Happy Spring Everyone,

I've missed all of my special friends whom I've met on Homeschool Blogger!

It's been a long Winter for us...We lived in our Garage, all five of us, and as if that wasn't enough, we had our four year old niece living with us too! We worked so very hard, and long, all Winter and then finally on March 14th, we moved into our second floor bedrooms. It was a tremendous reward for working so hard. We were all in need of some very precious privacy and a place to unwind alone! Right now, we are just finishing our Master Bathroom and then we will begin the big job of finishing the main floor. I've been cooking camping style for much too long and I'm really looking forward to having a kitchen again soon.

In my past blogs, I mentioned that I was going to try doing a "Little House on the Prairie" Christmas. It did not happen. Just being a "Little Garage in the Mountains" Christmas was a lot of work in itself! We did fit a Christmas tree into our living space though....a tight squeeze for those two weeks!!

I have maintained our homeschooling through-out this year and even though sometimes on those cold winter weeks I felt like sending them to public school, I persevered and kept pushing on. We are glad to see the snow melting and the sun shining warm now! It does make life a little brighter!

Bless you all!

Moving is a busy time and a tad stressful during some moments, but overall it can be a great time to get organized! I've actually, secretly, enjoyed packing up the house as I toss a lot of stuff into a garbage bag or goodwill store bag and then I pack up what's left...which seems less than what I'm getting rid of! Yay! I don't really enjoy a lot of 'stuff'. I like to keep it simple and then it's easier to take care of! So, I'm pretty organized and ready for the big move this weekend except there's this one little detail that is seriously holding me back...the flu. Yes, my six year old began throwing up on Monday afternoon...today it's my four year old neice who lives with us. I'm scared...what will the rest of the week hold for our little moving family....I could have cried this afternoon...it's not going to end. I can only pray that my husband and I don't get it...there's no time in the schedule for that nonsense.

Please keep us in prayer..

Hi everyone! I am so busy these days! We had an excellent start to our school year and we were very successful in September, but I barely got any packing done. So, I've had to let the reins go a tad and get packing! We are moving into our new house in 24 sleeps! Oh yes, did I mention that the house isn't finished, or even close to it?? Yes, we are moving into our double car garage until the house is completely done which will be in March! Wow, we are going to be real Pioneers except we are blessed with indoor plumbing and electricity! For Christmas we will take advantage of this rare opportunity and live out a Pioneer Christmas! I will not unpack one Christmas ornament, everything will be handmade including our stockings! I think it will be very different, but very memorable!

I'm finally back.. I've actually procrastinated writing because... well... sigh... I fried the crysalis.   :-(     It was horrible. I thought it needed sun, but it didn't. Mark that in your science experiment book! How could I blog after my last entry?? So, I've forgiven myself and I'm now ready to admit my mistake to all of you! Maybe we'll be given the opportunity again one day!

So we are back to school this week! I've updated my blog with an Autumn template, but realized that my visitor counter, photos, and curriculum list is now long gone. I'll have to set it all up again. Too bad you can't transfer everything to a new template. I haven't done this for so long, it might take me a while to figure it out...

Bless you all and I've missed you!

Hi Everyone! Sorry I've been neglecting my blog, I love to see the amount of visitors that touch base with me...I actually feel guilty each time a new number is added to the visitor counter because I know they are checking in for a new entry and I've disappointed again. I'll try to keep adding entries more often... So, my very cool thing to share is this... Last Fall we found a beautiful, green caterpillar. We put it in a jar and it instantly made a chrysalis. I left it in our aquarium along side our praying mantis egg sac and kept it outside, undercover, all Winter. Each day we check the egg sac because if the baby mantids don't get water within 24 hours of birth they will perish. So, yesterday we checked in on them and...WAIT! What's that moving? IT'S THE CHRYSALIS!! The coolest thing I've ever seen...our chrysalis had life within! We are keeping a close eye on our new baby to be and have found out that it is a Swallowtail Butterfly! I'll let you know when she's born!

Thank You Jesus for your gift of life!

One of the amazing gifts of Homeschooling under the Guidance of Jesus Christ is that He's leading us. One of the questions that the judges asked Lee at her Science Fair was, "If you were to study deeper into Entomology, which direction would you go?" Lee's response was Butterflies. When we were on vacation in Saskatchewan a few weeks ago, I found a great study/activity book on butterflies, and now we are having the amazing privilege of watching a chrysalis open up!  I just think it's awesome how God orchestrates our days.   

Our adventure is over for this project! We enjoyed the entire process, learned a lot and even have a First Place Ribbon and a Bronze Medal to show for it! The Regionals were awesome! Six of our Local Students attended and Five of them came away with medals and speciality awards. One of our Grade Eight Students, Sarah, earned $325.00 in Speciality awards.  Sarah is one of two students who will be representing the B.C. West Kootenay Region & British Columbia in Truro, Nova Scotia in May at the Canada Wide Youth Science Fair 2007. Sarah's expenses are completely covered! Sarah was also invited down to Vancouver for a week long Science Adventure this Fall!

     An amazing accomplishment for our Home Educated Children as they swept into that Science Fair and competed against the best of those who placed in their own District Science Fair, 95% of which were Public Educated children.

     During the month of March, Youth Science Month, 500,000 students across Canada competed in Local Science Fairs, as many students as play hockey. 25,000 of those students went on to their Regional Science Fairs. 450 Regional Science fair winners, from across Canada, will take their projects to Truro, Nova Scotia, May 12-20. These elite participants will compete in seven divisions and three age categories for medals and other prizes worth over $360,000.

It's been a long Winter around here! The snow has almost disappeared, the birds are singing and we are playing Softball! Spring is officially beginning! Thank you Jesus for your New Life that you Bless us with. I'm actually coaching our girls softball team! It's been fun, but a huge time commitment...and we've just begun! The house is coming along...we are picking out shingles, so we've had to discuss siding material and colors so that the shingles will compliment whatever we choose! It's pretty exciting and overwhelming all at the same time! At least we don't have to get the roof on before it snows...no pressure! On Saturday, I spent about three hours picking up the neighbours dog poop at our new property, in the rain. I filled a half of a green garbage bag and I'm only a quarter done the yard! I'm NOT exaggerating. I had to go home because I was starting to get seriously cranky. So, that brings me to my next point...I'm going to build a fence around our half an acre piece of land, all by myself...with a little guidance from my sweetie. I'll spend the entire summer nailing and staining, but my children will not roll snowmen in the backyard with 'pre-built buttons' (Dog poop) next winter! Nice thought hey! It's happened!

Bless you all...

To our surprise...Lee is our first place winner and is now off to the Regionals for her Science Fair Display...Entomology! We are so excited and so very proud of our little girl! Lee's name was not called out for first place at the Science Fair this past Friday, and in fact it looked like she didn't even place at all. On Sunday night we received a phone call stating that there had been a mistake and Lee should have been called up as a First Place Winner! We were shocked and so thankful that we hadn't destroyed our bugs!

Congratulations Lee! You worked hard and learned a lot!

Today we travelled for an hour to the "Home School Science Fair"! We have worked so hard on our 'Entomology' (The Study of Insects) project. We began last April when we read an article from 'The Old Schoolhouse' Magazine about a homeschooling family who did an extensive project on Entomology! We loved the idea and began collecting bugs until October. We spent the Fall identifying each insect and then we spent the past two weeks creating the Display Board. We also had to make a "Project Workbook" too! My oldest did an amazing job on this project! I was especially proud of her as she presented her project to the judges and was able to speak confidently about what she had learned!

I'll post a picture of our project on the right hand side of my blog!

Blessings,

Mel

Have you ever wondered if you put too much pressure on yourself? Is your everyday 'to do' list not getting done by the end of the day and then you go to bed feeling like you didn't accomplish much that day? What a lie! Do you realize that just raising your children, teaching them and being a helper to your husband is an amazing accomplishment each and every day?! I do believe that when our children are grown and the days are a little less busy, we will have time to accomplish those 'to do' lists, but right now we need to be satisfied with the fact that we are raising happy, healthy families. We are not failures at the end of the day becuase we couldn't accomplish more, we are treasures in God's heart because we are caring for His children and that's what's most important.

   He tends His flock like a shepard: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:11

I have been asked to share the recipes from my recent post. I must say that 70% of the recipes that Lee tried were not worthy of passing on. This is the point though! I wanted Lee to look for recipes that interested her. Most of our recipes were found in the "Companys Coming" Cook Books and a wonderful magazine we receive called "Kraft: What's Cooking". Lee mostly chose recipes that had pictures to go with them. This was a fabulous way to try new Dishes! Just a few days ago, Lee said to me, "Mom, thanks for teaching me how to cook and bake. I've learned to look at recipes and if some of the ingredients are not what I really like, then I know that the dish won't be that tasty. I know that I'll be able to cook and bake when I move out on my own!" Lee learned by trial and error on her own, not by me telling her that Blue Cheese is a "strong" type of cheese and you probably won't like it...we had to try it in a salad first! Some dishes went in the garbage, and some ingredients went into the garbage, but some dishes became favorites!

Let your children explore what interests them because then the dish really becomes theirs!

Have Fun and bless your children with the gift of cooking/baking!

The Lord gave me an awesome idea last year when I was beginning our school year and I want to share it with you. One important skill that I want all my children to be blessed with is the ability to cook and bake. In the beginning of Lee's Grade Four year we began "Menu Planning". Our theme for that year was 'Dinner'. Each month was considered to be a unit: Week One-Meat Dish, Week Two-Potato/Rice/Pasta Dish, Week Three-Vegetable Dish, and Week Four-Dessert Dish. We did this for September, October, and November and then for December we choose Christmas Treats to make each week. At the beginning of January, Lee made an entire meal of each of her favorite dishes for her grandparents. I kept all of this information in a binder. On Monday of each week, Lee would search for the desired recipe and then type it out. I would print that off and put it into her binder. On Tuesday she would make a shopping list of the ingredients she would need and then she would shop for it when we went to the grocery store. Lee would make each dish by the end of the weekend and I would always take a picture of her with her finished project. I would then print that picture with a title and it would become the title page in her binder for that week. For the rest of the year I would just allow her freedom in the kitchen as she felt the desire to cook or bake. This year we have done "Lunch Planning". Week One-Sandwich Dish, Week Two-Soup Dish, Week Three-Salad Dish, and Week Four-Dessert Dish! For the rest of this year, Lee is making dinner on Saturday nights and she loves it! Next year we will do 'Breakfast Planning'! I'll post a picture on the right-hand side for you to see an example of our Title Page.

Bless you all,

Mel

I began homeschooling my oldest when she was half way through Grade One. She is now half way through Grade Five. She has done extremely well and loves being home where she belongs. We have changed curriculum through-out the years and yet again, here I am at a curriculum change. My two youngest will benefit as I become more and more confident in what we choose to teach with, but Lee will always be my first...she breaks ground! I am happy with our Math-u-see, Exploring God's Creation for Science and our everyday lab...life! I have wonderful resources for Social Studies including Diana Warings "History Alive" but theres an area that needs my attention...ENGLISH... Does anyone have any English curriculum that they could reccommend for Grades 5-12 that includes Poetry, Grammar, etc., all in one book?? I'm going to start Sing, Spell, Read, Write with my Kindergarten girl and I've thought that I'd get Lee to work with her through this just to sharpen those skills for review! Lee is a keen learner and when she took the Canadian Achievment Test at the end of Grade Four she had an overall average of Grade 7.9! This was the first test we had done since we began homeschooling and it was encouraging considering our growing pains as we dove into a new journey for our family. We love homeschooling, somedays I wonder "what am I doing?", but that thought doesn't last long as the Lord gives me these incredible moments that remind me why we are doing this. I have a huge ministry right now and I really do count it a blessing to have been given this assignment. I pray that God will continue to lead us and bless us with the opportunity to serve Him.

Snow-snow-snow...that's all it seems to do here these days, weeks, months! I love the first snowfall...I anxiously await the arrival of that first snowflake that gently twirls down and then softly lands on my grass. I welcome every single snowflake from about October until January 4th. I've had it though...we have been in a deep freeze and now its going to snow until Sunday. It's definitely challenging to build a house through the Winter! My Honey has been working outside all day long and then by the time he gets home, the last thing he feels like doing is going over to 'our' house to work in the dark, cold night! Perhaps the Lord is giving us a break before the rainy Spring days do come because then we are going to be hard at it until October. That's right- October 27th is the day we are praying to be able to move into that house! I can't believe we are actually doing this again...it kind of feels like child birth...you forget how much it hurts until you are right smack in the middle of it! Present sacrifice...future gain...keep telling yourself that Mel!

Oh by the way...I've changed the appearance of my blog...I thought that crisp, green grass would remind me that Spring is just around the corner!

I found our video camera and we blew out the dust and we are ready to 'roll that tape'! Lee and I have been reading "Gold Rush Fever" by Barbara Greenwood and I've had the greatest idea for a final project! Lee is going to write her own mini script and tape a fabulous journey of her 'own' journey towards the 'Gold Rush'. She has two actors that would be thrilled to be a part of her film! I do believe it would be a fantastic time to tape such an adventure as we are deep in snow and it doesn't seem to be escaping us! I think it will be fun and a great way to apply what we've read! The greatest blessing in pulling out that very large and old fashioned camera was the fact that I found a tape of when my baby boy was just brand new and it goes right up until he was one years old! I was so blessed! I didn't recall that we had done any taping at all with this third child of ours. We have at least ten full VHS' of our first though! I do pray the second and third child will understand why it doesn't 'look' like they are as important as that first wee babe that came into our lives! Each of our children are the greatest blessings we have and of course we love them all more than ever and equally too!

    Thank you Lord for the most incredible gifts that we could have ever imagined. We pray that we will raise them to honor You!

    The house is coming along great and I'll be adding more photos soon! We have the second sub floor on and the view is awesome and so exciting. We are really having to push through this snowy weather, but we just have to be happy with what we accomplish each day. Every nail is one step closer! I used a Compound Miter Saw a few days ago! I cut over 100 pieces of 2x12 for blocking! It sure feels good to be helping My Honey. I pray that we will be blessed with the energy and health needed to accomplish this very big project!

I love Christmas, but I do love the days between Christmas and New Years too. I love the feeling of January approaching and the beginning of a new year and new seasons! I have been working with My Honey every morning on the house and if you can believe it, I used an 'air nailer' today! I nailed the plywood onto the frame and let me tell you, that gun is heavy! I told My Honey I need my own tool belt because I've been shoving the hammer and wrench into my Sorel boot so I have it close by when I need it! It's been great to be by My Honey's side and to help him do the jobs that need to be done so we can get into that house. Homeschooling is not far from my mind though, as our Christmas Holidays come to an end and the work load begins again! I find our best months for 'book studies' is September to November and then January to March. Once April arrives, we're ready to get outside and explore the world that God made. Last year we studied Entomology (the study of bugs) and this Spring we've decided to collect flowers and find out amazing information about each one! A great contrast to the creepy, crawly bugs that we collected last year. We do have an amazing display for our February Homeschooling Science Fair as we share our dried bugs and information about each one. I'll have to post a picture of it soon!

Merry Christmas Everyone and a very blessed and healthy New Year to you all!

    Sometimes it's hard to understand why, and then, who am I to question God and what He's doing? He knows the plans He has for us. Plans to give us hope and a future. He is in control and we must surrender our lives to Him and allow His perfect plan to be revealed in our lives. I have found it difficult to understand the death of Missy Gray whom I read about in the TOS magazine this Spring, and then again to hear about the passing of another Home Educating blogger this past November. Just last night in our tiny town, a family from Colorado was passing through, a Pastor, his wife and their seven children, when they went off the road and down a steep embankment. Tragically, the woman was killed in the accident and everyone else survived. Four days before Christmas and this family must deal with such a horrific and unexpected loss. I have found this to be a time to search myself...do I love enough? do I say it enough? Was I affectionate today? Did I live my day like it was my last? I guess it brings me to this realization...why are we here? To worship the God of Israel...My Jesus. We are here for a purpose and if we surrender our lives completely to Christ then our purpose will be revealed and lived out.

    I guess we all have that desire to live forever, but I do believe that God placed that in all of us because we can...

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Today Lee and I had our 'December Date'. We travelled into town and began our special date in a small restaurant where they serve Italian Subs. We then walked through the town and wandered in and out of all the local shops. This is quite a treat for us because we normally only shop in stores that have carts for our two littlest family members! We stopped at a local coffee shop and ordered two tall steamers to go...and then we continued to browse through the town, sipping warm drinks as snowflakes swirled through our hair! I love spending time alone with each child, it's such a gift. I thank Jesus for blessing me with these amazing children. 

    It snowed about six inches last night, on top of our already 4 inch base, and our neighbour, who is as close to us as a Grandpa, made the greatest toboggan hill between our houses! The kids had so much fun on it this morning and even My Baby Boy went down on Lee's lap! This was his first "I think this is fun" toboggan ride! He loved it so much that he even went down all by himself! What a joyous sound to hear him laughing all the way down. He didn't even complain about walking back up! These are the moments that I treasure as a Mother.    

    Remember when you were a child and December seemed to have at least 300 days in it? It now feels like December only consists of about three hours! I sat up until midnight last night wrapping gifts and writing a letter to my sisters best friend. The Lord has pressed upon My Honey's and my heart to give her a Bible from Him, and along with that gift, a love letter too! I do pray that she'll know how much her Father in Heaven loves her, as He does all of us! "Come as you are, there is no better time than now!" 

    Our school days seem to be slipping away into the busyness of the Season. We have studied A Christmas in Poland and A Christmas in Denmark. We have also completed our Spelling Program, corrected English assignments and worked on Math as well. The girls both have piano recitals this coming Sunday and also their Christmas Specials at Church on Sunday morning! Lee also enjoyed watching a program where they showed the process of making Lindt Chocolates! Learning is amazing! It happens every single day whether we plan it or not. My three children have spent many hours this month playing store together. As soon as I see peace between the three of them and they are learning together, I drop everything on my 'to do' list and let them play, love and learn together!