The World of Coke and the GA Aquarium

We spent yesterday afternoon in Atlanta.  Julie and I took the children to the Georgia Aquarium and to the  World of Coca Cola.  What FUN!  

The girls really enjoyed the aquarium.  It had some wonderful creatures--belugas, manta rays, jelly fish, whale sharks, and thousands of other fish!  The boys especially liked the World of Coca Cola, the tasting room was a HUGE hit!  My favorite was from Asia.  It was the Nestea Ice Rush--YUMMY!   Now if only we could get it here in the states...

Living and loving...

We're having a GREAT summer.    

It started with Troy and I celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary!  My how young we looked...and isn't my sweetheart so HANDSOME?!  

We added a new pet to the mix...

The girls are having a blast being creative--

Grace likes to decorate her pokey arm with stickers...

And they both LOVE to try out new do's and having their nails done!  When I do Grace's nails she likes me to paint something on her pokey arm.  I usually paint a heart on it with fingernail polish.  I'll have to remember to take a picture next time.

The children and I finished with our first 6 weeks of this school year already.  And on July 1st, I celebrated turning 40 by driving to Baton Rouge and getting a number of our adoption documents certified, taking a wild trip to the zoo in the rain on purpose, and going out to eat with my amazing family!  My philosophy for this decade (and beyond) is to have no regrets, to live each day in a new and unexpected way that makes people want to know why, to point them to my unique, creative, awesome God.  When you put your trust in Him, you never know where He'll take you, but you KNOW it's gonna be GOOD!

(If you click on the giraffe picture, you can see how hard it was raining!)

We've been trying our hand at growing fruits and veggies...

watermelon,

corn,

and satsumas!

Our second batch of chickens are growing rapidly.  

We're thinking we should get our first eggs in the next month!

Uncle Troy is teaching Erin how to drive--she did really well!  They spent almost 2 hours driving around the yard and practicing starting, stopping, parking...  

Now we're in Cartersville, GA for our yearly trip to the Reeves home (maybe one year we can talk them into coming to our home...).  The kids and I do look forward to this every year (this is our 3rd year).  Julie and Robby own Steps of Faith, a christian dance studio.  The girls are both old enough to do the dance camp this year with Caroline and are LOVING it! 

Summer Fun

Yes, I know, other kids are finished school and on break. 

We live in the south--it's 9 am June 1st and it's already 81 degrees and 77% humidity headed toward the low 90's. Most children I know do not want to go out in the heat. They end up wanting to veg in front of a tv or game screen, which is very limited in our home. Life is too short to waste too many of the hours God has given us by living vicariously through tv and video games.  

Our family has decided we'd be better served to take off more time in the spring and fall/winter when they can go outside and actually enjoy it! 

A few things to keep in mind:

*homeschooling only takes a couple of hours (3) a day rather than the 7 or 8 hours kids go to traditional school

*we don't have homework b/c I'm with my children and I have a pretty good idea what they know, I don't need to give them repetitive busy work to see if they understand it  

*By schooling year round (short terms with frequent short breaks--we tend to do 6 weeks on 2-3 weeks off), we waste very little time on review. Most textbooks have several weeks of review.

Just because we are "in school" doesn't mean we can't play with our friends who are on regular summer break. I know the principal (wink, wink) and he's fine with us taking a day here and there to play! Plus we're done by lunch anyway...

Memorial Box Monday

This is my first Memorial Box Monday post.  I LOVE this idea to help remember and celebrate all the ways God shows up in our lives.

This first one I want to share is in the middle of happening right now and I'm standing in faith that God will see our hearts, hear our prayers, and answer in a big way.  In the midst of wanting to adopting again, we have felt the call to downsize our home and simplify our life and allow God to use us where ever He wants us.  I have been getting the house ready to list.  My prayer to God was that if He really wanted us to sell our dream home, that He would bring us a buyer even before we listed it.  Well...I got a call on Thursday from our agent who didn't know this prayer.  She said she just had to ask me if I would be willing to show our house before we listed it.  She has someone (another agent's dad) that wants a big house and land and has money and is moving back to town!! Of course I said yes.  He is suppose to be coming tomorrow to look at it!  To tie into this, my dh has been hunting in Bolivia for the past week.  When I told dh who the other agent was he laughed and said I wouldn't believe who he was hunting with this past week--the other agent's boyfriend!  DH and the boyfriend did not know each other before this trip...  Doesn't God have a wonderful sense of humor?  So... we don't know if this will be the one, but so far it fits my prayer!  I'll keep you updated.  I'd love some suggestions on what to use in our memorial box (which I am hoping and praying to win from Linny!) WHEN this happens.  




When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight." So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
Joshua 4: 1-9

2010-2011 school year Term 1

I am known for last minute lesson planning...Sunday night would inevitable find me stressing and staying up late, because ---if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I was determined that I was going to be prepared for this year.  I had been gathering books and supplies and had an ideas in my head.  Then I ran across some plans that another Charlotte Mason homeschool mom had done and I loved it!  It was concise and yet thorough.  I decided to give it a try.  So here's what I came up with for our first 6 weeks.   If it works, the following 6 weeks will be easy since I already have the subjects and books entered.  I realize it looks like a lot, but only the subjects up until the large gap are our daily work.  The things after the large gap, are only done one time per week and I spaced them out according to difficulty and length of time.  I also color coded it--Connor is green and Jacob is red.  I'm still working on the girls' plans.  Shaoey is begging to start school.  

Subject	Week 1           May 31-June 4	Week 2    June 7-11	Week 3    June 14-18	Week 4    June 21-25	Week 5      June 28-July 2	Week 6     July 5-9
Bible & Devotions                       Streams in the Desert        Daily	One chapter and corresponding devotion	One chapter and corresponding devotion	One chapter and corresponding devotion	One chapter and corresponding devotion	One chapter and corresponding devotion	One chapter and corresponding devotion
Scripture Memory             Daily	SCM Scripture Memory System	SCM Scripture Memory System	SCM Scripture Memory System	SCM Scripture Memory System	SCM Scripture Memory System	SCM Scripture Memory System
History:                             Middle Age, Renaissance, Reformation, & Epistles                  Daily	Lesson 34-38	Lesson 39-43  The	Lesson 44-48	Lesson 49-53	Lesson 54-60	Lesson 61-63
Bible Study for Connor                           Spiritual Leadership:  A Bible-based Study for Young Men                  1 lesson/week	Lesson 1:       It is a man’s job to lead.	Lesson 2:  Start Training NOW!	Lesson 3:    Die to Self	Lesson 4:  Learn to Submit	Lesson 5:  Yield your heart	Lesson 6:  Heed Godly Instruction
Connor--Literature	Twelve Bright Trumpets: Lesson 1	Twelve Bright Trumpets: Lesson 2	Twelve Bright Trumpets: Lesson 3	Twelve Bright Trumpets: Lesson 4	Twelve Bright Trumpets: Lesson 5	Twelve Bright Trumpets: Lesson 6
Connor’s Math                                          Saxon 8/7                                    Daily (2 days/lesson)	L. 38, 39, 40	L. 40, 41, 42	L. 43, 44, 45	L. 45, 46, 47	L. 48, 49, 50	L. 50, 51, 52
Connor’s History Reading                  Daily	Men of Iron     Chs. 1-9 (2/day)	Men of Iron       Chs. 10-18 (2/day)	Men of Iron    Chs. 19-23	Men of Iron      Chs. 24-30	Men of Iron     Chs. 31-33	The Magna Charta Prologue & Castles and Cathedrals
Spelling/Dictation                      Spelling Wisdom 2                         M/W/F	Ex. 14, 15, 16	Ex. 17, 18, 19	Ex. 20, 21, 22	Ex. 23, 24, 25	Ex. 26, 27, 28	Ex. 29, 30, 31
Bible Study for Jacob  Increasing in Wisdom  Daily	Week 1         One page/day	Week 2     One page/day	Week 3     One page/day	Week 4      One page/day	Week 5      One page/day	Week 6         One page/day
Jacob’s Math                                           Saxon 6/5                                  Daily (2 days/lesson)	L. 1, 2, 3	L. 3, 4, 5	L. 6, 7, 8	L. 8, 9, 10	L. 11, 12, 13	L. 13, 14, 15
Jacob’s History Reading                  Daily	The Vikings Ch. 11 Adam of the Road Chs. 1-2	Adam of the Road Chs. 3-6	Adam of the Road Chs. 7-10	Adam of the Road Chs. 11-14	Adam of the Road Chs. 15-16	Adam of the Road    Chs. 17-18
Spelling/Dictation                      Spelling Wisdom 1                         M/W/F	Ex. 18, 19, 20	Ex. 21, 22, 23	Ex. 24, 25, 26	Ex. 27, 28, 29	Ex. 30, 31, 32	Ex. 33, 34, 35
Language                    Analytical Grammar                   Daily for 11  weeks	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 5	Unit 6
Latin                                          Latina Christiana  Monday	Lesson 1	Lesson 2	Lessson 3	Lesson 4	Lesson 5	Lesson 6
Artist                 Monday	MichaelangeloThe Last Judgement	Michaelangelo Cruxifiction of St. Peter	Michaelangelo Conversion of St. Paul	Michaelangelo San Pietro Bascilica	Michaelangelo Pieta	Michaelangelo Doni tondo
The Book of Virtures for Young People  Tuesday	The Bell of Atri p. 91	The Bridge Builder p. 96	The Charge of the Light Brigade p. 97	The Chest of Broken Glass    p. 99	The Devoted Son and the Thief p. 101	The Sword of Damocles     p. 104
Story Starters  Tuesday/Thursday	rough draft final draft	rough draft final draft	rough draft final draft	rough draft final draft	rough draft final draft	rough draft final draft
Logic                                         Fallacy Detectives  Wednesday	Ch. 1 Introduction	Lesson 1	Lesson 2	Lesson 3	Lesson 4	Lesson 5
Missionary Stories with the Millers  Wednesday	Ch. 17  John David Troyer	Ch. 18 Bob Pierce & Bob Findley	Ch. 19 Dr. Elias Riggs	Ch. 20 Amy Carmichael	Ch. 21 Robert Evans	Ch. 22 Mennonite Disaster Service
Composer       Thursday	Liszt	Liszt	Liszt	Liszt	Liszt	Liszt
Art                            God &                        the History of Art               Thursday	Lesson 1	Introduction pgs. 1-4	Lesson 2 & 3	Lesson 4 & 5	Lesson 6	Lesson 7
Poetry                          Favorite Poems Old and New              Friday
Hymn For A Kid’s Heart                     Friday	Holy, Holy, Holy!	A Mighty Fortress is Our God	This is My Father’s World	O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing	How Firm a Foundation	Amazing Grace
Nature Study                            Friday	Journal	Journal	Journal	Journal	Journal	Journal