Savanah LOVES to build things.
She has lots of those K'Nex sets with the motors to make them move.
Here's her latest addition to her amusement park.
This took her at least 12 hours to put together.
Sorry it's sideways...I couldn't figure out how to turn a digital video from my camera.
You know, I thought my life was busy before.
But now, it's so hectic, I don't have any time to sit around and waste.
Let me just say that any games I used to play on Facebook are completely non-existent now. :o(
I didn't realize how much time working outside the home for two days a week, would take. However, I'm loving the paycheck.
I am not one of those born organized people.
Now, I have to be organized. I have to stay up late doing laundry & cleaning the kitchen.
So, there's the reason I haven't been blogging.
Homeschooling is going great and we are still pretty much on track. We will start back next week and we will even hit our 100 day mark. Not too bad.
My oldest daughter is doing great in school. She made straight A's in her first semester back in "real school" (those words send shivers down my spine!!!) since first grade. I guess eight years of homeschooling paid off, huh? I think so. She travels to London & Russia next month. She will be there for 2 weeks for a mission trip where they will hold a VBS @ an orphanage, and conduct a week of prayer. She's super exicted and I'm super nervous. But, God will bless when we follow His leading.
Well, here are some pictures from Christmas and all the snow and frigid below zero temperatures we encountered on our trip to Michigan.
The past seven years have gone by quickly for me.
Why seven years?
That is how long I was graciously allowed to stay home with my children 24/7.
Tomorrow, I officially start my new part-time job.
I'm excited for the opportunity to work again and make extra money for our household.
However, I can't help but think about the past seven years. They have literally flown by. I often say, "Where has the time gone?" But, seriously, it has went by so quickly.
I want to mention that we are going to continue to homeschool our three youngest children. We still believe that homeschooling is the best educational choice for our children. I will still do most of the homeschooling and my husband will help out about one day a week.
We had a pretty decent week. We completed all that I had planned. That's always good, right? Yeah, and unusual! LOL
I give that credit completely to our workboxes.
A friend of mine on Facebook said that he was, "Too blessed to be stressed."
I've taken on that motto this week. So here's what I feel blessed about.
We are still reading, "Charlotte's Web". 
I've seen the movie, but never read the book. Oh, I love homeschooling and learning along side my children! I'm enjoying the book much more than I thought I would. And, of course, I think the book is way better than the movie!
Savanah is really coming along with her multiplication tables. She's doing really well with them considering we did not review them this summer. She's into double digit multiplication and is doing great! It does take her a little bit longer to get her math finished, but at least she's getting most of the problems right instead of dawdling over them. (Oh yes, we've had lots of these issues in the past!) I'm praying this is a maturity and turning point for her.
Alexis had speech on Monday. They reviewed the 'sh' sound. Often she'll say 's' instead of 'sh' when talking. I'm doing my best to incorporate that around the house, too. Wednesday, she started music lessons. I asked her why she was so excited, thinking I'd get the answer, "I get a new recorder" or "I get to learn new songs" but instead it was "I get to see Megan!!" After music class, we met some other friends at the park for a play date. I haven't been able to attend many of these, but since the park was practically on the way home and was right after music, I decided to go. I'm so glad I did. I chatted with a few of the moms I've known for awhile, but also met some of the new moms that have joined our homeschool group. My girls played with a new girl in our group and had a blast.
Savanah is learning about Ancient Greece in history. Since she loves clay, we made an ancient bowl. Of course, it needed clay noodles, too!
Alexis made a small bowl and spoon.
Douglas wanted in on the action and made an ice cream cone!
Love that imagination!
Alexis studied two states this week. Since we are going in the order of them being admitted to the union, we learned about Pennsylvania (2nd) and New Jersey (3rd). We all know that Hershey is in Pennsylvania and it was a no brainer on what we eat for that state! S'mores!!
I learned a few things about Pennsylvania that I didn't know before. Such as, I didn't know that the Liberty Bell had cracked once, was repaired and then cracked again so badly it wasn't repairable.
Here's our lapbook:
New Jersey is a state I really don't know much about even though we have extended family that lives there. I guess that's when we utilize the library and internet. I didn't know that Thomas Edison had a home there and created a lot of inventions in that home.
Something else I learned about history that I did not know before was about a lady named, Molly Pitcher. Pitcher wasn't her last name. Her husband was in George Washington's army. She took pitchers of water to the tired and thirsty soliders. She even helped them fire a cannon. I love learning with my children! I'm also learning that I slept a lot through history class!
I could go into more detail with each state when we are learning about them. But, the truth is, the reason for the whole 50 state study with Alexis is for her to know:
1. Each state & capital
2. Be able to locate the state on a map
I keep having to remind myself of these goals every time I want to do something a bit more in depth. Of course if she wants to learn more about a particular topic, we will study it. But at this point, we'll just lightly touch on each state.
In New Jersey, blueberries & cranberries are the two big agricultural products.
Well, she doesn't like either one! So, I didn't know what to do about food. Then I remembered that my mom went to New Jersey about three weeks ago for my cousin's wedding. She brought this back from Atlantic City.
Thanks, Mom!!
We were able to have salt water taffy directly from NJ.
We ended our week with a trip to our local zoo. It wasn't crowded considering it was Labor Day weekend and the temperature outside was perfect. Douglas told me, "I like the animal zoo!" Too bad I forgot my camera. :(
I'm trying to do a bit more of preschool with Douglas (4). I have a few file folder games that are perfect for his age.
I'm trying to read more books to him that have won awards or are classics.
For instance, several times this week we read, "Goodnight Moon".
I hope to start a few preschool activities with him soon.
On the home front, I finally have my Georgia medical license. Next week, I'll contact my new boss and set up my hospital orientation. I was recertified in CPR last weekend and I think all my shots & tests have already been completed. I hope to start work in the next week or so. I'm excited!
More great news is that my cousin's wife had a baby Thursday night and about three weeks ago, another cousin of mine had a baby. We now have two more baby girls in our family! I can't wait to see them.
Tomorrow, Labor Day, is Alexis' birthday. We plan to spend the day at White Water.
I'm so glad it's a new week!
For more Weekly Wrap-Ups, visit Kris at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
We've had a very successful, first week in our homeschool! I can not take credit for it though. I give all the credit to the workbox system. I had heard or read that mom's knew this system worked almost immediately. Yes, I am jumping on that bandwagon. It didn't take me long to realize that this easy to use system, works! I am completely sold on the entire idea.
I'm not here to convince you to implement this idea in your home. I just want to say that it works for us. Would you like one example of how I knew it was working? The second morning I woke up and was walking through the kitchen to go hop into the shower before the kids got up. At the dining room table (where we do our school work) my 10 year old was sitting there already doing her math workbook. Let me just mention that that has NEVER happened! She is my moaner and groaner about school work and she is my child that I have to d-r-a-g out of bed every day to get up!
Want another example? Thursday and Friday I was sick. The kids were still able to complete their work because I had already put their workboxes together for those days. Friday morning I went to the doctor and was told I had bronchitis. ICK. I'm so glad we didn't get behind! Normally, we would have. In the evenings, when I organize their boxes for the next day, it normally takes me about 15 minutes for both kids. I expect this to go faster the more I do it.
Ok, enough about how great I think the workbox system is. Here's our weekly wrap-up.
Savanah is using Wordsmith for Writing. She was introduced to the newspaper. Ok, not really, as she had read the newspaper lots of times before. But, with this program, she'll be writing for the "newspaper". So far, she likes it. Remember, she's my moaner and groaner about school work. ;o)
She is learning about birds in Zoology 1. One experiment this week was to see how certain feathers don't get wet. I found a wild turkey feather in our yard. They frequent our yard and our corn! Anyways, I cut the feather in half and she dipped one in water and covered one in oil and dipped it in water. 
Can you see how the water beaded up on the feather with oil? I thought it was a pretty good hands on activity.
Alexis began her lapbook of the 50 states. So far, she loves it!
We started with Delaware and we going in order of states admitted to the union.
Her lapbook turned out nicely.
I won't go into a lot of detail about the states with her. The main objective of this project is for her to know the entire 50 states, capitals and be able to locate them on a map at the end of the year. We have begun our Pennsylvania lapbook already.
Of course, we had to make something yummy.
How about a chocolate chip map of Delaware?
And, since the peach blossom is the state flower, how about a peach dump cake?
Dump cakes are so easy. You dump a large can of your choice of fruit. Dump a dry cake mix on top. Then, add a stick of butter. Bake until brown at 350 degrees. It's so delicious, too!!
Those are the highlights of our week.
Next week, we begin music classes and Pathfinders (our church scouting organization). Another busy week, but I'm so glad we have our workboxes!
For more weekly wrap-ups, visit Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
I knew once I learned about this whole Workbox system that I'd fall for it.
I wasn't quite sure if I would give it a try though. It looks very organized. It looks very neat. But, would I use it? I went around and around with this question at our local curriculum fair. Then, I got the call I'd been waiting for. I got a job. Once I had this job, I knew my homeschool needed to be more organized, no questions asked. So, I jumped on the bandwagon.
I think this will work very well when either my husband or my mom is homeschooling the kiddos.
Time will tell. BTW, I have yet to start working because GA isn't quick about handing out medical licenses, so as soon as they decide to accept mine, I'll be working ASAP.
Here's what we are doing this year:
Alexis (8 years old)
She'll continue with her music lessons
Math U See Beta
Cantering the Country (she'll be learning about two states a week, if that's too much, then we'll tone it down to one)
Science - I plan to incorporate things from our states study for this and use some of our Janice VanCleave collections we have on our shelf.
Reading & Spelling - Rod & Staff
Handwriting - on our own until she starts cursive
Grammar - Easy Grammar
Savanah (10 years old)
She isn't sure what music instrument she wants to learn next. She'd like to learn all of them!!! I'm thinking about taking her to a music store and letting her see all the instruments and then talking to someone about them. That should spark her interest in one of them more than the others.
Math U See - Delta
Story of the World
Science - Apologia
Spelling - A Reason for Spelling
Handwriting - A Reason for Handwriting
Grammar - Easy Grammar & Daily Grams
Writing - Wordsmith
We'll start a new read aloud tomorrow, "Charlotte's Web." We are watching the movie at our local library in a few weeks for our annual Homeschool Hour kickoff. I thought I'd go ahead and read the book. After we are finished with that, I think we'll do the Little House series and maybe have some fun with that.
Here's our workbox system tonight.
I'll definitely be giving my reviews on this whole system.
I did not make a workbox for Douglas, yet. I think I'll wait a while.
Now, I'm heading to bed to get some much needed sleep!
The second week was really amazing.
God was lifted up! My favorite was the night time programs.
They had great praise & worship music as well as talented performers.
Of course, the play of Esther and her "Courage To Stand" was definitely top notch!
I enjoyed meeting people from all around the globe.
I even met people from Latvia, a country I know nothing about.
This was a true culture experience for me and I can't wait to do this again.
A lot of the kids really got into pin trading. It was a great way to collect unique pins from all over the world and a great way to get the kids to talk to each other.
Jamaica, mon?
I was able to get one pin from South Africa and Savanah has one from Austraila.
A lot of the Pathfinder Club made some really cool entry ways into their campsites.
I couldn't help but take pictures!
Here was the official logo counting down the time until the program started:
Huge crowds every night.
The stage were all the programs happened.
I was just amazed how much work was put into this program for the kids. They really wanted the kids to hear the gospel and were so dedicated to it. Over 500 kids were baptized.
This is one of my favorite pictures. Every country that attended this camporee had a flag and one person on stage.
A special treat was to hear them pray in many different languages. Oh, it was so beautiful!
The Pathfinder Plane. This plane was built by Pathfinders and is used in third world countries where traveling and getting supplies is difficult.
Tony the tiger is a huge supporter of Pathfinders!
One day we took the kids offsite to the beach area on Osh Kosh lake, zoo and a water park. My oldest, Alyssia, went to the YMCA and went ice skating and then went sailing on the lake. I think she had lots of fun!
Here's Savanah at the beach area.
I just loved all the flags!
Our campsite
The last night at camporee we all witnessed an amazing cloud in the sky.
After that evening show, my oldest hopped onto a bus and headed to her new school.
We miss her like crazy! I do get to talk to her every day.
My husband met her at the school and took these few pictures just before she stepped foot into her new classes.
A couple pictures of her dorm
My husband couldn't resist taking pictures of the Weiner Mobile on his way home!
Of course, we couldn't possibly make it home without another flat tire!!!!!
UGH!
23 hours later and was SO ready to be off that bus!
My bed has never felt so good.
A few pictures of other clubs from around the globe.
This whole vacation and the fact that my daughter is away at school is just a few of the reasons of why I've been so busy lately. I'm just glad to be home!
Monday we start school. WHEW. I need a vacation from vacation.
For more weekly wrap ups, visit Kris @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
