New Orleans Bound

The Senior High youth raised $20,000 for their trip to New Orleans in just 1 year!!!! I am so very proud of all them as well as my son The Ark who is going with them. Our cost = $150. and whatever time and donations for dinners or bake sales…..not a bad price. I am so excited for him to be going. Yesterday we had one last meeting and have a tentative schedule for the week although many details are still up in the air. Here is what I know now:

• He leaves on July 14~ time to be determined.
• He arrives in New Orleans on July 15~ it is app. 23 hours of being driven in a bus
• They get there, check in, shower, stretch out, go out for food, devotions, bed by midnight
• July 16~ Continental breakfast, sightseeing~TBD, nap, dinner, evening activities, devotions, bed
• July 17~ same as July 16,
• July 18~ Breakfast at Cafe du Monde, trek to Superdome to re-register for the National Youth Gathering. evening~ Gathering activites: Tailgating, Opening Dome, Community Life, Final Fifteen, back to hotel
• July 19-21: The Ark’s group is listed as purple, and the only thing I know about that is that on Friday they will be practicing Justice, I know that one day is a service project day, when they will be out in the community doing work. Evening events are the same as above.
• July 22~ Closing Worship Ceremony~ board bus for home
• July 23~ arrive home at some time

I still have to get him a few things:

1. A hat
2. Super strong waterproof sunscreen
3. bug spray
4. sunglasses
5. and I have to make him a student id card~ so he can get into tourist stuff with a student discount~ using PEAH for that
6. A waterproof camera~ I can’t afford the nikon coolpix but will get him this
   

Before I know it he will be getting on that bus and I will be requesting prayers for safe travel and for the Ark to come home renewed by the Holy Spirit. He is very excited about going as am I.

Field Trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art

Create your own slideshow

So I am already tired of being so educationally driven that I dragged my husband and our 4 children plus my daughter Renee and her two daughters off to the Art Museum….The Ark was in charge of picture taking with my iphone and he needs to stop shaking but you get the drift. The boys made numerous comments about all the nudity and the Princess walked around quite a bit peaking from behind her hand, She just kept saying “this is inappropriate for little kids, Mom”…..but she really enjoyed the furniture and can now say she has seen a few Van Gogh’s, A Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, and quite a few other painters…even a few Picasso’s…….. Oh yes, thanks to Donna I remembered something else the Princess said today, we were looking at all the fancy chalices, both silver and gold and she said that Jesus wouldn’t have drank from any of them because they were to fancy,

The museum was still standing after we left but it will be a while before we try that again!!!!

Homeschool Goals for 2010

I need accountability so here are my goals for our homeschooling.

1. Get Motivated!!!! The most important thing for me right now. ( I’m getting there still not quite as motivated as I would like yet though.)
   
2. Revise our homeschool schedule ( This is working much better as well. The boys know what they have to do and can do some of it on their own now.)
   
3. Stick to our new schedule
4. Get the boys to do more journaling ( I picked up composition notebooks for $1.00 a piece to do that. 3 for each boy~ lang. art, math and science will each have their own books now. They already have a history binder since that is a hefty subject for us.)
5. Check on art lessons for the Princess (ok, I emailed the teacher, so we will see what happens there) (Heard back from the teacher and the Princess starts her new lessons Jan. 26 for 6 weeks. I’m so excited for her.)
   
6. I want to buy a membership to either the science center or the Western Reserve Historical Society. we will see.
   
7. Think about soccer for the kids and put aside money for swim lessons, swim team and pool pass.
8. We really need to add in more music and art but where?

Ok, that is enough goals here for the moment, now to work on the other goals for my life. Oh yes, I forgot I need to make out weekly plans so that I have a guideline to follow, I think that without it in writing we struggle more with getting things done. (I have been able to do this and it is making a huge difference in our lives)

Nature Hike

=

A real covered bridge, the kids thought it was cool

We were in the landing path of many airplanes that day.

Our walk wouldn’t be complete without the outhouse.

NO!!! You may not creek walk today in that skirt…..I don’t care if all the other kids are, they are not wearing a skirt.

Can you say lignan?

I love the look of moss on rocks.

The boys meeting with the Teacher.

So today we met with our favorite teacher to go over our school year with the boys. We have always used her and love her so much, she can’t quit until my kids are grown!!!! I’m not sure I’ve told her that yet though

As always she was impressed with how much we did this year. In spite of all the personal chaos going on in our lives for the last 10 months. My personal opinion of our year is both positive and negative. We truly did do a great deal of work, the boys were exposed to a great deal and a few things did stay with them. On the negative side of things, we were very stressed out, didn’t really enjoy our days, forgot much of what we covered and we didn’t have as much to show for everything we did do. After awhile the boys didn’t want to write or color or document anything of what we read for school. We took field trips but didn’t document them at all.

The teacher~ Diane, suggested we go back to writing one or two words on our daily calendar, we talked about how I’m concerned about the boys decoding abilities and she suggested using sequential spelling so we will be switching to this and see if that helps us. A plus is that both boys can do it at the same time. Another suggestion she had was only focusing on a few things this year until we get to some sort of mastery. Giving us a much needed reprieve from trying to do it all and then suffering from major guilt because we didn’t get it all accomplished. So I have some major thinking to do. We are taking off for the month of July to regroup. I’m hoping to take a trip to visit friends in Va and NC in early Aug. providing we have the funds, giving us a much needed break from the stress here. She also suggested covering something only once a month! I’m thinking that poetry might be that once a month thing.  We are supposed to go back to the Ancients in history using MOH this fall but I’m seriously thinking of covering it over a two year period and really taking the time to delve deeper into it. Plus we have so many great fiction books that go with this time period that it would be a shame not to be able to read them.

She told me in front of the boys that the only thing she really requires on a daily basis is reading!!! Yea!!! Diane!!! So with that in mind, the boys won’t be allowed to not read daily and I can use her as my reason. I know evil mom, but we do what we must. Another suggestion was to go back to requiring the boys to write a bit more. She wants the Ark to write at least 1 paragraph with a topic sentence 3 supporting sentences and a closing sentence. At whatever frequency I decide, while Ace is to start learning that process this upcoming year.

So, my tentative plan is focusing on reading, writing, spelling, math on a daily basis, with a much reduced history and science. One thing I’m not sure I’m ready to let go is the boys Latin studies, I really want them to learn it, so that might be on our daily list. Another item I want is daily drawing, I think the boys like to draw and I want to encourage them in it. My only problem is that they don’t want to have any instruction, just draw. I would like to see their drawing improve.ONe thing I did this year was i had a self evaluation and had the boys look at it, the Ark filled his out and it was interesting to see what he felt he did. I think we will do one at the end of each semester to help evaluate us and hopefully keep us on track. Another thing Diane suggested was to make sure I write down our goals so I don’t forget them and freak out mid year. Which I definitely plan to do.

She loved our lapbooks but suggested that we only do a few minibooks and that the boys be able to pick out the minibooks that they want to do, so that they each are invested in what they are learning and giving them each a different look to their work but still learning about the same subject.

So that is the end of the year evaluation. We have some educational videos that we borrowed, I want the boys to watch and then notebook what they feel is important. So in August when we start again I will have a 6th grader, 3rd grader, 1st. grader and a preschooler.  I need to make up certificates for them.

Check back for the schedule….

Summer Schooling

We will be going back to schooling year round, since there is too much I want the kids to learn in a year. Ace will be doing latin starting next week, we had panned it for The Ark after 5 lessons because of his dyslexia, but now it is improving to the point where he shouldn’t get confused. So hopefully next week we will begin again. I told The Ark he had to listen in to review his vocab and the grammar. Then once Ace is on chapter 6 we will just keep going. I truly believe that our 2.5 months of summer vacation is outdated in our society. After all, adults don’t get that much time off unless they are public school teachers.

We switched Ace to MUS and I made him repeat the second grade math as he just wasn’t getting the concepts at all. So here we are after the first week of MUS and he really likes it, did his daily work without complaining and correctly in a decent amount of time!!!! He will not get a summer break for math since he now has to catch up. But as long it is continues this way I think he will be fine. I think the best difference is less problems and no pictures or color to distract him. Senory Integration Disorder is a different teaching challenge for me but I think we are finally getting it right.

The Peanut and the Princess still have way to much creativity going on lately. I won’t share the latest but it was interesting, just not as safe as I would like and I had to put a stop to it. *shakes head* where do they come up with these things? The Ark and The Princess want to start their MUS as well but I told them to finish what they have and take a short break from math, so we could do some other things for a bit. The Peanut told me today that he is going to bury me in South America. Why there I have no idea and we haven’t talked about SA for months now.

We took a hike this week and had a great time but the kids were sad to come home. I hope to be able to take a hike every other week. Since we are doing Zoo 1 we are paying lots of attention to birds these days. I really need a better lens for distances though. I am going to price them but it will be awhile I think before I can get one.

We have listened to the Magician’s Nephew on cd in the van while driving to the kids chiro appointment and now have new Jonathon Park cd’s to listen to.  After that we might listen to the other Narnia cd’s and we have Island of the Blue Dolphins, the Sign of the Beaver, and a couple of other’s that I can’t remember the name of right now. I’m really trying to get them to look at learning in a different light.

Well, I’m off to unwind it has been crazy here lately.

Maple Sugaring~ edit

Today was a beautiful sunny day in NE Ohio and it wasn’t too cold for a change so we went to the metroparks and went on a tour of maple sugaring. First thing though you need to tkae cash with you so that you can sample the maple sugar…

Then the tour guide comes up and it was a friend of ours from our church!!! So he leads us off to learn all about sugaring. Did you know that 5% of the maple sugar comes from NE Ohio? No??? Either did we, last year they collected 118,000 buckets of sap from the metroparks. They are doing well this year as well. So the first thing we saw was……

Sinzibukhud~ Native American for maple syrup. Next on the list was of course the buckets that were used to catch the sap and did you know that the sap is clear?

The story of hte next picture is in question but The Husband says he thinks that the Pilgrims would trade the big metal pot to the Native American’s for maple syrup.

I loved the next photo, if you use your imagination you can pretend for a few seconds that you are back in time.

They had a small drying something or another for drying skins.

The was elk, coyote, raccoon, deer, muskrat skins that I can remember. I didn’t realize how big muskrats can get.

Trough that the Native American used to use to turn sap into syrup, they used to heat up rocks and then throw them into the sap.

The back of the drying rack.

We finally made it to the colonial ages….

Unfortunately by this time the kids were restless and and there was a huge crowd by the boiler so we packed up the kids without any photos of that. All in all it was a great day. I almost forgot that when we first got there we saw a red headed woodpecker. I’m still lamenting not having a better lens to get a great photos of him.

Field Trip

Since we had to take Camryn to our chiro, we decide to take a brief field trip to Marblehead Lighthouse with our 4 children and my 2 granddaughters as well. It was an incredibly beautiful day off of Lake Erie. not to hot or cold, a bit breezy so one could really smell the fresh air coming off the lake. So I took many pictures to share with all of you.

You can take a tour up to the top however it is a very steep climb and with 2 three year olds, a 5 yr old and a 6 yr old with health issues , we decided not this time.

I love this house, I’ve often wished I had been the lighthouse keeper and lived here.

It was a bit hazy but so peaceful even with all the tourists.

rock climbing for the kids, they love doing this but mom’s heart is in her throat at all times.

The kids love the roots that are so tangled up and above ground.

The girls being girls and having a blast modeling for me.

The brothers having a bonding moment, *they get along pretty well but there are days with them as Noah reaches puberty……need I say more?

I hope you enjoyed our field trip, it was a very long day for us but very much worth the time, gas money and trouble.

Starting the Portfolio's

Since we are moving in a few weeks I’m trying to get things into the boys portfolio so that in May i’m not a crazy woman trying to find their work for the teacher. We may be behind in our school as far as book work but I’m amazed at all we have done since last June. Here is a brief synopsis.

1. June 2007~ Noah went to camp, boys took swimming lessons, went to see a play about Rachel Carson. Went to the zoo and saw the Dinosaur exhibit with friends, as well as the animal show there.
   
2. July ~ 4th of July parade, and fireworks, more swim lessons, cook outs at the park almost every week, hike the O & E Canal lock 39. Saw the “Stinky Plant” at the Rain Forest.
   
3. August~Swim lessons, Upwards Soccer Camp, Bug Fest, finish the summer reading club for church, painting Grandma’s upstairs hallway. Did some botany experiments and graphing.
4. Sept. ~ Took a few nature walks, started back to sunday school. Did our yearly visit to squire’s castle.
   
5. October ~ more hikes, Boo at the Zoo, celebrating the 5 October birthdays.
   
6. November~ getting ready for the holidays, helping out at church with dad, spending time with Grandma E. Celebrated Dad’s birthday.
7. December~ Noah, playing basketball. Singing in the Children’s Choir for Christmas Eve, started house hunting, visiting with the Godparents, celebrating my birthday. Putting up trees in our church sanctuary.
8. January ~ Welcoming in the New Year, a trip to the zoo on a crazy warm day 1/8/08, bought a house,
9. February~ Celebrated V-Day, picked out colors for rooms in our new house. Went to the Car Show. Saw Tetelestai at our church.
   
10. March~ will see us celebrating Noah’s first communion and moving into our new home. As well as Easter.
    
11. April~ hopefully will see us planning a garden for May. Hoping to get to the Art Museum.
    
12. May~ getting ready for Noah to go to camp, seeing the teacher, signing up for swim team and lessons for Adrien and Camryn. Mom is taking the summer off from college.
    

This was just a quick look at our year and what the next few months will look like. I have to get Adrien a scrapbook and start scrapping their photos for the teacher. I think I will order him a book asap and then work on it a bit during spring break in between packing. If I get the time, with these classes I’m taking.

So what are you doing to get ready for the end of the year?

Zoo photos

We are blessed with a great city zoo and spent the day there on Tuesday when it was incredibly warm out for January. So I hope you enjoy this brief look at our zoo.

The Princess and her pal…..

We have this equator line in the African Savanah part of the zoo. The water fountains weren’t running since it is winter but one drains clockwise and the other drains counterclockwise. There is a great explanation on how it does that.

Photo of an illegal trap. I would not like to be an animal caught in that. 

We started to go closer but the giraffes outdoor winter place was a bit too pungent for us. 

I love the coloring of these birds, no I don’t know their species name. I’m guessing they are some sort of egret?????

Adrien took this photo, it is in the African Savannah hospital for animals. That is a very cool building to visit.

One of the hospital rooms, we have never seen an animal there though, I’m guessing it is just for showing you what they would look like.

Ace took this picture, so it is a bit fuzzy. This is the other room and they are behind glass.

I have more pictures for your viewing enjoyment to post another day. Hope you enjoy these in the meantime.