Mexico

We have crossed the boarder and entered Mexico!  

Well, not really.  

As part of our curriculum (My Father's World) we are studying different countries around the world.  We finished the US and now we are studying Mexico.

Several weeks ago, we filled out passport applications and 'mailed' them in.  We received our passports and today got them stamped and our Mexico currency (printed off the Internet) and began learning about is amazing country.

We have colored and discussed our Mexico John 3:16 page.  My President just had to wear his hat :-)

Election Day

Several months ago, I found an awesome, FREE lapbook on the presidents.  Did I mention FREE?!  So i printed it and slowly got all the colored paper and card stock etc that it called for and printed it all out for 4 kids the weekend before election day.  I also printed out a map for each kid to color in as the states were "called" for a certain candidate.

The day of the election, we cut and pasted and colored and folded and put the lapbooks together.  (Mommy put together my Superhero's lapbook.)

Election night we all got cozy around the TV and watch the Election unfold.

Each kid filled in a map.

But soon, well....

As we all know it turned out to be a long night.  Even Daddy went to bed before it was all said and done.

VOTE!

As you probably guessed, I call my oldest son my President because he has said he wants to be the President of the United States of America since he was very young.  This being a presidential election year, we had been watching a lot of FoxNews and listening to a lot of TalkRadio.  Ok, ok! We have been obsessed.  But knowing I am raising a future president I feel obligated to educate myself and my son all about politics.  I have never been political at all so this year has been almost like a crash course.  Anyway, the week before the election we took the whole family to the Republican Headquarters here in our county in Tennessee.

It was the end of the day and since we do not live in a swing state (yes I am getting the jargon) there was not much to see.  Nonetheless, the kids asked questions and looked around.  We even brought home some bumper sticker to put on our school folders (not the car).

Harvest Fest

My President is a Boy Scout and his troop worked a Harvest Fest Party this year.  The kids had a great time  and we brought home way too much candy and 2 cakes won by my girls at the cake walk.  There were many games, good food, and great music.  In today's hustle bustle world we often forget to slow down had spend time with our families.  I love holidays!  They give me a reason to do fun things with my kids and give me a chance to be a kid again myself.

My Hunters

I sent my husband and my President to go hunting 2 weekends ago.  It was my President's first time.  Last month he took a hunters safety course and tied for the second best score.  We were all so excited for them to bring home a deer.

Unfortunately, no deer showed up. :-(  But i believe this may be a good thing.  At least he didn't have "beginner's luck" with no hope of getting another any time soon.  And they both had a great time!

Homeschooling: More than paper and pencil

Most children people learn best when education incorporates more than one technique.  So why is it that our children are expected to learn anything from sitting day in and day out at a desk doing paper work?

Enter homeschooling! (and the crowd roars with delight!)

Ok I am not (yet) the perfect homeschooling mom.  We have missed a few days and some days I must drag the kids and myself to do school.

But then other days are, well, not school and yet educational.

Several days ago I saw an ad for free black walnuts. FREE? really? Come get all you want!  Well I called my mom and began researching harvesting and preserving black walnuts on the Internet.

Monday we, Mom, the kids and me, all piled in her car and headed to the kind old man house who had placed the ad in our local paper.

After picking up and 5 market baskets of nuts we headed to my moms house to process them.

WHAT A MESS!

The kids counted the nuts and helped peel the hulls off and sort them.  We talked about the trees and how some produce fruit and some produce nuts.  We talked about the leaves changing colors and harvest time.  Let me tell you we did more learning than any paper and pencil could have provided.  The kids are still talking about it.  How often do you hear your child talking about something they learned on a worksheet?

Come back to see the end result.

SOOOOOOO Sick

So spent the last several weeks battling major sickness.  Was diagnosed with pneumonia, bronchitis, and whooping cough. Yes, WHOOPING COUGH.  I have been on breathing treatments and steroids, antibiotics, and cough meds (which don't work when it's your lungs that have a tickle not your throat).  So behind on homeschool although we did do some school in my bed.

I am doing better now but the doctor says it may take some time before my lungs are completely healed.

UGH!

Birthday Party... FINALLY

So my Superhero's birthday was wayyyyyy back in May but because of financial emergencies we had been unable to have him a party til September.  Better late than never?

He wanted a Cowboy party so we had Daisy the Clown to come and she was dressed as a Cowgirl and brought...

a PONY!

We had a great time!  We cooked hotdogs over a bonfire, made s'mores, chips, root beer in glass bottles, my dad made his famous potato salad (which I am still wanting to learn to make), and I made Chuck Wagon Beans (see recipe below).

While the kids were waiting to ride the pony, Daisy was face painting!

The kids had a great time and my mom's cake was awesome!

Long Week

After two weeks I am loving homeschooling my four children!  My Father's World is so much fun and I am enjoying spending so much time with my kids.

School was cut short Tuesday for making soup and going to the dentist.  My Superhero came home telling everyone he had "ten teeth on the top and ten teeth on the bottom".  The appointments took longer than expected and my mom had to finish canning the soup.  

We have been studying maps in geography with My Father's World.  We discussed how map makers often 'add land' to places like Greenland in order to put a round world on a flat map.  To demonstrate this, MFW instructed us to take a tangerine (we used my Fairy's breakfast grapefruit) and draw the globe on it, then cut it out and see how there are spaces in between the points at the north and south.  What a mess! LOL

We are also trying to find ways to conquer and divide.  It's hard to find quiet places to study when Spanish and phonics require out loud responses.  Our home is very open concept so finding a quiet corner requires planning and willingness to use the coffee table.

We made paper doll chains and have been learning how to say hello in different languages.  Last week, the kids filled out the 'passport application' in anticipation of learning about many different countries around the world.  I am so excited for them to learn about the cultures, lifestyles, foods, animals, and landscapes that make up our amazing planet.  Unfortunately in light of the resent uprisings and with the fact that my oldest wants to be the US president when he grows up and is very political, it has been hard to not have to stop frequently to answer questions about Egypt, Libya, and Lebanon.  We have discussed how God loves all people and that Jesus Christ died for everyone.  Today's Bible lesson was even on how there will be people from every nation in Heaven.  My heart is with the families of those lost while spreading freedom throughout the world.  God bless us all!

Getting the Hang of It

Today is day 3 and homeschool is going more smoothly.  

Bible is going well.  The kids are memorizing John 3:16.  They made posters yesterday, so today I am just randomly asking them to recite it.  Our reading assignment was out of the book "God Speaks Numanggang" by David Hazell.  It was interesting to learn how the Hynum family moved to a village where they did not even know the language.  They had to learn the language then create an alphabet because the Numanggang people had never written their language down.  Then they had to teach the villagers how to read and write their language before they even started the translation process.  Wow, what dedication!  (And to think I complain when my kids do not listen to me.)  We also have praise and worship time.

After handwriting we break up and go our separate ways.  They rotate every 15 minutes between spelling, math drills (on the computer), and phonic (with the tape player) with my Super Hero having center time.  Today I heard my President actually say he loved math drills!  This kid has always hated math, always.  I am so encouraged that by this because I still sometimes have lingering doubts wondering if we did the right things by taking them out of public school. (I know this is just the devil trying to steal my joy!)

Then my Fairy joins her little brother and the two older kids rotate between Spanish (on the computer) and language arts.  This is the most chaotic part of the day right now because my Fairy and Super hero will not leave me alone while I am trying to teach language arts.

Next is Math!  I love Math-U-See and so far the kids do too, but here again my Super Hero is not compliant.  I am hoping to do more with him next week but I just have not found the time this week being as we are constantly behind and my goal is to be done by the time my husband comes home.

We eat lunch at some point.

Today science will be was with daddy outside so next we did health.  My mom measured the kids and we wrote it down on their sheet.

Last we read their geography assignment and my President looked up and located places using the illustrated atlas.

Granma worked with my Super Hero and made words with the letter crackers and shapes on paper.

We also shucked and canned corn today with my mom or Granma to the kids. YUM!

After Daddy got home we all went outside and measured off a 1 yard x 1 yard area and looked for animals, plants, etc in that area. Bugs, worms, crickets, mosquitoes, dead leaves, grass, sticks, ants, many other things were what we found.  We all had a great time.  My Fairy said she couldn't wait til the next science class!  Afterwards they each sketched one things they had found in their area.

All in all a productive day.  We even finished a whole hour earlier than yesterday, too!