Here is Blogger Friend School Assignment #3, Panning for Gold:  The assignment this week is to share my internet treasures, websites I visit for various things.  Here goes!

~A website that you visit everyday: homeschoolblogger.com, where else?
~First place you look for a book to buy: christianbook.com or amazon.com (you can usually find a great price from their used book sellers).
~Favorite Homeschool Support Area: Don't have one. 
~Homeschool site full of information that you use regularly: Don't have one. 
~Site that you buy your new curriculum from:  Sonlight.com
~Site that you buy your used curriculum from: eBay.com
~Site that offers frugal tips to save money: miserlymoms.com, cheapskatemonthly.com  
~A site that provides good wholesome recipes: theurbanhomemaker.com 
~An informational site that shows you "how" to:  I can't think of any.
~A homeschool family website that you purchase from to support them: titus2.com, doorposts.net, timberdoodle.com
~A charity website that you support: I can't think of any! 
~Favorite Graphic site to get graphics for your blog or other things:  I don't have one, but would LOVE to find one!!
~Site that offers an educational calendar listing important historical events and also to keep you informed on upcoming events. (ex: Fire Safey Week): enchantedlearning.com 
~Site that offers Homeschool Freebies: I can't think of any! 
~Site that offers any kind of Freebies: I can't think of any! 
~A blog to read that is always full of humor: homeschoolblogger.com/ladymother 
~A blog to read that is always full of useful information:  I can't think of any!
~A blog to visit because it is eye appealing and easy to read: homeschoolblogger.com/stitchNchick (I just found this new friend and her blog is so pretty, I could spend hours looking through it).  
~A site that you would allow your children to visit: starfall.com 
~List any other sites that you would like to share that have provided you with a wealth of golden information:  I can't think of any off the top of my head. 

"They had driven over the crest of a hill.  Below them was a pond, looking almost like a river so long and winding was it.  A bridge spanned it midway and from there to its lower end, where an amber-hued belt of sand hill shut it in from the dark blue gulf beyond, the water was a glory of many shifting hues - the most spirtual shadings of crocus and rose and ethereal green, with other elusive tintings for which no name has ever been found...................."

My guess is Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, one of my favorites!  I've read all her books!

I don't know what I have been doing for the past week or so, but it definitely has not been blogging!  It seems the little computer time I have was spent e-mailing or paying bills.

A couple weeks ago my husband's company sponsored a family fun day at a corn maze.  The corn maze was in the shape of a jet and there were lots of fun activities for families.  There were several moon walk, air jumper type play thingys, what looked like giant mouse exercise wheels to race on, a trout pond where my boys nabbed a couple fish, face painting, large sandboxes filled with corn to play in and a hayride to a field where they were shooting pumkins out of a cannon.

After participating in all that, we went through the corn maze.  I had never been in a corn maze before because the admission is so expensive, but this time it was free!  I will say the toddlers slowed us down a bit and it seemed cold in there amongst the stalks, but it was fun.  I hope to do this again some time with the 3 big kids where we can run around and hide from eachother.

Here are a few pictures:

K and J (age 2 1/2) inside the moonwalk (this was the first time K was willing to go in.  She had a great time):

G & I (age 7) on the hayride:

Finally, the kids and I inside the corn maze:

Last night was our first night at Awana and my first night as a T & T leader.  First we sang songs and then lined up on the colored line for the American Flag Pledge and the Awana Flag Pledge.  I wasn't really sure where to go and where to stand, but I eventually figured it out.  Next, the younger kids were dismissed and the T & T group had games.  There was a fun relay and a fun ship game where the kids ran back and forth (starboard and port, etc.) until one kid was left. 

Then we went to handbook time where kids practiced and said their verses.  I had four boys and three girls in my group.  Three of the boys were just starting out in T & T and two of them didn't go to church.  One boy told me, "I don't go to church because I'm at my Dad's on Sundays."  I felt so glad to have the opportunity to work with some kids who were not at church every Sunday.  As I mentioned in my previous Awana post, I had some people reach out to me as a child and it bore fruit at a later time.

I also worked with a girl who was trying to memorize John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, ..."  She was saying, "And the Earth..."  and then said, "And the World."  I was able to explain to her that John chapter one is about Jesus, the Word.  I hope this helped the verse to make more sense to her.

So, anyway, without going into too much detail, our first night of Awana was a success and I am looking forward to going again.

Last week I signed my three oldest kids up for Awana at a church here on the island.  The kids aren't doing sports or anything else right now and I wanted to give them something special to do one night per week.

Since we live in a rural community, this church proves to be about a half hour drive from our house.  I didn't want to drive back home and then have to go pick them up, so I thought I would see if I could volunteer in the Awana program.  So, here I am a T & T leader!

When I looked into the program, I discovered another reason for volunteering:  Awana is dedicated to bringing the gospel to kids.  It reminded me of the time in my childhood when people from the Church of Christ reached out to me.  My family didn't go to church.  These people picked me up on Sunday mornings (they would even come to my door if I wasn't waiting outside), they brought me to church and taught me from the Bible.  I didn't give my heart to Christ at that time, but these people influenced me.  When I gave my heart to Jesus many years later, all the old Bible stories came back to me.  I had learned them at that church.  I am sure that those people had prayed for me.

I am looking forward to our first meeting tomorrow evening and will give an update afterward.

Not a whole lot has been happening here, so I thought I'd let you'all know what I did to myself last week.  Last Wednesday, as I was making lunch, I went to move the laundry room door out of my way to get to the pantry.  The door bounced off my shoe and slammed into my temple, leaving me with a large goose egg on the side of my head, next to my right eye.

This was one of those moments when you know what your kids go through when they hurt themselves!  They fall (or whatever) and then there's that ominous moment of silence and then they scream and cry at the top of their lungs!  Well, I didn't cry, but I did colapse on the floor with laboured breathing.  I had to sit down and ice it for ten minutes (ten minutes was all I could spare while their lunch was cooking--I have too much to do to be hurt!!)

It wasn't too noticeable that first day, although my friend noticed it and jokingly asked my husband if he had hit me!  But, the next day I had a black eye and it is still black and I think maybe looks worse than it did last week.  So, here I am, my vanity is suffering and all because I am a klutz!

Well, things have simmered down here in regards to school.  We are working hard and the kids seem to have adjusted to the regular work load.  There's alot more effort going on and alot less complaining.  Thank God!!! 

We have been enjoying Sonlight's Core 3 American History program.  Up until today we had been working through a workbook, discussing vocabulary words, reading about American Indians and Christopher Columbus and then asking questions about the reading.  My oldest son is so competitive.  He loves to see if he knows all the answers.  I have to reign him in a bit to let his brother and sister answer.  Much to his chagrin, today we took a different tack and started reading Pedro's Journal, a fictional story about a boy who sailed with Christopher Columbus.  We also did some map work and a timeline figure for Columbus.  We will come back to the workbook eventually.

I am getting used to Sonlight's Language programs, but I have decided to use The Institute for Excellence in Writing for our writing program.  Our homeschool cooperative group (which is currently not meeting together) owns the videos for the program and I have my own copy of  the teacher's workbook.  Our co-op group watched a couple of the videos together a couple years ago, and, at the time, I couldn't quite get a bead on the structure of the program.  The more I think about it, however, the more interested I am in this program.  The thing that interests me the most is that children are given a source for their writing.  They don't have to just come up with something out of the blue to write about.

I tend to be a little rigid, but am finding that the longer I homeschool, the more I understand about homeschooling and curriculum that used to overwhelm me is not so intimidating anymore.

My husband came home from work the other day and suggested that we load up the kids, drive to the state park that is only a few miles from our house and hike down to the beach.

It is a half-mile hike one way (down and up hill) and I was a little concerned about our toddler twins ability to walk that far.  But, I discovered that they are little troopers and walked the entire way without asking to be picked up!

We had such a nice time as a family!  The kids had fun climbing on driftwood and digging in the clay cliff.  My husband wants to do this kind of thing on a regular basis.  He wondered why we live so close to the park and never take advantage of it.  Indeed!!

Here's some pictures:

First, my husband, Michael, with J:

Next, K (with the other kids in the background--some of the other pictures of the kids didn't turn out well):

And, finally, the sunset over Puget Sound!

Sweetie asked me for an update on my ongoing knitting projects and since I've been meaning to post about this all summer, here it is:  Last May I completed a pair of socks that I started a year or so ago.  (I posted about these when they were in progress.  Here's the link)  Here's a picture of the finished product:

They were knit with Regia self-striping yarn with #2 needles.  I was not that happy with how they turned out.  Especially in regard to the #2 needles (the weave is too loose in my estimation).  I tend to knit a little tightly.  So, I had a skein of Opal yarn I had been saving for my next sock project and I decided to adjust the number of stitches and knit them with #1 needles.  Thus I began.  Around June 15th I got sidetracked and joined an Opal yarn sock of the month club through Fiber Nooks & Crannys.  I started these on double point needles and it didn't take me very long to realize that I really like knitting socks on circular needles.  The only problem was that my circular needles were being occupied by my other sock project!  My solution was to really quickly knit the one sock, freeing up the needles for the next project.  Here is a picture of the lone sock completed in June (hopefully it won't be too long before it is joined by its mate!): 

By July 14th (our family reunion), I had managed to complete one sock of the June Sock of the Month Club.  I'm still not done with the pair (the second sock has taken alot longer--I haven't had as much time since August 1st to knit), but I think I will be able to finish these in the next few days.  Here's a picture:

The cuff on this sock takes extra long because it is cast on by creating a crochet chain and picking up the back stitches on the chain.  Then a few rows are knit, followed by a knit, yarn over pattern, then a few more rows and then the cuff is folded, the crochet stitch is pulled out and the cuff is knitted together. 

I have three more Sock of the Month projects waiting in the wings and, since I am so far behind, will be cancelling the club in the near future.  I also have a lace scarf project waiting that I found through Knit Picks (free pattern, anyone?).

I'm sorry for last night's venting about my frustrations with homeschooling.  The first few weeks are always difficult for me.  We just finished homeschooling for the day and it is 4:30 p.m.  We didn't even get to everything, but we had some fun today.  I'm trying to switch things around a little to see what works best at what time.  Today we did history in the morning which was a little frustrating because of distractions from the toddlers, but doing some language work in the afternoon is better because I can give individual attention.  Today we talked about writing.  I'm trying to get them interested.  We talked about asking questions (the 5 W's and a H) and my oldest son dictated a story to me about a battle between the Sioux and the Blackfeet Indians.  It was written like he was a reporter for a newspaper and I even made it into two columns like a real newspaper.  He was excited to add it to his notebook.

We started school this week and I have to say it is not going very smoothly.  I set up a schedule and we've tried to follow it, but by the afternoon I feel so burnt out.  Yesterday was our first day and I think it was after 4:00 p.m. when we finished.  Today we finished just after 3:00 p.m. which is close to when I figured we would finish.

On the one hand, I have the toddler twins who will play by themselves somewhat (sometimes they don't play and are demanding, though) and I have planned half hours when they play with a sibling or two while other(s) read to me.  This seems to work for at least part of the time until they descend en mass and reading time is interrupted.  Then I have my older twins who are still learning to decode.  I was planning on having them do Sonlight's core 2 language, but had to step back about ten weeks into the core 1 language program.  Does anyone else feel frustrated with teaching their kids to read?   I wish I could just hand them a book and tell them to go read it and report back to me. My third grader is still not ready for that.

When they're all sitting at the table doing seatwork, they all seem to need my help or they're goofing off or having an attitude problem.  I feel pulled in twenty directions and not sure what they are all supposed to accomplish each day because I'm not used to the language instructors guide.  I keep having to look at it and think.  Anyway, today I ended up crying!

Sorry, I'm ranting!  The good news is that we're having a really good time doing history and science in the afternoon and I've enjoyed teaching math to my second grade twins.  I wish we could just do these things and forget about language and reading (and did I mention spelling and writing?)! 

How can a large homeschool family teach all these subjects?  I think they are the bare necessities, aren't they?