30 Days Of Thanks- Days Ten and Eleven

I am thankful for:

10) my freedom
11) our service men and women

Lest we never forget
what our service men and women
have fought for and are still fighting for
OUR FREEDOM.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

30 Days Of Thanks- Day Nine

I am thankful for:

9) Soccer games

My oldest has been playing soccer since he was 4 yrs old.
Seeing his soccer growth over the seasons
has been a joy.

He is our little soccer man.

30 Days Of Thanks- Days Six, Seven, and Eight

I am thankful for:

6) being able to stay home and nurture my children's growth.
7) long runs on Sundays
8) the conservations my friend and I have
on our long runs on Sunday.

Love being a stay at home mommy.
There is no greater gift.

Ran 15 miles today.
We were supposed to run 17,
but running with a cold and cough
can be difficult.
January is getting closer and closer!
Many blessings.

30 Days Of Thanks- Day Four and Five

"... my heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song."
Psalm 28:7

I am thankful for:

4) morning giggles and snuggles

5) dump trucks and sandboxes

30 Days Of Thanks- Day Three

" Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good: his love endures forever."
Psalm 107:1

I am thankful for:

3) my three little cowboy blessings.

30 Days Of Thanks

I love this time of the year, especially November.
Giving thanks.
I have so much to be thankful for.
I am so thankful for my family.
Being honored to watch my children grow, laugh, and play.
My heart is overflowing with thankful praise
for our Lord.

I am thankful for:

1) my Lord and Saviour

2) my loving, adorable, hardworking husband.

Hay Days 2009

Four years ago our little town started
"Hay Days"
for the month of October.
Businesses, groups, and individuals
decorate scarecrows
and they are displayed in our downtown.
Thought I would share a couple of
my favorites of this year.

Fire Department.

And my very favorite.

Too sweet.

Eyes

I often wonder what their eyes see.

What are their thoughts?

I know when their eyes meet mine,
I see Him.
I see the blessings He has given me.
I am humbled.

Our Scarecrow

I hate to tell my son,
a scary scarecrow he is not.
But, the word cute comes to mind.
Many blessings.

Second Seasonal Tree Study

My oldest and I decided to do two
seasonal tree studies.
We choose trees from our back yard.

This is our second tree.
Isn't it the cutest Charlie Brown type tree
you ever saw?
We think so.

We took measurements.

For diameter, my oldest just put his fingers around.

We felt the branches and the pines.
We inhaled the scent.
We drew pictures and wrote down
our observations.

We are looking forward to watching
our little pine tree grow.

Finally Doing a Seasonal Tree Study

About a year and a half ago,
we started a seasonal tree study.
We choose an oak.
We took initial diameter measurements,
did bark and leaf rubbings.
I even blogged about it.
We did not follow through with our study.
Oh, well.

Then in July,
we decided to try again.
But, as far as we got is the pictures,
no study.
This is the tree we choose.
It just popped up in our yard.
At first, it looked like a weed,
but soon a lovely tree formed.
We love this little tree.

We decided to formally
start a seasonal tree study again.
We choose our little tree.
Boy has it grown!
We wished we had measurements
from July.

We do now.
We also have bark and leaf rubbings.
My oldest has drawn pictures of our little
fast growing tree.

Our only problem,
we are having trouble identifying our tree.
We are enjoying researching though.
Many blessings.

Enjoying the Beautiful Weather

Outside.
That is what we have been up too.

After our morning routine of
reading and singing, out we go.
We are outside til lunch.
Sometimes lunch on the porch and out again
til nap time.
Had a few cool days,
but now we are back to highs around 80 degrees.
Beautiful.

This time of year there are lots
of wonderful activities to do outside in nature.
We are taking full advantage of them.

Will share some with you soon.
Hope your Autumn is as joyful and inspiring
as ours has been so far.
Many blessings.

Part of Morning Routine

Our little "school" wall in the kitchen.

I thought I might share part of
my oldest morning routine.
After breakfast or while he waits for breakfast,
my son gets down his calendar and updates.
He tallys the day, graphs the weather,
and lists any birthdays or loose teeth.
He then writes a short Bible verse
with the day and month and year.

Simple, but effective.
Many blessings.

Painting

While we have not done much by the way
of artist study, we have done much art.

Providing paint, paper, and an environment
so they are free to express and explore.

No rules to follow, just paint.

Mixing colors, using different size brushes,
knowing making a mess is okay.

Our walls and porches are adorned
with our favorite artists work.
And it is free.

Is It Really October?

Okay October where are you?
The house is decorated with the warm colors of Fall.
Pumpkins, scarecrows, spiders, and ghosts.
All these tell me it is October,
but the weather is August.
The high today was 94 degrees with 100% humidity.
You teased us the last week the of September.
You made me smile.
I even pulled out the jeans.

I know, I know I leave in the South.

This is what we wished we could have done today.

When we went to the park, sweat made us wet.
We dreamed of these fountains.

I turned the sprinklers on instead.
Not only for the children, but our grass is dry
from the heat.

Oh October, please come.
Even 80 degrees would be nice.

Term Two Update

Year one-term 2-week 6
Week 6 is our review/catch-up week.
We really did not have much to catch up on
except some reading for World history
and some notebook entries for our bird book.
Also, maybe a time line picture or two.
So far we are enjoying term 2.
With all the tweaking we did in term one,
it is nice to be settling in.
My favorite part of the day is reading aloud
to the children.
We also enjoy listening to music as we play
in the back yard.
We did not get to focus on our artist study.
I am hoping that in the next six weeks
we are able to.
I am also hoping to do more notebook
entries.
Right now we have a notebook for our
bird book and our Astronomy book.
I would love to have a notebook on
our Sunday readings and literature readings.
I feel my oldest retains more with doing
these notebook entries.
He struggles with verbal narrations, but
with pictures, he thrives.

Looking forward to the next six weeks.
Many blessings

Our Vacation

Two weeks ago we went to South Florida
to visit family.
We enjoyed every minute of it.

While visiting family, we found this.
Look at this baby.
It is bigger than it looks, lots behind,
and lots on the sides.
Who needs a expensive themed park
when you can play here for free?

Yep, they seem to approve the place.

Smiles and giggles abound.

No crowds.
We had the whole place to ourselves.
Of course we went during a weekday.
Another advantage to homeschooling.

Running Update- Training in Progress

5K - check
10K- check
15K- check
1/2 marathon- check

Completed a 1/2 marathon today. Yeah!
Have a few 5K races scheduled in the upcoming months.
But, the big one is in January 2010,
The Disney Marathon.
I have completed this marathon before,
but this year I will be running with my friend.
We are leaving our husbands and kids behind
and are tracking to Disney.
What fun!
What a great way to start out 2010.

The Ever So Slight Change in the Air

Fall is my favorite time of the year.
Being outdoors is priority now.
Even though our days still hit the upper eighties,
the morning air and the breezes tell us the season is changing.

Our school days are settling,

we are finding our rhythm,
we are naturally slowing down.
I am enjoying this homeschooling.

Many blessings.

Reading

Charlotte Mason's Original
Homeschooling Series

Preface- vol pg 9
18. "We should allow no separation to grow up
between the intellectual and the 'spiritual' life of children;
but should teach them that the divine Spirit
has constant access to their spirits,
and is their continual helper in all interests, duties and joys of life."

I am rereading The Original Homeschooling Series
by Charlotte Mason
slowly this time, trying to fully understand
or at least more than I do now.
Each time I read any of her writings,
I learn.
The above quote spoke volumes to me.

A Little of This and That

Studying bees.

Searching for the perfect stick.

No more high chairs.

No more beds?

Our Toddler "School"

Colors and shapes.
This is what the twins and I are going
to be "studying" starting in October.
We are going to start with orange and circles.
For a short time, and while outside in nature,
we are going to observe circles and the color orange.
Each will have a nature box to put things in.
Simple.
We will display our findings on a nature table
on the back porch
or keep them in our nature "treasure" box.
Might add a cutesy craft project,
like stick gluing orange circles on paper
or
painting circles with orange paint.
Maybe.
Mainly, I just want to take a few minutes of our outside time
to guide them with observing
God's wonders.
I don't want it to be too structured.
Our outside time is mainly a free time for them.
But, I thought a few minutes with observation
might do nicely.

A Few Books We Are Enjoying Now

Johnny Appleseed. This book has beautiful
illustrations and is written in poem.

We read this book with each change of the season.

It is about a mother and son going
on hunts for leaves.
Mother teaches about leaves and trees as they
enjoy nature
throughout the seasons.

Puddles.
I think the title tells it all.
My boys never leave a puddle untouched.

Happy reading.

Making a Castle

A little of this...

A mold and a plan...

A little pounding to remove air pockets...

Lots of drying time.
I mean lots.

Now, you are ready to build a castle or two.

Well, after hundreds more forms are made.
That and a little lesson on proper
staggering of the stones.

This is definitely a father son project.

Keeping House

It is that time of year for a little deep cleaning.
I like to do this at least twice a year.
Once before the Fall season begins
and again in the first of March before Easter.
I keep a clean house, but there is always
those things that could use extra attention
every now and then.
Window screens and porches for instance.
Behind washer and dryers
and under appliances for another.
There is also the going through clothes,
packing some away and giving some away.
Don't forget those toys.
I actually look forward to digging in.
This usually takes two weeks.
Once done, there will be no rush for when
company comes,
except decisions about what to cook for meals.
All smiles.

Honoring Our Brave

This weekend, the Georgia Bulldogs football team
will be wearing a sticker on their helmet
to honor the Georgia based
48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team
during their game against South Carolina.
The sticker is a replica of the
combat team's shoulder sleeve insignia.



There are approximately 3,000 Georgians
in this combat team.
My brother is one of them.
They are currently deployed in
Afghanistan.

To this date they have lost 7 soldiers
in the line of duty.

Thank you Bulldogs for honoring
not only the men and women of the 48th,
but all who sacrifice and have sacrificed for our country.

Go Dawgs!!!!

Taking a Little Hike with Astronomy

We are enjoying our study of astronomy
this year.
We found this activity here,
An Interplanetary Hike.

Basically, you are pacing out a walking scale model
of the solar system.
Each step roughly represents 30,000,000 miles.

Pluto is at the end of the driveway.
Wow.

You Know It is Time to Start Potty Training When...

Your twins have "wee-wee" wars in the bathtub.

Their control and aim is good, too good.

I am off to buy some Cherrios.
Target practice has begun.

Pray for me.

Morning Readings

We have started the Peter Rabbit tales
by Beatrix Potter
as part of our morning readings.
My oldest has heard them before,
but it is a first for the twins.
I really think my oldest is enjoying
them more this time around, me too.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit,
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin,
and tomorrow
The Tailor of Gloucester.
What fun we are having.
Many blessings.

Including Younger Siblings

Home schooling with younger ones around
can be a challenge.



Til this term, we waited for the younger ones
to nap before any schooling began.
The morning hours were spent outside
playing, exploring, observing.
This term I wanted to do something different.
I wanted to include the little ones, a bit.
The bulk of concentrated studies is still
done during the twins nap.

Now each morning we have the hymn
for the term playing with breakfast. We all sing.
After breakfast we all gather on pillows
in the family room.
We first all stand and say the pledge,
well my oldest and I do, the little ones
stand, giggle, and have their hands over their bellies.
We then get out the playtime devotional
book and do our little song.
Books of the Bible and memory verse next.
Afterwards, I read books.
Some are from the year one list,
others might be what some consider twaddle.

The little ones seem to like being included.
Of course, outside play is much wanted
by all next.