Sometimes I wonder if others truly understand the sum of their actions and words ~  and how cold one can feel in a place that is supposed to be filled with love and grace…

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”   2 Corithians 12:9

Frugal Finds ~ my shopping trips to CVS and Walgreens

I wasn’t able to go shopping last week due to some time constraints, but I made up for that this week…
Here’s what I ended up coming home with this week:
CVS

3 bottles Purex “CRYSTALS” laundry softener
2 bottles Purex laundry detergent
2 bottles Clean & Clear Body Wash
1  Irish Spring deodorant
2 bags of TENA products (to donate)
6 king-size Hershey bars
6 Dove Chocolate bars
and I spent a whopping $18.93 OOP  (that’s for $106.76 worth of merchandise)

Next up was Walgreens and I did really well there too …

I came out with:
1 bottle Dial For Men lotion (really smells good too)
1 bottle Irish Spring Body Wash
2 Right Guard deodorants
1 box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
1 box of Cap’n Crunch Cereal
and I spent a whopping $2.94 OOP 
Me and my wallet are doing the happy dance!!

Tuesday Thoughts ~ The Beauty of Childhood…

Playing dress-up with good friends and blowing bubbles on an early spring day…

    

                                  

                          PURE JOY!!

The Muscular System

We’ve slowly been working through the muscular system in “Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy”…
Here are some things we’ve done..
  seeing how long it takes for the muscle groups in our arms to wear out… They made it about 4mins and 30 seconds..
   learning about the different muscle groups that are at work when we do jumping jacks… and if the muscle in the shin plays a part in the effort…
   learning about the different muscle fibers, cells, and energy production…
   building an arm…
   we needed long balloons for the muscles but I only had the round kind in our craft bin… So no muscles on this arm…
and finally a working arm with triceps and biceps…
         

The Power of Motherhood…

I’ve been reading a book called the “Power of Motherhood”…
It’s a wonderful book that is truly about the wonderful, blessed life of motherhood… it has truly helped me see that what I do is a blessing not only to my family, but to me from God.
The most important ideas to me from this book so far has been that “nurturing” I the most important job that God could give me and that I need to “feed” the lives and souls of my children daily with warm words, touch, and affirmations. How my attitude and the atmosphere in our home affects my children’s minds and eventually their futures. And how to “JOYFULLY” embrace motherhood, which is something I need to work on ~ especially on those days when I think I can’t take another minute of the noise or one more argument over toys.
I pray that God will give me the wisdom and guidance I need and help me in the areas of motherhood that I struggle with ~ patience, temperance, and lifting my children up as they should be.

What’s Cooking at Our House ~ Menu

This week is a busy one at our house. The kids have their SAT’s 3 days, a couple of field trips in the afternoons afterward, and we have a holiday to celebrate…
So when I was making out our menu this week, I was thinking about what we have on hand and what would be easy…

Here goes our week:
Our breakfast list is simple:
Cereal, muffins, Scrambled Eggs, homemade protein shakes, (the kids will get eggs and muffins with protein shakes the last 3 days of the week ~ they’ll need the protein for their brains *L* )
Monday ~ Pinto beans, bacon, potato cakes (using left-over mashed potatoes)
Tuesday ~ Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, salad
Wednesday ~ St. Patrick’s Day meal ~ Reubens (fitting the corned beef in there), home fries (got the potatoes), cooked cabbage, and for dessert we’ll have Laced Cookies 
Thursday ~ Polish Sausage Dogs with fresh bakery buns, some toppings, corn on the cob, and chips
Friday ~ Papa Murphy’s pizza (while we are going to be out, I’ll just pick a couple up)
Saturday ~ Chicken Francese with penne pasta, fresh baked rolls, green beans, and salad
Sunday ~ Soup and Sandwiches (Bacon Topped Grilled Cheese sammies with tomato soup)

Friends of the Library Book Sale..

Nirvana for the book lover or the homeschool mom on the hunt for resources for the next year…Which I am both…
I went to our local (45 min. away) “Friends of the Library Book Sale” today and did I ever luck up…
It was being a kid in a candy store… I was in heaven!!
                                        
I bought 48 books and spent a whopping $10… yes it was $5 a box and I had my 2 boxes loaded…
                                         
  I got some great paperbacks like:
What you should know about the American Flag”
Hans Brinker 
Adventure in Alaska
Journey Home
Mississippi Bridge
On the Long Trail Home
             
And some fantastic hardbacks like People and Places, America’s Story, Earth and Stars, Numbers and Discoveries (all great books from Southwestern)
“What your 6th grader needs to know”  ED Hirsh (Core Knowledge series)
Several books from the “Cornerstone of Freedom” series
Lots of books on different countries from the“Enchantment of the World” series
and several  of the “NewTrueBook” science / geography series
    
These two were $33.50 each on Amazon and are brand new!!
Yes, I am doing the HAPPY DANCE!!!

Friday Funny

Unit Studies ~ When we first started our home school adventure 6 years ago, the words were something I had never heard of. I didn’t understand what they were or how to use them and I certainly had never been taught that way myself in public school. Little did I know, that it would become a way of life for us.

Unit studies are simply studies that focus on one topic at a time. In our home school, our family uses unit studies primarily for science and history, but they can cover all subjects if necessary.

We learned in my son’s kindergarten year that a box curriculum was not the way for us to go. It was dry and rigid and not the fun-filled, exciting, learning opportunity I had envisioned when we first began thinking about home schooling. I wanted something that would encourage creativity and unit studies was the answer ~ we haven’t looked back.

The major benefit for us has been my children's interest lasts longer because we are not dealing with each subject individually, but as a “whole” about our topic. My kids retain so much more information because our reading, crafts, and other activities all relate to the theme we are using. Some studies that I have read say that kids can retain as much as 45% more this way.

This makes lesson planning and teaching easier and simpler for me, my kids can even help with research. And if the kids are really engrossed , we can spend as long as necessary. Don’t forget the various rabbit trails we have taken when learning about a topic leads to a completely different secondary unit of study.

I like the way the unit studies lend themselves to my kids styles of learning ~ if my son learns better from videos, we can watch more videos about a topic or if my daughter learns better from doing, we can take on more hands-on crafts related to our area of study. They are flexible and easily adaptable to any learning style or age group.

                        
Great field trips and unit studies go hand in hand. Who wouldn’t learn so much more about the ocean at the beach or human anatomy by a trip to the chiropractor? One of our best trips was a family camping trip to the Smoky Mountains when we were doing a literature study about life in Appalachia and reading “Down, Down the Mountain”.

For us, unit studies have not only enhanced our education, encouraged creativity and fostered cooperation, but helped to bring my family closer together.

I am thankful everyday that unit studies came into our home school adventure.

Day 22 ~ 31 Days of Praying for My Children

Day 22 - Father, teach my children the secret of being content in any and every situation. . . through Him who gives them strength. (Phil. 4:12-13)

I’ve not posted my thoughts on every day of prayer,because there are so many ~ but this is one that really speaks to me. My word for this year is “content” and Phillipians 4:11 is my favorite verse. It speaks to me and reassures me that no matter what may befall me, if I look to “HIM” ~ all things will be taken care of, my strength will come from him and I will persevere.

I want my children to know that peace and to be content in their lives. They may not have the newest, greatest, latest items out there ~ but it’s ok… I want the, to be thankful for not only the blessings, but for the trials… Happiness doesn’t come from possessions, wealth, nor achievements. Happiness comes from somewhere inside and from a relationship with the creator.

My happiness is a gift. I want my children to know that theirs is too. And that it’s something they should treasure.

I want my kids to refute greed. To stand firm in their convictions. To look evil in the face and deny it a foothold.

My prayer today is that God would grant me the wisdom to teach this to my children and to help me lead them to a higher path ~ to reassure them that being content is more important than the all the riches of the world and that their happiness can be found inside…

   "The Praying Hands" by Albrecht Durer

Basic Steps to Long Division

My son has a hard time remembering the steps to long division when he is under stress and with our standardized tests coming up next week, I certainly don’t want him to forget them…

I found this online and my son loves it as a way to not forget the steps…

So here goes the rules:

1. Dead (Division)

2. Monkeys (Multiplication)

3. Smell (Subtraction)

4. Bad (Bring down)

 

“DEAD MONKEYS SMELL BAD”…

4H Projects ~ Birdhouses

 

Tommy had his 4H4Him meeting today. This is our local homeschool 4H group that meets monthly. The project for March was birdhouses and birdfeeders.

There were 4 categories that they could have birdhouse / birdfeeder entries in:

1. Natural Materials ~ made from elements found in nature

2. Recycled Materials ~ made from recycled elements

3. Decorative Use

4. Functional Use

Tommy had entries in 3 of the categories for birdhouses…

Here’s a picture of Tommy and his dad working on his bluebird house

 

The completed bluebird house  

a gourd birdhouse 

his decorative entry  

    

 

and a happy boy with 3 purple ribbons for his work

Libby’s Last Game…

    I really thought she would want to cheer this year ~ but no, my little gal wanted to play her favorite sport again… BASKETBALL…
I can’t say enough good things about the Upward programs and what an impact they make on my kids’ lives… I’m so thankful that we have so many great opportunities to play these sports in our area…
Now she says she would like to give flag football a try in the fall ~ we’ll see…

Our first dissection class…

We had a wonderful opportunity to attend a class on dissection recently and it was perfect timing since we are currently in our human body study using “Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology”…
The class was taught by an area public high school AP Biology teacher and was excellent…
                
She had folders for each child with various handouts from lab safety to voacbulary words involving dissection and body parts.
   an overhead video of the heart muscle pumping blood in and around it’s chambers… Perfect since we are finishing the muscles chapter this week…
The kids were broke up into groups of 2 and they got to share in the dissection process of a fetal    pig…
    A bucket full of piggies…
    She supplied all the lab trays and instruments for the kids to use…At the beginning of the class, she focused on lab safety and proper procedures for lab activity and dissection.
The proper way to set up a tray and specimen ~

  Hands on learning…                                     
     Concentrating on removing the liver, lungs, intestines, and kidneys in tact…
             
Tommy was able to view the masseter jaw, and how the esophagus and trachea are 2 separate tubes. He also got to see a fetal malformation where the stomach and liver had fused during development…This was a wonderful class and he learned tons from it.
There’s the possibility of having more advanced science classes being offered in the future on a quarterly cycle and I am really hoping this becomes a reality. It would add so much to our homeschool journey.
Big Thanks to Mrs. Rebecca for teaching it and for do such a wonderful outreach to the homeschool community…

As the Nolichucky floats by…

I love taking photos of my children… My favorite pictures are the ones where I get a glimpse of how close they are and what good friends they will become…