Monday, January 15, 2007
Monday's Musings: Beginning Again...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
Today we got back to our ‘official’ learning moments (a.k.a. “school”).
Will and I began reading “Benjamin Franklin” (by Beautiful Feet)
and “Seabird” by Hollings Clancey Hollings.
Everyone is sitting in for the reading of “Seabird”.
Ally also worked in her Chemistry, World View, and Writing.
This morning I opened the dining room window,
(because it was a beautiful day)
and we saw a lizard on the side of the house.
The lil’ girls, in particular, enjoyed watching it from the window.
This afternoon, after some of our learning time and household duties,
we took a walk to the store.
When we came out of the store,
we sat on a curb together to eat a snack.
There was a picnic table near us, however,
when we went to sit at it two lizards ‘popped up’
and Will saw a few more under the table…
so I opted to sit on the curb with the children instead.
Later in the afternoon,
The lil’ girls were upstairs playing …
Ally sat on the couch doing a little more Chemistry…
And Will sat at the dining room table working on a new puzzle…
(which captured Ally’s attention, too, later in the evening)
It’s a 600 piece Global Animal Puzzle that I purchased from Timberdoodle.
The children are excited to get it put together.
It was a nice, busy, but relaxing day easing back into ‘school’.
I am always very fond of those precious moments
When we are all gathered together, reading aloud.
And the other precious, quality time, moments
that we get to spend together…
Because we homeschool.
I praise the Lord, daily, for the wonderful privilege of homeschooling.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Another Visitor... I Caught Him on Video...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
Today we had another visitor!
God's creation was quite busy in our backyard today.
We saw at least five different types of birds,
including a blue jay that swooped by our window.
Ally was also able to catch two squirrels
chasing each other around the tree.
I was able to catch our new visitor at our feeder.
He didn't seem to mind that I was moving closer...
You'll need to click PLAY twice to watch the video
"The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come..."
~ Song of Solomon 2:12
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Thursday's Things and an Update on Our Previous Breakfast 'Guest'...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
This afternoon we looked through our field guide
to identify our recent breakfast guest.
Our guest is a Tufted Titmouse.
Here’s what we read about our lil’ guest…
Voice: Its commonest call, sung year-round
and carrying a considerable distance,
is a whistled series of four to eight notes
sounding like Peter-Peter repeated over and over.
Habitat: Swampy or moist woodland and shade tress
in villages and city parks; in winter, at feeders.
Nesting: 5 or 6 brown-dotted white eggs in a tree cavity
Or a bird box stuffed with leaves and moss.
Titmice are social birds and, especially in winter,
Join with small mixed flocks
of chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets, creepers,
and the smaller woodpeckers.
Although a frequent visitor at feeders,
It is not as tame or confiding as the chickadees.
It often clings to the bark of trees
And turns upside down to pick spiders and insects
from the underside of a twig or leaf.
When we read that it is a social bird
We quickly looked through our field guide
to try to identify the other bird that came with it the first time it visited.
We think it was a kind of nuthatch.
We enjoyed reading about these birds
And we enjoyed a visit outside to see if we could find its nest.
Also this afternoon, we began reading “Summer with the Moody’s”.
We’ve read it before but it’s been a while
and we wanted to ‘refresh our memories’
before we start with “Autumn with the Moody’s”,
then proceed into “Winter with the Moody’s”.
We had company over for a little bit after reading aloud
and when our company went home
we sat in the reading room, singing Christmas carols (& hymns).
What a precious time that was.
I hope that everyone has enjoyed their day!
I’m off to make supper… Lasagna. Mmmm…
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Our Breakfast Guest...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
This morning, while the children were eating breakfast,
they eagerly called for me to come to them.
When I arrived they were thrilled to show me
our new friend outside the window…
We’ve been watching the bird feeder for almost a month
so this was especially thrilling to see.
Before this one was another little bird
but I didn’t get the camera fast enough
and he didn’t come back.
We didn’t get a chance to identify him today
but we look forward to it tomorrow.
The children remained at the table, finishing their breakfast,
and watching the bird (and a squirrel) out the window.
I could hear them talking about what they saw.
It was precious to listen to.
Thursday, November 2, 2006
Fun, Fellowship, and Fall Cookies...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
Today we went to a friend's house
to let the children make some fall cookies.
The older girls rolled out the dough...
Cut them, baked them, and took them out to cool...
After they were cooled,
the younger ones had a fun time icing them...
They used their fingers to spread on the icing.
It reminded me of finger painting and looked like lots of fun.
They (and I) were proud of their 'masterpieces'...
And, of course, you can't make and decorate cookies
without eating them, too...
The children also spent time outside playing
and inside fellowshipping (as did the mamas).
It was a wonderful day.
I was reminded to thank the Lord today for special friends.
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Our Visit to a Historical Burnt Church...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
After we visited the beach yesterday,
we stopped by a local historical marker...
a church that burnt down in the 1800's.
The lil ones sat in the van and ate a snack
as Ally and I stepped out to look around...
Here was the historical marker sign...
(edited for internet safety reasons)
Here is a view of the church...
It was interesting looking inside...
Ally standing in one of the doorways...
Side view of the church...
Right next to the church was a little graveyard with old headstones...
We also saw a couple of crypt-looking stones in the lawn...
They had writing on them, which we tried to read...
We tried to do a pencil rub...
But all we could make out of it was "Weep not" and a few other words.
Ally found a headstone in the ground...
Which she attempted to rub...
She was able to read the name and the how old he was,
but there were no dates. It simply said his name and how old he was.
This interesting tree was near the headstones...
Another interesting thing was this...
Ally took some pictures of the inside but they were difficult to view.
Inside, on the ground, was a trench
where it looks like a coffin would have laid.
It was very interesting visiting this site.
We like to imagine what it was like
(in the 1700 and 1800's) before it burnt,
what the people were wearing, what they talked about,
what it looked like in the surrounding areas, what happened exactly,
who were the people buried there and what were their lives like, etc..
We had a brief, but thought-provoking and enjoyable time visiting.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Tuesday's Tidbits...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
Today I spent some time filling in some blanks in my
homeschool journal/learning log.
I confess that I am not the best at 'keeping records'.
I so much enjoy the beauty of being relaxed in our education
that I tend to forget to regularly document what we've done.
But I have caught us up to the present
and hope to be more diligent at documenting in the future. 
We also spent a bit more time today in learning.
Will and I read a couple more chapters of "Stories of the Pilgrims"...
We also read a chapter in our Burgess Bird Book for Children
and he worked in his math a bit.
The lil' girls sat at the table listening and coloring as I read...
And Ally spent time working on Chemistry....
She also worked in her Starting Points, Greek, and Writing.
We also started reading Shakespeare's "King John" today.
We read aloud through Act 1.
We also took some time to eat
some of the cake that Ally made yesterday...
Afterwards, we all sat on the couch
to read a chapter of "Teddy's Button".
Later in the afternoon, Will and I worked on a woodworking project...
He is making a wooden jeep. We hope to finish it tomorrow.
As we worked on the wooden jeep,
Beth colored some more
and Carolynne helped herself to some grapes...
Meanwhile, Ally filled our home with music...
It was a pretty productive day.
I experienced a little mental exhaustion and dry mouth
from all the reading aloud,
but it's nothing a couple glasses of water and some rest won't fix.
It was a very enjoyable day.
And I cherish the moments that I can look back on today
that I was able to spend in quality time with my children.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Monday's Musings...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
Today we worked on picking up the house
and I worked on putting some of the laundry away
that was folded in piles in the laundry room from the weekend.
Ally began her writing today.
We are using Institute for Excellence in Writing
as one of our resources.
It was a little difficult to find a book for her to use with her writing
because I have packed most of my books away.
But we did manage to come across one about ocean life...
Speaking of ocean life, this weekend I was able to spend some time
resizing the photos in our Beach Bungalow,
and those from February and March,
that aren't showing up in our Beach Bungalow category
because I have too many entries!
They were still pretty large from when I had only one sidebar.
As I was looking at the old photos from our Beach Bungalow,
it was starting to re-kindle the interest in going back to the beach,
especially now that public school, etc... has started back up.
So I hope to plan a day to get out there.
I'm hoping for sometime next week.
Will and I read four more chapters in our "Stories of the Pilgrims".
He kept wanting me to read the next chapter, which is a good thing...
only it can create quite a dry mouth reading aloud so much.
After our reading, he worked on a coloring page
that went with what we were reading about...
While Will and Ally worked on their academics,
the lil' girls were increasing their imagination and etiquette skills
as they had a tea party with their ceramic dolls
that they received from their great-gramma...
Later this evening, after supper,
they all spent some time outside together, playing basketball...
My dear husband isn't feeling well at all these past couple of days
so it was helpful that they were all so eager to play outside for a bit
while Daddy rested on the couch.
Now, it's time for a quite evening...
Hope everyone enjoys theirs...
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Nature Study for Thursday...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
As I mentioned in my previous post,
the weather has cooled just a little
and the humidity is a lot less,
so we ventured out doors
for a little nature study in our side yard.
We put our journals, a tablecloth to sit on,
and couple of books in a bag
and were ready to walk out...
The Lord blessed us with many beautiful breezes.
I love the smell of the air in the fall.
We found a place to sit and put our tablecloth down...
The younger ones walked around a little,
exploring and listening to the sounds.
We heard a few different birds and also cricket like noises.
Will carried his nature notebook, in case he found something to draw...
The lil' girls were interested in feeling some mushrooms
that they had found...
Ally and I sat on the tablecloth writing in our nature journals...
Here are a few photos we captured...
These are cattails. I love cattails, but we couldn't reach them.
Here is a view of the sky...
It was absolutely beautiful...
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork." ~ Psalm 19:1
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Thursday's Things...
Posted in HomeSchool Happenings
After a few days of running errands,
it was nice to stay home today.
We caught up a little on our domestic duties
and also managed some learning time.
And, in between, I've been able to chisel away
at Mount Washmore.
Will did some science type reading...
He was eager to share that sometimes the female scorpion
kills the male scorpion after they mate.
(We didn't discuss the mating part,
he was too fascinated that the female would do that!)
Later, he and I read some more for History, too.
Ally was in her room working on more Chemistry...
She was excited that she will be hanging another scientific law
on her wall today and she will be typing up and printing
the list of periodic elements.
She also managed to do some work in her Starting Points.
Beth was found playing with the Birds card game that we have...
She and Will have been playing with it all week.
She enjoyed looking at all the different birds.
Carolynne sat at the table with Beth, drinking her juice,
and looking at a book about the planets...
She also enjoyed looking at the bird cards with Beth.
It has begun to finally feel a little like autumn here.
The humidity has dropped some and we have been blessed
with some beautiful breezes.
Today was another day like that,
so I decided the children and I would go out
for a little nature study time.
I hope to post about that it just a little bit.
Also today, Ally gutted another turkey for me
and it's been cooking all afternoon.
She will, voluntarily, pick off all the meat this evening
so we can freeze it for future meals.
She enjoyed playing with the big bird!
This evening we are having our first homeschool meeting
of this school year at church.
Hope everyone else is enjoying their day!
"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks,
and to look well to thy herds."
~ Proverbs 27:23
Tending to our sheep...
