Hello all, I haven't posted in quite some time on this site!  Life has been very busy as well as good lately...we are expecting baby # 5 in February!  I wanted to give a run down of what we are doing this year thus far.

My oldest daughter is working on Language Arts 4 Bob Jones, Math 4 Horizons, and Sonlight readers and History, and an eclectic mix for Science.

My 8 year old daughter is working on Language Arts 2 Bob Jones, Math 3 Horizons, Sonlight readers and History, and an eclectic mix for Science.

Ditto with my 1st grade son. : )

So far, I have found Spelling to be extremely easy, but am loving the rest of it.  Also, I'm not getting in quite enough Art Projects...hope to remedy that over the holiday season.  My son has not been enjoying school this year at all, and it has become such a chore.  Please pray for a softening of his heart and mine, and I hope that the Lord will show me a way to reach him in a way that he enjoys.

Today the girls and I planted cactus seeds using a Veggie Tales Cactus Kit Learning Garden that I purchased at Home Depot.  My son did not want to cooperate today, so he did not participate.  It was easy as pie...I just hope that the seeds actually sprout!

The instructions were as follows:

1.  Put one peat pellet in each pot.  Pour 2 teaspoons of water over each pellet and wait 5 minutes for the pellet to fill the pot.

2.  Press 2-3 seeds int o the soil of each pot.  Water with a fine mist.  Place pots back into the greenhouse and close lid.

3.  Place greenhouse in a sunny location.  Keep soil moist.  Turn greenhouse every few days so seeds grow straight.

The girls really enjoyed this simple experience.  Once the greenhouse was safely in a windowsill, we discovered that our youngest had gotten ahold of the marker I left in the floor.  (I was writing their names on their pots.)  She is such a mess.

As I stated in a prior blog post, my oldest daughter has ran out of reading material!  To supplement for the time being, I have dug through our old read alouds for Sonlight Curriculum's Cores K and 1. ( These are stories/novels that I read aloud to them at the time.)  She is really enjoying all of the stories.  Today I handed her In Grandma's Attic.  I asked her to read 3 chapters.  She just returned it to me, stating that she read the entire thing and it was the best book that she had ever read.

Hopefully I will be able to purchase the sequels to this novel soon.  I love seeing her love for reading grow!

Our middle daughter is a different story.  She excels in math, but really doesn't care to read.  I attempt to keep her reading assignments just at or slightly below her level to build her confidence.  I have also tried to find literature that she would find interesting and integrated these stories into her assignments.

In science news, we recently purchased a cactus kit for the children.  We plan on getting this started soon!

I don't know about other homeschooling families, but at times we utilize driving time to accomplish school work.  I either pop in an educational CD, or the girls practice their reading or spelling words.  Without really planning to do so, my son and I worked on his school work while waiting for the girls yesterday.  We spent about 30 minutes discussing number order, long vowels, and reading sentences.  I also drilled him on the sight words the, and, be, a, in, and is.  He gets the cutest look of concentration while completing his schoolwork.  I allowed him to sit in the floor and use the seat as a table which he thought was cool.  Our youngest likes to copy everything that he says which is hilarious.  He is really smart, but he despises handwriting which is typical for a boy his age.

Copying his every word...  (and I love the hair.)

Today the girls completed a large Melissa & Doug US puzzle that I purchased at Michael's some time ago.  We took some time to discuss the state's locations and capitals.  I have asked them to memorize a few facts about our state, Georgia, and Florida, since we will be travelling there next weekend.

Georgia~ Bird: brown thrasher; Flower: Cherokee Rose; Tree: live oak; Capital: Atlanta; Popular Name: Empire State of the South

Florida~ Bird: mockingbird; Flower: orange blossom; Tree: sable palmetto palm; Capital: Tallahassee; Popular Name: Sunshine State

Is it just me, or is one child continuously looking at the box while the other does all of the work?  (Funny, I didn't notice that until viewing these pictures.)

And...the finished product!

After completing the puzzle I began to work with my oldest on her math, which consisted of multiplication, word problems, mixed numbers, ratios and a new concept, reducing fractions.  She picked it up really easily.

I'm less than thrilled about our nation's choice for president.  This being said, I'm going to incorportate the inaugural events into our school day.  I feel this is an important piece of history for my children to see.  I totally do not agree with the pedestal that Barack Obama has been put on...after all he is just a man.  All the same, we will watch the event.

We are also studying dictionary usage, mixed numbers, multiplication, and the sounds "ou" and "oo" today.  I plan on continuing The Cricket in Times Square as well as our study of mammals.  Our youngest child is going to try a tap/ballet class tonight which should be exciting.

This week has been very hectic for our family!  We have managed to squeeze in a bit of schoolwork around all of our obligations.  Tomorrow I will test the older girls in math, spelling, and memorization.  This week I asked them to memorize a simple poem, and I thought I would share it.

A Thank You Prayer

Author Unknown

For milk to drink and food to eat;

For eyes and ears and hands and feet;

Thank You, God.

For mother, father, and their care;

For our house and clothes to wear;

Thank You, God.

For friends with whom I run and play;

For sun and rain and night and day;

Thank You, God.

For all the things You give to me

Help me to always thankful be.

Thank You, God.

Blessings from

Today after lunch we drove to Picketts Mill Battlefield with our two oldest girls.  Although we are not currently studying the Civil War, I thought that this would be an good educational experience for the girls.  I also wanted to walk the trails to get some exercise! (Something HAS to be done after all of my holiday binging!) 

Upon arrival we decided to purchase a GA Historic Sites family pass for the year.  It was only $30 and will include admission to tons of great field trips like New Echota, Etowah Indian Mounds, and the Dahlonaga Gold Museum.    The attendant asked if the girls were under 5 much to their dismay LOL!  We began by watching a short film about the battle of Picketts Mill.  The Confederates won this battle, and there were over 2,000 casualties added together from both sides.  We then took a self-guided tour through their museum.

They were not too sure about this guy...

We then headed outdoors to begin walking a 3 mile trail.  There are several different trails, but it was COLD so we only completed one.  Points of interest were marked and I could read the history of the spot to the girls.  Here they are crossing a stream.

We allowed them to walk ahead as long as they were in seeing distance.  They enjoyed following the trail markers and telling us where to go.

We took a much-needed break at the end of the trail.

The trip was a good experience.  The children learned interesting history concerning a war that was basically fought in our backyard.  We will have to return once we actually study the Civil War in greater detail.

I love The School Box.  Browsing through school supplies is very enjoyable to me.  I especially like the visual aids/posters that the store carries.  Throughout the years I have purchased many posters...I purchased the first educational posters for my daughter's playroom when she was only 1! We really do not have the space for an offical schoolroom right now, so most of our walls are bare.  Last year I put the visuals on our living room wall.  The year before it was the kitchen.  The year before that it was our dining room.  I always end up frustrated that the rooms are covered in bright posters and I then take them down and try another spot, never to my satisfaction.  I really think that these posters are a valuable part of learning, so I think I'm going to try the doors to my pantry and kitchen.  We will see how long this lasts!

We are busy with our preparations to head out for the day.  Thursdays are our gymnastics day for all of our children.  The older girls are in their respective classes while our son is taking a boys class and our 2-year-old is involved in a parent/tot class with me.  I love that the younger ones have a day to enjoy the gym.  They always have to sit and watch their older sisters...no fun when you want to be out there as well!

We have finished up a bit early today.  The children have done a good job staying on track these past two days.

We learned about bats in science today.  The children created pictures of their favorite type.  The winners were fruit-eating bats, fish-eating bats, and vampire bats (yuck).

We continued learning about medieval times and I discussed the Netherlands with my son.

My son began reading long vowel words for the first time today...yea!

I read another chapter from The Cricket in Times Square, as well as a chapter of Luke and a poem titled "Keepsake Mill" aloud to my children.

Our second graders spelling list deals with "ight" words.  Our third-graders spelling list is as follows:

chocolate, nachos, hamburger, server, sundae, toothpaste, knife, piano, gasoline, splurge, sermon, Scripture, righteous, workbook, hasn't, haven't, usually, useless, useful, necessary, earnest, advantage

Along with these activities the kids easily finished their LA, handwriting, and math assignments.  I would like to integrate Keepers of the Home back into our studies...maybe on Fridays.  I also would like for the children to create clay eggs and paint them like actual eggs to go in our bird nests.  (Thanks for the suggestion OldSchoolMarm!)

Blessings from

Today we "officially" began school after our break.  The kids enjoyed it more than I thought...they were ready to get back to work.  Although I did not call yesterday an official school day, we spent the afternoon at Zoo Atlanta.  We have annual passes so we decided to visit.  The trip was lovely because the temperature was warm and it was not crowded because of an earlier rainfall.

Flamingos greeted us at the entrance.  Can you spot any youngsters?

The children were enthralled with this African bird.  He was trying to bring them pieces of bark.

Aw, the meerkats were so cute.

This is the Black Rhinocerous (sp?) although he looks more like a brown rhino with the caked on mud.  You can also spot a few zebras in the background.  Unfortunately, the giraffes and elephants were off exhibit. :(

The lion cubs have grown so much since our last visit!  Here you can see the daddy on the tallest rock with a few cubs below.

These are lemurs in "The Living Treehouse."

It was feeding time for the gorillas and orangatans.  This gorilla was eating an orange.

We heard a speech about the orangatans while at the exhibit.  This is the alpha male who is 31 years old.  I thought that he is quite the ugly fellow.  :)

The komodo dragon is named Slasher.

Of course my son loves the reptile house.  These photos are in honor of him.

This is a type of viper.

Black Mamba

We did not get to see the newest panda cub unfortuanately.  They did have a live feed of him at the exhibit though, which is nice.  This is Mei Lan, the big sister.

At the tiger/clouded leopard exhibit we saw a tiger drinking water.  Unfortuanatlely, the glass was clouded.  One time the tiger walked directly up to our family and began licking the glass!  I have a picture of it somewhere; I will post it if I can find it.

We then visited the Children's Zoo.  My youngest's favorite part of the day was petting the goats and sheep.  She wanted to pet the kangaroos as well, which wasn't allowed.  : P

Our visit ended with a spin on the Endangered Animal Carousel.  The attendant was very nice, and let us have two rides for the price of one.  They rode the giraffe, tiger, giant panda, crane, and ostrich.

We had a lovely day!

Yesterday my husband worked in the backyard.  When I bought this house 4 1/2 years ago, I didn't realize that within the small wooded area lived a briar patch.  At least once a year, my husband brings his swing-blade to the backyard and spends hours pulling down briars that have entangled themselves in the trees.  Along with the briars, he pulled down two abandoned bird nests.

(Please excuse the holly patterned tablecloth... I've put all of the other Christmas decor away, I promise! LOL)

The kids were in awe of these nests!  It is amazing how they do it...that God  would enable them to create something that I probably would not be able to put together.  My oldest studied and studied them.  She said that she wants to try to make one when it becomes warmer outside.  Finding them now perfectly correlated to schoolwork, because we finished up a long unit on birds earlier this year.

Just had to share!

As I have posted on my other blog, www.homeschoolblogger.com/nicolec, my family and I took a short vacation to Gatlinburg, TN this past weekend.  While there we visited the local aquarium and I definitely consider the experience to be school related.  Before leaving for the trip, I brought along a few books for reading material that might correlate with the experience at the aquarium.

We arrived at the aquarium at around 9:30 and the kids were incredibly excited.  We had visited this aquarium before, but it had been a while.

Once in the lobby we took a quick bathroom break and then headed to the exhibits.

We headed to the piranha exhibit.  The girls were amazed at their teeth and watch video of them feeding.  They were enthusiastic and stated, "We're learning already!"  (That made me happy because the last time we visited a cave I gave them a speech about different aspects of it.  When we emerged I asked them what they had learned and they said, "I don't know..."

The aquarium contained all sorts of interesting creatures.

This is a cute freshwater stingray that wanted to say "hello."

 Looking into the shark tank:

Touching horseshoe crabs:

Inside this tank were seadragons.

Playing in the children's discovery area:

Now, on to the shark tank/tunnel.  They would swim directly over us which was cool.

This is a sawfish with a shark in the background.

Sharks attacked the acrylic lining of the tank a few years ago.

We then moved on a saw jellyfish...

giant spider crabs...

and my favorite, cuttlefish.  I just think that they are too cute!

We also all loved the octopus, but I couldn't get a good picture of him (or her).  We then went through an exhibit titled "Living Babies in Incubators" or something like that.  I really didn't like it...of course it was evolutionary based and too "Ripley" for my taste.

We eventually made it to Pet-A-Ray Bay at the end of our excursion.  The stingrays would not get close enough to pet this time, but I did get this shot of my family.  I wouldn't let my children lean in too far...once we were at the Tennessee Aquarium and a little girl fell into the stingray tank!

That was our trip!  I will probably figure out some activities to tie this experience in with school next week.

After a long day of schoolwork, we have finally reached our Christmas break!  The children did very well with their activities today.  We concluded our spelling list with testing.  The girls also tested in math today, which I have yet to grade.  I'm sure they did well and I will grade tomorrow!

Our son completed all of his regular work.  In Social Studies today we discussed Peru.  He enjoyed finding this country on our Markable Map from Sonlight.

We also read about Christ's birth in his Everyday Bible.

Our girls completed a few Christmas projects today.

My, was she trying to be the little diva today LOL.

Now, on to record keeping!  This is my pile of schoolwork that I need to file away.  At least it is already graded and recorded!

I won't be surprised if I don't get to this during break.  We really want to use this time to relax.  I will be giving out report cards shortly!  I purchase them from The School Box for $1 each and they are perfect for record keeping.

This will probably be my last post on THIS blog until we resume school, unless we take a trip during our break that I tie into school.  Until then, visit our family oriented blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/nicolec!

Blessings Everyone!

Today was a relaxed school day for us.  We went this morning and had the kids pictures taken so that was a dent in the school day.  After we arrived home we accomplished a bit of work before I had to wrap presents and get the children ready for their afternoon activities.  We DID cut out one Christmas party that was scheduled for tonight.  I have come to the conclusion that we can't do everything.

Our two youngest scholars completed review work today.  Our oldest learned a few new concepts.  In math I discussed mixed numbers and improper fractions.  Whenever I teach a new concept I hear, "I can't do it...I just don't understand..., etc." for about 2 minutes and then all is well once she understands.  We go through this everytime!

She figured it out and now all is well.

In LA I taught her about how to us "a" and "an" before words.  This was easy enough and she learned this concept without complaint.

Tomorrow we will finish up with our current semester!  We have a few tests to finish and maybe a Christmas project or two. 

Just run-of-the-mill schoolwork for us today!  I love the freedom that homeschooling gives our family.  After completing their requirements for today, my two oldest decided that they were going to design their own gymnastics school.  They decided which team levels they would offer, how often they would practice, and possible names for their school.  A perfect child initiated math and creative writing lesson!  I am going to finish working with my son while our middle child is in the gym tonight.

Our oldest has been FLYING through her readers this year, and she has almost finished the entire year's worth at this point.  So now I am back to the drawing board to try to decide what she will read for the second semester.  It looks like I have a few options.

1. 

Sonlight is the best!  This would be our most expensive option.  We are currently utilizing Sonlight readers, I just thought that the next level up might be too difficult for our reader this year. (Boy, was I wrong.)

2. 

Our 2nd grader is using Abeka readers this year.  I  their phonics program, but their readers are a bit boring compared to Sonlight.  I could purchase only a semester worth of readers and save a bit of money.

3.  Our 3rd and final option at this point is the LIBRARY.  I love the library, and it's free, but I want to ensure that she is reading a well rounded list of books.  I do not like that the books that I would like her to read might not be available at the times that I need them.

What to do?  If anyone has any advice I would love to hear it!

Today myself, my dh, and our 7-year-old had to go to a children's hospital in Atlanta.  My daughter has been having undetected urinary tract infections (absolutely no symptoms, fever, etc.)  due to undiagnosed urinary reflux and we had to have a test run on her kidneys.  We left at around 10:30 am and ended up not returning until 7 pm.  The test was terribly long.  Before we left our oldest two basically finished a condensed day of schoolwork.  Our 7-year-old began a Abeka reader titled "No Longer a Nobody."

When we left my son was STILL busy with his schoolwork!  He drags it out every day.

Since he was still completing a few seatwork pages, I instructed my mother who was the babysitter on the rest of his schoolwork.  When we returned he had finished all of his work with his "substitute teacher."  He learned about place value and Mexico and continued his HW and phonics.  What was so funny to me is that on his number HW seatwork I usually only ask him to write each number four times.  Well, my mom didn't know this and she had him write to the end of the row.

He kept assuring her that he only had to write each number four times, but she asked him complete two papers to the end of the row.  I could tell that he really worked hard today! (Good for him).

Today I am going to begin to read "The Cricket in Times Square" to the children.  It is part of our Core 2 Curriculum with Sonlight.  I remember reading this book as a child.

And in other reading news, my oldest in going to begin a "Third Grade Detective" reader.  She has read two books from this series in the past and loves them!

Our Kindergartener did well today.  We studied LA, math concepts and the Statue of Liberty.  I also read a story to him about the importance of manners titled "Please" from "The Children's Book of Virtues."

He is currently working on the following seatwork:

Our girls are working on seatwork as well:

Please excuse our messy table!  I plan to finish up with our new read aloud, Social Studies, and Science.  Our 2nd grader also needs to read to me and complete a LA evaluation.  I also hope to download a few TOS goodies that I received via email today for them to use tomorrow.

Yesterday was a testing day for my little ones.  Our oldest tested in LA and Spelling; she receiving a perfect score on each test.  Our next in line tested in LA and Spelling as well and received a 90 in LA and a 105 in Spelling.  Our oldest missed her bonus word, "geography."  I choose bonus words from upcoming spelling lists that they have not yet studied.  Our 7-year-old daughter needs to work on dictated sentences and phonics, which is what she missed on her LA test.

Our Spelling Words for next week are Christmas related.  The children think that this is great fun.

Our 3rd graders list:

shepards, December, holly, Christmas, Emmanuel, Lord, presents, glory, candles, Jesus, Bethlehem, worship, angels, Savior, Bible, manger, wreath, Messiah, fireplace, tidings, multitude, and degree

Our 2nd graders list:

shepards, Christ, stockings, singing, Bethlehem, Mary, lights, manger, Jesus, December, star, presents, Joseph, ornaments, joy, donkey, snowflakes, angels, Christmas, and stable

Our devotion was about slowing down for God and included the verses Romans 12:11-12.  This is something that I needed to hear as well as my children!

Our Kindergartener worked on all subjects.  We finished up his Science book by learning about the seashore.  In SS we discussed Carver and what he made with peanuts and sweet potatoes.  In LA and Handwriting we continued work on CVC words and reading simple sentences.  We practiced counting by 5s, counting money, simple time and simple addition in math.

I have decided to start a new blog to help separate the our "homeschool" happenings with our "family" happenings!  We always have a lot going on in this house, and I wanted a more serious web page to discuss our school related material.  We are currently utilizing Sonlight curriculum and a bit of Abeka in our studies.  I'm sure that homeschool stuff will be discussed at my other blog, but again, that webpage has become more girly and "me" (and I love it ) but I wanted a simple place to record our school happenings. 

I named our homeschool after part of our street name and the trees that we have in our yard.  I love birch trees, they are my favorite!  We currently have three students...a kindergartener, a 2nd grader, and a 3rd grader.  Our youngest is 2-years-old and dying to get into the action!

Our Birchwood Academy Students

So we wish you a warm welcome to our school!  Please be patient as I try to update links and whatnot.