Wordless Wednesday: First harvests 2012

Just in the time! I only have 1 bag of green beans left in the freezer from last year!

Adoption Progress

After spending weeks working on our autobiographies, we finally got them done and had our 2nd homestudy meetings, which were separate. 

Following that we had 2 more sets of questions that we each had to answer in writing so we worked on that, along with our Hague Online training over our anniversary weekend while the boys went to visit grandparents. 

We now have our 3rd homestudy visit, the Home Tour, scheduled for Thursday.  Please pray for us.  I'm a little nervous about this one.  Our social worker will be talking to the kids, touring the house and spending another 1.5 hours talking to us about our answers to all those questions.

After this we still need to complete our International Adoption Clinic online training and one more homestudy visit. 

Every step gets us just a tad bit closer, but sometimes it feel really really slow!

Good Samaritan?

Today, I rode with a friend to a homeschool meeting.   We were traveling along and enjoying having some time just to chat when she commented to me that she had the gas pedal all the way to floor and the car wasn't accelerating.  I told her to check the brake.  She did and we slowed.  We were traveling along a very busy 2 lane road where there aren't many places to get off due to deep ditches, etc.  We coasted to a stop and didn't quite make it all the way off the road.  We knew immediately that the car was in danger of causing an accident so I told her to put it in neutral so we could try to push it just a little further and get it out of the road.  We were stopped on a small hill and try as we might we could not move that SUV one inch!  Luckily, some other moms on the way to the same meeting saw us and stopped to help.  So now we had 4 moms trying to push this SUV just a few inches off the road.  We finally had it rolling but each time it would roll back!  Luckily a man came out of the house nearby and helped us get it off the road.  He was dressed up in a nice white shirt and black pants and looked like he was about to go perform in a concert. 

Interesting thoughts regarding this event:

1.  At least 50 cars drove by us and no strangers stopped to help.  It must have been clear that we needed help and I don't think we really look scary or threatening.  One man did roll his window down to ask if we ran out of gas and when we said no he drove on!  I guarantee that if that had been my dad, he would have stopped to help.  Are people just so busy on a Saturday morning that they would leave several ladies on the side of the road clearly in need of help? 

2.  A couple of homeschool moms were trying our best to get the car out of the road to prevent an accident.  No one panicked, cried or got angry. 

My only regret:  I so wish I had a picture of us four gals trying to push that SUV out of the road - what a sight!

Week in Review: 5/18/2012

Family:
Started Lesson 3 of Who Is God? And Can I Know Him? 
Continuing praying for the World using Operation World guides
Christmas Card Prayer Ministry

Together:

• Age of Discovery - we are working through a unit on Explorers to get us ready to start American History.  So far we have learned about Dias,Vasco de Gama, Columbus and John Cabot.   Explorers Who Got Lost by Diane Sansevere-Dreher will be the "spine" for us for this unit.   N has been reading selected assignments from Mystery of History III as we work through this so he can also know other things going on around the world during this time.  The Giver has read Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus? by Jean Fritz.  I read Columbus by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire to Preacher Man.  He really enjoyed the drawings in this one!  And I found it at 2nd and Charles for only $1.40 (can you believe that?)  To go along with his unit I am using the Hands on History: Explorers pages that I got through Scholastic Teacher Express Dollar Days sale.

Christopher Columbus - This is Your Life? Kids had to each pick 2 events from his life and draw and write.  I wrote for Preacher Man from his words.

Dias and de Gama - mapping and narrating what we learned.

• Read Aloud - Pedro's Journal
• Chemistry - I had a doctor appointment this week - just my annual exam but I was also having all the medical stuff done for out adoption.  My doctor was delivering a baby this morning so the appointment lasted a while.  Tony did a few sections of Chemistry with the boys while I was gone.
• Meet the Masters Lesson 5: Pablo Picasso.  This is not my favorite style of art, but I enjoyed learning more about his life and all three boys enjoyed the art project.  I was quite impressed with the effort N put into it, since he usually doesn't enjoy art at all!

N (6th grade)

• Five lessons in Math Mammoth - he should finish this in the middle of next week!
• Phonetic Zoo - 100 on test
• IEW -Working on an essay about Renaissance artists
• Easy Grammar - 4 pages - He is done!

The Giver (3rd Grade)

• Six lessons in Right Start D - we have about 6 lessons to go, but it looks like I can combine a few and we can finish next week!
• Phonetic Zoo - 93 on test
• IEW - working on a variation of Rumplestiltskin
• Easy Grammar - 8 pages - we should finish next week!

Preacher Man (Kindergarten)

• 4 lessons in RightStart A, one on volume of liquids which we had fun with lots of glasses and blue water!

• Practicing Reading everyday!
• Making sentences - while I was at the doctor I handed him an old magazine and told him to look for words that he knew and to cut them out.  Then he was to build sentences with his words.  Hhere is what he came up with:

That little pic after "the" is a recycling symbol - Preacher Man said it meant Recycling center

I am so glad that we are almost done.  We will finish most subjects next week and then will continue working through our Explorers unit, along with finishing up Meet the Masters and Inquiry in Action  lessons.

Autobiographies: Check!

Tony just finished up his autobiography this afternoon.  I just proof read both of them and sent them to our caseworker!

I didn't realize this was going to be such a difficult process.  He has been so busy working on making stained glass pendants, nightlights and crosses that he just couldn't seem to get it finished.  There are probably 200 questions on there and working through each one was difficult.

I'm praising God that we have gotten through this step and can move on to the next task.  We have to read The Connected Child and start the online training.

Week in Review 5/11/12

This week we finished up lesson 2 in Who Is God? And Can I Know Him?  We are really enjoying this Bible study and are looking forward to our time with other families on Sunday to review the lesson together.

We are still praying for the world using the guide from Operation World and one family from our Christmas card Ministry. 

Together work:

• We finished  Mystery of History Volume 2 this week!  We studied about The Inka Indians, The Ottoman Turks and  Johann Gutenberg.
• Read Aloud: Secret of the Andes
• Apologia Botany
• Chemistry - I'm having a really hard time finishing up the ACS lessons.  We just didn't get any of them done this week.  uggh!
• English from the Roots Up - 2 new words
• Meet the Masters - Piet Mondrian.  This was fun!

N (6th grade):

• 5 lessons in Math Mammoth
• 8 pages in Easy Grammar
• IEW Medieval writing - working on a 5 paragraph essay about 3 artists from the period
• Finished reading In Freedom's Cause by Henty
• Reading some of the DK Chemistry (due to my lack of getting ACS Chemistry done!)
• working through a Visual Basic book on his own!
• Phonetic Zoo Level B - 100

The Giver (3rd grade):

• 5 lessons in RightStart D
• 10 pages in Easy Grammar
• IEW Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales Writing - wrote a sequel to Perseus and Medusa - 92
• Finished reading Charlotte's Web
• Phonetic Zoo Level A - 100

Preacher Man (Kindergarten)

• 3 lessons in RightStart A
• IEW PAL - finished lesson 40; reading every day
• handwriting practice

More Crosses

Four crosses ready to go to the All These Things Women's Event tonight!  We are asking for a donation of $75 for each one.  If you want one, please contact me and Tony will get it made for you!

Book Review: A Parcel of Patterns

A Parcel of Patterns by Jill WalshThis book was a recommended read for Mystery of History vol 2.  We completed it as a read aloud. 

The setting of the book is a small village in England, called Eyam, during the time of the Black Death.   The story is an account of life in the village during the rampant spread of this misunderstood sickness as written by a girl named Mall.  The story is centered on Mall's budding romance and how it is affected by the spread of a sickness which no one at the time could understand or treat.  The reader is also able to get a glimpse of the religious differences and changes that were coming about during this time.  While historically accurate and vivid in it's detail, the story is quite sad.  The discussion of sickness and death could be too much for more sensitive readers or listeners.  The difficult Old English language of the book increases the difficulty, as well. 

I enjoyed gaining the knowledge about the Black Plague that is offered by the book.   It was a realistic account of the time period which helps the reader become immersed in the time period.  However, I felt it was slow and sad.  I would not recommend this book for a reader younger than probably about 6th grade due to the more difficult language, along with the sickness, death and overall sadness that the story projects.   However, for the more advanced reader, one who enjoys the time period or historical fiction, this could be a great selection to better understand how the people of the time lived their day-to-day lives.

Week in Review 5/4/12

We were back to our regular schedule and it was really hard for everyone after a change last week.

We are working through a new book for our Family Bible time.  It's Apologia's Who Is God?  We are covering 1 chapter every two weeks and meeting with 3 other families to have a family Bible study.  This week we are on chapter 2.

Praying for the world using Operation World prayer guide, praying for The Horn, other missionaries and still working on our Christmas Card prayer ministry.

Together work:

• Mystery of History week 27:  Geoffrey Chaucer - Canterbury Tales, John Huss, and Joan of Arc.  I have to say that I have a better understanding of Joan of Arc after reading Linda's lesson than from any other studies.  All of the people we learned about this week touched me because of their devotion to the Lord and the condemnation they received for it.  Quite inspiring for sure! 
• We watched an Animated Hero Classics video on John of Arc as well.
• Chemistry - Inquiry in Action.  Working through Lesson 5.  I have to say as much as I love science and I love what the kids are learning I always drag through this one.  By the time we get to the end of the day, I just don't want to wrestle with the prep work.  I had to measure how 24 little piles of varying white powders (laundry detergent, cream of tarter, baking powder, baking soda) to be combined with varying liquids (water, vinegar, red cabbage indicator and iodine).  It takes 3 times as long to do all this prep work as the experiments and then I have to clean it all up.  I wish we could just watch it on a DVD or something!  We still have about 5 more steps in Lesson 5 and then we have Lesson 6 and 7 to be finished with this curriculum.  I think we will be finishing in the summer!
• Finished up A Parcel of Patterns.  Review on this one will be coming.
• Completed an art project from Meet the Masters

This is the project that coordinates with the lesson on Mary Cassatt.
Preacher man's is missing in action!

N (6th grade):

• 4 lessons in Math Mammoth - scored 88 on his test
• IEW Phonetic Zoo - 93 on his test
• 5 pages of Easy Grammar
• English from the Roots up Test - 100
• Wrote an essay in IEW Medieval on which he earned an 95!  He has one lesson left to finish this up but it's the Super Essay and will take him the next 3 weeks to finish it.  I anticipate much struggle for us to finish this up!
• Almost finished with Henty's For Freedom's Cause

The Giver (3rd grade):

• 3 lessons in RightStart D; test on Thursday -93.  We played multiplication games on Friday
• IEW Phonetic Zoo - 80 on his test.  This kid does not like to study.
• English From the Roots Up test- 83
• Reading Charlotte's Web everyday outloud to me.  This child doesn't like to read.  Often he will read 2 pages and when we turn the page he moans and loses focus. 

Preacher man (K):

• Reading with IEW PAL program everyday.  We finished up Lesson 39 this week.  My goal for the year was to get through Lesson 40 so we are almost there! 
• RightStart Math - a few lessons and some 1st grade math workbook pages. 
• This week we focused on gorillas for science.  We read some books and made a notebook page.  I wrote the words and guided him to make his thoughts into complete sentences.  Then he read the sentences to Tony.

 I think we will be finished with school in about 3 weeks!  I am so ready for a break. Of course, it looks like we may still be finishing up Chemistry in June, but perhaps my attitude will be better when I can have more prep time!

Wordless Wednesday: How fast time flies

August 2004 - N "mowing" behind Tony

N mowing the lawn for real for the first time - April 2012

**sniff, sniff**