So much has happened over the last several years to make me stop and appreciate the little things.  I think it can be easy to become overwhelmed with the big events, projects and deadlines that occupy so much of our energy.  These can become the focus of our scrapbooks (and sometimes our memories).  It isn't the bulk of our days though.  Most of our time is spent in the ordinary, every day things.  Things that are just as sweet and maybe even more important than those big things.  I want to remember to stop, enjoy and spend time in these moments as it is what my life is made of.

We've been enjoying being outdoors this fall.  I love the fall - the colors, the crisp sounds, the cool breezes (well, eventually we get those!).  We have been studying clouds for a week.  Wouldn't you know that 4 of the 5 days we had beautiful, clear - cloudless - skies!  LOL  The other day was our field trip day which has some great clouds which we enjoyed seeing but weren't able to draw in our nature journals since we weren't at home. 

Even without the clouds we found things to enjoy in nature.  I loved the color of the blue sky against the color of the changing leaves.  Isn't this beautiful?

I also enjoyed seeing my children thrive in the fresh air.  I think it does them good to be outside and I do want them to appreciate the many amazing things that  God has made for us to learn about and enjoy. 

I also enjoy seeing them have fun together.  It does warm a mama's heart to see a site like this one.

Rebecca took advantage of the beautiful weather to take her siblings to our neighborhood park one day.  They had fun playing and I loved that she took pictures while they were there!  Isn't this a sweet one?

She also let Eliana help cook again.  Have I mentioned what a great big sister she is?  I wonder if they truly appreciate how blessed they are to have her?  I probably need to help this along. 

Nothing big.  Nothing dramatic.  Just a few of life's sweet little moments.  I'm loving them!

Blessings
Leslie

Yep. This is what we- here in Ghana- call a roadside food joint... Ü  

REALLY gives the guest bathroom that special little touch dontcha’ think?!

I love field trip days.  I look forward to the time learning more about nature or history whatever out topic of the day may be in a fun and hands-on way.  I look forward to seeing our friends.  I just look forward to all the day has to offer.

As our field trip day approached last week, it was raining and the forecast was grim.  It was calling for rain and our field trip was an outdoor nature one.  I wondered what the day would hold.  We were assured that it would be a go - rain or shine - as shelters were available (unless it was storming). 

As we drove over to Falls Lake, a few drops were hitting the windshield.  A number of people had to cancel for various reasons.  When we arrived, we were a small group.  It was overcast and dreary  ... and yet beautiful.

The haze obstrucing the view.  The brilliant colors of the leaves, muted through the fog.  Can you see God in views like this?  So many times, I want my path to be clear.  I want to see where I am going.  I want to know what lies ahead.  I want God to tell me what His plans are.  I want.  I want. 

What I don't want is to wait, to wonder, to worry.    I don't want to let go of my hopes and dreams.  I don't want life to be so unfair for so many.  Again, it is all about what I want.  Sigh.  It is hard when you can see so clearly that your focus is on yourself instead of on God. 

I want answers to so many things right now.  Things I've been praying about for a long time.  It is hard to wait and yet I really do want what God wants for my life.  I know He loves me.  I know He is working in my life.  I know He is there - even when I can't see clearly. 

There is beauty in so many places if only we will stop and look.  There is often beauty in places that may at first not look beautiful at all.  My eyes see things so differently now than they did a few years ago.  I'm thankful that God has given me that gift.  I continue to pray that God would give me His eyes to see things.  It is an area in which I fall short often.  I think that the many struggles that our family has been through have helped to open my eyes to so much.  I'm not the same and for that I'm thankful - and yet there is still so much work left to be done in me.  I think the more I learn about Him, the more I can see that I lack.  I'm thankful that I don't have to earn His love, but that it has been freely given to me. 

Now, on to the field trip.  We split into 2 groups.  The younger children were learning about Dangerous Plants and Animals.  The Ranger talked with us about spiders, snakes, fire ants, bees, ticks, poison ivy and unfamiliar dogs.  He gave the children a lot of good information on what to do when you encounter these animals/plants.

We looked at pictures in order to recognize various species such as the Black Widow spider.

And even saw some that had once been alive.

The most dangerous snake in our area is the Copperhead.  It was good to see what it looked like so that we could hopefully recognize one we might see.   (Though I hope we never see one!)

Due to its coloring, this snake can easily hide among the leaves.

The Ranger also shared the most poisonous snakes have larger triangular shaped heads and eyes shaped like slits.  One of the snakes that breaks these rules though is also found in NC, though typically not near us.  It is the Coral Snake.

 In order to help remember this snake, the children learned a rhyme.

Red and yellow kills a fellow
Red and black, OK  Jack

They looked at some snake skins.

We walked around a bit and looked at the poison ivy vines growing on some nearby trees.  Then we just played.  It is a beautiful area and I'm thankful we had the opportunity to be outside today. 

While we were with the younger children, the older kids had a class on Compasses.  They learned about how to read and use a compass and then were tested on this by having to put their skills to a test.  There were directions given and then they followed them to see where they ended up on a numbered line.  The teams were given points based on how close they were to the right numbers.  I heard great reports on this class, but unfortunately have no pictures to share.  Please check out my friend Lynn's blog (click on her name) for more details and some pictures of this group. 

A couple of hours later, some of the fog had lifted and the view was a little clearer.  I love the reflection of the trees!

At lunch, we had a scare as Joshua's blood glucose numbers were very, very high.  I haven't seen numbers like this since the week he was diagnosed.  It was frightening.  I had him wash his hands again and then we did a recheck.  The number was accurate.  We treated it and thankfully he was down 200 points by mid-afternoon and another 100 points by dinner time.  Yes, it was that high! 

He ALWAYS spikes on our field trip days.  Always.  I'm not sure if it is just the excitement of being with friends on a fun outing, but I've come to expect higher numbers on those days.  Just nothing like this.  It usually evens out by later in the day too.  I'm not sure if there is more I could or should be doing about it either.  I have talked with his doctor about this.  I'm going to try to make sure he is well hydrated on these mornings and just continue to do our best.  (There is no other factor that is different in terms of food, carb counting or amount of insulin.)  It's a mystery as this disease often is.  It can be a hard thing. 

So often I'm asked if his diabetes is "under control".  I'm not sure if it ever will be under our control.  We are doing our best to manage it day by day and I think that is all we can do.  Just yesterday a friend told me that it was still a struggle for her dh who also have Type 1 and that he still has highs and lows.  I think part of the challenge is that so many different factors can affect your numbers.  We are learning though and hopefully we'll continue to improve and get better.  There is a high incentive to do well and with God's help we will continue to work at it each day.

I feel like I've been rambling and want to end with some things I'm thankful for.  I'm thankful for our health.  I don't think I'll ever take this for granted again.  I'm thankful for a wonderful medical team.  I'm thankful for friends.  I'm thankful for a great FIAR homeschool group.  I'm thankful for the many things in nature that God has made - each pointing back to a wonderful Designer.  I'm thankful for my family.  I'm richly blessed.

With love,

Leslie

What I would love to be able to write is what a sweet fun time we had today making this craft.  I don't do crafts all that often and the boys typically really like doing them.  I was looking forward to them having fun with this activity.  I would like to say that we enjoyed laughter while we talked about turkeys and the day of giving thanks.   I would like to say that everyone was happy and cooperative while we were working. 

Instead though, I'll tell you what really happened.  We waited until the end of the day to do this craft.  (That was probably mistake number one, but we had a couple of therapies and a science lab interupting our day).  The boys were to have gathered pine cones earlier in the day.  One hadn't and went out to find one in the dark.  It was a small one and he was not pleased with it.  Another boy had gathered two earlier in the day.  Well, the first boy decided he wanted the extra one (though wasn't all that nice in asking).  The other boy didn't want to give his up.  Hearing them argue over a pine cone didn't do a lot to put me in the best of moods either.  And no, I didn't take advantage of this teachable moment to talk about sharing or listening or anything else.  My first thought was that I needed to remember this when it came time to do Christmas crafts!  lol

The boys were a little ... less patient that I would have liked for them to be.  I probably was too!  The pine cones were prickly and didn't feel good on the hands.  The pipe cleaners hard to manuever and the level of difficulty was just too much for my boys at this time.  I ended up helping them a lot.  (And did I mention that they weren't really being patient?) 

In the end, we got them made.  And they are cute. 

I think the lessons that I need to learn are several.

*Don't wait until the end of the day for crafting when people are tired and the grumpiness comes on faster.

*Check the level of difficulty before starting a craft.

*Patience, patience, patience.  I need to model it and teach it through my actions.

I know we'll remember these turkeys - and hopefully not the bickering that went with it.  I hope I'll learn.  I wasn't at my best tonight, but thankfully, there will be another chance.  Thankfully the boys are pretty forgiving and love me in spite of my flaws (and the feeling is very mutual).  I'm thankful for the times that I fail for it reminds me that I struggle just like my children do.  It reminds me of how much I need a Savior to shape and mold me into the image of the one I want to reflect.  So while it may not have been a teachable moment that was used wisely, I did learn from it. 

Just thought some might like to see a less than stellar experience.  We all have them.  Sometimes I think people can feel discouraged when they hear about "all" that someone else is doing.  Most of us tend to share the positives (I'm no exception).  Just know that we all have those days - and so do our children.  I still have much to be thankful for and yes, I will still do crafts with them at Christmas. 

Blessings
Leslie

P.S.   If you are looking for something fun to add to your November, check out the blog of my FIAR friend Kendra   She has posted a great list of activities to do celebrating Thanksgiving. 

I love that they have bricks hanging off trees, bushes and shrubs here- to shape them. What a simple fix!  

They do it, to trees often, to create larger bits of shade and the bouganvilla grows like crazy here – so you see this over fences all the time.

Now.. if only my kids would wear them…. Ü

“ “Ya, I can just see it now, you’re going to home school them through college!”

It seems like just the other day, that I as getting ribbed by friends for not wanting to send Devon to school. Thirteen years later, without a day spent in a classroom, and Devon is nearly finished with his first term of college, and YES! He is taking his classes online, so in a way we are homeschooling him through college!

With a college freshman, a junior taking 12 credits (also at Liberty) and a 7^th grader-

It seems like a good time to reflect on the things we have loved and that have really *made* our homeschooling.  These are the things that are tops on my list, that get us all excited and going a mile a minute… in random order as they pop in my head.

Five in a Row.

~ This curriculum was really the backbone for our homeschool journey. Using wonderful children’s literature, FIAR seamlessly crosses subject lines and leads learning on-course. All of us have fond memories of our time in the pages of the books that Jane Clare brilliantly and lovingly selected. 

With the self doubt that can attack HS parents throughout the years- I have heard, read and even thought-

“This is too easy!”

“Is it going to be enough?”   

It is! It really, really does work!

So very often Paul would come home and ask the kids, “What’d you learn today?” and they would answer” We didn’t do any school work today”  Huh, we didn’t do any school work?! Can you tell Dad what country Madeline is from? Where is it on the map? Hey show him what the French flag looks like. Doesn’t that French bread smell yummy- did you tell dad you made it? What does ‘solemn’ mean again?  Can you tell dad where your appendix is? … That is how easy the kids learn with FIAR, they don’t even know they are doing it.

I think that learning with Five in a Row is like… taking a sponge and placing it in the ocean, the sponge has no choice …it is inescapably, effortlessly saturated with the salt water. The learning that happens when a FIAR manual has been placed in parents' hands, along with those great titles- those poor kids don’t stand a chance.- they are thoroughly, completely and effortlessly soaked in learning.

Reading Made Easy (RME):

The first big hurdle for a new homeschooler is really teaching your child to read, isn’t it? If we can figure out how in the world to teach them that- they just might be okay and we just might make it. (grin) RME really takes the pain out of this process and ever so gently leads the parent and child down the path together.

Spelling Power:

I love the way that spelling power works. Spending time focusing on the words that a student needs help with and then moving right along. Love it!

English from the roots up:

We love these simple flash cards for building vocabulary.

Omnibus:

We really enjoyed the book selections and the discussion type learning that took place using Omnibus. As high schoolers it was nice to find a “unit style” that we were able to continue along with! It made for some great thought provoking conversations.

History Alive:

We fist started using History Alive in its old format. We really enjoyed learning with Diana Waring. Her enthusiasm for history is contagious and we loved the reading selections. On car trips we will still listen to her CDs today!

For English:

A Reason for Handwriting

The Writer's Jungle

Write Source

Science:

We loved-

Amazing Animals that Defy Evolution.

Jonathan Park

Other favorites throughout the years:

Princess and the Kiss

AWANA

Keepers at Home

Story of the World (read by Jim Weiss)

Books on CD have been a huge blessing to our road trip time.

Prairie Primer

Still looking forward to going through Where the Brook and River Meet, with Addison. =0)

Wanna know how the guys did on their first few classes? I’ll tell ya!

Dylan
Coms 101- 82.55%
Eng 100 – 91.4%

Devon
Coms 101 87.78%
Eng 100 94.2%
Humanities 96%

I’d be thrilled with those first grades regardless… but oh! Is it ever a boost to my homeschool mama’s heart to know that I didn’t stuff ‘em up!

We had another fabulous co-op day.  I feel so very blessed to be a part of this group.  The talent, creativity and energy is amazing - and a delight to be a part of.  And fun!  This is a fun group of children and moms! 

We started out talking about fats.  Hmmm ... interesting start to the day, isn't it?  But, it did weave in through the other topics.  The children went to a table to see lots of jars filled with interesting colors and substances.  Each had water and a fat in the jar. 

The jars were passed around and the children shook them up to see if they could get the fats to dissolve.  Some did while others were more resistant to change forms.  We heated a couple to see if this made a difference and it did for a short time.  It was interesting to learn and observe the difference.  The shaking was a hit too.

Next it was time for art.  This involved fats too!  The children did a crayon resist using light colored crayons on art paper.  The crayons were a fat.  They drew designs on their cards and then went over these with watercolors.  Each child was given 3 cards on which to paint and later send to a friend or grandparent.   Look at this beautiful example.  Can you see the lightning?

It was fun to see the various designs that the children came up with and how the watercolors just did not stick to or mix with the crayons.

I didn't get a good close-up of the art, but you can see the technique in the red card on the table.  The word "Hello" is written in crayon then painted over with red paint.  The word just pops out from the paint.  It's neat and it a good use for those white crayons!

The next part of the lesson was about taste and the ways in which our body sends messages to the brain.  The children formed a chain by holding hands.  They were to squeeze the next persons hand and say "ouch" to see how long it too the message to get around the group. 

Then we learned about the 5 (yes, one more than I learned about in school) areas of taste.  The new one is savory

We also learned that the tongue can taste all of the areas throughout and not just in one spot.  That makes more sense to me.  This ball was a representation of the various areas of taste (see how the ends on the ball match the chart above?). 

We learned about what happens when we eat something hot!  The Scoville chart for measuring heat was discussed and various types of peppers listed.  (This may not sound interesting, but our energetic teacher made this very exciting and hands-on!) 

When we eat something hot and then drink water, the water acts to push the hot further into our taste buds making it seem hotter still.  If however we choose to eat or drink something with fat in it like milk or yogurt, then the fat will bind with the heat and pull it away from our tongue. 

Now, it was time to put that to the test.  The table was lined with 10 containers numbered from 1 to 10.  Each person started at 1 which was the mildest with no heat in it at all and then went as close to 10 as they wanted to go!

They each took turns.  Some needed some coaxing to keep going.   Others were eager to try more. 

A lot of the children made it to 10!  (It was yummy!)

While the older kids were learning, Rebecca was playing with Eliana and her friend.  She even brought some craft things for them to work on during this time.  What a thoughtful big sister!  She is awesome with younger children!

Daniel was given a neat picture from his friend Miss Lynn.  It is the leaves that they gathered at our last co-op.  She laminated them and made the page so that it could be hung on a window.  He was delighted and loves seeing it in our kitchen.  Wasn't that so very thoughtful?!  Thank you friend!

Another fun day with friends.  I love these days!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures. 

Blessings
Leslie