A new hobby

Well, I have a new hobby- Photography! I will need much prayer- I have no idea what I'm doing! Maybe I do just a little. My dear, sweet wonderful husband bought me a "real camera" for Christmas.  It's a Olympus SP-550UZ.  Now that I know how to take a few pics with it, I am really starting to get comfortable. Thanks to the patience of a friend who is helping me out, I just may take decent pictures after all (Thanks, Chris and Julie) Take a look:

Blogger Friend School Assignments # 11 & #12

Wow, in the midst of all the chaos of the holidays and birthdays and life in general, I haven't done my BFS assignments! Well, here they are...
Assignment #11: The assignment this week is to visit your classmates blogs and leave them a comment to let them know that you are praying for them. At the same time for your blog, please post any prayer needs that you have. The POWER of prayer is what binds us together with HIM!
1) Prayer for the sick and shut-in
2) My husband for continued strength to work and provide for our family.
3) Me, as I continue to home school my children
4) My children, as I continue to home school them
5) Our country, for this being the year of voting for a new leader
6) Our troops, serving overseas and their families for peace and comfort.

Assignment #12: Write out some goals that you would like to accomplish. These goals should include your personal goals, but also goals as a family.
1) To get moved into our house and get organized
2) ditto to #2
3) ditto #2 and #3

My Baby is 7 today!

Today is my middle sons birthday and he is 7! I am so surprised at how fast times goes when you're having fun. He's one of easy going children-he got that from my side of the family . Just kidding. Prior to having him, I was diagnosed with a disease and the doctors told me I could not have anymore children. I was raised to believe in the power of prayer. God healed my body and I am perfectly whole. My first indication of God healing me was to find out I was pregnant with my son. THANK YOU, JESUS!!! Not only did I have him, but we had another son after him- I should demand a refund from that doctor!

Anyway, we both almost died the day he was born, but God in His grace and mercy spared our lives. My favorite scripture from that day on has been:
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
(Lamentations 3:21-23)

Happy Birthday my Honey Bun King!!!! I love you!

Classical Music & Composers Lapbook/Folderbook

For the past two weeks, we have been studying about Music and Composers.  It turned out to be more than I expected. My children really got into it and my daughter began her recorder lessons. When we move, we plan to begin her with piano lessons. My oldest son is interested in playing the drums. He got an unexpected surprise when my husband brought home a drum pad with the drum sticks and instructions. It wasn't too hard to teach the lessons, I play (or have played) the flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and a teeny tiny bit of the piano. I love music.

Since our curriculum had us also studying composers, I thought instead of doing a lapbook, we would do a "folderbook"- it's a mix of a lapbook with a folder. Yeah, I made the word up...I got the idea from another mom on a group list I belong to. I hot glued the lapbook to the front of a three prong folder.

I found many, many helpful resources. My favorite site was my blog friends, Jimmie Squiddo page: http://www.squidoo.com/musiclapbook
It was full of so much info and help. Our curriculum suggested we listen or watch  "Peter and the Wolf". My library had one copy and it was checked out. I finally got it, but then I read on Jimmie's page about a site that has the entire recording online that can be listened to for free! I f you plan to study classical music and want to make a lapbook- her page is the place to look.
Another wonderful site is: Classics for Kids: http://www.classicsforkids.com/
We would listen to the lessons about composers and the kids would do a short report from the info they heard. They have print outs about each composer that includes games. While my older ones were working, my middle son had fun at the site playing interactive games that helped him to identify notes, keep rhythm, and compose his own songs.
Our coloring sheets of composers were downloaded free from: http://www.notebookingpages.com/index.php?page=Free-Art-Music-Notebooking-Pages
Free lapbook booklets at HomeSchool Helper: www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/orchestra.htm
Music worksheets at Enchanted Learning: www.enchanted learning.com
For the orchestras by periods-Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids website: www.dsokids.com/2001/rooms/musicroom.asp

This is funny

I laughed so hard at this, until I cried! How in the world they got 25- I will never know:

Christmas Tradition

I am an Army Brat...so I lived various places. One place that I stayed the longest at was Kaiserslautern, Germany- 5 years. When we would go out on the "economy"- or out to the German stores, they would give out these calendars that would count down the days of Christmas. There were little windows on the calendar with numbers. So, on the first day of December, I would open the window that had the number one, on Dec. 2, I would open window number 2, ect. Inside the windows would be a piece of chocolate candy or little trinket. Considering I no longer live in Germany, I hadn't seen these Advent calendars since we left. I have often thought it would be something that I would like for my children to be able to experience. Welllllllll, I went to the base commissary with my mom about two weeks ago and guess what they had...German Advent Calendars!!!! For $1.50! I was so excited, yesterday was the first day my children opened their "windows" they were so excited (it have been me being all excited) I am just happy to be able to pass this German tradition down to my children. I heard they have them in the $1 store, but it was in my heart to have a German made calendar with German chocolates. Here's two pics. One is of the front of the calendar and the other is of the back with the address:

     

Blogger Friend School #10

Part A: Please share your Favorite Christmas/Holiday Cookie Recipe(s)!

3/4	cup margarine or butter
1/2	cup sugar
1 (3	ounce) package Jello gelatin, any flavor
2	eggs
1	teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2	cups flour
1	teaspoon baking powder
1	teaspoon salt

• < 60 mins Hand-formed Cookies


• Holiday/Event Hand-formed Cookies


• Kid Pleaser Hand-formed Cookies

1. Cream margarine, sugar, jello and eggs together in a medium to large bowl.


2. Add the rest of the ingredients.


3. Mix well.


4. Roll dough into little balls and place on a greased and floured cookie sheet.


5. Flatten each with a fork.


6. (Sometimes a little flour on the fork keeps it from sticking).


7. Bake 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees.

Part B: Share a memory, story or tradition about baking any Christmas/Holiday goodies.

My tradition for baking during the holidays would be with my daddy. Every year he goes into "baking cake" mode and will make every kind of cake he can think of! Considering at early times it would be just him, my mom and me with about 5 cakes-double layered! Now, its at least 8 of us and not quite as hard to finish all the cakes off...

Part C: Share a verse that is upon your heart this week.

1Sa 30:6  And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

Volcanoes Part II

Well, we have finished a lapbook on volcanoes. It was not my intent to do a lapbook, but we did. I am actually pretty pleased with it. Only my two middle sons did them. When I taught it from the curriculum, my first grader was the only one who was supposed to study and make a volcano, but his brothers were really excited and I pulled them into the lesson. Someone shared on my curriculums group site, a company that would charge $1 for rock samples. They come in a nice little pack, divided up with what type of rocks they are. We had fun and here are a few pics:

Interactive Map: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/pompeii/pmpMain.html
Mount Vesuvius erupting: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/pompeii/pmpErup.html
Pompeii: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/pompeii/pmpPomp.html
To order your own Texas Rock Kit, for $1.00: www.beg.utexas.edu/mainweb/publications/pubs-toorder.htm

Here I go again...

I am changing the theme to my blog to something more "wintery", so please excuse my mess once again.

Blogger Friend School #9

Part A: Share at least 3 “Bountiful Blessings” that the Lord has abundantly provided.

1. I am thankful to know God! Who He is and His name is Jesus!

2. I am thankful for my parents who taught me to know God for myself. And also for the legacy of love they have given me. Love of God, Love of His Word and Love of Life. "I have found him who my soul loveth and I held him, I will not let Him go!" (Paraphrased big time-)
Song of Solomon 3:4

3. I am thankful for my husband and my children. I am thankful that I have a family that I can this wonderful legacy of love to and for my husband who gladly shares in the passing of it.

4. I am thankful for good friends who also share in the legacy of love.

Part B: Share your Thanksgiving Feast {past or present} You may use Photos, menus, recipes, activities, traditions…Be creative! –”Who carves the turky?”, “Do you save the wishbone?”, “What do you serve for dessert?”, “Who hosts the Thanksgiving dinner in your family” ….my favorite…”What do you do with all those leftovers?”

Ummmmm, lets see. Normally on Thanksgiving, we will celebrate with my parents or my husband's. If we are with my parents, then we normally have a big turkey, which my dad carves. My mom will make stuffing to go with it along with candid yams, collard, mustard and turnip greens, mac & cheese, cranberry sauce, and rolls. Then my dad makes cakes- a lot of them! We try to save the wishbone for the kids. We keep eating leftovers until they are gone- which generally takes until Sunday.

Part C: Post a Scripture that reminds you of your blessings!

1Chronciles 16:34  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

Volcanos

My 1st grader had an assignment to build a volcano. He was so excited! We made our own clay- that's why he has so much white powder on him:
4 Cups of flour,
1 Cup of salt and
1 1/2 Cups of water.
Here are his pictures with a little video clip from off my digital camera of the wonderful results of all his efforts. I don't know who enjoyed more- him or his brothers:

Rocks & Minerals

Well I'm not one to care for rocks and minerals, but when the subject comes up, my children need to be taught. This is one of those circumstances that everyone who is not a homeschooler, asks you about. "What do you do if you don't understand something." I smile and say, "I pray!" Which is so true and there has not been a time that God has not stepped in on time.
This time the prayer was answered in the past and present- by that I mean, the Lord had provided me with the right books for each child to learn the lesson on their level, some time last year. Then it was answered presently because I went to our state's museum website and saw they had exhibit on the very subject. So, I made it a date for a field trip. Well, the first Tuesday of every month is especially dedicated to home schoolers there!!!! Only $1 per student and the teacher is free!!! Perfect. Oh, and to top it off, they have just begun 1 hour workshops for homeschoolers on a different subject every month. Guess what this month's subject was??? ROCKS & MINERALS!!!!!  God is soooooooooooooooooooooooo good! He knew what I had need of even before I asked Him. My two older children went to the workshop and when they came out, they were telling me so much information! My son went around the museum telling what type of stone we were looking at and what type of stone it was. My daughter told me that they showed them how to do a streak test. I had read about this, but I didn't know exactly what they were talking about, but when she did it herself, she understood. A really good book for younger kids and I think my older liked it too, is "The Magic School Bus- Inside the Earth" Very helpful! Here are a few pics:

Oh, BTW, I don't know if you can see my children's shirts, but another mom shared the site with me and I LOVE them! They say,
"YES- I am homeschooled,
YES- I am socialized,
YES- I had class today!"
Boy, did that stop a lot of people in their tracks!
I got a lot of compliments- My mom purchased them for me because she liked them so much-Thanks Mom, I love you!
www.homeschoolboutique.com

Blogger Friend School #8

Part A - Share about your family’s laundry. Where is it kept? Who does it? How does your family sort it? Do you wash by hand? Hang clothes on the clothesline? Make your own laundry soap? How often do you do laundry? How many loads each day/week? Indoor laundry room, in the garage, or laundry mat? Even more fun…share a picture!

Part B - Do you have an area in your life that you know that the Lord is tugging at some heart strings that needs to be cleaned up? Have a testimony of your past struggle(s) that might help another homeschooling mom? Share a piece of your heart (dirty laundry) that you are seeking a good washing or how it got cleaned up. Sharing with one another is a great way to have your post feel human and real.

Part C - FIND a scripture this week that pertains to this assignment to help you with your laundry and share it this week.

Part A: Our laundry is genearlly kept in a laundry basket/hamper. I normally do the laundry, but my daughter is getting to the age where she likes to do it. Hey- as long as she enjoys it, why not? She will put them in the washer and dryer, and I fold them and put them away. We sort by whies, lights and darks. Sometimes, I wash by hand- especially socks. I laundry at least twice a week. Right now we live with my parents and their laundry room is in the house. When I move, I plan to also have my washer and dryer inside the house.

Part B: Mine would have to be unforgiveness. There are a lot of things that I have held onto from the past. I honestly "thought" I had let things go, but then something happens and boom, there it is again. I've learned that it profits a person little to hold onto a grudge. And I also realize that, If I don't forgive others, then God will not forgive me.

Part C: I know "cleanliness is next to Godliness" is not a scripture, but it really came to mind! LOL, Anyway- I think of Psalms 51:

Psa 51:2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Psa 51:7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Blogger Friend School #7 & Pumpkin Patch Fun

Yesterday, we went to a nearby Apple Orchard/ Pumpkin Patch. We had fun- more fun than I had anticipated. I've gotten into "picture thing" where I just want to take pictures and enhance them(- I guess that's the word). I don't know if this will stick or if it's a passing phase, but I'm enjoying myself either way. Any way, I saw a lot of good photo opportunities and snapped away.

School House Rock Math

This week my son needed to learn to skip count by 3's. He remembered the song, "Three is the Magic Number" from off of School House Rock video. It was perfect! We have been singing the song since then. I went to Amazon and ordered the SHR DVD (which we are waiting to arrive), then I thought to check it out on youtube.com. And they had quite a few of the songs! All of the number songs, I put on the right hand side of my blog for easy access. At first, I didn't understand WHY they had taken these off of t.v.???!!! I mean, they were excellent learning tools! But, then I listened to some of the words and there are a lot of Biblical refernces in the songs- WOW. Our country has fallen to the point where they don't mind cursing and nudity, but they would have a fit if School House Rock were to play on television again.

Words of wisdom from my 4 year old

When we were at the park on Monday, my daughter sees something on a bench-
Daughter: "Oh cool, it's a cricket and it's rubbing it's legs together!"
We all look.
My Mom & I: "That's not a cricket"
Me: "What is that?"
My daughter, 11 year old son and 6 year old: "Yeah, what is that?"
Me: "I don't know what THAT is!"
My four year old: "It's a BUG!"
...and they doubt us homeschoolers!!!

Blog Makeover

Please forgive my mess- I love Fall and I wanted to change my blog theme to fit the season!

Water Cycle Lesson

This weekend while putting my lesson plans together, I realized we were going to cover the water cycle. I made plans, found a little video online (click here to see) and had everything ready to go. I got up this morning and exercised- I just started back today. I thought I should get some water from the pantry and then it hit me (or should I say, the Lord plucked me upside my head) that the place I go to get my water is a local spring. I forgot they had signs around the spring explaining how it works. Today was a nice day so that was our field trip. They had a nice walking trail and I took pictures. Thankfully, my mom was with me and I got a pretty good picture of her with the kids on the bridge....

Blogger Friend School Assignment #6

This week’s assignment is to share a piece of your past. Our blogs are important pieces for our future generations, but when most of us were growing up, blogging wasn’t around. I hope that this assignment will help you to share your past on your blogs. Each piece of our childhood years played an important part in who we are today. The assignment is to post a baby picture & Share a special scripture that reminds you of your past.
Okay, here is mine. I am about 2 months old...

The first verse I can remeber memorizing was from Mark 11:22 "...have faith in God." This verse still helps me today. So all that said..."Having obtained help from God, I continue unto this day..." Acts 26:22

Bible & Books of the Bible Lapbook

This week we completed our Bible and books of the Bible Lapbook. This took a lot of prayer and thought when I was designing it. I KNOW it was the Lord who helped me with this-He helps me in every way, but this one was not one I took lightly. After all, we were doing a lapbook on the GREATEST BOOK.
The lesson plan called for us to study the Bible- not just what's in it, but the Bible itself. I was pleased to learn that my two older children had already covered the divisions of the Bible in Sunday School (my husband and my pastor's wife are their teachers-so my husband is proud.

My 6 year old's lapbook is different from my 11 &13 year old's. Because I wanted my 6 year old to understand on his level, we used "Old Testament City' & "New Testament City" (this part was suggested in our curriculum, but with ancient houses that could be used in on a wall or a spread out on the floor). Of course, the cities were located in the state of the Bible. There were various streets- Pentateuch (Law) Avenue, History Lane, Poetry Circle, Major Prophets Way and Minor Prophets Road, just to name a few. Each division of the books are different colors. My son was really excited, and on his own, he drew little people to visit each house and just in case they were tired, he made them a car also.

For my older two children, we used legal size folders and I made small booklets in the same colors of my 6 year old's.  They wrote the names of the books on the outside and put them in the correct divisions.

After doing the Dino Lapbook with Live & Learn press, I gleaned a lot of ideas from them- as far as using different folds for the mini books.

There were some words I wanted my children to learn, so we began with vocabulary: inspiration, history, translation, holy, epistles, Pentateuch...ect.
The kids colored a map of the three continents where the Bible was written.
The Christian History Institute for Kids was very useful and informative- it gave us just the amount of info we needed when we studied about William Tyndale and King James.
Also, this site( MSSS Bible Lesson) was helpful when looking for worksheets and childrens kind of Bible stuff.
To drive home about how difficult it was to translate the Bible from one language to another, we used a name generator- this one did the job and had all three Bible languages. Which we used to make the children's names in the three languages. It was interesting to see their names this way... I actually did my own name!
For the Big Bible: http://www.raindrop.org/rugrat/fun/cbible.gif
To my surprise, when I read the resource section of our curriculum, there was a tic-tac-toe game! So I made a board and used some clipart to make markers. In order for the children to be able to put a marker on the board, they had to correctly answer a question, such as: Name the 5 books of Law, how many books are in the Minor Prophets division...ect.
Also, on the back are a few pics of our trip to the Holy Land Experience. One is of my children in front of a replica of the Cave of the Qumran and the other is of the Scriptorium- it shows how the Word of God came to be with us, today. When my mom went to Israel last year, she brought back for me a small replica of the clay pots that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in. I made a copy of the scroll (which contained
Isaiah 61:1) and had the children copy the verse on the back in English. Then, I rolled it up and put a rubber band around around. I did something different with the pocket to hold it. I basically folded the sides and bottoms of the paper like a little accordion. That way I was able to store the scroll without it getting smashed.
Today, to go along with the lesson, we began the process of making papyrus paper. I plan to post pics as I am able to- it should take about a week or two before we will be finshed with it.
Finally, here are the pics...enjoy!
To see the title of the pics or to pause the slide show, just put your mouse over the pic.

 

Blogger Friend School Assignment #5

The Assignment this week it to use your Blog Name (or your own pen/real name) and create signs. There are two ways to do this and you can do one or both ways.

1. Visit Image Chef (www.ImageChef.com) and create some free cute signs. The easiest way to explain this is follow the templates — choose, customize (type in name), and then Preview. Once you see the design, right click and SAVE to your computer. AND/OR you can be really creative and create your own signs, take digital pictures and share them. (Examples….Refrigerator Magnets, Shaving Cream, Frosting, etc.)

2. Share a special verse!

After working on the signs, I decided to just join #1 & #2 together by including my verse in my sign- as you can see, one verse just wouldn't do for this week...

My favorite sign is the header of my blog- The background pic was already on there and I just added my children and my verse...

Make Your Own Fortune Cookie at 123mycodes.com

Single Heart Comments Graphics at 123mycodes.com

Assignment #4

The Internet offers a lot of treasures! It may not be in the form of actual gold, although I’m sure some could find some on the Internet - probably on ebay! Being a Blogger Friend is all about sharing our treasures. The assignment this week is to share your Internet treasures.

Hmmmmm.... I have so many to share!!!!! I'll just do about 10.

1. Enchanted Learning: All kinds of educational worksheets to supplement whatever we are learning about.

2. Cosmeo.com: My oldest son saw this on a commercial and told me about it. Its a website by the discovery channel for school age kids. There are videos and games and a ton of help for whatever our topic is. I can save things for later viewing and my children have their own site and they get points for various things they do on there, and later they can get a prize!!!! The site cost $10 a month, but to see if you like it, you can get it free for 30 days.

3. Abe Books: Someone just shared this site with me and I've ordered a couple of books from them. They are good for filling in a missing book to a set.

4. My blog hoster

5. Little Fingers Software: My Sister In Law (it should be my sister-in-love) sent me this website. My middle son, who is 6, loved playing it! He stayed it for almost an hour going to various games. It's a website for preschoolers through  about 3 rd grade. There are games on different topics...check it out!

6. Starfall: Good for children starting to read

7. Live and Learn Press: Lapbooks that are great to make!

8. Hands of a Child: More great lapbooks

9. Home School E-store: I can't explain it- just go take a look at it!

10. Amazon to order just a little bit of everything, which means I must also include ebay!

11. Notebooking  Pages: Interested in notebooking? There are tons of free pages here to get you started

12. I have to mention my yahoo groups that I am a part of. Check out yahoo and see if they any groups that fit you interest.

13. MSSS Bible Crafts and Resources: I can't believe that one slipped my mind! I use it so much.

Wow, I went over my limit-oh, well. If I think of more, I will add them later.

Maya, Inca and Aztec thingy

We did a mini study of the Maya, Inca and Aztec last week. Today, we finished this...I just don't know exactly what to call it. There are a few mini books, but then I added pages with page protectors to put the kids reports in and it's not a file folder refolded, its a a regular folder with the three prongs. Soooooooo, it's not a lap book, it's not a notebook, I guess it's lap/note book thingy...or I'll just call it a folder book. (Ummm, can I have that patented?) Any ways, here they are below.  This was basically a breif overview of the subject covered and in 5 days time. For the folder books, with my younger two, I used History Pockets Ancient History and for my older ones, I used Inca, Aztec, Maya reproducable book by edupress.

Books we read and used were Eyewitness Books, Aztec, Inca, and Maya. Aztec and Maya arts and crafts and  Me Oh Maya with the Time Warp Trio. To help my 7th grader, she read, "Streams of Civilizations" and my 6th grader read, "The Story of the World". These were really good to emphasize and supplement what we were learning about. I also made up a worksheet for the kids to fill in about each ones location, social structure and religion. Our curriculum suggested them to write a report and the easiest way for all of us to this was for me to make up a worksheet (it as the Lord's idea, not mine : ))

This week we will be learning about the Bible- not about the info in the Bible, but about the Bible itself. Who wrote it, why is it called a "book of books", how many books are in the Bible, ect. We will be making it into a lapbook, as well. Of course I will post pics!

 

I'm back on Schedule!!!

The Lord has done so many great things for my wonderful Husband and I and my family this week, until I just couldn't settle down to write from all the excitement. I will share my testimony later on as things progress. Now, my assignment for this week...
Using the FIRST letter of the Alphabet, describe yourself or things that are important to you. The hard part: use ONLY one word per letter! Share another scripture that is upon your heart this week. Agape balloons cute : ) determined excelling fun Godly happy important joyful kept loved miracle nice optamistic postive quiet (sometimes) righteous saved! trustful unified victorious washed eXcelling yeilding Zion              Anyone dizzy yet? I am!

"And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
Lamentations 3:18-23