Agribition pictures

We went to Agribition a couple of weeks ago - and spent about 4 hours more there than we had expected! What a great day we had, Olivia's favorite part was holding the baby chicks and petting the snake.....man, is she growing up!
Here are some pictures

We also saw Uncle Harv's horses!

I think maybe it inspired the kids to try it out

Yee-haw!!!!!

it's been a while

It has been a while since I have posted, but I have good reasons! Last week EVERYONE in my house (except the strong-as-steel stomached Grace) had the stomach flu for at least one day. It was very gross! Greg was laughing about my laundry. I had a load of puked on stuff, followed by a load of peed on stuff...that is he was laughing - until HE got sick too! I was the last to actually be sick, and Grace is still periodically feeling ill, although to date she hasn't actually gotten sick. She is such a trooper!
Anyway, Tracy's family has had it, Marlyss' kids have had it, Cheri's whole household it sounds like, have had it! There were other families missing Friday school last week because of it. It has been an interesting week and a half!
Now that we are all feeling better I am realizing that the end of the week is the beginning of December! I need to get shopping, and baking, and get those cards finished!
We decided to pull the kids out of dancing. We weren't feeling that the level of instruction, or even the level of fitness is what they were receiving in Calgary, so we decided to take them out of it before we had to pay $120 for costumes. Neither of them is particularily upset. We thought they might be at least TEMPORARILY disturbed by it, but nope...they both just agreed. It does look like they will have to continue until the end of December - but that will be okay, unless of course I can get the fees I have paid back, and then they will be completely done.
Swimming lessons are underway and are going well. I think I already posted about how much more confidence Liv has in the water since she went to camp, but even Grace's confidence level has increased. Now that the Schmirler will be opening at the end of the week again, we will have to go recreational swimming next week to keep her confidence up! Poor Amelia during lessons though! All she wants to do is go in the water! Funny baby!

Here is a picture of her, with her baby in a "sling". She cracks me up!

I am hoping to remember my camera to take some pictures of our snow covered house - for all you Calgarians to see. I don't know if you have as much snow as we do - but I did hear that it is COLDER there! I was going to say na-na-na-na-boo-boo about that, but you will have a chinook eventually, and well, I will not!

C

Today at bible study the opening discussion is 'what are your passions'? I always consider myself a passionate person, but since I didn't hear very many responses (yes, we were late) I didn't really know what to say. I have thought about it all day...what am I really passionate about?
I know what I WANT to be passionate about...but what is it that really drives me? I think a better answer than the lame one I gave would be
my marriage, my kids, and homeschooling...all because those are my God callings. I know that I could have went back to work years ago...even though I am still having babies...I could have went back, I can now...and may at some time have to go back part time as we are in transition...but I am being used at home.
I don't always live up to my expectations of what that ministry is supposed to involve...in fact many times I don't - but I am still learning. I want my home to be one where my husband and kids feel safe and loved. I want it to be warm, inviting, open to friends, family, and even strangers if the need arises. So in many areas - that is not the case...but I am working on it! In my mind having an open home means ready...ready with a meal, a snack, something 'homey'. It doesn't mean that homes that don't have those things are not open - but MY vision of MY home is one where kids know that there is cookies on the counter. Or if they look they can find something yummy in the freezer. Where supper is a family event every day. Even lunch and breakfast are a gathering time. I don't need my house to be a show home...I need it to be a family home.
I find it hard sometimes to not let myself get so tied up in outside things that I neglect my home. I remember talking to my mother in law about it once. When she was a young wife and mother...she was a real housewife. And I don't mean because her house was immaculately dusted, or meals were perfectly prepared, I mean literally she was a housewife. She stayed home and kept her house. She didn't do the shopping, or errands on the weekdays...goodness - she didn't have a car - or even a license! It's funny, though, because while we were a one vehicle family...I stayed home. Other than the one or two days I would drive Greg to work so we could go swimming or go to Friday school - we were at home. And as much as I think that sometimes we need to go out...I also know that this week of having my own vehicle every day again has made it tough for me to be a housewife! Too many things that I can do outside of my house!
It is a good thing that God works with us in these things! I feel so glad we had that study today to help me think about this stuff...I need to keep these things in balance.
The other thing I was praying about today is that when I am home...I need to be working on my home. I need to prioritize myself...so that what needs to get done happens even if I do have a busy day with outside commitments. I want to go to Bible study, I have been missing it. I want to take my kids to Friday school. And I want to sign up for an excersise class at the pools for 45 minutes on Mondays. I truly believe that I can do those things, and keep my home as I want it...if I really set myself to finishing what I need to finish when I am home.
I am going to attempt to remain aware of this into next week!
Hopefully I will have good things to report by Friday!
Blessings!
C

still feeling sick

Only now it is more often than not homesick. It is a very weird thing. I am very glad to be here. I love our house, all the family that is here, it is so awesome to have lunch with Tracy and the girls, or to go swimming, or having coffee with my sisters. Even stopping in at my mom's for 15 minutes like I did last night...but I still have moments of homesickness lately. I miss our church, my homeschooling friends, and familiarity. I just want Blake and Kori to bring over ice cream! LOL!!!
I was sort of anticipating that this would happen, but I guess I wasn't really expecting it to be this way. It actually started while we were watching a hockey game. The view of downtown that they showed before a commercial gave me a pang of sadness! It was very weird. Sometimes Greg and I watch the Calgary news coverage instead of local news, just so we can feel 'normal'. Humans are funny beings, heh?
I got a newsletter from AHEA yesterday (the Alberta Home Educators Association) and I knew many of the people who were pictured or wrote articles in it, and it brought tears to my eyes! I got an e-mail from the leader of our old home group, and I was crying like crazy in front of my computer! I need to remember that we spent our entire adult lives in Calgary, and there is bound to be an adjustment period. It just sort of startled me (and I am going to use hormones as a partial excuse! Pregnancy is good for that!)
The reason I feel so surprised I think, is that our transition has been relatively seamless. We have a great homeschooling group here, we have instant friends in Tracy, my sisters and the girls' cousins. And we have each other. It's not like when Greg and I moved to Calgary. He went out of town to work, I had no one there, no friends, no family, and worst of all no relationship with God. Here it is opposite. We still know that God orders our steps, and that we are here now because He made it possible, we have friends, family, kids and my hubby to date hasn't had to work out of town. Pray for us in our church search! We need a fellowship!
C

sick, sick, sick

Okay, again it has been 2 weeks since I have updated my lovely blog, but I have been sick, sick, sick.
Very little morning sickness...although for those who don't know, we are happily expecting our 4th baby in June!!! Yay!!!
I have had a cold for over a month. Ugghh! It has been a very gross experience...but I am finally feeling better!
Remember a few posts ago I said that we had had a good day...but I probably wouldn't be posting about it if it wasn't good? Well that is how I have felt about the last 2 weeks. I am blessed that Olivia is a fairly independant schooler, so she was able all last week (while I felt like death) to do her basic work on her own, but other than journal, Language Arts, and Handwriting, we haven't gotten much done. I was just too sick to even try it! I had planned a couple of days to do some science, or even watch her math DVD with her, but I just couldn't get it done! By noon, I was too tired to contemplate anything except laying down for a nap!
Finally, halfway through yesterday, my 3 day headache subsided and I am feeling much more alive. (Just as a side note about that - I was to the point of praying for this headache to let up, I could barely handle another day of it. Yesterday was the first time we have had communion since we have been in Regina - if you can believe it- and while we were taking communion the pastor was praying for physical healing for anyone who needed it, back problems, headaches, etc. So I didn't feel 100% better right at church, but about an hour after we got home I realized that my head wasn't exploding anymore! Kind of neat!)
My hubby bought a truck, so now we don't have to get up at 6:00 a.m. to drive him to work to have the van for the day...so we are celebrating by meeting Tracy, Cheri and the kids at the pool for the morning. We will hopefully get to the library as well, and then I have some shopping to do while I am in the East end.
Off we go! Have a good day!
C

Swimming and socialization

A question often asked of homeschoolers by skeptical or curious onlookers is "What about socialization?". My answer to a serious inquiry involves a discussion of true socialization is teaching children to adapt socially to their culture, and where better can they learn that than within a family? I will often also ask the person forming the query whether they ONLY work with people the exact same age, and for the most part the same social background....because in a traditional school setting you will find a classroom with 25-30 children the same age (not at all necessarily of the same ability) and because school district lines are formed around neighbourhood boundries, you will also find that those children all basically have the same economical and often racial background as well...which we just don't find in a common workplace today. Sometimes a simple list of activities, and groups my children are a part of satisfies the asker. But, when I know that the person asking is just being argumentative, I have been known to come back a little snippily myself, challenging them with the commonly heard statement in school by a teacher of chatty classes - "We are not here to socialize people!" or even the quote Tracy reminded me of (I think originally by Lisa Welchel) - "I know, socialization is a problem...we really have to cut back and get some school work done!"
Yesterday was devoted to socialization! We went swimming with Tracy, Cheri, and the other 5 children that involves! We had a really fun time. Cheri was mortified to hear that Amelia had never been swimming at the ripe old age of 19 months - so a swim date was offered to us! Amelia took to the water just like a fish! She thought it was amazing! Grace went down the slide all by herself, and even got her face wet a few times! Olivia and Caitlin were somewhere, I don't really know where - which just goes to show how great having a daily swimming time at camp was for her water confidence! Not to mention MY confidence in her water ability! I am really looking forward to swimming lessons this year, because I am sure she will do much better now that she is less afraid! Grace as well, if we keep going to public swimming, just to play and be in the water, I am sure it will help her confidence level in the water as well - so she can progress in lessons this time. To ensure that we will go to the pool, I bought a 3 month family pass to the leisure centres. That way we can go swimming, and Greg can go and workout at the gym there.
After swimming we went to Cheri's for lunch and the kids had a great time playing together, until it was time for us to leave and pick up Greg from work!
Now nay-sayers and skeptics would be upset that we got no academic work done yesterday...but I am sticking with the response that there was no school is Strasbourg yesterday, so we were having a day off too! Ha!
C

Science project

This year we are using a new science program. It is called The Christian Kids' Guide to Biology. So far we have covered creation, how it doesn't really seem to be a realistic random happening, and now we have moved into cells.
So we have learned that all things are made from cells. Most cells are microscopic, so small infact that you could fit millions in a space the size of a pencil eraser. We learned that cells reproduce by dividing...and we learned that there are differences between plant cells and animal cells. Today we made a 3-D model of a cell using candy, jello, and an egg to represent the nucleus! It was pretty cool actually.
My favorite part of this program is the memory verses. I like bible verses for science!
c

a week is done

Sometimes if I don't post for a few days, I have to really think about what we have gotten accomplished since the last post.
I think I am getting the hang of having 2 school aged kids at the same time! We'll have to see how it actually goes when we get Olivia's math curriculum. Someone phoned tonight to tell me that he has a package for me from my friend in Calgary...so that means that what we have been waiting for is actually within the city limits! Yeah! He offered to drop it off, but didn't call or arrive, so I guess we will have to wait until tomorrow! I just can't wait to get it and take a look at it.
I was speaking with another Mom today at ARCHE who switched to math-u-see a few years ago, especially for her middle child who really struggles with math. Well he is almost caught up to grade level...in only a short time. I have heard that so many times from so many moms! I can't wait to get this box and hopefully it will help Liv "get" math on a new level.
I said earlier that she has really improved on simple multiplication by doing the online drills. That is so important. Now we need to be diligent in helping her with flashcards and other memory tools!
Grace got so much done this week! She loves her math book, she works on her alphabet pages, and she has been making collages with magazine cut-outs for the letter that we are working on. She is still working at her autobiography as well, I can't wait for it to be done....I know that she will love showing it off.
We are learning about cells in Science, and Liv has been working with Grace on their science memory verses! I love to see them working together.
Oh speaking of that...I have a great homeschooling moment to share. The other day we were just talking in the living room...the girls were actually supposed to be unloading the dishwasher, but whatever it was that Liv had to say was just SO important. So anyway all the girls were in the living room with me, and Amelia started saying "husha husha"...and within a few seconds, she grabbed Liv's hand, reached for Grace's and they started playing Ring around the Rosy (which has become Amelia's favorite game! Maybe it's because Tracy and I do it with the preschoolers every week at ARCHE). Anyway, I got tears in my eyes, and Liv asked what was wrong. I simply told her that it absolutely melts my heart to see them play with her, and if they were at school right then, that impromptu game of Ring Around the Rosy could never have happened. And they would have been. BOTH of them. And Amelia would have been making circles by herself! [not to mention I would have had to unload the dishwasher myself!!! ;) ]Man I love having them with me!
C

Look what is new!

Pretty neat, heh? I took a picture of the whole system, but just the tower, keyboard and mouse are new...the monitor we've had for a while. But the cool part about this picture is that I used my onboard card reader to get the images off of my memory stick, instead of hooking up through a USB cable! It was very cool!
So now, not only do we have high speed internet, but hopefully this will be a high speed computer! Watch out, I'm zooming now!
LOL!!!

Today was a good day!

I suppose that most of the time when it is not a good day the last thing I think about doing is blogging about it! Nonetheless it was a good day!
The girls got lots of book work done. Grace did math, a bit of phonics, she even was sounding out some simple words (with LOTS of help). We did a bit of our Come Sit By Me unit as well. Olivia worked in her journal, she did handwriting, a big spelling test, which she received 24 out of 25 correct! She worked a bit at her novel study, and then we decided after lunch to go outside and look for fall leaves. We had a great discussion about leaves, why some of the trees are already bare, and some are still almost completely green. We talked about tree seeds, and the protective covering they have (given by God)...it was really neat. Then we collected some leaves to use for a craft tomorrow.
This afternoon they just dressed up, and played. Then at supper time Olivia realized that she didn't get a chance to do any math drills on the Math-U-See website, so she asked if she could "just quickly go do one drill, or two, or three?". Oh the joy of homeschooling! I know that she knows that it is math, but for some reason she is just loving doing her drills online. Firstly she gets to use the computer, and secondly she is so competitive that drills really appeal to her. She is trying very hard to get it down to all 20 questions right in under a minute. I timed myself the other day just to have a benchmark of someone who knows the times tables, and I got 20 right in 23 seconds. So I think her goal of a minute is just awesome!
If you want to check your time, go to www.mathusee.com and click on Online Drills from the menu on the left side. Choose the multiplication (all the factors) and then click start! Leave us a comment if you do it, so Olivia can know how fast YOU are!

The rest of our Cranberry bread making pictures

Yesterday's 'co-op'

A homeschooling co-op works like any other co-op. People who have skill or knowledge, or interest in a particular area teach their children and others about that skill area. Or even more simply parents can just plan a time to get together and have the kids 'do school' together.
Tracy and I did that yesterday!
Every year since Olivia first started school, we have done a Thanksgiving unit in the week leading up to Thanksgiving, and we have always used the book study from Five in a Row as a guide. The story book is called Cranberry Thanksgiving and it is a really nice story about a Grandmother and her Granddaughter at their Thanksgiving celebration where someone tries to steal the recipe for GRandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread. It is a great story about not judging a book by it's cover, and even has some forgiveness lessons in there as well!
So Tracy brought the girls over, we read the story talked a bit about it, and then the best part!Here are the pictures of us making Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread.
Enjoy!
(if you were here at my house, you could actually enjoy the fruits of our labours, not just the pics! LOL!)

I am so glad today to be a homeschooler! That is what happens every time you go to a support group meeting! You get reminded by all the other homeschool moms how great it is to be at home with your kids.
The devotion Anita read today was all about your attitude towards your work. It can be duty, or priveledge. Basically it said that duty=drudgery and priviledge=joy. I couldn't agree more with that statement! When I am going about my life, remember how truly blessed I am by my husband and my children, then I have joy, even in housework. But when I am being selfish, focussing on my own issues and lack of time for whatever it is that I want to be doing, housework, parenting, even being a wife seems so much like an excersise in futility.
Oh that God would continually bring to mind for me the blessings that are mine! I have a wonderful husband, who still makes me laugh after almost 14 years together! My children are obedient, growing, fun, and beautiful. I have been blessed with this 'job' as their homeschool mom-teacher. We get to spend all day together. Sometimes doing "school" stuff, and sometimes just hanging out!
Tomorrow we are going to try to get in a full day of school. Cover all of the subjects! I was reminded by some moms tonight about this program called 'Managers of Their Homes". It is a book that outlines a system of scheduling the homeschool life. I know from experience that when I first introduced a schedule to my girls, Olivia was VERY stressed, but within two or three days, she was FLOURISHING under it! I need to get back to it again. I have heard of this book, and the ministry of the Maxwells a lot in different circles, and I know that I need to buy this book...it will be good for us!
My friend Carol offered to lend me her Math-U-See Gamma program, so that is great! It will save me $75 and Liv and I can whip through it quickly and I am guessing she will STILL be able to finish Delta this year as well. I can't wait for it to arrive!
Olivia has improved her online drill time on the Math-U-See website. She was getting about 15 out of 20 correct in over 300 seconds a week and a half ago...and today she was right around an average of 19 out of 20 correct in around 90 seconds, so she is definately improving!
Tracy and the girls came over today to do some school with us as well. I will post more about that tomorrow - when I can add the pictures!
Love ya all!
C

My first ever no-parents sleepover

I have now hosted a no-parents sleep over! In Calgary I had no kids to host...but here in Regina!! Kids!
This was so good for us! I don't know how I feel about sleepovers with non-family...so now we have kids that can come...even moreso when they are older, I suppose!
We had Clay and Tracy's girls for the evening so they could celebrate their anniversary tonight! So we had a lot of fun...and everyone is sleeping now but me! We put air mattresses up in the basement and the girls got to watch a couple of shows - who can resist The Bernstein Bears and Little Bear, right? We had hot dogs and smiles for supper, butterscotch pudding for dessert and Olivia has already requested pink pancakes for breakfast!
What a fun time!
I am posting these cute pics so you can all see!

I couldn't take it anymore!

I had to cut Amelia's bangs. She seriously looked just like a sheep dog. You know the one. The one (His name is either Ralph or Sam) on the Looney Toons cartoon, the sheep dog who guards the sheep while a coyote (who looks a lot like Wile E. Coyote) tries to steal the sheep.
Yes she was looking pretty scruffy...so here they are.

I don't know about this mom....let me think.

No, I don't think this haircut was a good idea...look at all that red gold on the floor!!!!

Definately bad...bad...bad.....WAAAA!!!!!!!!! I want my hair back!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I look cute you say? Well thanks, I appreciate the compliment! I knew it would be okay!

Okay so maybe those weren't her exact sentiments, but I think it was close! What a goober. It was so bad that we literally couldn't see her eyes. Had I been a bit more on the ball I would have taken proper before and after shots, but I was just frustrated, and I cut the bangs!!!Enjoy!

Pictures

Have pictures to post later today

Keep watching - I have some good pics to go here later today (right now it won't let me..so I will try again in a bit)

Hooray for High-speed internet!

What a baby I am! A couple of weeks of no internet and less than 2 weeks of dial up was enought to make me pull out my hair! Actually the no internet wasn't as bad as the dial up. I would just check my mail at my s-i-l's and then no biggie, but having a dial up connection in the house was TORTURE!!! It was like needing chocolate, and all you can find in the whole house is the semi-sweet baking squares!! LOL!! I would try to pay a bill online...for example...and I swear I could have gathered up all my bills and drove to the bank, and still paid them all faster than trying to pay one online with AOL!!
Oh well, now we are wired up again. Yeah for us!
School has begun for the year. We started the first week with a few math drill sheets and the literature study I mentioned. I broke down and ordered the Math-U-See, thinking it would take a few weeks to arrive, and it was here in 2 days!!!! Unbelievable! So Grace is working in her MUS book now, Olivia needs to work a bit more on multiplication review before we dive into her MUS book! But that will work out well, I think.
Last week we continued to add in a few things. Olivia started journalling, and continued working on her literature study. She had a sick day as well, and we went to bible study one day last week, so it was still only 3 days of school for her. This week we are going to add in Science and more math.
Grace is working on her math, Bible stories to Read (and Bible stories to Colour) and we started her I CAN DO IT! Unit from Come Sit by Me. So she is working on a book...an auto-biography of sorts.
She is liking school now, and actually I am having a hard time scheduling enough stuff for her to do. I am always done my list of her things before she is ready to be done! I guess I will have to use my new high speed internet connection to print off a stack of colouring sheets as a back up! We will be getting back into her Sing, Spell, Read and Write this week as well though, so that will add a bit more work.
We start Afternoon Activities this week as well, so the kids are looking forward to that!
Prayer requests - that Olivia will quickly master 2 digit times 2 digit multiplication so she can get into her new math book. That Grace will stay interested. That Amelia will start to play a little more independantly in the mornings...at least for part of it. That Greg will enjoy his work. And that I will be able to get planning the classes I am supposed to be co-teaching!
Thanks!
C

I so want to be planning school right now! I want to buy school supplies, and start getting things ready to start school next week. It looks like we surely won't be starting until after the long weekend. Oh well, there is nothing much I can do about it! I suppose I need to cut myself some slack, we barely have all the books on shelves! Never mind planning which ones to use.
I know that we are going to start the year catching up on a bit of math, practicing times tables like crazy, and we will be doing a novel study on a book called The Case of the Dognapped Cat or something like that! Olivia is excited! Anything that involves reading is a good assignment for her. That will give me a few weeks to get ready for our 10 week unit on Explorers...And let me say on that note, if you need to study explorers, take a look at this unit study CD-Rom from Homeschool in the Woods. Their website is http://homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TTS/ . This looks so cool!! I can't wait to jump in. I also bought a new science curriculum this year, so we will be studying Biology as well. I figure we will be doing our first KONOS unit sometime around end of November, beginning of December. So at least I feel like there is some time for me to plan the big stuff.
I will be teaching a Preschool phys ed class at Friday afternoon Homeschool activities, so that should be fun as well!
Grace is actually getting a little excited about starting school...So hopefully she can keep that enthusiasm for a week or two more!
Anyway, just wanted to post an update, as I was getting the gears from some of you recently (you know who you are!!!!!). Hope everything is going well for you in your neck of the woods!

Back from holidays and I need a rest! Quite the cliche, heh? But it is so true! I could have spent at least another week on the coast! We went through the mountains all the way to Victoria, BC. We crossed on the ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo, spent the night there and then travelled down the island to Victoria, and left on a ferry back to the mainland from there. What an amazing country Canada is! Some day after I get all the way to the East coast, I am sure that statement will mean even more to me!
So now I am home and ready to pack...well sort of! LOL! Okay, let me rephrase...I am home and NEEDING to pack!
I actually am going to do a few boxes right now, and then at least I will feel like we are making progress! This is such a crazy time! But we did buy a house in Regina, and the mortgage is approved, the home inspection done, and all seems well! Now if we can just get this house ready to move, that would help!
I have been feeling so much lately like we have been neglecting to continue in prayer about this stuff. About what Greg will do for work, about how we will get everything done in the short amount time we have. If you are wanting to pray, pray for those things, and for the kids that they will be helpful, and this will be a family adventure, bringing us closer to each other and closer to God.
Thanks for that! I have to go pack a box now!
Blessings!
C

Well, our house is now 'conditionally sold'. How do you like that? At first it was a little overwhelming, but I am really starting to get excited! Well, only when I don't think of all the work that is ahead of me! LOL!!! The beauty part though is that we will have 1 mini-vacation, and an actual holiday. Most of the packing work will have to be done before we leave for BC, just for my sanity's sake, but still, we will get to have a holiday!
I think my husband is quite ready to be done at his work! Only a few weeks left!
I am going to be using my blog space to write my lists now....apparently homeschooling has kind of left the building, although only kind of. I had basically given up on doing math for the time being, and Liv brought her book to me a couple of days ago, and asked to do some, so there you go!
Tomorrow I have to phone the following
Lawyer
SGI
our current insurance company

I really want to do something 'touristy' once a week until we leave, so tomorrow we are going to the top of the Calgary tower! Exciting, heh?
I want to make posting here a bit more regular again, so I am hoping to post tomorrow about our amazing sale story!
Blessings,
C

Up way too late!

I am up way too late! I can't help it, I feel like there is so much that needs to be done. To be quite honest, I kind of had a lazy day today. We just hung out, and played, and cleaned up a bit.
I can't really get into workbook work right now...as soon as dd1 sits down to do some work, I think of all the places I need to phone, and all the stuff I need to do. I get restless and then I leave the table, which really makes it tough for her to stay at the table. She is at a part of her workbook where a lot of new things are being introduced, so she needs me there to explain! Maybe we can get a bit done tomorrow! We are having some friends over for coffee, though so we will have to see!
I tried to phone the dentist today to get our appointments booked, but the phone was busy and no one has phoned me back yet. I did call welist.com and ask where our picture was - which apparently they didn't receive. So, I resent it and it finally got posted. Yesterday I started another blog with pictures of our house, so that anyone looking at our ad on Welist can see the inside as well. I think we are still planning to have an open house on Saturday. The girls will be going with aunty and uncle, and then we have our home fellowship group wind up bbq. That should be fun. Last year I took Tracy's ice cream cake - and it was very well received! I have been delegated to dessert again this year (which is VERY fine for me) and so I think I may take Danish Cream Squares, it is so easy, but is impressively yummy!
We went to the church on Monday and spray painted some scenery for daycamp - that was fun. And last night I had an Epicure party which was nice too.
We had someone come look at our house today... although it sounds like he may be looking for something different! We'll see I guess!
Anyway, I should go. I just made a couple of cards, and I need to finish one more before I can go to bed!
We love you guys!
C

Moving

Well, we are in the midst of trying to get ready to move. It is hard to post to your blog, when you don't want to share anything you are thinking about - because you are busy praying about it! LOL!
But now we can relax, because people are starting to know, and we are walking in this decision. It is a good and bad thing. We are excited, yet stressed!
Oh speaking of which, I have to go call Welist.com. No more time to blog right now! Sorry!
Check out the new link to the right. Free weekly dinner menus! I love them!
Love,
C

How Great is Our God?

Psalm 104:1-16

Praise the Lord, I tell myself;
O Lord, by God, how great you are!
You are robed with honor and with majesty;
You are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
you lay out he rafters of your home in the rain clouds,
You make the clouds your chariots;
You ride upon the wings of the wind.
The winds are your messengers;
flames of fire are your servants.

You placed the world on its foundation so it would never be moved.
You clothed the earth with floods of water, water that covered even the mountains
At the sound of your rebuke, the water fled; at the sound of your thunder, it fled away.
Mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed.
Then you set a firm boundary for the seas, so they would never again cover the earth.

You make the springs pour water into ravines, so streams gush down from the mountains.
They provided water for all the animals, and the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees.
You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home, and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.
You cause grass to grow for the cattle.
You cause plants to grow for people to use.
You allow them to produce food from the earth -
wine to make them glad,
olive oil as lotion for their skin,
and bread to give them strength.
The trees of the Lord are well cared for - the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

Read the rest yourself. God can do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ever hope or imagine! What a beautiful thing to be able to rest in Him. What can I do? Not a blessed thing! God is in control!

Blessings!

C

Patience = Plant growth

We had such a nice time in Regina for a short holiday...I almost forgot to keep you updated on our school progress!
Here are the pictures from the first week of our plant unit.
Later today I will take some pictures of them now, and post them. One of the big dilemmas we had when we came to Regina was whether or not we should leave the lid on the greenhouse. That was our first experiment. Would the tomato plants in the greenhouse grow faster, or slower than the ones in the peat pots in the open air. Both girls thought they would grow slower because there wasn't as much air.
Obviously they were wrong, and the ones in the greenhouse grew faster. DD1 was pretty quick at realizing that the warmth, and the constant moisture from condensation was why.
Anyway, by the time we were ready to leave for Regina, the tomato plants in the greenhouse were touching the lid. So we left it open!
This week we have been trying to catch up with Math and LA, and the girls have had swimming lessons. I am off to a women's retreat this weekend (yay), so I will try to get those photos up this afternoon, and then I will be gone until Sunday!
Have a great day!
C

Been awhile!

Yes, it has been awhile since I have been able to post, but finally I have a few minutes on the computer.
My kids have been sick, and we have had two waves of company come through. The company was fun, the sickness, not so much!
Actually, you can pray for dd2 if you think of it, she has ANOTHER ear infection, and an eye infection, caused by the same bacteria.
So what has been new, well not much exciting to talk about unfortunately. All school work has been regular book work, so not much exciting on that front, and then all of the other stuff. We had two of Greg's cousins here. One for 3 nights, and then a few days later his brother came to stay for a few nights. Company is always a welcome diversion (hint to all of you out-of-towners). It really is time to get to some more fun school work though. I am itching to get to the planting. So are the kids! DD2 asked me today if we could do plants..."because I am bored of all the OTHER school." So cute! Hopefully we will get to start it all tomorrow.
Dd1 did start her Home Economics curriculum that I bought her though, and will get a new lesson tomorrow! She is very excited about this book. So am I actually, it is so systematic. So often I remember that I am training up someone's wife, and if I can just help her learn this stuff now, she will have way less years of on the job learning, which will make her life so much smoother. I am sure that I will learn a few things myself. I will probably be safe for most of the cooking lessons, but we will be getting into things like 'organizing a drawer' and such so I am sure I can pick up some pointers! I had to kind of giggle when I was looking at the table of contents. I kept thinking, "WOW, if I have stuff to learn in level 1, what on earth am I going to do when we get to level 3? I guess I will just have to do the colouring sheets and everything with her then! LOL!!!!!"
Anyway, I will try to post tomorrow, especially if we can get some of the planting done!
C

Spring break?!?!?!?!?!

It is spring break. Says who? LOL!
We are not really having spring break! Not this year anyway. We had a big break at Christmas, and so for us the school must go on!
Although we haven't actually done anything school-y this week!
Yesterday we went to a friend's to do some stampin'! I made the cutest card, and a great little brag book and a neat little treat box! So much fun that was for me!
Today we went to the Tupperware office, and then we had to go to Wal-mart to pick up the stuff we need for this next unit!
We are studying Patience - plants (growth)
So I bought 72 peat pellets, a small greenhouse, and seeds for tomatoes, peas, corn, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, and bulbs for Gladiolus and a Peony bush!! Tomorrow we are going to start learning about plants. I have books, and videos, and then of course all of our seeds and supplies. We are also going to tie-in a fundraiser for Compassion Canada by hopefully selling some of our tomato plants when the time comes! And I am going to suck it up and brave the slugs. I really don't want to, and I am afraid they will still be there, but I am going to do it anyway. I missed having a garden. It was so fun for me! It was even fun just picking out the seeds today. There are so many varieties, and dd2's mouth was practically watering just looking at the seed packets! She needs a garden!
She is also the one who was practically begging for the Gladiolus package of bulbs! And dd1 loved the pictures of the peonies. Don't ask me what I am going to do with these things, I really don't know! I still wish that we would have went ahead and had that evergreen removed when we first moved in. The one at the back of the yard I mean. Then we could plant the peony bush by the fence. I don't think there is enough sun for them there with the tree there. We'll have to see I guess. Maybe I will get dh to ask at work for anyone who has a chainsaw, and he can get that tree out of there. It's never too late, right? Hmm, now the wheels are turning!
Oh well, I have to go. I should be going to bed, but I have a nice pot of Chai Tea, so I am going to see if I can't create a nice card and watch a bit of a chick flick!
Blessings!

Attentiveness - Orchestra - WRAP UP!!!

Yes, we are wrapping up this unit (it kind of feels like I should put in a FINALLY there). The unit was fun, and I think we all learned a lot, but it did go on a bit long. I was planning to wrap everything up 2 weeks ago, but then I remembered that we had tickets to the ballet - so what would be better than to end it off with an ACTUAL orchestra! But we will get to that! Today we learned about the placement of each section of the orchestra. And we talked about why that would be. Then dd1 used colored dot stickers to do a representative poster of the seating arrangement! She coloured a picture of a conductor, and tomorrow we will decorate our pages with stickers, put it all together (including the program from last night's ballet) and move on to Patience - Plants, on Monday!
Yes, we went to the ballet last night. We went to the Alberta Ballet's production of Alice In Wonderland . It was SO great! We had such a nice time. We have gone to one other "arts" performance, it was actually the Nutcracker, back in 2003, with educational tickets. We, as homeschoolers, have an opportunity to purchase tickets to the dress rehearsals for many theatre type productions - at a REALLY REDUCED rate! For the tickets we had in the First Balcony, Right Center, row H (which was about 4 rows from the front of the balcony) and about 4-8 seats in from the aisle (which by the way were EXCELLENT seats) it would have cost a minimum of $188 for dh, dd1, dd2, and I to go (props to Aunty and Uncle for babysitting the baby, as she was SO not invited). We paid $40. $10 a seat! What an amazing deal! Usually dress rehearsals take place during the day, but this one was an evening performance, so even dh got to come with us!!!!! It was very good. You take the chance, with it being a dress rehearsal, that if something goes wrong they will have to stop and start again, but that didn't happen this time, or when we went to the Nutcracker!
We talked on the way home about how amazing it was to be able to take our kids to such an amazing performance, and to expose them to the arts that way! I love live theatre, and it makes me feel so blessed to be able to do these things with the girls! They are already hoping and praying to go to Cinderella next season!
Speaking of the arts, I have been looking at getting tickets to The Princess and the Pea during the Calgary International Children's Festival in May. Again, teachers get a deal, with advanced purchase available for only $7 a ticket - including tax and service charges. When they go on sale to the public it is $7 PLUS service charges and GST. So anyway, I think we might go to that as well. Then after the play they have a whackload of free entertainment and fun stuff in Olympic Plaza, you know face painting, juggling, music on a big stage, all that good stuff!
There is just so many options!
Anyway, we are looking forward to starting a new unit on Monday! Off to the library tomorrow!
Blessings!

Discipline

There has been a lot of discussion about discipline on the many web groups I am on lately. I almost never read messages from most of my groups where the members are in Calgary, I am drawn more to my group of KONOS users (our unit study curriculum) and the group I joined of ladies who are blessed by the Above Rubies ministry. But I do get the daily digest from one of my Calgary groups, and I can tell you that this topic has been buzzing amongst homeschoolers again recently, in Canada and beyond!
I get really annoyed with the controversy that always follows, you know, to spank or not to spank, is it discipline, punishment, guidance, training? One of the threads that I was following was arguing over the terminology of it. Because wouldn't you agree that training is for dogs? I immediately balked at that statement, but then decided to give it more thought and yes, I balked again.
I train my kids. I guide them. I discipline them, teach them, punish them, love them, care for them, am constantly blessed by them. I learn from them. Does it really matter the word you use? I, personally, am not opposed to words, I like them, I use a different word for different times. Some in our country are opposed to words. Words like God, Jesus, crucifixion, resurrection, Christian, and marriage. I am not opposed to words.
Anyway, I do sometimes like the discipline topic to come up, in spite of the ensuing controversy, it does allow me to focus on that part of my parenting. To really think about it, to even pray about it.
I am so blessed to be a mom. My kids are so amazing and wonderful, even as dd3 has been learning about yelling lately! We were discussing this problem in the van tonight on the way home from dance. Dd3 was yelling (not crying - yelling) and so dd1 was going to give her a bottle, which of course was exactly what she wanted. But it got us discussing how that was just teaching her that if she wants her bottle (which she can say, by the way, she says bahta) all she needs to do is make a lot of AWFUL noise. So I told dd1, make her ask for it, ask her if she wants her bottle, or her cup, or her snack, or whatever and ask her to say please. Now, obviously she can't talk, but she can make nicer sounds than the NOISE that was coming from the back seat! I told her as soon as she makes any noise that is not a gross yelling type of sound, give it to her and ask her to say thank you.
Now, dd1 does understand that the baby won't really say the words, but it is still teaching (training, disciplining, loving, etc) her communication skills (and she won't sign anything anymore except "all done"). Although I am going to remind dd1 that we need to use the signs even if she isn't because she is just beginning to realize that she has power over situations! What a cutie!
No, I like words, sometimes what we are doing is teaching, sometimes training, sometimes guiding, and sometimes even disciplining. But what a blessing it is to be a part of all of it, and to actually get to be the one to do it, instead of having to be out at work, having my kids raised by someone else.

Lovingly,
C
Who is grateful to God for his provision of a good job that provides financially for me to be at home!

Timelines and Television

So what do you do when you and your kids are on TV, but one of your kids has given up TV for Lent? Tough question, right? Think on that for a minute.....
We finally have our timeline up on the wall down here. It is so exciting. So we put it up going down the hallway in the basement. When you first get to the bottom of the stairs you are on the BC side, then the cross is right across the hall from the spare room door, and the AC years are down the rest of the hall to the family room. So far the only people on it are both dds, but I have pulled out the timeline figure for Bach, Handel, Alexander Graham Bell, and Helen Keller. So on Friday we will put them on our timeline. It is designed to be a review tool, so before we put them up, the kids have to tell me a bit about the person. I can't wait, this is so exciting.
Okay, so now back to the Lent question. We were asked to do an interview about homeschooling for a local TV station in our home, because there is a big baby boom in our city, and people are concerned as to whether or not there is going to be infrastructure to deal with it (really it seems a little Chicken Little-ish to me, cities adjust, I doubt that the sky is ACTUALLY falling - but anyway...). So we did a 4 minute interview, with 5 minutes of "B shots" which is just pictures of us "having school". I happened to see the broadcast live at a friend's when I was picking up some Classical Music CDs to borrow, so I knew that our whole segment of the story was probably less than 30 seconds, but since we were out and dd1 was at dance class we were taping it at home. When we got here she wanted to go see it and then we remembered about Lent. So what is a girl to do when she is making her TV debut? I would love to tell you that she decided to wait until Easter to watch the tape, but come on, she is only 8! I told her that since it was about school, and she was doing school, she could watch it! If it was a test, I suppose we failed, but it was pretty exciting!
Speaking of TV debuts, I have a friend whose daughter is making her television debut in Thursday's episode of CSI. If you are a fan of CSI - make sure you watch it!!!!!! She is a beautiful young girl - and I am so praying for her that this might be a big break for her!

Friday, March 3, 2006

What a great school day!
We made instruments out of elastics and a wooden box, and experimented with elastic width for sound. Dd2 made the spoon bells, and a pan pipe. Dd1 made a pan pipe, and we all worked on the elastic "guitar". Dh made a percussion maraca with a snack cup and some trail mix!
So much fun!
After we were done with our instruments, I brought the girls downstairs with a book and CD. We started learning about different composers, and different periods of music. Then dd1 went on the computer to a great site I found to look at every imaginable instrument, and hear a sample of how it sounds.
I also found on that site a whole bunch of short radio-type programs with worksheets that go with them, so we will be using those next week.
So then I ran to the homeschooling store to get her new Math workbook, and they had all of their Classical Masters cassettes on for LESS than half price, so I bought a few!!!!! I also got her a pencil with the names of famous composers, and one with musical notes. I am really enjoying unit studies. When you find something that goes with what you are studying, it is like a great treasure! I am trying to find pictures to print, or stickers to buy of different instruments so I can have her try to seperate them into categories. I might have to run to the scrapbooking store tomorrow!
We ended up talking about Lent the other day, and so dd1 decided to give up TV. This is fine, but then we get to our home fellowship group last night and she now has to face this. So she had brought two games, and a book, the games in case the other kids agreed to turn the HUMUNGOUS tv off, and a book in case they didn't. And she did it, she went down and explained that she decided to give TV up for Lent, and could they turn it off, and they did. Even when the teenagers went downstairs, she stood her ground. I was SO proud of her! She told us she had to explain what Lent was to them and everything.
So her explanation was basically this - "Lent is a time before Easter when you give something up as a sacrifice to God to try to be more like Jesus." Just typing that makes me want to cry. I never suggested she observe Lent, we were just talking about it. I was saying that I think that Lent was probably started as a way to identify with Jesus, but that evangelical churches probably don't observe it because it became a way for people to glorify themselves in their own "holiness" instead of sacrificing for the glory of GOD. And she just jumped in with "I'll give up TV." I then stressed to her that whether she did this or not she wouldn't be any better or worse in God's eyes, it was to her benefit, not His. And that it would be like a fast. Giving up something for a time of focussing on God. Just like that. I certainly don't want to discourage it. We did decide however that videos that are a part of school should be allowed. I have three planned, so I asked her if she would mind, and she thought for a while and said she thought it was okay. I liken it to if she was in public school, she would still be a part of her class if they watched a film on something.
Hubby is gone at the church's men's retreat tonight, so I may even have time to post tomorrow about our timeline!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!

February 27, 2006

Skiing lessons are going so well! Dd1 is really getting the hang of it. We stayed for almost 3 hours after her lesson on Thursday so she could have some extra practice. It is hard to believe for me that she is the same kid who was constantly falling on Tuesday! Although I think she pretty much still makes herself fall down to stop!!!!
Dd1 finished her CAT-3 tests last week. We worked on them every morning before skiing, and she was able to finish them up by Friday. Then on Friday we had support group meeting with our school board, so I took them and handed them to our Educational Assistant. In most grades you can mark them yourself, but for 3, 6, and 9, they are to be evaluated by your EA, or facillitator. I looked through the test though and she did fine. Those kinds of standardized tests are designed to have questions the kids know, and some they shouldn't know, so that they can gauge kids who are below average, average, or above. She got a few things wrong, which is good, it definately shows that she did the test by herself. I was actually worried about that for a few minutes, but there were things on there that she didn't know.
Today we had our medal ceremony, with the eldest dd earning a gold medal in math, gold in reading and a certificate, and dd2 earning a bronze for effort. She wasn't very interested in school work while Aunty and Uncle were here, and while they were gone, we were at skiing every day, so dd2 didn't get much school work done over the past two weeks. Then we stood up and sang O Canada!
We promptly moved back into Attentiveness with a focus on Music, Orchestra, and we will move into the other senses in a few days. We had a fun day. We listened to Beethoven's 5th symphony a few times, and played "Hide the Clock" - I hid a ticking timer, and then they had to find it, being very attentive of course! It was fun to talk about sound waves, and how they were hindered from reverberating when the clock was in a drawer, or covered by towels. All of the sound wave info of course dd1 learned at her field trip to the music museum a few weeks ago. Very fun! She also started her new vocabulary list, with our brand new Scholastic Children's Illustrated Dictionary!
By the end of the week I hope to have a few people on our timeline, and have dd1 choose a composer to write a short report on, or we may just do a paragraph or two about a few composers. She does have skiing on Wednesday as well, and a dentist appointment tomorrow!
We'll keep you posted!

It has been a busy couple of weeks! As last posted our company finally arrived, and then left! LOL! Okay, so there was a week in between the two events! It has been busy though. Visiting, playing, having Uncle tickle the girls to make them scream. All fun stuff!
Our oldest daughter set some goals for the classroom Olympics - and reached ALL three Math goals. It was pretty tough - LOTS of math last week, but her workbook is finished, so it paid off! She was so happy today when she remembered it! Don't panic, the program we use has two workbooks per year, so she still has one full workbook to do. She really was glad to see one down though. It gives such a sense of accomplishment! So anyway, we didn't do a ton of Olympic stuff, because she was just working away on Math, and fitting in Language Arts and Handwriting. I need to do a quick oral book report for the three novels to see if she met that goal as well.
We got our timeline mostly up on the wall. Time is ending right now at 1699 so I have a few more years to put up there!
We learned the hard way some police lingo! Do I have your attention on that one? Yes, if you ever hear a City Police officer say "confirm code 3" - he is just letting the 911 dispatcher know that it is a false alarm! While I was putting up the timeline, dd3 dialed 91196666. Of course I asked dd1 to take the phone from her and turn it off when I heard it beeping, but it was too late! Then when the 911 dispatcher phoned back to see if we were okay, I told Uncle not to answer it, because it was ringing as the secondary line and I was too busy with the time line to talk to anyone about homeschooling right then! OH! It was pretty mortifying! So when Uncle tried to use the phone to call out, there was the 911 dispatcher, with the line open, waiting for confirmation from the dispatched officer that everything was okay at our address. What do you say, all I could do was apologize. I couldn't even threaten to lock her up, otherwise they may have found a reason to stay! LOL! I guess it's not so bad to get through 9 years of parenting without it happening, but hopefully that is the only time.
Dd1 started skiing lessons today. She had a lot of fun...although it was VERY tiring for her. When we were returning her rentals she looked like she was going to be sick, so I asked her what was wrong. Her answer was - "I'm tired, and hot, and HUNGRY!" It was very cute! She had dance class after skiing, so you can imagine she was pretty worn out at bedtime!
Speaking of dance, her evaluation is over, she got through it! We won't know what the outcome is for a few weeks, but she did it! Now they are working on the routine for the recital, which I peaked a little at through the window today! She said it is being danced to one of her FAVORITE pieces of music - Beethoven. (I'm going to have to check the title of that piece and get back to you!)
This week will be mostly skiing lessons in the school department. She can go as early and stay as late as she likes, so we might as well go a bit early and let her get a bit of practice on the hill. The more she practices on her own, the more confident she will be in the lessons. I think I will have her do some of the CAT-3 test in the mornings before we go. Every section is only about 15 minutes long, so we can do one or two sections each day. That is how it is meant to be administered anyway I think, each section is timed, with a maximum allowable time per test, so I think we will do them over the course of this week, as they have to be done this month to make the results valid.
Well, that is a bit of a catch up! Hopefully you don't find out what the code is for a false 911 call at your house! Take care!

After a weekend

The zoo was so fun! We were getting into the van, and I was opening the mail and we found a flat Stanley from Lethbridge in our mail, which worked out perfectly, we took him to the zoo with us! They have a baby hippo there, it is so cute! We saw most animals, although now that I think back we saw no monkeys, or primates. Hmm, must have totally missed their winter enclosure.


We got the company that we have been waiting for, which is great. The kids are probably totally driving them insane. It is hard to get them (even dd1) to understand that Aunty and Uncle are going to be here.........for more than a week...........that they are going to be living in our city................that you don't have to tell them your ENTIRE life story in two days. It has been very loud around here, even more than normal. But it is just so darn exciting!
Tomorrow the plan is to work on dd1's math goals. She has reached one, so earned herself a bronze medal. If she reads three full books (chapter books) this week she will earn a gold medal for reading as well. Then we will do a bit of our unit, learn a bit more about the history of the Olympic games, and we will look through the newspaper for stories about Canadian athletes at the games to clip out. Be ready, she may be calling soon or emailing with a survey question! Pray for her, she has her ballet evaluation on Tuesday - which is why we haven't done her CAT-3 tests yet, I wanted her to have the evaluation overwith first.
Thank you to those who have been remembering me in prayer this month. I feel like we are really gearing up to end our year well!

February 8, 2006

I have been so busy doing laundry that I haven't had time to post! Okay, so only kind of!
We have started our mini unit on the Olympics. Dd1 has set some Math goals for the Classroom Olympics. If she reaches one goal she gets the bronze medal, two the silver, three the gold! She is quite excited. She really works well when there is a specific goal, an absolute aim. Dh says she is task oriented. Which is probably true.
The kids started using a new chore system on Monday, so that has meant early mornings for all of us. The kids have to be up and dressed by 7:10, at the table for breakfast by 7:30, and we have been starting school by 8:00. So we are all a little sleep deprived and maybe even a tiny bit cranky by noon! Thanks though to Organizing Annie for the chart, we will continue to adapt it to fit our family. It's nice though because I have dressed, washed and hair done up kids sitting at the table for breakfast, and it does seem to make things seem a bit more organized.
Well, we are off to the zoo for an unplanned field trip. It seems to me to be a good day to take advantage of the uncommonly warm weather and our season passes!

God answers prayer!

Okay, so here it is!!!!!!!!!! 2 or 3 years old, $350 and it works! Amazing heh? The only thing that didn't work well was the dinner out. Oh well, I heated up frozen chili and homemade baked beans, and it worked out well (except for dd2). Dd1 did such a good job of eating them with a smile, even though I am sure that was hard for her too. What a good kid!!!!!!!!

quick synopsis

Okay, a quick catch up post!
Dd1 finished off her attentiveness unit last week by writing a report on Helen Keller. She also typed it on the computer, and has shown it to EVERYONE who will look at it. It is actually pretty good considering it is her first one!
Now we are just putting everything together in a duo-tang to be added to when we come back to Attentiveness in a few weeks.
We are going to be studying the Olympics for the next couple of weeks. It should be a fun mini-unit, and we will even be able to watch figure skating and call it school! Dd1 will be doing skiing lessons as well, which she is very excited about. It will all work together!
And then we should be having company arriving sometime around then too, which will also be very exciting!
Today, my husband was the teacher as I had to take the baby to the clinic for her immunizations! So the book work got done anyway. I also picked up Liv's Cat 3 test booklets, so she has to do those sometime in February as well. Those are standardized skill tests, similar to CTBS that I wrote when I was a kid.
As for an update on the laundry situation, we received our Ralphbucks on Thursday, the day after I prayed about the washer, so I wasn't sure if we should just buy one, or what, so we called a few in the paper, and hubby is going to look at a set tomorrow after work, a few blocks from dd1's dance class, that is only about 3 years old, for only $350. Hopefully these will be the ones! I am running out of Tea Towels already! Jason is going to help him with the muscle, and we are all going to meet for supper if it all works out. I think it is so neat, because we do that sometimes anyway, and now the washer is in that neighbourhood! Keep you posted!

God bless!
C

Catching up! - God is good!

Well, it has been a few days (thanks dad!) . We have had an interesting time lately. The weekend was highly uneventful. Unfortunately nothing really got done, the list is getting longer!
On Monday, our washing machine died dead! Yes, a house of 5 and no washer! GRRRR!!! It has been dying a slow death for a while, Saturday dh even phoned parts stores to find out what on earth could be the problem. But to no avail! It died before we could get it to a surgeon!
I was doing some lesson planning on Monday night, and I heard it buzzing, so I went to check it out and there was Lake Alberta on my basement floor, and the washing machine wouldn't drain. I tried every cycle and it wouldn't drain. Dh tried in the morning and he found the same thing, no cycle would drain the machine.
So my plan was to wring out each towel individually and then hopefully the machine would drain when we lowered the hose, but I remembered that I should pray about it. So I did. And I tried again, and wouldn't you know it, the machine drained! Not only did it drain, but it went through a spin cycle too! God is so amazing. I know it can sound coincidental, but it wasn't. I was reminded Monday driving to dance class that years ago when we came to the Lord, we had no money - and no credit, so when we needed a freezer, tires for the car, or whatever, we had to ask...and God totally provided. But now that He has blessed us with such an increase in income, we don't even think of asking, we just fix what's wrong. So Monday before the machine totally broke I asked God to provide us with a new washer. I know that He can, either free, or inexpensive, or the money or however, He totally can and will provide.
So today we spent the day at the landromat. And 5 loads, and 3 hours later we were home with clean clothes, folded and ready to put away! Going to the laundromat is quite a bit of work, but it actually saves time. We were there for almost 3 hours, but ALL the laundry was done when we came home. When can I get all the laundry done in 3 hours any other time?
So Wednesday is over, and what have we learned? Well we talked at length about God's miracles as the washing machine was draining on Tuesday! Today it was all about money as we paid for each load with quarters and loonies. There has also been regular math, and dd1 has finished a rough draft of a report on Helen Keller. (her first report ever by the way!) The girls have been preoccupied lately as well with earning money to buy the baby a birthday present! They are so cute!
Dd1 has been reading up a storm as usual too, and is quite frustrated, as she is reading a novel that is #16 in a series, but since she hasn't read #14, or #15 she doesn't know what the exciting stuff they are talking about is! So funny!
We joked last week at HFG that kids are like roller coasters, and we are on an upper track right now, so no complaints, but it is true. I have such great kids! (Now let me bookmark this so when the coaster starts free-falling I can find it again!)

January 19, 2006

Well, somedays you don't get as much done as you would like! I had some running around to do and so it was a light school day. Dd1 is working on her puzzle right now, and we did some cleaning, I need to go and put together a snack for HFG, because I don't know if anyone else had planned to bring a snack.
Later I will try to post what she actually got done!

January 18, 2006

Today was a great day! We got all of our book work done in the morning and then Dd1 went to the Music Foundation for a field trip. She had a great time. It went right along with our unit on the ear and how it works. She learned all about sound waves and musical instruments. It will be a great tie in from what we have done in the beginning of this unit to the last couple of weeks where we will be focussing on music, and the orchestra.
I so enjoy being a part of the KONOS e-loop. Someone posted a link today to the puzzlemaker site on Discovery School. So I made a secret message find-a-word puzzle with the vocabulary words!
While dd1 was at her field trip, the two little girls and I met Aunty at Tim Horton's for a coffee and muffin. It was nice. What a nuisance it can be to park downtown though! GRRR!! We then spent our last 45 minutes browsing in the used Christian book store. That was fun too, although I wasn't able to find any of the books I was looking for. Apparently the authors I like are liked by everyone, and those books aren't sold or traded in. I should be able to buy the Left Behind book that I am missing to complete the original set of 12. My sister Amy is probably almost at the point where she will need that book.

Today was much less dramatic! We got book work finished early, and then dd1 did some vocabulary. Once that was done she constructed a "fort" of the parts of the ear to crawl through. She came up with these things on her own, I actually stayed out of it, and she definately knows how sound works now! Look at the pictures.
Such fun! I am so certain that this will be a great way for the girls to learn together. They were so excited, and can't wait to show Dad!
I am really enjoying KONOS, I just need to remember that learning doesn't happen just because kids can fill in the blanks of a worksheet. Learning happens all the time, even to adults! I need to remember that sometimes without experiencing what you are studying, it won't make sense regardless.
Great day!

January 16 - 2005

Today was one of those days. I swear our school is not usually like that, but of course, because Dad was home all day....we had the 8 year old dissolving into tears over math, and the 4 year old crying because she couldn't have a chocolate covered granola bar RIGHT THIS MINUTE. GRRRRR!!!
But the baby was happy, and my husband got the walls in the basement hallway ready for painting, and the book work DID get done! It was just met with some drama today! What can I say?
4 yr old dd had dance class again today, which was fun for her. Then we all had to go and get flu shots, which just added more drama to the day. I had a Tupperware sales meeting tonight so I went out after supper but it sounds like the public health nurse had straight sugar in the vaccine or something because dh said the girls were a little crazy tonight! ;) It was definately one of those days, but the two older girls were sleeping when I got home, the baby went down fairly easily, and tomorrow is another day.
I found some great stuff on the web to use with 4 yr old to practice letter recognition. Funny how I don't remember ever teaching that to 8 yr old. I don't really remember teaching her the letters, or the sounds or anything....but she knows them and reads like crazy. 4 yr old doesn't though, she only knows a few of them G for her name, O for sister's name, A for other sister's name. The rest she only sometimes gets. We'll work on it!
Well, I need to be off to bed, lots to do again tomorrow!

first blog post

Well, this is the first one. I am thinking this will be a good way to let our family see what we do on a daily basis if they want, and it will be good for me, as I really want to journal this year. I just turned 30 and want to journal my first year of this new decade, so that I can really see where I am at, and if it where I really want to be. Today in school we got all the book work done, some vocabulary from our KONOS unit on Attentitiveness, and we are going to learn to take notes to write a report on Helen Keller.

Later - Okay, my oldest dd took 2 notebook pages of notes from a Helen Keller biography and read a book about how the ear functions. She was very interested in the ear book. Moreso than I expected to be quite honest!