Horse Notebooking/Journal Pages

I have created some notebooking pages to go with a Horse unit study Mikaela wanted to do. I thought I would share. There are about 14 pages of different designs to choose from. Help yourself to this free download. You just have to click off the sponsor on the pdf file(free).
Happy Homeschooling!

http://savefile.com/projects/808733353

Sweet Girl's Display Board

I love Tapestry of Grace's writing program! Sweet girl's assignment for the past few weeks was to do a display board. She chose her topic would be the Iroquois tribe. She not only learned how to properly do a display board(I think it turned out nice) but she also learned a lesson about time management.

A Little Late...

I realized I never posted our Halloween photos.

Grandmom's visit

I thought I would share some pics of when grandmom came to visit.

Change of Plans

So ,we decided this morning we were going to go to the North Shore to see the waves and watch the surfers. In January/February, the North Shore is famous for the enormous 25-50 ft swells.

We stopped on the way in Haleiwa town and ate lunch at Cholos(Mexican). After lunch, we continued north on Kamehameha Highway until we came to a stop. Today being a holiday and of course the beautiful 75 degree weather- didn't hurt, everyone had the same idea.

It was around 1:00 and we had to be home by 3:00 because the plumber was coming. We quickly turned around and decided we would just go to Haleiwa Beach instead. The waves aren't as big there, but we were thinking the kids could run around and collect some coral.

When we got to the beach there were all of these tide pools. We had so much fun looking at all of the little creatures that were there. We found hermit crabs, ghost crabs, different kinds of fish and some really neat pieces of coral.

We are still planning on going and seeing the waves, but we'll wait until everyone is at work and school.

Just have to share this photo...

Blake LOVES football and he collects football cards. One day he was on the Baltimore Ravens website and discovered he could make a football card with "his photo" on it. He was so excited. He got dressed up in his helmet and jersey and asked his sister to take a picture of him. This is the photo. God love him!! He has always been my ham.

American Box Car Racing

The homeschool group had a field trip to Kunia Race Track last Friday. The kids had a 30 minute lesson on Physics and then were able to race the box cars. We had a great time. Ethan and I enjoyed going around the track a few times too. The whole time he was saying," WEEEEE." So cute!

Blake's Colonial Project

Blake chose to make a salt dough map of the thirteen colonies for his Unit 3 project. He really had a lot of fun. He really enjoys Geography. Unfortunately, Mikaela's project was lost in the move.

Christmas

We had a nice, but busy Christmas. First, we decided to move and then Blake got sick. Sometimes life just moves so fast, then your child is sick and time just drags. You are waiting for test results and phone calls. It was the longest three weeks of my life. Luckily, my husband's mother came to visit and she was a really big help. She helped us move, clean, watched the kids(so my husband and I could go to the doc w/ Blake), unpack, wrap, shop...the list goes on. We couldn't have did it without her-thanks mom.

So, finally Christmas Eve came and we were ready. I couldn't believe it. Then, Christmas morning, it is always so magical. I always enjoy watching the children in the morning. Ethan was unwrapping and keeping up with his big brother and sister. In the afternoon I snapped some photos of Mikaela and Blake on their Ripsticks.

For those of you who have been praying for Blake....he is okay for now. The pediatrician is sending us to a Pediatric Nephrologist (Jan 28). She said the one disease, IgA, can go away and then return a few months later. I am praying he has no more problems, and that with the power of prayer, he has been healed. Amen.

Budding Photographer

Mikaela is taking a photography/yearbook class with our homeschool group. I wanted to share this picture she took of Roxy. She really is enjoying learning about photography and loves to take photos of her dogs. The assignment was to fill the frame. I think it turned out cute.

Inspiration

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house...let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your warm greeting.
~ Mother Teresa

Model Indian Village

The children have been learning about Colonial America. One of their projects this week was to make a model Indian Village. They have been having a lot of fun. We had to improvise though. We couldn't make wigwams (due to the lack of sticks), so we had to make cardboard houses with grass roofs. We pulled out old photos of when we visited Jamestown a couple of years ago and the kids modeled their village after that. They made a fire pit, log pile, and a deer skin drying. Like I said they had fun and they used some math skills in building the village also.

End of Soccer Season

What a great season! The Thunderchiefs ended their season with a pool party. The coach handed out awards and had nice things to say about everyone. He said Blake was a great soccer player and had some serious skill. He said no matter where the ball is you will find Blake on it. He has really learned a lot about soccer this season from his coach and team. His coach was always positive yet still a disciplinary, just what Blake needed. It was so much fun to watch this group of boys develop their skills. They very quickly bonded with one another and were a very close team. Coach Spencer is requesting to keep the team together next season which starts in February. Go Thunderchiefs!!

Ethan's first haircut

We had to finally get Ethan's haircut. I was tired of everyone thinking he was a little girl and his hair kept falling in his face. So off to the barber shop we went. He was such a big boy and just kept looking in the mirror. Now he looks like a little man.

Happy 11th Birthday Mikaela

Mikaela had a nice 11th birthday. On her real birthday we went to the beach,out to dinner and had cake for dessert. Then on Saturday she invited two of her friends and brother to go see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. She had a very nice birthday!!

Starting Thanksgiving Traditions

We have many traditions for Christmas, but I wanted to start some Thanksgiving traditions. When I was a child visiting family was a big Thanksgiving tradition. Since we are a military family I really feel we need something special to commemorate the holiday and make it special. I found this article written by Deborah at the Old Schoolhouse newsletter. I thought it was perfect and I wanted to share. So, this Thanksgiving we will start this "tradition".


We gather the following items and talk about them and read the scriptures. The devotional centers around why we are thankful for Jesus.
Gather a vine, birthday candle, rock, band aid, chocolate kiss, toy ram, small candy cane, toy crown, puzzle pieces, bread and grape juice.
Vine: We are thankful that Jesus is the Vine. Read Revelation 17:14 and John 15:5. Talk about why you are thankful Jesus is the Vine in your life. What happens when you are not near the vine?
Candle: We are thankful that Jesus is the Light. Read John 8:12 and Psalm 32:8 How can we be a light in our neighborhood, in our family and with our friends?
Rock: We are thankful that Jesus is our Rock. Read Isaiah 26:4 He is stable and secure.
Band aid: We are thankful that Jesus is our healer. Read Ex. 15:26. Talk about different people Jesus healed in the New Testament. Pray for the sick.
Chocolate Kiss: We are thankful that Jesus is Good. Psalm 34:8 says to taste and see that the Lord is good and that the man who trusts in Him is blessed. Talk about how you are blessed when you trust Him. List some things you can trust Jesus with.
Toy Ram and Candy Cane: Read John 10:11 about the Good Shepherd and why you are thankful that He laid down His life for the sheep.
Crown: We are thankful that Jesus is the King of Kings. Read Revelation 17:14 Ask if He is ruling in your hearts. Talk about why we are thankful that God rules over men. Pray for your leaders.
Puzzle piece: Read Isaiah 9:6. We are thankful that Jesus is our Peace. Without God's peace in our lives, it is like a puzzle that is missing a piece.
Bread and Juice: We are thankful that Jesus is our Bread. Read John 6:35 and Mark 14:22-25. Have communion together as you remember Jesus and are thankful for what He has done for you.
I hope you start some family traditions this year to help keep your holy-days Christ centered.

Corn cob dolls and Native American Spear

We just started Tapestry of Grace Year 2 Unit 3. My friend has been telling me for the past three years that I should try it and she thought it was what I was looking for. Every time I looked at her curriculum (the classic) I was immediately overwhelmed. I just thought "they have to do all of this work?" Then she sat down with me and went through the redesign and I loved it. I was using Sonlight Core 3 and I loved the literature selections, but it was not working. I couldn't teach both children about the same topic and have the work be on their level. I love that about TOG, you can teach the children on their level(Blake-Upper Grammar Mikaela-Dialectic) and have a discussion as a family. Also , Sonlight was lacking the hands on experience and projects that my children love and thrive on. So here we are, and I can finally say after five years homeschooling, I have prayerfully found what I have been looking for. My son 8 said to me the other day, as he was working on his colonial project..."Mom this is more fun than playing outside!" I almost fell off my chair. How long I have waited to hear those words!!! Anyway, I wanted to share some of the projects they finished last week. They also made sweet potato muffins, which were delicious, and they shared with their friends.

Corn cob dolls:
To make your own corncob doll, you will need a knife, scissors and ruler, yarn, glue, scraps of fabric and thin ribbon, needle and thread and some acrylic paint and paintbrush.With your knife, cut the corn and the stalk off of the cob and let it dry for two or three days. Use your paintbrush and acrylic paints to paint a face on your corncob doll. Decide what color hair you want your doll to have and make about 30 loops of loosely wound yarn around your hand. At each end, cut the loops and tie them at one end to give your doll bangs. Now you are ready to glue the hair onto your corncob doll's head. Neaten up the hair and trim it evenly across. You can add a ribbon or bow to the hair to make it more attractive. Every corncob doll needs a fashionable 'do!Make a skirt for your corncob doll by using a strip of fabric about seven inches wide. Make sure the piece of fabric is long enough to reach the corncob doll's ankles. Sew a running stitch across the top of the skirt. Wrap the doll's skirt around her body and give it a gathered look by pulling the thread tightly and then tie it around the corncob doll's waist. You can make a blouse in much the same way as you made the skirt. The fabric for the blouse needs to be long enough to hang over the top of the skirt. To complete the look, tie a ribbon or piece of complementary-colored yarn around the top of the blouse.

Pumpkin Pickin

We went to the apple farm to pick apples, but they were all picked. Instead we enjoyed picking pumpkins. There were so many to choose from and we came out with four beautiful pumpkins. Ethan was wearing pumpkin all over his pants by the end of the day. Blake had about three, and was trying to decide which one he wanted. He was figuring out which would be the lightest since he would have to carry it back. It was nice to have the cool weather to go along with the day.

Tire Swing Days

The kids were enjoying the tire swing at my father's house, back on the east coast. It has been nice having the change of scenery and the seeing the beautiful fall leaves. Ethan has had to wear his first coat.