MFW Update Weeks 26 & 27

Last week was a fabulous school week. Everyday we dug in and moved forward. I can't describe how good it feels. We have started a new book called Bound for Oregon and we are really enjoying it. We continue to move forward with our study of the states and presidents. It's been a good productive week.

2009 Homeschool Blog Awards

Nominations have begun and will end VERY soon.

Like Saturday!

Whoops!

I know, I know, no notice.

But alas, I have just learned of them myself this very night.

Blog awards are a lot of fun, a great way to meet fellow bloggers, gain insightful information and fellowship with others.

If you would like to nominate your favorite blogs you can do so by clicking on The Homeschool Post!

Go on! Give it a try! Nominate your favorite homeschooling blogs today!

Voting will begin in November.

Right...around....the....corner.

MFW Update Week 25

We finished week 25 last week but didn't get to move onto week 26 as I had hoped. That is perfectly fine, these next few weeks are jam packed with history reading, state reports and presidents!

We had a great homeschool week. We finished our missionary book about William Carey. Once again I learned so much. I think it is so awesome to see (well read about) people with patience and trust in the Lord. William had to deal with many unpleasant situations and people. As I was reading there were several times that I found myself fed up and thinking, "I would have done this".....or "I would have said that"....but as I kept reading I was shown a whole new way of handling things.

I stopped and thought to myself, at the age of 38 is that possible? It would seem that being a Christian myself and living the life we live that this kind of behavior would be typical in our environment and every day life. Sadly, it isn't.

I was once again reminded of how far I have to go, and that I am not setting the best example for my children.

Lord, forgive me. Show me, mold me. Let me MORE like YOU!

This is one of my favorite things about My Father's World. It deepens my relationship with Christ, it convicts me and brings me to repentance. A place I never want to find myself short of.

We did go on our field trip to see the Tabernacle. I'm going to link it below so that you can see it for yourself and later this week when I have more time I will load and post our pictures. I had such a great time. It was a huge blessing and opportunity for our family to have the honor of being able to go and visit something of this magnitude. It brought the plan of Redemption to life. It really focused on repentance and the need for the covering of Jesus' blood to wash away that sin.

The Traveling Tabernacle

Change of Plans

We ended up not going on our field trip. It was soooo cold here, Tony has been really achy lately and didn't think he could handle the walking so we decided not to go.

Instead, I took Sky to see Whip It. We had a great time both of us together and then she went and spent the night at a friend's house.

Saturday, Tony and I took Meadow to see Cloudy and Calling for Meatballs and Where the Wild Things Are. The first movie was so good, we laughed so hard. I really enjoyed it. The Wild Things was just slow and boring it was close to being pointless. The monsters were beautiful. I love certain parts but Meadow asked to leave the movie half way through. Tony dosed off twice and I had to wake him! It was that bad.

Then we went up on the mountain and visited my mother in law and Meadow spent the night with her aunt. We had a great visit. It was soo cold!

So the weekend was much different than planned we still had a great time and have two more field trips in the planning stages. I hope it warms up so we can go to the zoo and the other one is to visit a replica of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament that Moses and Aaron built. I'm really excited about it! Hopefully that'll happen Friday!

Plans for tomorrow are to begin week 25 in MFW Explorations to 1850's. Moving right along. :)

MFW Update Weeks 23 & 24

We moved along so slowly last year with My Father's World-Explorations to 1850's. This year we are moving along in a pattern that feels fast but looking back at my weekly reports I can see, that its not nearly as quickly as it could be. I guess with Sky's surgery and the field trips it has held us back a little. I do like that I blog our progress so that I can keep up with where we've been and where we are without having to dig out our lesson plans. :)

This week we completed week 24. The girls are studying the states and presidents and are really enjoying learning. Their retention has been amazing also, I love it when they share with my family the new information we've covered. Sky really has a great memory and never ceases to amaze me with the facts she keeps hidden away in her mind.

I'm hoping to finish My Father's World-Explorations to 1850's and move onto the following year My Father's World-1850's to Modern by December. If this happens and we do history through the summer we may just be able to finish American History before the girls move onto separated years of My Father's World. This would make a mom's heart really happy and satisfied! :)

I continue to learn as much as the girls are. I just love American History and would be content never studying anything else. The girls would beg to differ!

Tomorrow we are going on another field trip to a D Day Memorial. Tony is off work and will going with us. I am so excited. I'll be sure to take pictures and post our field trip soon.

Praying you all have a blessed weekend!

(As I type the girls are teaching themselves to play Yankee Doodle Dandy on the piano! I love those perfect homeschooling moments, don't you?)

Virtual Field Trip

I thought that this was very interesting and that it'd be nice to share. Let me know what you think about this. This story really touched my heart.

Just click below:

You're Invited! Meet Winter-the Dolphin at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida!

Friday's Field Trip

We had a wonderful time, my husband ended up being off of work and got to go with us and that made the trip extra special to all of us.

I love this picture of Meadow. We ate lunch at IHOP before going to the museum.

Daddy and Sky

Meadow and Mommy

Sky and Meadow playing a huge Xylophone

A Trolley, I really wanted to ride!

This was a weather station, so Sky and I tried our hands at being weather women...I don't think we are cut out for the job!

Mommy and Sky being silly.

Sky reporting a tornado!

Not sure what this is called but it was pretty.

This was in the History part of the museum. We've been reading a lot about families that had to weave for a living with the loom in the middle of their home. It was neat to see how large they really are.

A copper pot used to make apple butter.

Tee pee and an Indian

Inside of a cabin replica.

Battleship

I tried to get a close up so you could see the details.

Monkey Toes Meadow!

These next few pictures were taken inside the Mega Dome Theatre while we were watching the movie. Very neat and interesting shots.

This was a picture taken from the top floor looking down.

And that's all. I could have posted so many more but it felt like I loaded pictures forever. We had a great time and really enjoyed being together as a family. It's a wonderful part of homeschooling. I'm so thankful for the opportunity. God is so good to us.

It's Friday!

This week I've decided to get the girls and I on a better schedule. For those of you who have been following our homeschooling journey or that know us personally, you know already that this is no easy feat for us. This week we've had success.

I had already made changes concerning our consistency in school, I logged days last year and it helped to see that we managed to get in over 165 school days (not including field trips). So, even though we only made it through half of My Father's World Explorations to 1850's that was okay. We learned a lot and we did finish all of the text books that we were using for various subjects.

This year we've been sailing along doing very well. The fact that we have been starting our school days around 9ish and that we've already logged in 33 school days even after taking a two week break for Sky's tonsillectomy, is really good. I was pretty impressed!

I can't really explain why I've decided to start getting up earlier, maybe it's the Lord who's been wanting me to seek Him early in the morning. I've just felt led to try and make a change. So, our new bed time has been 9:00 pm. In the bed by 9:00 pm, no excuses. We all read some before falling asleep but the girls have been falling asleep really early. I have a harder time falling asleep at night, I'm a natural night owl, so I've struggled some even though I'm really tired from getting up at 7. I'm praying that my body will adjust and this will become a new habit!

I have found that we are getting so much more accomplished. School is finished earlier with less resistance and the house is looking great with so much time on our hands for chores. I've even had to get one of the dogs groomed midday this week and still finished school earlier than usual. I'm a lot less stressed and pressed for time, I've been planning dinner ahead and having time to prepare for it.

A whole week so far!

Today we are getting ready for Sky's recheck at the doctor and then we are headed to a Museum for a long field trip. I'm so excited. I've been planning this trip for a month and it worked out beautifully that Sky's doctors appointment was the very same morning. It saved me from having to drive over an hour -one way- to the city we are headed to.

And did I mention it's Friday?!

Woohoo

I'll be posting pictures of our field trip soon.

Have a blessed homeschool day!

Glycerin Soap Making

My girlfriend Tammy makes homemade candles and soap. She let Meadow come over with her son and niece to participate in making a soap project to enter into our Fair. Below are the pictures of the children making molds and soap.

Meadow making molds

Again-I love seeing her do this on her own.

Popping out the molds

Coloring the soap

Spooning the soap into more molds.

Again

Meadow, Christopher and Karleigh

Popping more molds.

Molds shaped like stars.

The green is my favorite.

Proud children.

Having fun!

Finished, how beautiful.

Wrapping their soap.

This was the picture entered in the fair. You'll notice Christopher also made a candle and a birdhouse. He won first place for both of those. For the soap Karleigh won first place, Meadow won second place and Christopher won third.

I was very proud of all of them. They worked so hard.
Thanks Tammy!

The New Lovebird Cage

(Tony the builder-again!)

I love this picture, partly because he's putting on but mostly because it's how he is. Smiling. Happy. Joyful. I appreciate that more than he knows. He always brings me up when I am down.


I'm also excited to have the bird cage. It has made the waiting for the eggs to hatch that much harder. Tuesday will be day 23. I'm hoping we have a few hatch out of the 6 eggs that we have.

Below is the stand for the cage.

Here is Tony putting the cage together.

And here is the cage finished.

I love these branches that the guy threw in for free too. Aren't they natural looking?

Now, to get the playground together. There were lots of pieces, but it went together with ease. Tony and I both were thankful for that!

Finished it's absolutely beautiful.

The playground on top of the cage.

A close up of the playground.

Now if I could only move the birds into their new home! I plan to move mommy and daddy over to the large cage once I start hand feeding the baby birdies. The baby birdies will stay in the brooder box until they are old enough to put in the weaning cage (which will be the cage that the mommy and daddy are in now.) I'll decide later on, after we see how everything goes with the baby birds, who we are keeping and who we are selling. It'd be really nice to have a tame non breeding pair in the big cage.