Oinks and Giggles

I have been picking up a friend's son after school. She is an old friend that just moved back home after the loss of her middle child and a rough divorce. He was 4 1/2 and chronically ill. She is struggling to get on her feet here with a three year old and a seven year old all while grieving. She is a strong and amazing person.

Her seven year old that I pick up is struggling the most. He is angry and withdrawn. Most days I pick up a whole horde of children; 4 not including my 2. The seven year old sits silent and solemn while the others excitedly chatter about their respective days.

The other day my hubs was at home, the other kiddos had choir and dance and I found myself on my way to pick him up alone. I knew the moment we met in the drive through could go either way-either very well or very wrong. But alas, I had the upper hand because without any additional passengers, he was guaranteed to the coveted front seat position. Not only that, but I had taken the pickup to get him, his favorite.

I wait, listening to the radio, loving the few moments alone. The bell rings and he comes skipping out-a good sign. Our eyes meet and he flashes me a toothless smile. Fate is on my side! Squeezing through the crowd of children he finally reaches the truck, propelling the door open. "Oh, sweet, I get the front seat and in the TRUCK!" We maneuver out of the school zone and I ask him what color he got. (This is the part that is hard-he hasn't been doing well with behavior in class) He grins. "A yellow!" For those who might not know-yellow is under green but before red. It means less than satisfactory-a warning. Usually this means he is upset. But the wide grin throws me off.

"What was the crime?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, don't worry, it wasn't my fault today." he replies, while digging through his backpack.
"Oh?" I ask, wondering what possibly had happened.
"I got a yellow for making pig noises in the hallway. But our rule chart in the class definitely doesn't say you can't make pig noises. I checked. It says, "Be Quiet in the hallway." And I was making the pig noises quietly, so it can't be my fault." Still relaxed and happy, he pulls out his folder. Sure enough it is marked, "Making pig noises in the hallway" with a yellow dot.
Suddenly, involuntarily, a snort of laughter escapes. I can't help it! I look at him and he giggles. I lose it and we are both giggling the rest of the drive home.

When we get home he goes off to play by himself as usual. Jason asks how his day was and he mumbles, "Fine." But I know better. I know there are pig noises and laughter and joy hiding deep inside that little boy just waiting to emerge. Maybe they will only reveal themselves a little at a time. But I know they are there. And for today, that is enough to be thankful for.

Why I Love Homeschooling

Today began normally...cuddles in bed, chores together, and for breakfast we began to make Banana Bread as we do about once a week. My little ones are helping measure and pour, still in their pajamas with sweet little bedheads and a mystery unfolds...

The recipe calls for 2 eggs. There are 3 in the carton. The first one we try cracks, but to our amazement it has been hard boiled. (Probably by Daddy earlier in the week.) Both my cooking assistants abandon their jobs to carry the egg around in a basket wrapped in a blanket pretending that "a baby chickadee is about to hatch." I finish the bread as they eat breakfast in a hushed whisper (not to wake the early hatching, yet somehow still sleeping egg.) I get our lessons prepared.

I usually hop in the shower while they begin their journals, but this morning I emerge from my shower to complete silence. I look around for a moment before discovering that they are outside (on North Texas's last 80 degree day in November-a cold front hits tomorrow dropping us to the 40's) still in pajamas, fervently coloring a self drawn map. I sit down and ask what they are doing.

"We are drawing the map to help the mommy find her baby egg." So I'm told. They busily use those imaginations to play for another hour on this glorious sunny day, laughing and playing together. I leave them to do some laundry.

I finish the laundry and enter the kitchen to find two dressed children busy doing geography together. Surprised, I ask, "What about playing outside?" to which Trace answers, "We are ready to get some work done now, Mom."

I am so glad they weren't in a classroom staring out the window imagining what they could be doing. I am so glad they are taking the initiative to be responsible. I am so glad that they played on the last sunny day we will see for awhile but still finished what we had planned for the day. I love being with my children, giving them freedom. I LOVE homeschooling.

Carnival of Homeschooling Week 48

Check out this week's carnival at The Common Room. Once again, it's great and has wonderful posts. Also, I am included for the first time, fun, fun, fun!

Social Studies in the New Year

I love the new year. I get excited to re-evaluate and get rejuvenated with our curriculum. As I was looking at what we wanted to dive into in January, I found a book I just HAVE to have -homeschool moms know about the book obsession ;) I began a outline for a lesson using it. The book is:

One review summarizes it this way:

Hungry Planet: What The World Eats" by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio grabs your attention for the startlingly varied stories it tells about how people feed themselves in 24 countries around the world. Its contents are based on detailed research, beautifully photographed, presented with often disturbing clarity. We are introduced to 30 families, representing every continent, each family photographed with the food they had for the week they were interviewed. The household range is from the most affluent in the developed countries to the most awesome. "A rich and thoughtful commentary on today's human condition."

We will use this book to

1. Examine the importance of food in our lives by using a cool lesson plan I found on www.homeschoolingabout.com called Make a Meal of It!

2. Study different cultures and what they eat and how they obtain their food.

To really dive into number one, we will start by discussing where food comes from. We are going to go shopping and get various foods.

Then we will talk about the global diversity of the origins of our food. I have a worksheet I printed from the site mentioned above to classify where the food came from, how it was packaged, the name of the food and the price.

Lastly, we will talk about hunger and poverty, what we can do to help; and donate these foods to a food bank when we are finished.

I would love to take the children to serve in a soup kitchen. I think this would be a wonderful humbling activity for our whole family. It is great to serve together and show the children how important food can be for people.

For number two, my favorite part!-a field trip to the Farmer's Market and Central Market to examine the varieties of foods and gather some things for cooking up some multicultural foods!

I found the coolest multicultural food books on Amazon. They are board books, but have awesome illustrations and simple engaging text. Here's the Listmania List. The author covers Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Mexican and even Southern (let's not lie-it's the best!) foods.

I am so excited to really get into this lesson and I think the kids will love it! Not to mention food is on my top list of things I am passionate about! Even greater, Peter Menzel has another book called Material World where he photographed families all over the world with all their earthly possessions. It is a stark, revealing look at what matters and what materialism is about. I think this would nicely lead us right into a more in depth look at countries and families around the world.

My hope is to grow an appreciation of our lives and the provisions the Lord has made for us. We can never be joyful or thankful enough for all the blessings he pours down on us everyday.

Some Great Carnivals!

The 47th Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Tami's Blog. I eagerly look forward to every Tuesday morning when I can grab a can of caffeine, ingore my kids and blissfully read through the blogs of kindred homeschooling spirits.

Also you can find this week's Carnival of Kid Comedy at Life in a shoe. And this week's Carnival of Family Life is hosted by the Thrifty Mommy. Check 'em out in your free time!

WFMW (On Thurs)-Gingerbread Party!

I know it's Thursday, really I do. But I thought of something I just had to share for the Works for me Wednesday Christmas Theme!

Every year in December, my mom has a Gingerbread Party for my kids. It has turned into our favorite Christmas tradition. Both my kiddos get so excited every December for the Gingerbread Party to arrive, and my husband and I usually enjoy a date on this night as the kids sleep over at my parents.

I used to do a Gingerbread theme in December when I taught, it was one of my absolute favorites!! (Besides the Polar Express party which is SO much fun, too :) We usually pick the second or third week in December. Gingerbread invitations go out for the date and time. Then the anticipation of the great event begins!


At the party, the festivities usually begin with hot chocolate and a reading of The Gingerbread Man. Then the kids make gingerbread cookies. Usually girls and boys, and then gingerbread dogs, horses, and any other random shapes my kids think of! They get all the gingerbread trimmings, icing, red hot buttons, raisens, etc. and make tins full to take home and give out to friends and neighbors. And they eat a million.... :) The night usually ends with a Christmas movie.

My kids favorite part is that my sweet mom always gives them a special ornament for the tree. I love this idea so much that this year, having moved into a new neighborhood, we are going to host a gingerbread party for the neighborhood kids. (Except I will pre-make the dough for little hands.) We will drink hot chocolate, read the story, make our gingerbread men and then make gingerbread ornaments purchased from the craft store. (I found them at Walmart last year.)

I hope you might enjoy a gingerbread party this year! Here is our gingerbread man recipe:

2/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground ginger
pinch salt
3/4 cup molasses
1 egg
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Cream together first 6 ingredients. Add egg and mix. Add molasses and mix again.
Mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda in a separate bowl. Sift. Add to the creamed mixture and stir until well blended. Chill 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll out dough 1/4 at a time to 1/8" thickness or slightly thicker on a lightly floured board. Cut with a cookie cutter and transfer to a greased (or non stick) cookie sheet.
Repeat with remaining dough. Before baking, decorate as you like.

A Tribute To My Favorite Veteran

This is my most prized possession. An old cigar boxed taped time and again. It was given to me when my Grandad died. He was one of the most important people in my life.

As a little girl, I would curl up in my Grandad's lap and be content to just sit with him and soak in his smell, and his peacefulness. He smoked a pipe then and although he was a quiet man, he communicated worlds to me through his gentle ways.

He would show me over and over how to bait a hook, take me for rides in his old truck or on his tractor, would take all of us grandkids in the boat, driving as fast as the wind for as long as we liked.

As I grew older, I grew curious about his life during World War II, while he served in the military and met my Nana in England. He would tell some stories, but was a man of few words and always left me curious for more. He was there at the beach on D Day. I wanted to know, to understand how it would feel to be only twenty, to serve with men that were so close they would give their lives for one another, what it was like to travel to Africa, Germany, Italy. He would tell me some about the other countries, would let me hold and feel his money he had collected from around the world. Some visits he would share a whole story about being on the boat before they stormed the beach at Normandy, or about some little German girls who hid him in their barn when he became sick with malaria and lost his unit. They were precious gems, glimpes into his past, and to what he had experienced.

The box's contents: my Grandad's collected money, pictures of his unit, and his decorations from his uniform.

As he grew older, his health failed. His body just began to let him down a little at a time. When his kidneys failed, and he was very sick, I would drive down to Tyler to spend the night with him at the hospital. Then, towards the end, he couldn't sleep and I would still ask him for stories. How did you meet Nana? Tell me again how you snuck out to see her....

He couldn't sleep well and wasn't able to eat a whole list of things. For a chocolate chip cookie snuck from the deli across from the hospital, he would tell me all about when he grew up, here in Texas, his family, his life during the war.

I realized as I grew older that his gentle ways, his compassion for others and unconditional love were so large to me, I just wanted to know how to live a life like his, to feel content with what I had done. My grandad taught me without words to live well, laugh often and love much. That it is okay to make mistakes, but to live past them. He taught me to be content. I hope that after I have lived for 83 years I can say that I was happy with my life, too.

I want on this Veteran's Day to remember a man I loved for being the strength and root of our family, the giver of endless tractor rides, and a protector of our beloved country. I love you Grandad and I miss your quietness so very much.

Marshall Cherry 6/10/20-11/3/03

Dove Ad- Evolution

Take a look at what our daughters will be battling as they grow up. A skewed perception of beauty. It is so important to really and truly impress upon our children that God plants our beauty within. I hope my daughter and son both will recognize that in themselves and in others.

Conversation with Avery

We were finished with lessons, doing the dishes together. It was a great winding down time. I am about to begin dinner and the sun is slipping through the blinds. The house is quiet except for me and Avery companionably working together. Trace is outside riding bikes and conquering the dark side with his light saber. Avery looks to be in deep thought.

Avery: "Mom, I think I know what I want to be when I grow up."
Me: "Really? Cool! What's that?"
Avery: "A mom."
Me: (with a truly touched look on my face because I think she loves me so much she can't think of anything that's better than being a mom when she grows up) "Av's, that's so sweet."
Avery: "Yeah, then I can boss my kids around and make them do the dishes and the chores."
Me: (with an arched eyebrow look) "Hmmm."
Avery: (quickly recovering her foot in mouth) "Oh, and to love them and kiss them and teach them." Silence. "Of course."

Of course. That goes without saying. Motherhood is such an underappreciated path in life. But then again, you get plenty of help with the dishes. *grin*

Henrietta Creek Apple Orchard

We went to the Apple Orchard today where they went over cotton spinning, pollination, how beehives work (with a inside look at a beehive behind plexiglass), how apples grow (weather conditions, good and bad insects), they had a pizza garden, a butterfly garden, an organic pond with fish and frogs and dragonflies, and a whole assortment of animals to look at. It was a great time.
The only funny thing was that since we are in Texas, (who can forget?) we had a very mild winter last year, resulting in no apples! There were apples all right, but straight from Washington! They had to purchase apples for the kids to eat! It was pretty funny. But they said next fall they will get a bumper crop (double). It was a great teaching opportunity and we really enjoyed it! The best thing was the hot fried apple pies they made but we didn't get a picture because we were too busy cramming our mouths! Wouldn't you?






Sweet Avery relaxing on the porch after a day at the Apple Orchard.

In the Butterfly Garden. We are going to make a lapbook of each area of the Orchard, there was so much!! The Butterfly garden has plants specific to what attracts butterflies.
Johnny Appleseed. The apple orchard actually has some trees that are certified as being grafted from original trees planted by John Chapman. Very cool.
The vine tepee. This beautiful vine is made from loofah gourds. That's right-when they die they become loofah sponges. They had seeds you could buy to plant your own!
A moth perched on my arm. They were EVERYWHERE!! They are what pollinates the apple blossoms and are vital to the Orchard's success.
Trace and Avery enjoying a Washington apple. But with Henrietta creek honey on top!!

My beautiful daughter in the Pizza garden.
There was oregano, parsley, garlic and peppers.
Yum! It smelled awesome!

A demonstration of how cotton is spun into thread. They had a cotton garden with red, green and white cotton!

Trace found a crabapple he thought looked like a green brain. Boys.

Me and Tracer with the scarecrow!

40th Carnival of Homeschooling

I love this one, it's retro, 40's baby! Take a look, great links.

We got Booed!

We got booed today! Our neighborhood is so cute! I haven't heard of this, but our neighbors said this is a tradition in our new neighborhood. Someone comes and leaves you a treat with a poem and a copy of a ghost. When someone boos you, you hang the ghost up so you don't get booed twice, and you make copies of the poem and ghost and deliver secretly two more treats to neighbors. Here's ours, it's really cute! If you want to do this in your neighborhood, I found a cute link here.

Fall Reading Challenge!

Okay, so Katrina at Callapidder Days has began a Fall reading challenge. Since reading is only below God and my family, I'm in! Besides, like most devout readers, I am in the middle of 10 different books right now and would love to prioritize and organize my reads. Here goes:



List of books to finish Lord willing:

• Sacred Influence: What a Man Needs from His Wife to Be the Husband She Wants by Gary L. Thomas (A great book for wives! It's so convicting I have to take breaks from reading it.)
• One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children by David Elliot Cohen (This guy is crazy. He sells all his worldy possessions and takes his family including three young children and travels around the world for a year. His ambitions are inspiring and his mistakes and day to day family antics are humorous.)
• Making Children Mind without Losing Yours by Dr. Kevin Leman (By the author of the Birth Order Book. This book is amazing and is changing my point of view on some discipline techniques.)
• Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller (My cousin Kate loves this guy. He is really funny and insightful.)
• Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller
• Nature Study the Easy Way by Cindy Rushton
• Language Arts the Easy Way by Cindy Rushton
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman (Kate gave me this one too. If you have seen the movie, let me pretense the book with this: the movie pales in comparison to the laughs you will have from this book.)

Reading with the kiddos:

• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
• Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (I discovered these and am in love with them. They are collections of Fairy Tales from all cultures, and there are many Fairy books, all different colors, Crimson, Yellow, Red, etc.)
• Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children (we also read Shakespeare Can Be Fun and need to to do the next one in that series!!)

Books I just want to read:

• Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
• Lineage of Grace Series (5 Novellas) by Francine Rivers-Includes Unashamed, Unafraid, Unspoken, Unshaken and Unveiled (about Tamar, which I have read.) The books are about 5 great women of the Bible. She is the best author, I LOVE her books.
• Sons of Encouragement Series (4 Novellas) by Francine Rivers-Includes The Prince (which I've read about Jonathan) The Warrior, The Priest, and The Prophet.
• The Best of Lewis Carroll (I absolutely love him.)
• For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (a home education philosophy.)
• Material World: A Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel (This looks like such a good book. He also has one called Hungry Planet about what different people and cultures eat. It has amazing photographs.)

I think I better wrap it up there. I can't wait to browse the other lists so I can needlessly add more books to my list! :) But books are an addiction, so let the reading begin!

Back in Action!

Well, I haven't blogged in three months. But it was summertime for pete's sake. And we were very busy! We went on vacation to Rockport Texas, went to the Science Museum countless times, hung out with friends, saw Katy twice!! met the newest additon to our family: Tyler! and drum roll please!! moved!!! to Grapevine!! Yeah!!! I am thrilled.

Our house is a little bit of a fixer upper and like my blogging record, I am not exactly quick with our upgrades. But I do have some pictures....not enough yet, but a few! This is the living room Jason gutted and then the living room while still moving in-sorry it's dark-but you can see our beautiful floors and the walls my mom, Sarah and I painstakingly painted! From pink-I won't even say it (What were they thinking???) to a khaki color.

Oh, and let us not forget the kitchen, that I ripped all the wallpaper off of to venetian plaster. Well, you guessed it. I have not finished that project yet. But I wanted to see how all my stuff looked so I hung a few things. Jason came home and said, "It's so sad. Now she is decorating the dry wall." He just shook his head and left. Whatever!! I had to know where stuff would go!! And let me add, we currently have three microwaves and two refridgerators in this kitchen. Pathetic, I know. One is the old broken over the range microwave. One is the new not yet installed over the range microwave. And one is the microwave I hauled in from the gargage and plugged in to reheat leftovers in! And one fridge is broken awaiting the repairman, and one fridge is the gargae fridge hanging out in the CENTER of our kitchen. **Sigh*** We do have a cute kitchen nook for a table in the kitchen and then the "grand room" is so big it has room for the formal dining and the living room. There is a really cute bay window in the formal dining the pic doesn't show.

Anoter picture is of my half-hawked cutie Trace in Avery's room. The purpose of the picture though is to show you Avery's sad maroon room. Not to worry, it will be painted!! And that border-ewwwww! But it is a work in progress!! Trace's room however, did get painted. He just still doesn't have his bed up. See how excited he is? He is so funny.
I will post more pictures soon, of the outside of the house, too. I must warn you though, maroon is a THEME in this house. But I truly love it and fixing it is so much fun. God has blessed us beyond measure and I am so happy with our new location which is just minutes from church!! All our friends live so close and Jody and my new future sister in law and her daughter (whom I ADORE!!) live only four houses down. Well, I will have to put up more pictures eventually so you can see our awesome master bedroom-it's gigantic! with a little office nook-and our cute front yard with our amazing crete myrtles. Love to all!

Free Pizza!

Well, I am recovering from my surgery! My back is still sore and it is a little hard to get comfy with stitches right in the middle of your back. Oh well, I'll live!! Praise God! :) My doctor called yesterday and gave me good news. The cancer was barely a stage one which means very low risk. It turns out the biopsy from the surgery was invasive malignant melanoma-the original biopsy had shown it was only insitu which means non invasive. It was a little deeper than they thought, but still shallow enough they were able to get it all. Mine was .5 mm. Anything over 1 cm is at risk for spreading. Although it sounds scary it basically means that you are still at risk and it could come back, but if you are informed and proactive you will be fine and can find any spots before they become a threat. I will have to still have follow ups and all that junk, but the worst is over.

School has gone a little slow this week, I am sure you can guess why. Trace is definitly taking advantage of my being a little tired, he gets side tracked SO easily. I keep losing him, then calling "TRACE! Iit's time to do (fill in the blank)!" Trace calls out from the other side of the house, "But mom, I'm fighting crime right now." Uhhh. He is so put out I would even think of bothering him while he is doing such worthwhile work.

However, we have still managed to get some done. On Wednesday my mom came over and picked us up and took us to her house to help with schooling the kiddos. It was fun. We got some work done, then I rested while Mom took the kiddos in the backyard and did a nature study. They each planted their own purple coneflower and helped in the garden. So, the Lord provides a way.

Okay, the real reason I am blogging. Didn't know I had a point did you? I am so excited to tell you that the Pizza Hut Book It! program accepts homeschoolers. Last year Trace's school did this while he was in Kindergarten. The kiddos get a free mini pizza after reading a certain number of books. It was really neat and Trace loved it. Again, my homeschool source of all information, my friend Sarah :), said she and her family did the Book It! program while she was being homeschooled. I was so excited to check it out! Click here to get hooked up. Enrollment for next year is due June 9th, so get on board! Nothing beats free pizza and a little reading incentive!

Field Trip Frenzy!!!

A fellow homeschool mom told me about what could possibly be the funnest field trip of our lives!! I hadn't even thought about it but it will rock!! It's Scarborough Fair....click here to check out the homeschool day at discounted rates.

Speaking of feild trips, here is a few that might be of interest and we plan to check out or go on soon:

Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas-they have really cool education programs and summer classes, too. Click here to check it out. (After studying the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindberg, and Louis Berlot, we have a BIG interest in aviation :)

Medieval Times-okay, it's still expensive, but my friend Andi told me how they took a girl scout troup there and I discovered they do in fact have education discounts. Click here to see prices.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Kids-the live concerts and programs for kids only went through April, but they will get a fall schedule up and I will NOT miss it this time!! This also has fun games and stuff for kids.

The Dallas World Aquarium-this is also expensive, but we used to do it as a "special" field trip squashed between some less expensive ones. They even have a neat education departement and give out unit studies. I am not sure how this works, I have a call in to them and will let you know. :)

The Henrietta Creek Apple Orchard-we did this last September, it was so awesome!! In addition to the orchard, they have a bee's hive and explain pollination, they have a butterfly garden, and a pond where they discuss habitats. My kiddos loved it and they get to pick an apple and eat it! Yum!

Barnes and Noble-they have FREE story times with storybook characters. This is the one in grapevine, but they all have them.

Casa Manana-fun plays, Alice in Wonderland is coming up and we might be going since Trace is such a Lewis Carroll fan. (The Jabberwocky!)

If you have any fabulous field trips to add, let me know. We are movers and shakers in the Pettit family and like to be "doing" while learning. We have turned trips to the vetenianary office into a field trip, doctor's visits, even a trip to a pizzeria that was homeschool friendly and the kids wanted to see how the oven worked.

People are friendly and more than not accomadating to questions from kiddos. I believe as Charlotte Mason says that kids learn more from people who are activly engaged in and have a passion for their field of expertise.

Lately our visits to the library have turned into more...we are learning the catalog system. Trace has a task each time, from looking up a book in the library's on line catalog, to writing down the catalog number and searching out the book. He is thrilled when he finds one all on his own.

Field trips can be inexpensive, also. Our good friend Sarah, (who was lovingly homeschooled herself :), offered to teach Trace how to make bread. We had so much fun on our visit and Trace stills remembers what she showed him. It was in fact, the best field trip of the year. I am trying to post pictures of our bread making venture, but am having trouble! I will keep trying!

Why Homeschool: The Carnival of Homeschooling: week 3

Why Homeschool: The Carnival of Homeschooling: week 3
I could read this every day and never ever ever be full of enough info mation. I love this blog and all it's zillions of links.

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates....

So true you never really know what you are going to get, and I love Forest Gump. I have not blogged in a couple months. Shame on me. I will try to blog once a month at least like Robin says :) So much has been going on it is ridiculous!!

First, let's see....we have been studying Shakespeare here during homeschooling through the coolest series, it's called Shakespeare Can Be Fun. Trace and Avery made huge Shakepspeares and then wrote a letter from his point of view. It was very fun and cute.

Trace is obsessed with any war right now, pick one, he loves them all. A friend of ours, Trent, loaned us an awesome book called the Battle of Brittain. He was telling me about this series, and I am in love with all the books! It is the World Landmark Books series, you can find a lot of them on ebay. Most of the ones I have looked at were written in the 1950's allthough Landmark still makes good books now-here is a site of some of their books. We are also doing Mad Math Minutes on the web. It's fun for him to race against himself. For writing, I have found this awesome workbook called Draw-Write-Now. It is sooo cute! It just has blank pages for coloring accompanied by a lined page. They can make it into their own storybook. I added the link so you can check it out.

We have been putting off some things to pursue others lately. I am ready to get back into a nature study, I found a neat website for Christian Homeschooling mothers called http://www.cindyrushton.com/. It has articles on Charlotte Mason, (my fav homeschooling technique) and nature study, lapbooking, and a ton of other stuff. I just love it. I also am going to be doing a super fun nature series that my mom bought me at the coast last year called Suzanne Tate's Nature Series for Kids. It is all based on coastal themes, sea animals, etc. We go to Rockport every year for vacation with my parents, so we will do the series then. The kids just love all things outdoors.

This past month I missed a speaker at the Home School network I really wanted to see, but I am going to look into getting her book. Her name is Terri Camp and her website is www.terricamp.com She also works at or owns? not sure a bookstore close to me in Watauga called Creative Arts in Action. My friend Laura and I are going to check it out. She also has a workshop called "How to Seduce the Principal." I thought it was funny but Jason said, "No really, it sounds good." Men.

I am gearing up for a big book sale with the Home School group, too. I am really excited and have put off my little e-bay business for awhile until after the book sale. It is a swap, too! I have had some really amazing finds at the resale shop/goodwill lately. I found The Best of Lewis Carroll, two Shel Silverstien books, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp and other Tales from the Arabian Nights, and The Children's Book of Virtues. I will be keeping those finds for me! but have a lot of others to sale and am excited!!

We also have a new addition to our family. I have to get my camera up and working so I can show you just how cute he is-we got a hand me down dog from my brother. His name is Windsor, he is a teacup Chihuahua, and boy is he cute. And boy is he BAD!! He chews up my life. But I am hopelessly in love, so all is lost.

Also, last week was a little stressful for our family. After a recent biopsy on a spot on my back, we recieved news that it had come back as Melanoma. Jason and I met with a surgeon on Thursday and he said that the pathology report shows the Melanoma is shallow and they are confident they can remove it all. The surgery is scheduled for Monday the 17th. I will say that although it is stressful waiting until after surgery to get final results, I feel confident in the Lord and completely trust him. I also have gained much knowledge on Melanoma. Before this experience, Jason and I both knew very little about skin cancer. Melanoma is the most serious kind, but can be taken care of easily if you know what to look for. I hope through this experience to educate all the people I love and care for about Melanoma. Check out this website for information on it: http://www.melanoma.com/melanoma/index.jsp or here http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ruth.livingstone/little/melanoma.htm.

Also, I have to add that some of you know I have had terrible insomnia for a long while now. My neighbor, Marilyn, an Occupational Therapist, is selling this product called Monavie. It is a drink (juice really) that is like taking a vitamen supplement. I began taking it because all these people had reported that it helped with insomnia. Well, I am always skeptical, so Marilyn asked me to just try it. I have been taking it for a week or so, and have gone several nights now without any sleep medication. My fingers are crossed!! Hopefully I will begin sleeping like a normal person again.... Lord willing since I get most of my praying accomplished in the wee hours of the morning :)

Well, that is all, sorry this is the longest blog ever. Hopefully you can glean some helpful information or resources from our experiences!

I (Heart) Teacher Workshops!!

Well, the week is quickly flying by. We had Avery's birthday and a sleepover, a trip to Chuck E Cheese, it's been busy!

I am SOOOO excited, this weekend a friend and fellow homeschooling mom and I are going to a teacher workshop. Going to a teacher workshop for me is my husband's equivelant to spending a whole day at Best Buy or Home Depot. Anyways, this looks so cool so let me share! We are going to the Ft. Worth Zoo to a workshop called Project Wild. Here is a list of the workshops available, Project Wild is listed about halfway.

They all offer credit hours and the lessons are designed to teach the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Science requirements. Awesome!! And this is right up Trace's alley! They also have really fun events like a 1/2 price homeschool day and a Zoo Run. Check it out here.

We also got a year membership to the Ft. Worth Musuem of Science, only my and Trace's most favorite place in the world!! The membership is awesome b/c you can get yourself plus 5 people in free, any 5 guests you like. You also get discounts on Omni and the Planetarium, so that's very cool. Taking your kiddo to the Science Museum is such a win win situation. You get to do something fun together, and they use reading, math, critical thinking, observation skills, even writing with the new Paleontologist Exhibit, and best of all: hands on experiementing!! It's like a great big school day all wrapped up into one. Anyways, for a brief list of what we have been doing today and this week in general:

Literature-Five in A Row-Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. (Love this-they made the poem into a children's book with beautiful illustrations.) We are now reading a lot of poetry including Mom reading over and over and OVER Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll while Trace acts it out. This has very hard vocabulary, but Trace is obsessed with it right now and nearly has it memorized.

History-Pioneer Times-Still studying the Pioneers and watching the Little House on the Praire which has turned into a regular family time. We are all addicted. We are planning a visit to the Log Cabin Village in Ft. Worth. (Avery pointed out this morning that Shrek uses an outhouse JUST LIKE the pioneers. What a coincidence!)

Reading/Writing- We are just doing daily Journal and our Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, along with Trace reading Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel. (Not to mention Trace's extra practice of writing his name 25 times for not obeying.) Also Trace is helping make the grocery list, picking out meal plans and I will purchase anything-within reason-he correctly spells on the grocery list. Right now he has added gum and poptarts. What can I say? I am willing to trade breakfast junk food for my son's eager participation in writing and spelling.

Bible Study-Using the Character Supplement and Bible Study Guide with the Five in A Row.

Chapter Book: Almost done with Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!! I promised to take them to see the movie when we finish!!!

Okay, I'm a blabbermouth, enough already! Off to un-school some more!!

Enough to Make Me Crazy!!

Well, the weekend was busy and good. Now we are back to Monday once again. Today we began a little later again....(I wonder how many other homeschoolers have trouble starting on time?) but I am in a battle within myself because I think that part of the benefits of schooling your children at home is that you do not have to have a rigid schedule like in public school. Those schedules are created to encompass all the required learning i.e. math, reading, science, etc. and fit in bathroom breaks, walks down the hall, recess, lunch and so on. We get down to the nitty gritty of it, and have the luxury of one on one so lessons go faster. But on the same token, I want to instill a sense of responsibility in my children at a young age, that life requires you to schedule yourself in many ways....that is the challenge. But I am ready!

A Day With Dad

So today, I had to work all day...for real all day...I haven't got up at 5:30am in a year at least. It was a beating!! God Bless my husband for working so hard every day. I put in almost 12 hours and I am beat!

The kids stayed with daddy today. I gave him a run down of school happenings, but as usual, he just went with the "fly by the seat of the pants" curriculum, which I am also schooled on, but doesn't usually meet my every day needs.

Can someone tell me why I spend hours slaving over fun activities and try to be the epitomy of a fun home schooling mom every minute of my life, but a day with dad is my kiddos equivalent to something ranking close to Disneyland? I mean, I am great and all, but the sun rises and falls on their daddy! Probably because in between lessons on Light Saber fighting and watching multiple episodes of "When Bears Attack" on Discovery (which was the day's science lesson) they are in heaven. I of course have to implement the real deal of school every day, so I can sort of see where it is fun to have a day with him. But he does do pretty much all of the disciplining and every so often the spanking, so shouldn't that raise my rankings a bit? ;)

Well, it all ended okay with the exception of two very hyper kids and a pretty messy house. He even took them out to lunch with a meeting with his boss, and all and all I am proud to have him as a schooling partner.

I just want to mention something I had a conversation with a friend about today. We listened to a preacher speak about God "getting you out of your comfort zone." He talked about how God wants to stretch us and encourage us to keep seeking Him in all things, and it made me think of homeschool. I mean, I am a teacher through and through, but until last year I never even thought about it. It is really hard for me-a really teachy teacher-to not force worksheets on every theme and read the exact books that go with each theme I want to make them do activites that correlate and so on, but now I am pursuing a totally different method of education based on what I feel is God's call for me to raise my children up in a way that pleases Him. He has essentially got me out of my comfort zone to a degree and the message excited me to continue to put my whole heart into the ministry of raising my children to be servants for the Lord. Anyways...God Bless and good night! I am going to bed for heavens sake!

Flat Stanley, Come Home!!

So today was off to a rough start...my husband woke me up very late!! So today we didn't begin until 10:30 and then we got off to a very rough start.

But then we got out our Flat Stanley pictures today. Flat Stanley is a huge project I did when I taught Pre-K based off a book by Jeff Brown, and it was so much fun!! You can check out the official website at www.flatstanleyproject.net . They took the big bulletin board down out of the hall at the preschool, and I got Trace and Avery's Flat Stanley and their pictures. Trace's are from Canada-Justin went there on a trip, and Avery's are from the Swim family in Washington. We love Flat Stanley and had fun re-living our project. Katy, my cousin who lives in Africa, has Flat Stanley now. In fact, we should be getting him back sometime soon from Swaziland. We do have two Stanley's, and Kate has Avery's so we are trying to decide where we can send Trace's next.

Speaking of Katy, she sent home a CD that is SOOO cool and the kiddos and I watched it today. It is a slideshow of her and the other missionaries set to awesome music. It made me almost cry, I miss her lots and am so proud of her desire to do God's work!! Trace and Avery thought it was awesome, too. What a great testimony from them to see someone so dedicated to serving others!

We rounded off the day doing quite a bit of reading and phonics since that is where Trace struggles. In fact it's 6:00 and we just finished reading. School has no time barriers in this family and that's the way I like it!