First Day of School

We started school this past week.  It wasn't a particularly good week to start as we had a lot of other things going on, but I didn't feel like we could put it off any longer.  I've tried to schedule out our weeks so that we have some room in case things come up (and we all know that they do).  I want to have Christopher be able to finish most of his work by the end of April/early May - again with some breathing room in there.

One of our traditions for the first day of school is to go out for breakfast.  Roger likes to join us on this outing and he couldn't go on our actual first day so we went a few days early.  Before we headed out I took some photos of the children (while they were still clean).  I took group and individual shots.  Unfortunately, many of the individual ones are as good as I would like with the sun in their faces.  I'll have to try again.



We chose to go to Golden Corral this year.  With so many choices, everyone was happy.  This was a treat for our family as we rarely go out to eat. 



A picture of me with all of our children.  These photos don't happen too often as I'm usually behind the camera.  I'm so very thankful for the privilege and blessing of being able to homeschool.  It has provided our family with many opportunities.  I look forward to seeing what this year will hold.



Another tradition is to surprise them with new things for the upcoming year.  These are typically some of the books that they will be using along with some fun things to add into our days.  I didn't add in all of the school books this year as we are using some of the same things (like Five in a Row), so the pictures are mostly of the fun things.  Some of these things I've been collecting for months.

Eliana has some books, counters and markers.



Her favorite item is the one she held onto tightly ... a new Signing Time! 



Daniel has a game, Reading Made Easy (he will be the 4th to use this book), handwriting book and new markers. 



He was excited about the Lite Bright (bought at a consignment sale earlier this year).  He made a picture right away.  I'm going to need to find some more patterns for him.  (The box was missing quite a few of them.)



Isaiah has a new spelling program (All About Spelling),  handwriting, puzzles, colored pencils and a lego book that I really thought he would be excited about.  It took him a few days, but now he is loving it!



His favorite was the math war game (given to us by a friend) and the balloon helicopter.



Joshua has some new books, pens, and balloon helicopter.



He is excited about the mentos experiment!



Rebecca has books (this will be a theme with my oldest children), CDs and copywork. 



The thing she is excited about ... pencils.  Yes, mechanical pencils.  She loves them.



Christopher has mostly books - and a fun book on bananagrams.  (Really a neat game if you haven't yet tried it!)  Christopher reads a LOT!  Most of these books are ones that he needs to read for school - though not all of them (or even close to all of them as I haven't ordered all that we need for the year).



Just a fun photo.



A few things for everyone to enjoy - new placemats, books and our new Bible curriculum.  (I'm really enjoy this one!)



I'm hoping to share more soon on how I've organized things for the year.  I'm hoping it will really help me to stay focused on our goals for the year.  It's only been a week, but so far, so good.

Hope your week is going great!

Blessings

Leslie

Link to share for adorable tutus!

I wanted to share a link for the Moms who made the cute tutus and hats that Eliana and her friends wore for the  photo shoot.  If you are looking for a great gift - these are adorable!!! 

http://twobeestutus.blogspot.com/

Here is a reminder of the cute outfits.



Here is a link to the post on the photo shoot in which they were worn.

Enjoy!

Leslie

Birthday

We have been busy here and my computer time has been limited for fun stuff - like blogging.  I've been trying to get organized and think this may be my best start ever.  Some of it due to the fact that I have a lot more to organize this year than I ever have in the past.  Some of it too as I'm feeling the crunch of really trying to be prepared for my high school students.  It has worked fine the other way - but I'm hoping that the planning and preparation on the front end will give us a much more productive year!

So, I feel like I've been a terrible blogger and it may take some effort to get back into the hang of things.  I'm going to give it a try this week.  We'll see how it goes.   I realized just how slack I've been when I went to download pictures tonight and realized that I hadn't downloaded any off of my camera this month.  LOL  Guess this will be an easier month to scrapbook too as I haven't taken many photos either! 

Here is a peek at our current week:  Hosting 3 co-ops, working at 2 volleyball games, 2 volleyball practices, friends staying here from out of town for a couple of days and it's our first week of school.  :-)  So far, things are going well.

I'm going to start with a bit of catching up and then will post more (another day) about our week.  We celebrated my birthday last week.  My family was very sweet to me!  The children made or gave me cards.  Eliana's was a scrapbook card (that clearly her big sister helped her to make!).



I have a new screen saver with a sweet wish from Joshua.  (Note the amazing club sandwich in the background.)



Rebecca cooked wonderful foods for me to enjoy throughout the day.  I was also lavished with gifts and cards. 



No birthday would be complete without a cake. 



I'm thankful for this past year and the many opportunities and blessings that I have experienced.  I'm thankful for family and friends.  I'm thankful for a God who loves me without limit.  I'm thankful.



Blessings,

Leslie

Quick update on various things

I know I"ve been a bad blogger.  I've really been spending a LOT of time pouring over various books and trying to plan for the upcoming year.  I'm also working on goals/plans for my children with special needs.  I'm not finished, but I have made great progress.  This is shaping up to be the most prepared year I've had.

It hasn't been all work though.  We have been attending the free movies as we could.  What a real treat!  I'm so thankful for this opportunity!

We went to a Lego event nearby with some friends.  They had very large games that the kids could try out.



The die was enormous.



And lots of fun to toss.



The games are available at Target and other stores.  I think we'll look into this for birthdays or Christmas.  They had regular sized displays you could look at of the games.



The big game pieces were quite a hit though.



One game was a giant board that you actually got on to play.



Just a picture of our little cutie!



It was a little odd being on an outing with just my 4 youngest.  It's been a long time since I had 4 that were 10 and under.  My oldest kids were busy and so we just made some fun on our own!

Rebecca attended a drama camp again this summer.  They audition for parts on Monday and go home with a script.  By Friday night, they are putting on a performance!  It is really amazing what they accomplish in a week.  In this play, Rebecca played a "character".  Her role was nutty, funny and off-beat - and she did a great job.



I think she had a lot of fun with it too!



This week, I've been writing to a friend in Eastern Europe.  Two years ago, I began praying for this little girl.



I fell in love with her just by praying for her.  (Can you imagine what God could do in our hearts if we prayed faithfully for each other?!)  God called me to pray for this beautiful little girl and I have prayed for her and prayed for her.  Well, this week, the family that is committed to her is in her country working on adopting her.  They have run into some problems out of their control.  Would you join me in praying for them that God would work out all of the details!  I know He can do this and she deserves to be in a family!

One last praise - and prayer request.  Christopher comes home tomorrow!!!  After having been gone for two weeks, we will welcome him home tomorrow.  I'm very much looking forward to talking with him and hearing more about his trip.  He has really enjoyed his time there and is already talking about going back again!  While he was there, he took on additional work to write a paper and take an exam in order to earn college credit.  (He was one of only 10 - out of over 180 - that chose to do this.)  I'm proud of him for his hard work.  More than all of this though, I pray that God would use this time to plant deep seeds of His truth that would bloom and produce much fruit.  I'm excited to see what God has in store for him.

He has a long flight home with a couple of layovers.  I know he will be tired from a long couple of weeks filled to the brim with lectures and activites (and not lots of sleep it sounds like).  Would you pray for his safety?  Thank you!

Tomorrow, I'm going shopping with some friends - for school supplies.  I love school supplies.  I've been working on a list and am hoping to get most of what I need while it's tax free week-end!  More on that later.

Hope your week-end is filled with blessings!

Leslie

Busy planning

This week has been busy even though I didn't have much planned for it.  I've been trying to work on a few projects including:

*Transcripts - Working on pulling together all of the grades and courses from the past 3 years.  I will say that I plan to do a better job of record-keeping in the coming year than I have done in the past.  I am not frustrated with my efforts thus far though because I have been keeping great records of other things over the last 3 years - several notebooks full of records from Eliana's first year and Joshua's past year.

*FIAR group - Still trying to get all the groups going and running.  I'm thankful to have friends coming alongside me to do this!

*Planning for the year.  This is such a huge task (or it seems that way).  I'm trying to be thorough now so that I can use my time more effectively during the year.  I'm planning for two high school students this year and needing/wanting to keep good records.  To aid in this, I'm designing a grading grid for each class, a syllabus for the year (dates things are due, expectations, etc) and a planner for each child. 

I want to design the equivalent of 3 IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for my children with special needs.  I want to ensure that I'm doing what I can each day to maximize their learning.  I want to set realistic goals and work towards achieving them. 

So, with all that needing to be done, I haven't had much time for blogging.  I have done a few fun things.  We attended a showing of Charlotte's Web with some families from the play.  I visited an office supply store with some friends (yes, that counts as fun!). 

More later on what we'll be doing for the coming year.  :-)  Hope you are having a fun and productive week!

Blessings,

Leslie

Answered Prayers

So many prayers.  Sometimes you wonder what ever happened in a situation.  What was the answer to your prayer.  Other times, the answer never seems to come.  Those are especially hard and I know I've experienced this quite a bit - yet, I know God is faithful and will answer.  And yes, I do still have plenty to learn about patience.

Other times though, there are solid answers.  It is especially sweet when the answers are ones that excite and thrill your heart.  I've had a couple of those today.

I talked with Christopher this afternoon.  It's the first good conversation I've had with him since he left.  He had so much to share about the classes, the experiences and the things he is learning.  I'm so excited for him!  I've been praying that God would plant seeds deep into good soil, that He would use this time to give Christopher vision and that his faith would have an even deeper rooting. 

He has done some neat things -  running up a mountain, serving in the community, listening to great lectures and making new friends.  He is being challenged in good ways.  He mentioned something he might do before he left - and told me today that he did it.  I was surprised, proud and excited!  He wrote one of the blog posts for the students on the Summit website!  It was so much fun for me to walk through the day with him

You can read Christopher's post here.

As a parent, you do your best knowing you have made mistakes.  There have been areas that I wanted to focus on with Christopher that I just haven't done.  Writing has been one of those.  My world has been overwhelmed with medical issues and special needs for much of the last 3 - almost 4 years (not an excuse, just my reality).  In spite of my failings, he has grown, matured and developed into a really incredible young man.  I see in my son a person who is focused, determined and confident.  I am proud of the work he has done and excited about the work God is doing in his life!  Thank you God!

He told me that he thought it would be fun to come back there and work for a summer.  :-)  I think it would be a great thing to do as well!  I miss my son, but am so very happy for him that he is experiencing this.  I'm thankful for the opportunity that he has to do this.  Thank you for those who have been praying for him!

Another answer to prayer came today too.  The family that is adopting sweet Tonya got their final piece of paperwork corrected so that they are ready to go get her!  They will be leaving next week - well, in just a few days - to go get her.  This brings tears to my eyes.  I'm so very thankful that this beautiful little girl is going to have a family.  I"ve been praying for this for 2 years now and it's finally happening.  Thank you God.  Please pray that everything would go smoothly - from flights to paperwork, childcare to bonding.  I hope to one day meet this precious child face to face - and her sweet mama that I've enjoyed getting to know too.

While you are praying, could you lift up another family?  I had the opportunity to meet Julia at the NC Homeschool conference and have been praying for them.  They travelled to bring Aaron home and ran into some difficulties and had to return home without him.  This was a heartbreaking decision.  There is someone there working to get the details fixed so they can return.  Please pray that all would work smoothly and that the money needed for these extra expenses would be provided.  Please visit Julia's blog to read more about this sweet family so taht you can pray specifically for them too!

Father, I thank you that You are involved in the details of our lives.  I thank you that you are with each of us, especially as we are separated from the ones we love.  Please protect and guide each of us.  Help us to keep our eyes on You, the author and perfecter of our faith.

In His Love

Leslie

A New Adventure

We just dropped off Christopher at the airport.  After a late night of packing and an early rising time, we've seen him off.  He is attending the Summit Worldview Conference  in Colorado.  He'll be there for two weeks.  I know he is excited and I'm excited for him!



Would you join me in praying for him?  Praying for his safety while he travels.  It has been many years since he has flown and never alone.  Praying for his safety while he is there.  He is still recovering from his marathon and I want him to be able to really enjoy all of the physical and outdoor activities while he is there and also to make good choices.  Praying for his roomate - that they would get along well and enjoy each other and be an encouragement to each other.  Praying for the relationships that he makes there - that they would be edifying.  Praying that he would learn a lot - in his head and also his heart.  Praying that this time would strengthen his faith and challenge him in his walk with God in really good ways.

You know, I was really fine with this as we were taking him to the airport.  I do have a peace about him going.  Still, I feel a tear slipping down my face.  I was pondering earlier this morning about how I used to be a person that didn't often cry and was able to really hold it together.  I think Christopher is a lot like me in that regard.  Then Eliana came.  Her heart had two big holes in it that needed repair.  I didn't realize that having her would also cause my heart to broken in ways that it needed to be broken so that God could do a repair on me as well.  The repair was His work, but didn't leave me the same.  My heart is more tender now and often feels raw still.  I can see good in this as it does help me to be more understanding at times (and sometimes I still really need more work in this area!).  He has replaced some of my heart's desires with His (and again there is more work that can be done there too).  I also feel more exposed, more fragile in some ways and definitely more prone to tears.  Its not something I'm entirely comfortable with, but I think it just is who I am now.  I'm trying to stay yielded to Him so that He can be the one working on my heart. 

So, back to Christopher.  He is flying now.  His plane just took off a short while ago. 



Father, thank you for being with my son.  I thank you that you love him more than I can even imagine.  Please protect him from all harm and use this time for your good and your glory.  Thank you for blessing me with this amazing young man.  I'm so very glad to be his mom!  Amen.

Christopher - if you read this, know that I love you and am proud of you.  It seems like yesterday that you were a tiny baby in my arms.  All was right with the world.  Then I turned around and you became a man right before my eyes.  I know you are ready to explore and take on the world.  Know that I'm praying for you always and love you so very much.  I'm proud of you and the man you are becoming.  I miss you already and look forward to hearing about all that you are learning and doing and experiencing there.  I love you!  Mom

Thank you friends for praying with me.  I know he is big and to some may seem so very old.  He is and always will be my "little boy" though.  My heart became intertwined in his 18 years ago when I learned I was going to be a mom.  Nobody told me that watching your child walk off into the world would be so hard.  This is just a glimpse as I know he is coming home in two weeks.  I know that in the future, those tears will slip much quicker.



Blessings

Leslie

Guess what is in my back yard?

I bet you can't guess.

Its not something you typically see in a back yard.

I wouldn't be surprised if you have never seen one of these in a back yard before.

Would you like a hint?

It's larger than a breadbox.

Much larger actually.

It's large enough to hold several little boys with plenty of room to spare.

It's red.

If you are a rower (someone who uses Five in a Row), I'll give you some specific hints.

It has "wise eyes". 

Did you figure it out yet?

I'm hoping that you weren't able to see the picture before you had a chance to guess.  That would ruin some of the fun.

Need another hint?

Its something you might see in China ...

on the river.

It's a junk!



One of the Dads in our group built this for our Family Event two years ago.  They graciously asked us if we wanted it.  You can see that I did say yes!



This is going to be a fun place to relive memories of that fun day with our friends as well as create new ones! 

Thanks Blake and Adele!  We love it (and you too!)

Love
Leslie

Planning

I haven't been blogging as much lately - but have still been keeping busy!  A lot of it hasn't had pictures involved (and I do love pictures!).  I'm busy trying to get a lot of planning done for the upcoming year.  I haven't done much "school planning" yet, but it's been a lot of other planning for our homeschool group.  Here's a peek at what's been going on.

1.  Five in a Row Group - This is a group that I started in Jan 2002 for families using the Five in a Row curriculum.  It has been a real blessing to be a part of this sweet group!  After being a part of the drama production with Rebecca in the spring, God really showed me how encouraging each member to have a part in the group was a blessing - not only to the group, but also to the individual!  In order to facilitate this, I talked with a core group of leaders within our group and we came up with ideas of ways that people could serve in the group.  I'm really excited to see so many new people taking on roles of leading in various areas!  I'm hoping that we will move to a point where everyone in the group is involved in helping to run it in some capacity.  I'm excited to see what God will do in this area.

2.  Field Trips - Our FIAR group does field trips every other week from August to May.  I LoVe field trips!  I've been planning them for groups since  Christopher was 2!  There are three of us organizing the outings this year.  We met over the week-end and developed a plan for the year.  I've gotten one confirmed and hopefully the others will fall into place just as easily!  I think we have a fun year ahead!

3.  Family Event - This is the largest event of the year for our FIAR group.  We hold this on a Saturday and plan it around one of the FIAR books or several if they have a similar theme.  We have done  WWII, Western, Medieval and more.  I had a great group of 6 gals come together to plan our events for the upcoming year.  One of the things that I love about this event is that everyone that signs up to attend, also signs up to have a job.  The creativity that comes out is amazing.  It to me is a beautiful example of the body of Christ working together.  It's also a LOT of fun!  More to come on this fun fall event!

4.  Mom's meetings - We host monthly Mom's meetings for our FIAR group.  We typically have a topic and also have a lot of social time.  We need this time of encouragement and refreshment!  We had our first meeting on Sunday and talked about planners.  People shared what they used and what worked for them.  It's a fun way to learn from others and to get inspired for the upcoming year.

5.  Beyond Co-op - The group that participated in the Volume 4 FIAR co-op wanted to continue into another co-op.  This co-op was such a fun time.  Again, lots of creativity and the shared workload and learning was incredible!  We are planning to work through Volume one this year and are in the midst of our planning for the year.

6.  Book club - This is something new for this year.  I wanted something special for some of the older kids and thought a book club would be fun.  We met tonight and discussed and chose books we will be using for the year.  We plan to have each girl take a turn leading the discussion and hosting the club.  She will also provide food for the event.  I hope this will be a fun time and also a time that will stretch the girls and help them to gain new skills while the deepen their friendships. 

7.  High School group - Organized several meeting where some of the moms of teens could view this dvd series on transcripts.   We are starting a loop to discuss transcripts and hopefully this will be a place where we can encourage each other.  I also think it would be fun to plan some outings that are especially geared for the older kids.  Nothing firm on this yet though.  I'd like to do some things that Christopher will really enjoy and want to focus on him during his senior year. 

I've toyed with starting a FIAR co-op, but have not felt a peace about it yet.  I don't want to take on too much.  If there is to be one, I'm thinking it will be a once month meeting so that the commitment level will not be too intense. 

I've also been spending a LOT of time working on Christopher's transcript.  My record keeping has been lax the last 3 years.  I've had a lot of other things on my plate.  Christopher has done the work, I just need to compile grades and record all that he has done.  I need to get this done soon as the college application process begins in a couple of months. 

So, there is a little of what I've been up to.  More on these topics in posts to come.  If you have questions about any of it though, please ask as I'm happy to share.  I'm hoping that by focusing on dividing up the workload in our FIAR group that the work will be shared and not a burden to me or one of the others who is heavily involved.  It also frees me up to think about starting some of these other new groups.  I'm really excited about our upcoming year!  I'm thankful that we are healthy and able to participate in a variety of things too!  God is good.

Blessings

Leslie

PS  Soon I hope to be doing more school planning and will share what we will be doing this year in a later post.

Camp - Day 4 - Ice Cream

This was Rebeca's biggest camp day. She had 10 children attending. It was a lot of fun!  The beginning was a devotion and then a book on ice cream.  We did a unit study on ice cream a couple of years ago and had a blast with it!  It's a wonderful topic to explore.  I highly recommend it if you are looking for a fun thing to do this summer!



Next was an experiment about the effects of salt on the temperature of water.



The children were then given 10 tasks to accomplish.  They were to split up so that each child had one task.  This was so much fun and the kids loved it.  After going through it once, many of the children then wanted to go through the whole thing themselves.  Here were the items in the obstacle course.

Walking the balance beam - backwards



Carrying a beanbag on your head across the yard and back.



Hitting the golf ball into a large hole - blindfolded.  This was actually quite funny as the kids were trying to help him with his aim.


Carrying an egg on a spoon to the cones and back.



Limbo.



Jumprope 20 times


Kicking the ball around the cones and back again.



Crabwalk - forward and backwards across the yard


Jump through the rungs of the ladder



Handstand



Next was the moment that they had all been waiting for - ice cream.  They took turns adding their ingredients into a baggie to make their own ice cream.  Rebecca also had an assortment of toppings - fruit and sprinkles - that they could add if they wanted to.



Another ice cream book and how the waffle cone was invented.



After listening to the story, the kids were to come up with their own ideas of how the cone was invented.  They split into 3 groups, gathered props from a box Rebecca provided and the acted out their story for the others.







The morning ended with some quizzes.  They tried to work together to figure out which countries eats the most ice cream, the top 5 ice cream flavors and the top 5 ice cream producing states.  Some of the kids held signs while the others tried to sort them. 



Fun day.  I think a lot of sweet memories were made this morning!

Blessings

Leslie