A New Blog

Just wanted to drop a quick note to let you know I will no longer be posting to this blog... I hope you will join my family at our new blog, Faith and Family Moments. I think I will be better able to blog about my family's journey through faith and homeschooling there. I am very excited about it and hope you will be too!

Thanks for hanging with us through our first year of homeschooling, now head over and see what's new! :)

Melissa

School days, School days

Although we have started a bit late this year, we have finally begun our schooling! We are now  2 + weeks in and starting to settle into a bit of a routine. Due to some changes in our schedule at home, we are now back to doing our schoolwork in the evenings, usually after supper. On my days off, we usually get it done early in the day and I hope that becomes our "norm" in November.

Mikayla is getting some practice writing her numbers.

Once again, we are using curriculum from Heart of Dakota.  We used Little Hands to Heaven last year and have moved on to Little Hearts for His Glory for Mikayla's Kindergarten.  As I was getting ready to start the school year, I decided to let Susannah begin Preschool by following along with us.  There is just no real reason to give her separate Bible, History, Storytime, Science, or Math since she sits in on all of this anyway. I have a separate program for her to use to develop fine motor skills and am working on basic phonics with her instead of reading. So far, this has worked really well.  Susie loves doing schoolwork like a "big girl" and I love that we can all work together!

With Susie, I am working on one-to-one correspondence.
Here she lines up her pizza pieces on dots under the
corresponding numbers.

One of the things I LOVE about the Heart of Dakota curriculum is that it is totally Christ-centered. Everything coordinates- History has a corresponding story from the Bible, then Science is taught from a Biblical perspective, then we can move on to our devotional and memory verse, etc, etc. It has been a real blessing to our family.

Here is just a sampling of what we have done for the past couple of weeks.

First, the colored the papers all the colors of the rainbow.

Like sin does, they covered all their beauty with a purple or
black crayon.

Then we used a paperclip to scratch out a beautiful
NEW heart that comes after forgiveness. <3 

Susie is practicing her coloring and shapes.

Adding stripes to the zebra--she loves her science!

After talking about Noah's ark, the girls and I built boats out of
foil and then tested them to see if they would float and
how much weight they would hold. Mine was the only one that held weight,
but we had a good time anyway!

Peace on the Farm

Recently, as I have started a new job and thrown my family's schedules all out of whack (I LOVE schedules and routine!), I have been trying to find peace. Not just peace and quiet (which is rarely available anyway), but inner peace that comes from trusting in the ONE who can and WILL provide for all of our needs (even if you just need a cup of hot chocolate!).  

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (ESV)

About a month ago, (before all the chaos began), the girls and I, along with Jeff's mom, all went to Jeff's grandmother's house for the yearly family get-together/campout. It was a fun-filled afternoon and night of family, food, campfires, and s'mores.  In other words, it was peaceful!

Bella, my 11 yr old Belgian Malinois, enjoyed the farm too!

Linking up with Word Filled Wednesday

Let's Pack a Shoebox!

Five years ago, when Mikayla was just a tiny baby, my sister-in-law asked me if I had ever packed a shoebox for Christmas...  Huh? A what? Thankfully, she referred me to the Samaritan's Purse website for more information. 

Samaritan's Purse bases their ministry off a well-known scripture in the book of Luke. An expert of the law was questioning Jesus regarding who "his neighbor" was referring to.

In reply, Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passedby on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him,"Go and do likewise."  Luke 10:30-37

According to their website, Samaritan's Purse' mission is to "Go and do likewise."  The specific ministry my sister-in-law got us involved in is called Operation Christmas Child.  That first year, we packed a shoebox for each member of our family. Basically, in order to demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children throughout the world, these shoeboxes are lovingly packed with toys, stuffed animals, hygiene items, and school supplies before being shipped to children who have NEVER had such things. The best thing of all is that they will include the message of the Gospel in the children's own language whenever possible. We not only take part in helping underprivileged children, but in spreading God's Word!

After that first year, we wanted to do something a little bigger...we wanted to involve the church as a whole in packing and sending these shoeboxes.  For the past four years, this has been a church ministry that has been sponsored by our Sunday school children. What a blessing this has been, not only to our children, but also to the adults in our church! We set a goal of 100 boxes the first two years, but last year decided to let GOD set the number of boxes HE wanted us to send to His children.  We sent over 300 boxes last year and will probably send about the same amount this year.  The outpouring of God's love through the people of our church is amazing... we are a small church, so it really is awesome to watch Him work!

And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

Gathering their shoeboxes!

One of the real wonders of the shoebox is how it changes the hearts of those who help pack them.  Mikayla has been a part of this since she was a baby, and it is a hard concept to a child who wants for very little to understand that there are children in the world who have NOTHING!  Tonight was one of those nights I was encouraged as she prayed, "Please God be with all of the children who get these shoeboxes. Please help them ALL know about you."  Her young prayers have been carried to a mighty, powerful God who will use these simple shoeboxes for His glory!!

I challenge you to pack a shoebox this year for Christmas.  Send a box, pray for a box, sponsor a box...God can use ALL of us, no matter how small.  If you do pack a box this year or have any questions about packing a box, please let me know! 


Linking up with Seeds of Faith.

Hurricane Irene

Wow! What a crazy week! We started the week with an earthquake and ended with a hurricane!

We live on the East Coast and were affected by both, although the hurricane actually takes some preparation. If you need information on what to do in the event of a hurricane, one of the best websites is the American Red Cross. They have an extensive checklist for those who like to (and I recommend that you need to) prepare ahead of time. One of the things that happened locally was that most stores ran out of the essential items like bottled water and batteries over 24 hours before the hurricane got here! Thankfully, we had already picked up the things we needed, but not everyone was so lucky. One thing I didn't see on the Red Cross website was the need to fill up the bathtub before the power goes out if widespread power outages are expected. This sounds silly, but if the power is going to be out for 2-3 days, it would be nice to have water handy to flush the toilet or freshen up! I wouldn't want to be flushing my drinking water!

We are so relieved that Hurricane Irene skirted to the east a little more than we initially thought it would, so many of the preparations we made were not needed.  However, many of our friends were out of power for over 24 hours and thousands of people had to evacuate prior to the storm. Since we weren't really sure how bad it would be, and my husband was expecting to have to stay at work for the duration, I chose to ride out the storm with my inlaws (they are awesome!).  They live on slightly higher ground than I do, in a newer house, with less chance of getting stranded due to flooding. 

The main problem we had to face (thankfully), was boredom. I mean, we had 2 kids and 3 dogs plus 4 adults all stuck inside for an entire day! Here are some of the things we packed to try and stave off boredom as long as possible.

1. Puzzles- Jeff's mom has tons of puzzles for the girls, but we brought a challenging one that we could all work on together.  300 pieces is probably about the largest puzzle I have ever worked on. This was a really nice one, with larger pieces.  

2. Fuzzoodles- "What is a Fuzzoodle?" you ask. It is the little monster thing that gets created when you add really fuzzy, thick pipecleaners to big feet and goofy eyes. I can thank Nana for this present.  The girls were really proud of their creations, though. The cool thing is that they can be taken apart and put back in a different way, over and over again.

3. Books- We brought Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We have been reading it before bed for awhile and the girls are really enjoying it so far.

4. the iPad- when I bought this, I really thought it was mine. In reality, the girls play on it almost as much as I do.

5. Sticker Mosaic-  Mikayla and Susie received a sticker mosaic project for their birthdays. Since then, we have bought a few more and Mikayla loves to work on these!

Aside from the things I packed, the girls were very interested in the weather updates. With their granparents, they watched the updates on television and then went outside in the garage to watch the rain and wind effects. They slipped in the garage a few times, but it was a nice way to let them see what was going on without being in the wind and rain. Once again, we were very lucky. None of the tornadoes were in our immediate vicinity and we experienced no structural damage to our home. The good thing is that now we know what we need to do to be prepared for the next one, whenever it is.

One last observation- Nothing exhibits the power of our Creator like an awesome storm. It rages all around making a person wonder if their manmade homes will withstand the wind and water pummeling it. During Hurricane Irene, one of the things that totally amazed me was the hummingbirds that were flying in the middle of the storm to feed at their feeders!  I couldn't even believe it! They are so tiny (none of the other birds were out!) yet God created them in such a way they could fly in the midst of the storm.  So many times this week, I found myself worrying. Worrying about my husband, my children, the house, the pets, and so on. A passage that always comes to mind at these times is in Matthew 6:26-27. "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"  I am not suggesting we ignore sensible preparations in the event of a storm, but to keep things in perspective. A Heavenly perspective.

Road Trip (Indy Zoo)!

Ok, so this is the last one (I promise!)... Unlike most homeschooling moms, I have not started school yet. I will be starting in a few weeks, so this is some entertainment in the meantime.

While we were in Indianapolis, we were able to spend an afternoon at the Indianapolis Zoo.  It had been a few years since we had taken the girls to a big zoo, so this was a real treat for all of us!  It allowed us to get up close and personal to some of the animals that we would normally only encounter on television.

The Indianapolis Zoo is fortunate enough to be part of an elephant breeding program, and we were able to see Baby Kalina out in the enclosure while we were there. This "little" female was just born on July 20th (and weighed 238 pounds!)! She was completely tuckered out while we were there, but it was nice to see her out in the enclosure with her mama!

Some of the other highlights of the day:

The Dolphin Show-  First of all, walking into the dolphin amphitheatre is a real treat.  You walk into a clear tunnel that goes right under the water. The dolphins just swim and play all around you! Mikayla and Susie were surprised several times when a dolphin would appear right next to the glass or swim over our heads! I could have stayed there all day, just watching them play!  The show was awesome too, especially since one of my friends is a trainer there. She met us after the show for a few minutes and answered my questions about what she does (both girls were a little shy).

Tigers-  The Indianapolis Zoo just opened a tiger exhibit fairly recently. We enjoyed them!

Meercats-  Susannah especially wanted to see these little guys! They are so quirky and fun!

Pet a Shark- Yep, they have an open tank where you can put your hand in and actually pet a shark! Jeff and I were so busy petting that we forgot to take pictures, but our children will vouch for us! They weren't quite so willing to put their fingers in the water!

Roller-Coaster- Mikayla rode her first roller-coaster at the zoo! Surprising ALL of us, she had a great time! 

It was a fun afternoon--Mikayla's face says it all! :)

Road Trip (continued)!

Hopefully, one of these days I will blog in a timely manner. In the meantime, here are some pictures to catch you up on our visit to Indiana.

One of the greatest things about our trip was that we were able to visit with so many family members- My sister even stayed in Chicagoland for an extra week so she could bring my precious niece to see us!  We also met a new cousin, visited with my maternal grandmother, and attended my cousin's wedding.  These pictures do not begin to incorporate everyone we were able to see during our visit, but they do provide a few highlights.

Cousins!

Mikayla, Susie, and Nana

My Aunt Laurene with my littlest cousin!

My brother, Joey, dancing with the girls.



The girls and my mom at the zoo

We treasure each person in the family and pray for them always!

Children's Museum of Indianapolis

With only a few short weeks left before we start school again full-time, we recently took a road trip!  We traveled to my hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana last week for my cousin's wedding. I have to say that both girls were troopers for the 13 hour trip out.  I had coloring books, color-by-numbers, books, and movies for entertainment. Oh, and finger puppets.  The little finger puppets I bought before leaving had the girls in stitches, especially toward the end when they were just sick of being in the car.

Within a day, Mikayla had some sort of stomach bug, so we took things easy initially. Then we started in on the activities and family visits we had planned on. One of the nice things about visitng my hometown is that it is fun to take my girls to some of the places where I had so much fun as a child. To see the delight on their faces just warms a momma's heart! 

Looking up from the bottom: Fireworks of Glass

The first activity we had planned was a trip to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. My mom had been wanting to take them for a long time, so off we went!  I don't know if it is really the largest children's museum in the world, but it has to be close.  There are five stories that are just packed full of activities for children (and adults) of all ages.  I know that every time I go to the museum, I learn something new!

We started off by visiting the dinosaur exhibit.  There are so many different dinosaur bones to view and touch. We were able to pick up different bones and compare them to our bones, play with models, and compare the different dinosaur eggs. There were even scientists on-hand who were cleaning dinosaur bones and were willing to answer all of our questions.

We moved on to many other exhibits, but some of the classic "must-see" exhibits include the train on the bottom level, the water clock, and the blown-glass sculpture "Fireworks of Glass" that extends for four stories.  My favorite is the Water Clock.  I think I am old enough to remember when it came to the museum, and I remember spending many days waiting for the hour to change so we could watch the water flush out and back into the bowl. Here is a video of how it works:

We also went to the planetarium-- it played an age-appropriate video which included Big Bird and Elmo.  They taught the girls how to find the Big Dipper and the North Star.  There was also some discussion of the differences in gravity on the moon vs planet Earth. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in there. Susie loved seeing Elmo though!

The science center was a little above the girls' heads but there were some things they really enjoyed.  They sorted play food into the appropriate food groups, played with pulleys, and even built towers from gigantic legos.

Sorting food into food groups

Legos!

At the end of the day, we made sure to spend some time in the Dora and Diego exhibit.  Mikayla and Susannah really had a blast!  There was an area that was intended to encourage increased activity for children (as in, get off the couch). Mikayla loved the monkey bars and the rock wall. There was another area where they could be "animal rescuers" and examine the wild animals.  Susannah wouldn't leave that part of the exhibit. Then, as it happened, we were there for a program where the girls were assigned an animal and had to discover what its favorite food was, where it lived, and what its footprints looked like. They earned a badge for completing the activity and a little book with their spider monkey info. It was a lot of fun, but they were exhausted at the end of it!

Hopefully, I will post more of our little trip soon... in the meantime, what are some favorite places from your childhood?

Summer Adventure

This summer, with two active girls, I have tried to be intentional about planning some day trips where we can spend time together. Summer is flying by, so I want to take a minute to post about a recent adventure we had together. Grandparents who have already heard this story can hear it again- you'll live!

It has been really hot on the East Coast recently (and I mean REALLY hot), but we planned our day to start early so we could go pick some blueberries!  Blueberry season is almost over and Mikayla and Susannah really enjoy them. They did a fantastic job picking, but there is no shade and they were getting hot quickly. So, even though their buckets weren't full, they still had three pounds of blueberries and some peaches to show for their sweaty little faces. After we loaded into the car, we headed over to the park.

I say the word "park," and immediately, Susannah is asking if I will push her on the swings.  I had to explain to her that we weren't going to that type of park.  We were headed to a historical/nature park, where they have converted an old plantation into a park with several nature trails to hike or ride(horses, not bikes). 

My girls have never gone hiking on a nature trail before, so the questions started even as we left the car.  Mikayla's was the funniest,
"Mom.  Are there any venomous snakes here?" 
"No." (I am thinking, No more Animal Planet for her!)
"Are there ANY snakes here?" 
"We aren't going to see any snakes, Mikayla." (You are so loud, they will take flight long before you see them)

Like smart hikers should, we check out the map to pick the path we want to walk. I direct the girls toward one that circles a small pond and is only about a mile long. Walking around the pond gave us ample opportunity to take in the wildlife around us. We see a squirrel first (we don't have them in our yard) and the girls were on the lookout for dragonflies and butterflies. We were walking along when I hear, 
"EEEEeeek!" (what?!)
"Mom! There is a Daddy-LONGLEGS over there!" 
"It's okay, Mikayla, there are lots of them outside. They are part of the world God created."

Mikayla is satisfied by that answer, and we keep walking. As we walk, I notice that Susannah is lagging behind, walking while looking over her shoulder. I try to encourage her to keep up.
"Mom. That daddy longlegs is followin' me!" Yep, the little spider was walking along the same path we were. Finally, we move along and start heading around the end of the pond.  There, slithering off the path, is a BIG, black snake!  Both of the girls see the snake and (surprisingly) completely take it in stride...just part of nature, I guess. We finish up by catching a great view of some turtles sunning themselves on a log over the pond.

Overall, we had a lot fun at the park. Both Mikayla and Susannah were eager to get home so they could tell Jeff what they had seen (Mikayla even brought home a pinecone to show him). Hopefully we will go back soon so we can check out some of the other paths!

What adventures have you had with your children this summer?

Celebrating Independence Day~ Fun & Fireworks!

Growing up, July 4th was one of my favorite holidays.  We did the same thing almost every year...First, there was a parade the whole town turned out to see. Then, we would head to a cookout lunch with grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles and finish the day with a festival and fireworks. I loved it!

Now, I live about 800 miles from my hometown and we are in the process of making our own traditions. Here is what we did this year...we'll see what sticks and what doesn't!

Learning Stuff-- Assuming we continue with our current curriculum, our girls will study American History around first grade.  Honestly, I can't wait! I love history anyway, but i especially love the history of our founding fathers.  It will be so much fun!  In the meantime, I found a little mini-unit that I worked on with the girls at 2 Teaching Mommies.  It was perfect for Susannah's level.  Mikayla enjoyed the activities too, even though they were a little easy for her. Their favorite thing was the Roll and Graph fireworks. We turned it into a game to see who could roll 10 of the same picture first (Mikayla won, finally).



Susie is sorting her fireworks by size.

 We also checked out some books at the library with a Revolutionary War/ Independence Day theme.  One of the ones we picked was Independent Dames by Laurie Halse Anderson.  It was fascinating to me, but a little over the girls' heads. It tells of the many ways women helped during the Revolutionary War and is packed full of information.

Food-- I wasn't quite up to doing July 4th crafts this year, but we did celebrate with a festive red, white, and blue snack. We used strawberries, marshmallows, and blueberries and placed them on skewers.  It was yummy!  Susie didn't bother with the skewer-- she just found it easier to pick what she wanted from the bowl!  Mikayla found the skewer idea fun and made several! I wish I could link back to the person I got the idea from, but I can't find it now. Bummer.





Fireworks!  We debated about going to fireworks this year. Jeff was working and I was likely going to be trying to keep track of both girls by myself in crazy crowds and traffic.  Thankfully, a friend gave us a great idea of where to go... a local school about a mile from where the fireworks were launched. It was perfect on many levels. First, Jeff's parents came with us-- Granny and Pop-Pop make everything better!  Also, Lori and her family used the same idea she gave us, so my kids LOVED passing time with friends!  Evan and I found out that a football is much harder to catch at dusk and the rest of the kids played some serious "Duck, duck, goose" or "Flynn, Flynn, Maximus" (a game we played at the girls' Tangled party) before the fireworks started. We had to move because of an enormous tree that was blocking our view, but it was otherwise a great spot to watch the light show.



Susie and Granny- I promise that Susie is smiling!



Life is more fun with friends to play with! The little guy in
front is Matthew- July 4th is his birthday! 
In the back row, there is Rachel, Juliet, Mikayla, and Evan.
 Susie was off to the side somewhere.
 

All in all, we had a great celebration-- what about you?