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!