Only 3 more days!!!!!!  until Briana's opening night for her first adult musical.  And, only 4 more days until I see her for the first time in 4 1/2 weeks.  I am so ready.  I've called her quite a bit the last week.  Email just wasn't enough.  We also have Skype, which is wonderful, because I can see her and talk to her on the computer for free.  Of course, I will only get to see her a few hours on Thurs. before the show, a short while after the show, and a few minutes the next morning before we are off to MS for James' scout reunion. 

  She's really getting excited, I think, about opening night, although she's got some long days ahead of her with tech and dress rehearsals.  I can't remember if I said here before, but she was given the dance solo to open the musical, which is totally, amazingly COOL!  LOL.  (can you tell I'm excited?)  She also does a smaller solo toward the end.  There has been just one catch this weekend......they put her in a hoop skirt!  It's kind of hard to do high kicks and dance in a hoop skirt. So, the choreographer is "working on it".  She said they may change her costume. 

   Ashley and I are on antibiotics since last Tues.  We never could kick the sinus junk.  This is the first time I've been to the dr. sick in 6 years.  I got sick with a sinus infection on the plane coming back from adopting Daniella.  We're doing much better....until today.  I'm still on the antibiotics, but I am sinusy again, scratchy throat, running a low grade fever again, and completely drained of all energy.  I guess I'm trying to get something viral on top of the other.  Ugh.  I've got to get some energy to pack!

  Ashley started her next 2 college courses (8 weeks courses) this week.  This term she is taking Missions and Theology.  She's going to be quite bogged down in reading I do believe.  At least it is interesting to her.  She made a 95 in college Biology last term.  I was so excited for her because science is not really her great interest, and the first week was overwhelming and HARD~lots of chemistry.  Once she got past that, though, she actually enjoyed studying deeper about the human body. 

  We're plugging away here on homeschooling.  I have hit a problem with Daniella in math that I don't know how to explain to her better, and she is not comprehending.  I'm going to let her Daddy have a shot at it tomorrow.  If she's not ready for it yet, we'll just move on and come back to it.  I could tell today that she was feeling down on herself because she couldn't understand.  She's good at math, and I am not going to hinder that.

  As you know, Ashley is on our church praise dance team.  They are dancing in the Easter production on Palm Sunday.  They let younger kids do 2 dances this time, though, so Marissa and Daniella are both doing praise dance this time as well.  They are really excited, and I'm very amazed that Marissa is enjoying it.  She's not typically the dancer type.  We just found out today that James is going to be the narrator.  If you'd told me 3 or 4 years ago that my husband would be narrating a production and acting in the VBS dramas, I would have laughed at you!  I guess once he danced in the Nutcracker a few times with his daughters it broke the ice for him.  LOL.

Here are a few pictures from our homeschool~

We studied Ben Franklin, and part of that was about his newspaper.  We took alphabet pasta, inverted it, painted it, then pressed it on to another paper.

The only problem was that the pasta soaked in the paint, and it was hard to keep them wet enough to get all the letters coated.  If you put too much paint on, it filled in the holes.  They thought it was fun, though.

Marissa's said, "Marissa loves her cat."

Marissa loves to take pictures of absolutely anything and everything~ the carpet, door knobs, stuffed animals, acorns,close ups of comforters, notebooks, you name it....to look through her pictures is quite humorous.  But, sometimes she captures some pretty cool pictures.  One day, I think she will have a really good eye and be quite a good photographer.  Here are just a few~

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Marissa and I have been enjoying a look at the White House~ a tour through some of it's rooms, the history of the White House itself, along with some interesting facts about Presidents, First Ladies, First families (and their pets), and their role and life at the White House. 

http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Guide-White-House-Washington/dp/0836221532/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236010242&sr=8-1

We were able to tour the White House in Sept. 2001, just a few days before 9-11, and we really enjoyed it.  Unfortunately, now you must have a group of 10 or more to schedule a tour.  Marissa, my history buff, is dying to go to D.C., and I  hope that I can talk to our congressman's office to figure out some way to get her in one of those tours whenever we go.  I may have to start calling people to go with us on our trip! 

On another trip to D.C., we were able to see President and Laura Bush sitting on the south Portico with two other people.  We think it could have been the president of Mexico and his wife since they were visiting that week.  We also saw their dog, Barney, playing with a staff member on the lawn. 

The book is a fun, historical look inside if you've never been, if you are planning to go, or even if you've been already to see and read about places you saw.  And, it's an easy to understand guide for children. 

This is Ashley, Briana, Marissa, and me in front of the north portico in Sept. 2001.  The corner of the picture has paper and a star because I had to scan it out of my scrapbook!

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We finished our butterfly lapbooks several weeks ago, and they had a great time working on them.  This one was different, because it's the first time I've just kind of made up our own.  I used information and some ideas from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html and www.homeschoolshare.com, and some I just totally made up.  In addition to the activities in the pictures, we also did a stained glass butterfly craft, which had mixed results, and a symmetrical butterfly craft.  Both were hits. 

Marissa's~

Daniella's~
LOL.  She's still adding little butterflies to the front of hers.  She's had a ball doing that. 
Okay, this picture also encompasses several other projects!  You'll see the canner that I wasn't actually using to can....we were using it to heat up the apples to to make applesauce that was canned in the waterbath canner.  There's also the electric cooler plugged in to get ready for our camping trip, a jigsaw puzzle on the table that Marissa and I were working on, and a crossword puzzle that Ashley was working.  We may be a little cluttered, but we're always learning!  : )

We're about to start on The 12 Days of Christmas lapbook that I was able to get for free for being a TOS subscriber.  Yes, I know the 12 days of Christmas are after Christmas, but I know me well enough to know that the days right after Christmas will not be spent doing a lapbook, besides the fact that we're going out of town on the 1st.  We also have one more trip out of town to see Briana in the Nutcracker, and between that, decorating, wrapping, baking.....I think I'd do well to start now! 

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Nancy Baetz is my friend.  I've never met her; never chatted on the phone with her; have only emailed back and forth with her a few times; and only occasionally, we comment on each other's blogs.  But, those few exchanges with her have been great, and I consider her a friend.  We have prayed for one another, encouraged one another, and she has helped me tremendously over the past year and a half, approximately, as I've had to find my way through a new style of homeschooling in order to meet the needs of one of my children.  (And discovered a much better way for them both!)

Nancy has never tried to tell me what to do in my homeschooling, but has just been a gentle encourager to seek  the Lord and what my children need~to not let the pressures of what other homeschoolers do get to me; to not measure myself against someone else's stick.  That's what she does in the new ebook she has written,

Nancy shares a gentle encouragement with us, as we seek to not be stressed by the pressures of "doing school at home".  Do not let her words "unschooling" scare you.  LOL.  I know by reading her blog that Nancy spends plenty of time teaching her children many things.  What this book does do is encourage you to relax, offers other book recommendations (ones which I have also recommended here and are GREAT resources!  I highly recommend you put them on your wish list.), and makes you stop to think about how your children learn best, the most important tools of their learning, an A-Z list about some things "unschooling" is and isn't, and more. 

Nancy has graciously allowed me to review her book, and is also allowing me to give away a free copy.  It's a very manageable size, with short chapters.  I read it in one evening.  So, if you'd love to just feel hugged and encouraged in your homeschooling or are seeking a more relaxed way, leave me a comment, with your blog address or email, and on Saturday Marissa will draw a name out of the hat. 

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The girls are LOVING their horseback riding lessons.  Ashley, too, although, I don't have any pictures of her yet.  She drives herself over, but next week I'm going to go over and get pictures.  Anyway, here are Marissa and Daniella riding Dusty.

Marissa

trotting

Trotting~learning to balance and hold on with her legs, not her hands.

Daniella

trotting

Daniella balancing
Monday, my nieces came over with my parents, and we all went to Dollywood.  They enjoy spending the day together.  They get to see each other usually about 2 or 3 times  year. 

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A few weeks ago, Wonderworks allowed homeschoolers to come in free up to 4 people in a group.  While they were generous to extend it to us, they don't know the size of many homeschool families (or don't care).  The girls had a good afternoon.

Pulleys

find one little purple bead in the midst of 6 jillion red ones~right.

Inside a spacecraft

Virtual air hockey

Senses your motion and makes the motion show up in color on the screen; you can see Marissa's outline in several different colors in the center of the screen.

Stomp on the floor to change the patterns

BUBBLES!

And, rock climbing

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Hey!  Imagine that.  I'm actually going to blog about homeschooling.   I do that on occasion.  Our homeschool is very simple and relaxed.  We do much of our learning through life, but we do hit the books sometimes, too!  : ) This has been very successful for our family, and it's a lifestyle we love.   We picked our bookwork back up a little bit 2 weeks ago; then more this past week.  Of course, we try to live a lifestyle of learning all the time!

Both girls are working in Developmental Math.  Last year was the first time we'd used this program, and it seems to be working great for them.  Marissa had a very hard time with traditional math books that jumped from one concept to the next.  She needed more time to master one thing at a time, and this program does that for her.   We are also using it for Daniella, and it seems to work well for her right now.   I'm just adding in telling time for her.  I bought a $3ish little teaching clock from WalMart that also has a dry erase spot to write the time in.  We also use large beads from WalMart and craft sticks for manipulatives.  We work at their pace.

Daniella is working on word lists in Alpha Phonics, along with their readers.  It has finally seemed to click a little this week.  She could read some of the individual words, but couldn't put them together.  She is having much more success with that this past week, which totally thrills her.  She also works in a little phonics workbook that came from WalMart or somewhere.  Each week I write a sight word on a tiny sticky note and put it at her place at the table.  She works on it during meals and anytime she's at the table.  She's learned to spell several that way.  Marissa does not have a formal language program right this minute, but I am going to do some looking at some grammar books this week.  Because of her not being able to hear phonetically, traditional phonics and spelling programs have never worked for her.  She has learned to spell by reading and writing. 

Last spring we started a butterfly lapbook that I had intended to finish over the summer.  Summer was just too full of other great and busy things this year, so we picked it back up this week.  They are loving working on them.  It's okay that it isn't spring.  We've seen some cool, big butterflies this week.  Their lapbooks also incorporate their copywork, which also hits on grammar and spelling. 

In about a week or 2, we will pick our history lapbook/notebooking back up.  It's from the Time Travelers, and is on the American Revolution.    Again, this will incorporate our copywork and much in the way of writing~sentence structure, paragraphs, self-expression, etc., not to mention spelling and handwriting (and cutting, pasting, folding, crafting, reading)

Our read aloud right now is Mik-Shrok.  It is the story of missionaries in Alaska before Alaska became a state.  Marissa and I are loving it.  We have the 2 others in the series to read after this one. 

Their dad also reads Nancy Drew to them at bedtime.  Marissa is so very into Nancy Drew right now.  : )  I was at her age, too.  We have quite a few of my old books, and am about to order some more of the "originals".  We actually have one ND that belonged to my dad.  It's an original original!  It has a tweed-like cover.  After we finish the Mik-Shrok series, we will probably read a couple of Box Car Children to satisfy Daniella. 

Science is very eclectic.  Of course, we're doing butterflies right now.  We bought them a great microscope this summer, and their dad helps them out on that.  He does most of their science with them, and it will mostly consist of experiments, projects, and animal studies.  They watch a show on Animal Planet a couple of times each week, and, Daniella especially, is very into learning about animals.  We also do a lot of spontaneous conversations and researching~you know, those teachable moments. 

For Bible we read from The Child's Story Bible, plus verse memorization through Awanas. 

Daniella wants to learn Spanish, so I am posting a new vocabulary word each week for us to work on.  

Marissa also works a good bit, unassigned, in Thinking Skills books and logic puzzle books.  We incorporate lots of puzzles (word and jigsaw) and games.  When a child knows how to think and reason, he has the key to much knowledge and discernment.  They may or may not remember all of the facts we've thrown at  them, even in fun lapbooks and projects, but learning to think and be wise will equip them for life.   

Along those lines, I bought a game that we LOVE.  (Except Briana.  Briana hates it. LOL!)  It is most fun with 3 or 4 people.  Two is not very challenging.

That covers most of the bookwork of our homeschooling.  Of course, there are other things that get thrown in from time to time, but that is the bulk of it. 

Briana has been able to be home this past week for a fall break.  We've loved having her here, of course.  Since her week was pretty much completely free, she has spent some very sweet, fun time with Marissa and Daniella.  Ashley has been able to take a break from her studies here and there, and they have all 4 had some silly sister escapades.  She leaves to go back after lunch today, and Ashley is going with her for 5 nights. 

Letitia

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Hi!  I'm still at the beach......leaving tomorrow (sniffle, sniffle), but I had to post today to ask you all to check out this post!  Nikowa had left me a comment saying that they normally only feature homeschool moms, but after reading Ashley's blog for a while, she just HAD to feature her.  An honor for her and her mom!  Please take a minute to go by and see.

http://heartofthematteronline.com/2008/08/featured-homeschooler.html     

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I think our biggest Hi-Light this week would have to be the Invasion of the Cicadas!  I mentioned them a couple of posts ago~how we could hear them singing, but they've taken it to a new level this week.  We live in the woods, and they have taken up residence in our trees.  They start getting revved up mid-morning, and we can hear a distant whining sound.  As the morning progresses, they start swarming everywhere and get louder.  By early afternoon, it is literally ear-piercing to be outside.  My mom asked if we could hear them in the house~~oh, definitely.  In fact, James could hear them over the lawn mower he was pushing!  They swarm and stay loud until about dusk or a little after. 

(This is not the hand of one of my family members!  Yuck!)

Once we transferred this video, you can't really see them flying, but you can hear them "sing.

These are the 17 year cicadas, and they stretch from Maine down through Appalachia.  They "sing", mate, lay eggs under ground, and die.  The babies will stay underground until the next cycle, then crawl out.  They will probably be here about 2 months total.  We have holes all over our yard where they have come out (shiver).  These are not to be confused with the 13 year cicadas, which are from the appalachia area west.  Aren't we lucky?   We get both of them.

Marissa and Daniella have chased them, caught them in butterfly nets, and delight in feeding them to the dogs.  James read that they are harmless to the dogs, and we'll hope so, because the dogs love them.  Ashley's dog chases them, and she'll only eat the live ones.  Eww.  It's disgusting to listen to her crunch them.  The Yorkie isn't  picky.  He'll eat them dead or alive. 

The girls also saw one squirming out of his shell and unfolding and drying his wings.  They are swarming so much the last few days that the girls are not going out much right now.  As much as they delighted in catching them, they do not delight in having them land on them.

But, ahh, what a learning experience.  :  )

Who is counting down the time until her trip!

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Ellen at ellenfunlearning asked if I'd like to join in her Homeschool Hi-Lights.  If you've never seen Ellen's blog, you have to check it out.  She has the most ideas, at least in one spot.  Fun ideas.  If you are a relaxed homeschooler, or if you need a fun activity to go along with a study, just a break from the regular routine, or something good to fill some summer hours, be sure to go by Ellen's for inspiration.

I'm not sure I'm together enough to keep up with this weekly, but I'm excited to share with you today!  We happened to have had a great week last week, filled with quite a few hi-lights.  Here are a few.

~We're working on the American Revolution study (History Through the Ages).  Marissa enjoys history anyway, but this week was just fun.  One of the projects we made this week was a board game driving home the impact of the taxes the British govt. was imposing on the colonies.  She loved it~we played it 4 times, and it had it's desired effect.  She commented several times about how hard the taxes were on the colonists and how she could understand how they felt.

~About 2 weeks ago, the little girls found a caterpillar dangling from their fort.  They watched and photographed him over the next few days as he formed his chrysilis.  They've babied that little thing.   Saturday they went out to check, and the Red Spotted Purple butterfly had just emerged and was drying his wings.  They were proud mamas! 

~The taxes game I talked about required 2's and 3's multiplication.  My math hating daughter(!), who was doing well with it, had a reluctant "ah-ha" moment. LOL.  She said, "You know.  You're right.  Having your mulitiplication memorized does make things a lot easier.  I have to admit it."  (Said while hanging her head, saying it reluctantly, but yet with a smirk on her face.)

~My history & art loving, math hating, 10 year old daughter : )  has also never enjoyed writing.  Umm.. that's mild.  I stopped trying to make her write anything creative a long time ago.  All of our writing is done in lapbooks, AWANA book, and her own list making.  You cannot imagine my excitement this week as she has sat at the computer typing out a creative writing story all on her on; no prodding from me.  AND, it's quite good.  She's only shared excerpts with me so far, but they are really good~mature phrases that you can tell she has picked up from her reading. 

And, not necessarily a homeschooling highlight, but a highlight none the less, espcecially for Briana~

It's a 2005 Saturn Ion with only 30,000 miles.  She has been sharing Ashley's car, but since she will be going to college this fall, we wanted her to have a dependable, low mileage car.  She will be coming home many weekends.  I prayed the Lord would help us find just that, but much lower priced than everything we'd found so far, and if "possible" that he'd also give her one she really liked.  Not only did he meet the parents' needs and give her one she liked, it's the exact color she has been wishing for the last year. 

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