My Messy House (Otherwise titled: Pictures because Amanda insisted I post these)

We moved! And we have been unpacking all week...making great chaos and big messes. But we are here and we are loving all the space in this house. Pictures have been requested. These are very rough and show the chaos of our life this week. I took these last night so no pics of the kids' rooms or outside. But you get the idea. Enjoy!

Master bedroom...planning on using a gift card for new bedding that will match the paint and curtains. (I asked for all window treatments in this house.)

Master bath...and yes, I have already used this tub a few times!

Bonus room upstairs...future organized school room

From the family room looking toward the dining room and front door

From the dining room looking into the family room

Kitchen. My other kitchen was TINY! So I am loving this. (There are cabinets and counter tops not visible in this picture. I asked the sellers for that fridge as well.)

Standing at one end of the house (beside the master bedroom) and looking all the way down the hall past the family room, dining room, and kitchen. Two of the kids rooms and a bathroom are down there.

Personal Experiences Meme

Got this one from Alicia. It's pretty easy. Just copy and paste and hightlight the ones you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (I leave this kind of thing to Mary Evelyn.)
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (from the beach)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (Been there, but it was being renovated and we couldn't get to the top.)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (No, but Jason does a great "Born to Be Wild." He's not your typical CPA.)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (no thanks, Jason does this enough for the both of us)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen (Not a soup kitchen, but my BIL's homesless ministry a few times)
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (Just once and I was mortified.)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (wow...that's a little humbling to admit)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

I Can't Wait to be a Teacher Again!

It's almost Thanksgiving! And I feel a little like I am missing it this year. We move in just ONE week. The boxes are mostly packed, the loan has been approved, inspections have been completed, repairs have been made, and lists have been made (all sorts of lists to keep me half way organized and sane during this transition!).

What is not happening is school. Not totally true. We have stayed semi-caught up with the three R's. But we had a wonderful start to our year with My Father's World and that has taken quite the back seat since about September. I am so very thankful that in just one week, I will get to unpack those boxes labeled "school room." I will put the books on the shelf, set up an art and writing center, and hang the map back up on the wall. I will once again have ROUTINE!

I really am so excited about starting back. I really miss the way we were doing school before that "for sale" sign went up just 5 weeks ago. I enjoyed snuggling on the couch reading about the animals in the rainforest and then looking at the AMAZING drawings my girls made with their colored pencils to illustrate what they had learned. (Not bragging but my girls can flat out draw...Betsie too.) I know it may actually be January before our routine is solid again. The holidays, unpacking, and a trip to Disney World will throw us for a little bit of a loop. Still, those things are more blessings and I look forward to them with a happy heart.

So maybe I am not missing out on Thanksgiving. We aren't celebrating it in our usual way with decorations and stories of the pilgrims and Squanto, but I am truly thankful and feeling quite blessed. God has been so kind to me and I praise Him for His goodness.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Moving Updates

Thanks for all the well wishes and congrats on selling our house. We were not expecting it to sell so quickly but are so glad it did! We can be neat but having to be near perfect all the time is not easy! I pretty much took all the school stuff out of the house and either put it in a cabinet or the attic or just anywhere I could! Some of it has been pulled back out for now though. We did some serious staging and I think it paid off.

If all goes well we will be moving on November 24th. We have scheduled back to back closings on this house and the one we hope to buy. Our inspection was this morning (on the house we are selling) and I am praying that nothing major was found. It's an older home so there is always something to repair or update but we tried to take good care of it and keep it maintained.

The home we are buying is only about 10 minutes from where we live now. It was only built 5 years ago and is in a neighborhood with a few other families from church. We think that is really neat and look forward to having such great neighbors. Rachel can't wait to have her own room and I am excited about having a school room. Mary Evelyn is ready to explore the woods behind the house and Jason is just praising God that it's all going so smoothly so far! Poor Betsie is pretty clueless and is in for a shock. We'll have to make sure she gets lots of loving until she is settled again.

I haven't had the heart to get packing yet. We had a closing fall through a few years back and didn't know until we showed up for the closing and with everything on the moving truck. Once I know the inspections went well I will get started though. Can't put it off forever! For now I am just thankful that we have it under contact and that things are progressing.

I'll post pictures after we move.

Jen

WOW!

WOW! That is my profound thought for the day.

We sold our house today...after a total of 7 days on the market. For a good price. We are in shock and so very excited and thankful.

Still working out the details of closing dates, etc. And we are making an offer on a new (to us) house tomorrow. Thanks for praying...we are SO excited!

Clearly, I am a bad blogger

A few faithful friends and readers have called me out for being a slacker. True, but I have some great excuses! Really!

The first is that we just put our house on the market. In doing that, I lost my main computer that I use day to day. We took it down along with the desk in my bedroom in order to show off the pretty window with plantation shutters. It's all about staging, baby. Losing that computer has resulted in WAY less computer time for me. I am mostly suffering from Facebook withdrawals.

Putting the house on the market also meant new carpet, refinishing hardwood floors, painting, etc. It's been hectic here. The blog will almost certainly always be the first thing to go when life gets full!

Also, (and I will not add details for now) we are continuing to learn about how to teach and parent a child with some special challenges. It's new territory for me and it's been hard. We have a diagnosis (or two) and we are trying to figure out the next step.

Thirdly, Jason has some big things going on at work. I'll wait for his greenlight to share those things but it's all good and exciting and making life even more hectic around here.

So those are my excuses. Do any of them hold water? Jill? Ronette? Mom?

Homeschool Blog Awards Meme - Something New

Well, this should be an easy post. This week's meme from The Homeschool Blog Awards is called something new. We are to share what new product we are using in our homeschools this year (and where to get it and why we chose it and how we are liking it so far, etc.). My challenge will be to share WHICH new thing!

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The most obvious new thing in our school this year is Exploring Countries and Cultures from My Father's World. And in summary...we love it! I chose it out of a desire for a little more structure, a little more of a Biblical emphasis, the desire to teach Rachel and Mary Evelyn together, everything is included in the schedule, and the history is taught chronologically. I like that My Father's World combines the best of Charlotte Mason's methods with the best of what classical education offers. I have already said a lot about MFW in previous posts, so if you are interested in it for yourself you can go here.

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I am going to also mention our new co-op. It is called Enrich and it is for users of the My Father's World curriculum. We met yesterday for the first time and my kids had a ball! I was the teacher for Betsie's class and as I type she is eating breakfast holding the crafts we made. Rachel and Mary Evelyn had a great time too. Not something you can buy, but new for us and I think a wonderful addition to our school. Plus it only meets once a month, which means we'll still be enjoying it 8 or 9 months from now! LOL!

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I won't go into tons of details but I will also say that I am glad we made the switch to Teaching Textbooks math for Rachel and Right Start math for Mary Evelyn. Math is not the evil around here that it once was. Yay!

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One last thing: we will start using The Learnables very soon for Spanish. We just got this in the mail last week. I haven't had a chance to even look at it, but that will be another new addition to our school. I have always wanted to add foreign language and The Learnables was much cheaper than my first choice and can be done independently on the computer. I'll let you know how it goes and if they learn anything or not!

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Let me know of you do this meme so I can see what's new with you!

Heart of the Matter Friday Meme: Your Children's Learning Styles

You may (or most likely may not!) have noticed that I added a new picture to my sidebar: Heart of the Matter online homeschooling magazine. I just discovered this magazine a couple of weeks ago and have enjoyed browsing their articles and features. Each Friday they do a meme (don't ask me to define that.) for us homeschoolers so we can share with each other concerning all sorts of schooling/parenting/homemaking issues. Today's meme is about our children's learning styles.

I hesitated doing this meme because I have never really been able to figure out learning styles! With me, it's more of a , "hmmmm....that didn't work!" process. One of our children had some occupational therapy done last year and the OT told us her learning style seemed to be auditory...I still don't see it.

So everything from here forward about my kids is speculation. Does it count that I am not totally satisfied with being unsure? I have reserved a few good books by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias from my library. (I think I have read one of these before or at least a part of it.) The first book is called The Way They Learn. If I finish the book this time, I'll be sure and review it later.

Most people agree that the main learning styles are visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic. Since I have never been certain which category most describes my girls, I try to hit them all. Here are a few examples:

Auditory: We read book to the girls and they listen to lots of books on CD. We also use songs to learn things. It was a song that taught my girls the continents and Mary Evelyn some basic math facts. And of course, every kid learns the alphabet with a song!

Visual: Visual learners remember what they see. We learn a Bible verse each week. We do say it often (auditory) but we also look at it a lot too. Our map work is visual as well.

Kinesthetic: Kinesthetic/tactile learners need to DO something or TOUCH something to learn. Mary Evelyn's math curriculum is a very hands on program with a lot of manipulatives and games. I have seen her grasp the concepts MUCH better with this curriculum versus our former program (which was a traditional workbook program).

Hopefully I will learn more about my own kids by reading the book I mentioned. Here is an article that some might find helpful as well. So while I could not give definitive answers about my own children's learning styles, I am thankful that the meme sent me researching a little more. If you would like to see what others are saying about learning styles, go here for links to the others who have blogged about it.

Please Enlighten Me

I feel like this might be a dumb question, but someone tell me anyway.

What does this mean in the internet world?

<3

I see it on facebook and blogs and all over the place and I am just clueless. Looks like less than 3 to me, but then I guess I am not as cool as I thought! LOL! (I do know what LOL means at least.)

Travel Group Reunion

Betsie, Julia, Abbie

These little princesses were all born within 10 days of each other and lived in the same orphanage for their first 10.5 months.

A little over 2 years ago, six families from all over the country shared one of the greatest adventures ever...the journey to China to meet ~ and adopt ~ six orphans from the Hunan Province. Our journey together began with a really LONG layover in an airport in Chicago, followed by two weeks of sight seeing, memory making, scary traffic, assertive street vendors, laughter, prayer, lizards, chicken knuckles, and tears.

On Saturday, for the first time since that great adventure, three of those families spent the day together in the Atlanta, GA area. It was so special to see how the babies, now preschoolers, had changed and grown. It was fun hanging out with people who became very dear to us two years ago. And I was so happy that I got to introduce my other two girls to them as well as meet a few of their family members as well. I can't wait for the next reunion (in Florida, right Heather?)!

And Now...The Smile Award

(Laura, Nikki, Michele, Candace, Amanda, Deleise, and Heather P, scroll down to the I Love Your Blog Award post.)





Sheri also nominated me for this award:

This award comes with another set of rules:

1. The recipient must link back to the award's creator. (It's on the award.)

2.You must post the rules to receive the award.

3. To receive the award, you must pass it on to 5 others.

4. You must fit the characteristics of the award recipient. (below)

5. Post the characteristics of an award recipient.

6. Create a post sharing your award with others.

7. Thank the giver.

And here are the characteristics of award recipients.

1. Must display a cheerful attitude (not all the time - we're all human!)

2. Must love one another.

3. Must make mistakes (This must be what helped me get this award.)

4. Must learn from others.

5. Must be a positive contributor to the blog world.

6. Must love life.

7. Must love kids.

I am passing this one on to Heather (who I get to see on Saturday!), Leslie, Jill, Marcy, and Hollie.

Now on my To DO List: Accept and Pass on Blog Awards!

Sheri has given me TWO blog awards today. I would pass these on to my husband, but I am guessing he'd rather me not.



Here is the first award. I'll do the second one in a separate post a little later:

The rules for the I Love Your Blog award are:

1. Link back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Include the award on your blog.

3. Pass it on to 7 worthy bloggers with links to their blogs on yours.

4. Notify your recipients

I am passing the "I love your blog" award on to Laura, Deleise, Michele, Nikki, Amanda (who thinks no one reads her blog and who tagged me for another post but I haven't done it yet...HA!), Heather P, and Candace.

Monday To Do List

Let's see how much actually gets done...

1. Change the sheets on Mary Evelyn's bed.
2. Have the girls clean all the junk out from under their bunk beds! (Gonna start that as soon as this post gets published.)
3. Help older girls pack for a night at Mimi and Papa Bill's house.
4. Go to meeting for new co-op and get pics made for the security system they have there.
5. Deposit check from Betsie's birthday.
6. Drive girls to my parent's house.
7. Usual daily maintenance of laundry, dishes, etc.

I'll let ya know!

Our First Break

We are now officially taking our first break from school. We completed our first 6 weeks on Friday and will be off for the coming week. I have made a to do list a mile long. Actually, I made an index card for Monday through Friday and wrote on each day what I hope to get done this week...things like shoe shopping for the girls, a haircut, going through all the kids' clothes and figuring out what fits, what can be tossed or given away, etc. Always a big chore. Lots to do.

Even with all that I hope to accomplish next week, it feels SO GOOD to have 6 weeks of the new school year under our belts just as the schools here are starting back. We have had a great start. I wish I could show some of what we did, but now even my cell phone is acting weird so I can't even use that camera! When we start back, we will study Canada and then Brazil before we take another break.

Other recent blog-worthy highlights are:
1. The birth of a new niece! Jason's brother and his wife just had their first baby (a girl) last week.
2. I was able to spend Tuesday with a friend that I had not seen in 8 years! We had been quite close from college on into early married life but then lost touch about 4 or 5 years ago. It did my heart good just to laugh with her over some of the funny memories we share.
3. We went to my grandmother's 87th birthday party today. Jason took some pictures with his phone so maybe I can post some of those later. My poor grandmother was not able to recognize many of us as her memory is so poor now, but I hope she felt loved as we celebrated her life and influence on all of us. I had a wonderful time catching up with aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
4. We are planning a Disney World trip in a few monhs with my parents, aunt and uncle, and my siblings and thier families. Have you ever tried to make dinner reservations for 19 people at Disney World? Crazy!

Devotion Time

We are studying the book of Matthew. I thought this was a sweet scene in our home tonight so I went and grabbed the phone for a picture (camera still not working). Sorry for the grainey looking photo, but this made me smile tonight.

What Would You Tell A New Homeschooler?

One of my friends is about to begin homeschooling. Her child has already been in school, so if you have experience pulling a child out of school and then beginning to homeschool that would be great! I know sometimes that is different than starting with a pre-K or kindergartner.

I suggested trying NOT to be overwhelmed with the gazillion choices for curriculum and joining HSLDA, but I am wondering what others might suggest!

Got any special nuggets of wisdom for my friend? I'll point her to this post if anyone decides to comment with suggestions.

Thanks!

Hanging Out at the Library

Where would we be without our library? And where would the library be without all the books we help them buy with our late fees?

Happy 3rd Birthday Betsie!

These pictures are from first thing this morning. Family is on their way over here now for cake and ice cream...more celebrating to come!

Week 3 of Exploring Countries and Cultures

Well, I really wanted some good pictures of the girls doing their various assignments and projects this week. Unfortunately, even though the camera battery is in good working order now, the lens won't open. So...if you don't want to read about our school week, I understand. Visuals are so much more fun.

School is still going so well. I can't believe the difference in last year and this year. The hard parts are not necessarily gone...I just feel that God has given me some tools that help. And he has let me be encouraged enough to persevere. Today was probably our hardest day yet, but still, we hung in there and got our work done. By the way, when I say hard day, it is never about the academics...always about the attitudes or atmosphere in the home. Or the interruptions. Rachel answered the phone today during school and by the time I was able to get off the phone, Mary Evelyn had left the white board where we were reading and headed into the back yard. Those kinds of things do not help. I think we are clear on letting voice mail handle calls during school from here forward.

In our Bible time this week, we read about D.L. Moody from the book Hero Tales. I love this book now. I tried to use it a few years ago, but I think the girls were too young. We are really enjoying it now though. We also began a biography of Cameron Townsend. It's really good too.

For geography we began our journey around the world right here at home...the good ole USA. The girls can identify many more states on a blank US map than they could just a week ago. For science, we focused on deserts (and will for a few weeks to come). We'll continue to hang out in the states next week, plus we'll have guests! My nieces and nephew are coming to visit so they may be doing a little summer school whether they like it or not! (They are wonderful so I am sure it will be fun...better check and see if I have enough craft supplies though!) We will also celebrate Betsie's birthday next week.

One final tip of the "here's what is working for us" sort. In the past I have often saved the fun school stuff for last. We would do the least favorite thing first in an effort to get that thing over with. This year I am finding the opposite to be working. We started this morning by completing a floor puzzle of the United States together (a fun activity). It helps get all of us in a better mood from the start. We ended with the least favorite subject. With Mary Evelyn, it makes her work a little faster and keep her focused. I can remind her that if she sticks with me and finishes up, she can go play. It works so far! Just wanted to share in case it helps someone else.

Beautiful Girls

We had each girl's picture made recently. They were all so good. Here are just a few of the ones we bought.

I don't know how to make these look better since they had to be scanned. But I love the pictures and the girls in the pictures. I'm so glad we had Betsie's picture made pre-haircut. And that is Mary Evelyn's dog Foster with her. Notice he is all dressed up to match her! And Rachel is becoming such a grown up beautiful young lady!

Starting Strong

I know that the real test will be in finishing strong, but for now, I am SO thankful for the way our school year has started. Tomorrow will be day #10 and I am very pleased. Rather than blog about the details of our week (which are pretty similar to week #1 except that I botched a science experiment and had to majorly adapt a craft project), I want to post about why this year seems to be working so much better than previous years.

1. Bribes - There you go. You think I'm kidding? Last Friday the girls had ice cream for LUNCH from Bruster's because they had 5 good school days in a row. Not sure yet what the reward (better word than bribe) might be tomorrow, but if all goes well in the morning, I need to come up with something really soon! Maybe we can just go swimming or something like that.

2. A set start time - We have started each day at approximately 8:45 (with a couple of exceptions) and that has helped tremendously. Consistency always helps but I am not always so great at providing this important element. But we have done well for 2 weeks and I can see how valuable consistency really is!

3. Keeping the girls together for most subjects. This is the biggie for me and it was one of the main reasons I switched to My Father's World. Last year I felt like I was doing two different school times. (I was.) I taught one and then the other. Then I did one level of Five in a Row with one child and another level with the other child (on a good week!). So if I was trying to teach Rachel, I had two other children to possibly interrupt or get into mischief or whatever instead of just one. Keeping the older two together for most subjects means only Betsie has to be directed. And most of the time she is working out of her own little school box. I did remove the scissors from there by the way. I am going to post our general routine at the bottom of this post.

4. Tons of prayer. This should probably be first. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to be nervous about this year. It sure sent me to my knees! And God has been so faithful to allow me to see some fruit already this year!

5. Staying off the computer until the afternoon. And staying off the phone too. My Father's World recommends giving your children your undivided attention in the morning. This seems so obvious, but I confess that I have not always done this. I would get started checking email and then maybe blogs or whatever else. And what were the girls doing during that time? Drawing, collecting bugs, fighting, playing together, watching TV (which they are not supposed to do until after school but who can blame them when I was being such a poor example?). We always got school done, but sometimes not without a fight since I often had to drag them away from something they were enjoying! I think this is one of the essentials to my being a better manager and teacher this year. I blew this the other day (not too bad) and I saw how big of a no no it really is.

Okay, back to #3...I have so far found a few things that have helped me manage to get most of our work done in approximately 2 hours in the mornings. So here is our basic morning routine for school as an FYI to others who may be using My Father's World with two children. It's a routine, not a schedule, so I am just listing the general order that we usually do things.

• Geography. We do this part together.
• Math. This is where I found something that is WONDERFUL! Teaching Textbooks has allowed Rachel to be an independent math student so I can work individually with Mary Evelyn. Mary Evelyn uses Right Start which requires me to be right there with her. It is SO COOL to get math done with both girls in one shot. If one finishes earlier, I have an amazing ability to make her review like crazy until the other is done allowing us to keep going with our little routine.
• Handwriting practice. So far they have just been practicing the letters of the alphabet with Handwriting Without Tears but soon they'll be copying character qualities from Hero Tales.
• Science. We do this together. If there is no science in the schedule for that day, there is usually art or something like that to do together.
• Now I split them up a little. Rachel has book basket time while I do language arts work with Mary Evelyn. Then Mary Evelyn has book basket time while I do language arts work with Rachel. Language arts includes spelling, language lessons, phonics lessons, etc.

All that can be done in about 2 hours. In addition to those two hours, they have some independent reading time in the afternoon. (as in sit somewhere comfy and just READ a book!) And in the evenings we do the Bible lessons/devotions and read chapter books to the girls. That takes quite a bit of time and is a nice way to wrap up the day. But it's all included in the lesson plans.

We have several more weeks before we take a break so I am still praying hard. I really want to be a good steward of the time I have with my kids. So many things easily distract from our school time so I am trying to be very protective of our mornings. I can't wait to see how much more we all learn next week!

Long Overdue Pictures

Maybe you remember this post, where I said that we had pulled the carpet from the big girls' room and put up bunk beds. At the time my camera was not working so I couldn't post pictures. So this post is simply an update. Please overlook some of the messies in the picture. We live in this house!

Jason ripping the carpet out of the closet. There are hardwood floors under there!

Rachel helping

The bunkbeds are here!

And here is where they will go!

All set up!

And here they are a month later. Rachel has created quite a space up there for herself with shelves, memory board, a lamp, and who knows what else!

This is the rug I ordered after we removed the carpet. It is more purple than I expected so it may end up in Betsie's room after her carpet is taken out. (Her walls are purple.) But for now it looks fine and cuts down on the stomping!

Week One Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father's World

We had a great first week of school. We went a little light on the three R's and will hit those a little harder next week. I wanted the girls to enjoy their first week back so we focused on the fun stuff. We did still do math, spelling, handwriting, reading, etc...just not in heavy doses and a lot of it was review.

We started our week last Sunday night with the first Bible lesson. We talked about how God made and loves ALL people all over the world. And we began learning John 3:16 (which was new to Mary Evelyn but review for Rachel). On Monday morning we prayed together and went on a prayer walk around our neighborhood. I wanted the girls to see that God loves the people all over the world AND right next door too! Plus I learned from our experience with occupational therapy that some kids learn better after some physical activity. (We always start Mary Evelyn's math lesson by counting to 100 while she swings as high as she can on the swingset!)

Our curriculum is My Father's World and we are doing year one in their five year History cycle. It is called Exploring Countries and Cultures. It is a year long geography course which serves as a great basis for learning history in the coming years as well as giving children and parents an appetite for world missions. (Those of you at North Hills know this goes perfectly with our summer World View curriculum for kids...so cool!)

These first two weeks are an introduction. We are learning about maps in general as well as learning the names of the continents and oceans. We talked about hemispheres, the poles, directions, and the equator. The cool part is that both girls memorized the names of the continents (thanks to a catchy little tune!) and can locate them on the map!

One of our fun activities was making the poster pictured above. Rachel wrote John 3:16 out for us and the girls cut out pictures of people from National Geographic magazines. They also put a small picture of our family on there. This poster will be displayed above our world map in the school room for the whole year...it's the theme of the year.

The girls also enjoyed our science this week. Probably because they got to draw, one of their absolute favorite things to do! Three days this week, I read them a couple of pages from the Usborne Living World Encyclopedia. Then they got to illustrate something they learned and write some sentences about it. I have heard some complain that there are not enough science experiments in Exploring Countries and Cultures, but I was never great at that anyway so this is just the right pace for us. There are SOME experiments (we have one or two next week actually) and the geography is very hands on, so we are happy as can be. With all of that and science at our TWO co-ops, I think drawing is just perfect...and about all I can handle! Their science drawings get filed into the science section of their notebooks. We'll also have a nature journal, which we will work on weekly.

This is Mary Evelyn's picture of a gecko from one of the science lessons. She dictated her sentences to me.

A world map that Rachel labeled with the oceans and continents. We'll add to it next week.

There was more but those are the highlights. I joined the My Father's World blogring so I will try my best to blog about our school year. If you prayed for us last week, THANK YOU! I was a little anxious, but it went so well.

Stay tuned this weekend for updated pictures of Betsie and the haircut that takes your breath away!

How Can A Little Girl Break Her Mommy's Heart?

By giving herself a haircut! All three of mine have done this. And now Bestie has done it twice. But tonight's is by far the worst of all. Time is the only thing that can repair this hack job I'm afraid. You can laugh, but not too hard. And we have a family reunion AND an adoption travel group reunion coming up! Big heavy sigh...

Doesn't she look awfully proud of herself?

(I considered using my prayer request and for sale tags for this post...)

First Day of School

It went well! We will add in a few more subjects as the week goes on, but this was a nice start.

Tagged - How I am Feeling

My friend Heather tagged me. I am supposed to share 6 words to describe my feelings. Okay, I'll try! But like you, Heather, it might take a few more than 6 words!

1. Dirty - Our hot water heater isn't working. I'd really like a shower. Hey...you asked!

2. Excited - We start a new school year in a week. I just pulled copies of activities we will need for week #1. I also hung the big wall map. On day one the girls will have their pictures made and apply for their pretend passports. I hope they enjoy this curriculum...I think it looks great!

3. Frustrated - Goes back to the no hot water thing. And is it just me or do a lot of my posts deal with something being broken around here?

4. Loved - A long weekend with my husband was just what I needed after a pretty hard week last week.

5. Relieved - Betsie is sleeping pretty well in her big girl bed. The transition from the crib to the toddler bed was a bit of a nightmare. I was dreading the move to the real bed. But she has slept pretty well the last few nights and I am SO relieved! As much as I love the little darling, come bed time, I really want to say nighty night and not see her again until the next morning. (Now if she could just figure out part 2 of potty training.)

6. Nervous - I really want to have a good school year with my girls this year. Last year was such a challenge. If the first few weeks go well, it would be SO encouraging to me. So I am a little nervous, but at least I am sure that the girls are where they belong for another year. (Prayed pretty hard about it for this school year...wasn't so sure there for a while) So if you think of us next week, we'd be thankful for any prayers for our first week!

*update: We have hot water! Got it last night around 7pm and didn't even have to replace the hot water heater...although that happening soon is a real possibility since ours has outlived its life expectancy. But we're all squeaky clean! Yippee!

No Camera=No Blog

Seems like everything I want to blog about needs a photo. I'm realizing that without pictures, my blog is pretty bland! Sorry! Hopefully I'll have that remedied soon.

Two Years!

This is the little one we met in China two years ago today. These photos were made in her home province (Hunan) just 5 days after we became her parents. She had been going through the attachment process pretty well and was comfortable with Jason and me but not others. During the photo session, there were about three people trying to get her to smile by shaking rattles in her face and making goofy noises, etc. She started to cry instead of smile. Jason couldn't take it anymore. He scooped her up and told everybody to leave his baby alone. (They couldn't understand his words but I think they understood that he didn't want her upset anymore.)

We did end up with some beautiful pictures and I got a glimpse of how much my husband loved his new little one and just wanted to take care of her. He wanted her to know she was always safe when he was around.

I can't believe it's been two years. I am so thankful to have my little Ying Hong. Happy Gotta Day, little one! And Happy Gotcha Day to Caroline, Julia, Mikayla, Abbie, and Hannah...oh and your moms and dads too.

Back to School? Already?

It seems like summer just began, but we start school in just a little over 2 weeks. It is SO HOT here that we might as well do a morning of school work and then SWIM in the afternoons. I have been coloring boundary maps for a geography game and I need to have our new wall map laminated. And if you notice Wal-Mart's big school supply sale, let me know! I like to have all that ready when we start if possible.

I am a little nervous about starting a new curriculum. It feels like moving to a new town. I am excited but it will be very different than what we have done before. One of the books I am excited about using with My Father's World is called Window on the World. It is just the sort of thing that Jason loves so I might save it for him for family devotion time if he wants to use it. A couple of times a week, we'll read about a certain people group around the world, look at the photos in the book, find where they live on the map, and pray for them. (Specific prayer requests are listed in the book for that group.) Jason and I were saying last night that we don't want this to just be an assignment. We want to approach this resource with the excitement and faith that God will hear our prayers for those people and that maybe one day we will see the fruit of that in Heaven.

Dead Camera Battery

Well, I really wanted to show you pictures of the newly decorated big girls room. However, my camera battery died and something is wrong with the charger...so no pictures. Bummer. I vaguely remember getting the charger wet so I am guessing this is my fault.

I was going to post pictures of their cute new bunk beds and hardwood floors.

Two years ago we moved Mary in with Rachel and the poor child has been sleeping in a trundle bed all that time. She thought that was just fine, but I am glad she is in a real bed now. She has the bottom bunk because her dog sleeps with her. And Rachel likes having her own little space that the dog and the little sisters can't really get to very easily.

Jason worked so hard to rip the carpet out of the room before we picked up the beds (we found them on Craigslist) and I must say he did a nice job. I have ordered a rug that will hopefully cut down on the echo factor. Imagine three loud girls and their squeals bouncing off the walls.

Since I can't show you any pics of their room, how bout a pic of their rug from the rug website?

Yep...hopefully I'll get that battery charged soon...

School Supplies!

Jason thinks I am weird for enjoying new school supplies and storage containers and that sort of thing. He's never actually called me weird (over this anyway)...he just doesn't get it. But I know for a fact that other homeschool moms understand!

So next year we will be making geography vocabulary word cards. The teacher's manual suggests writing the word and definition on an index card, illustrating, and filing in a card file box...then of course reviewing often. But at Wal-Mart today I found these nifty little notebooks for index cards. They already have 50 index cards in them and you can buy refill packs with the holes of course punched in just the right place. So I bought one for each of my two students. Yippee!

The first assignment will be to decorate an index card and then slip it into the little sleeve for the cover. That's right, the fun here never ends.

Betsie and the Blocks

This is a lame attempt at keeping my blog current. Betsie and I played with blocks yesterday and I took some pictures so I'd have something to put here. Maybe when our new school year starts back, I will have more to say!

Our building...which she called a grocery store, Mimi's house, and a church at different times as we were building it.

No, we haven't perfected the art of sitting in a lady like manner just yet.

Time to knock it down!