Summer Science

I read about re-growing lettuce from the base online, and the girls and I decided to try it.  I used the all but the bottom 2-3 inches of some romaine lettuce and then thinly cut the dried part of the base off and put it in water.  Voila!  The first one was started last Tuesday (I think), and the other was started a day or two later.  Here are our results so far!

The one on the left is almost a week old, and the one on the right is about 4-5 days old.

Vacation Bible School

We had a great week this past week in Vacation Bible School at our church.  I was able to be the assistant in the Primary class (1st & 2nd grade), and my dh was the teacher in the Juniors (5th grade-???).  For the first year, our oldest dd was a general helper instead of an attendee, and did a great job! 

My oldest dd (on the right) with one of the other helpers.

I am so proud of my girls!!  My oldest attendee won the prize for most Bible verses in her class.  All those memory verses throughout the year really came in handy!

My 12-year-old won for most visitors!  This was such a blessing to her, as she's been wanting a backpack for awhile now.  Both of her older sisters have one (the 13-year-old won hers in VBS last year!), so she really worked hard to win that backpack! :-)

The youngest won for most verses in her class--which makes me proud of her since she had a flare-up of hives and missed one night.  There was a little mix-up with names, so she didn't get her prize immediately, but I'm proud of her all the same!  And, yes, that is a "grass skirt" she's wearing! :-)  We had a tropical island theme, and one of her little friends bought it for her to wear over her clothes.  She LOVED it!

We all had a blast (though I think the adults were ready to be done at the end we were so tired! lol) and were privileged to be able to serve the Lord in VBS.  I want to give a big plug to my wonderful dh for pouring him into this ministry this week!  As a former police officer and SWAT team member, Hawaiian shirts aren't exactly his style, but he was a great sport and went for it.  He worked all week at a different site than normal which added a lot more driving time, and rushed home to change, inhale a little food and get to VBS.  I love my hubby!!

DH (on the right) talking to his class before the certificates were handed out.

What opportunities has God given you to serve Him, and are you grabbing each of those opportunities, or letting them pass you by?

Creation Museum!

The Creation Museum in Kentucky is a great field trip for homeschoolers!!  Okay, it wasn't officially a field trip for us as we're out of school, but it was a great trip, regardless.  To make it even better, throughout the entire year of 2014, kids 12 and under get in free with an adult ticket purchase.  That took us down to only having to buy 4 tickets, which was a big help.  We had so much fun! 

There is so much to see and do at the museum--something for everyone!   My oldest dd loved the gardens outside, especially the suspension bridge.  DD 2 loved the special effects theater, and  dd 3 loved the the outside the best as well, including the petting zoo.  My youngest loved the dinosaurs--they were definitely her favorite, along with the camel ride!!  (Camel rides are extra and not something we'd normally do, but this was our first family vacation in a few years and we had to trim it from a week to 2 days at the museum due to circumstances beyond our control, so we splurged on camel rides for the girls.  They loved it!)

The suspension bridge

I can't add a photo of my favorite part as photos weren't allowed.  Verbum Domini ("The Word of the Lord") was an exhibit of very old bibles, scrolls, etc.  Fascinating!!  Of course, my second favorite was probably the bookstore! lol  I am a serious book addict, and finances is the only thing that kept me from leaving loaded down!  They have the curriculum I plan to use for teaching my kids anatomy--"Body of Evidence" dvd set and study guide.  I can't wait to get it, but have to recoup from this year's curriculum purchases first! lol  Thankfully, I don't need it until the 2015-2016 school year, so I have some time.  Frankly, I want to dive in it myself!  Before I was married I worked in the medical field some and learned a lot, but I think this would be so much better coming from a Christian/creationist perspective.

There is so much to see and learn here, and I highly recommend it to not just homeschoolers, but just anyone who loves God and His creation!

It's Here!!!

Yay!!  My Tapestry of Grace curriculum came in the mail yesterday afternoon!!  I'm so excited to dig into this!!  LOVING all the extras.  I really wanted the Pop Quiz discs for my dh, but couldn't justify the expense, so I'm so thankful that it came with this set!  Plus--just because He can--we even got the Pop Quiz cards! 

I welcome any comments from TOG users as I start this journey.  I'm prepared for the "Tapestry Fog" and welcome and comments, advice or insight! :-)

Our Curriculum Choices for 2014-2015

We finished school this year the very end of April.  Ahhhh!  One of the LOVELY things about homeschooling!  We start August 1st, and don't take many holidays, so we get done early.  Even living in Tennessee where there is a mandatory 180 school days, we STILL were able to be done the end of April!!  Love it!

Anyway, once we end, I take a week or so off, then my mind turns to the coming year and what we need, changes that need to be made, etc.  We used Switched on Schoolhouse this past year, and for the most part, it just didn't work that well for us.  We'll be using a bit of it this next year for a couple of kids, but then SOS will be gone forever for us.

This year I will be homeschooling grades K, 7, 8 & 9, so that's going to be interesting!  To be honest, I'm a little more nervous about the kindergartner (my very "effervescent" child!) than I am my high school freshman! lol  With the three oldest, we used Rod & Staff for the first two grades and they are very strong readers.  When my two oldest were in about 3rd and 4th grade, they tested post high school in reading!!  Obviously, this curriculum has something going for it, so we are using it with our youngest this year.

  We only do math and phonics/language/writing in K as far as "curriculum" goes, so that will help as we get in the swing of things.

Our biggest change this year is that we are moving to Tapestry of Grace!  I am sooooooo excited about it!!  When I first started homeschooling, I knew little about the curriculum out there and didn't feel like I could "teach", so stuck with more independent learning type curriculum.  On top of that, my health wasn't the best, so I would be exhausted by late morning to midday.  All of that coupled with tight finances kept us from experimenting too much.  I ran across TOG a year or two ago, and liked what little I saw, but saw the price and just moved on.  There isn't time to tell you how everything came about, but God definitely moved and we are starting TOG this year!  It's been amazing to look back over the past week or two and see how He orchestrated everything to get us to this point.  I prayed specifically for a nice, used copy with some of the extras that were out of my price range and He supplied over and above what I asked for!  God is so good!!  I really feel His leading in this, and hope I am up to the challenge.   I have started taking Plexus and am slowly feeling my energy level rising (and I'm sleeping through the night--something I haven't done in YEARS!), so I have high hopes that we're going to have a wonderful school year!

My 9th grader will be doing Algebra I from Landmark Freedom Baptist Curriculum, Biology from ACE (with supplements for lab, etc), Writing with Ease, Health from SOS and Easy Grammar Ultimate.

 My 8th grader will be doing Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, Easy Grammar Plus, WWE and SOS Science. 

My 7th grader will be doing SOS math and science, Igniting Your Writing and Easy Grammar Plus.  Of course, the oldest will all be doing TOG, and I will be doing read-alouds to the little one to include her.  She won't officially start TOG until next year.  I can't wait to see what God does with all of us this year!!

A Change of Direction

Many of you have been coming here for some time for reviews on Christian books.  Due to the dearth of good, quality Christian fiction, I am no longer going to be reviewing them.  As a homeschool mom, I will be redirecting this blog for homeschooling. 

My youngest dd will begin homeschooling this year, meaning that I will be homeschooling all four dd's.  I will be talking about homeschool related issues, curriculum, books, possible field trips, etc.  I fully understand if you no longer want to follow this blog, and wish you well on your journey of life.

Sandra Lassiter

Unstoppable by Nick Vujicic

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nick Vujicic is a fascinating person. Born without arms and legs, his parents refused to coddle him and let him be labeled "special needs" or "disabled", but raised him to do for himself all he could and to never give up. "Unstoppable" is a great book on overcoming adversity--both in his own life and in stories he shares of others. Reading this book makes you stop and look at your own life and realize one of two things: "My life is actually pretty great and I need to stop worrying about the unimportant, bothersome things" or "Look at what they went through and how they came through it with God's help. Maybe I can handle this, too!"

Nick is very open and honest in this book--sometimes almost TOO open--about his faults and failures and trials he's gone through. It's sure to be an inspiration to anyone who reads it.

I received a copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.