May. 18, 2007 - New Blog...
I have changed my blog...well started a new one...please check it out.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/FilledwithPraise/
To view our Kenya adoption blog go to... www.africa@godfocus.com
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Feb. 22, 2007 - What God says about adoption...
The Lord was definately at the center of both of our adoptions. We were not seeking adoption either time...the Lord literally brought these children into our lives. It is truly a blessing when you add these precious ones to your family. The thought that God has entrusted me with these little souls and lives is sometimes so overwhelming. Wether or not you have adopted, are seeking to adopt or have no plans to adopt, I know this article by John Piper will bless you. I love all of John Piper's work. Be sure and read all the way down, especially the letter at the end written to his wife...so sweet.
Blessings,
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Feb. 20, 2007 - Feeling old...
Yes, a new look for my blog. Of course it took my 13yod to get it done. I never thought I would see the day when I felt old and couldn't figure things out, but I have officially arrived. I didn't have a clue how to add things to my blog, change the background, etc. But my dd knows it all...she even tried to load my photo, but for some reason we couldn't get it on there. Anyway, thanks to Logan, my dd, for making my blog look good. Her blog looks great as well.
The sad thing is...this is not the first time I have felt old lately. Our worship team at church consist of 5 people all under the age of 30. Suddenly during practice on night, I realized that I was the oldest one theres...all these young folks, playing, singing, etc. and suddenly, I felt so old. I am only 37...almost 38, so I am not that old...I am just getting to the age that I am no longer the young one anymore.
Don't you still feel young in your heart? I do. I don't feel my age at all. My body does on some days, but for the most part, I still feel young. It just doesn't seem fair.
Oh well, off to put on my eye cream, then get some beauty sleep. Blessings,
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Feb. 14, 2007 - 150 Things to Do---Which ones have you done?
Copy and paste onto your blog. Bold items you have done. Can't say I'm proud of all of the things I put in bold...but did them none-the-less.
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends ~ still do
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery ~
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life
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Jan. 31, 2007 - Nos Creation Litteraire...
Our Creative Writing book is finally complete. It was published by Glory Press (Mom) yesterday and distributed (to 4 family members) today. The children worked very hard all through the month of December to complete their first publication and we finally found the time to put on the final touches and get it in the mail.
The thought of this project began last year when I read Cindy Rushton's book, Homemade Books! Yes, You Can be a Writer, Too. It can be found here... http://www.cindyrushton.com/onlineshopping.html . This book made me realize that anything the children want to learn can be compiled into a homemade book for all to see.
So last year( while reading the above book) on a local yahoo group someone was selling a binding machine with supplies and I just couldn't pass up this great deal. I began compiling tons of my own papers to bind into books...lesson plan book for me, bible study journals for the kids, etc. When the girls saw me binding my own books, they wanted to do the same. I explained that you need to have a lot of papers compiled to make a book. This got their creative juices flowing.
Logan began writing poems. I found this great website teaching about all the different styles of poetry... http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/types.html and she started writing her own examples of several of these types of poems. Shelby loves jokes and tongue twisters, so she set out to print ones she likes and write some of her own. She also included a drawing of a tree frog that she recently did in her drawing class. Jackson wrote a story about a boy from Kenya based on his own experiences if living there. They each added clip art images to their pages, made a table of contents and introduction page and mom bound it and shipped it out today. We originally thought of doing this as a Christmas present, but life just got too busy, but we did manage to get it out as a late gift. We sent a copy to grandparents and cousins who also homeschool.
This project really got all the children interested in writing and sharing their creations. They are learning so much about grammer, spelling, book writing, etc. and they really don't even realize they are learning. They are having so much fun and I no longer have reluctant writers...they are eager to write. They are enjoying reading more as well as this has piqued their interest in other areas to research, read and write about. I also plan on buying some blank hardbound books for the children to write stories in.
I hope this will encourage you with your little writers. Blessings,
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Jan. 5, 2007 - Getting Back into the Swing of things...
What a wonderful December we had with our family. We took a break from our normal schooling schedule and spent time, visiting with family, baking cookies, making gingerbread houses, shopping and doing all the traditional activities we do at Christmas time. How fun...but getting back into a normal routine is not always fun.
This week we have struggled with getting back to "normal" and I have heard many other homeschool families are doing the same thing. I have also heard many stories of how difficult this has been on mom and children. I wanted to share a few things I have learned this week and what has worked for us.
Day one back from break was full of complaints and pushing the limits. Mind you, we spent Monday night getting to bed on time and having the talk about what is expected starting on Tuesday...to no avail. Did they think we were joking about getting up early, getting chores done & getting back to school? To me, this was no laughing matter. I meant business. After spending the first couple of hours reminding them to do what they needed to do and making sure it was complete, we then had another hour long talk about expectations and responsibility. It was one of those times when we think "why are we doing this?", and "That's it, they are going to public school". Have you had those same thoughts before? You are not alone. Thankfully, these thoughts are usually fleeting and go away with the first sign of renewed peace.
It is now Friday and I am very happy to report things are much better today. Each day this week progressed a little more and the children and I are now back into the normal routine with happy hearts and attitudes. Of course taking away MP3 players, PSPs and cell phones for the week helped tremendously. But we all now see clearly how when everyone acts responsibly and does their part, everyone is much happier.
So here are the lessons learned this week:
1. Breaks are needed for all of us. Even though it's hard to get back into a routine afterwards, it's worth it. The rough waters that follow a break, usually only last a few days.
2. Take is slow the first week back after break. Stay consistant and be firm.
3. Taking away cell phones, game players and other electronics can be a very valuable tool when teaching responsibility.
4. When you feel like you have wasted a day talking about responsibility, you've actually spent valuable time teaching character and life lessons...that time is not wasted.
5. You are not alone in this journey or your struggles. When you hit these rough times, talk to other homeschool moms for encouragement...you are sure to get lots of great wisdom and wonderful words of encouragement.
6. It helps to keep a list of the reasons why you homeschool, so when tough times occur refer back to your list to remind yourself that it is indeed worth every minute.
7. God always builds character through these tough times...thank God we don't stay the same.
I hope this has encouraged you to stay the course and I pray you are settling back into a consistant routine in your schooling journey. Happy learning to you all and blessings,
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Dec. 29, 2006 - 2006 Review...
It's that time of year again...when the media recaps the events of 2006. Some sad, some unbelievable, some I can't believe anyone even cares about. I thought I would take a minute tonight and list a few thoughts about this past year and hope you will also take a minute and recap the blessings of your year.
Special blessings of 2006:
1. Realizing I now have 2 teenagers at home and they can be fun to live with.
2. Knowing God is in control of our life and has a special plan for our family.
3. Seeing little reasons here and there of why God lead us to Fort Worth, TX.
4. Having all 6 children together at the same time...twice in one year.
5. Finding out the oldest dd and her dh are expecting their first baby.
6. Receiving Christmas cards (especially ones with photos) from dear friends.
7. The precious visit I had with my grandmother who is dying.
8. Finding history books written by my great, great grandfather (Joseph T. Derry) online that don't cost a fortune.
9. Cleaning out storage sheds and getting rid of lots of stuff.
10. Having my 10 yodd & 13yodd totally responsible for doing the dishes now.
11. Having the baby (now 4yo) potty trained.
12. Rain during a drought.
13. New church family.
14. Having my husband at home with us all the time and not working outside the home.
15. Having my husband's sister and her family home in the states for 8 months and living only 5 minutes away from us.
16. Having the freedom to worship freely.
17. Having the freedom and ability to homeschool my children.
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Dec. 4, 2006 - Advent Calander
A recent thread on a yahoo group I am on was about Advent Calanders. Someone forwarded this site...
http://heatherjohnson.typepad.com/there_is_a_fine_line_betw/2006/11/advent_calendar.html
http://heatherjohnson.typepad.com/photos/christmas_advent_calendar/dsc_6404.html
This is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I had to do it. We immediately began saving toilet paper rolls and finally today we had enough and finished our advent calander.
Tiana helped with decorating the rolls and Shelby and Tiana helped put the candy in with tissue paper. I can't decide if I want to save this one to use again next year or throw it out and make a new one next year...we'll see. If you can't make it this year, you'll definately have to save this idea for later. I guess you could even do one for birthday countdowns or daddy coming home countdown. Well I reckon anytime you have a countdown, you could do this...so cute.
Blessings,
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Dec. 1, 2006 - Lapbooks
About a year ago I discovered lapbooks. I had heard of notebooking and we do a lot of that, but lapbooks were new to me. We began by trying a few on our own with information about a subject we were learning. I even made a couple for my 3yo, but they are more like file folder games. Well as we have done more and more, I see just how much the children retain of their studies. They not only use the research information to make the lapbook, but they then show the finished project to anyone who will look. They have something that show what they have learned, they have fun putting it together and it gives them a great boost of pride and confidence to have the finished product to show off. If you have never heard of lapbooks, check them out here... www.handsofachild.com .
Recently, I had the opportunity to review a lapbook project pack from In the Hands of a Child. They sell all kinds of ready to assemble units on many different subjects. The one I reviewed is on Martin Luther King, Jr. I must say it's a pretty amazing pack. I am super impressed with all the research that is included and how well the project is planned. Included in the 77 pages is written research with a bibliography and additional resources for further looking. Also a list of activities for the pack along with very clear, detailed instructions for each individual activity and mini-book or fold. The activities for this pack include vocabulary, timeline, biography work, fact book and lots of creative writing and thinking activities.
This pack was so simple for me to plan...all I had to do was give the children copies of the activities and a little instruction to get started, along with a file folder and basic supplies of stapler, tape, glue, etc. It was so easy!!! My children who did this pack are 10, 13, and 15 and this project pack is recommended for grades 3-8. All 3 children did a great job and were pretty much able to self teach and complete the whole project.
If you are looking for additional resources for your schooling that are easy for mom and fun for the kiddos...this is it. Martin Luther King, Jr. day is coming up in a couple of months...check out this project pack. Until then...I think we'll try another one...maybe on Antartica.
Blessings,
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Dec. 1, 2006 - Early American History
The last couple of months have been filled with the study of Early American history. My mother-in-law has been teaching my children and 3 cousins history this year and the fall is a great time to study Christopher Columbus and explorers, as well as Native American Indians. The children have been having so much fun and learning a ton.
In addition to what the children do with Grandma, I also have them continue their history learning at home with hands on projects. Logan and Shelby built a wooden explorer ship with a kit I bought at the mall. They did a great job and it was not easy. he project did not come with detailed instructions, but with numbered pieces. By using the map of pieces and a picture of the finished product they were able to figure it out. But what I loved about this project was the character they gained in the process. They wanted to give a couple of times because it was getting too difficult and pieces were not fitting properly...but they either took a break and came back or they kept going...thus learning perserverence. It also took a lot of patience and diligence. Not to mention team work and the satisfaction and pride of seeing the project complete.
They have also been making lapbooks and doing reports on explorers. I hope to post photos soon.
All of the lapbooks we have completed so far have been homegrown...meaning not from a purchased kit.
The first one was on Christopher Columbus and included the following information:
* Maps of Spain and Portugal
* A diagram of a Spanish Explorer Ship with parts labeled
* A layered book of different instruments used by explorers (cross staff, back staff, quadrant, compass, chart and globe)
* A timeline of Christopher Columbus' life
* A map of the world with Columbus' 4 journey routes drawn in
* A picture of Columbus' banner and a drawn picture of his crest
* A pyramid book of latitude and longitude with the locations of Cuba, Genoa, San Salvador and Trinidad
They did a great job with these and even my 15 yo son enjoyed this.
They each did a report on a different explorer, including copywork of a poem about that explorer that we found on the internet...I'll see if I can find that link again.
Then we checked out books on different Indian Tribes and they lapbooked that information. I did an example for them to have as a guide. I did a lapbook on the Huron Indians including this information:
* Origin of the tribe
* The tribe's version of the creation story
* Maps of the region the tribs comes from
* Responsibilities of men, women, children and the family structure
* Crops they grow, what they hunt and things they eat
* Type of housing
* Clothing
* Means of travel
These turned out great and it happened that we all did a tribe that came from a different part of the country.
The best part of the hands on learning was the play they put on with the help of director Grandma. The 5 children played 16 different roles in the story about Squanto...with costumes, props, scene changes and the works. It was awesome. The kids did a great job memorizing lines and helping write, produce and put on this play. It was just in time for Thanksgiving and again, they learned character qualities that are much more important than knowing what the pilgrims had for the first thanksgiving dinner.
Hope you all are having a great time in your homeschool and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving...now let's get ready to Christmas.
Blessings,
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Nov. 18, 2006 - Need a good laugh?
I got this link from a local homeschool group. Tim Hawkins is a Christian comedian and he is hilarious. I needed a good laugh this morning. Logan watched this with me and we were ROTFL...especially on the moms clip. She would laugh and point at me...as if...Anyway, if you need a good clean laugh, click on his links below. Be sure to watch all the different clip catagories.
http://www.timhawkins.net/video/parenting.html
http://www.timhawkins.net/audio.htm
Blessings,
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Oct. 2, 2006 - A Great Few days...
What a wonderful weekend we had with our family...Our family and Guy's sister's family and grandma. We started off by taking advantage of the Smithsonian sponsored free museum day. Of the many museums participating, we chose the Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth. What fun. It was so neat for the children to see what the world looked like and was like in the mid to late 1800's. There was a blacksmith, a candlemaker, a grist mill, an old one room schoolhouse and lots of little cabins that people lived in...plus a lot more. It was a great fit for our American History study.
We ate lunch at a fabulous little mom and pop Mexican restaurant. The food was great and I am sure we will be back there again.
Then we all hit the zoo. We broke down and all got season passes to the Fort Worth zoo. It's a wonderful zoo and I am sure we will get our monies worth. We spent quite a while with the monkeys. They were so funny.
We continued our newly created family Sunday lunch. This week we did a big curry meal...it's a Davidson family favorite and watched the Dallas Cowboys blow away the Tennesse Titans. Guy was a happy camper.
Today we started our week at the homeschoolers day at Mainstay Farm's pumpkin patch. We went last year and it's so much fun. Hay rides, pumpkins, mazes, huge tree house and playground. It was so funny to be roasting marshmellows in 90 degree weather, but it was good. We ate lunch at Cracker Barrel, then came home and still managed to get in an afternoon of schooling. We even had a great time talking at dinner tonight...it was clean out the fridge night.
We're off to a great start this week and hope that you are as well. Blessings,
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Sep. 19, 2006 - Your Crockpot is Your Friend...
Just a tip I wanted to share with you all. You may already do this, but if you don't, let me just say the crockpot if your friend. I dusted mine off and have really focused on cooking more with it. Our days are so full and I am so tired by dinner time. It's so wonderful to have dinner filling the house with that wonderful smell during the day and then have simple preparations to get dinner on the table. Plus after smelling it all day, the family is really hungry and ready to eat.
For the yahoo group addicts out there, here are 2 groups I have found that are wonderful...
We are having lemon-pepper chicken and broccoli casserole for dinner tonight...yum yum. There is so much you can do with the crockpot, that I never realized before. Dust yours off and get cooking.
Blessings,
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Sep. 16, 2006 - Our school year thus far...
When the Lord called us to homeschool Jackson this year with the girls, my first thoughts were of fear, worry and stress. The thought of trying to jump into teaching 9th grade with a boy who is still adjusting to life with a new family in the US, has numerous learning disabilities and reading on a 5th grade level, really did a number on my stress level. Then God gently reminded me of the advice I had given other moms...if the Lord calls you to do this, He will give you the resources, wisdom and grace to do the task at hand. How true this is, as He has done just that. As I reflect back on the last several weeks, things are going remarkable well and we are already seeing some improvements in Jackson. He even told Guy, "I really like homeschool...just don't tell mom". LOL
I wanted to share with you our schedule and activities...
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday Tiana goes to preschool for most of the day. She really loves it and this gives me time to really focus on helping the older 3.
Tiana's first day of school
On Tuesday, Shelby goes to a homeschool enrichment program in Fort Worth... http://www.scienceetc.com/index.html . This is a great program and she really enjoys it. She is taking Spanish, drawing, art, math (using Math U See) and science. Her cousin, Troy is in her drawing and science classes. At home she does spelling and writing.
Jackson and Logan also go to Science, Etc. but they go on Thursday. Jackson takes science using Apologia's Exploring Creation through General Science and Pre-Algebra using Bob Jones. At home I teach him spelling using AVKO Sequential Spelling and writing with Writing Strands.
Logan takes Creative Writing using Institute for Excellence in Writing, American History using Sonlight, Drawing, Literature and Science. She has the heaviest load, but she loves it. I teach her spelling (Sequential Spelling) and math (Math U See) at home.
The classes the children take at Science, Etc. are the bulk of the load. Patsy (grandma) is teaching my children and Gwen's children American History once a week using a timeline I made and pulling from resources from many books I have and some new ones we bought. We are using Beautiful Feet's American History as a base and also using the History Pockets books that go along with the time period we are working on. During the week, I also have the children read other American History books and we read aloud together a lot. I also assign vocabulary and copywork that goes along with our history.
We are basically using history as our main focus this year, doing a lot of our Language Arts based on our history readings.
We are also studying the 50 US States in notebooking style. Each child has their own notebook for this and they spent almost 2 hours the other day designing their covers. We are studying the states in order of when they became states. We did Delaware last week and will work on Pennsyvania next week. My favorite thing about doing the states is the copywork. We use the Preamble to each states constitution as copy work. It's amazing...all the preambles focus on God and worhsip as a basis for their constitution. It's really beautiful.
So, all in all this year is off to a great start...better than I could have planned myself. Praise the Lord for His resources, wisdom and grace to accomplish this huge task.
Blessings,
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Sep. 10, 2006 - Home Church...
Some of you know we have been searching for a church since we moved to Texas. You would think in the heart of the Bible belt this task would be easy. We are anxious to settle into a church family, get connected and begin serving. Visiting a different church every week can make you very weary. Yesterday, on the way home from a long day of field trips and fun, we decided we would stay home and have church. With excitement, Jackson said he would preach. We agreed to let him lead our home service. I must say, my expectations were fairly low for what we would experience in our living room on Sunday morning.
To my surprise, Jackson woke up on his on this morning, showered and came downstairs with Bible in hand. He was dressed in his best Sunday clothes, belt, shoes and all...something we have to work on getting him to do every Sunday. We all brought our Bibles and sat down for the sermon. He began by telling us we would be reading from Jeremiah 1. He started to read as we followed along in our Bibles. This is what he read...
The Lord gave me a message. He said,
5 "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world."
6 "O Sovereign Lord," I said, "I can't speak for you! I'm too young!"
7 "Don't say that," the Lord replied, "for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don't be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
9 Then the Lord touched my mouth and said, "See, I have put my words in your mouth! 10 Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. You are to uproot some and tear them down, to destroy and overthrow them. You are to build others up and plant them."
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Sep. 7, 2006 - Raising Sons for the Lord...
I just have to share with you what the Lord has revealed to me this week about our adopted son Jackson (15yo). One day while washing the dishes (the Lord has spoken to me so many times over the years while doing the dishes) I heard that "still small voice" of the Lord. He said to me, 'Jackson may not grow up to be a lawyer, a doctor, an executive, a business owner, etc. but he will be a good father'. It became very clear to me that my job is to teach my son to be a godly man that will be a good husband and father, leading his family spiritually in the way of righteousness. If I teach him nothing but this, I have done my job. We must teach our children, especially our sons to love the Lord, follow the Lord and learn to listen to the voice of the Lord and follow Him. What wonderful insight the Lord has given me into the life of my son...something to cling to, pray for and strive for. I pray all of our sons will grow up to be good fathers.
Blessings,
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Sep. 4, 2006 - So cool...
Recently on one of the many yahoo groups I am on, someone mentioned mushroom spore prints. Well, this is something I have never done and it sounded interesting. It's a very timely project...after many months with little to no rain here, we have had a couple of glorious days of slow, drenching rain...praise the Lord....perfect conditions for growing mushrooms. We began by collecting 1 mushroom from a neighbors yard.
The directions for doing these spore prints are simple. You turn it over onto paper and cover it with a glass bowl overnight.
This morning, we had a gogeous mushroom spore print on our paper.
Then I found some great information online...
http://www.fungaljungal.org/trunk/edtr5.htm
http://www.fungaljungal.org/trunk/edtr4.htm
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/spore_print.html
So, on this rainy Labor Day, while my parents are still in town, we decided to go on a mushroom hunt. With kiddos in tow, we set out to see how many different kinds of mushrooms we could find in our area. To my surprise, we found about 8 different varieties...all unique and beautiful. Very exciting. Right now they are drying in the garage. Later today, we will start the spore print process and I will post some pictures of what we do. This is so cool.
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Aug. 8, 2006 - Will dance for pancakes...
You gotta love homeschooling. This was our morning yesterday. I was on my laptop at the kitchen table. Shelby wanted breakfast, but she didn't want anything I suggested...she wanted pancakes. (Grandma had written a recipe for her and called it Shelby's pancakes.) I checked to make sure we had all the ingredients and away she went, all by herself making pancakes. She did a great job...she loves to bake and cook.
Jackson comes down for breakfast and wanted pancakes, too. Somehow I heard dance and pancakes in the same sentence. I asked him if he would dance for pancakes. He got up and began to dance...with no music...that was funny. I turned on a praise cd and we all danced around the kitchen...even Guy while we waited for more pancakes. In order to actually get any pancakes, he had to dance across the kitchen, pick up his plate and then dance back to the table.
What a fun start to the day...only a homeschool family could do that...gotta love being home with the kiddos.
Blessings,
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Aug. 7, 2006 - Wow what a trip...
We just returned from Washington DC with Guy's family...what fun!!! There were 18 of us in all...11 children...all homeschooled. I had planned to blog everyday while we were gone to detail our trip, but I just didn't have the time. So, I will run down the schedule of what we did and touch on the highlights.
Day 1: We all arrived in DC...3 families all coming from different directions. After checking in, we decided to go to Arlington National Cemetary for a quick afternoon tour. Of course this was the hottest day in history...LOL...but with water bottles in hand, we managed. We did start off walking, which is the best way to get the whole effect, but later took the tour mobile back down. We walked up to the Kennedy's burial site, then up to the Tomb of the Unknowns to watch the changing of the guard. Jackson has been talking about being in the military and when we reached the Tomb of the Unknowns, he saw the soldier. His first reaction was, "that's not a real man". Then after watching the soldier for about 10 minutes, Jackson decided he might not want to be in the military afterall. It was really special to watch this scene. We happen to be there late in the afternoon and saw them take down the flag and fold it. That was neat, too.
Day 2: Spent the morning at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Very cool to see all the "firsts" in air and space history. Saw samples of the tiles on the space shuttle. It was neat to see the before and after of the tiles and see just how important they are in protecting the shuttle upon re-entry.
After lunch, we headed over to the Capitol building where we took a staff led tour. That was fabulous. One of the highlights on this tour was the art gallery in the basement tunnel that goes from the Cannon building to the Capitol building. Displayed there is art from students of each state. Very nice work. After the art has been displayed for 1 year in the gallery, it is then archived in the Library of Congress...how cool is that.
Day 3: First stop was the White House visitors center. Great photos and information displayed. We then walked over to the White House for the tour. On they walk over, we saw the Marine One helicopter fly in to pick up the President. I got a great photo of that. Then we watched as he flew out. After he was gone, they opened the gate to let the tour begin. That tour is short and sweet, but nice to see.
After a hotdog and ice cream from the street vendor, we headed off to the Museum of Natural History. That was great...the insect zoo was really neat, especially for the children. And the hope diamond was spectacular...largest blue diamond in the world. We breezed through the Africa exhibit and saw many familiar thing, but the most unique was the coffin that looked like an airplane.
Day 4: Started the day by calling my grandmother to tell her where we were. She is a huge history buff and geneologist and loves DC. Each day we began our tour from the Arlington National Cemetary and took the metro or the tour mobile, so that is where we were when I called her. She told me about her uncle that is buried there...I didn't know that. More on that later.
This was the day of the memorial tours for us. I really was not excited about this, but everyone wanted to go, so off we went. I am so glad we did this. The Vietnam Wall was the most incredible thing. It was so neat for the children to be able to see the effects the wars have had on our country. They were able to look at items left by people at the wall. Someone even left a purple heart and that was neat to see. Logan wrote a prayer and left it under the purple heart...it was so sweet. The children had paper and were able to "lift" names off the wall. They randomly chose names, but looked for ones like Davidson or Jackson. When we got to the end of the wall by the statue, the children saw a man sitting in a wheelchair that had on a Vietnam cap and jacket with medals and badges. They just walked over to him and began talking to him. He was so sweet to answer their questions and within a few minutes, there was a crowd gathered around. He was a man that was there just like us taking the tour, but he sure drew a lot of attention. We got great photos of the children talking to him, shaking his hand and even giving him a salute at the end. It was very touching and at this point I was a blubbering idiot and went into the "ugly cry". I couldn't stop...it was just so sweet to see this with the children.
We then saw the other war memorials, the Lincoln Monument, Washington Monument, the reflection pool, etc. I wanted to run through the reflection pool yelling, "Forest, Forest"...I didn't.
We had lunch at the USAID building. They have a huge food court. Then on to the Museum of American History. I really wanted to see the First Lady's Inaugrual gowns, but only a few were there. A lot of things were out for restoration or cleaning. We did see the Star Spangled Banner exhibit and the flag that flew at the Pentagon after 9-11. Very cool. We also visited the National Archives and saw the documents: Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and Bill of Rights. That was really neat, too. Now we have to find our National Treasure movie and watch it again.
The end of the tour that day brought us back to Arlington National Cemetary where I was able to find my great, great uncle's burial site and take pictures. His wife died before him, so she was buried first. Then he remarried. He died and was buried on top of his first wife. Then when his 2nd wife died, she was buried on top of them...isn't that a hoot?
Day 5: I stayed at the hotel with 3 of the children to swim and pack. Guy and his mom took Logan to the Holocust Museum and to the African Art Exhibit. They said the Museum was an incredible experience and it had a big impact on Logan. I was surprised she wanted to go, but it was her decision.
All in all the trip was incredible. We really rushed through a lot of it, but we wanted to see as much as possible. I think you could live there and still not see it all. It was very touching, inspiring and was a great kick off to our school year.
Now back to reality...Blessings,
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Jul. 21, 2006 - Doors are closing...
Praise the Lord...we are definately getting some answers. Although, we are still waiting for some doors to open, we do now know that some doors have been closed. Two different opportunities we had been praying about are now officially ruled out. I will not go into details, but just say we know for certain those 2 things are not the direction to go. It is a huge relief to at least know that much.
On the other hand, I have been praying for my husband to clearly hear from the Lord about direction. I prayed that the Lord would give him visions and dreams. Yesterday, at lunch, he said he had been having vivid, specific dreams and he thinks he knows which direction to head. We are still praying about these opportunities, but at least have a peace about heading in a direction.
Our property has not sold...please continue to pray. I guess that is actually another clear answer from the Lord that we are supposed to homeschool Jackson with the girls this year. We have a trip to Washington DC coming up in a couple of weeks and that will officially begin our school year.
Praise the Lord for answers. Even though we are still waiting for other answers, we are rejoicing at the ones we have recently received and anticipating more to come. We covet your continued prayers. Blessings,
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