Home Sweet Home

Well we had yet another death in our family. My husbands stepfather passed away. The last 5 months have been very hard for our family. We got the news a few weeks ago and packed up and headed to Indiana to be with family. We returned home just a few days ago and we are recovering from what feels like a whirlwind.

While we were up north my hubby and I celebrated our anniversary. We were able to take a bit of time and remember to be joyful for what we have.

As many know I have been sending prayers out for my son Jacob, his father and stepmother. They have been having much turmoil in their home and have had many struggles. The wonderful Lord has responded to the prayers and Jacob came home with us! At this point it is a temporary situation. I continue to pray for his father and stepmother and for us all to be able to agree upon the best for Jacob. With him moving in with us our house seems a bit small. But I have chosen to believe that we are not overfilled within our HOUSE, But we ARE living in a HOME filled with LOVE!

While we were north my daughter, Alexis, enrolled in college and will be starting in May. I am so proud of what a beautiful, mature, amazing young lady she is becoming!

Today I take a deep breath and unpack from our trip, get chores caught up, and get a game plan going! I love new challenges and I have been blessed with another homeschooler in my home!

"It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home." ~Author Unknown

Homeschooling Support Group Meeting Feb 23, 2010

It was so nice to meet with you all again. I really enjoy chatting and sharing ideas with like minded families. I would like to thank all of the children who attended, I was so impressed with such a great group of children! I am so excited about this group.

Goals for this group.

• To share ideas and resources
• Field trips
• Support group
• Occasional guest speaker
• Socialize with other homeschooling families

Old News

• Science Fair (Have an Offer from John S. Riley, Ph.D. to Judge. While he was a Chemistry professor he judged both Middle/High School Science Fair projects as well as Undergraduate Research presentations.)
  

We decided that was would be GREAT! Yet, it would be much better after the group has been built up a bit.

• Mary Jo shared her experiences from the Modesty Seminar. This sounded very exciting! Her daughter said, "We should dress modestly not only to protect our own marriages, but also to protect others marriages". What a wonderful thing to have our children learning! As we think about this, has anyone seen the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue? I asked Food lion to remove it from my child's line of vision.
  

New News

• Book It Program Opens On March 1st
• Fire Department Tour Thursday 10AM
• Ideas For Field Trips
• Page shared with us a series of books she reading (teenage level) called 39 Clues. http://www.scholastic.com/teachthe39clues/

New Ideas

• Monthly public speaking for the children.
  

Mary Jo said that she would like to start having the children do a monthly public speaking. This seemed like a wonderful idea. Mary Jo will be organizing this, if you are interested in having your child/children participate please let us know.

• U pick, start planning on an event of picking strawberries. YUM!
  
• It mentioned that it would help to be able to add links or documents for all to see, I am working on a way to do this.
  

Local Happenings

• LoweBot: Saturday 02/27/2010
  
• The Knack Science 2/27/2010 1:00pm
  

Resources Shared

• TOS product testing http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/homeschool/Homeschool-Crew-2010.htm
  
• Local Testing http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B4Be5ok1vL8aNzk1NTFkNzUtMjk3NC00NzQxLWE0NjItOGU5NGNlY2JhNDI4&hl=en
  
• Maritime Museum Schedule http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4Be5ok1vL8aODM5OGMyZGItNzZmYy00N2E5LTljZTctZWVjNDNiNWVkOTM3&hl=en
  
• Secret Keeper girl (this looks like a wonderful program)
  
• Book site http://www.libraryanded.com/
  
• Site to take quizes on books and earn prizes http://bookadventure.com/
  

Busy, Busy, Busy

So much is going on here at Sunset Learning Academy. We had a taste of nice weather on Sunday, so bright and sunny. Hubby sure was happy to be able to be riding! Monday was 66 degrees, it did however turn to rain. Today, Tuesday I noticed the tips of my flowers starting to sprout out. A few falls ago I planted Iris' and tulips. I had no idea if they would grow or not. The main reason I planted them was because my hubby was deploying yet again and I knew that in the grey of late Feb and early March I would be a bit blue and needing a smile. Well, they bloomed so beautifully that year! It was just the little thing I needed to give me a spring in my step. Now as they continue to bloom every year I continue to smile as they emerge. The years I watch them grow alone, I remember my husbands love as he helped me plant them. The years we watch them bloom together they remind me to be thankful for our time together.

Today was our second meeting for the Homeschooling support Group. I will post the happenings tomorrow. For now I will simply say that I am enjoying my time with the other families and love the networking of resources! It is so exciting to see this coming together. I also must add at this point what a WONDERFUL, well behaved, helping, caring, fun loving group of children we have within the group. Again a BIG thank you to Wheels of The Promise for use of the church.

We are in the process of learning about Australia. We have received an ebook from TOS to use and review. Watch for my review over the weekend! We are continuing our study of ABC's for the Proverb Girl. I just love this! It is teaching my daughters such wonderful morals. Some may say that some of the teaching within it are "old fashioned", I, for one, am NOT embarrassed to be a keeper of my home. We are also still learning new sign language songs. Johnny just loves it when we sign to him. The girls feel they are a bit old for the songs, Johnny is our excuse to learn them.

I have been working strongly with Lexi on habit training. She is in charge of making a well balanced meal one night a week for here on out. Nice break for me and GREAT training for her. As she nears her 18th birthday and continues her "big" plans of entering adulthood I am having a nervous breakdown about all that she still needs to learn! She has come leaps and bounds since moving in with us. I am proud of her daily. Watching her grow into a respectable young woman is such a blessing. I pray that she continues to develop her relationship with the Lord.

Tyra is trying to master her multiplication and division skills so that we may move on to a more advanced level. We are also working on handwriting and NEATNESS! Tyra is working on habit training along with Lexi. She is working on helping out around the house and taking on an active role within our family by noticing what needs done without being told. Tyra also has begun going to a Wednesday night bible study at our church. As many of you know she asked Jesus into her heart on Friday, Feb. 12th, 2010 (Lincoln's birthday). She will be singing at church this Sunday. I am very proud of her!

Johnny is finally over being sick! He has cut 2 more teeth through and now has 4 bottom teeth. His appetite is back in full force as well. He is walking around all the furniture. I just know his first steps will be soon. I wonder if he will take them while Aunt Sheila is here!

As I come to a close for today, one more thought needs to be added. I would like to say that I have a wonderful husband whom without I would be lost. He is always there for me, and has never ending love. I appreciate all that he does for me, our family, our community, and our country. I love you!

I hope all are having a wonderful week and may everyone be blessed this week!

This week....

The baby has been sick this week. it started out with a night of vomiting Monday night, then um... let's just say a messy diaper Tuesday, a crying Wednesday and now a fussy, clingy Thursday. Poor baby! He has two top front teeth trying to come in. I think this is what is the cause of all of this.

This week was full of meetings, cheer practice, bible study, and household disasters. And many more unexpected events.

With all of the above going on this week we have fallen a bit behind on our goals so it is looking like Saturday school for us! When thinking back on my life I always chuckle when I think about weekends. Once upon a time they meant no work, and party time. Then it meant no work and family time. Then a time came that weekends meant my hubby does not work and we get family time. Then for a bit while he was deployed I never knew the difference between Saturday or Wednesday. NOW, with a baby in the house, weekends mean SLEEP for me! My hubby can take over and I can nap, maybe a long bath! My husband is such a wonderful man!

This week has seemed like a disorganized mess. I feel like I am stuck in rut and need pulled out. Thank You to the Girl Scouts for these yummy cookies. They have really helped me through it! Okay, seriously it was the love from God, my husband and children that get me up every morning! But the cookies were a nice treat!

Adventure of The Day

Today we had our first Homeschooling Support Group meeting. I think it went well. We had 6 families attend. While the children enjoyed getting to know one another the parents enjoyed some time to get acquainted. We have come up with many ideas for field trips, a few ideas for activities, and shared some local resources with one another. Our meetings will continue to be held at the Wheels Of Promise on Tuesday mornings beginning at 10AM. I would like to Thank Wheels Of Promise for allowing us to use the church as a meeting spot. I enjoyed getting to know all of you and your children. We had such a bright group of children there today! My family and I look forward to the next meeting and deciding upon our first field trip!

President Day Poster Board

For President's Day Tyra had to choose a president and do either a written, oral, or poster report. She chose Abraham Lincoln. She made a wonderful poster board with lots of information and even remembered to include her references! She then had to tell us all about it and everything she learned. She learned a lot during her research. This project was spiced up some when J & B Learning ( http://jnblearning.blogspot.com/ ) joined in and had her son do a poster project as well.

Both the children worked hard to make sure their poster was the best. I am looking forward to seeing who she chooses next year!

Her Favorite quote from Abraham Lincoln is, "Always bear in mind that your only resolution to succeed is more important than any other."

North Carolina Snow!

We were blessed with snow that began to fall on Friday night at around 11:00PM and continued to fall until the wee hours in the morning. Tyra stayed up Friday night to watch it come down. We put a pan out so we could collect snow to make snow cream. She finally fell asleep so that she could be energized by morning! She made snow angels,


played with Johnny,

had a snow ball fight with daddy and Socks, rode the four-wheeler,

and finished the fun up with a HUGE snowman she made with Miss. Debbie, our wonderful neighbor.

The snow really was beautiful. I must say it was nice....

I also must say I am happy that it is a rare occation here!

Egypt, Moses, and Hieroglyphs

Today we continued our studies on Moses. This included more studies on Egypt, exploring the desert, and today we learned hieroglyphs! We found that there are many forms. We had fun making a poster with all of our families name on it. This has been very interesting to study since my husband lived in Cairo, Egypt for a year.

We also learned today the reason we celebrate Valentine's Day. We got great info on this link.
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B4Be5ok1vL8aYzYzZTgxNDYtMDdhYy00MGVkLWI3MDctZGM0YmQ0YTk0NDU1&hl=en


Today was a very good day. We got a lot done, and learned so much today! I think everyone in the family learned something new today.