians - Chinooks and Yuroks

Since we live in the Georgia, the Cherokee were probably the easiest to study. In fact, we were able to attend a field trip at Unicoi State Park for a demonstration of Native Cherokee Americans artifacts.

We started with a nature scavenger hunt. Here are Austin, Matthew, and Caleb looking for their items.

Here are some items used by Cherokee Americans. The small basket was very interesting, it is made of pine needles (plenty of those in the South). There are people who still make these bowls and other instruments shown. The bowls are supposed to be very flexible and yet sturdy and long lasting. I cannot imagine the time it must have taken to make these.

Here is a picture of some leaves used for medicinal purposes such as; stomach pains, coughing, contraception, etc. Pretty multi-purpose there.

Our guide demonstrated how to use a blow gun.

Then the all the children were taken outside and allowed to try their luck with a spear. It actually had a better name than that, but it slips my mind at the moment.

I love being able to see and feel something that we are studying, it really helps to bring it to life and makes it much more enjoyable and memorable. At least I hope. :-)

The Predator and The Prey

2010-10-25T11:15:00.005-04:00

We have started Science this year using Apologia Zoology. Our first lesson was a general introduction to land animals and the fact that while some tend to hunt, others tend to be hunted.

Now this lesson offered an experiment using Skittles - who can say no to that.

The title of this experiment was "Predator and Prey", with the lesson on how important camouflage can be for the prey and how difficult it can make it for the predator.

Of course, I had already read the instructions for this experiment and could see how it would play out. However, I did not say much to them about what we were looking for - just told them what to do one step at a time trying to see if they could figure out what was going to happen.

First we ripped 3 colors of construction paper into small pieces and put into a small bucket. The Skittles come in 5 different colors, see where we are going yet?

We then counted 9 of each color of Skittle and poured into the bucket of shredded paper. Each student had 2 minutes to find as many Skittles as possible. Now, I was still not leading them into the "why" of this. They each had a sheet to fill out showing how many of each color they started with and how many they found. Once the sheets were complete, I asked them if they noticed anything about the colors they found the most of.

We noted that the colors that they found all of were not the same as the colors of paper in the bucket. It took a minute (they were on a candy rush) to realize what had happened. They even had to actually test it by placing same color candy on paper and then opposite color.

Maryland

2010-10-21T12:56:00.025-04:00

We had went to MD with Paul when he first went up there back in March. The state was still in the remnants of a snow blizzard and we were only there for 2 quick days. So when we went back up there recently, we considered it our first real view of MD.

It was our first for flying as well. Okay, so I flew one time when I was young - way before Homeland Security was in effect. Our trip started on an interesting note. We were very rushed in getting to the airport (work, football games, last minute packing, etc), so it did not help matters when we got on the interstate to go to the airport only to run into a major traffic jam. At this point we had about 55 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave.

Then my van started running hot - I mean really hot. The temperature needle was in the red and it started smoking. Yikes! I managed to get over and off at an exit, but what to do?? I was not about to waste the three plane tickets, yet I also did not want to damage the engine. We pulled into a gas station, bought some antifreeze, and prayed...a lot. We continued a different route to the airport (with less traffic) and the temperature dropped. We made it there about with 35 minutes to go and still had to go through security. No problem for experienced travelers, but for novices like us - well, lets just say that I utilized the employees there by asking what to do and where to go at each corner. We made it to the gate with about 3 minutes to spare.

Austin was at first terrified to fly, he did not want to be by the window or in the aisle. I guess he thought having us on each end might somehow protect him in the event of a crash. Matthew however was very excited about sitting near the window. Austin ended up loving it though, and sat by the window on the return flight home.

We made it, safe and sound. The next day was a beautiful fall day so we went exploring. We like the outdoors and there is a very large park (Patapsco Park 14,000 acres) not too far from where Paul is living, so we went there to hike and letterbox. The only problem was that the park is so large and has so many entrances, we did not go to the one mentioned in our directions. Well, this was not really a problem other than it stretched our hike into almost 5 miles and we were not prepared with any water or snacks. I am proud to say that I was leading the first half, though I was lagging behind the last quarter.

The park was very nice though, and we came across many other people enjoying the nice weather. The letterbox was very hard to find, but we prevailed - over the bridge, through the tunnel, up the mountain, over the river...

Of course there was time for play as well...

Jack

2010-09-24T20:58:00.005-04:00

Austin is 11 and Matthew is almost 10. We have had three dogs in their lifetime.

First was Bull, he was a Boston Terrier and pretty much an old man by the time the boys got here. I inherited him from my grandparents. He was an incredibly sweet dog. He got old, got sick - was deaf and blind in one eye, had a heart murmur and very bad arthritis. It was a hard decision, but we had him put to sleep when the children were still very young.

Then there was Champ. We got him when I was pregnant with Austin. A very large dog, he was Mastiff-Boxer mix. The boys grew up knowing Champ, though he never really played much with them. Champ was content to just lie around in the sun. He got very sick with what the doctors thought was cancer, and we had him put to sleep Christmas of 2008.

And there was Jack. Jack entered our family when the boys were young. He was about a year or so old and fit in perfectly with everyone. He was a Golden Retriever and a wonderful dog. Here was the playful dog that all boys need - never too tired to play fetch or run with you. Very protective and tremendously loving. We had Jack for a little over 9 years. He was starting to get a little gray and was slower to move around in the mornings, but once he got going you would think he was still a puppy.

Jack passed away two nights ago. It appears that he had a heart attack. It was very sad when the first two dogs passed away, but they were sick and we had a chance to come to terms with it and say good-bye. With Jack, it was so sudden there was no good-bye. I think that is what has hit us the most. That combined with we have always had a dog since the boys have been alive. The house seems a little lonelier now. I don't think I realized just how much a part of the family he was. Jack, you will be missed.

Pigskin...Or is it?

2010-07-16T13:15:00.007-04:00

Summer is in full swing here, and we are already thinking of school starting back in just two weeks. It is also time for another time-consuming, favorite past-time event to start. Football! Intersetly enough, we hear footballs are not made of pigskin, but rather "butchered cow hide" according to eHow. Somehow cowksin just does not have the same ring to it as pigskin.

That's right, practice started this week in the middle of July. The kids have it easy for now though. For the first three weeks they will not be wearing full gear - they will however still be out there on the field running, sprinting, doing push-ups, drop-downs, and every other imaginable punishment to the body for 2 hours a day. I love football!

My only regret this year is that Paul is still in MD and will miss most all of the practices. We are hoping that he will be able to make the games, but we enjoy the practices almost as much as the games. Yes, 4 nights a week we eagerly load up the van with lots of ice water and Gatorade, chairs for us adults, and head to the football field to sit in 90+ degree heat watching football practice.

I admit, I never thought I would like this until the boys started playing. Prior to that we never even watched football games on television, did not keep up with teams stats or who was going to the SuperBowl. Now both the boys and Paul can probably tell you week for week how each team did and where they are in the ranks. And oddly enough, I am very happy with that.

Here are a few pictures from the firs practice, more will come when they are wearing equipment - when the real fun begins.

Six Flags

2010-05-23T09:53:00.022-04:00

Yesterday was a big day for us. We went to Six Flags and had a blast. We got there at 11:00 and stayed until they ran us out at closing...at 10:00 that night. Yes, we all slept good last night.

Of course, we had to stop by Skull Island to cool off.

And you cannot pass the swings.

The Wheelie. This used to be one of my favorite rides. Then I got older. Now I feel sick when I ride, so I don't ride anymore. It is still another one that the boys cannot pass.

One thing that was so awesome about it was that we all had such a good time. There were no arguments, only 1 (maybe 2) minor complaining moments. It was just fun! Another thing was Austin.

It seems that every since he turned 11, things are just not quite the same. I can actually see the transformation from boy to young man. There are some days it can be challenging; mood swings, attitude adjustments - but it is also fun to watch life take on a different meaning to him. Six Flags was a major stepping stone for him earning his "man card". He has always been terrified of heights, roller coasters, ocean - you name it. Football field, no problem - speeding cars upside down on a track, not happening.

Two years ago Matthew (who was 7 at the time) begged me to ride the Mindbender. This ride goes 50 mph and had upside down loops. He was such a tiny thing at the time, every second of the way I was praying "Please God, don't let him fall out". He survived and for once had something over his big brother. He could ride roller coasters.

So, we make it to the park yesterday and I am asking Austin if he will at least consider it. While on the tram bus to the gate a little girl (maybe 6) was asking about riding the Mindbender. So he agreed to try it. HE LOVED IT!!! Later in the day we rode the Georgia Scorcher. HE LOVED IT!!!

This was me toward the end of the day; hot, wet, and tired.

We decided to stay until closing so that we could experience it in the dark and the crowds should thin out. Awesome decision! It was almost dark when we made it over to the Batman ride. I really thought it would be no big deal, I mean I handled the Scorcher and Mindbender - right? Wrong! We got on, luckily it has row seats so that we could all ride on the same row, and even luckier that Austin was on the end with Matthew in the middle and then me - there was an empty seat next to me so that I was not completely on the end.

Okay. So, I sit in this seat. Not too bad. Then this thing comes down over my head. My first thought was claustrophobia - it was so tight, it was hard to breathe and so big I could not see well on the sides. Then the floor dropped out from under us and all I could think was, I am so glad this is so tight. Then we flew out of the tunnel. I admit, I had my eyes closed for half of the ride - according to the website the ride is 2 minutes. It honestly seemed about 30 seconds, I must have blacked out for a minute and half. That was too much for me. Matthew tended to agree with me. What did Austin think, you ask? He was hooping and hollering about how awesome it was and he wanted to go again and again. What have we created?

Here is the Batmobile

The cave going into the ride:

And a picture off the internet to give you an idea of why I was so scared...remember it was dark, well almost.

The park at dark is amazing. The boys rode the swings again. We went down Thunder River. The same one that had an hour+ wait earlier...we rode it 3 times in a row without even getting out of the boat. Riding the river in the dark is a fun experience. We were also soaked.

Luckily, I had told the boys to bring their pillows with them, I think they were asleep as soon as we left the park. In June we are going to MD to see Daddy. We will get to go to Six Flags there too. According to the website, it looks like a lot of fun. Not sure if it can top yesterday though. Great day, great memories!

The Dam Photos

2010-04-22T22:04:00.010-04:00

A few weeks ago, we went to Buford Dam with some friends. It was a fun day and the weather was perfect. Everyone was very ready to get outdoors after our long winter. My camera has been on the blitz, so these are some photos courtesy of my friend.

Fear can be a Factor

2010-04-04T16:46:00.018-04:00

My first-born recently turned 11. Where have the years gone? It seems like yesterday (or a few months ago anyway) that we were putting his baby seat on top of the clothes dryer praying for him to go to sleep. He had a case of colic that truly tested my mommy skills. Especially since I was a new mommy and had honestly not been around small children very much at all. Thankfully we all survived. Now I am praying to survive the coming teen years.

The boys are only allowed to have a "party" every other year. Matthew was last fall and now it was Austin's turn. We went back and forth on whether to have the party at home or at a local game area - economics decided to have it at home. So we set out to have a Fear Factor Party - "If Fear is not a Factor, come to my party".

First let me honestly say, fear is a factor for me especially with 20 children and the weather not cooperating. It was so cold and windy we had to do most of our challenges in-doors.

As we had a large group, I ended up splitting the kids into three teams. They were appropriately named "Scumbuckets", "Cockroaches", and "Maggots". When each child arrived they had to draw a slip of paper out of a bag and this was the team they were assigned to. Now we had some pretty gross things planned so I thought we might need some incentive. So, there was a canister full of cash to the team with the most points at the end. The teams were able to earn points by completing the challenges - the ones that finished first scored the most.

For each challenge I would only tell them if they had to eat or not and then they had to select a member to accept. Our first challenge was dog food. I had 3 cans of dog food and 3 dog food bowls - the first team to eat one (large) spoon scored first and then accordingly. Matthew was the first for his team (he wanted the money bad) and he ate the food first. One other person came in 2nd and the 3rd forfeited. Later that evening my son said to me "Mom, I can't believe you made me eat dog food". I had to show him the real dog food cans to prove that he hadn't. (I had switched the labels with chili).

Our next challenge was the "dig". I had 3 trays full of green spaghetti, pigs feet, chicken feet, and fish (yes, this was real). Inside of this appetizing mound was 3 small plastic insects. The 1st team to find them won 1st and again accordingly.

Then we had the baby food challenge. Each team had a cup of baby food and a life saver at the bottom. The first to suck the life save and tell me the flavor won. One little boy almost did not make it - poor thing was gagging. I felt so sorry for him, but he recovered and stayed for the challenges.

Next was another food challenge. Each team had a plate with 3 items on it (smoked oyster, sardine, beenie weeine in hot sauce), they only had to eat 1 item. Two of the boys managed to get down an oyster, I think they thought it was something chocolaty. One of them asked me to please not tell him before he ate or he might not be able to. One girl said no way, so she got sprayed.

Then we went outside for the "potato sack race". Remember the green spaghetti, well we dumped that in the bottom of the sacks and each team had to have 2 people hop across the yard in them. Gross!

Last thing was not scored. It was just messy. We took bowls of jello, and the green spaghetti (including pigs feet and all) and the kids had a giant food fight.

We went back in for pizza and cake. We had a yummy chocolate cat litter cake and a regular cake. All in all it was a good day.

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!

Mechanics 101

2010-03-15T20:11:00.006-04:00

It never fails; if something breaks it will be when the store is closed or you have company. Or you will have a flat tire when ~~your mechanic~~ Daddy is out of town.

Yes, we woke up and were setting out to complete some of our usual errands when I noticed the van looked lopsided. It did not take long to find out why. Since we homeschool I decided to make the best of the moment and make it a teaching lesson.
First we had to figure out how to get the spare tire out. This was probably the hardest part. Well, the jack would have been if we had been stranded on the road somewhere - but since we were home we used Daddy's nice jack and that was a breeze.
Sadly, the tire could not be repaired. Honestly, we knew it was about time to buy a new set but it is just not a good time. Is there ever a good time for repairs? Oh well, the boys did learn something and I think there was a little more testosterone flowing than normal. Also, I have a new and safe set of tires to drive on.

Spring has sprung...so why does it still feel like Winter?

2010-03-13T19:02:00.007-05:00

It is that time of year again. Spring, a time to rejoice at the newness of life. A time to start thawing out. And time to start ball season. Baseball and tennis that is.

Matthew had his first tennis lesson this week. He seemed to really enjoy it. I think it helped that he knew a couple of the boys that are also taking lessons. I also really think it helped that Austin is NOT playing tennis, therefore it is something just for Matthew. I have promised to take him to the courts to further his practice, weather permitting that is.

Weather; I have not been happy with the weather this year. God, I know that we complained because of the drought that lasted 3-4 years. And I know that we always complain because it doesn't snow in GA. And I am sure there are many other things we complain about as well. Can I say that I am sorry...please give us back our "normal" Georgia weather. I promise to try not to complain again.

Today was Austin's first baseball game for the season. We lost. We froze. End of story. No, it really was a good game and Austin pitched. He did very well at first, then...well, I am not certain what happened next. But it was still a good game and I was proud of him.

I really hope the weather warms up though. It is not very much fun watching a ball game trying to peep out from under 3 blankets and still shivering.

Well, my son wants to hang out so I am outta here for now. (let's be honest, he just needs help with something)

Builidng a Castle...or trying to

2010-03-03T13:00:00.008-05:00

Last fall I found this great activity/kit/book thing. Basically it is a book with a million tiny pieces to cut-put and build a castle with. It sounded like fun, right? I showed this to Daddy and said that maybe he and the boys could put it together. He wisely looked it over and determined that it looked more like a Mommy activity. Honestly, I should have looked at what he did but all I saw was this really cool 3-D castle on the back cover.

If Once completed, it should be nice. Here are some pictures. Yes, I know the date is posted on them and yes that is still as far as we have gotten. We have been busy (and the boys bailed on me). I really can't blame them, it is very tedious and time consuming. The part you will see at the bottom took us almost 2 hours to make. Here is why:

It does look pretty cool so far.

Apparently this is what I missed on the back that Daddy saw.

If Once we finish, I will post a picture of it. Just don't hold your breath. :-)

Cure for the Common Cold

2010-02-17T22:26:00.003-05:00

I mentioned that we are teaching a team building class at our co-op this session. Well, this week the kids had 30 minutes to come up with a commercial for a new product on the market. A cure for the common cold. :-)
They were given some supplies and received bonus points if they used them all. Each person on the team had to speak in the commercial and they had to name it and mention side effects.
Here is a video of Austin's team.

Here are the other teams... They all did a great job, especially considering the time limit and props available.

Park (Snow) Day

2010-02-12T23:32:00.009-05:00

It has been a rather chilly winter so we have been seeking in-door park day activities. A local park has an in-door community center with basketball courts, pool tables, air hockey, and more. What better way to burn some energy for the kids. I think I enjoyed my mom time as much as the kids enjoyed thier play time.

It started to snow while we were there. What kid can resist going out to play in the snow?

Catch-up

2010-02-10T20:07:00.011-05:00

Well, I would like to say that I have been working on limiting my time on the internet. While it is true my time on Facebook and here on my blog have been limited, I must confess that my internet usage is as strong as ever. I do feel however, that it is time for some catch-up here.

Let's see. Paul got a job. Yay!!! The only problem is that it is MD, as in MARYLAND. They just received a record snowfall this year - over 73" of snow, as in over 6 FEET of snow. The good thing is that Paul is not up there yet - the bad thing is the snow is still coming down. Of course, the boys would love to be up there playing in it. Even I have to admit that it would be an experience. Having lived in GA all my life, I have rarely seen more than a couple of inches, barely enough to make a sad looking snowman. But still, 6 feet might be a bit much.

I have started to connect with some homeschoolers there, and I have been informed that this is definitely not the norm. Apparently they do not usually get very much, no more than 6" or so per normal winters. Depending on how things play out, we may be finding out for ourselves.

It is Valentines Day this weekend and at co-op the kids all got to exchange cards and candies. Austin took one to his friend. Oh me! These tween years are becoming challenging. Some days I have to look at him and it is so hard to remember the little toddler and boy that he was. He is so fast becoming independent and just more grown up. Still, there are the emotional roller coasters. One minute all cool and too old for kid stuff, the next running thru the house on his knees playing games. One minute he has a crush on a little girl, and the next he says he is not ready for a girlfriend (which is fine by me). I do think that he likes the girl, however I am glad that he is not too caught up with it. A nice, innocent, distant crush is fine with me. It might soon be a very distant crush. :-(

Onto other things. For co-op this session we are teaching a team building class. It is really a lot of fun. Also somewhat surprising. Our 4th-5th graders are divided into 3 teams of 5. The first week we had one team that was having some problems, they are all pretty strong-willed. We thought oh no, this could be a problem - surprise to us, they are in 1st place and have been since the 2nd week. Each week we have challenges; one week they had to build marshmallow towers. Another week they had to guide a blindfolded team member thru an obstacle course. This past week they had to build 20" bridges between cans using straws and paper clips. As I said, it is a lot of fun and we have seen several of the children improve. Here are a few pictures from one of the challenges.

Typical Day

2010-01-17T21:04:00.005-05:00

As a homeschooling mom, I often get asked questions like; how do you do it? how long does it take you? do you use a curriculum? what is a typical day like?

This is one of the great things about homeschooling; our typical days are not necessarily typical for everyone else. For us, I work very late three evenings a week so we usually get a late start each day. The earliest we get up is on Sunday for church. Matthew is an early riser, but Austin tends to drag his feet staying in bed until 9 or so. Hands down, this is one of the things most of their public school friends are envious of.

Once we are up the boys have a "reminder" list of things to do. Very basic things that you would not think reminders would be necessary for. I do not know if this is the case with everyone or if it is just boys or if it is just MY boys. Simple stuff like; brush teeth, wash face, make bed, eat breakfast, take vitamins. Eat breakfast...I know, but trust me if I don't "remind" them it will be lunch time and they have not eaten (well, Austin anyway). Yes, they are usually responsible for their own breakfast. Once or twice a week I will actually cook breakfast, but otherwise it is bagels, cereal, or toast.

We then take turns with the actual school work. They rotate days - Austin goes first on Mon. & Wed., then Matthew goes first on Tues. & Thurs. Friday you ask; that is our free day. We keep it open for field trips, unfinished school work, park days, or anything else that may come up. I usually work with each one for two hours. While one is with me, the other has independent work to keep them busy. We are usually done in four hours.

That is our typical day.

Swimming in January

2010-01-16T12:05:00.008-05:00

For those that are unaware, we have been experiencing a cold snap. Now when I say cold snap, I mean COLD. There were days that we were colder than Alaska - and we live in GA. It has been so cold that children have been cooped up inside and we have all had a little cabin fever.

So, we planned to go swimming. We have a local in-door water park (mini water park that is) and several families from our homeschool group decided to go and thaw out. Who knew the day would actually warm up to nearly sixty. We could have spent the day playing outside, but of course the kids wanted to go to the pool.

No, I did not go into the water - as a matter of fact only mom went in and I do not think she went any higher than her ankles. The pool is heated, but as we figured heated can be a relative term. To the kids it was wonderful, to Katie it apparently was a few degrees above freezing.

Here are some pictures of the kids trying to get rid of all that pent up energy in one afternoon.

School Break

2010-01-06T18:11:00.007-05:00

I have been very unpopular in our house recently. First there was the end of the idle days. Then a little surprise, they have some extra school work this session. Now, I am threatening to do school every day...forever.

Here is why; the summer break is something I enjoy as much as the kids. I do know it is a challenge to get back into the swing of things afterward. Most publishers realize this as well, as most books (esp Math) start back gradually with some review from the previous year.

However, after a two week break there is no gradual. It is right where you left off, and two weeks of nothing but tv and video games seem to have left them a little empty in the intellectual department.

Now I will cut them some slack in that we were in the middle of some pretty heavy stuff - improper fractions, factor trees, LCM, GCM, how many pints are in 6 gallons, how many feet are in 3 miles, and more than enough to make your head spin.

However, I was chomping at the bit to get started back. I had everything laid out, pencils re-sharpened, notebooks cleaned up, schedules posted. What's not to be excited about? Sigh...I feel very alone at times.

Then, finally the light bulb comes on and I have company as they figure out that I am not speaking a different language...they just had the volume turned down???

A little bumpy the first few days, but I think we are getting back into it now. And no, I will not have school every day forever. I will however be more careful in the future when breaks come up. It all comes down to planning, scheduling, and organization. Do I have a control problem?......Nah!

Can we fire the weatherman (person)?

2010-01-04T07:00:00.006-05:00

I am having a problem with the weather service here. It is too cold!!! Hello...isn't one of the benefits of living in the South supposed to be mild winters. Well, something is wrong when the days stay at freezing and the nights dip into the single digits. I wonder where the birds are migrating to this year.

Today begins the first day of school for 2010. I think that I am more excited than the boys, though I think two weeks off was plenty. The week of Christmas was fine, but the week after was just too much idle time. Too much video and computer time. Too much tv. Too much sleeping in. I guess this is why I am more excited than the boys.

I feel pretty good about this year. My ~~resolutions~~ goals this year are:
To draw closer to God
To become better organized
To follow through with my organization
To become healthier

At church this weekend, our Pastor mentioned a book Do Hard Things written by two homeschooled teenagers. This made me smile. I also freely admit that this has probably been our best year of homeschooling yet (yes, I know the year is not over). There have been considerably fewer times that I have wanted to throw in the towel. Does this mean the boys are maturing or am I? Just kidding...as I said, it has been a very good year.

Reflections

2009-12-31T20:11:00.002-05:00

I can hardly believe Christmas is over. It was very nice this year. My mother and Phil, a friend of Paul's from school, spent the weekend with us. My mother was very sick, but she was with us and that is all that counted. The kids love Uncle Phil, he plays games with them and is a hoot.

I do not do New Year's resolutions so to speak. However, I do think it is a good time for reflection. Looking back at the year in review and praying for a good year to come.

Tonight is New Year's Eve and we are staying in. We might have some Wii matches going on, will probably watch some movies and snack some. We will also pray...pray for everyone to have a safe and blessed New Year.

Good night and Happy New Year!!!

12 Days of Christmas continues...

2009-12-22T12:10:00.008-05:00

I am really enjoying our 12 days of Christmas. It is helping me to actually do some of the activities I always think about doing but never get around to it. It is also helping to us enjoy the spirit of Christmas.

Day 6 - We got some hot chocolate and drove around to look at Christmas lights (one of our friends Nicholas has a great display).

Day 7 - We watched more Christmas movies -The Birth of Jesus (highly recommended show focusing on the true meaning of Christmas, Kirk Cameron is in it and we watch it every year) and Santa Clause 3 and some Mickey Mouse shows.

Day 8 - We made candy for our neighbors. Again, something I have always planned to do but never did. I had bought these cute little boxes from Oriental Trading, they worked well to deliver the "goodies" in.

Day 9 - Even though things are tight, and it might be a small Christmas gift wise, we are still very blessed and want to share this. We have four bags to take to the local food pantry.
Day 10 - (we actually did this one on Day 9, Day 10 is just going to be too short) We made snowflakes and paper chains.
It is really fun, each day the boys look forward to seeing what is in the stocking. I hope they will remember this year.

Day 5 Ice Skating

2009-12-18T18:51:00.006-05:00

This morning Matthew could not wait to check the stocking for today's activity. They were very surprised and excited to see it was Ice Skating. They have wanted to go for a long time and something always seems to come up, so what better time. Our next door neighbor ended up going with us. I think it was a lot harder than they expected, but they all seemed to have a good time. Of course I forgot my camera again, so it is cell phone pictures again.

My video turned out better than the pictures.

We finished up at CiCi's.

12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-17T16:41:00.001-05:00

I borrowed an idea from my friend Kathleen. We are (hopefully) starting a new tradition with the 12 days of Christmas. I bought 12 mini stockings and used glitter and glue to number them. Then I put a different Christmas activity in each one. Now Kathleen is doing 24 days of Christmas, I could only handle 12 - plus we like that song. :-)

So far we have:

Day 1: Watched Elf and enjoyed a Christmas tin of popcorn.
Day 2: Went to a Gingerbread Decorating Party. (this was a lot of fun, pictures to come later)
Day 3: Went to Dave and Buster for my company Christmas party. The kids love this, they each received a playing card loaded with points to play games. Daddy was able to come this year, and we all bowled one game. I forgot my camera though :-(
Day 4: Christmas cookies - I am going to a Mom's Night Out tonight and it is a cookie exchange, so we set to baking this morning. Most of the decorated ones will be staying here, but it was a lot of fun. I actually think is was the most fun we ever had making cookies. This could be partly due to the fact that the boys are older now, but I really think it was the cookies.
I always, ALWAYS, have trouble with sugar cookies and cutting them out. It just never works for and then we all end up frustrated for spending so much time and then the cookies are a flop. This year we found the neatest thing - refrigerated cookies already cut just for people like me. We bought two packs (thanks to a B1G1 sale and a coupon) and made 48 cookies to to decorate. It went smoothly and therefore was much more enjoyable.

Forgotten pictures

2009-12-10T20:38:00.001-05:00

We have two memory cards for my camera. I had forgotten that and just recently checked the second card and low and behold there were pictures there.

Austin and Matthew played baseball at Buford this past Spring. Austin made it to the All-Stars for the first time. One of the other parents works for the Gwinnett Braves. We got to go there for batting practice one day. Pretty cool!

They let Matthew bat too.

The boys also competed in a Homerun Derby. Austin came in first place out of about 50 kids.

This is a picture of the boys with my Grandmother. She just turned 91, also just broke her hip and had replacement surgery.

Paul's mother came to visit.

We took her tubing in Helen, GA. About half-way down her tube popped and she lost her shoes in the river. She then climbed the bank and started walking back to the center. Luckily someone had pity on her and picked her up after a little bit.

It can be fun finding pictures, it's like remembering it all over again. :-)

Good Deals

2009-12-07T18:01:00.001-05:00

I just love getting good deals, and we scored pretty well today.

We went to our local library recently for WII game night. The boys decided it was fun, so they set out in search of a way to make some money. They decided to sell some things they did not use anymore (PSP). We have been looking, trying to decide whether to buy new or used (Ebay or refurbished). Then Walmart came to the rescue - they offered the Sports WII for $199 with a $50 gift card, in essence bringing the price to $149. Good deal!

The deals were not over though. I went to Walgreens and Publix and got this:

4 boxes of cereal, 3 bags of candy (Iknow), 2 packs of Betty Crocker cookie mix, Farm Rich cheese sticks, Solo plates, Edy's ice cream, and bananas for $15. Not bad at all.

Random Stories

2009-12-06T11:59:00.001-05:00

I take a lot of photos with my cellphone. The only problem with this is that I forget to download them so that when I do I have pictures from the past.

Here are some "stories" I downloaded, remember this is cell phone so maybe not the best quality.

Here are some from football practice (back in August or September)

Matthew's team - he is #67

Here is Austin's team - he is #40

Here is a beautiful tree this fall - notice how one half is red and the other is green

This is from when we went to the Gladiators Ice Hockey Game (I think in Oct or Nov)

Here were some friends of ours at the game, they were on the other end.

Here are a couple from the skating rink - homeschool skate day in Nov. It is pretty hard to get good pictures in a semi-dark skating rink while everyone is...skating

This is Matthew and one of his friends, Michael

I attempted to take this for a friend, (Kathleen here it is) though the quality is pretty bad

And this was a very sad day for Matthew. He had a pet turtle that we had in a aquarium, all by himself. He had stopped eating recently and we discussed how he would be happier with other turtles in a larger environment. We could not afford to keep getting larger tanks, and he was...by himself. So we went to Bogan park where we normally see MANY turtles in the pond. Matthew said goodbye.

And finally some recent photo stories. We went to Home Depot yesterday for the kids building shop and the boys made these cute little wagons.

Christmas Tree

2009-12-05T18:49:00.001-05:00

Our tree is up, but we have however decided to get a artificial tree next year. Actually we might get two.
This year had us at Home Depot on a very cold evening picking out a tree. Left to the boys and me, this process can take quite a while. Daddy tried very hard to be patient and willing to pull each tree out and let us give it the "look-over". The cold weather helped to speed things up and we decided on a 7 foot (not too bad for $30).

We stopped on the way home and the boys picked out an ornament to hang. We started unofficially collecting these a few years ago and thanks to we decided to make it official. Austin picked out a Georgia Bulldog ornament; tap it and it hollers "Go Dawgs", tap it again and it plays the Georgia Fight song. Okay. Not my idea of a winter wonderland type, but it is not my ornament. Matthew picked out a cute one that shows Santa stuck in the roof of a house. His head is on one side and his bottom is haning out the other side.

I then had a case of brain dump. I looked for my lights for almost an hour, going thru box after box of decoration only to realize that for some reason I had put them in my bedroom. The boys did help me look, in between asking every five minutes if they could just decorate it now. Finally the lights are found and checked and put on the tree. Then my next dilemma began. The boys wanted to decorate the tree. Our ideas of decorating the tree are somewhat different (i.e. I am a control freak). However, I remembered how my grandmother always used to let me decorate her tree and how happy and proud I always was.

We could not work together on this (yes I have problems) so I sat back and smiled and let them take control. The end result was two happy children and a relaxed mom. Oh and a nice tree.

My pictures are a little fuzzy...

We talked about it and decided that since the boys did such a good job, next year they could have their own tree to decorate - and I'll have mine. :-)

School and life updates

2009-12-02T20:44:00.000-05:00

This is the first year in a while that I do not have my tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. I have decorated outside and most of the inside - but no tree yet. Part of this reason is that we have been going back and forth on whether to get a real tree or artificial. We both grew up with artificial and said that we wanted real trees. I still love the real trees, especially when we go and cut one down. Recent years has seen us at Home Depot for our trees. It has gotten to be a chore though, at least putting the lights on. However, I believe that we have decided to keep it real again this year. Maybe tomorrow will be the day.

School updates:

I am very happy with both of the boys' progress in Math and English. Austin just finished writing a persuasive letter. Granted it was not that "deep" and we discussed it as he was writing it, but I think overall it was pretty good. Matthew is coming right along as well, not much writing this year (other than copy work) but he is getting the basics pretty well.

Science: we will soon be finishing anatomy and heading into astronomy. I strayed from some of the projects and ended up with a lot of videos to cover our various "systems". We also ended up putting a child-size skeleton on the wall (thanks Kathleen ). We had traced the boys' outline to label and post with projects we were doing, but they did not fit well. For instance, we did an eye project in which the eye was as large as the entire head. So, we are posting those along the side of the body and labeling the bones and general body areas.

History: I admit, we have strayed from MFW. I am still using it as a guide, but am mostly using Story of the World. They appear to be similar, yet this appeals to me more. We are supposed to build our castle this week sometime. I will post pictures.

I really enjoy our homeschool co-op. Our regular weekly classes ended the week before Thanksgiving. We had a great Mom's Night Out that same week. This week we went to the Nutcracker ballet, granted it was a toned down school version but it was still ~~tolerable~~ enjoyable. I do not think the boys could have stood the entire version, but a little culture is good for them. Then Tuesday some of the ladies set up a program called Art from the Heart in which the children spent one hour making Christmas gifts for family and/or friends and the other hour watching Charlie Brown Christmas and having snacks. What more could you want as a kid?

I guess I can not let history pass without mentioning Austin's antics recently. He knows Christmas is coming up, and then realized that a certain little girl has her birthday this month also. So he bought her a present (a reindeer webkinz) and gave it to her. It was really cute to watch this transpire. He was very gung-ho in the beginning, he even bought a tiny (4 pieces) box of chocolate for her. However, the closer he got to giving it to her the more nervous he got. In the end he decided the chocolate might be too much, his words "that is for when you are older, like teens". Then he gave it to her at co-op in front of their friends. He survived his first...gift giving experience. In our discussion I said, "why are you nervous, you take on giants on the football field" - his reply was, "THIS IS A GIRL, MOM". Like I said, it was very cute to watch. Thankfully I do not have to re-live those years.

Thanksgiving, Camping, and Letterboxing (oh, fishing too)

2009-11-28T11:27:00.006-05:00

We tried something new this year for Thanksgiving. We went camping. My mother is a campground host at Croft State Park in SC so we went to visit her.

It was actually a beautiful park. It has many hiking/biking trails as well as equestrian trails. Yes, there were many horse people there (though we did not run into any on the trails). The park was once a training/prison camp during WWII. There were a fair amount of items that have been found and collected from that time period. I did not get a picture of that, but there was a grenade, bomb fragments, and other metal scrap pieces.

With over 7,000 acres there are LOTS of trails (also a 150 acre lake). I will start with the campground. We shared her host spot. We were right next to the bathhouse, one the nicest I have been in actually. Here are some pictures of the campsite. The larger unit with walls is her RV, the smaller unit with flaps is our tent.

Her RV is very nice, perfect for her. She has a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. Oh, and heat also. The boys slept with her while Paul and I opted for privacy in the tent. We thought we would be okay, after all Nana loaned us her electric blanket. Well, we had one problem - the blanket did not work. That might have been the most sunggling I have ever experienced, but it was still probably the coldest I have ever been. Then my mom and I left at 4:30 to go shopping (campground is 10 miles from civilization). Wow, this was may be the most crowds I had ever seen. We did not get much shopping done but at least the stores with warm.

We like to letterbox, so before we left I researched to see if there were any in the park - there were 8. We looked our list over and decided on a series of 8 titled "Jungle Book". As named, it was eight characters from the Jungle Book. So we started, the boys chose to ride their bikes as they have learned that these can be long. We ended up only finding three. The first two were challenging, but we were able to find them. Number three was very hard, we looked for almost 40 minutes before giving up and going on the number four. Unfortunately, my mother was having back and leg pains from a pinched nerve and had to stop. We found number four and then went back to camp. Overall it was about a 3 1/2 mile hike. Oh, the boys did find a bike ramp/jump thing that they had fun with. Also, we crossed a bridge over a beautiful river. I am sure that would be fun to play in during the summer.

A quick history lesson; letterboxing traces it's origins back to 1854 in England. The Smithsonian Magazine published an article about it in 1998. Here is a link to the site we use to find our "boxes" http://www.atlasquest.com/

Here are some pictures of the boys' books. The stamp at the front with their name is the stamp they use to "leave their calling card".

Here is the first stamp we ever found in 2006:

And here is what we found this trip:

This is our journey to finding those this trip:

Our first stamp for the day:

Matthew showing Nana previous stamps:

Stamp # 2:

The bikes:

The river we crossed:

Of course in our house sports are ever on-going, so they had to get some time in for football:

While they were playing around, Nana and I tested the playground. This is Nana:

and Jack:

What camping trip would be complete without fishing. They have these boats you can take out on the lake. I thought it would be best to stay on land in case of an emergency (plus it was still freezing to me and the wind was blowing)

It was a fun but tiring trip, as you can tell here. The boys fell asleep on the way home and it was only about 5:30 in the evening.

It really was a great trip and a very nice Thanksgiving. I will have to admit, sleeping in the cold like that gave me a new perspective and true thankfulness for what we are blessed with.

Birthday Party

2009-11-22T13:35:00.002-05:00

Matthew is turning 9. His birthday is actually the 24th, but as the following weekend is Thanksgiving he got lucky and "turned" 9 a few days early.

The boys only get a party every other year. Originally I had planned to do laser tag or something in which it is not at the house and someone else is in charge of the activities. Finances this year prevented that from happening. We discussed different party ideas and he decided on a Science party. Oh boy!

Austin pre-party:

So, I went in search of inexpensive science projects we could do at the house. There ended up being 14 children between 7 and 10 years of age (including my two). Overall I think it was a success. I know that Matthew had a good time, and as it was his birthday party I guess that is what matters.

I bought quite a few decor items during the Halloween clearances everywhere. We created a "lab" in the garage using white plastic table cloths for the walls. There was a microscope, some "potions", lab rats, two-headed snake, and other misc decorative items.

Our first experiment was the balloon and the candle. I blew up a balloon and lit a candle. Asked the kids what they thought would happen if I put the balloon over the candle. The responses were interesting; shrivel up, pop, grow larger - the balloon popped. Then I put some water in a balloon and blew it up and asked the same question with similar responses. This time the balloon did not pop.

Next, we discovered a different way to blow up a balloon. Using a water bottle, vinegar, and baking soda the balloon was placed on top and "blew up".

Then we played with soap. I did not know this prior to the party, but Ivory soap is the only soap that will float. They pump air into when making it so that it will not get lost in the bottom of the tub. Then put it in the microwave and it gets really puffy, and really large.

We also made snow. Living in Georgia we do not get much of that here. This is the same kind they use at the southern ski areas. It was fun to play with and all the kids got a bag to take home (sorry parents).

Then we made slime. I should probably add that right before the party I realized that I had lost my instruction sheets. This was about 5 minutes before the first arrival, so we "winged" it. Considering this, the slime still came out pretty good. The kids also got to take home a bag of this (again, sorry parents).

Of course, no Science party is complete without the Mentos and Coke geyser. We had two bottles so twice as much fun. Well, I should probably correct that as well. Kids this age, especially bolstered by the excitement of several other children, are...~~crazy~~ bold. I was VERY clear in the instructions to sit back as I knew that parents would not really want to take home kids soaked with Diet Coke. As soon as the first one went off, MY son followed by several others immediately ran under the stream. Then they all fought over the bottle to see if it would shoot into their mouth.

After ~~wrangling~~ recovering the bottle and creating order again, we did the second bottle. I must have been distracted as I made a major error. I forgot to put the pin in holding the mentos until I was ready. As I was the one holding the bottle, it immediately began to gush on me. The kids of course thought it was hilarious; this however did not stop them from rushing me to get this bottle to again see if they could get it to shoot into their mouth.

I dried off somewhat and we went inside for cake and ice cream. We also had green punch with eyeballs in it, and eyeball cups to drink out of. A few kids even ate the eyeballs; they reported that they did not taste like chicken.

This is Brandy, she lives across the street. I have no idea what she was doing here.

Then Matthew opened his presents. Lots of Science stuff. He loved it. I was cringing inside as I know that every day for the next month I will be peppered with different experiments. I love my son, but I honestly do not really like the experiments. At least not the ones that involve more than 2 or 3 steps. Matthew however was in Science heaven.

Our tradition is that the birthday boy gets to pick where to eat and we go see a movie. We ate pizza, no surprise there. We did go see The Blind Side, a really good movie based on a true story (I love that kind). Then, we came home and crashed. It really was a wonderful day and we were blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Better

2009-11-18T12:25:00.003-05:00

Yay! I finally figured out how to change my background here. I admit I jumped into the Christmas season but hey, Thanksgiving is just next week.

Craig's List

2009-11-18T00:28:00.003-05:00

Don't ya just love Craig's List. We posted a metal bunkbed for $20. Nothing. No response at all. So we said what the heck, post it for Free. Within 10 minutes my email box was flooded. No one wants a bunkbed for $20 but everyone wants a free one. Oh well, at least it will not be sitting in the garage anymore.

Wardrobe Change

2009-11-12T23:33:00.003-05:00

We finished school early today and took a break. We live very close to Lake Lanier and it has been low for several years...REALLY LOW. Thanks to the abundance of rain we have received this year, it has risen 20 something feet. So we decided it was time to go and look (just in case it leaked out before we could get there).

One of the things I love about living in Georgia is the seasons. Georgia seems to change it's wardrobe for each season, and does it very well.

See for yourself...

2009-11-10T22:08:00.000-05:00

We only have one more week of our scheduled co-op classes for the year. Today was fun; we made toothpaste. I admit that I am rather intrigued with the idea. During my research I found that a lot of people still do this, and it was pretty simple and inexpensive.

The children had fun making it, but did not seem to impressed with the results. I think it is too different from the store brand sweetened toothpaste they are accustomed to. I do admit that I was looking for spearmint or peppermint oil to flavor, but could only find cinnamon. One poor boy claimed that his mouth was so hot that his gum's were bleeding. I promise they were not, it was not that hot.

It has been an interesting session. My first as head teacher, and while I have enjoyed it I have also learned a lot myself. We have studied backyard science: animals, plants, and rocks for the most part. Matthew took my class and Under the Sea, which he really enjoyed. Austin is taking Maps and Science Sleuths. To be perfectly honest though, PE is probably the favorite class.

I am really looking forward to next session. I have signed up to teach a class on team building skills. Lots of fun activities and challenges are planned. It should be interesting.

As for our curriculum at home, can I say Yay! I am putting this in here because I am afraid of the winter blues, and I may need to come back and read this. We seem to be running smoothly. I gave the boys a "review test" on Rome this week and we said farewell. I think part of the issue there is that we started Rome last year so it seems like we have been there a looong time. Part of our farewell was to watch two movies; Ben Hur and Cleopatra - you know the old ones with Charlton Heston and Elizabeth Taylor. We finished Ben Hur last night and will watch Cleopatra later in the week. Then it is on to the Middle Ages, the boys are looking forward to that.

We are doing well in our study of anatomy. I admit we did fall a little behind there, but we seem to be back on track though I have reviewed upcoming lessons and tweaked them somewhat.

Austin just finished a section on Geometry and did well, better than me perhaps. I ~~did~~ do not like geometry. What difference does it make what kind of angle it is (obtuse or acute) or what kind of line segment? Yuck! Matthew whizzed thru his section on multiplication and has applied the brakes somewhat in division.

I just had fun a few moments ago. I finally agreed to let Austin have a facebook account. He was always playing games on mine so we decided yes on a trial basis. He cannot accept friends without my permission and his profile is blocked. I was at work and logged in for a minute (shh!) and got a post message, "hi mom". We proceeded to have a short conversation in which I realized that he is getting big. There was only one misspelling (I had more typos) and then he ended with "bye mommy". So big and yet still my baby.

Speaking of my baby, I could not believe what he did. There is a little girl in our co-op that he has a little "crush" on. He saw her today and said, "Hi Cleopatra, am I Marc Antony?". There is a story there yes, but the point is I just cracked up. Yes, I had my first crush in 5th grade but was always too incredibly shy to even talk to the person. Austin is our clown, he loves to make people laugh. I love the fact that he talks to me about stuff, and pray that he will continue to.

Getting old(er)

2009-11-02T06:38:00.000-05:00

This was a fun weekend, well mostly. My birthday was Friday, we went out to eat and even splurged on a Carvel birthday cake (yummy).

Matthew had his playoff football game Saturday, they lost 6-0. He is disappointed the season is over. Austin has one more week (I think) and then his season will be over. I LOVE watching them play football, but I admit that I am ready for a break.

Saturday night we went trick-or-treating with our neighbors. There were probably about 8-10 kids and 5 or 6 of us parents. It was misting rain and many ~~smart~~ parents chose to drive their children around. We opted to walk. We live in very back of our neighborhood, which I love. The only thing is; we are a mile from the entrance, more when you add side streets. We were brave this year, we went for the whole thing. One of the parents started feeling sorry for the young ones and decided to go back and get a vehicle to haul the kids back in. Wait a minute, wasn't this for them, why do they get the ride? Well, to be honest he did drop the kids and come back for some of us parents. For some foolish we reason we declined. By the time we got back I realized I am not as young as I used to be. This was not an ordinary walk mind you. It was stop, go, back track, huddle against the wind, every house stop type of walk. I needed rest.

Then my wisdom jumped in to help me more. I had painted three walls in our living room this summer. Yes, only three. The fourth wall was behind our very large entertainment center and continued to run over the stairs which meant a very high wall. I opted to leave that wall as an accent wall. However, I knew I really wanted it painted. So this weekend I mentioned this, and lo and behold Daddy had me up early Sunday to start painting. I was volunteered to do the trim work, which meant a lot of up and down. Daddy was on the ladder and I was handing him things, more up and down.

The painting coupled with my Halloween exercise (I didn't even get any candy) has made me very sore and tired. I think I need a vacation...
Oh, our living room does look much better now. I am sure in a few days I will truly appreciate it.

Renewal of spirit

2009-10-30T10:39:00.001-04:00

I usually think of Spring as a time for renewal. Every things seems to be fresh and alive. Time for spring cleaning, throwing out the old and starting new. For some reason however, I feel that way this week. Well, maybe not the cleaning part but like things are about to change.

I feel very optimistic and positive. It has been a good week with the kids and school. I am finally starting to see some of the changes I have been looking for. More responsibility and independence. At least to the point in which they realize that school is a part of life and they are ~~resigned~~ accepting it. They are asking what needs to be done for the day and are doing it. Yay!

The phone has rang a few times for Paul this week. No offers yet, but the increase in activity is at the very least making it easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We know that he will get a job again, the question has just been when (and where and how much). :-)

Today is also my birthday. I do not really think this has anything to do with my mood though. I admit that once I left my thirties, I have wanted to boycott birthdays. So far it is not working.

Matthew's birthday is next month, right before Thanksgiving. Ahh, maybe that is also it. Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite holidays and we are fast approaching that season. Though I may not know the exact reason, I give thanks to God for his presence and the "new attitude".

Familiar

2009-10-26T05:40:00.000-04:00

Now that it has been a week or so since my meltdown, I have been able to view the experience with some perspective. Time is always good for that I suppose. I am now thinking maybe all of that was part of God's plan.

Since before school started this year we have been back and forth about when and if we will send the boys to public school. This experience combined with several new friendships with ps kids has made me happy to be home. Getting back into our routine has been like putting that comfortable sweater on, it just fits right and I think we all seem to realize that.

That being said, I am looking ahead in our MFW curriculum. We had started Rome last year with another curriculum and I think I am now ready to move on. So, I am skimming to see if there is anything we have not covered for Rome and then we are onto the Middle Ages.

I have promised the boys that we would incorporate an art project in at least once a week. I am writing this down to hold myself accountable. (insert grimacing face). Therefore being the good mom that I try to be, I have researched and found an art project to complete Rome - well two actually. One, the tile mosaic that we never did, and the other is hopefully going to be a clay head...something like a statue, we'll see. Luckily we are coming into the holiday season in which there are always an abundance of artsy ideas. How I will be able to incorporate them into our curriculum is another story.

On the home front; I guess you could say that we are getting into a new routine. Daddy is helping with the school schedule, football practices, cooking, cleaning, and trying to complete some of those unfinished home repair projects. Of course, scouring the internet daily for a possibility of getting out of the house and away from his chores. I do think he has a better appreciation for how much I do.

I need to go thru my pictures; I only have a few hundred new ones. It seems easier for me to take them than to sort them. We will soon be on fall break for co-op. Maybe that will allow some extra time. Yeah, right!

Oh, you might have noticed this blog looks different...again. I am trying to find something I like. I may have to get creative and create something, until then the wardrobe might continue to change. :-)

Happy Monday!

Trust your instinct!

2009-10-14T00:02:00.000-04:00

I feel like hiding in a cave somewhere with my tail between my legs. I am rather embarrassed to be posting this...to have gotten so worked up that I caused my entire household additional stress.

I am speaking about my decision to switch my curriculum to GVA. First let me explain what I think happened. Well, actually there are many little reasons some of which include that I was stressed and worried about my husbands lack of employment, my extra hours, the fact that when I looked at GVA there was only 3 days left to sign-up. Essentially though, I think I was just lost for a moment. I did not trust my instinct. I became so sure that we were behind...why did I think that?

Here is what has happened within the last week and half. We received the supplies, boxes and boxes of books. Attended a live teacher class (online), and dove into the curriculum. Guess what? My kids are not behind! In fact, Matthew is quite a bit ahead in most subjects and Austin while not ahead is on-level.

Back to what we discovered. I knew this morning that I was not happy with it. To be honest I knew last week but kept telling myself we needed it. Anyway, after this morning I broke down to Daddy saying, "I am so confused, help me". At first I did not get much response other than "pray". Well, I went to co-op and came back and we talked (I guess God told him to talk about it?). He helped me to look at what we liked about GVA and what we didn't - what we liked about our regular homeschool and what we didn't. Then we brought the boys in and had them give us their opinions. We are all in agreement...we want our "regular" homeschool back.

I will share what I did like about GVA; I loved their spelling program. It worked great! I also loved the scheduling aspect, all automated. I will not go into the cons, just suffice to say...lesson learned, not a fit for our family. I think one of the most embarrassing things about this for me is that I am not new to homeschooling. I normally have moments 3/4 of the way in the year where I may stray some, but I should have known better. Especially to rush into it, and rush is what I did.

Maybe this blog will be good for something...the next time I think of doing something like this I will come back and read. :-) Meanwhile, we missed a week and half of our "regular" schoolwork, time to catch up. Oh, guess I better start boxing those books back up.

Updates

2009-10-04T14:54:00.000-04:00

I know that I have been AWOL for a while. There has been quite a bit going on. First we went on vacation. I know, my husband lost his job and yet we went on vacation, crazy. Well, it was already paid for and we visited his family as well - so we went.

We came back to reality. There has not been much on the job market, actually that might be overstating it. As I mentioned, I have increased my hours. One of my biggest issues is that I am a control freak. This is very hard for me, not being able to control the current situation. I need prayer to handle this better. We are mulling over a few options, just trying to wait on the word of which way to go.

As for school. I am going to have to disappoint my fellow MFW kinsmen (women). I have always struggled to stay caught up in the past. Now with my increased hours and helping my husband in his job search I am worried about falling behind again. After much thought and prayer, we have decided to enroll the boys in GVA. For those of you not familiar with it; this is basically like a charter school. It is legally considered public school, they however do it at home. They will be assigned a teacher for progress reports and assistance as needed. I will still be the main guidance at home, but I feel better having someone else there.

I have visited a friends house that uses this program and have to admit that I was impressed. That being said, we do have the option to withdraw if we see that it just does not work for us.

As you can see, there has been a lot of mental things going on recently. I pray that I am moving in the right direction and not just re-acting to life. I will continue to blog here about school and life, just not MFW I guess.

That's all for now...

Week 5 & 6 RTR

2009-09-18T13:11:00.000-04:00

I am behind in posting. I seem to be slipping behind in everything. Daddy being home so much is requiring more adjustment than I thought. Though I am sure that it is not all fun for him either. I can sense the restlessness starting to kick in. The need to be working, providing.

We will be on vacation next week. This has been planned for a while now, and is already paid for, so we are going. I am praying that we will be able to put everything on hold and enjoy it.

For school, it has come time for me to take stock of what is working and what is not. Our current main core for history is Caesar Augustus's World. I have to admit, it is boring my boys terribly. It is packed with information, just maybe too much information (what Octavian was wearing when he went to see his sister, etc). I am trying to think this out. We checked out Drive Thru History from the library and we all seemed to enjoy that, even Daddy.

We have not made the arches yet, hopefully when we get back from vacation. We did experiment in bridges. We took a 4x6 index card and laid it across two books forming a bridge. Then we tried to see how many soldiers (pennies) it would hold before collapsing. It held 23 soldiers.

Then I picked their brain to see what was different about that bridge and the Romans bridge. Finally the light bulb clicked and we made an arch under the bridge with another 4x6 index card. This time there were well over 100 soldiers before it collapsed. Those Romans, they were pretty bloodthirsty but they were ahead of their time in some areas.

Week 4 RTR

2009-09-06T20:19:00.000-04:00

Well, just as we were starting to get into a routine we hit a snag so to speak. Daddy called us Tuesday morning to inform us that he was on his way home for an extended vacation... Yes, he was part of the latest round of lay-offs. :-(

I can say that his job was very stressful and something that he did not enjoy at all. So, we are praying that God will open a better door. Until that time, we will be clipping (even more) coupons and enjoying (even more) home-cooked meals. I am blessed in the fact that my husband is an excellent cook.

As for school this week...we have been learning more about Ancient Rome and the demise of Cicero, along with Cleopatra and Antony. Rome was not a nice place to be during this time. We have also realized that Apostle Paul wrote the majority of the New Testament.

Our Math and English are progressing. I am very proud of Austin, he seems to have turned a corner with Math and is doing very well so far. We are starting Chapter 3 in his book, and he has passed both previous chapter tests with a high B and an A. English is not as much fun, but then it was never my best subject.

Matthew is flying along in Math as usual. He is almost finished with chapter 2., he is one grade ahead in Math. I cannot say the same for English. I am hoping this is not because of my lack of love for the subject. I will have to try to be more enthusiastic. (thank goodness for spell check) :-)

For Science, we studied the five senses and did some experiments in that. The boys also started to put body parts on their "wall models".

Of course, with all this school (and job hunting) we must have some fun time. Football practice four nights a week...well, to Austin this is FUN - to Matthew it is...good.

I think park day was more fun. The kids were able to just play (rode bikes, played basketball, played in the creek) and us moms just talked. Unfortunately I did not get pictures of everyone else. The camera was forgotten once the others arrived and we started talking.

We also noticed this lovely spider near the front steps. Actually we have been noticing MANY webs around the bushes in the yard, but this is the first time we saw the spider. I am not a spider fan by any means, and therefore had to Google to find out that this one is nice. That is good, as long as it stays outside.

There is nothing more fun than playing with water. Well, except for building things and playing in the water. I have no idea what this is/was, the kids next door came over and helped. Late summer days...nice.

Week 3 RTR

2009-08-28T16:57:00.000-04:00

This week held a little more excitement (and less time it seemed). We ended up having to push back a day's worth of Science and History as we had other more pressing matters on Tuesday. We went tubing down the river.

Oh come on, you have to have a little fun...right? We did get to watch the Gwinnett County rescue team with their practice drills. There were also many (too many?) pit stops to investigate waterfalls and moldy trees. It was supposed to be a 2-hour trip that somehow lasted 4 hours (thinking Gilligan's Island, me too). Everyone seemed to have a good time though, and we worked hard to catch up.

Oh, did I mention we are dogsitting my mom's dog for 2 weeks. This is Buddy

Our studies this week are on...are you ready for this, Rome! We are currently to the part of Julius's nephew coming to challenge Mark Antony. We were supposed to make a mosiac this week, but I need to get the supplies. The book lists two options: One for a paper mosaic using torn, confetti type pieces for the tiles. The other suggests using molding clay and cutting into many tiny squares and then painting them. The paper thing doesn't sit well with me, I would like something more lasting. The clay suggestion...No, don't think so. After working with the clay for the tablet project, I just do not see that. So, I am going to run by the local tile company and ask (or buy) some leftover bits of tile they may have. We will use this and (maybe) frame it. Results to be posted soon.

Meanwhile, our anatomy studies. We did a really neat experiment demonstrating how the cerebellum works in controlling our movements and balance. I did not get pictures though. It was really neat though, even Dad tried it and was surprised. (The cerebellum controls movement by collecting sensory nerve inputs, such as limb position, balance information and vision.)

I did manage to sneak some pictures at other times. I say sneak because these are the looks I am starting to get when they see the camera.

Here are a few pictures of the brain parts. I did also come to a conclusion this week. The boys will label the pictures, but we are all much happier if I pre-draw them and make copies.

I did also get some pictures of another demonstration; our body temperature regulators. We used three bowls of water (1 hot, 1 ice, 1 room temp), we then put one hand in the ice water and one in the hot water at the same time, for 20 seconds. Then they took their hands out and put both in the room temp bowl. Wow, the water felt hot to the cold hand and cold to the hot hand. I like experiments like this...easy cleanup.

I'm sorry, I couldn't help it - EEW... EEW...Me Mr. Kotter. My kids now say that everytime they want to be first.

Here are the experiments...with "me" going first. :-)

Week 2 RTR

2009-08-26T01:01:00.000-04:00

I am late in posting week 2...sorry about that.

No pics this week, the boys caught on and decided they did not want to cooperate. I will have to be more creative in getting pictures in the future.

Nothing really notable happened this week. I feel that we are getting into a routine of sorts. Time to kick it up a notch. :-)

They did enjoy the discussions about Julius Caesar and how he died. Of course, they think the whole Romulus and Remus thing is kind of weird (so do I). We all seem to be enjoy the study of how the bible came to us.

Science and art projects coming soon...

Week 1 RTR

2009-08-14T15:30:00.000-04:00

We just finished our first week. Yeah!!! Below are some pictures describing some of what we covered this week. (Note, I am still getting used to this blog - click to make the pictures larger and get much better detail - I will try to improve that)

Getting back into the groove of everything, starting with Math

We talked about the books of the bible, and then the boys made a "bible library". We used match boxes for this; apparently the boxes become larger when you add construction paper so we had an extra one. No problem, they just glued it to the top of the library.

Our study of the human body starts with cells. This is a drawing they did and then labeled (no they probably cannot tell you every part of the cell, but yes they did get the concept :-)

Then we made an Ancient Rome Writing Tablet (essentially clay). This was actually very hard to mold to the shape of the frame.

Lesson to be noted here...lighter colored clay works better.

What the heck, outline your letters in bright yellow and they show up very well. I for one however am very appreciative that we do not have to go thru this everyday in order to write (though it probably is better for the trees)

School Room

2009-08-09T19:36:00.001-04:00

School starts tomorrow and I think we are ready. Here are some pictures of our schoolroom.

This is an older entertainment center that we use for storage.

This is our main desk where most of our school work occurs.

This is our timeline we are studying this year - from Ancient Rome

These are my children...well at least their outlines. :-) We are studying human anatomy and are going to use these life sized drawings to "fill-in" parts of the body.

I am praying for a productive and enjoyable school year.

Summer...

2009-08-04T21:12:00.000-04:00

My youngest son said to me today, "this summer was shorter than last year". I had to laugh and tried to explain to him that time in general seems to speed up the older you get. Though I have to agree with him, it seems as though this summer has flown by. This could be partly due to the fact that we are starting school next week and we usually start a week or so later in the year.

However, I am excited about school this year. I need to double check, but I believe that all is ready. Supplies are bought for the first month, copies are made for the year. Lessons are sorted and organized for the year. Now I know to some this might seem a little overboard, but you don't know me. I start off full-steam and then mid-year start running out of gas. I have learned that the more prep I have completed the more we get done.

We are studying the human body the first part of the year. I am using some discounted wallpaper (the back of it) to draw an outline of the boy's bodies. We will hang this on the wall and "fill" it in as we discuss parts of our body. I will post pictures as we go along.

Right now we have 3 days left, and we plan to use them all. Please God let the rain hold off for a few days. :-)

Family

2009-07-29T00:12:00.001-04:00

My MIL just left. She was visiting from Florida, here for six days. It was probably one of our better visits.

I have just switched to this blog site. I like the layout of it. Not that I really ever blogged much on the other site (I think 4 times in 2 years). I have plans for this site...plans to "document" our homeschool journey this year. We are using MFW as our main curriculum and I like the idea of sharing what we are doing.

Hopefully I will learn how to blog soon...otherwise this might be a long and lonely year here on blogspot. :-)