Once again...

...I am so proud of Graham! I don't have favorites among my kiddos,really! but wanted to share another "So proud of you" moment. Last Saturday we celebrated Christmas on my mom's side of the family. Every year we raise money for a family. We usually bring items to auction off but this year decided to bake goodies instead. We had prepared smaller plates for the children to "buy" from and big plates for us adults. I had reminded my kids to bring a quarter or two so that they could buy a plate of goodies and they did. Later that evening my sister gave me the money and said it was for a family that use to come to our church. Graham knew this family and asked, "Are you talking about Wes' family?" to which I causally replied yes and continued with my conversation with my cousin. Moments later Graham pulled out his wallet and reached inside so that he could offer more. Our church has always been big into relationship and what it means to be in relationship with not only Christ but with one another. Graham understood that message somewhere along the way and because of his relationship with this family wanted to, without hesitation, give all that he could. How cool is that? I am so very proud of him.

So proud of you.

I think I am going to start a blog series called, "So proud of you." I have felt like I have been missing the blessing of having children. So in an effort to be more aware of them I will notice something they do and blog about it.

Tonight my oldest son didn't want cereal for dinner. Imagine! LOL! Yes, we were having cereal cause we are out of groceries (I am heading out to Walmart late tonight). He didn't complain but found bread, tomato paste, a few pepperoni and some Parmesan cheese and made sandwiches, on his own for himself and his oldest sister in the electric sandwich maker. Later when I asked all four kids to come empty the dishwasher, Graham stayed after and rinsed and put all the dirty dishes from the sink into the dishwasher, without me ever asking. I am so proud of him!

What I am Thankful for...

Today I am home with some sick kids so there will be no family gatherings for us this year. This is of course NOT what I am thankful for. I am thankful though for the homeschooling freedoms I have in the Great Lakes State of Michigan. I know many are having to move away from this great state, that jobs are almost nonexistent, but I am rooting for Michigan! I am holding out hope that we will come back...I am hopeful that my husband will still have a job in 2009. For today though I am very thankful for my right to home school our children in anyway that I can to meet their individual needs. I am thankful that testing isn't mandated or turning in my curriculum or assignments. Not that I am opposed to doing these things, not that I don't do these things or do the things that will meet these requirements. I am just glad that today, in Michigan, I have many homeschooling freedoms. I am also thankful that the homeschooling voices that are heard on our state Capitol's door steps are one of the loudest and strongest in Michigan. Thank you God for these freedoms. I don't want to take for granted what they mean to me, my family and our children.
Happy Thanksgiving!

New File Folder Games Website!

Here is a great website for free File Folder Fun and Games! They are also having give-aways too! So click on over and find out more about them!

I've been trying to add their link and can't get it to work! So just click on their webaddress below. I'll keep trying to add the link.
www.folderfun.ning.com

Halloween Story Starters

I found great story starters for Halloween and thought I'd share a few. I did not do any with my oldest as he is deer hunting with Grandpa but I did with my neice who spent the last few nights here and my oldest daughter. They seemed to have fun and I would ask a question to get them thinking about their next sentence. I don't have them ready to share but here are some of the story starters....
*It was a dark and stormy night when...
*My friends and I were trick-or-treating and knocked on the door...
*Meow! The black cat was scared...
*The silliest Halloween ever started when...
*A yellow glow was coming from the jack-o-lantern, only...
*I was counting all my candy when all of a sudden...
*You won't believe this story, but it is true...
*The whirling winds of that October evening sent chills down my spine...

a bit of the mind of a four year old

My youngest son just turned 4 at the end of September. A few mornings ago he came downstairs...


Mom: "Gee Boo, you look all dressed and ready to go for the day!"


Boo: "Yea, I guess that is why I turned four."

The Homeschooling Song

You've got to see this homeschooling video song...it's great!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCu5ojNlpi0

Another Flood?

Yesterday our four children put on their bathing suits and went out to experience all this rain and the puddles it was leaving in it's wake. They had a blast and came in really wet and really cold. It was a nite for those warm jammies! Hours later my four year old son came down the hall and stated with excitement and volume, "GOD IS GOING TO FLOOD THE EARTH AGAIN!!!"

How cute it that? I did remind him of God's promise and the rainbow!

P'jammy Time!

I know P'jammy Time seems like an odd title for this post but look at my kids in all of these pictures! In almost every picture they are doing school in their pajamas!! It just isn't that important to me to have them dressed when they come down stairs I guess. The truth is this. Right now my littlest Boo, my sweet red-head still sleeps in his toddler bed in our room. When I get up, the dog Finnegan gets up and shakes his head, which rattles his dog tags and ALWAYS wakes up Boo. Boo now is awake and isn't able to go back to sleep. So he and I get up. We sneak downstairs around 7:30 so as not to wake the other sleeping beau and beauties. Now my oldest daughter and son sleep in the same bed. My sweet daughter can't seem to sleep in her OWN bed...so when one gets up they sneak downstairs to not wake up the other. That leaves my Major Cutie...who sleeps the latest and then she comes downstairs. By this time I am ready to serve breakfast and get school started. If I sent them back upstairs to get dressed I'd never get them back. Hence the reason we do school in our pj's...I bought my youngest two their own school boxes the other day at Walmart. We have a least a half dozen of these but I wrote their names on them and gave one to Boo and one to Major Cutie. Well Boo hasn't put his down! He loves it. This box played out in the garage yesterday, ate dinner on the deck last nite and played legos with Boo this morning! The .98 cent box was a hit! And it only has one glue stix and a pair of scissors in it so far!This year we are covering more of early American history. My son seems to really like this time period...well it is the only one we've covered so far but that is besides the point...so we are reading about Sacagawea and that inspired my son to draw her picture. It turned out really good...I'll have to find where he put his finished drawing and show it to you all!Big sister loves to read and play school with her siblings! I like how she had them cuddle up with blankets while she reads! The youngest had fun covering the letter C with glue and corn meal!

We started Rosette Stone Spanish with our oldest son this year. He really, really likes it and seems to do well. We have the home school version and you can keep track of their progress and redo lessons if needed. We aim for the 90% and up. Overall he is earning a 95% right now!
We use Handwriting Without Tears and Mrs. V is finishing up last year's book. We use this book twice a week.
I read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to my preschoolers and played with a paper coconut tree and letter magnets on the fridge. This was a big hit!
The school year is underway! I am not sure I'm quite ready but here goes anyway! To tell you the truth I am living in a state of almost constant ciaos. I'm not saying that this is a bad place to be. It's just a place that I have to learn to manage, or live within. A place where I have to watch that I don't become short with the kiddos, or beat myself up on where I "think" I am falling short. It's a time to live in a sort of calm ciaos if that makes any sense. Well, for me it is perfect nonsense!

I posted this site on my adoption blog...you've got to see these photos! OK, of course I am biased!
http://authenticsoul.wordpress.com/

I wish I were sick or something...

You know you've had a long, fun-filled, busy summer when your almost 10 year son says, "I wish I were sick or something. I am tired of moving around and doing things. I just want to lay down on the couch and do nothing." My husband and I just looked at him and laughed! I gave him permission to lay in front of the T.V. until bedtime (it was already 6:30pm)!!! But nope, he couldn't just lay there. He threw off his shorts and grabbed a comfy blanket but lay down and relax he did not. I don't know if he's got it in him to just do nothing. Maybe that's why he wanted to get sick...then he'd be forced to stop his body!!! LOL!

One great thing we did this summer was join a local boy Scout troop and stay the night on this real ship used in WWII. It was a bit icky with all the spiders but it was really neat to learn about the history of the LST 393. We arrived around 6pm, ate dinner, played all over the ship, watched a movie and was up and out of there by 8am. This is still an active museum and so we needed to head out so busy as usual could go on!

Not socialized???

Oh come on! Is this the oldest "bash" on homeschooling that you have ever heard? I haven't run across this too much, maybe because my children are proof AGAINST the unsocialized theory? Either way I thought I'd show proof in a picture that our kids are hangin out with their "peers"...
Here are a bunch of homeschoolers (except two of the girls) at a friends house swimming. Even with all of these kids together for several hours, not one fight, not one put down, no one was left out and all bodies were covered!! But WAIT, look there, behind my son's head (bottom left kiddo)! Do I see some bunny ears? YES! I do! Socialized indeed!

And now on to my oldest daughter who will turn 7 on Jan. 1st. We consider her to have begun first grade work last winter but she will continue on as a "first" grader....

*Math U See-Alpha....she is just about half way through this as we start the new year

*Handwriting Without Tears-handwriting

*Saxon Phonics-still the K level, about a 1/3rd of the book to finish

*Skill Sharpeners Reading-First grade workbook

*Poetry Memorization

*Character Building

*Lapbooking with literature books from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/

*Exploring Creation- Land Animals...with her brother

*Artist Pursuits...with her brother

*Nature Journal...we'll see!!!

*Writing Journal

*Rosetta Stone-Spanish

Again, these are just things I would love to be able to accomplish this year. I'll keep it real and honest on here and let you know how things pan out over the next several months!!

The school year is upon us!

I am cleaning out the homeschooling cabinets, drawers, cupboards, closets, corners...you get the idea and trying to make a list of what I MIGHT potentially use to school the kids this year. Today, I should still be cleaning, but thought I'd jump on here and list what I am using for my oldest. I'll include the list for the other kids in the following days.

My son is going to be 10 in November and that puts him at around the 4th grade level. We call him a "4th grader". His writing and reading are about a year behind, maybe more in the area of writing. Here is the grand list that I have come up with. It looks really overwhelming. We'll see what we end up with!

*Poetry Memorization-Andrew Pudewa...started this before let's see how far we can get this time!

*Character Building-Lee Ann Rubsam-boy is this needed for all of them!

*Spelling Notebook-using the little yellow book called, How to Teach Any Child to SPELL by Gayle Graham

*Grapevine Studies-teaching the Old Testament

*Primary Language Lessons-grammer

*Math U See-finishing Gamma and then starting Delta

*Exploring Creation Land Animals of the 6th Day-science

*Artist Pursuits-Intro. to the visual arts

*Nature Journal-starting these every year....never get farther than decorating the cover....hmmm

*Beautiful Feet study on early America

*Cursive Success using Handwriting Without Tears...mostly for review...not sure if it is necessary!

*Skills Sharpeners Reading Workbook by Evan-Moor

Updated to add: Rosetta Stone-Spanish -this will be our first year!

Phew. This is a big list!

Enjoying every last bit of summer!

Homeschooled kids are So Smart!

Today as we headed out the door to Spicer's Orchard my 3 1/2 year old son asked for something to eat grabbing a box of cereal. I told him he'd need to put it in a bag to eat in the car. So he did.
I was sort of expecting to see a handful of shredded wheat in a sandwich baggy.

I luv these guys!

Here are some photos of the critters we've found around here. I haven't caught many on camera but these guys are cute!!
This is a moth that we bought when it was in its cocoon. I really wish I could remember the type but I can't find my literature on him.The sweet tree frog.And a long time favorite of mine...the toady!!A great friend who found toady in our window well.The cutest picture ever!! My sweet Boo and one big fat toady!!

St. Joseph Mercy Health Exploration Center

We took a field trip with the Seeds of Faith group(http://www.sof.homeschoolchoices.com/) to a health exploration center. There was a lot of information presented but the kiddos seemed to enjoy it. All but my oldest volunteered several times. Even Boo answered some of the questions correctly! Then they had an opportunity to "explore" the human body!

We are finishing our school year up next week. I look forward so much to summer vacation as much as the kids are. We have a packed summer with a Major Cutie's 5th birthday, a vacation to Tennessee to visit family, a trip to Port Austin for the 4th of July, a Boy Scout camp weekend, a trip to Missouri for an Ethiopian get together, a trip to the west side of the state for Michigan Adventure and an overnight trip on a WWII ship. On top of that I think my oldest is joining the swim club in Lapeer for the summer. So see, I can't wait to have my "school" obligations done and have time to wake up in the mornings and move out into my flower gardens!

These are actually pig lungs but I guess are quite similar to human lungs. This lady used the hose on the left there to inflate the lungs. It was really neat to see. Below are lungs that were injected with toxins that are found in cigarettes. Did you know about 4,000 chemicals go into one cigarette?This display was cool to the kids because you could push buttons to make all sounds of gross intestinal noises!
My daughter is standing against this ruler in front of the nose. The ruler shows how far your germs spread when you sneeze. Now I don't know if this is in direct proportion to the size of this nose or if all our sneezes produce this type of distance! Yuck!

Still here...

It's been awhile and I'm still here plugging along with the rest of our school year. The kids have started hs swim lessons in Lapeer and are getting quite a workout!! I have some great lap books to take pictures of and show you but not today! Cause tomorrow I am going to the INCH conference (a homeschooling conference) and I am so excited that I can't stand it!!!!
Post soon-

More lapbooks

My friend Michelle asked what lapbooks are and so I thought I'd give my unprofessional opinion. Lapbooks are similiar to what I would call a scrapbook but they are a way of displaying information on books or subjects the kids have learned about. The best part of lapbooks is that all the information is right there in front of the kids. It makes reviewing easy and they are easy to share with family. I heard of some people taking them with them in the car or on plane rides. The kids look through there own books and it helps them retain more information. There are many great sites on FREE lapbooks. They give you all the ideas, the templates and also directions on how to fold different styles of the little books inside the folders. I bought a 100 box of file folders as all the lapbooks use these. Here is my most favorite site... www.homeschoolshare.com This site is fantastic and also includes unit studies. My oldest daughter and I are currently working on a lapbook with the book, A House for Hermit Crab. So far we have covered different types of homes, shells, new vocabulary, studied the bible verse of the wise man and the foolish man and how they built there houses, decorated a paper hermit crab shell, and lots more. I will post pictures when we are finished. We plan on doing an insect book next month. It corresponds with the Apologia Science series. This lapbook is not free but can be found at http://www.knowledgeboxcentral.com/ or http://www.currclick.com/
Have a blessed day!

Stick 'em up!!

A few weeks back we visited the new township police department in our city! Officer Theede was their to give us the tour! We went with good friends of ours, my sister's family, Angie's family (the family adopting MC's bio. brothers) and Angie's sister's family! The kids had fun and were kind of hoping they would see some bad guys locked up but the cells were empty!
This is the coolest officer ever...Officer Theede!This is the locker room for the male officers.The tazers...I think this is how you spell that. These weapons are quite impressive!Let's hope this is the ONLY time these two boys put cuffs on in the Township Police station! Or any station for that matter!! LOL!These are now what jail cells, or holding cells, look like. No more bars. I was kind of hoping to see the bad guy bars...or as was stated on our visit the bad guy and GIRL holding cells!Looking back I wish we would have asked if we could let the kiddos get inside one of these cells! They were pretty quiet when Officer Theede said the toilet is right out in the open and their bed is the cement bench that sat just inside the cells!Our crew!

Our Resurrection Lapbook!

At http://www.littleblots.com/ you can find some great lapbooks for the kids for FREE! This Resurrection Lapbook was really neat to make and made a great way to share the Easter story with the kids.