Its been a crazy few weeks here at our house. Two weeks ago my Daddy had a stroke. Those days were filled with trips to the hospital twice-3xs a day.
My DH worked from home on most of those days while i was at the hospital so and I left the kids in charge of getting their math, spelling done. One day when I came home the kids were just so excited to tell me that the LOVED spelling! Cat was in one room and the boys in two other rooms, the boy would run to her.. she would give them the word and then they would run back to the room and put it on their paper. They loved it.
We have been pluggin along with our studies and have enjoyed some extra things as well. We currently have a seed experiment we are watching, enjoying more chapters of our historical […]
Original post by ruthie
OH.. I only wish you could have been there! A day that was like none other!
Friday our family got up really really early and headed to the Big D for a day of Art and History.. and of course I am a believer those two are always suppose to be used together! So it was ART HISTORY ALIVE day!
Our first stop was the Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art.
What an incredible experience! Most of the time I spent with the boys looking and reading together. Cat spent her time with a good friend and it was so fun to see her and M walking around together and being so interested in the objects they were seeing. If I even tried to write about our experience at this exhibit it would be to long to read, so I will just hit the highlights
First, this is a MUST […]
Original post by ruthie
We are getting geared up for a trip to see King Tut! Of course.. the net junkie that I am.. I found a few things you might find interesting too! Here you go:
Did you know there were seeds in Tuts tomb? Click here to read about a man who is growing some of these seeds!
We all know the story of Howard Carter finding Tuts tomb.. but this site shows every picture taken of the objects, also notes from Carter and other information about the event.. The pictures are so amazing! Love this site! Click here
Amazing site that is a virtual tour of Tuts tomb. Has a voice narrating as you see the walls of the tomb. You can zoom in and out to see details of the images. Be sure and check out the other sections, “royal wrappings” and “High Tech Forensics” WAY COOL! Click here
Do you have child […]
Original post by ruthie
(if you are interested in Shakespeare.. be sure and check out the links I added to our sidebar :)
Its not a day that stands out unlike others. Today was a day that was pure enjoyment. Today was a day we enjoyed each other, learning and living. Our today… what a Joy!
I am not sure what it was about today.. but the joy of being home, relaxed and learning together seems more precious today than usual. I wonder if its the fact that the weather is changing and I know winter is coming. Its just that some days I wish i could just bottle them up and relive them all over again. I am not sure what it is. I do wish, however, that everyone of those Moms I see rushing about, yelling at their children in the grocery store or frustrated with them at the Library, could take a […]
Original post by ruthie
We have had two good schooling days in a row:) When I say good I mean.. just feeling like everything fell into place and we were not running around like crazy:) Its so nice to just be at home. After a week of Science Fair, Field Trips, Track and other runnin around I am happy to just be at home. Thats exactly what happened on Friday AND today. We just stayed home .. (well this morning we went to track but that was it)
I thought I would share some things we did today AND some links I found. The wealth of information on the internet never ceases to amaze me! Sure there is horible things on the internet but there are jewels too! Its amazing what you can find once you start looking. I have a system of sorts when trying to locate information for our learning.
Do a Google Search […]
Original post by ruthie
(this is a super long post.. dont miss the photos at the bottom!)
Its been a busy week with our family. This past Friday we went on a bird watching field trip. We listened to the owner talk about birds and butterflies, saw Chickadees, Cardinals, Bluejays, Finches, and a Swallowtail Butterfly! The hike in the woods was great! I have pics below
Made me smile to see the owner put a welcome sign out
Cat looking at a page that explains the difference between a Monarch and Viceroy, which mimics the Monarch. This fit in GREAT with our studies as we just finished our “Creatures that Fly” Science book last week!
As we were walking along someone noticed white powder on a catcus. The owner stopped and said that the Native American Indians in this area used this white powder in thier paint and pottery etc. She bent over and […]
Original post by ruthie
So .. whats life like homeschooling when Mom is down in her back?
I have had a few weeks of back pain. It all started with an bad move i made when i was on a training run. I popped a rib out and didnt know it. 10 days later I HAD to do something about it. My neck, mid and lower back were in the Chiros terms “a train wreck”. I have been unable to do the dishes (until today), laundry, or any picking up things from the floor is a no no.
So.. whats life been like?
Well.. the beauty of homeschooling is that the kids can really pick up the slack. They have been super! Its been a great learning lesson “Now do you understand why you have chores? because one day.. Mom might not be able to do all this” .. or.. “one day your wife might not be […]
Original post by ruthie
I attended a seminar resently on homeschooling through high school. When I started homeschooling 6 years ago I never thought I would be “going the distance”. Homeschooling was always the best option for us for many different reasons. But to be sitting in a seminar and realizing that I am preparing myself for high school course work is just a bit surprising to me. Time has flown by! What happened to phonics, to “learning your letters”, and all the joys of Elementary learning I find myself at the beginning of the end. (for one child at least )
My oldest will be 12 in a few weeks and I am now probably viewed by beginning homeschooling moms as “the veteran homeschooler”. It seems like life is just flying by but I am soooo happy I have time with my children and they have time with each other.
I really enjoyed […]
Original post by ruthie
This past Saturday was a great day. It started off with Cats second and the boys first Cross Country Track meet. I have a few pictures from the meet but they are on Hubby’s cell phone so I will have to load them later The meet was fantastic!
Our kids ran against 7th graders. Cat (6th grade) ran with our team (about 5 girls) against 7th grade girls from surrounding schools. Her race had 122 girls running! It was amazing to watch them take off and finish! She came in with a new PR (personal record) for the mile of 8 min 22 seconds! It was fun (again) to watch her sprint at the end .. amazing.
Jo (4th grader) and Nate (2nd grader) ran with 7th grade boys. Jo had a personal record of 11min 4 seconds and finished the mile with NO walking! It was great! We were all […]
Original post by ruthie
Here we are all dressed up and ready to get our picture made for the directory Hopefully this years will turn out better than last times LOL
OK.. Spring cleaning is a foot in the blessed discovery household With summer being.. well.. not really a summer for us.. as i worked so much.. our house got WAY out of control Fall cleaning is nice too! I am happy to announce that after 4 days of cleaning the boys room is organized and re-arranged
Through the cleaning i found some artwork that Jo did last year at coop. (see below)
The above is Jo’s version of a page from The Book of Kells, an early medieval Bible Manuscript. Click here to see the page we copied in class.
This is JO’s stain glass using tissue paper and black tempera. (We studied Cathedrals and the Rose Window)
We had […]
Original post by ruthie
It seems we all feel the need to define ourselves as homeschoolers. “Classical”, “Eclectic”, “Workbook”, “Unschoolers”.
What is sad is that in some instances this desire to “label” ourselves causes distance between homeschooling families in general. We naturally gravitate to those who think like us I suppose. But I am here to wish and dream of a different way of thinking.
We are all families who are choosing to give up many many things in order to put our children first. No matter what curriculum supplier, what schedule (or lack of one) we choose to follow, we are all living lifestyles that stand out from the world.
We are all different.
I have been thinking for a while where I sit on the Home Educating spectrum, and I am not sure if i will ever find where I fit in. But, for me, its never been about fitting in…… its been about being different.
Our […]
Original post by ruthie
Today did not end up like I had planned. I was counting on a ‘normal’ homeschooling day. With breakfast finished and book work starting at 9am. But today.. was just super and filled with great learning experiences .. so much so .. i had to make a record of it!
First the kids woke up before 7am. They spent the next hour or so doing this:
It was so fun hearing them just visit and draw and .. of course hunt for just the right color marker
Next they built a tent in the boys room and spent an hour and 15 mins working on thier Bible Bowl together. (I have video of this but will have to post it at a later date:)
After this.. we had lunch. Cat watched part of her math dvd to review and worked a problem before we left to go shopping with Daddy.
Daddy had […]
Original post by ruthie
Our track team had a meet. The team did GREAT. Cats team won the 7th Grade Girls one mile race (and our girls were only 6th and 5th grade!). We were very excited the team did so well. Cat had a PR (personal record) time!
here are some photos from the meet:
part of our team is in this picture warming up… the pink and yellow shirts:)
This photo shows most of the team and its supporters!
The last few weeks the boys have been “into” rocks. :)below Joseph is throwing a rock on the concrete to break it.
Here is Nate with yet another rock.
Here is a review from the past few days:
History: We learned about the Wars of the Roses, and the history of Joan of Ark. Today we read about Spain and the story of Isabella and Ferdinand.
Science: We are continuing our study of Insects. The kids have really enjoyed it! Learning […]
Original post by ruthie
I have had a busy couple of weeks.. we have had illness in the family, and general business that comes with fall and beginning a new school year.
As with any back to school week and the public and private school children headed off to school it is not surprising to me to have our outings to the grocery store, library or Walmart be “clouded” by glares and stares from the general public. Sometimes I wish I had a t-shirt that said “Yes, these are my kids, Yes we homeschool, Yes we actually learn things” or “Hi.. we dont bite.. we homeschool… got questions? We’ve got answers” or a shirt with check boxes that say “math (check) spelling (check) reading (check) science (check) history (check) manners (check) Bible (check) PE (check) Art (check) (dont worry we can do all this AND go to the grocery store :)”
But.. I dont have a […]
Original post by ruthie
As the school bus stopped outside our home to pick up the neighborhood children I said a prayer of thanksgiving that my children and I were not in the school bus rush to get out the door and off to school. I woke up up “early” this morning and was surprised to see 2 of my 3 kidos already up and in the living room enjoying some pbs. We would usually have been off to track which starts at 7am but the littlest was sick on Sunday so we chose to stay at home and let him rest.
Our day was filled with learning… heres a bit of a list of things we learned today:
How to draw an insect and its correct body parts (well.. they already knew this .. but it was fun for them)
Reviewed Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible
We learned about the Ottoman Empire and the fall […]
Original post by ruthie
This past week has been very busy for our family. We did manage to get some schooling done with other things happening
The kids are still loving thier Math U See books! Cat has enjoyed writing letters to friends on new notecards she got at a local christian bookstore, Nate and Jo have developed a renewed sense of awe about rocks. (yes rocks) We began our new “chore” system and it is working out great, leaving us all a bit more relaxed with a more organized home
Here is a bit of an update on what we did this week:
Science: Insects are the topic and the kids are fascinated. For science we happened to be visiting my sister who live across from a local elementary school and so we decided to walk across the street and do our learning at “school”. We sat in the shade on the […]
Original post by ruthie
Today was our first day back to “school”. The kids and I were both ready!
Heres how our day turned out:
Track from 8 to 9. (the boys ran a mile, plus 200’s, Cat ran 2 miles around campus in 17mins 37secs! a new PR for her!)
Back home for breakfast. Math and Handwriting began. It was fun to hear the discussions of “multiplication is easiest… NO.. Division is!!!! between Jo and Nate.
Joseph worked on his memory verses as we waited on Cat to finish up her bookwork. We then read aloud together our History (reviewed) about Kubla Kaun.
In Science we learned about Pterasaurs. It was great fun! Did you know that some people believe that Pterasaurs could still be alive? We had a great discussion and learned about fossils and the different types of Pterasaurs. Click here to see an interesting web site about some of the sightings.
Also on our “to do” […]
Original post by ruthie
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Original post by ruthie
It was great to wake up this morning and have the kids gently get up and out of bed. This.. instead of waking them and having them rush to get ready for track .. which starts at 8am most weekdays. This morning its looking like rain.. so i have decided to keep the children in but have them go for a jog on the treadmill (to which Jo replied “YEAH!”.. he likes the treadmill
This morning the kids were in the living room visiting with each other for quite a while before breakfast. Jo and Nate spent time looking at rocks they Nate had collected at a friends house. It was fun to hear them talk about the rocks themselves, thier texture, thier color, how sharp they were, how many there were, where they were found. Its amazing what a pile of rocks will do for a childs […]
Original post by ruthie
Summer is going by fast. Life.. its seems like to this Mom.. is just flying by. Its hard to believe that in September I will be guiding a 6th, 4th and 2nd grader through another season of learning through life. I am looking forward to getting back to our treasured reading and learning time together but i have enjoyed watching and listening to the children as they learn so many things throughout our summer days.
Here are some of the things that the children have been doing this summer:
playing, pretending, building, digging, singing, visiting, hiding, seeking, exploring, drawing, painting, creating, discussing, cleaning, working, running, cooking, organizing, laughing, (just to name a few:)
Life is filled with educational oportunities these days!
Emailing friends leads to stronger typing and spelling.
Exploring a friends countryside leads to rocks and bones which leads to wonder. “What did it come from mom?” “What kind of rock is it?” […]
Original post by ruthie
oh its been so long since i posted.
heres an update
we finished up coop, went to New Mexico for a trip (forgot my camera:(), I took a job teaching art and art camps at a local museum. One art camp complete.. three to go! We are almost finished with some major fence building at my parents home, only 100 or so more pickets left :), I am currently training for a half marathon, the kids are loving track, middle son just got over a virus and is almost done with a round of pink eye and the kids and daddy are in the middle of book seven of Harry Potter.
Here are some pictures and some video to enjoy
Dont know if you remember but we studied “things that fly” for science this year.. we had a robin net in our front tree.. but i think the squirrels […]
Original post by ruthie
I was listening to my kids in the car today and thought i should write a post about the undeniable blessings of homeschooling. so here it goes.
conversations with siblings that go from the shape of a cloud to isnt if funny that God made all baby animals cute.
the kids enjoying seeing together in the car songs like “our God is an Awesome God”, “Deep Down in my Heart” and “King Jesus is All”.
the sounds of encouragement coming from one sibling to the other when listening to the “not so good reader” read wonderfully.
having time to just sit and listen to the sounds of the birds in the backyard and to never be in a rush to leave the zoo or library.
realizing that my children are becoming more and more independent everyday in many many ways and the blessing that seeing that develop and grow.
being there for questions like “mom.. whats […]
Original post by ruthie
The windows are open and the sun is shining in here at our house. The beautiful weather makes us want to be outside. There is nothing better than doing “school” by an open window with the smell of Sweet Williams wafting through or reading to the kids while laying in the hammock or on a sheet in the shade of our pecan tree. I love spring.. and its seems the timing has been perfect for our studies to coincided with the season
In “Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day” our Science text we are reading about birds. The last few lessons have covered nesting abilities, mating rituals, the parts of an egg, how the baby grows in the egg and hatches. We have enjoyed filling and refilling our bird feeder and seeing what birds gather around. Our backyard has been visited by Bluejays, Blackbirds, Sparrows, Finches, Cardinals, and […]
Original post by ruthie
Today was our second horse riding lesson and it was FANTASTIC!
Below is Nate working on his Stain Glass Art project for Co-op
Track is going wonderfully! The older kids got spikes this past lesson and boy you should have heard them talk on the way home! It was like Christmas to them! Coach Art is just amazing with all the kids. I am thrilled my kids very first “coach” in any sport has been Art. He makes practice fun but makes them work. Below are a few pictures from last week. A front came through and it was pretty cool that morning
“book work” is going great (see our post below)
thanks for reading!
Original post by ruthie
its been a while since i posted! i guess i have been too busy homeschooling to write about it! .. heres an update:
We began Track a few weeks ago and the kids are loving it. We go three to four days a week for an hour. The practices are at the University track close to where i live so its perfect for us! We can even walk to practice if we want! The track coach is fantastic! I have pictures I promise to post soon!
We also began horse riding lessons a few weeks ago. We have had just one lesson so far.. our next is this coming Saturday. It was to be today but the weather is stormy so we are staying in The kids and I LOVED Ms Judy and her horses! Our first lesson we learned how to brush and prepare the horse for riding, saddle […]
Original post by ruthie
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