Oh, what a beautiful morning...oh, what a beautiful day!

Look what we woke up to this morning!

It's just beautiful out!

Daddy and our youngest went out and had a snowball fight!

Our oldest was busy in the kitchen...making treats for her horses!

2010 - 2011 Co-op

So...another co-op year has started. We have 36 families this year, with kids from preschool to high school, and we meet once a week for classes.

DD13 is taking

• Art Fundamentals


• Gym


• Super Study Skills & Outlining


• On-line Research Skills


• Apologia's General Science

DD10 is taking

• Chemistry (Science For Real Kids, Level I)


• Geography


• Gym


• Sewing


• A Beka Health

I'm helping to teach the General Science class this year.  Basically, we spend two weeks on each module and come together once a week for experiments.

For field trips with our group, we have done an educational corn maze and a historical re-enactment so far.  We've got a couple of plays coming up.  Not sure what else we're doing with the group this year.

Been awhile!

Hey everyone,

Sorry, it's been so long!  I got busy the beginning of this year, and then Homeschool Blogger changed format and I've been toying with it here and there, trying to figure out how to use it again!!!   So, here I am almost a whole year later!  The blog isn't fancy but at least I *FINALLY* figured out how to get my little dust bunny and books logo back on here!

So, what's up with us?   Same old, same old.

I still head up a local homeschool co-op.  The girls are now in 7th and 5th grades, so homeschooling gets to be more challenging.  I still struggle with health issues, but am plugging along.  We are still active with church activities, with me doing photographing and library and fellowship work, with dh doing sound, our oldest daughter doing puppets and drama, and our youngest daughter doing some puppets.

Oh yeah, last October I went mostly wheat- and dairy-free, as well as cut out a few other foods.  I'm trying to closely follow the Blood Type Diet.   Hard to believe it's been a whole year!  I lost 40 pounds, and am right wear I want to be!  Hurray!  I'm still figuring out recipes and still want to find a bread recipe that is as good as regular flour...is there such a thing?!

Well, that's enough to get me started again.  I'll try to do some posts soon about what we're doing this year.

Going on a crazy adventure....to Lake Erie...during high wind warning! (slow loading pictures!)

So, dh calls me and says "You wanna do something crazy???  Let's go to Lake Erie and see the waves!"  Just another advantage to homeschooling......you can drop what you're doing and GO on some crazy adventure.

The Great Lakes are having the worst waves since the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in 1975! 

It was a long drive and we barely made it before dark, but we got to see some pretty cool waves......they're expecting larger ones, like 25 ft!

It was so, so, so utterly bitter cold!  Some winds I could barely walk against.

We were about 20 ft. from the breaker.......we got wet!

PS.....some of the night shots look like fire or fireworks, don't they?  The headlights shining on the water made it look that way.    I did not enhance the colors.  I took them from within the car (couldn't take the cold anymore!!!!)

Naming a new horse

No, we've not gotten a new horse.  Well, I take that back.....my mother-in-law and sister-in-law both recently got new horses! 

But what I'm referring to is the fact that our oldest daughter recently entered a contest to come up with the name for a horse in a historical fiction book.....and the author choose her name for the horse!  So, when the book comes out late next year, the acknowledgments will include her name and she will get a free copy of the book!  Isn't that cool?!?   She's pretty excited!

Here is part of what DD12 had to work with to help with the naming of Sarah's new horse in book 4......

Excerpt from the fourth book:

 

    My new horse, a beautiful Morgan filly, wanted to run.... 

    After purchasing the chestnut beauty the day before from a man at Springfield who supplied horses to the army, I had yet to name her. She deserved one that matched her build and personality.  

            The filly stood fifteen hands high, weighed one thousand pounds, proud and high spirited, with a muscular build, clean cut head and a well arched neck. Her color was copper-red with a reddish-gold mane and tail.....

            The horse trader who sold me the filly assured me she was descended from Black Hawk, and of course all the Morgans had come from the original Morgan horse—Figure. Black Hawk was famous for a lightning quick stride and elegant manner. I had seen with my own eyes this great horse when he was shown at the Ohio State Fair.

            “Granny, this horse wants to run and I’m going to try her out.” Gently nudging her in the sides with my boot heels was all it took. She sprung forward and the sudden jerk nearly knocked me off. Quickly righting myself I kept low in the saddle and clung to the pommel. This horse was quick.....

            “Whew girl! You’re something else. Blackie at his best never had your speed.” Bringing her about, again I nudged her, and this time prepared for her fire. She did not disappoint. The sorrel lit out as if trying to out run lightning.

DD12 choose the name Fire Hawk, as it seemed to fit the horse's color and  pedigree, as well as her spirit and her speed.   DD12 enjoys coming up with names for horses that match their personality.

It's exciting that DD12 will be recognized in the acknowledgments of the book....she hopes someday to see her name on the cover of a book!  She enjoys writing stories.


If you've been looking for some good, educational, character-building stories for your tweens.....you might consider purchasing the Sarah series........Sarah's Wish, Sarah's Promise, and Sarah's Escape.  As I said, book 4 in the series, comes out late next year.  Both of my girls enjoyed the series and were already looking forward to getting book 4 even before dd12 won a copy!

The author, Jim Baumgardner, has created a character that kids can relate to.  Sarah is an orphan who's fun and gutsy and compassionate.  The stories take place in Ohio during the pre-Civil War days and revolve around slavery issues.  The target audience is 8 to 12 year olds.  The author has given part of the proceeds from the sales of the books to the Maude Carpenter Children's Home in Wichita, Kansas.


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Replicas of the Nina and the Pinta

We recently went to see the replicas of the Nina and the Pinta down on the Ohio River.  They were so neat.  It was good for the girls (and me!) to see just how small these ships were that Columbus ventured out with!  Amazing that they actually made it across the ocean.....surely God's hand was on them!

We learned that Columbus' crew were mostly in the age 12 to 19 range!  The Nina was built to size, but the Pinta is actually 50% larger than the original.  The Nina was built without the convenience of power tools.  Aboard the Nina was a boat that was handcrafted by a 14yo Brazilian boy.

The Nina

The Pinta

We all wanted to apply for the job opening!


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Hedgehogs and weasels.......oh my!

Last week the girls learned about weasels and hedgehogs!

The girls had to choose a mammal to do a poster/report on for their co-op class.  They were limited as to what they could choose and (smart teacher!) they could not choose cat, dog, or horse.   DD9 choose weasels and DD12 choose hedgehogs.

So, the last couple weeks we were surrounded by weasel and hedgehog books from the library, print outs from the Internet, and I even found an audio about weasels on my computer that I had downloaded some time ago from "You Need A Story."  

DD12 did a bit more than required for the project.  She and a friend (they're doing the project together) decided make a unique presentation, by being a reporter (dd12) and interviewing a hedgehog (friend).

They also made a hedgehog out of salt dough (with cocoa added to make the dough brownish) and toothpicks.  Then the night before the presentation dd12 made hedgehog cookies.  Since we have a child at co-op with peanut allergies, we could not do Jan Brett's traditional recipe.....dd12 instead frosted the back part of the cookie with chocolate frosting and added chocolate sprinkles to make it looks spikey. 

We didn't do it, but if your child is interested a  FREE lapbook about hedgehogs can be found at Homeschool Share. 


Here are the display boards that the girls did: