"Each time he said, �My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.� So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me." 2 Corinthians 12:9 ------------------------------------------------------- I am a mother of four beautiful blessings from the Lord and will gladly take all that He will give me! I have strong support from my husband and his love and encouragement give me joy in our journey. This is our family's 5th year of home education. We're walking in the grace to raise our children in a loving Christ-centered atmosphere so they can develop and mature into men and women used for God�s Glory. We base all our learning foremost on the Word of God and intertwine rich literary classics for a living book structure. Charlotte Mason, Ruth Beechick, Unit Study - Notebooking -Lapbooking, we do it all! Natural learning experiences are plenteous living in a rural area...watch out frogs and crayfish! We�re members of several state and local Homeschool groups and enjoy meetings, field trips and additional learning opportunities with them. We also love "milking" our annual passes to the Children�s and Science museums, Zoo�s, Busch Gardens/SeaWorld, Historic Battlefields and whatever else we can get into! We�re licensed therapeutic foster/adoptive parents and are seeking God's will and his best in that and every area. I'm also a life long "professional" college student, always picking away at college classes in various disciplines (currently finishing up degree in Education). I'm also a Licensed Nurse (when the mood hits me :o) I enjoy Joyce Meyer, Ruth Beechick, Clay and Sally Clarkson, Raymond Moore, and This Old School House Magazine. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:10:00 -0600 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:10:00 -0600 TIME FOR THIS WEEK'S WRAP UP…WHILE NURSING A BABY AND TYPING WITH ONE HAND, IN ALL CAPS NO LESS!!!!!  THAT'S WHY THIS IS OUR PICTURE WRAP UP! NAOMI'S CUTENESS THIS WEEK: SEARCHING OUT PINK   POINTING HER TOE WORKING WITH DADDY   ******************************************************************************************************** HOMESCHOOL GROUP   OUR GROUP'S THEME FOR THIS YEAR IS THE CONTINENTS. THIS MONTH WE STUDIED ASIA. ANOTHER MOM AND I TAUGHT THE PRESCHOOL CLASS AND WE READ THEM BOOKS VIETNAM, CHINA, AND INDIA. WE ALSO LEARNED ABOUT PANDA BEARS AND COLORED WORKSHEETS ON PANDAS. THE KIDS DID HANDS ON WITH A RUSSIAN NESTLING DOLL AND ALSO SAW A MOM DRESSED UP IN A KOREAN DRESS.   ZION AND JADIN BOTH HAD THEIR GRADE CLASSES WHERE THEY STUDIED ASIAN COUNTRIES AS WELL.  AFTER CLASSES WE HAD OUR ASIAN INSPIRED COMMUNITY POT LUCK, EVERYTHING FROM KIMCHI TO OREOS AND LOTS OF EGGROLLS INBETWEEN. THEN WE BROKE FOR CLUBS.  NAOMI WAS IN PRESCHOOL CLUB, ZION IN LEGO CLUB AND JADIN IN ART CLUB.  AS ALWAYS A FUN-FILLED, LOOOONG, DAY! NAOMI IN PRESCHOOL CLASS.                 ZION IN LEGO CLUB ('O THE JOY).                  GABY BLUE EYES                                                 ***JADIN IN ART CLUB*** THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO OUR PICTURE WRAP UP...TO READ THE WRAP UPS FROM MOM'S WHO'VE HAD TIME TO TYPE THIS WEEK CLICK http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/746506/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:10:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/746506/ @*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@ Last weekend we went to my mom’s beautiful new house in the next state. We helped her haul trailers of various items. It turned out to be a great bonding experience with the kids. What do you do in the car for 5 hours with kids? TALK TO THEM! I admit I have music and Christian teaching CD’s a-plenty in the van, but I really tried to just let them talk. Zion and the babies rode with me. The little guys slept, but Zion, he talked…the whole way. We discussed Star Wars (every episode), and he retold me everything in the last two books he’s completed (several times) and he read me several chapters in his latest book “Bug Muldoon.” He just had a happy-go-lucky time of mom trapped in the car for hours and having me all to himself. Oh, and the best part (please Lord help me never forget these moments, so sweet) he told me “Mommy, I like it when you say I Love You Zion. But, I’d rather you’d say I Love You, Honey.” Too Cute! So, I’ve been trying very hard to say “I Love You Honey” as a little something special per his direct request. Jadin has been continuing to pull towards special times with his dad. This is God’s plan, a boy marching toward manhood, looking up to his dad. Jadin was so proud to show me the trailer hitch he and Travis put together and wired (etc, etc…whatever all that is, wink). He also rode with his dad and enjoyed the testosterone man time. They ate fast-food, stopped for soda q 2 hrs, ate chips and listened to Christian Hard Rock, guy stuff. Jadin also followed his dad’s every step, was the official flash light holder and cinder block mover (*insert Tim-the-tool-man-grunts here*).  Mom’s new place is gorgeous. 10 acres back in the wilderness. A river, a pool, a barn, a horse arena. Oh, another kid bonus, they have a new playhouse there too. So, needless to say, it’s going to be a great get away place to run off too! Let’s pack up those workboxes and “do school” by the river :0) Jadin out front of "Hidden Treasures Farm"              Zion on the spiral stairs                              Jadin climbing in the barn                         Nature Finds!                             The kids enjoying their new playhouse @ Treasures Farm! Our week has been great. Monday was another daddy at home day and the boys were able to work with him in his workshop. They installed shelving and cabinets, cleaned up trash and broke down wood items for our wood stove. It was a busy hands-on day! We did reading that evening but nothing heavy, because spending another day with their daddy, who has been working 50-60 hours per week (his job plus classes per a grant he received this fall), was most important. Tuesday and Wednesday they got a lot done in their notebooks. Jadin is working hard on his Multiplication and it’s really starting to click (adding numbers in groups, click, click). These days they did dictation, copy work, grammar lessons, bible reading, chapter book reading and alphabetizing.  They've been listening to their Geography Songs CD during meals.  Which has led to the atlases and world maps coming out and spontaneous Geography lessons in action. Thursday devoted our time to finishing up two lapbooks that they were slowed down on while we were sick.  Next we're moving onto making their new Narnia lapbooks. I've found some great FREE resources for those.  Both boys finished their George Washington Lap books.                   Jadin's Washington Lapbook                                  Zion's Washington Lapbook ************************************************************************************************* Jadin finished his Multiplication lap book.  He named it "Jungle of Math"                          Jadin's Cover                                                       Inner Flaps *********************************************************************************************** Zion finished his Math Facts book.                                  Zion's Cover                                         Inner Flaps                His mail box for his "5 facts"                                              Inner Flaps *As you can tell Zion got a little "Ink Pen Happy" when I gave him time to decorate.  The important thing to me though, is that I don't do their lapbooks for them.  The entire idea behind lapbooks is to provide an intensely creative hands-on project to reinforce their learning. I like for them to be "in control" of that creative process as much as possible.* I also came up with a nifty way to store their lapbooks within their notebooks. This way the lapbooks are actually remembered and can be revisited, not tucked away somewhere after all their work.  I cut the hole punched sides off of plastic sheet protectors and stapled them to the side of their folder binding of their lapbooks. Works great, looks great, and now their new creations are within their designated notebooks. Oh, yeah! Hopefully you get the idea with this picture. Jadin is in "Art Club" with our monthly Homeschool Group.  He had to complete his finial draft of his sketch of this Angel for his next meeting (next week).  Here it is!  Hot off the presses!!!  Additional Artwork Jadin created this week:   Today we hit the notebooks again for all their main subjects and the boys did personal reading for over a hour. For group read aloud time we finished reading “The Horse and His Boy” from the Chronicles of Narnia. We also read the Martyr story of the Disciple Thomas from “Jesus Freaks“ and continued our reading of the book of Matthew. During our bible time we also watched “The Way of the Master” with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. That is a powerful, faith building, show that is great for learning tools on just how to witness. We also read today about Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman doctor in our book “American Adventures-True stories from American’s past 1770-1870” by Morrie Greenberg. This weekend we have big plans to play lots of board games and start reading Prince Caspian, as well as Church and some relaxing time with hard working Daddy-O. If you'd like to read how other homeschoolers spent their week please click HERE   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/744373/ Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:10:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/744373/ Wrapping up our week I’ll say, the past 2 weeks actually, we’ve been “sharing” this “crud.” Some days it feels like we’re being very productive and other days seem like a blur of tissues, naps and pushing fluids. I’ll have all the kids gathered around to read, then get myself into a coughing fit. This happened Tuesday.  Instead of reading I put on the new version of “The Count of Monte Cristo” with Jim Kevezal and counted that as classic Literature for the day! Last night I was up and down with the baby, who had a fever, so today has been slow to say the least. To make myself feel better here’s  what we have accomplished in the last two weeks: 1.) Read our bibles and prayed together everyday.  Prayed for our unsaved family, our country and for God to bring an end to Abortion/Murder. Listened to the bible on DVD while we eat and several Kenneth Copeland teachings. 2.) Zion finished two chapter books. The Swiss Family Robinson last week and The Wind in the Willows this week. I've found him in the bathroom with a stack of books and he will not come out until he's read them all. He also watched the classic Swiss Family Robinson movie and compared all the differences from the book (he says the book is better :) 3.) Jadin was greatly inspired to read an adult version of Star Wars and even though he’s only managed to complete the first few pages, he’s pushing himself onward none the less (even carries the book with him when we go out) He’s also been found sitting working on his level readers on his own...Praise God! His goal in life right now is to read a Chapter Book like Zion. I know at 9 many kids are reading chapter books, however I also know, except in the case with Zion, most 6 year olds are not. Jadin is at least inspired by Zion and we've had many deep conversations about God's developing individual plan for each person. Zion's passion is reading and he can hardly draw a stick person (but his stick people are so sweet). Jadin drew a life like Jesus on the Cross, during breakfast this morning, and yet is still in reader booklets. I say, and I think Ruth Beechick would agree with me and I know GOD is leading their learning, that Jadin IS reading and he IS progressing at his own God given pace. This journey with his struggles with reading is drawing him closer to God and giving him a testimony already. 4.) We’ve watched a lot of good Christian television during this time. It’s nice to have our faith built up together and, even if we're taking turns blowing our noses, at least it's like church in the living room. Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort's “The Way of the Master” is on awesome show that teaches Christians how to witness. We’ve also enjoyed watching “It’s Supernatural” with Sid Roth….talk about a faith builder! We’ve enjoyed stories of God’s deliverance and supernatural intervention, like the story of a boy who was in a coma for 3 months and during that time Jesus took him to heaven with Him (his family's website is here http://www.rethamcpherson.com/  ) We also watched “The Passion of the Christ” as our Church one Sunday when we were too sick to go and we watched another wonderful DVD called “Prophecies from the Passion” that broke down all the old testament prophecies of Jesus being the Messiah. Not bad topics to fill their little hearts with!  5.) We went to our Church’s Harvest Party on the 30th and spent a fun afternoon at the Children’s Museum with two other homeschool families yesterday.  Both days we felt "good" so we pushed and went out. 6.) Jadin finished his Multiplication Lapbook and Zion continues to work on his Math Fun Facts Lapbook. Zion also finished a Star Wars Lapbook he decided to do himself. Both the boys continue to add to their quote mini-book within their George Washington Lapbook. 7.) We all got up with Daddy at 5:30 am to get to the polls and voted (and our guy won!). The political process in action! 8.) Math, Reading, Writing…the basics…still have gotten done. I accomplished setting up all the boys Notebooks in a modified “Workbox” system. I filled each of their notebooks (besides room for their special notebooking pages) with worksheets of new skills and/or review skills I want them to cover. I’ve had a day or two where I’ve needed a lot of rest  and I’ve said “o.k. boys, you go pick your pages in your notebooks and bring it to me when your done.” Zion has worked on counting money, basic subtraction and telling time. Jadin has worked on multiplication, reviewing subtraction to the ten thousands place w/ borrowing and rounding to the nearest 100,000. We still use the MATH U SEE manipulatives but I've found all their math for free, and printed it out with my ink cartridge that I refill 7 times with a $10 refill kit from Wal-mart, on sites like http://www.tlsbooks.com/thirdgradeworksheets.htm , http://www.printactivities.com/MathQuiz.html , http://www.math-drills.com/multiplication.shtml , http://www.multiplication.com/index.htm , http://www.hsadvisor.com/bookstore/3rd-grade/math/workbooks/ , (It's endless ANY resource you need to teach your children for free or almost free is out there and I'm finding them) In their Language Arts Notebook they’ve worked on everything from alphabetizing, grammar reviews and crossword puzzles. I have been working on all the cutting out involved in starting their new Grammar Lapbook that will most likely take them all year to complete, but we're still a few weeks away from starting.  Jadin has been doing his dictation from Psalm 139 again, getting it in his heart, and boy is his spelling improving…Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick were right! As I read him the passage I only tell him how to spell a word when he needs it. Forget spelling curriculum for us. We‘ll use the Good Book!  Zion did copywork of a verse everyday. 9.) All four kids and I, for the 2nd month in a row, did our Once-A-Month Shopping trip together. My big mishap was forgetting the Baby’s sling, so I pushed the double stroller, Zion was my “runner” and Jadin pushed a cart. EVERYBODY in the store stared…yes, a mother OUT with all her children (I guess instead of locking them in daycare or shipping them off to the Government?) and the children were engaged in the shopping process (o.k. Naomi did try to lick the floor a few times, but other then that is was very successful). We just filled one cart, parked it and filled another. We learned patience’s, perseverance, consumer math, and we got to love on some people who stared-by smiling great big! It’s my own personal Pro-Life Campaign, wink. 10.) We had a picnic. In the sunshine. In November! (Pictures below in the previous post) 11.) Jadin and I did make it to one play practice. I sounded ridiculous b/c my voice was almost gone. But Jadin got to be on stage and work on when he comes in with the others in the play. ((We're both doing our Church's Christmas play together)) 12.) I’m sure there more, however, it has all kind of run together. We are getting better and we still believe Jesus IS our healer even when we’re under attack in our health. It’s still all getting done, even though my perfect plan has not unfolded everyday. To God be the Glory, He’s STILL on the throne! Check out others weekly wrap up's HERE! If you look closely you can see he's got a clock,  and ice cream cone with his 9 facts, houses with his 2's, 5's and 10's etc.  He's had a lot of fun working on it.  It's still a work in progress. � �     Jadin and his fellow homeschooling buddy acting out sword fights...it's serious stuff!   Sweetgirl is not left out of the fun. Here she is painting her "Hello Kitty" face & working in her garden.   Gaby being cute!  One of my besties and our matching babies. Zion and his buddy.         Jadin work'n out! Zion's "Dulles Space Center."                           All the homeschool'n boys say "Operation" http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/742647/ Fri, 6 Nov 2009 11:48:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/742647/ Here it is November 2 and we ate our lunch on a quilt by our pond! We even brought out Gabriel. Naomi was well overdue for her nap at this point, but by the Grace of God we ate our lunch and completed another Chapter in our Narnia book. Then we headed back inside where Naomi went down for her nap and the boys had free reading time. Zion is on chapter 7 in “The Wind in the Willows” and Jadin has started a Star Wars book that I feel like is way beyond his current reading level.  I’ve read great stories from mom’s from when their kids grabbed hold of a subject they loved, yes even Star Wars, that their kids pushed themselves to that reading level and had great success. Jadin pushed himself for over an hour and conquered several words he hasn’t encountered in his other readers.  He wasn’t frustrated or hard on himself.   I call this a great day! Reading party at our Sunshine Pond Picnic 11/2/09 She's thinking "my nap many never came!" How we roll...Picnic Style! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Free reading time ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/741685/ Tue, 3 Nov 2009 08:28:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/741685/ We've fallen hard with the lapbooking bug.  I don't know if we'll ever recover...or...if we want too!    We're just having too much fun to stop!!!  Yeah for hands-on-learning and creativity in full measure! Zion working diligently on his Math Facts Lapbook.  In this picture he's writing his 8 addition facts on the back of "letters" he made that then in turn fit into a "mail box." Jadin, letting the creative juices flow, in his Times Tables lapbook. It may get messy, but isn't that part of the fun, even for preschool?  Here's Naomi enjoying her creative freedom with her lapbook.  She had to dress up for the occasion. More to come!  The boys are also creating their individual Star Wars (and Lego Star Wars) lap books in their “free time” and their George Washington lapbooks continue. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/739912/ Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:22:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/739912/ Weekly Wrap up! Sunday after church we attended our local children’s museums 6th birthday party. The kids made “Chicken Squawkers,” homemade harmonicas, played various special games and ate chocolate cake.  Even daddy showed up for the fun.             Naomi and Zion making their chickens                           Naomi being a cashier Daddy giving Naomi a hand on the rock climbing wall Monday we spent the day at the National Mall. My mom weaved us into DC with our oh-so-lovely GPS and we parked 1 block from the mall. After baby number 3 I gave up taking the Metro in (Scary to say as a teen my buddy and I would hop on the Metro and tour the museums on weekends). There’s never enough room for all our gear and we’re crammed in w/ commuters who stare at us like we’re animals (you know CHILDREN OUT during the day?!). We could spend a month “doing DC” everyday and still not scratch the surface of all it offers. I still try to spend a day at the Museums and/or National Zoo a few times a year. It is such a wonderful resource. This time most of our day was spent at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Right when we came in the door the boys saw the original C3PO suit and they were thrilled! I did not realize they now have a large collection of Thomas Edison’s original journals, light bulbs, drawings etc. A lot of the items from his laboratory are there. We also saw Abraham Lincolns famous top hat and Jacket he was wearing the night he was shot. They had a great hands on kids science lab called “Spark Lab.” SO MUCH, we could have just spent a week in that one building.  As it was we only did two of the three levels.              Feel'n the love of "the hat!"                           C3PO!  C3PO! C3PO!  C3PO! C3PO!  C3PO!                     Edison's Journals                                                          Catching a train! Next we went to go to my favorite Smithsonian Museum, the Museum of Natural History. At first I was excited because I was reading their signs for their new Monarch butterfly exhibit, since we studied Monarchs this fall. Then I started reading the fine print “Monarchs-Partners in Evolution.“ What!? By the time we got to the front door we were bombarded with Darwin and Evolution propaganda everywhere! Really?  They had to go and mess with our butterflies?!  Leave the Monarchs out of this! Nope, Sorry, Na-da!  We're NOT "celebrating" ANYONE other than Jesus Christ!  To HIM be the GLORY...not this dead man. ***GAG-SNORT-BURP!*** In short we skipped the Museum of Natural History. I haven’t been under my rose colored glasses and not known they taught Darwinism. However, before I could pick our exhibits, enjoy what we wanted etc  AND AT LEAST GET IN THE DOOR! The National Gallery of Art was breathtaking. I had not allotted a large chunk of time for there b/c I didn’t know how long the three year old would last in the quite art gallery (since she was licking the carpet at the Homeschoolers Day at the National Portrait Gallery we attended last fall ;) She did wonderful and really enjoyed it. Of course I have no photos to show from there b/c cameras are not allowed. We saw a wonderful exhibit of Spanish Knight and horse Armor from the 15th and 16th century. We also enjoyed the Renoir and Monet galleries. That night we visited with my dad’s sister, which was special b/c it was his birthday and he died 16 years ago (unbelievable). She’s an artist so Jadin had a whole box of her supplies out breathless (I got a lot of Christmas ideas from that, wink). We spread out in her living room and settled in for the night. "The BIG PENCIL!"  (Are we the only one's that call the Washington Monument that?) A little wild fun! LETS DANCE! Naomi putting on a show Good Night! The next morning we headed out to Mt. Vernon early. I had not been there since I was 9 (and my mom said it’s been since she was 9 too). WOW! I wish I was more articulate at this point or could just insert a movie of our day *here*. They have made so many improvements. When we first got there we watched a 20 minute movie that was a wonderful overview of his life. Next we walked the property, what we could of the 50 acres anyway. We took pictures on the bowling green and toured the house. We got to see the bed he died in and his study complete with his family bible. We enjoyed the stable, his carriage, gardens, etc. We went to a talk with “Martha Washington.” They have a new education center and museum. The education center was so complete that we thought we also toured the museum and found out later we had not....there was more! The education center had the forensic remaking of what George would have looked like in his younger days. It had his sword from the French and Indian war. We got to touch an actual cannon ball from the revolutionary war, how cool is that!  They had his original dentures on display, now that is learning! We learned about his war horse Nelson and about so many other aspects of his life. Talk about bringing our study of George Washington alive! I also went to their teacher resource center, as an educator, I received a fat folder with worksheets, DVD and computer software etc. We had to skip several exhibits and additional films just based on time alone. We spent over 6 hours there. I can’t wait to go back and hit what we missed!                         Mt. Vernon "back"                                                                   Mt. Vernon "front"                          The boys on the Potomac                                 George Washington's Carriage Of course during these two days immersed in American history the boys appetites were wetted for  MORE George Washington and the Revolutionary War.  Wednesday we spent the morning unpacking and cleaning, you know the regrouping once your back home. However, in the afternoon we spent a good four or five hours on their “Life of George Washington” lapbooks. I will post pictures of those on next wrap up, they look really great! I’ve never seen kids so excited about “writing George Washington Quotes!”   The kids also jumped back in with their math, grammar etc.  We're doing another lapbook on Grammar that I plan will take us most of our year.  It will give them a great resource in their hands to refer too.  Lately I've been spending alot of time on http://cindyrushton.com/ and have printed off a wonderful volume of free notebooking pages that we're woking in.  Lapbooks and Notebooks will have to be another post! Football is almost over. Zion played wonderful in his game Thursday (and did not cry ! )  Jadin has two make up games this week and he's done.  Friday morning we all woke up with runny noses, coughs etc.  I was fevered and just didn't feel like moving.  The kids piled in my bed and I read to them for two hours.  Then we landed in the living room and watched Fiddler on the Roof for the afternoon.  Boy, that is such an educational movie.  It led to great discussions on Russia and the kids looked up Siberia in the atlas.  We discussed Jewish customs, the law, arrangement marriages and how to write a screen play.  Whew!  That's what I call "Couch Schooling" for a sick day.  Last evening was still Travis and I's much needed date night so we loaded up on our dayquil and ventured out dispite how we felt.  We hit all the exciting places, IHOP (even though I couldn't taste my food), the dollar tree and wal-mart. We are so cool, tee-hee. I spent my shopping time buying more hand’s on supplies for the kids and he bought stuff to change the oil in the mini van. It was fun and nice to have no background noise and just be together. We also made the horrible mistake of trying to see a movie, we just got up and left 30 minutes into it. YUCK! And that's all I'll say about that.  So where does all this leave us?  Still sick  this weekend.  We've just canceled all our plans, football games, church etc and are staying home watching movies, drinking ginger ale and taking on/off naps.  A whole 'lotta nothing outta fix us! ((AND Thank You Jesus we ARE healed!!!) That's my LATE wrap up of our week.  If you'd like to read more timely wrap up's CLICK HERE! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/738831/ Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:52:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/738831/   We’ve been off this week! My mom, who is faithful at joining us for all our field trips, was sick earlier this week. Thanks to homeschooling freedom I just erased the 2-day DC field trip from last Monday/Tuesday and wrote it on our calendar for next Monday/Tuesday. Wha-la! Education marches on and onward Christian soldiers! Monday we were very blessed with getting two guinea pigs complete with food and large separate cages from freecycle! I told our children that even though our plans had changed for that day God still was directing our steps and had a hidden blessing. We don't know much about our "piggies" (as Naomi calls them ) but we are getting them use to us by feeding them their veggies while we hold them.  Our boys have been praying for an indoor pet, namely a Hamster or mouse.  I told them that they'd really have to talk to God about that because Daddy does not like indoor pets unless it's a cat.  Somehow my husband was moved by God Himself when I told him about the guinea pig's give away and he let me get them...what-a-guy!  Now the rule is though, he doesn't want to see them.  So their upstairs in the school room and we're not "rubbing it in his face."  I told the boys this was 100% a God Thing!   I let the kids joyously “do whatever they wanted” on Tuesday and Wednesday. These two days were filled with an abundance of Star Wars movies, Wii, tire swing and bike riding. I stayed tied to the computer printing off our resources for our next go round of “official” school. “The Plan” includes several lap books this go round with a healthy dose of kitchen science and crafts. Yes, we’re in for some learning messes! Yesterday we had our monthly homeschool co-op style group. Our theme this year is the Continents and this meeting covered South America. I made a rain forest matching game for the preschool class I taught. I don’t think my little students got home with the exact pieces they colored but it was a good lesson on sharing (this means I forgot my trusty sharpie marker to write their names on their bags….opps!) Zion’s class time dealt with map reading and topography and Jadin’s class read several missionary stories from that area. After “grade appropriate” classes in the morning we had our community pot luck lunch also with a South American theme, which gave all us casserole making mommas free liberty with the main ingredient of rice (insert Forest Gump movie sence here "we had rice salad, rice and beans, chicken n' rice, rice pudding, chili w/ rice, you get the idea), then we broke off into afternoon club time. Jadin is in art club and Zion is in Lego club. Jadin is working on his rough draft for a sketch that he has to show completed at the next meeting. He’s also excited that at the end of our meeting year his club will be holding an Art Show. Jadin also loved the missionary stories his class read so much that we went home and watched “End of the Spear” for our much needed relaxing time. Today we had to run errands and went out to eat with Grandmother. Naomi went with her for her own “girl time” sleep over (she will NOT want to come back home). The boys are having another good, Star Wars loving, buddy over for a sleep over tonight. They are instructed to stay up as late as they want, eat all the pizza and popcorn they want and watch all the Star Wars/play all the Wii they want. It’s funny, after only a few hours of being able to do whatever they want they’re currently spread out on our school room floor drawing together. The TV is off and it's good 'ol pencil and paper as entertainment. Whenever they get up tomorrow I plan on taking them all to the Children’s Museum for the rest of the day before we drop their buddy back off at home. Now I need a week off from the “week off.” And it’s going to snow! We did receive a call from our foster/adoptive agency about a “very small chance” placement in the future of a severely handicapped child. Actually when I heard the medical needs of this child I laughed to myself because being a nurse the “severe” needs would be very manageable for me (“manageable“ in that I‘ve dealt with/seen it before….I can‘t manage getting myself out of bed in the morning, let alone anything else, w/o the “BIG“ JC!!!). Please pray for us We’re very ready and willing for any placements. We just want HIS best and HIS will! That's my wrap up of our very unwrapped week!  Check out how other homeschoolers got wrappy with their weeks HERE at the Weekly Wrap up! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/736836/ Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:56:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/736836/ BY-HIS-GRACE HOMESCHOOL 1ST EIGHT WEEK SESSION 8/17/09-10/9/09  ~MATH~ Jadin- Beta level of Math-U-See Zion- 1st/2nd grade workbook 1-100  Jadin/Zion-supplemental math worksheet packets on a variety of skills from online sources. ~LANGUAGE ARTS~ Jadin/Zion-“Word Workout-Structural Analysis” Workbook  Jadin/Zion-Creative Writing activities (Creative stories such as Jadin’s “Noodle Wars” and Zion’s “Baby Wars”)  Zion-Memory Verse copy work (Philippians 2:9, Psalms 121:2, Matthew 6:8, Psalm 116:1, Psalms 34:10)  Zion-“Bob the Builder” printing book A-Z  Jadin-Bible Chapter copy work and dictation for Psalm 91 and Psalm 139  Grammar Reading: “A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What is a noun?” “All the Nouns Around my Town.” “A Cache of Jewels and other collective nouns.”  *Daily Reading, each boy read 50 + books per their reading list*  Classic Literature Reading:  Narnia “The Silver Chair” Narnia “The Last Battle” Narnia “The Magician Nephew” Narnia “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” “Knowing Aslan-the Lion of Narnia” ~HISTORY/GOVERNMENT~  Topics: French and Indian War, Colonial Life, Revolutionary War, Constitution Reading: “Johnny Tremain-the story of Boston in revolt” “The Matchlock Gun” “George Washington-Our First Leader-Childhood of Famous Americans” “Hero’s of America-George Washington” “We the People: The Story of our Constitution”  George Washington Facts/Workbook packet  Read our local/state representatives websites, discussed their roles in state government and the Virginia Governor race. Matt Lohr www.delegatelohr.com/ Bob Goodlatte  www.goodlatte.house.gov/ Bob McDonnell www.bobmcdonnell.com/  “Constitution Day” at James Madison’s home, Montpellier in Orange, VA. Met Lynne Channey, former Vice President Dick Channey’s wife. Also the author “We the People: The Story of our Constitution” Visited George Washington’s childhood home “Ferry Farm” in Fredericksburg, VA.  Visited National Mall: Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian Museum of American History,  Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, NASA Air and Space Museum,  Visited Mt. Vernon, George Washington’s adult home.  ~SCIENCE~ Topics: Ants, Butterflies, Natural Disasters.  Reading: “Inside an Ant Colony” “All about Ants” “Army Ant Parade” “Ants” “Where Butterflies Grow” “Becoming Butterflies” “An Extraordinary Life: The story of a Monarch Butterfly.” “Monarch Butterflies: Mysterious Travelers.” “The Butterfly” “Swallowtail Butterflies” “Life of the Butterfly” “Hurricanes, Tsunamis and other natural disasters.” “Earthquakes” “Floods”  Science DVD’s: “African Driver Ants” “Raging Planet Floods” “Raging Planet Hurricanes” “Raging Planet Lighting” “Raging Planet Tornados”  *Both boys keep Scientific Notebook where they draw observations and draw pictures about scientific topics we read about.* *Caterpillar/Butterfly life cycle, observed swallowtail butterfly in chrysalis and hatching*  Additional: NASA’s search for water on the Moon and the Lcross mission where they are hitting the moon in an attempt to find water in the shadow craters. Read about the crater names and landscape of the moon’s surface.  www.nasa.gov  ~BIBLE/FAITH~ Bible Reading completed: The book of Jonah, Daniel, and Acts. “Jesus Freaks” Martyr Stories continue Old Testament/Bible on DVD during meals Joyce Meyer Teaching CD’s and DVD’s “The Way of the Master” TV series with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron “It’s Supernatural” TV series with Sid Roth Both boys in classes “Potters Kids” and “Bible Buddies” weekly at PHWC Contenders of the Faith Boys Club at PHWC/bimonthly Fall Harvest party at PHWC. Attended “Valley Crusade for Christ” Aug 26-30th  at the Fair Grounds.  Churchs from around the Valley gather with services, children's church etc.  ~LIFE SKILLS~ Our family “Chore Buck” system. Jadin/Zion each have a list of chores/responsibilities to attend to 1st thing in the morning and throughout the day. In turn they earn “Chore Bucks” to “buy” any Wii/TV time, sleepovers with friends, toys etc. ~ART~ Group Water Color Personal Drawings Clay ~PHYSICAL EDUCATION~ Jadin played County League team sports=Tackle Football Zion played County League team sports=Flag Football  Jadin, Zion and Naomi continue Private Ice-skating lessons and free skate time ~ADDITIONAL ACTIVIES~ Public Library Children’s Museums (Cville and Hburg) Friends over for play days/fellowship  Monthly Homeschool Support Group “H.I.S” with class time theme of Continents for 2009-2010 school year. After classtime Jadin is in "Drama Club" and  Zion is in "Lego Club."     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/734913/ Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/734913/ <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Our main theme for this week has been literally “wrapping up.” This marks the end of our first 8 weeks of school! We’re doing a year round 8 weeks on/1 week off, with 4 weeks off for Christmas-4weeks off in July-and 5 weeks off “as needed,” schedule. So next week we’re off! Of course we’ve got trips planned, our homeschool group meets and we’re having friends over, so it can still be counted as “lots o’ learning!” I made sure the kids finished up any loose ends, math books, bible copy work, printing book etc. Zion finished another chapter book and started reading “The Swiss Family Robinson.“ Just had to give that little shout out since he is six! We finished reading “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” on Wednesday during an 8 hour read-a-thon (which also included other books ;D ) On that day daddy has class after work, and the boys don’t have football practice, so we usually exchange our evening family activities for finishing up any good books we’re pulled into. We still have another book on George Washington that we’ll finish up this weekend.  We also researched our local state representatives, read their websites, discussed our upcoming Governors race and read at www.Whitehouse.gov about the 3 branches of government (since no one there does, tee-hee). We also researched online about the Lcross probe that will be hitting the moon on Friday in search for water. This led to reading about the moons craters, crater names and moon orbit. To celebrate the boys successes they went ice skating with their Grandmother this afternoon. Tonight Jadin is getting his special sleepover at her house and tomorrow Zion get’s his. Jadin and I also started practice this week for our churches Christmas play that we’ll both we in together. This week, while the kids have been finishing up their goals, I’ve been “writing down the vision” for our next 8 weeks. We’re doing a Unit Study on Leonardo Da Vinci and will top it all off with a trip to PA to visit the Da Vinci science center. Check out http://www.leonardoshorse.org/  You can just imagine how “deep” we can go with a Da Vinci unit study…the Renaissance, Art, Art History, Science/Inventions. I feel like this 8 week Unit could take over our year, I’m excited!  I’ve found a wealth of Da Vinci resources, lap books etc online for free (http://www.homeschoolshare.com ). I love our homeschooling virtual community! I’m ordering several books, I saw on the Sonlight reading list and the Rainbow Resource Catalog, off www.half.com for 80-90% less (some 0.75 cents). I also have decided not to shill out the money for the next Math-U-See levels. Nothing against their product, and I may order from them again. My goal is to homeschool for as little as possible. Jadin is doing really well in his math and I’ve found even more, free, resources online that I can print out for him to meet his objectives. Zion is memorizing his addition facts now and I will bet that after our break when Jadin's working on memorizing his multiplication facts, little brother will be right there with him. Also, I started another blog. “Keep Your Children” http://keepyourchildren.blogspot.com/  I plan to dive into many issues on there that I don’t always get into thoroughly on here. “By His Grace” is more our family updates with a little homeschooling politics thrown in here and there. “Keep Your Children,” I pray will become more of a resource for families questioning homeschooling vs. public education, womanhood and family topics etc.  I'll gladly take any input and ideas.  It just makes me so sad that 85% of Christian families send their kids off to the world everyday. Of course even though there's not much on there yet, it took me hours of setting up the site and working out the basics. That is our weekly wrap up. To check out more go to Weekly Wrap Ups! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/734815/ Fri, 9 Oct 2009 17:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/734815/ Today we did a several hour “Life Skills/Cleaning” morning. 3 loads of laundry folded and put away, toilets scrubbed, all 11 rooms swept or vacuumed, sinks bleached, fireplace and brass dusted, shelves dusted, DVD’s organized, toys picked up and tidy, school room freshened up, shoes organized, mirrors washed etc….etc….etc. Zion also helped me re-bag 25 .lbs of oatmeal into smaller bags for daily use ($12 for a 25 .lbs bag at our local grocery outlet). He discovered 12 cups, or 3 quarts, filled each separate bag. I was very pleased with his impromptu math lesson that I counted it as his math for today. All of this the boys did, or did with minimal assistance, while I made gallons of Baked Ziti for now and later. I like to take a couple hours-however long it takes-once a week and do an overall “super clean” on the house. Normal mornings the boys have approximately an hour of morning chores with small pick-up-after-yourself times during the day. It’s on this keep-mother-happy morning that all those little things that can add up get tackled. About noon we spread a quilt out in the living room and had a picnic lunch, taco chips, while we watched one episode of Star Wars the Clone wars. Any mothers have any thoughts on this latest version? I don’t mind the 6 movies and think the classic “good vs. evil” story is fine because good wins. However, I’m feeling like the images in this new “cartoon” version are very “dark.” I’ll be praying over this and I‘m going to ask the boys to pray about it too. I’m thinking we’ll just stick to the movies, toys, coloring books and whatever other “merchandise” we buy into. Not so sure we’re going to be watching this cartoon much or at all. Thoughts? Back to our day, after our picnic we put Naomi down for her nap (she had learned how to dust today and helped put laundry in the dryer). Then we studied the rise and fall of the Roman Empire in our Usborne Book of World History, to coincide with our book of Acts study. We also read the last part of Acts again. Lots of good historical/biblical times conversation within this reading time. All together we spent a good hour lost in Ancient Rome, which was fine with me! Also this cross referenced with our Volcano study and the story of Pompeii. We then continued with our book on George Washington. Since we were just at Ferry Farm the boys feel like experts on life on the Rappahannock (which their not, yet, but it‘s good they‘re confident.) The boys continued working in their packets given to them at our Ferry Farm visit. By this point it was 3 o’clock and Gabriel and I were feeling a mite bit nappy. He and I just snuggled in for a nursing nap while Jadin and Zion worked on some Star Wars ships out of legos (engineering). I woke up at when Daddy was home. The boys went out for some outside time and rode the tire swing, captured grasshoppers and visited the kittens. Naomi went with her daddy to dump our trash, exciting to a 3-year-old. Somewhere in between playing outside and dinner Jadin did his math (borrowing/subtraction to the 10,000th place value) and read a book to me while I worked. After dinner (that baked ziti reappeared) Jadin helped me for an hour get my new Sunday School curriculum organized. We had 13 weeks worth to divide and sort and his help was much needed. To end the day we watched Glenn Beck with Dad and I (boy, it’s going to !!SNOW!!) started mending clothes (I.e; sowing holes up etc…this shows how amazing God is) I figured being 100% home it’s my job to help and serve my family every way possible. If I need to mend clothes, I’ll mend some clothes. However, when I was being a helpful wife 2 weeks ago and mowing (while my husband was working a 60 hr work week and going to more college classes) I "helpfully" mowed right over a roll of wire…now he’s got to mend the mower! I’m in a state of total homeschool excitement over this new website I just found www.homeschoolshare.com WOW! So many great, free, awesome lap books to print off. I even saw one for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe! I would love to start throwing in a lap book into the mix, especially, my favorite word, FREE! I’m making myself be calm and not go into a printing frenzy…yet…because next week is our week off. I plan to customize our next 8 weeks of lessons and lay out our goals/objectives for this time. I’ll post an overview of what we’ve accomplished this past 8 weeks and what our next sessions goals are later in the week. Also, I joined a group (shown on Glenn Beck), called “The sisterhood of the mommy patriots” www.asamom.org So much I could wrote on that, except, go to it for yourself and you’ll see how great it is. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/733565/ Mon, 5 Oct 2009 21:13:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/nurs4jc/733565/