Occoneechi Indian Village

We had a wonderful field trip last week with our FIAR group to learn from the people of the Occaneechi Tribe of the Saponi Nation.  This is a field trip that I was very excited about coordinating and it fully lived up to my expectations and then some!!!  I highly recommend a trip if you are in this area.

We visited with the link and learned more about their life in the past and their contributions to our culture.  It was a fascinating day.  It was made all the richer for the many wonderful men and women that took part in the day.  They were kind, patient, interesting and informative. 

We learned about the archeological work that is going in excavating an old Indian village (thought to be Occaneechi).  (Click on links to read more.) 



Some local university students talked with us about foods that were native to the Americas.  We also heard from a man representing the Trading Path Association that is working to locate and preserve old trading paths.

Next we watched a tribal dance.



Then we participated as a group in a large circle.  (I'm carrying Eliana in a bright pink sling and holding Daniel's hand.)









There was a run-down shell of a home on the land and the man that was there told us that he lived in this house many years ago.  It was just part of the original home where he lived with his 10 siblings.  He told us about what life on the farm was like.  He also demonstrated using a saw, splitting wood and shucking corn as he told about the chores he did before school started.





Some of the children taking a turn at getting the dried corn off of the cob.



Playing at the well - which still worked!



Just a picture of my little cutie just hanging out.



We listened to some storytelling which was fun and heard the story behind this dress.  It weighs 45 pounds!!!  Can you imagine wearing that?



We learned about tools used in farming and fishing.



We also learned about weapons.  This table was fascinating for the children - especially the little boys!!! 





The interpreter had made all of the weapons on display. 



He told about each one and patiently answered questions. 



He also demonstrated making a dart out of a thistle.  I thought this was so cool!



He shot the dart many times so I could get this picture.  Can you see the dart to the right?





Here is the target and many darts.











A cricket holder is fascinating.



Or maybe it is just playing with a bigger friend.



We also learned about foods and cooking.







Above are some tools and things used in daily life.

Below, we learned about dream catchers.



This gal was so very patient and had a sweet chat with my little Daniel.



Just another shot of my little cutie pie.  I can't resist.



We had an awesome day.  The weather was beautiful!  The site was interesting and fun.  The company was sweet.  What more could we ask for!

Blessings
Leslie

Yummy Fall Treat

I host a monthly meeting for our FIAR group.  This is a mom's meeting and is time to relax and be refreshed and encouraged.  I enjoy these times with my friends.  We typically talk about what we are doing with FIAR, upcoming field trips and then move onto our monthly topic.  This month, we had a guest speaker (and friend) return to our group.  Sue Patrick (workbox system) spoke to us about how to use posters and make centers.  We learned a lot and saw a lot of examples of things she had made and ways she made things fun and interactive.

We all left inspired.  A couple of nights later a local educational store held a homeschoolers reception.  Many of us from the meeting were there - buying posters and other fun things to add to our homeschool day.  I'll hopefully share some examples as I make some things to use in our schooling.

Awhile back, I don't remember when, Rebecca offered to make dessert for our mom's meeting.  I was happy to have her do this.  Cooking is not my favorite activity and Rebecca really enjoys baking and decorating.  This month we saw a really cute dessert on the front of Southern Living Magazine and thought it would be great!  It was!

Rebecca invited her friend Hanna over to help with the decorating and they did an awesome job!





The cakes are pumpkin and the stems, vines and leaves are made from caramels.  Yes, they  hand-fashioned each one!  Aren't they adorable?  And they tasted good too.

I'm sure we'll be having these again since we now have a cute little mini Bundt pan.  Mom, want us to have these for Thanksgiving? 

Just wanted to share in case anyone was looking for a cute and yummy fall treat.

ETA:  Sorry about the missing pics.  I wrote the post the night before and then posted it later thinking the pictures were in it already.  Thanks Sheri for letting me know!

Blessings

Leslie

New Clothes

Thank you friends for your encouragment and support of me teaching Eliana.  I appreciate it so very much!  I will definitely keep posting as I have news and as we figure out what is best for our little cutie. 

I wanted to post a few more things from last month.  I went again to the consignment sale and found some wonderful things for our children.  Of course Eliana got the most.  She needs it and there are soooo many cute things for little girls!  Rebecca has had fun trying some of the new things on her - and I think Eliana enjoys it too.  Hope we aren't creating a monster.



Rebecca went with me to the sale and she loved picking out things for Eliana too.  Here is one of her picks.  Eliana loves the soft fur.  Not what I would have picked, but it is cute on her.  I think those two girls are going to have fun shopping together when they are old enough to go without me. 



I was able to find things for the boys too though none of them needed too much.  We even found some things for Rebecca.  I also bought some books and toys and hooded towels.  Eliana loves wearing the hooded towels after her baths.  Just makes me laugh!  Oh, and a cute little pink chair for Eliana (another one of Rebecca's picks). 



All in all another successful trip to the sale.  I'm thankful to be able to shop here as it saves us a lot of money!

Blessings
Leslie

Sweet gift

I am blessed in so many ways.  I know that sometimes people look at my life and see the weight or the burdens of things we are dealing with.  I understand that.  I probably would have viewed it that way a few short years ago.  A lot has changed in our life in a few short years.  I won't say that it hasn't been hard - or that it doesn't continue to be hard some days.  Without going through the hard times though, I wouldn't have learned about God's faithfulness, love and goodness. 

The hard times have changed me and given me a different perspective on things.  For me, this is a good thing.  That doesn't mean that I don't wish at times that it were easier, that there weren't so many decisions and things to figure out.  It is an area though in which I have much to learn about leaning on God, listening to Him and following where He leads me (and that isn't always where *I* want to go!). 

Lately, I feel overwhelmed with the need for information and also the need to make decisions.  What is best for each child?  How can I help my children to learn given their unique and sometimes challenging learning needs?  How do I even know what is best given the myriad of choices available and the conflicting advice on which route to take.  It leaves my head swimming sometimes, though I'm trying to tackle it a little bit at a time. 

One of the blessings of making decisions and that most of them aren't final.  I'm not commiting to something that can't be changed if it isn't working for our family.  I'd like to make the best/right decisions the first time, but know that isn't always possible.  I don't want to make wrong decisions though that are detrimental.  Does this even make sense?

One of the decisions looming in our future is what to do with Eliana when she turns 3.  She is currently in a program for children age 0-3.  While in this program she receives therapy for her various developmental needs.  This is a wonderful service.  Most of these therapies occur in our home which is also a blessing.  She currently has 5 therapies per week (2 speech, 1 occupational/feeding, 1 physical therapy, and 1 developmental/music therapy).  This will all end when she turns 3.  The typical course of action is to then enroll in public school preschool where she would get therapy.

Personally, it would be very hard to enroll my little girl (she is still so very young developmentally) in school and have her gone each day.  I do want to do what is best for her though.  I'm not sure that for our family though that this is the best choice.  I'm still praying, pondering and looking into our options.  I'm wanting God to show us what is best for Eliana.

I've had a couple of things recently that are encouraging me that we can school our girl at home.  Not big things.  I'm not sure God always speaks to me in big ways though. 

Therapy.  That is honestly the biggest draw to putting her in school.  Our insurance will cover some therapy, but not all of it.  We recently had good news about the therapies that Eliana will be able to receive that is covered by our insurance.  She is eligible for twice what we thought she would be able to get.  One half of that would be for speech and the other half for pt/ot.  It is not the amount that she gets now, but is still much more than we thought we'd be able to get.  I'm thankful for that!

Teaching Eliana.  She learns in some different ways that will make using a traditional curriculum challening unless adapted for her.  I have a lot to learn about how best to do this (while juggling schooling for my other children as well).  I've gotten some encouragment here too.  I'm going to share three of them.

First, my friend Hollie recently showed me a curriculum designed for special needs children (specifically Down syndrome) made by/for BJU press.  I wrote to the gal that wrote it and she sent me a copy of the curriculum for 3yos.  It isn't complete, but is a great start.  I need something to help me as I get started and I think this will be a great thing.

Second, I ran into a blogging friend while we were on vacation!  How ironic is that?  I recognized her daughter from pictures on her blog and when I heard her name, I knew it had to be her!  Beth is homeschooling her 11yo daughter who also has Down syndrome.  She has shared great information with me in the past about homeschooling DS.  We were able to talk briefly and I shared some of my concerns with her.  Beth was very encouraging to me that I could do this. 

Third, just today I received a gift.  Two new books that will help me teach Eliana. 

Teaching Math to children with Down Syndrome
AND
Teaching Reading to children with Down Syndrome.

Rita was doing a give-away on her blog to celebrate the birthday of a little girl that lives far away that has captured her heart.  You can read more about this celebration and see her beautiful family on her blog.  Thank you Rita!

Now, I realize that none of this is huge.  I realize that this may not be God's answer.  I'm open to hearing, but am increasingly at peace with the path I believe He is leading us down.  I am thankful for the opportunities that I have to learn, to be molded and to grow.  I'm thankful for a Father that guides me, teaches me and loves me completely. 

I'm thankful for the sweet gifts He gives along the way!
Leslie

The Battleship North Carolina

Part 2 of our beach post.  More on our current week and field trip today - tomorrow.  :-) 

On our way home from the beach, we decided to stop by the Battleship.  We had seen it on our way down and Isaiah was very interested in going on it.  We went there with our History group, but at that time Isaiah was very small - and Daniel was still tucked inside. 

We had a beautiful day and there were lots of other people there wanting to visit it too!  The crowds and tight places were a little difficult for Isaiah.  I was surprised as he had wanted to go so very much.  God was gracious to give me patience to work with him despite the crowds waiting on us.  Things did improve and though he wanted to exit numerous times, I think overall he remembers it positively.

Here are some photos.  This was just outside the battleship.



We started in a small museum where there were models of all of the USS North Carolinas throught he years. 



There was also a dress up area which of course my boys wanted to do!



Then we toured.  You are able to go on so much of the ship and learn about what life was like on it.  It is definitely worth a stop if you are interested at all!





This is from the bakery - the muffin trays were HUGE!



The bunks for the enlisted men were 4 deep!   Talk about tight quarters!





Lots to explore, touch and learn about.















A fun family field trip. 

Blessings
Leslie

Sept trip to the beach

This is a belated post - but better late than never.  We had two big trips in September and I want to post pics from both of them. 

The first was a week at the beach.  We met our friends from VA there for the week.  They are in a unit just a short ways down the beach from us.  This is the third year we've met there and it has become a fun tradition.  I'm not going to write much, but wanted to share some photos.







Eliana LOVES the beach!  She loves the sand and also the water.  We had trouble with her eating the sand this year.  I couldn't figure out why she kept eating after taking the first fistful.  Yuck! 



Daniel loves to find shells.  He spends a lot of time looking and is really quite good at spotting them too.  He loves his shell collecting bag that he got from the Kenkels too!



Christopher giving Aaron a ride. 



I'm not sure why anyone would want to be buried up to their head in sand - but apparently it is fun for at least two of my boys. 





I just love seeing my boys hanging out and having fun together.



Boogie boarding is a big hit with my older kids.





Hannah and Rebecca enjoy having a week to hang out as they miss being able to just run next door.



Another one of Christpher and Aaron.  Christopher is really great with younger kids and it's sweet to see him playing with Aaron.



Of course, we have fun building sand castles - and not too many pictures though.



Just having fun looking for shells and stopping for a picture so I can remember the moment.  We were down by the "river" (an inlet from the ocean) where there are always lots of good finds.  It was a sweet time.



We had a wonderful week and were thankful to share it with our friends.  We look forward to doing it again next year.

Blessings
Leslie