Nascar at Bristol...

Every year, our church goes to Bristol for a Nascar Race... We have a great time... This year, I decided to stay at home with DD and let DS and DH go...

They came home and told us all about the great time they had!!

 

Karate testing...

March and time for the kids to have their testing for belt advancement...

This time DS is graduating up to another class... He has learned all his Little Dragon forms and is excited to move to the next class... DD is go her purple belt... and this was my nephew's (who has just turned 4)  first time at testing..

Days 9 and 10...

We are doing good so far with our daily Lent activities...

For Day 9 - DD selected making  / sending cards to someone... So they made a card for a friend who had been sick and I got my St. Patricks Day cards signed and addressed ....

For Day 10 - we discussed "The Gift of Immanuel"  and made cross-shaped paper bookmarks to give to our friends... (I'll post some pictures of them later today)...

Chia Pet...

DS got a "Chia Pet" for Christmas this year... We grew it a couple of weeks afterwads and had great success with it... We are trying it again... So here are our first pictures after getting some little green heads growing...

Here's the total view...Yes, it is the donkey from Shrek... *LOL*

Here is a close-up view of the little buds poking their litle heads out... 

The Pinewood Derby...

Our Cub Scout pack had it's Pinewood Derby... There were some fabulous cars in the race...DS raced his car several times and a couple of the races... The winner who will go to the district race is one of his BFF's (as he puts it).. *L*

They had a great time and it was alot of fun to see all the different cars and watch the kids wace in a non-competitive way...    

 

Freebie Friday...

Another great science freebie from "Homeschool Freebie of the Day" ...You can find it here.

You get to make an " Ocean in a Bottle" , a "Cartesian Diver", and the "Best Tornado Simulator Ever"  ...

A wonderful opportunity at science for FREE!!!

March Little Hands Group...

Today we had our Little Hands Art Group meeting... Michelle chose to teach our lesson on Michelangelo...It was great... She had sent out an e-mail on who the artist was and a link, so we could research it beforehand..(you can chek it out here ) ... I was so surprised by what my kids retained and were able to answer when she was teaching today... even my 6yo DD could remember "The Last Judgement" and that a particular sculpture was of the Virgin Mary and Jesus... I also used a great book as a resource... It talked all about his life from birth to death and some of his more famous works..

                                                                 

For our activity, Michelle had planed 2 art projects... The first one was to tape paper on the underneath side of tables and to draw pictures under it in a position simliar to that of Michelangelo when he painted the Sistine Chapel and the 2nd project was sculpture and the kids got to carve their very own sculpture out of soap.. They loved it.. and DD is carving another bar of soap right now as I type.. She may be my budding artist...   =)

So far...

• So far we have been faithful with our activities for Lent... We draw a slip of paper with an activity out of the bowl every morning..


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• For Day 5 - We acted out the parade of "Palm Sunday" , I was the crowd waving mt make-shift palms towels) and DD was Jesus and DS was the donkey... We talked about "Hosanna" and the meaning.. and how the crowds opinions turned within the week...




• For Day 6 - We discussed "fasting and abstinence" and how that is a traditional Lent activity... So both kidlets decided that we should also give up something... They chose "candy and cookies" and I chose french fries (my weakness)...




• For Day 7 - We took a nature walk and gathered items that couild remind us of the life Jesus... DD gathered acorns and we talked about how they could represent "new life" as they are the beginning life of the tree and DS gathered sticks and he wrote "Jesus Lives" by breaking the sticks and spelling it out..




• For Day 8 - We talked about "repentance" and how we need to say we are "sorry" for things that might hurt someone else and that all we have to do is ask for forgiveness from God and that we should also remember to do that in our lives with friends and family as well...  We played a game where we bumped into each other and had to say "Excuse Me" or "I'm Sorry"...The kidlets loved this..they ganged up on me...*L*

Pinewood Derby...

DS and DH have been working on the car for the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby... Here's the result of their hard work...

 

Freebie of the Day...

For those of you who are science based families like we are... (LOVE IT!!) the freebie at Homeschool Freebie of the Day is a great one...

It's all about growing crystals, different kinds and techniques...

You can get it here.  

Cleaning Windows...

Lent 4 -

DS drew out the activity today... It was talking about how Jewish families typically cleaned before the Passover celebration... This was great, we discussed Passover and I got my breakfast nook window cleaned!! WOOHOO!!

and as an added bonus, while we cleaned, we talked about how Jesus "washes"  away our sin and it all worked out beautifully!!

While they were cleaning they decided that this was fun and DS asked if they could do this again?

What's cookin' at our house...

Yes, I am back to the weekly menus...Not only do I do better with time management, I always know what we are having and I can shop more effeciently and CHEAPER!!!

So, here's our plan for this week.. (I may tweak it a few times, but I am trying to use only things already in the pantry or the freezer this week)

 

Monday, March 2
Cereal

Grilled Cheese Snowflakes (using tortillas cut into snowflakes and shredded cheese) apple slices, carrots

Chili (good cold day food)

Tuesday, March 3
Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast,

Peanut butter sandwiches, chips

Stuffed baked potatoes (using left-over chili)

Wednesday, March 4
Monkey Bread

Turkey and cheese roll-ups, applesauce

BLT's, tater wedges, carrots and apple slices(church)

Thursday, March 5
Chocolate Pop Tarts (on the go breakfast)

Lunchables for the kids, peanut butter and crackers for me (CO-OP day)

Beef Stew (slow cooker meal)

Friday, March 6

Homemade waffles with fruit
snack plate (cheese, apples, banana slices, crackers, ham and turkey)
Hamburgers, homemade onion rings, corn on the cob

Saturday, March 7
I  work today so the DH is taking over!!

Sunday, March 8
another day at work for me.. DH has it covered...   =)

Some thought-out decisions...

Well, this year has been a BIG struggle for me... I haven't been as focused and I have been worrying about the kids and their education...

Am I really doing what needs to be done?

Are they getting what they need?

Is there education going to be adequate?

These are all questions that have been running through my mind this year... In years past, I have truly enjoyed homeschooling and had no worries, but this year had been a toll.. I had been stressed and I just didn't feel good... I felt like I was always on a timeline and that if I didn't get things completed, we were failing what we needed to accomplish..

So after much in-depth prayer, soul-searching, and discussions with my DH.. We have decided to go back to our easy-going laid back eclectic style...Even leaning more on a delight-directed with a touch of "unschooling" approach...

We are going to continue to homeschool year round, but with the focus on family, fun with learning, and less stress...I truly think this is the path for us and I welcome comments from those of you who currently pursue it...

Have a great homeschool week!!