Consider the ravens

album 11\26\2009 (28 photos), by Crystal McAtee

2010-05-04T16:51:00.001-04:00

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Homeschool Stuff 09-10 (183 photos), by Crystal McAtee

2010-05-04T16:47:00.000-04:00

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

"Flat Stanley"

2010-05-04T16:35:00.003-04:00

This week we are do a unit study from "Flat Stanley" by Jeff Brown at this site, www.homeschoolshare.com .
Pics to follow at the end of the week........

It is April 19th!

2010-04-19T09:26:00.016-04:00

Where has the year gone? It is almost over! (the school year that is) More interruptions have followed this winter, but Luke and I still have over 150 days of school in! YAY. I will add a summary or list of things we have been up to since my last post.

The biggest change that has come for us in 2010 is the home going of my Daddy in on March 22. His battle of 12 plus years with Alzheimer's has ended. It has bitter sweet for the entire family. Daddy was able to go to hospice for his last week of life and it was a wonderfully peaceful experience. I am not sure of the history of this service but I believe it is God breathed and inspired. We could feel the spirit of the Lords peace as soon as we entered the doors. It was a palpable feeling of the Holy Spirits grace and strength. Daddy went home to be with Jesus at 9:45 AM on March 22. His passing was peaceful and my Mom was with him, as she had prayed to be. She sat by his bed gently stroked his head and spoke sweetly to him during this week. What a strong faith she has. It has been a difficult journey, but God gave it a peaceful end. I just find it so hard to be sad. Daddy is in the presence of JESUS! The one he loved and taught about so many years. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that today he is healed and whole. It brings me great peace and YES, even joy that he is there! That is the most wonderful gift to give your family. The assurance that you will go to heaven and that there is a chance to see your loved ones in Christ again!!
His funeral was so sweet! It was a true celebration of Daddy's short life. He was 67 and had this disease for 12 plus years. A dear friend and pastor, Dr. Larry Blanton began the service by teaching on and painting the most beautiful biblical picture of heaven! There was a song played next that I picked out by Vince Gill, "Go Rest High On That Mountain". A song that I felt told the best story of Daddy's life. As it played, yes I cried. I cried even more as I felt my sweet little 7 year old boy reach up ad place his arm around my neck. I looked over and and he too was in tears. At that moment I realized that I had lost one of the most amazing men in my life, but that God had given me 2 replacements; my husband and my son. What a memory and gift that I will treasure in my heart for as long as I live. After this song my sweet husband gave Daddy's eulogy. I will never be able to express in words what this meant to me. He was so transsparent with his feelings for my Dad and gave a beautiful synopsis of the awesome man that my Daddy was. From begining to end Daddy touched and changed lives, that is why we are here afterall. In closing My mother's pastor, Reverend Tim Snyder closed the service by "drawing the net" to the audience and paing tribute to a man he knew only through word of mouth and testimony. The tesitimony being what a great man of God he was, what a Bible scholoar he was, and last but not least the awesome father and husband he was. The service ended at the grave side with scripture reading by both pastors. And my oldest brother, David singing while playing his guitar, "Haven Of Rest"! He was amazing, and comforting as always when he picks up that guitar. The icing on the cake was that the Air Force was there and performed the folding and presentation of the American flag and the playing of tapps on the trumpet! WOW, what a moment! My Daddy would have been so honored!

This journey makes me even more hungry for heaven than ever before. Heaven is truely sweeter and also, dear friends obtainable through the work of the cross of Jesus Christ. Won't you meet me there!? The joy and peace I have experienced throughth is horrific event of watching my Daddy leave us little by little and then completly can come only through a power greater, higher than anything we have ever seen! Jesus promises this to all who accept him and what he has done for everyone through his death, burial, and resurection! Death has lost it's sting because of Calvory! I have lived it, I know!

A New Year..........

2010-01-20T21:02:00.005-05:00

Here we are it is January 2010! I can not believe that a new decade has begun. Seems like only yesterday we were preparing for Y2K! My family has encountered many trials in the past year and especially since my last post. I will post a poem later that explains it all. Pretty much in a nut shell My Mom had open heart surgery in Oct. and is now doing wonderful! It took several hospitals and ambulance rides to find the problem, but God was right on time. AMEN!

Luke and I have a tough year staying on track with all the distractions. But, all in all we have stayed the course and he is learning so much. Math and Science are still his strong suites while reading continues to be a struggle. He is finally getting it though! Praise the Lord. Many a tear has been shed over this subject and yes even an email sent to a local Christian school. :( The Lord however still is leading in the homeschooling direction. So, we are pressing on.

This week we are doing a creation based unit study from www.homeschoolshare.com. It has been so exciting for both Luke & me. I am learning so much that I was taught to be fact as a child was totally wrong. It amazes me how the school systems refuse to teach all aspects as possibilities and teach a falsehood as complete truth! Anyway here are some of the activities we have done and will be doing in this study.

The books I am using are;
The Bible,
"What Really Happened To The Dinosaurs" by John Morris and Ken Hamm,
"The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible" by Paul S. Taylor,
"Dinosaurs by Design" by Duane T. Gish.
I purchased these off wwww.amazon.com at really good prices.

Subjects and what we have learned:
Bible:
Creation study, and discussed what day the dinosaurs were created
The Behemoth in Job 40: 15-24, Luke took the description and drew a picture of what he may have looked like.
The Fall: Read in Genesis 3, discussed sin and the consequences of sin= separation from God
The Great Flood: Read Genesis 5-8
After The Flood: Genesis 9 "What might have happened to the dinosaurs?"

Science
Animal Classification: Reptiles, discussed the similarities of the Dino's tot he reptiles we know today. Discussed the characteristics of a reptile
Defined Paleontology and Paleontologist: created a small bone yard with a 3D Dino puzzle that Luke had to find and put together.
Discovered the different kinds of dinosaurs and their characteristics. Created a "My Dinosaur Book" filled with the names and pictures of many different kinds of Dino's.
Dinosaur Diets: meat or plant eaters, still some controversy
What are Fossils?
What is Extinction and endangered?
Dinosaur Eggs

Social Studies Components
Dinosaur Time Line
What have Dino bones been found, and what types have been found there.
Review the 7 continents

Language Arts
Tons of new vocabulary and writing all the new words for handwriting practice.
Adjectives and using them to describe the dinosaurs

Just for fun:
Treasure hunts each morning for reading
Make a paper mache' Dino egg
Create fossil prints
Create a Dino diorama
Play a Dino memory game
We will also be watching some Buddy Davis video's about all the dinosaurs ets. They are very clever!

Dino wrap up: We pray that on Sat. we will make it to Orlando with all healthy and to eat at the T-Rex cafe where there are life sized dinosaurs all around, metor showers, and a bone yard to dig for Dino bones! We also hope to visit the Dino dig at Disney's animal kingdom to see real Dino bones, fossils, and dig up even more Dino bones. Oh and of course ride the DINOSAUR ride. Luke said, "Don't worry I know when to close my eyes!"

For math we have continues mastering the addition facts and will move onto subtraction after Disney.
This has been a fun study with tons more activities than we can fit in. I am sure we will be visiting this subject again and again. And again I say what an AMAZING creator!!
Still loving this journey God has called me to called Homeschooling!

October Homeschool Fun!

2009-10-13T12:19:00.005-04:00

This month is one of my favorites! We have had an action packed month and it is only the 13Th! We started the month with winding up our leaf study from last week. We did a science experiment that proved that leaf colors are present in the leaf all year around, but it is the changing of the seasons that brings out the change in the colors we see. We have learned that October is national apple month. This is the month when most apples are harvested in the USA. We went to Sky Top to pick apples and have done many apple activities since then. We even made our own applesauce! YUMMY!!

We also did a study Johnny Appleseed separating the facts from the legends. Without this man we would not have such a plenteous supply of apples here in the states. He was said to carry a Bible everywhere he went and had a heart of service and giving. He is a wonderful example of how we need to be. As soon as I can get this blogger to do it I will be posting some pictures of all of our apple adventures.

This week are doing a study on "Wonderful Me". Pointing out that God has created each individual differently and that he has a purpose for each one. We will be pointing out and discovering the many wonderful things God has instilled in Luke and doing many activities to point out how he can use these for the Lord. We are reading, "A Hat For Ivan" by Max Lucado that points out the importance on leaning on the master "hat maker" to find your purpose and the hardships of trying to please everyone else. At the end of the week we will have completed a "Wonderful Me" notebook full of the ways Luke is unique and special. Some of the elements of the notebook are; My House, Where I Live, My Address & Phone #, What makes me special, My signature, My Family, My heart belongs to, A few of my favorite things, When I grow up, My helping hands, My Time Line, If I had this much money, Me, myself, and I, Interview of Luke. All courtesy of www.homeschoolshare.com. Other books we will read are; "God Gave Us You", "You Are Special", "Stormy's Hat", and many more that point to this same theme.

For the last 2 weeks in October we will do a unit on Pumpkins. Anything you can think of for this unit we are doing. We will be reading, "The Pumpkin Patch Parable" as our main theme. We will do many pumpkin activities for math, science, reading, writ ting, language arts, and FUN!

The First Week Of Fall!

2009-09-20T21:01:00.005-04:00

It is here! Fall, Autumn, my favorite time of the year! I am so excited to have Janie Claire Lambert's fall nature study to remind me of all the wonders God gives us during this time. To kick off this theme of fall and the beginning of the season of Thanksgiving Luke and I will be rowing, "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. This is a study put together by www.homeschoolshare.com. It is a classic story about a boy and his tree that gives to him throughout the years.

For the Bible lessons this week we will we will study the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. We will discuss the fruits and what they mean to a Christian life. The fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. I look forward to sharing and learning about the attributes with Luke.

During our social studies lessons we will discuss the many emotions felt during the stages of the boys life and times when we have felt these same emotions. I will record a dictated a story entitled, Happiness Is" for Luke. I can not wait to see what he comes up with. We will also discover what states apples are grown in as well as which 2 produce the most apples. We will map these on a Untitled States map.

We will begin our nature study for science this week on tree's. We will begin a notebook and document one of the tree's in our yard throughout the seasons. We will learn and create a book on the many useful ways tree's help us. We also learn the parts of a tree paint and diagram these. We will take a nature walk and observe the many different trees that are right around us.

During language arts we will review the short 'a' sound and I will have Luke CLAP every time he hears that sound while reading out story. We will also practice the writing of the capital and lower case A. We will make a list of the many uses of threes and of apples.

For art we will draw a tree in our nature journals and try to use the techniques used in this story. We will also gather leaves to laminate and make place mats to decorate our fall table.

For math we will continue to learn our 9 addition facts and do a comprehensive review of all the lessons up to this point.

For handwriting we will keep learning the appropriate technique for all the magic 'C' letters.

I am extremely excited about this weeks study of tree's and giving. All the lessons will essentially point back to God and His awesome design, order, and incredible creation. This tree study will lead us right into next week for our leaf study! The week after that we will do a study on apples. I am sure there will be many pictures to follow! AMEN!

For the next 2 weeks....

2009-09-02T20:46:00.003-04:00

We are dooing a unit study on the Solar Syatem compliments of www.homeschoolshare.com It is amazing to me the vastness of our Creator! The organization and order give testimony to His power and resound to me that He and He alone is worthy of our praise.

Pics from "Who Owns The Sun"

2009-09-02T20:29:00.002-04:00

"Who Owns The Sun" by Stacy Chbosky

2009-08-25T22:10:00.009-04:00

This week we are rowing the FIAR title, "Who Owns The Sun" by Stacy Chbosky. If you haven't read this one you must try to find it and at least read it even if you do not do Five In A Row. It is so rich in so many ways. My first read through was today and I must tell you that I was all teared up by the end. It gently and tenderly introduces the subject of slavery. Something my innocent child had not learned about until this point. It was so hard for him to understand why others were treated so differently just because of the color of their skin. I did not go into a lot of detail, but just enough for him to understand on his level. Every time I row another book I always say, Oh, this is one of my favorites!" This title is no exception. From what I understand this book is out of print and I was very lucky the other county closest to me had a copy at there library. I contemplated not doing this title, but what a blessing I would have missed by skipping it!! Below I will list some of the enriching areas we will learn about all because of this one book.

Today we did the history portion of the lesson. Here we explored American slavery that eventually led to the Civil War. During Social Studies we discussed human relationships and the devotion the boy had for his father. We compared this to the relationship Luke has with Travis and it was at this point that Luke became teary eyed. He stated he loved his Daddy so much that sometime when he is awake early in the morning and hears him leaving he starts to cry. Then he added, "and it makes me want to cry just thinking about it right now"! This was another wonderful FIAR memory I will always cherish. I love that we get to share our deepest feelings together each day!

During Language Arts today we made lists of the qualities of Big Jim, the character in the story that is the slave and father to this little boy. We also listed things that are to wonderful to be owned. Luke nearly remembered everyone of them stated in the book. We will draw pictures of these tomorrow to further drive home this point. Tomorrow we will continue out LA lesson and discover new words such as, squinted, windmill, wanderer, and continue. We will also have a lesson on and activity to learn the appropriate use of a period or a question mark at the end of a sentence. We will continue our writing lessons from our Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. (HWT) What fun this has been! It is a multi-sensory approach to handwriting. Tomorrow we will write the lower case "v" and do the "Alphabet Boogie!" (One of my personal favorites! :) We are even making up our own dance to this one!! LOL!

On Wed. we will also embark on the Art portion for this week. We will view and discuss each picture in the book. We will discuss what medium was used and discover new colors that the illustrator used throughout the book and learn there names. We will also pick a picture and try to replicate it with paint.

For the applied math in this story we will choose the many different items throughout the books illustrations and count each of them. I can not wait to see how many flowers there are! We will also continue our studies in Math U See. (MUS) We are clicking right along with addition and he has nearly mastered all of his 0, 1, and 2 addition facts. On Wed. we will also introduce solving for the unknown.

Our Bible lesson we will study the uniqueness of God's most wonderful creation, US! We will read Matthew 6:26 (one of my favorites hence the blog site name) and Genesis 1:26. We will talk about The Creator and how we are made in HIS image and this is the one reason we can be so creative. For, there was never one more creative than our God!

For Science on Fri. we will review the seasons and what months go with these. We will also experiment with the 5 senses and how they teach us about the world. We will read the descriptions throughout this book that describe the beautiful ways we can use our senses. We have a book to create on the 5 senses as well. We will take a nature walk and observe the many things we can see, hear, smell, possibly taste, and the many different textures we can feel. A nature walk is always a great time.

Other elective type areas are soccer, music, Lego's, and computer time.
For our physical fitness Luke has begun the fall soccer league at church. We have been practicing each day as a family and he had his first official team practice on Monday night. We have also been listening to and memorizing the Kid's Choir Christmas musical. He hums or sings it throughout the day. It is precious! His Bible verse memorization is going great so far as well. I think he is up to 6 and this is the 5Th week of school. I am really proud of him for that.

It is a fun filled action packed week, but what a blessing it is to hold my little boy in my lap and teach him each and everyday. It is not always so easy, but it is always so worth it! I praise the Lord for the sweet times we share. I thank Him for this curriculum that allows us so much time together learning to love each other and to love learning!! And for the dear sisters who encourage me in this journey, my fellow homeschooling Mom's!
Amen!

5 Weeks In!

2009-08-19T10:11:00.011-04:00

Here we are already 5 weeks into the school year! I can not believe how quickly this Summer is moving! We have had many adventures so far. Rowing titles such as, "Truman's Aunt Farm", "Lentil", "Paul Revere's Ride", and this week is "Andy and the Lion". I can not tell you which has been our favorite thus far. I just LOVE all the Five In A Row titles! (FIAR) We have explored everything from homonyms to the Revolutionary War. I have implemented Sue Patrick's work box system, as many other homeschool Mom's have. I for one love the system and it keeps me organized. I have also found that all the review has benefited Luke greatly. He is getting used to the idea and likes looking and seeing just how much work he has done and is still to be done. The system is working out well.

There are many stories I could share at this point, but the one that warms my heart most happened last Thursday during our Bible time. In the box with our Bible lesson for the day I placed a candle and a lighter. (child safe of course). He was so inquisitive when he opened this box. In an earlier lesson we had read about Gideon. How God's army had used torches in their battle to defeat the Midianites. I took him the darkest room in the house and shut the doors. I told him how the smallest light can light up even the darkest of places. I lit the candle and the room lit so brightly and warmly. The look on his face was priceless. I shared the verse from Matthew 5:16 that says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Then we squatted and sang, "This little light of mine". Luke sang with all of his heart and had the sweetest most contented look on his face with the candle light reflecting it so sweetly. I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me and whisper, "This is why you home school my child, for moments like this when you are teaching my truths, the most important lessons of all!" I left the candle burning the rest of the day in the bathroom to remind us that we are supposed to be a light to this world, Amen!

2009-07-17T06:22:00.001-04:00

1st Grade Begins Next Week!

2009-07-17T06:04:00.009-04:00

Here it is it's back to school for us next week. Early some say but we have been out since May 8th. So, we start early and end early. I have been in a frenzy cleaning out, organizing, and planning for our new year. It is so exciting to be on this end of the school year and smell all the potential! It has been a busy fun Summer thus far and will continue to be. We will just be adding school to the schedule now. I am most excited about the planner I have created! I will post pictures. I got the notebook at the flea market for $2.00 and it is working out great! It is my homeschool planner brains and supplies all in one place!
We will be rowing, "Lentil" for our first week. I am excited about the themes we will get to explore during this book. We will continue with Math U See (MUS) and Reading Made Easy (RME) curriculums. We are adding Handwritting Without Tears (HWT) this year as well. I am also exploring the Work Box System to organize our school day. First Grade here we come!!!!!!

Summer Fun!!

2009-07-01T19:01:00.005-04:00

It is July 1, 2009 ane we all have a tan line. We have swam nearly everyday and have had many friends and family over to enjoy the Red Neck Riviera as well. We have done VBS and I am not sure who enjoyed it more me or him. I had three hours of peace and he had three ours of fun! I also had a latte' from Dunkin Donuts EVERY day!! (Decaf of course!)

I have begun the planning for our first grade year! WOW, I can't believe it!! I am having fun pondering all the many subjects and topics to cover. We will be using FIAR (Five In A Row) again as our mail curriculum. We will add to that Math U See the Alpha serise, Reading Made Easy, and Handwritting Without Tears (HWOT). We are scheduled to start Monday July 20, if all goes as planned. Above are some pics to share some of our Summer Memories.......

I smell Summer!!

2009-05-30T18:53:00.005-04:00

Here it is May 30, 2009! Where in the world did the year go!!? Lots has happened since my last post and much I want to share. I will start with my sweet BIG boy graduating from K5! What a bitter sweet day of emotion and pride!! I so loved the opportunity of being the one who handed him his diploma of completion! My heart was so full as I watched Luke march down the center isle beaming with pride as he took his special certificate. He looked so grown in his royal blue cap and gown. I know it will seem like I blink my eyes and he will be graduating high school. God is teaching me to slow down and enjoy the moment I am in. So many have given the advice to "enjoy it, they grow up fast", and I am learning how true that is! Luke already wants to start 1st grade due to the pride the completion of K5 instilled in him. The best part is he still wants me to be his teacher and that he never EVER wants to go to "big school". He is excited now too at the prospect of a Summer break!

We kicked off the Summer with a BIG trip to Florida. Where we spent 3 days in Orlando and 6 In Madeira Beach on the Gulf coast. It was an awesome fun filled 3 days in Orlando where we visited Disney's Hollywood studios and The Magic Kingdom. On the day we headed toward the beach we spent the morning shopping and riding the monorail loop through the resorts and Epcot loop, up front! That was a fun adventure for us all. We got to watch a young man from Coastal Carolina train to drive the monorail under a 9 year veteran total Disney Geek! LOVED him!! We drove to the condo at Madeira in silence, as Luke slept off all the excitement and labor from the previous 2 days. We arrived at the condo, got settled, and had a relaxing evening. The next day was a Sunday and it was an awesome day on the beach complete with bright blue skies, beautiful white clouds, and sea birds playing and fishing away. This was the last sunny day at the beach. But, we had a wonderful time relaxing and playing in the condo to the rain on Monday. On Tuesday we went to Tampa's The Lowry Park Zoo and enjoyed marveling at God's amazing creation. The rest of the week we spent playing and getting on the beach as we could and only seeing 1 half way decent sunset. By Friday as the rain set in we were all ready to pack it up and head home, so that is exactly what we did. We drove until around 10 pm got a room in Valdosta, Georgia and drove the rest of the way home the next day. We were all glad to get here and the animals were glad we were here too. I still do not think BIG FAT WILLA has recovered yet!! She has demanded more lap time this week than ever in he life. I have been glad to oblige too!

Now we look forward to the rest of our Summer break. With many fun things in the works. We will do VBS, free movies, library activities, back yard camping, Summer reading programs, start a nature journal, and swim, swim, swim! (both here and at the Y). The plan is to start 1st grade on July 13, 2009! I hope and pray Luke will be as enthusiastic about it then as he was the last day of K5!! Until then we will busy doing the Summer thing!! YAY!!

"The Tale Of Peter Rabbit"

2009-04-19T20:14:00.005-04:00

This week to drive home the spring theme, I thought it would be fitting to row, "The Tale of Peter Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter. We will discuss the Author of this title and read other stories from her as well. We will discover many new words this week such as, implored, exert, and sieve. We will listen for the onomatopoeia's throughout the story. We will also write an animal fantasy story of our own. For our social studies and Bible lesson we will review trust, setting rules, consequences when they are not followed and obedience. We will also revisit the 10 commandments. During art we will dramatize the story and discuss what a "naturalist" is. During math we do grouping and mutiplicationwith the bunnies and berries throughout the story. We will do a science study on rabbits and also gardening. We will be planting our very own wild flower garden. On Friday of this week we will take a field trip to the Hughe's at our church where they have many bunnies who know how to multiply!! LOL! It should be a fun filled week of SPRINGY TIME fun! Pictures to follow! :)

http://www.peterrabbit.com/index.asp

Catch Up Post..................

2009-04-19T19:14:00.005-04:00

Well here it is April 19Th! I can not believe our K5 year is almost over! It has been an enlightening year for us all. Our family has grown closer and learned so much. One thing is confirmed now, we are a homeschooling family. It suits our lifestyle and we are enjoying the many benefits of the homeschooling experience. Especially being able to vacation when we want to. :) Yes, there are many many more benefits and I am sure Luke would have a list all his own if he were asked. God has blessed our family with stronger bonds and the joy of being together as a family. Also in watching Luke grow and learn daily.

I have had many valley's this winter and am glad to see spring slowly pressing through with beams of sunshine. I have reevaluated many areas of my life and as I stated in the Jan. post I have worked on simplifying my life and schedule. This month this will come together in many areas. I will work my final day at AnMed Health on Sat. April 25Th. after 10 years and 7 months on the payroll there. It is bitter sweet. I love that place, it is comfortable like your favorite pair of jeans. It has afforded me many benefits in my career and I have learned so much there and made many life long friends. I little piece of me will always be there. I have moved on now to an amazing place that will serve my needs in this area now, it is St. Francis. I thank God every time I leave there for this opportunity. I am loving it there and the staff is so kind, caring, and patient oriented! WOW! I have also removed myself from the schedule at Easley Baptist. So, my PT focus will now be at St. Francis Downtown Greenville, the place where my life began. And in a weird way I do feel I have come full circle So, in the years to come I will receive 2 W2's at the end of the year 1 form St Francis and one from the Pickens County YMCA. The is also an extended part of my family and organization I am proud to be a part of. This is a blessing to me and I do not take it for granted!! Thank you Lord for your blessings on me in this area.

As far as homeschooling goes we took some time in March to just cover what I have called K5 basics. We have read, sang, and done many fun educational things. Mostly we have learned the basics about life and the tools we need to do this thing called life. Some of the other topics we have explored are; space, the calendar, water colors, creation, fight, St. Patrick and his day. We continued working through the Math U See curriculum with skip counting and solving for the unknown. We are slowly making our way through Reading Made Easy. Math is coming much faster for Luke than reading, but we are still plugging away.

During April we have invited in the new Season and seen a lot of rain. The week of Easter we learned about the Passover and it's many significant symbols to our Christian faith and how Christ coming and dying on the cross is beautifully told through the Jewish celebration called Passover. We also spent a lot of time reading about and discussing the Easter story. Luke was very in tune to the aspects of what Jesus did for us on the cross. It was amazing to see his eyes be opened to the sacrifice and the triumph of the Resurrection story! It is called the greatest story ever told for a reason. This to me is the most important lesson we can teach him. Every Easter activity we used to point back to Jesus. It was a blessed time here in the McAtee home that week. A week of renewing and remembering.

Last week we rowed "The Rag Coat". It is the sweetest story of an Appalachian girl who has no coast so she can't go to school. When she does the children make fun of her pieced together coat made of scraps. When the children realize the significance of each scrap of cloth they all change their tune and welcome her! It is a sweet story that I will soon look for to purchase on Amazon. We discovered the art of quilting and how different quilt patterns can tell a story or share a bit of history. Luke created his own quilt pattern out of his pattern blocks. We reviewed geometric shapes with this lesson as well. We listed the elements of a story and pointed out what each one was in this story. We located the Appalachian Mountains on the map and researched the culture there. It was a fascinating study. We continued with Math U See and are working on telling time. We will continue this into this week putting the hours and minn. together.

Probably the most favorite teaching times for Luke was the weekend I worked and Travis taught him how to saw, hammer, build, construct small things from wood. He also taught him how to steer the lawn mower alone! I cried as I watched my son drive the mower around in the back yard like a young man! After he was finished had a cold bottle of root "beard". What a blessing it is to watch him learn and grow.

We have 3 weeks left at K5 in our Cozies! I can not believe it is coming to a close! I will forever cherish the memories we have shared this school year!! AMEN.

Luke's Answered Prayer

2009-03-08T08:29:00.008-04:00

Sunday March 1, 2009 after 2 months of prayer, Luke fot his SNOW! We had a blast in out 4 inches of the white stuff! Te oictures tell the story!

2009-01-29T12:38:00.001-05:00

Our Month Of SNOW Fun!

2009-01-29T07:32:00.011-05:00

The first month of the new year is nearly gone!! My commitment to simplify my life is coming together, but takes a lot of work to get it there. I suspect by spring it will be working it's self out.

This month Luke and I have discovered the world of snow. Every week we have explored many different aspects of snow. It has been so much fun!! I am going to summarize the month in bullet format below because I have been so busy I haven't had time to blog weekly!!

Topics and activities we have enjoyed in Jan. 2009

Week 1: " The Three Snow Bears" by Jan Brett

Social Studies: (SS) The Inuit Culture and the Artic Circle

Language Arts: (LA) Discussed setting of the story and how it effects the story. Rewriting the story in Luke's words, and speaker tags in the story

Art: Facial expression, watched online video of Jan Brett drawing a baby polar bear and giving it a try ourselves! We played the "eyes" game where we covered everything but our eyes and tried to guess what emotion each other was acting out. Luke also worked on his fine motor skills by cutting out some Jan Brett book marks from our story.

Bible: We discovered the many Arctic and Antarctic animals and their special characteristic that God created them with.

Applied Math: Comparing sizes, big, bigger, biggest as in the 3 bears

Science: Polar Bear study; their family names, where to find them, their anatomy, diet, classification, and many other facts.

We continued with writing practice, and our lessons in Reading Made Easy (RME) both are coming along slow but steady

For Math we continue going through Math U See (MUS) at a steady pace. We also used the pattern blocks and copied patterns off the Internet discussing the geometric shapes used.

Books we read:

"The Mitten" Jan Brett

Books on Polar Bears (nonfiction)

"Face to Face with a Polar Bear

"Jacob and the Polar Bears"

"Polar Bear Night"

"The Snowy Day" Ezra Jack Keats

Luke also picked out many nonfiction books on cats and dogs this month. Hos favorite was "Gretchen The Bicycle Dog". A book about a wiener dog that had a back injury and got a special wheel chair for dogs! It was very cool.

DVD's we watched: National Geographic's "Polar Prowl"

Week 2: "Katy and the Big Snow" by Virginia Lee Burton

SS: Street signs, cardinal sign review, discussing the compass, map skills

LA: Vocabulary; bulldozer, steamroller, drizzle, water main, emergency, three alarm fire, patient

Listed details given about Katy in the story

Review of the personification in this story and others we have read this year

Read site word book "Go, Go, Go!" throughout this week.

Art: Discussed the different ways the illustrator used detail in the pictures through color, action, and personality. Luke did a personification drawing of the moon. He named it "mooney"

Applied Math: Began the concept of counting by 5's

Bible: Studied the character traits patience and responsibility as it was use din the story and also through the Bible story of Joseph.

Science: We discussed and recorded the weather patterns in out town. We read a book called "50 Weather Words" and discussed what each means. To take care of our cold weather birds we created bird feeders with pine cones, peanut butter, seeds, raisins, and berries.

We continued reading with RME and math with MUS.

Books we read:

DK book on weather

"I Drive A Snowplow" by Sarah Bridges

"If I Had A Snowplow: by L.S. Jean Patrik

"Best Little Wingman" Janet Allen (our fav. of the week)

Week 3: A Penguin Study

SS: Discovered where the North and South poles are on the map. Discussed the Arctic and the Antarctic the differences and similarities. We also went over more map skills and Luke created a map of his room complete with a Yettie and a Jedi on hid bed!

LA: Review of days of the week and months of the year. Vocabulary words were; exploration, tundra, Arctic, Antarctic. We read a chapter book named, "To Antarctica or Bust an Egg" where 3 boys are transported through time to Antarctica to study penguins and their eggs.

Art: Luke used water colors to create penguin pictures. He was very creative and painted 3, even though he was only required to do one. We looked through many penguin pictures where the artist used water colors. In Luke's black and white painting of a penguin he decided to paint the belly yellow because "he was standing in the sunshine"!

Math" We counted the moths of the year, weeks in a month, and days of the week. Luke numbered penguin cut outs with the months on them and placed them in order.

Science: Penguins!! We discovered how many different breeds there are, their food chain, anatomy, why they are black and white, how they babies are cared for, and much much more. Now, Happy Feet makes a little more sense.

Luke also helped in the kitchen this week learning to pour his own drinks and help peel carrots with a veggie peeler.

We watched "Reading Rainbow" a lot this week and learned all about sea cows aka; manatee's and Russian egg painters. Luke insisted on blowing out and painting his own egg after that show. He also got out his 2 stuffed manatee's and acted out the stories shared on that show!! I love that imagination and the ability that homeschooling affords him to act on it!

In RME this week LUKE read his first sentence! We both jumped up and down and shouted!! This was an awesome mile stone for us!! It was, "A cat sat."

Book List

"Me On The Map" Joan Sweeny

"Penguin " Frans Lanting

"Penguins Puffins and Auks" Art Wolfe

"My Season With The Penguins" Spohie Webb

"A Mothers Journey" Sandra Markle

"Penguin In The Snow" Doug Allen

"The Emperor Lays An Egg" Brenda Z. Guiberson

""Stuart Little" from the I Can Read Seriese

For math we continued daily in MUS and added a snowman dot to dot. (his favorite)

Week 4: Snow and Mittens

SS: Proper dress in the cold weather. Calendar review, Learning Left and Right hands and directions.

LA: Continue reading & writing the RME sentences and word pages. Snowman tracer pages. for writing and fine motor practice. Record a story Luke creates about a day in the snow.

Art: Decorated mittens, built a hexagon snowman, make a puffy paint snow picture.

Science: A snow study and making snow play dough

Special Activities this week: Out to eat with Mama Jan & Big Popa for MaMa's birthday. Grandjo spent the day here with Luke, Homeschool group on Friday to play and learn a song using American Sign Language.

MUS: Counting by 2's

Book List:

"The Mitten" Jan Brett
"The Hat" Jan Brett
"The Missing Mitten Mystery"

Reflecting on 2008 and looking ahead to 2009.

2009-01-04T21:35:00.006-05:00

Here we are January 4, 2009! It is so hard to believe 2008t has gone by so fast. It has gone by so quickly because it was full to the brim with happenings. I was happy to say good bye to 2008 for I had so many mountains to climb and tears to cry. So many heavy loads to bear some times feeling like I needed to come up for air. All the while Lord Jesus was with me every step of the way and without him and the prayers of friends and family I could have thrown my hands up and said "What's next?"I keep a calendar of events and blessing throughout the year and how God is there during them. I wanted to share some of those things that life threw my way in 2008 just so I can read this in the end and go WOW! What an amazing Lord to carry me through!!

On January 1 my Mom's Aunt May died who had suffered from Alzheimer's. She was the last living out of her Mother's siblings. It was very very hard on her. And a sad day remember from now on. My Daddy who is in a facility in Black Mountain NC began to have more agitation and restlessness and dislocated his knee cap. He too has Alzheimer's and Aunt May's funeral was a forecast of what we will have to do with Daddy unless Jesus raptures us all. As the winter rolled along Luke and I both were sick for 6 to 8 weeks in January and February. Luke's asthma ragged on during this time. My younger brother, Brian also got strep throat, became dehydrated and was transported to the ER after passing out on my Mom. He was hydrated and given some high powered antibiotics and released. Luke had to see an ENT for consultation for a tonsillectomy. I got a nasty double ear infection requiring lengthy treatments. I also received a consultation for my "female issues" and was scheduled for a uterine ablation. I went first in March and in early April Luke had the tonsillectomy. That was the worst day of my mothering life! I had a headache so bad I could barely walk!! The stress was nearly too much for me to bear! His recovery was harder than I imagined, and I was even warrened that it would be. There was a risk that when the scabs came off he could bleed, 7 nights later HE DID! OH MY! I have never been so scared in all of my life! We went to the ER in a panic, but once we arrived the staff was too calm! this meant more needles and blood draws for Luke, which for him was worse than the surgery. He did stop bleeding on his own. This set him back to the same pain as if he had just had the surgery! He was pale and had no energy. I had to give him liquids for a medicine dropper to get him to drink. It makes me weak kneed to think of it now. My older brother, David ended up in the emergency room with food lodged in his throat which led to a series of GI test that diagnosed his with Barret's espohagus. Also during this time my Mom began to have these "spells" as she calls them and the worsened to the point of an ER visit where her blood pressure was 170/100!! She was checked out and sent on her way. This got the ball rolling for a cardiologist appointment of which we waited 4 or 5 months on! She was treated for anxiety during this time and that did help. Summer rolled around and the out door activities began. We purchased a small above ground pool to stay cool in. It provided hours of fun in the sun for our family. It also provided us with another ER visit! Luke aspirated pool water and became lethargic and finally coughed it up along with blood. Again he was checked out and released. This was almost to hard on this Mommy's heart. During the Summer month Brian returned again to the ER for abdominal pain and GI issues he could not resolve with over the counter melds. In September he underwent upper and lower GI exams as well. This took care of some polyps that seemed to take care of his problem. Finally the time had come for Mom's visit with the cardiologist. This landed her in a Doppler study of her thigh which concluded she had a blood clot dangerously close to her deep veins. She had to do blood thinners and compression hose as well as have weekly blood levels checked. After five weeks of treatment Mom's blood clot was completely gone. This amazed everyone involved in treating her! It was a miracle! There were also some family and personal issues that arose in the month of November that have hurt me deeply and shown me many things through that difficult time. They were tough lessons causing me to evaluate myself and the relationships I have. In December, the month of hope we had our family trip to Walt Disney World. This was the highlight of the year!!! It was a dream vacation with magical happenings everyday! This was the trip we had planned to take last December, but Travis accident had put that on hold. I think Travis and I both realize dhow blessed we were to finally get this trip. We also thought about what would have happened had the results from his accident not been so positive. As we returned home from our awesome trip it was time for Christmas! We were ready except for a few last minuet things. We each took turns getting sick as the holidays approached. Travis was sick all day on Christmas day and in bed with a fever most of the day. We made the best of it and even had our regular "Christmas Day Night" family gathering one week and 2 days late! New years eve rolled around and Travis and I were still struggling with illness so that interrupted our New Years Eve celebration with the Degears. I stayed up alone while my sick boys slept and watched the big million dollar ball drop. As I gladly kissed 2008 goodbye!!
I have blogged this entire year and highlighted the many tough times for a few reasons. Most of all to say God never left me during this time. His spirit was always there to comfort me. His word was always there to encourage me. He taught me that people will always let you down, but HE never ever will. For "Jesus is always the same." I share all of this to tell you that despite all the heart ache Jesus is still worthy of all praise and that HE is the only hope in this world. He is the only true peace and HIS promises are true. He is coming back one day to set this sin sick world straight and in heaven there will be no more pain, suffering, or heartache. There will just be endless days of praising Him! The one and only God creator of all!!

Give Thanks To The Lord

2008-11-13T21:10:00.003-05:00

This week we began our Thanksgiving study with "Give Thanks To The Lord." A book Luke loved reading over and over again. He enjoyed counting the many "Sarah Dogs" throughout the book. He pointed out that the illistrations had to been done with pencil because they had so much detail. It hit me at that moment, WOW he really is learning! We discovered many new vocabulary words and just enjoyed our cuddle time together reading and laughing. Our Bible lesson was on my favorite verse, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..." I think this lesson was for me more than for him. My Mom had some test ran this week and we are still awaiting the results and I need to remember this verse! We continued our RME and MUS lessons for reading and math and he is catching on quickly. It was a fast blurry week with lots of running around for others and just spending time together. There were no fits or tears, and for this I have a merry heart!

November 3-7, 2008

2008-11-03T08:43:00.003-05:00

We are going back to FIAR this week. We will row "Another Celebrated Dancing Bear" by Gladys Scheffrin-Faulk. For social studies we will learn about Russia, the culture, the onion domes, and the circus, of course. We will also have a lesson on friendship and discuss what it means to be a good friend. During language arts we will discover new vocabulary from our story; occupation, czar, elegant, glum, samovar, magnificent, jealous, audience, marvelous, pyramid, comical. We will dramatize the following words and phrases from the story; applauded, bowed, beamed, drew near, giggling, chattering, mopping his brow, kicking during dancing, and leaping. Our art lesson will b eon etching and warm colors. During math this week we will continue addition with MUS and revisit the theme of time. (seconds to minuets to hours to days to weeks to months to years) Our Bible lesson this week will be about David and Johnathan. This will allow us to reiterate the theme of friendship. We will do an experiment about freezing and boiling points for our science exploration. We will also continue our reading lessons with RME.

Books We Will Read This Week:

How the Tzar Drinks His Tea by Benjamin Elkin

Count your way through Russia by James Haskins
The magic nesting doll by Jaqueline K Ogburn
The etcher's studio by Arthur Geisert
Russian girl : life in an old Russian town by Russ Kendall
Berlioz the bear by Jan Brett
The mission of addition by Brian P Cleary
Ninjas don't bake pumpkin pies by Debbie Dadey

This Week @ K5 In Our Cozies........

2008-10-28T07:52:00.005-04:00

This week we are studying PUMPKINS, what else? We have many fun activities planned. We kicked off our week of pumpkin study by carving our very own jack o' lantern. Luke picked this kitty pumpkin off the cover of one of the many pumpkin books we checked out from the library. Travis drew and carved it almost exactly like the one depicted on the cover of that book. Luke was very excited when we took it outside and lit it up. It was truly adorable. The rest of the week should be just as much fun. Here is a list of our plans;

Language Arts: We will begin "Reading Made Easy" for our journey in learning to read! We also will revisit simile's and create our very own pumpkin simile's. We will read many books about pumpkins. We also have a lower case pumpkin vine activity.

Social Studies: We will discuss the holidays we celebrate and why, as well as what happens on the special days. We will have a generosity lesson after reading, "Pumpkin Town" by Katie McKey. We will also have activities to work on etiquette and social skills! ( much needed at this age! LOL!)

Math: We will review "unit bars" and then begin our lessons on addition and it's symbols in our Math U See curriculum. We will use candy pumpkins to continue our addition study. YUMMY fun! We have a "complete the pumpkin pattern" page to complete. We will also use 3 small gourd pumpkins and compare them by weighing them and measuring the circumference of each.

Bible: We will copy and discuss the verse Zech. 8:12 and how our Lord blesses the seeds to bring forth an increase. we will discuss the awesome creator and how he takes a tiny seed to care for us!

Art: We will carve, paint, and decorate pumpkins. We will also create a monster bag for trick or treating. We will also decorate cup cakes!

Science: We will study pumpkins by classifying them, learning the life cycle, and the many different ways we can use them.

Cooking: We will roast pumpkin seeds, bake and decorate Halloween cup cakes that correspond with all of our October lessons. We will make spiders, bats, owls, and pumpkins with our dear HS fiends the Ray's!

On Fri. night we will visit Kevin, Stacy, & Skyler's house for hot dogs, cup cakaes, and trick or treating!! Luke plans to be Luke Skywaker for his costume, custom made by GrandJo, of course!!

Our Study Of "Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen

2008-10-24T06:02:00.005-04:00

This week we continues our journey with another mysterious creature, the owl. This is one of Luke's favorite animals. We have had a grand time discovering yet another one of God's awesome creations! Below is a list of our activities from this week
Social Studies: We learned where New Jersey is on the US map, placed our story disk, and colored a picture of the state flag, bird, and flower.
Language Arts: We discussed simile's and metaphors from the story and created some of our own. We read a poem "The Owl"and then Luke dictated an owl story of his own.
Art: We discussed the tree's and shadow work used by the illustrator in the book. We tried to draw one of the trees and then made a bare tree on paper by blowing black paint with a straw. We also made an owl mask and Luke acted out a mother owl caring for her owlets.
Math: We discussed units of time and made a clock Luke with a minuet and hour hand. Luke practiced telling time with his new clock. We also went on a "time piece" hunt to discover the many ways we tell time in our home. We experimented and guessed how long a minuet was. We did activities and timed them to drive home the point of the length of time. We also worked on number recognition and writting numbers.

Bible: We learned about the CREATOR and how marvelous his works are! We read Psalm 136 & Psalm 8:3-4
Science: We studies the owl and the many fascinating facts about this animal. We are thankful they eat a lot of rats!! We also learned about the phases of the moon and manipulated felt "moons" to better understand this concept.
Other: We had an owl maze. We also read books on scarecrows and did a scarecrow craft. Luke created new binnacles and gave them all names and practiced writting the names for some hand writing practice. He also played Jump Start Kindergarten to work on his phonics.
It was another fun filled busy week here!

Why Fall Is My Favorite TIme of Year!

2008-10-24T05:11:00.010-04:00

Psalms 33:6

By the word of the Lord

were the heavens made;

and all the host of them by

the breath of his mouth!

Monday October 20, 2008 our family went to Sky op Orchard in Hendersonville, N.C. It was a sort of "impromptu" trip where my brothers, sister in law and nephew, Benjamin got to go. It was an absolute perfect fall day! The morning was complete with fresh warm apple cider donuts, apple picking, feeding farm animals, and a hay ride. We finished the day with barbecue and a visit with Daddy in Black Mountain. Although the visit wasn't perfect it felt good to be together as a family since this happens so rarely now. I could say a lot about it but I will let the pictures speak for me this time.

This Week at K5 In Our Cozies

2008-10-13T15:20:00.002-04:00

We will continue our "creepy crawly" October theme this week with "Stellaluna". This is a story about a fruit bat who doesn't fit in to her new found family of birds. Below are th eubjects that we will study.
Social Studies: We will discuss adapting and the feelings experienced in this book
Language Arts: We wail discuss and explain what a simile and onomatopoeia are. We will discuss some grammar and show that the capitalization of names and other proper nouns. We will also look at the very descriptive language used in this book to paint a picture of the happenings in the story. Do reading comprehension book.
Vocabulary; clutched, downy, clambered, anxious, peculiar, perched, sultry, limp, babble, graceful, clumsy, and muse
Math: Count all the bats, birds, stars through out the story. Bat dot to dot. Continue MUS lessons.
Gross Motor: "Fly" like bats & sing "The Batty Bat"
Art: Discuss the medium used in the illustrations and weather they are like cartoons or realistic. Make an egg carton bat craft.
Science: Bats, predators, defenses from them, echolocation. Classification of herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores

2008-10-10T08:44:00.004-04:00

Where has the time gone? It is the middle of October and I haven't blogged in quite some time!! Life has been happeining and at a very high pace around here. So far this month we have studied one of Luke's least favorite spiecies, spiders! He hates them. We read "Sophie's Masterpiece" and pulled our other lessons out of this book with the help of HSS. For Social Studies we delved into the 7 wonders of the world and speculated how thses this could have come to pass. We attempted a few of them with blocks as well. We made an "Itsy Bitsy" spider book in the correct sequence of the song. We also had fun singing and acting out the song! We had a long list of new vocabulary words; wondorus, incredible, masterpiece, swatted, scampered, scuttled, exhausted, and wonderment. We made a list of all of Spohie's homes and what gift she tried to make each owner. We also had a review of personification. On Wed. we discussed and discoverewd the art of weaving. We weaved a placemat with orange and yellow consruction paper then laminated it, Luke was quite pround. We also had a discussion on "masterpieces" and we explored some of the famous masterpieces. His favorite was "Jungle With A Lion" by Rousseau. His least favorite was Mona Lisa by da Vinci. We discussed the geometric shapes in the webs the spider spun. We continued to work with MUS building in the concepts of units and combining them. We made spider webs with plastic spiders on them and Luke even decided to draw a few spiders himself even though they are not his favorite thing. The coolest thing is that there is a gardern spider right outside our living room window that has been busy weaving and eating in preperation for her babies!!

"The Salamander Room"

2008-09-30T20:07:00.005-04:00

This week as we do K5 in our "cozies" we are visiting "The Salamander Room" by Anne Mazer. We will discuss the relationship between a mother and her child and share some of our childhood fantasies together. For language arts we will do a list of the perfect ingredients needed for the salamander room. We will create our very own salamander room and we will make salamanders out of dough then bake, dry, and paint them as a family. We will practice our "Ss" sounds and practice writing them as well. We will look for and count the many critters that fill the pages of this book. We also have a butterfly maze to conquer.We will take a nature walk to Pope Field and taken in all of God's fabulous creations. We will do leaf and trunk rubbings and discuss texture.We will do a salamander study, classify the salamander, and go through the life cycle of a salamander. We revisited the theme of dry and wet measure while making the dough for our salamanders. It should be an exciting trip through "The Salamander Room."

Our Fantastic Field Trips

2008-09-21T13:39:00.008-04:00

This week Travis took the week off and we planned some educational field trips. Our original plan was to heat to Charleston, S.C. to Patriots Point and to the beach. When hurricanes Ike hit Texas and gas rose to near $4 - $5 a gallon we decided to stay closer to home. We took a shorter drive to Coulmbia Childrens Museum and the Columbia Zoo. As we planned our trip and shared the news with Luke he excitedly said, "Mommy the museum will be great for our human body study!" It was so relaxing just to get away and be together as a family and watch Luke LOVE TO LEARN!!

The museum was much better than we expected! We spent 3 hours there! There was so much to see and do, so many opportunities for hands on learning! We started the exploration at the larger than life "Ed~Venture". Where we climbed around inside the body of a boy complete with sound effects of bodily functions and a journey through the major body systems. It made our lessons from last week come to life in a way we will never forget. From there we went to explore bones, joints, and the functions of the skeletal system. There was a mock dentist office where Luke got to play the role of the dental hygienist. There was also a huge "operation" game where we pretended to be surgeons and remove the bones and organs of the patient. We got to test our heart rates, blood pressures, and oxygen saturation's. Next we were off to the Dinner. It was a kichen full of foods, pots, pans, and even a cash register where Luke pretended to swipe our credit card for payment. There was a video of the digestive system. Here we reviewed the food groups and classified the different foods. From here we went to the work place stations. We began in the Piggy Supermarket where there were shelves full of groceries, miniature shopping carts and even cash registers! It was the cutest thing! Luke loved picking out his own groceries complete with his own birthday cake and donuts. Next we were off to the farm complete with farm sounds, a tractor, a cow to milk, as well as peaches to pick from the trees. There was also a "farm house" with big white rockers on the porch. Then it was time for the Dalmatian Firs station where Luke donned his fireman coat and boots and prepared to rescue people and put out fires. There was a real fire truck where he and Travis pretended to drive and save me from a fire. Near the end of this exhibit there was a fireman pole that Luke slid down repeatedly. The third stop was an automotive area with a bright red VW Bug for the children to play and put gas in. In this are there was also an SUV replica on the wall with tires that we could change. So Luke got his first lesson on how to change a tire. Lastly in this section we moved on to the construction area. Here Luke got to build a LEGO building as tall as him, so pluming, and even build a "brick" wall. There was also large walls with huge nuts and bolts where we built a cube big enough for Luke to fit in. The next adventure in the museum took us all the way to Timbuktu! There too were many interactive exhibits that took us net fishing, camel riding, living in a thatched roof house and even playing percussion with an African band. This area was complete with an explores vest and camel to climb on back of. There was even a room where we could write our names in the Arabic language.

Next was the news station and weather center where we pretended to do the news. There was a music room with many interactive things to do in the world of sound. The last adventure was the water and bubble exhibit. There were tons of ways to make bubbles of all sizes. There was also a mock river system complete with a dam and fountain system all workable by the children.

There was fun and learning for kids of all ages and we will go back again!

We stayed the evening at the Hyat Place and hung out and played together as a family. The next morning we were off to the Columbia's River Banks Zoo, a place that we frequent often. It is one of our favorite day trips. All of the animals were extremely active that day. It was a joy to watch God's wonderful creation!

We were all exhausted and ready to return home after our action packed two days. We were all so thankful for our time together as a family! We feel so blessed to have this opportunity to be together. Thank you Lord.

A Sunny Surprise

2008-09-09T10:10:00.003-04:00

This weekend I came down with a nasty bladder infection and I felt awful! On Sunday my fellas went to church while I stayed home to continue to recover. Around 12 pm I hear the car doors slam, so I went to the door to welcome my sweet boys home. When I opened the door to my surprise I saw my little prince charming running as fast as he could with a bright yellow bundle of gerber daisies!! WOW! What a way to make me feel better!! I also got a bar of dark chocolate and was quickly informed I had to share that treat right away. "It's DARK chocolate Mommy", Luke announced proudly! What wonderful men God has blessed me with. I am so thankful Travis took the time to teach Luke the sweet lesson of blessing the lady in his life (for now) with such a sweet sunny surprise!

"Amazing Me!"

2008-09-09T09:56:00.002-04:00

This week we take break from the FIAR titles and do a lap book from www.homeschoolshare.com on the human body. Here http://www.homeschoolshare.com/my_body.php

Objectives this week~Learn and sequence steps for brushing teeth.~Match number symbols to corresponding number of body parts.~Explore steps for healthy living.~Sort food into the proper food group – fruit, vegetable, meat, dairy, and grain.~Listen to exercises and perform the corresponding movement.~Memorize Psalm 138:14.~Solve the body part riddles.~Learn the color of your eyes and identify other objects that exemplify the same color.~Use fine motor skills to cut and paste.~Reciting and sing poems and songs related to the body~identify major organs and discuss thier function~explore God as th ecreator of man, In HIS image! Above Luke is working on a life size "Luke" drawing and placing lables on all the major parts of the body. As we started this project Luke said, "This IS awesome!" This is a subject I LOVE so I think my enthusiastic attitude is rubbing off!

Night Of The Moonjellies

2008-09-03T18:52:00.006-04:00

This week Sept. 2-4 we are continuing or sea life journey by rowing "Night of the Moonjellies" by Mark Shasta. During Social Studies we will learn the states that make up New England and discuss where they got the name, "New England". We will place our story disk on the New England states and discover what part of the USA they are located. For Language arts we will contrast the two words frenzy and peaceful and find examples of these in our story. Our vocabulary words are; marina, pier, and moonjellies. We will make a list and add to it with each reading of the story of the many food items served in the story by the sea. For art we will discuss and look for examples of how the illustrator, also Mark Shasta, uses different shades of blue to show dark and light in his pictures. During our FIAR math study we will learn about money and the different denominations of US currency and coins. Our Bible lesson will be on responsibility and how God expects us to do all things as unto HIM. Our Science study will be on jelly fish, of course. We will read several books on jelly fish and discuss the many fascinating facts about these jellies. We will make a "life at the sea" flap book that describes the things that we can experience by the sea when using our 5 senses. For this we will also read, "The Sea Shore Noisy Book" to give us more ideas. This should be another fascinating week of sea life discovery! The picture above is from last weeks study on "Nico's Octopus" where we had school, "under the sea"!

My $12 Find!

2008-09-03T18:34:00.007-04:00

This past Sat. I went with my sister in law and BFF, Stacy to yard sales. This was the find. An antique floor lamp for $12. It was in the garage at one of the sales we went to and we were unsure if it was even for sale, but Stacy, the bargain hunter, asked the man about it for herself. She had just bought another one recently and decided she did not need another one. I told her if she didn't want it I did. So that was it! It was mine! My favorite flower is a tulip and now I have one that will never wilt! It gives off the most beautiful ambient glow! Yeah me!!

I have the Net again!

2008-09-01T20:52:00.002-04:00

Last Wed. our Internet went out! I had just said the Sunday before that I could not live a week without the computer. What I should have said was I could not live without the Internet! I had no idea how much I use it! Tonight out Internet company came out and got us up and running in a short time! YEA!! My family is all so excited we each are surfing at the same time! We are blessed to have such awesome technology at our finger tips!

Our Latest Family Members

2008-08-25T19:33:00.003-04:00

Today we received an email from my neighbor

to ask if we wanted 2 beta fish. Luke was so excited, so of course we accepted. Here they are, aren't they a couple of beauties? We decided as a family to name the "dark" one Anakin and the orange one Obiwan. We we will call them Anie and Obi for short. They are a unique presence there on our coffee table. Thank you Ms. Donna for or for our fun surprise.

"Nico's Octopus" by Caroline Pitcher and Nilesh Mistry

2008-08-25T19:19:00.012-04:00

This is the title we will explore this week. (Aug.25-29, 2008) The story takes place in Greece. We will locate Greece on the map and discuss the customs of this unique place. Our science study will be on the octopus, what else? We will discuss the many fascinating traits of this animal and it's classification. We will discuss the animals amazing creator and how His design gives the octopus may ways of defense. We will also explore the sacrifice and commitment of the octopus mother and draw parallels between them and human mothers. We have National Geographic's "Deep Sea Dive" dvd which we will view over and over again! LOL! For our Math studies we will learn about the prefix "octo" and some of it's uses. We will also discuss odd and even numbers and color an octopus to enhance this lesson. We will also continue lesson 10 from our Math U See curriculum. For our snack and art we will make an octopus out of marshmallows, pretzels, and gel icing for the eyes.(both cute & yummy). (see picture above)

Mary Anne the Steam Shovel

2008-08-12T11:31:00.003-04:00

Today we continued our studies with "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel". We began our day on the deck because it was such a perfect morning. The weather was beautiful. We enjoyed listening to the book on CD with bag pipe and symphony music in the background. Luke discovered a dot to dot of Mary Anne on the CD jacket cover, so I made a copy and he completed it. After that he wanted to color the Mary Anne from the dot to dot. He completed picture with a drawing of Mike Mulligan at her side. Luke even illustrated dirt coming from her mouth and a large hole in the ground that the old steam engine had dug. Next, we moved our lesson from the table to the sandbox and played with our very own Mary Anne, even though she wasn't the color red. Luke created one story after another with Mike, a lego man in overalls, and his trusty steam shovel. He constructed roads, cellars, canals, and more. As we played we were able to discuss many aspects of the story like how Mike took great care of Mary Anne and how she was able to keep on working despite being old. We discussed how God wants us to take care of the things he gives us. We also thought about how even when things grow old they are still useful and God still has a plan for them, just like when Mary Anne was used at the end of the story as a furnace instead of being thrown away with all the other steam engines.
We continued our studies with a geography lesson; learning the cardinal signs of the map, North, East, South, West. Luke completed a map of the imaginary town from our story, Popperville.
It was such a joy to be with Luke this morning and watch him learn to love learning! We were in God's creation learning and taking in our very own beautiful back yard. As we played we saw a flock of geese fly overhead and we speculated on where they were headed. We also saw a monarch butterfly and wanted it to land so we could get a picture of it. There was a fairly good sized lizard with a blue tail that ran up the wall as we dug through the sand toys. It was just a banner day at our little school of one! Perhaps the greatest fun of all was watching our crazy dog Sarah run as fast as she could through the yard with her big goofy grin!! We pretended she was Mary Anne and was digging and working as fast as she could and she seemed to play along running faster and faster as we cheered!! This was a great day of love, laughter, and learning!! Thank you Lord for this awesome opportunity! May we have many more days like this one! We are still enjoying k5 in our cozies!

Blessings from above

2008-08-08T18:41:00.005-04:00

Today I worked at the out patient clinic here in Easley. God chose to remind me throughout the day how blessed our family was in September of last year. I treated several patients with major injuries leaving them in severe pain and disability after car and motorcycle accidents. I felt it was God's way of gently reminding me of His mercy and grace throughout Travis' devistating car crash and through the past 10 months. I want to praise the Lord today for a husband who can still work, live, and laugh after what could have been a fatal incident. Thank you Lord for his healing and for showing me today your awesome power once again!

"I want to be a wood carver when I grow up."

2008-08-07T11:12:00.004-04:00

On Wed. August 6, 2008 Luke and I spent the morning in town. We are reading "Daniel's Duck" this week and in it the little boy, Daniel carves a duck out of wood. So, while we were out we stopped by our local wood carving shop, Carolina Carvers. Luke was totally taken by all the large animals carved out of wood. We spent a great deal of time there marveling at this artists work. The man who owns the shop and carves all the items was there. He was very kind and enjoyed the fact that such a little boy was appreciating his skill. Luke stood and asked him questions about everything he wanted to understand about wood carving. Yea, he is so socially backward because he is being home schooled! NOT!! :) When we got home I gave Luke a bar of ivory soap and a plastic knife to practice his carving skills. He carved a rock! As he carved he pretended to be Henry Petigrew, the famous wood carver from our story this week. He pointed out each cut and even had to build the rock out of clay before he began to carve, just like the carver we met suggested!

This was one of those, "Oh, how I LOVE homeschooling days!" Not everyday is this way, but I am so thankful that God sprinkles them throughout the journey. As we readied ourselves for bed last night Luke proudly said, "I want to be a wood carver when I grow up!" This is a day that will be forever carved in our minds.

Today

2008-08-03T19:40:00.001-04:00

Today I begin this blog spot journey. I have wanted to do this for quite some time and today here I am. My own place to record the happenings of my life, the homeschool highlights, my thoughts, my prayers, and what God is teaching me. I have always enjoed journaling and now I get to do it in the coolest way!