tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50335507919116395802011-10-03T11:18:49.309-04:00Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.comBlogger2751100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-82742104037594660782011-01-04T23:19:00.000-05:002011-01-04T23:19:38.356-05:00

My 9, almost 10 year old LOVES the new "What's in the Bible?" DVDs from Phil Vischer (of Veggie Tale fame).  Click here to go to their website. And I must say, they are AWESOME videos!!  Very, very informative while being quite funny.  Lauren laughs out loud all the time.  So do DH and I.  Ashley likes the videos, but she doesn't find them quite as funny as Lauren does. Of course, when we heard

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-88030421438080997222010-12-29T21:12:00.000-05:002010-12-29T21:12:33.157-05:00

Random thoughts since this is obviously a blog that is posted on at random times: #1  My new favorite book series:  The Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan.  LOVE.  IT.  Yes, it's a series that is found in the Young Adult section (ie Teen Section) at my local public library, or in the children's section at the bookstore.  No matter...I love it.  I've read all nine books in the series and

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-43634258905632406132010-09-10T22:34:00.001-04:002010-09-10T22:36:41.647-04:00

First and foremost, I would like to extend my profound thanks to Dr. Kevin Leman, author of Have a New Kid by Friday as well as Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours.  We read the second book many years ago and kept its advice in mind all of these years, but the first one is a newer book that I've been reading and it is so easy to apply the concepts and was such a good refresher.  I really

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-26197199128522038662010-09-06T22:00:00.001-04:002010-09-06T22:15:38.794-04:00

I think this is the latest I've ever done a Weekly Wrap-Up.  I can still link up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers though, so head on over there and read some more! This edition is called "Better Late Than Never" because I'm posting it rather late.  Most people write these on Friday or Saturday and here it is, Monday of the next week.  It's also called "Better Late Than Never" because

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-81116671521533125832010-08-29T18:07:00.001-04:002010-08-29T18:08:58.331-04:00

 I'm just going to highlight science and soccer this week in an effort to be brief (ha,ha,ha) and because I like the whole double-/s/ sound effect.  Science:  Last week we began Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (Young Explorer Series).  Lauren was especially excited about the fact that I had purchased the full color student notebooks to go with the book. We

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-14392423556028427832010-08-20T12:02:00.000-04:002010-08-20T12:02:42.128-04:00

This week was a vast improvement over last week.  It was not without tears, but it was better. Lauren ran her first 5K last weekend (3.1 miles).  She was a bit nervous about that, so Daddy ran with her the whole time. They are also both running races in September to raise awareness of World Vision and to get children in Kenya sponsored through World Vision.  DH is doing a half-marathon and Lauren

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-38952044170464620822010-08-14T00:13:00.000-04:002010-08-14T00:13:02.986-04:00

We started school on Wednesday.  I'll be honest, it was a rough week.  Lots of tears, lots of discipline needing to be given out, lots and lots of prayers going from this Mommy to Jesus for guidance, wisdom, clarity, and some other issues that are just between the Mommy and Jesus.  Lots of self-reflection and re-evaluating was going on from the Mommy end. Monday is a fresh start to a new week.

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-11300353329133616272010-08-06T22:29:00.001-04:002010-08-06T22:32:42.982-04:00

I have taken a bit of a bloggy break both from writing and even reading blogs this summer.  But now I thought I'd join back in with the Weekly Wrap-Ups over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.  Check out the other wrap-ups over there as well! I was gone from home 27 nights from May 4-July 12.  That is almost four weeks in about a 10 week period.  That was a bit much for me.  I think I already

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-41581678688041355102010-06-04T23:48:00.000-04:002010-06-04T23:48:21.634-04:00

My goodness, we've been BUSY!  In my last blog post, we had just returned from tip-toeing through the tulips. We left just a day later to spend the weekend at DH's parents' house so that he could help roof his sister's house.  He's handy like that.  It saves us tons and tons of money.  We like that. Next, it was a weekend getaway for my Grandpa's memorial celebration with my extended family. 

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-13353227961224433622010-05-08T22:58:00.002-04:002010-05-08T23:00:48.311-04:00

The girls and I went on a three day field trip this week.  Fun!  And sadly, the pictures are not on my computer yet, and I do not have my camera cord with me to load them. We saw a parade with many, many marching bands from grades five and up.  We saw lots and lots of tulips, Dutch crafts, wooden shoes, Dutch dancers, and the beach. And apparently I can no longer consume large quantities of

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-66739464125437241742010-04-30T22:37:00.000-04:002010-04-30T22:37:25.554-04:00

It's time for our weekly wrap-up! We are trying oh-so-hard to finish up our Sonlight Core by the end of May!  Lauren is on her last reader, but we have three more read alouds to do and a couple of them look pretty long!  Eeks!  Sadly, none of them are on CD at the library.  When we can get books on CD, it is so nice!  It gives me a break from so much reading, and makes some of our longer car

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-38128065216885625412010-04-26T22:40:00.000-04:002010-04-26T22:40:31.759-04:00

Kris over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers did a FANTASTIC post that anyone who does NOT homeschool should read. It's called, "The Public School Parents' Guide to Homeschool Parents." Seriously, it explains things so well.  I'm jealous that I didn't write it myself.  I have thought all of these things (with the possible exception of some parts of point #3) and it's so refreshing to have

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-82104967099170145732010-04-23T23:51:00.002-04:002010-04-24T00:02:39.041-04:00

There are more Weekly Wrap-Ups at Kris's blog.  Check them out! I've been sick since last week Thursday.  Zero energy, ZERO.  I had a super sore throat which morphed into snottiness which morphed into no voice and coughing. The rest of the family was sick with the same thing, but I seemed to get the worst of it. THEN, to make things even MORE exciting, I apparently got a little virus of the

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-86523029147312283582010-04-16T14:06:00.002-04:002010-04-16T14:07:55.684-04:00

It's bonus week for my weekly wrap-up since I didn't do one last week!  Actually, I don't think I did one the week before that either, oh well. Last week was SPRING BREAK.  Whoo-hoo!  DH is a public school teacher, thus, we follow their schedule for the most part. I barely remember what we did for the first part of the week.  Wait, DH ran 20 miles.  I did not.  I was responsible for making sure

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-77530072732183733562010-03-27T00:26:00.000-04:002010-03-27T00:26:44.669-04:00

This week was a bit different for us.  Lauren was involved  in drama camp this week.  Do not confuse this with the normal drama that comes with having two children, especially those of the female variety.  This was drama camp where the kids actually practiced and performed a musical!  The Academy of Arts has been doing a homeschool drama week here for several years now.  They do a great job, and

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-70763940924640385002010-03-20T14:27:00.000-04:002010-03-20T14:27:18.905-04:00

I couldn't think of a good name for this week's edition of our Weekly Wrap-Up. Maybe some other bloggers came up with catchy names for theirs.  You can find out by clicking over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. We did have a very good week!  We were done with school by 1:00 every day but Friday!  Our school work has been taking us a looooooong time to get done each day, so I was thrilled

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-12473626997639482242010-03-12T23:49:00.000-05:002010-03-12T23:49:16.162-05:00

Go to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to read more Weekly Wrap-Ups! We had a really good week!  The "Where Did These Kids Come From?" title stems from the fact that on Friday, my girls informed me that they had a plan and I was not to ask any questions about it.  Since I could tell they were up to something GOOD, I obliged. They proceeded to take all of their independent work to Lauren's

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-56718028926117791292010-03-06T22:37:00.000-05:002010-03-06T22:37:14.898-05:00

Hey, I'm actually getting to my Weekly Wrap-Up this week!  Look for more Weekly Wrap-Ups by clicking here. We had a good week.  No one was sick, the SUN came out, and I feel like we got a lot accomplished.  The highlight of the week, by far, was our trip to a maple syrup farm.  A college works with the farm and sends students getting their Master's degrees in environmental education to the farm

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-60244375351967447292010-03-01T23:14:00.001-05:002010-03-01T23:20:20.385-05:00

I didn't get a weekly wrap-up done for last week because Ashley has been sick and that combined with a busy schedule, well, the blogging just didn't happen! I did want to share this post from Vicki Courtney.  Sheesh.  I do believe that some toy manufacturers just have no idea of what the word "modest" or "appropriate" means at all. Click on the link for more details.  And have a lovely day. 

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-87673661565993478362010-02-19T23:07:00.000-05:002010-02-19T23:07:45.989-05:00

This week I thought I'd give a brief overview of how our days looked this week.  This varies greatly by week, but this is how our week went this time!  Check out other Weekly Wrap-Ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Monday:  We love Mondays because we rarely have to go anywhere.  Because of this, I try to pack Mondays full of academics.  The hit of the day was a new critical thinking book

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-49208589145529924592010-02-14T19:13:00.001-05:002010-02-14T19:14:26.264-05:00

It's time for our Weekly Wrap-Up!  It was a fairly snowy week. DH is a public school teacher, and he had two snow days this week.  He also had a two-hour delay.  He says we (the girls and I) ALWAYS have a two-hour delay.  No comment. I choose not to have a snow day when DH does because I'd rather take a nice, warm, sunny park day when it's, well, nice, warm and sunny out!  Lauren's main

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-65981767950305227392010-02-04T21:57:00.009-05:002010-02-05T16:42:32.243-05:00

It was a week of tears, coughs, out-of-control hormones and a sick Daddy. He actually stayed home from work for two days which is unheard of around here.It was a long week. But we survived. Thankfully it was also a week of some laughs, good discussions, library book club, swimming lessons (which means gab time with friends for Mom!) and sweet moments like the one below. It was also a week to look

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-60337646722893876842010-01-22T16:04:00.007-05:002010-01-22T23:17:14.920-05:00

We are fully back in the swing of things school-wise around here! Or at least we're trying to be! Lauren had a little stomach bug on Wednesday, but we didn't get too far behind because of that. She did have to miss swimming lessons which resulted in a few tears. We're just hoping the rest of us stay healthy! Ashley has ONE MORE lesson in Headsprout and then she's done! I'm a little sad about

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-17484055736152128652010-01-15T21:28:00.003-05:002010-01-15T21:38:13.134-05:00

I am so very blessed that all four of my grandparents are still with us here on earth. They are all very, very special people. They pray for their family every day. My paternal grandparents just celebrated 65 years of marriage. My maternal grandparents just celebrated 68 years of marriage! What wonderful examples they all are for us!! My Grandpa E. has been experiencing quite a few ups and downs

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-72487959996833520062009-12-19T00:11:00.009-05:002009-12-19T10:59:08.586-05:00

As I begin to write this wrap-up, I honestly can't remember much of what we did this week. I'm been a little spacey today. Let's see, Ashley did a Literature Pocket about "The Milkmaid and the Pail" from Aesop's Fables. We still have to make butter for one of that pocket's activities. Lauren is working on a Plymouth Colony History Pocket even though we're a hundred years beyond Plymouth in our

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-8851751653640540922009-12-09T21:46:00.010-05:002009-12-12T14:43:43.269-05:00

We've had a fun week of school! We got to attend the second half of the Nutcracker ballet (they only show the second half for the school audience), then we went to the local gingerbread festival where we saw some really awesome gingerbread houses! The day before we saw all of those really awesome houses, we went to a local cake decorating store and made our own gingerbread houses. I found this to

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-14378648903144565002009-12-05T22:31:00.002-05:002009-12-05T22:48:51.202-05:00

Is "slogging" even a word? Hmmmm....regardless, that's what we're doing. We're just hanging in here, trying to get through what I describe as "the basics" until we can take a break for two weeks for Christmas!I have tried and tried to upload pictures to this post, but it's just not happening.The highlights of our week were our little art appreciation co-op & book club. In our co-op, we learned

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-52548127737677597412009-11-21T10:40:00.004-05:002009-11-21T11:09:08.017-05:00

This is the work edition of my weekly wrap-up because I worked a lot this week! Ugh, I do NOT know how full-time work-outside-the-home moms do it. I'm so very, very blessed that I do not work full-time outside of the home. I'm so glad that God changed my thinking years ago and made me realize that, for this phase of my life, my main job is to be a wife, mother, and teacher of my children. Yes, I

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-34159284165116746702009-11-13T22:36:00.008-05:002009-11-14T16:18:29.662-05:00

We had visits from both sets of grandparents this week, so it was a very exciting week for the girls!The girls played games and went to the park with Grandma & Grandpa.I dubbed it "Grandparent Day" for library book club on Friday. Papa went with Ashley to her class, and Mimi went with Lauren to hers. Earlier in the day we learned about consumer economics. (at the mall) (where I got some really

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-59226234632611585472009-11-05T16:18:00.008-05:002009-11-06T22:29:08.721-05:00

This is my first attempt at doing the Weekly Wrap-Up which is hosted by Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Check out more weekly wrap-ups by clicking here.We did a lot of art activities this week. We went to a homeschool class at the public library that was about Mexican Folk Art. The girls made sugar skulls which is what is made in Mexico to celebrate Day of the Dead (not a gruesome

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-31056967613366407232009-10-22T22:56:00.004-04:002009-10-22T23:46:13.583-04:00

We had a really great field trip to a duck farm recently. This is not a little, bitty farm. They raise and process approximately 3.5 million ducks annually. Products include duck breasts and cooked duck halves in five flavors, as well as a variety of duck sausages. Their primary market is the Asian food market. These eggs have just arrived from the egg supplier farms and are waiting to be washed

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-6244518040671541702009-10-04T20:59:00.001-04:002009-10-04T21:02:14.498-04:00

I wrote this for our Upward Soccer newsletter and thought I'd go ahead and share it here as well.It’s Fire Prevention Week which makes me think about, well, fire prevention! We probably all do things around our homes to make sure our families are more protected in case of fire. I know my family does. We have smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher. We have discussed how to use 911 and where

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-533472257224904132009-09-26T22:24:00.002-04:002009-09-26T22:37:01.236-04:00

My dear husband is humoring me by letting me post this message he wrote on a message board for runners. I'm posting it on the off chance that there are more people than just my dear homeschooling friend Stef, my aunt & grandma, and my college roommate (whose blog is WAAAAAY better than mine, you should check it out) reading this. Maybe someone will have some advice for DH.So, here it is, in his

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-14612855749434848192009-09-25T22:57:00.004-04:002009-09-25T23:34:53.998-04:00

My daughters ran in a kids' marathon today. They ran 25 miles over the course of several weeks and ran the last 1.2 miles tonight at a big event.My girls did a fantastic job! My six year old ran the entire 1.2 miles....something she had not done even in all of their training runs. My older daughter was running with some friends and saw her dad and sister pass her. She told her friends, "I'm

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-72535751170455632842009-09-17T13:28:00.003-04:002009-09-17T13:33:09.420-04:00

"Guest" blog post from Todd Wilson, aka "The Familyman." Permission to copy and post it granted in the email we received. See his encouraging website by clicking here.Hey Dad,Things are mighty busy around the old Wilson house. We just got back from speaking at Spruce Lake Camp in Pennsylvania and then had to be in Chicago to speak shortly after that. My beloved bride thought it would be a great

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-798510771253041382009-09-14T22:34:00.003-04:002009-09-14T22:42:43.039-04:00

The Crafty Crow's Giveaway Monday item is a new book from Klutz. In order to enter the drawing, I needed to post a link here, so that's the sole purpose of this blog post.If you've never visited The Crafty Crow blog, it really is a great blog with lots of fun, crafty ideas to do with your kids!

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-22499798861985007512009-09-12T00:05:00.005-04:002009-09-12T00:35:57.358-04:00

In lieu of the exciting blog posts I usually put here (HA) I thought I'd post the list of all of the books I've read so far in 2009. I was surprised by how many it is, but then I remembered we basically quit watching any and all TV during the summer months and instead I read a lot.There's no big reason we quit watching TV but having only about 14 channels, that number including four, count them,

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-25368604079819490482009-08-27T23:12:00.007-04:002009-08-30T10:43:40.730-04:00

I started typing this post a few days ago. Now it's Sunday, and I'm totally bummed that I'm stuck at home and couldn't go to church. A couple of times a year my back decides to have terrible muscle spasms which make me hunch over like a 90 year old woman, the pain of the spasms making me bite my lower lip so hard that today I thought, "Hmm....I could possibly bite through my lip, not good" and I

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-22314657419907410392009-08-24T22:11:00.006-04:002009-08-24T22:29:13.707-04:00

Our six year old was praying at bedtime tonight. She prayed, "Deah Jesus, thank you fow this day. I hope we have a good day tomo-whoa. And I hope I don't have to do handwhiting. In Jesus' name, Amen"DH and I did a great job of supressing our smiles.Earlier in the night, we were talking about how we could show love to others. Her idea was this, "If you have to do handwhiting but you don't want to,

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-3074032145299610532009-08-23T21:35:00.003-04:002009-08-23T22:06:37.871-04:00

Our pastor often talks about being authentic....basically what I call "keeping it real." Showing people not only your "good" side but the one that messes up or has troubles sometimes too.So I thought I'd do that now.Often when people share about their homeschooling experiences, they share only the good, wonderful parts, of which there are many, to be sure! But that sometimes makes their

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-57209932303366756342009-08-14T17:08:00.004-04:002009-08-14T17:22:00.368-04:00

About nine months ago, I got a part-time job at a local tutoring place. We specialize in helping kids who have a variety of learning problems including visual processing & tracking problems, auditory problems, reading problems (decoding & comprehension), attention problems, etc. It's not a typical "homework" tutoring situation. I put in about 9 hours a week....8 hours of that is spent with

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-47867886784162929622009-07-23T22:12:00.009-04:002009-07-25T09:17:55.572-04:00

***Note: read the comments for a little more explanation. I know this is a long blog post. I hate reading long blog posts. LOL.....for the fall activities to start! Come mid-August, our lives get hectic with L's soccer practice & games, cross country practice & meets for DH, school, swimming, field trips, and for the first time in years, I'll be working 9-10 hours outside of the home during the

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-80047383004710529052009-07-16T08:00:00.001-04:002009-07-16T08:00:00.365-04:00

While at the family reunion, we went on a little canoe trip. The river was great....no rapids or scarey parts at all. In fact, there is only a current when the wind is blowing. It's very calm.Ashley rode with DH and myself. Near the end of the trip, I gave her my paddle to use which she thought was great!Lauren rode with Grandpa.Our canoe and DH's cousins' canoe. The whole group minus two adult

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-11098358733843407722009-07-14T08:00:00.001-04:002009-07-14T08:00:07.175-04:00

At our annual Christmas in July family reunion, we have a decorated tree and everyone puts out Christmas stockings for the annual stocking stuffing event.Some of the male members of the family brought this tree back to camp to decorate. They told all of the kids to each add a cup of water to the bucket. The kids were then sent on a hike.Upon returning from their hike, lo and behold, they found

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-30731574473330865812009-07-12T17:38:00.004-04:002009-07-12T19:18:30.972-04:00

We had our annual Christmas in July family reunion at The Springs Camp this year. DH's cousin and wife run the camp. What a wonderful place! We had perfect camping weather and had the whole place to ourselves since it was the July 4 weekend and no teen or kid camps were taking place.The very first day we were there, in fact, within the very first hour, Lauren and her new cousin friends (second

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-82430818472850624882009-06-19T00:24:00.000-04:002009-06-19T00:25:01.119-04:00

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-41481332527738895662009-06-13T17:01:00.003-04:002009-06-13T17:10:49.817-04:00

....make a fun, yet messy, combination. This combo also makes for happy kids (& neighbor kids). They had so much fun making this.

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-73282936103943454702009-06-04T22:47:00.005-04:002009-06-04T23:22:51.435-04:00

We went to the park today with some friends. Lauren said, "I know why you moms want us to go to the park. It's so you can TALK."You got that right, babe! She learns quickly, huh?Apparently I don't though because while I put sunscreen on the girls' faces and on the back of my neck and on my arms, I somehow neglected the front of my neck and the v-neck part of my t-shirt. I'm nice and rosy there.

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-8649210223273880262009-05-17T14:10:00.006-04:002009-05-17T14:40:10.758-04:00

We use Math-U-See for our math curriculum. We love it. When the girls start a new lesson, they watch a short video clip of Mr. Demme explaining the new concept. Lauren and I got to chat with Mr. Demme at a homeschool expo yesterday. She was thrilled.Lauren's comment about Mr. Demme: He's really TALL! Ashley's comment about Mr. Demme (upon seeing the picture): He's really BALD! lol (He wasn't

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-39257101093601752312009-05-09T17:00:00.003-04:002009-05-09T17:00:00.933-04:00

We went to a Fiber Arts Festival this week. Our friend Aaron said it sounded like it should be called the Bowel Regularity Carnival.Hopefully the only ones displaying the regularity of their bowels were the alpacas and goats that were available for our viewing pleasure.For a mere 50 cents each, the girls were able to weave their own baskets. They also did some wet felting and make little flowers

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-74541763769739884092009-05-07T19:20:00.008-04:002009-05-08T17:06:30.885-04:00

If you promise to ignore our yard clutter, I will post some pictures of our recent gardening adventures. We truly are not the hillbillies of the neighborhood, but you can't tell that from these pictures. The shed will be re-roofed this summer (it's just hideous looking, don't you think?) and the sawhorses will hopefully be placed INSIDE the shed SOON. The wood pile is one of DH's little summer

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-51569549858610438132009-05-07T14:56:00.004-04:002009-05-07T15:11:56.213-04:00

I love to have snacks that are cheap, easy to grab, and portable.Since my kids love Chex Mix, I make up a batch of that, put it in individual snack sized baggies, put all of those into one large baggie, and stick them all in the freezer. This keeps them fresh, they are easy-peasy to grab, and yes, they are VERY portable!I just use the three different kinds of Chex cereal (the store brand usually)

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-68531436233446900082009-04-30T16:09:00.004-04:002009-04-30T18:32:48.818-04:00

We've had some really nice days this week, but today was not one of them weather-wise. However, we were actually home ALL DAY LONG today. FINALLY. So, we made tissue paper "stained glass" flowers. The girls decided to go for the multi-colored flower look since that is so common in nature. We got the idea for this craft from ninth street east. She has detailed instructions on how to make these.

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-6728037826610695692009-04-19T22:07:00.003-04:002009-04-19T22:20:18.453-04:00

You may have seen this post around in blog world, but let me just say YUUUUUMMMMMMMM!!!!! Yum, Yum, Yum. And EASY. Easy, easy, easy. That is a big requirement in recipes.And you must serve them with vanilla ice cream. Or cinnamon if you can find it.From The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Apple DumplingsAnd a big shout out to my friend Kathy who sent a text to her hubby to let my hubby, who had

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-61168705319091586982009-04-16T08:00:00.000-04:002009-04-16T08:00:01.544-04:00

Well, not really, I'd rather curl up with a good book, but this past rainy Monday, we DID do a craft. Man, I should have put on the Carpenters. But I don't own any of their music, so I guess that would have been hard to do.L's Creation Monday was a cold, rainy day. Actually, that is an understatement. I actually put on my long underwear because I couldn't get the chill to go away.Yes, I just

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-55673633974144809122009-04-14T12:10:00.008-04:002009-04-15T00:40:50.915-04:00

We are trying our hands at vegetable gardening this year. We decided to do this LAST summer before the current First Lady was seen all over the place planting her garden. Just wanted to clarify that.I love flower gardening, but this vegetable stuff is rather foreign to me. In fact, I don't even like eating most vegetables.The last, and only, time we had a vegetable garden was the first summer we

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-54588855971554891202009-04-09T10:54:00.004-04:002009-04-09T11:09:03.374-04:00

I've been a little frustrated this week because both girls have made comments about not liking school. When you are the Mom AND the teacher, those types of comments can make you feel a bit down and bad about yourself.They mostly say those things when it is time to do school work but they would rather be playing. So I do try to take those comments with a grain of salt. (In my defense, I've been

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-25546513831158095352009-04-07T16:27:00.007-04:002009-04-07T16:34:13.349-04:00

Today started out fine.....piano lessons, lunch with a good friend. Bought some Reese's Peanut Butter Easter Eggs at the store. YUM.Then we came home and I became grumpy. I needed a good laugh, and I got one. So I thought I'd share. Tim Hawkins: Scary Bedtime PrayerEnjoy!

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-42991650624318496412009-03-07T16:56:00.002-05:002009-03-07T17:12:10.198-05:00

I went shopping today. Alone. It was glorious. It was fabulous. Almost too good for words.When I was younger, I used to wonder why my Mom went shopping by herself. I couldn't understand how that could be fun at all. I mean, come on, boooooring.Today, as I was blissfully alone in my own little shopping world, I came to a complete understanding. I could play the music in the car that I

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-82238136268957358362009-03-06T16:49:00.003-05:002009-03-06T16:56:40.496-05:00

....another relevant topic discussed here on Vicki Courtney's blog. The video clip is about 7 minutes long and adds to the discussion. And again, great information for parents & other caring adults of tweens and teens who might otherwise have their (adult) heads buried in the sand.

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-30793356720495078052009-02-27T23:23:00.004-05:002009-02-27T23:39:22.041-05:00

That's how I've felt lately. Kind of BLAH.I could totally use a vacation in Florida.Sadly, our house totally needs to be painted this summer (the outside), the basement is being torn apart by DH (wetness issues when it rains too much) & it would really be nice to put it back together, we would like to redo the laundry/mud room area to make it more functional and user friendly, and there is still

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-15060576995481547922009-02-19T23:29:00.004-05:002009-02-19T23:49:51.790-05:00

Ashley has been singing in bed lately. It is just too cute. One night I wrote down the words she was singing. You have to read them with an off-key, no real melody, kid type tune in your head.Here is her song:I love God.Love Him.Love Him.I love everybody in the whole world.Even people I don't know.(this is shocking considering how she doesn't like to speak to people she doesn't know, heck, she

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-76395304091283270602009-02-13T00:10:00.004-05:002009-02-13T00:32:35.666-05:00

My sweet Ashley, I love you so much. I love how all day long you shower me with hugs and kisses, no matter where we are or who we're around. I love your zany sense of humor and how you love to have fun. I love your laugh. It makes me smile and laugh myself when you really get going with your hearty laugh. I love how you say "marshmallow." I love how you're learning to read. It's so fun to sit

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-7360933018606591332009-02-12T23:52:00.008-05:002009-02-13T00:33:36.026-05:00

My sweet Lauren, I love so many things about you. I love how incredibly creative you are, how you're always making and creating new things, often using just paper and scotch tape. You amaze me. You are one of the most creative people I know, and I can't wait to see how God is going to use that as you grow up. I love that you want a REAL Bible for your birthday, and I hope that when you do get a

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-30642968015106758832009-02-01T16:50:00.003-05:002009-02-01T17:21:47.697-05:00

Saturday was a beautiful day for sledding....a bit windy....but nice and sunny with a blue sky! We had the hill almost to ourselves. Lauren said it was "the best time sledding ever!"

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-13220302866997552672009-01-29T23:24:00.005-05:002009-01-30T23:49:11.134-05:00

We try to do things around here to make subjects like history a little more interactive and fun. Although, we do use awesome books for history thanks to Sonlight, and Lauren will often tell people that history is her favorite subject.We've been studying the Spanish explorers, and since many of them were on the hunt for gold, we sent the girls on a little treasure hunt of their own. And now I

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-24298127314368631502009-01-26T14:15:00.002-05:002009-01-26T14:26:56.564-05:00

Many of you may not have heard of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Sounds fairly innocent, don't you think? Sounds like it is meant to protect children from child abuse, don't you think? It's not. It strips parents of their ability to actually PARENT their children.Here is a little bit about what's happening in Sweden:No more “time outs”The idea that parents are

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-68430322971246612672009-01-24T08:00:00.001-05:002009-01-24T08:00:00.363-05:00

.....so I thought I'd share another cool website with you. I'll put a link on the side bar as well.It's FREE. It's FUN. It's EDUCATIONAL.What more could you want in a website? Other than free chocolate spewing forth from your computer. That would be nice.Here it is, courtesy of some of my very wonderful homeschooling friends who clued me in to this website:Free, Fun, Educational website with

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-54063947973244667862009-01-23T18:00:00.001-05:002009-01-23T18:00:00.470-05:00

As I think I've already mentioned, we received a Wii for Christmas from Mimi & Papa.DH and I decided to use this to our advantage. It's not a bribe. It's a Parental Advantage. Hey, you take 'em when you can get 'em.We have a point system. 100 points equals 10 minutes on the Wii. Yes, I know we could have just done one point for every minute, but that doesn't sound as exciting as getting One!

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-80419306869316643762009-01-22T22:34:00.006-05:002009-01-22T23:02:49.154-05:00

I was at JC Penney today to look at their buy-one-get-one-free clearance items. I was reminded of why I so rarely buy kids' clothes there. The nice, modest, attractive clothes cost more even on sale than they usually do with Kohl's sales. The clothes that were on clearance either had Hannah Montana or High School Musical plastered all over them. ICK. I find most of those things rather gaudy, but

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-90519924064791234122009-01-19T07:00:00.000-05:002009-01-19T07:00:01.852-05:00

Lauren made a drawing of a Peanut Rock Band. She got the idea from one of the activities on the children's menu at Logan's. She wanted me to share her drawing with the blogging world. I had the stupid date stamp on but at least we'll always know when she drew the picture!It says, "Peanut Rock Band with Bob, Loosy, Boby, and Rooby" I love her spelling of the names! They make me smile. My

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-90892422840218429782009-01-17T16:47:00.003-05:002009-01-17T17:13:16.172-05:00

Sometimes for a reading/comprehension activity, we use this little box/die that I made. I got the idea from a teaching magazine, I think. Probably Mailbox. Anyway, I just wrapped up a little box we had and put a word on each side. The words I used are: see, taste, touch, smell, hear. (Basically, the five senses....so you could do a little review on the five senses when you make the box too, I

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-46265677380527760822009-01-09T15:08:00.003-05:002009-01-09T15:19:41.413-05:00

Ashley said she had to take care of her baby before we played Uno Attack. She said, "Katie is thihsty. She needs a dwink."She then proceeded to put Katie's head up her shirt. Later, she was the ultimate multi-tasking mother as she nursed Katie while dealing the Uno cards. I assure you that I employed a much more nurturing nursing technique in the brief four months that I was able to nurse each of

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-12931123606942972652009-01-03T19:36:00.004-05:002009-01-03T19:43:49.208-05:00

She knocks us all out! We can't beat her! We're wondering if there are any tournaments in which she can enter. LOLAnd yes, we have one of the world's oldest TVs. But hey, it works.Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-39395738085469997682008-12-31T12:52:00.006-05:002008-12-31T13:24:31.387-05:00

Ha, ha, I'm so punny.Okay, have had a little too much caffeine today. Either that or I need to get out more. No comments, please. I think all of the decluttering is getting to me. I actually found a dirty spoon in Ashley's closet. And a bowl. And an almost-empty roll of toilet paper. Have I mentioned that we recently found a stash of used dryer sheets under the couch? Yep, that was Ashley's doing

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-21834236362567668242008-12-22T16:21:00.007-05:002008-12-22T20:14:23.220-05:00

Shew! What a weekend it was for us! We were in a blizzard at my parents' house (literally...they had blizzard warnings) and while we were gone there was an ice storm at our house. A BIG ice storm! We are thankful to be home once again. I'm sitting here by our cozy, wood burning stove insert, Adam is reading the manual to our new Wii (Thanks, Mimi & Papa!) while the girls are taking an eternity to

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-52385885585065394262008-12-21T09:12:00.003-05:002008-12-21T09:18:29.608-05:00

Normally we like a bit of snow, especially around Christmas time. However, we are kind of stuck at my parents' house with no end in sight. Their house is very nice, warm, has wireless internet and good showers (all very important, you know), but it's not home. We beat the weather that arrived in the wee hours of Friday morning by deciding to come on Thursday evening instead. That was a great

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-38221171402426521912008-12-16T16:45:00.003-05:002008-12-16T19:52:19.716-05:00

No, this is not a scene from CSI. This is our basement..... ...after an auger supposedly cleaning out our sewer pipes had a fight with a can of red, oil-based wood stain in which the stain won. Assisting in that win were two plastic cartons of paint thinner. Both winners celebrated by emitting their strong fumes throughout the house. Occasionally we get a sewer smell in our basement. It usually

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-16951108047287030992008-12-13T08:00:00.000-05:002008-12-13T08:00:01.109-05:00

We went to performance of the Nutcracker today that was just for school kids. We got to see the second act. We went last year and enjoyed this same ballet, but I have to say, I enjoyed the spring ballet, Giselle, much more than the Nutcracker. Here we're waiting to get in for the docent program. These ballerinas were explaining some of the ballet positions to the kids. They chose Lauren to

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-33168016920838193372008-12-12T08:00:00.000-05:002008-12-12T08:00:01.986-05:00

I know a lot of people think DUCT TAPE is the answer to everything. For my children, it's SCOTCH TAPE.Lauren is forever making and creating things with tape, paper, yarn, & cardboard. Both girls have been known to tape things to their own bodies.Yesterday at our State History Homeschool Co-Op, we were studying pioneers. One of the talented moms had the girls make yarn dolls. I was even able to

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-42505744337381819082008-12-11T16:19:00.003-05:002008-12-11T16:23:23.027-05:00

.....all she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth.Actually, she wanted them to come out according to the Christmas list she emailed Mimi.

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-1795303703276702922008-12-09T22:06:00.004-05:002008-12-09T22:11:17.253-05:00

We're not exactly sure what is going on here, but this is what we found in the 5-year old's room tonight. We have not had THAT talk with her yet, so I'm thinking that the "special married hug" pose is accidental.We still thought it was funny though.

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-16828148204036052552008-12-03T22:54:00.006-05:002008-12-03T23:08:18.721-05:00

...Ashley even decorated herself. She put on the reindeer antlers, taped a piece of pink construction paper to her nose (there seems to have been a run on red in our house), and VOILA! She was our very own Rudolph. Except then she proceeded to wear the antlers to Kroger, where a man that looked very much like Santa told her he liked her antlers. She looked at him and made a total growl-y face

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-55792773289815710652008-12-01T22:04:00.003-05:002008-12-01T22:20:06.417-05:00

Our children are LOVING a new game we just bought. It's called To Bethlehem and was created by Todd Wilson of Familyman Ministries. We bought ours from CBD. You can also get it on the Familyman website.This game is great for large families because it can be played by up to 10 people, it's easy, and (usually) goes quickly. Except for last night when it was the never-ending game. But really, the

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-71932069536925432102008-11-26T08:00:00.002-05:002008-11-26T08:00:02.201-05:00

Just a quick A to Z about me! I was tagged by Amy at HappyGoMommy. If you're reading this and want to participate, consider yourself tagged!A-Attached or Single: Attached B-Best Friend: My Husband (aka "DH")C-Cake or Pie: usually CakeD-Day of Choice: Saturday, really any day that DH doesn't have to work.E-Essential Item: My computer & the internetF-Favorite Color: YellowG-Greatest Accomplishment:

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-25084576483168281362008-11-25T08:00:00.001-05:002008-11-25T08:07:47.730-05:00

I saw this over at Stefanie's and thought I would join in. I will not tag anyone, just invite you to leave a comment if you do decide to play. Copy the list and the highlight the ones you have done. (I am bolding the ones I have done)1. Started your own blog2. Slept under the stars3. Played in a band4. Visited Hawaii5. Watched a meteor shower6. Given more than you can afford to charity7. Been to

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-70074184859123512602008-11-23T22:45:00.005-05:002008-11-23T22:53:10.784-05:00

The newspaper had a little article today about Good Housekeeping's new book: Good Housekeeping's Good Deals & Smart Steals: How to Save Money on Everything.DH and I had a fun little time reading this article. Whenever we read things like this, we find that we already do what they say, have never spent money on the things they say to save on (like getting a daily drink at Starbucks), or we do it

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-81469700518488274692008-11-20T08:00:00.000-05:002008-11-20T08:00:02.951-05:00

Snuggles with Daddy are a real treat.I love my husband. He is an awesome Daddy!

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-44750046708590856972008-11-19T08:00:00.000-05:002008-11-19T08:00:00.789-05:00

This fall we've been able to go on a couple of great field trips that highlight early pioneer life as well as Native American life. My girls really loved this and have made an "Indian" house in our little woods. This has provided hours and hours of outdoor fun. They are so creative and so serious about their little house! The neighbor girls have added some props to the house and have had a great

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-14259371207536924362008-11-18T08:00:00.001-05:002008-11-18T08:00:00.985-05:00

We are in a little co-op with two other families. We each have two girls which works out rather nicely.We are studying our state's history, and let me tell you, the other two moms in the co-op are just so, so creative! This past week we learned about how the Indians and French and British bartered. The girls each received packets of different kinds of candy and had to barter with each other to

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-34966788958622585972008-11-17T08:00:00.001-05:002008-11-17T08:00:02.285-05:00

The girls and I disected owl pellets for science. We're studying birds right now, so when it was time to learn about owls, I thought it would be fun to get some owl pellets and take them apart. I used to do that with my fourth grade students, so I thought my kids would find it interesting as well.I have to admit, when we took the foil off of the (fumigated) pellets, I felt a little twinge of

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-48860393987851485432008-11-15T13:07:00.004-05:002008-11-15T13:27:35.588-05:00

The girls and their cousins were playing together recently. Two of the girls weren't getting along very well, so I said, "Girl 1 & Girl 2, you aren't being kind to each other." (Moms have to point out the obvious, you know.)Ashley, age 5 and not one of the current offenders, immediately turned around and sweetly said, "Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-28479708948869446232008-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:002008-11-11T07:00:01.991-05:00

On the homeschooling front, spelling is one of our subjects that is not-so-fun. My dear oldest child, with all of her oldest child personality traits, totally loses it when it comes to her spelling assignments, namely the pretest....which we quit doing because she cried every time we did it if she didn't know how to spell a word and THEN she cried when we QUIT doing it because we weren't doing

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-57273381922084557752008-11-10T22:23:00.004-05:002008-11-10T22:26:08.071-05:00

Here is a super-duper, awesome post by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.If you're a mom, especially a mom with kids still at home, it may be just the thing you need to read today. I know I need a reminder like this from time to time.

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-6382081857208212782008-11-10T08:00:00.003-05:002008-11-10T08:17:53.618-05:00

The rising cost of food prices is really irritating me.So I was very happy to discover Angel Food Ministries.I read about Angel Food in August in the newspaper, and I finally placed my first order in October. Angel Food is a ministry that works with churches to provide a family with about a week's worth of food for just $30. The food would probably sell at around $65 retail. There are additional

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-47175938142026595922008-11-08T08:00:00.000-05:002008-11-08T08:00:01.443-05:00

We FINALLY finished reading Egermeier's Bible Story Book. It is a very, very long book. It is very complete and really tells the stories of the Bible. However, Ashley did not like it. I attribute this to the fact that the book had very few pictures, was written in not-the-most-interesting language, and was possibly just a bit over her head. Lauren seemed to like it and seems to have learned a lot

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-52231504248008173742008-11-06T23:43:00.003-05:002008-11-06T23:47:08.413-05:00

I thought public school teachers (heck, ANY teacher) were supposed to be a bit more, well, nice. And we wonder why the KIDS are bullying other kids....Check this out.

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-21150350902259280412008-11-05T07:56:00.004-05:002008-11-05T08:29:18.296-05:00

This is from a Dec. 3, 2007, post, but we STILL love, love, love this game, so I thought I'd share it for the "Works for Me: Toys Worth Buying" edition of the WFMW. Almost everyone we've ever played it with has then gone out and purchased it for their own family. That says a lot to me!Check out Rocks in My Dryer for more great Christmas gift ideas! **And please note the last paragraph of my

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-958367549566329232008-11-04T20:30:00.001-05:002008-11-04T20:31:43.721-05:00

Tonight at dinner:"Ashley, quit trying to toot and eat your food!"

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033550791911639580.post-15076786723958746262008-11-03T08:01:00.002-05:002008-11-03T08:11:26.141-05:00

There are some benevolent bloggers out there who do give-aways. Give-aways funded with their own money even!No, I am not one of them. At least not at this point in my life. Don't get excited.However, I have been the blessed recipient of some of these bloggy give-aways. Earlier this summer, I won a Coldstone Creamery gift card from the Queen B (who happens to have a really good post today, Nov. 3,

Loving Our Homeschoolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12572034157505181207noreply@blogger.com1