More Conversations

As we were innocently driving to the apple orchard we passed some cows in a field that that reminded the kids about the dancing cows they saw at this years corn roast. The farmer that throws the corn roast raises heifers. Thousands of heifers. The kids have talked about the dancing cows before, but this kept going on and on and on.

It went basically like this...

Kids...
I wonder if those cows dance like the other cows at the corn roast?
Sometimes one of them would put their hooves on the back of the other one and dance.
Sometimes the one on the bottom would run away when one wanted to dance.
Would you call that dancing?

Dad...
Um...no

Kids...
Well, what would you call it?

Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

A customer of mine told me about this video. It's very interesting. Keep your finger on the pause button so you can read it all.
~Knight

Homeschool Memoirs- Snacks

Theme:

There are so many different kinds of snack foods, store-bought and homemade, and I would like to invite you to share what snack foods your family usually snacks on throughout the week. You’re welcome to make season lists too. I know there are different meals we eat during the colder seasons than we do in the warmer ones, and I imagine there are also seasonal snack foods as well.

We are not big snackers in this house. Our kids are allowed one sweet snack a day, normally being a Little Debbie snack. Knight thinks that I shouldn't be able to completely ban them since that is how we pay our bills. I would not go and buy LD's but since we have the out dates, my kids are allowed one a day.

Beyond that, they can have any fruit in the house. We canned peaches, pears, and applesauce and froze strawberries and blueberries in addition to any fresh stuff we have that week.

We also will make strawberry julius, or pop some popcorn in the air popper at times. We also drink hot chocolate in the colder months that work well as a snack and takes the chill out of the bones.

A peek inside...

We were doing family devotions the other night and we were studying Proverbs 22. We came to Proverbs 22:13 The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!” and our study bible put this clearly that the lazy man is going to make excuses for not working.

The following conversation happened next...

J-Bird--"Ohh! J-Bell is like a sloth!"

J-Bell--"WHAT?!?!?"

J-Bird--She tries to stay in bed everyday!

J-Bell--"You want me to punch you in the head?"

J-Bird--*shaking his head...smiling* "It's just an example.... and it's true!"

Can't you just see their angel halos?

movies

Took the family to the movie fireproof last night. It was great well worth the money.

Homeschool Memoirs- Summer Photo Essay

THEME
This week I want to invite you to take a moment and post a Summer Photo Essay memoir. Starting from around the official date of Summer to this past week - just give a basic summary of your summer as I know someone of you are photoholics!

We don't do a big summer vacation in our family. We spend our time close to home enjoying the great outdoors.

We will spend our time kayaking...

Or at the pool...

Or at the lake...

Or picking strawberries. We put up strawberries, blueberries, zucchini, corn, peaches, and pears this summer. Applesauce isn't done yet, so I can't include that.

This year we didn't get to go boating at my mom's. We ran out of time and were sorely disappointed. I guess that means next year we will have to go extra!

Free Sale

Free Sale

We are in the process of setting up for the annual free sale. What is amazing to me is all of this is just from Thursday set up. The church family has all day today to bring stuff in also. I can't imagine what it is going to look like tonight!

Homeschool Memoirs- Favorite Things

THEME:
Since I’ve been making you work really hard on the previous Memoir themes I decided to take a little break, and do something fun! This week I want to invite you to share a few of your favourite things. I know the list of favourite things could be never-ending, but I’ve made a list…

Magazines/Carnivals - About the only magazine I read is Readers Digest, the kids read Keys for Kids and Highlights

Freebie sites - any sites that offer freebies or often have giveaways-5 Minutes for Moms

Homeschool news/informative-?

Forums/book clubs -?

Networking, Blog “About” (sites that offer tech-support or tutorials for computer/internet) &

Quick Links -?

Mom site - a sites just for moms -5 Minutes for Moms

Inspirational/encouraging/motivational - Greg Laurie, Dave Ramsey

Youth/kid - sites geared towards youth/kids or owned by them-Fun Brain

Memes --Wordless Wednesday, Photo Hunt Saturday, Homeschool Memoirs

Organizing/crafts - sites that you look to for organizing tips or crafts -?

Homemaking/Homesteading ?

Bible-focused - sites mainly about God’s Word-?

Homeschool Method - sites that offer a lot of info on a certain method ?

Family blog - sites that give you a glimpse into another family’s life, run by a family -This is where I can't pick a favorite. My side bar has many blog, all of whom give insight into families

Businesses, particularly homebased-?

This was actually a really hard week for me. Obviously I don't spend a great deal of time on many different sites. Actually I spend less and less time on the computer, which is probably why my blog never gets updated. I check email, check bloglines, and check facebook (and play Scramble when time permits). I do this a couple times a day. Unless I have something I need to purchase or look up I don't stay on the Internet. The kids spend time looking up information for their lapbook research but they are not allowed to just surf in the Internet either. Hopefully next week will be easier!

39 Clues

As a family we have been reading what is going to be a new series. The 39 Clues: Maze of Bones came out last week. I had heard about it from the today show and thought it sounded interesting. It is interesting, educational, and keeps the kids begging for more.

Actually the last time I read the book to them J-Bell started laughing so hard that she fell over backward in the chair she was sitting in!

It is fun to see the kids all so interested in a book, and in the same topic.

*Just as a disclaimer, this is not a Christian series. If you are looking to read it, use your own discretion

Thankful Thursday

13 4 Things I am thankful for today

1. Choices. I am so thankful I have choices. I don't have to do what everyone one else is doing, and they don't have to do what I'm doing.

2. Homeschooling. It is work, but I love having my kids around, and there are so many teachable moments throughout the day. I would hate missing those.

3. Friends. I am bad at finding a lot of time for life outside of my family, but my friends seem to understand, and forgive me for not always being there.

4. Grace. Not only do my friends lavish grace upon me, but I have been forgiven much. I am SO thankful that God and people have bestowed grace to me.

*I was going to do a Thursday Thirteen but ran out of time. Thanks for catching that Molly!

Homeschool Memoirs- Something New

This is our assignment this week:

Planning your homeschool is a lot of fun, especially if you’re going to be trying something new. Just like finding a shiny new penny, you’re excited to use it. This week I hope you’ll share something new you’re using, why you’ve decided to use it, and if you have used it how you like it.

We are trying a quite a few new things but my favorite is Spelling Power! For years we tried the old way of give them a list to memorize, test them on Friday, watch them feel like a failure. It just didn't work for us. At all.

A friend suggested Spelling Power. It is not graded. You start with a test to put them at the level they need to start at. The book then does tell the parent what grade level this is, but that information is not for the child. They test for 5 minutes every day, only working on the words they get wrong each day. The student workbooks are set up so they write out the rule for the list they are working on, have a 10 step study guide to work on their words, plus a place to write sentences. Then you are supposed to do 5 minutes of skill building activities. 15 minutes. No tears, no feeling helpless or like a failure, and the kids see progress.

What more could you ask for?

Homeschool Memoirs-Routines

The assignment for this week reads:

I know some people are very routine oriented while others may be more “day-by-day”, and it all depends on your family and what works best for your life-style. This week please post hat your planned homeschool routine is.

I have a routine that I try to stick to, but as with anything it is more of a guide than a schedule. I came up with a daily schedule, and also a school schedule for each child. This helps me to be able to teach those subjects that require more teaching time to each child, and since we have a couple subjects done on the computer they needed to make sure our school day keeps going instead of waiting for others. Our Daily Schedule looks like this:


Schedule
7:00 am Wake up
7:30-8:00 Out of Bed/ Room Cleaned
8:00-8:30 Breakfast
8:30-9:00 Clean up/ Chores
9:00-2:00 School
2:00-5:00 Free Time
5:30-6:30 Dinner
6:30-8:00 Free Time
8:00-8:15 Straighten up house
8:15-8:30 Get ready for bed
8:30 Bed Time
9:30 Lights Out

Our school schedule looks like this:

School Schedule--J-Bell
9:00-9:30 Devotions
9:30-10:00 Math
10:00-10:30 Recess
10:30-11:00 Reading/ Tapestry
11:00-11:30 Spelling/ Grammar
11:30-12:00 Spanish
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:00 Writing/ Typing
1:00-1:30 Science/ Critical Thinking
1:30-2:00 Art


School Schedule--Desti
9:00-9:30 Devotions
9:30-10:00 Math
10:00-10:30 Recess
10:30-11:00 Reading/ Tapestry
11:00-11:30 Spanish
11:30-12:00 Spelling/ Grammar
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:00 Art
1:00-1:30 Science/ Critical Thinking
1:30-2:00 Writing/ Typing

School Schedule--Rara
9:00-9:30 Devotions
9:30-10:00 Spanish
10:00-10:30 Recess
10:30-11:00 Math
11:00-11:30 Reading/ Tapestry
11:30-12:00 Writing/ Typing
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:00 Spelling/ Grammar
1:00-1:30 Art
1:30-2:00 Science/ Critical Thinking

School Schedule--J-Bird
9:00-9:30 Devotions
9:30-10:00 Art
10:00-10:30 Recess
10:30-11:00 Math
11:00-11:30 Reading/ Tapestry
11:30-12:00 Science/Critical Thinking
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:00 Writing/ Typing
1:00-1:30 Spanish
1:30-2:00 Phonics Tutor

I have this printed up and we refer to it often. The subjects in bold are the ones done on the computer (Art being art history). That is roughly how we spend our day. The only other thing I really try to do is to turn off the phone once it is time for school to start. I keep my cell on in case someone really needs to get a hold of me, but most people know that I am available in the afternoons, not mornings.

Homeschool Memoirs--The Agenda

This week’s theme is about sharing your 2008-09 homeschool agendas and plans. You’ve been preparing your plans for sometime and you’re ready to go. Or you’re still in the planning-stage and need some inspiration or tips on what to use. Because many use different curriculum and methods there is always something new to be gleaned from other homeschoolers. It’s always fun and interesting to see what other’s are using and the WWWWH as Robin Sampson suggests. So this week I hope you will share what you’re doing this year for your homeschool agenda.
Share the different curriculum you’re using. You can also include what age/grade you’re using it for, how long you’ve been using it, and why you like it.

After some years of using the school at home method (Bob Jones, A Beka) I found that style of homeschooling was not working very well for our family anymore. We branched out and chose to do Tapestry of Grace as our main curriculum. It covers history, reading, geography, writing, church history, and art. I enjoy this because we can all explore the same historical times yet each of them having the curriculum tailored to fit their levels. It is somewhat teacher intensive in terms of planning but we are getting our niche down and I am enjoying seeing my kids excited to read some of the books it calls for. We are doing Rosetta Stone for Spanish (great for learning to speak it, not so great if you want to learn the grammar behind it), Easy Grammar (looks great but haven't started it yet), Math U See (love, love LOVE MUS!), Spelling Power (again LOVE this, so much better than list memorization spelling that did NOT work for my kids), as well as supplementing some with Creativity Express for more art instruction(cute and fun, plus they are learning art history), Draw Write Now for how to draw(kids have fun with this and their drawings have improved), Typing Instructor (haven't started yet) and some thinking skills books and games. For science we are going to go through the Moody Science videos along with some hands on books and science kits.

We have lots of games that we play that are educational but fun. Some of our favorites are the 10 Days games for geography, and Zookeepers Nightmare for thinking skills.

Because there are so many different subjects and some are on the computer I have come up with a schedule for each child so they have their time on the computer, time for me to teach them, and time for them to work independently, along with much needed recesses. We don't have this completely set it stone, after all we homeschool for a reason and want some flexibility but our goal is the schedule.

Fishing

On friday I took J-bird fishing and we were doing great we pulled in a couple of big Bass. It even made the bee stings not hurt so bad. I was starting to think we were going to limit out, then it happened. A guy comes up behind me as I,m pulling in a big one and asks how were doing. Five minutes later The man brings his son and grandson. They sit five feet from us and start casting in our spot. I was doing great at being kind even though our bobbers were with in a foot from each other. I asked them where their from. They said the twin cities which made me wonder if they like sitting on top of each other while they fish over their. Well I hope I taught J-bird how not to fish as I pointed out to him how bad what they did was. I also think God was trying to teach me something because when I got home I picked up the Bible to read the next chapter and it was on what good is it if I gain the whole world and lose my soul. It was a blessing to enjoy Gods great outdoors with my son.

Homeschool Memoirs

I have decided to the new meme Homeschool Memoirs in hopes that it will help me blog more. When someone tells me what to blog about it really helps me get over the "I don't really have anything to say" mood.

This weeks Theme:

The first theme begins today, August 20th, 2008. This week, we want to hear about YOU. The author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool.

My name is De. I have been married for 14 years and we have 4 great kids (12,11,9,7). Both my husband and I became Christians almost 12 years ago and we have a great church that has become a great second family to us. I really enjoy photography, kayaking, and reading. I tend to drag my family with me when I want to hit the water or go take pictures but normally they are up for the adventure. We have our own business so we run our work and school week Tues-Sat.


We made the decision to homeschool when we had to start thinking of school for our oldest. We knew that we didn't feel she would be ready to be sent into the world to spend most of her waking time with people that may not share our convictions, values, and beliefs (not to mention we just didn't really like what was being taught). We felt that we could do the same or better job academically with them and we would better be aware of issues and problems as they arose so we could address them. Over the years we have had many days of school that turned in a whole different direction as issues, theories, or teaching opportunities have presented themselves. We have said we take it year by year but in reality we just "never say never" about sending them to public school. The plan right now is to school them through high school. We both really enjoy having them all at home and as we continue on this journey we find that we feel stronger each year that we have done the right thing.



That's it in a nutshell. I am so thankful that I have been able to be homeschooling the last 7 years (starting my 8th on Tuesday). I wouldn't want to change it for anything.

Scattergories

I got this in an email from my sister, and since I know I have been neglecting my blog lately I thought I would post it instead of forwarding it on.(I RARELY forward anything)

The rules are you have to use the letter of your first name for all the answers, nothing can be made up and the girls or boys name can not be your own. Go ahead and play along.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME? De

FOUR LETTER WORD: Dear

VEHICLE: Durango (that's a vehicle, right?)

TV SHOW: Days of Our Lives (is that still on?)

CITY: Dayton, OH

BOY NAME: David

GIRL NAME: Debbie

OCCUPATION: Dentist

FOOD: Donut

SOMETHING FOUND: Diamond (obviously not found by me)

REASON FOR BEING LATE: Dead Battery (on your car)

***Warning... Shameless Plug!***

Today I recieved a comment on my blog that made me do the happy dance. It was from the 5 Minutes for Mom Team. It read...

I am visiting from 5 Minutes For Mom, to let you know that you are a finalist in our Summer Fun Photo Contest! Congrats!

Yeah Me! So if you feel so inclined hop on over to Summer Fun Photo Contest and vote*. There are some really great photos. If you can vote for mine in good conscience that would be even better, but vote for what you think is the best.

Thanks all!

*You will not need to sign into anything so anyone can vote. (That means you, Mom!)

Summer Fun Photo Contest

5 Min for Mom is having a photo contest. I took this photo on our camping trip and I just love it!

Photo Hunt #5 -- Clouds

For more Photo Hunt click here