Better late than never?

How sad is this? My last blog post was 3 months ago. Pa-the-tic! (This will be the introduction of all my posts, because I will always be behind and late ;-)

We have been very busy with Arizona Virtual Academy.
 Busier than I would like. Busy on things like Art, Science, and Music (subjects we did not work on last year) We do not have the time to do what we lived, breathed, & ate last year, which was plenty of time in God's Word, memorizing scripture & hymns, and learning about History with an emphasis on the moral ramifications of each event, and an in depth study of personal choices with historical figures.
(YAY SONLIGHT!)

Last year, was the year of Sonlight Curriculum. This year is the year of AZVA curriculum-Where I have to pre-read a lot of it, so I don't accidentally say out loud 'Scientists believe that amphibians were the precursors to mammals, and possibly developed from some slimy algae' ---uh-no, we are learning about evolution-but not as fact from our Science book! I have been using Ken Ham's Answers in Genesis to help me teach about Evolution, alongside the biblical view of Creation.

I was disappointed that not much reading occurs in AZVA. (After reading over 100 books in 2nd grade last year for Sonlight)
So, I downloaded Sonlight's 3rd grade reading list and ordered as many as I could from the library and Amazon.
Our first book to arrive was Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla. It was such a great read! -I love all of Mr Bulla's works and this was no different.

The book starts with Pocahontas, in a forest, hunting with her brother, watching a soaring bird, and ends with her dying, whilst remembering that soaring bird, and the camaraderie of hunting with her brother.

Most all of us know this story of a young girl, running through the forests of Virginia-carefree, happy, ignorant.
She meets a group of Colonists and learns English, she really does save John Smith from certain death on a few occasions.
Towards the end of the book, a sad twist occurs. John Smith leaves, Pocahontas is kidnapped and kept in Henricus until her father meets the demands that the Governor has given.
There in Henricus, Pocahontas learns about the Lord, becomes a Christian, and is baptized.-Turning away from the Native Americans Pantheistic ways.
  She then marries John Rolf and goes to England. She is happy in England, but longs to return to her home in Virginia with her baby son and husband. She never makes it. She dies, on a boat, in an English harbor.-This is a really quick summary-but you get the idea!

At the end of the book, Jessica and I discuss how the book made us feel, what we liked about the story what we didn't like.
 I went first. I told Jessica that I felt ' Pocahontas was better off before the Colonists ever came.
They brought disease, stole things from the tribe, took land, kidnapped Pocahontas, (sexually abused her while in Henricus) Dressed her in English clothes, changed her name, and then took her to a foreign country where she died as a very young woman still. (Her life ahead of her)

I liked the idea of Pocahontas never meeting the settlers, never hurting, or sad.
 Just enjoying the unadulterated forest of Virginia for her entire life. Marrying a fellow Indian prince and living to a ripe old age in a warm Wigwam somewhere. I felt like she had been cheated by the English, and it wasn't fair!'
Jessica looked at me and simply said. 'I know what you mean, mom, but if the settlers had never come, and never took her to Henricus, she never would've learned to read the Bible, or became a Christian-and then when she died, she wouldn't have gone to heaven'

EXCUSE ME WHILE I PICK MY JAW OFF THE FLOOR-WHAT?!?!? Did my little 8 year old child just tell me a basic biblical truth that I hadn't even CONSIDERED, regarding the eternal life of Pocahontas? Yes, yes she did. I am quite proud of Jessica for realizing something that is more important than fairness, or happiness of an individual-The significance of knowing the Creator of the Universe has forgiven you, is all that matters.

Saving money? I'll give it a try!

 Ever since Bobby and I were married, I've always worked.
I worked as a nanny, a babysitter, a substitute teacher at a Montessori school in Denver. I had an errand service, & worked as a personal assistant to a successful lawyer (worst)
I took part in surveys, cleaned houses, whatever I could do to help contribute to the family.

  My parents also taught me high work ethics.
--Get up early, study hard, work as hard as you can at what you love doing, and money will follow--

As my girls have gotten older, and we decided to homeschool I decided not to work, and keep them as my first mission field. I will be accountable before the Lord one day, for my responsibility to teaching them of God and His Word-I take this job very seriously!

I will still work a couple times a month if a family needs help, organizing or cleaning, I see it as a ministry also.

This though is getting more tricky as my girls get older and require more- More in the sense of their emotional needs, talking more, asking more questions about "Who am I ",  "Why am I here?"
We are moving towards more complicated school work, that requires lots of plan & prep work. Drill work (multiplication tables)  takes time, and with Tori starting Kindergarten this year, it is my goal that she is reading by age 5. (359 days away!)

Why this huge prologue? LOL Well, with me not working as of July 20th and Bobby paying off houses, cars, and student loans-I am going to be more efficient with the money we have set aside each month for groceries/gas/play.

First on the list, I started couponon-ing. May 1st 2011 was the first week I started and in about 2 months I have spent about 1/3 my normal grocery bill and have an average saving of 66% every time. You should see my pantry-It's crazy!

When it comes to saving $$ the idea to come up most often is making your own laundry detergent and dish detergent.

Dish detergent is salt, borax, washing soda, and citric acid.

 Laundry detergent is a grated Fels Naptha bar, borax, & washing soda. (which is bicarbonate)

           Mixing , mixing, mixing mixing. (I'm glad I save yogurt containers, they were perfect)

Tori was very proud. Immediately afterwards we used both in a load of clothes, and a load of dishes. They worked superbly.  It cost about $ 1.75 for 32oz of each type of detergent (16 laundry loads & 64 loads of dishes)
I will also be making my own bread each week, and planting a garden. Yay for being a good steward of what God has blessed us with.

Egg in a bottle trick

This morning Bobby was home. There is almost always a science/math/physics lesson going on when he is home. Which I love and appreciate. Biology and languages are my forte!

Bobby asked Jessica if she would like to amaze her friends by showing them how she could get an an egg inside a bottle. (How did it get there?! )

They started out with boiling an egg, and peeling it. They then lit a small amount of paper and dropped it into a plastic bottle. Quickly the egg is placed on top of the bottle. As the fire burns through all the oxygen it quickly starts sucking down on the egg as the pressure is trying to equalize between inside & outside the bottle.
To get a very detailed explanation of what is happening go here.

They decided to try a glass jar the second time with a smaller hole. It went in, although I did not get a photo.

Amazing! :)

Well it's bad news when you can't remember your own blog address!

Yes, it has been 6 days shy of a 2 month blogging hiatus! I am so much like "If I can't have a theme & marvelous pictures then I'm not going to do it!" --I think now it is better to just do it, minus spectacular pictures and it will probably just be a motley mess!

I have just finished up multiple homeschool/parenting books including Last child in the woods, Endangered minds, Raising a child the Montessori way, 500 Homeschool ideas  , I love dirt,  Learning math Through Play, Everything you need to know to teach your child to read, & Bringing up girls  by Dr. James Dobson-I loved all of these books and ending up speed reading all but the last to save time. (But I did take notes on things we would do in this years school "work")

The book by Dr. James Dobson was SO good. I recommend it if you are a girl, have a girl, or know someone with a girl. The statistics are all current, as the book just came out in February of 2010 I believe.
I currently have my notes organized into oblivion, but the biggest thing that stuck out to me in this book (and I have shared with 3 people so far) is the importance of a girls purity through out her childhood & young adult life. A beautiful story illustrates the value of our first kiss, our first handhold, our first words of love..... Read below and enjoy:

The Charm Bracelet
by Sarah Kistler

Sweet 16 had finally come! I never thought I‘d make it. But I did. And it was amazing. My parents threw the birthday party of the century, and I had more people than I could count. The whole day had been awesome. But as I watched the sun begin to set, I knew the best part was soon to come.

It was late in the evening. Confetti had been swept up, helium balloons had started to sag and gift wrap had been folded neatly and tucked away for my mom's later use. As I sat at my window studying the dusky sky, Dad peeked into my room with a smile.

"Ready to go, Sweetie?" he asked.

Was that a trick question? I wondered as I scrambled to my feet. I'd been waiting for this night for five long years, and it was finally here! I was now officially allowed to date!

The plan was for my parents and me to go to my favorite restaurant on the night of my 16th birthday and officiate the agreement, go over standards and discuss rules and such. And now we were finally on our way.

I sat across from my parents in a quiet corner booth. Having just placed our orders, I figured it was time to get on with it. "So. I can go out with any guy I want to, right?" I squealed, hardly able to contain my excitement.

Mom and Dad chuckled. Dad answered, "Well, we agreed to that, didn't we?"

"Sweet!" I exclaimed, doing a little victory dance in my seat. My parents had held me off for years, but now that the time had come, they would let me date any guy I wanted! Of course they knew I had a good relationship with God and wasn't too short on common sense, either.

"Now wait just a second," Mom interrupted with a smile. "You have to agree to a little something yourself."

I was expecting a lecture of some sort, so I was already prepared. "So what do I have to do now?" I asked, leaning forward on my elbows.

"Just open this," Dad answered, producing a small white box. He gave a mysterious smile.

One Little Rule
I hesitated a moment before untying the curly pink ribbon. I slowly opened the lid and saw a beautiful silver bracelet. But not just any bracelet. It was a charm bracelet. And they weren't just any charms. They were gemstones, small but gorgeous. A dozen dainty charms dangled gently.

"Wow." I didn't know what else to say. I wasn't expecting this at all.

"Now you have to understand this isn't just any bracelet," Mom informed me.

"I know," I said. "It's so beautiful!" I studied it closer. There were six small charms alternating with six tinier ones. The smaller ones were a deep blue. Sapphires, I guessed. And the other six were each different. One appeared to be just a rock, one was pink, a white one, a red one, green . . . and was that a diamond?

"This charm bracelet is symbolic," Dad explained, leaning in closer to study it with me. "It represents you and your purity. This is what will guide you through your dating relationships. Your mother and I can only tell you what's right. We can't make you believe it yourself. Hopefully, this will."

I looked up solemnly. "I'm listening."

"This represents the first time you hold a guy's hand," Mom said, pointing to the gray one. "It's just a piece of polished granite. Seemingly cheap, yes, but it's still a part of your bracelet. This is pink quartz." She gently rubbed the next one between her fingers. "It represents your first kiss."

"This green one is an emerald," Dad continued. "This is your first boyfriend. The pearl is the first time you say ‘I love you' to a man other than me."

I giggled. This was so amazing.

"The ruby stands for your first engagement. And the diamond represents the first time you say ‘I do,' " Mom finished.

After letting it all sink in, I cleared my emotion-clogged throat. "What do the six tiny sapphires stand for?" I asked.

"Those are to remind you how beautiful and valuable you are to us and to God," Dad replied. "Now here's the hitch in all this, the one and only rule you'll ever have to follow when it comes to dating."

Only one rule. Sounded good. But little did I know . . .

"Whenever you give one these actions of love-a kiss, an ‘I love you,' a hand to hold-you also have to give the recipient the gem to match."

I must've misunderstood. "I have to give him the gem?"

"You have to give it to him," Mom restated.

I was silent for a moment. I thought they must be joking. But they weren't even thinking of cracking a smile.

"But Daddy!" I suddenly shrieked. "These are insanely expensive! I can't just give them away!"

He gave a soft, loving chuckle. "Did you hear what you just said?"

I thought about it.

"Baby, your purity, your heart, they're far more valuable than a few little rocks. If you can't find it in your heart to give away your little charms, I don't think you should be giving away the things they represent."

I could feel my insides melting, ready to gush out my tear ducts. On the one hand, it made me feel valuable and precious. But on the other, it made me furious. It made no sense. But it would.

Priceless Gems
A few weeks after that night, I was hanging out with my friends at the beach. Chad wouldn't swim because I wouldn't swim. I was more interested in reading than getting caked with sand, and he was more interested in sitting with me than swimming with his buddies. He was sweet. He was cute. And he tried to hold my hand.

I was thrilled for a nanosecond when a certain piece of ugly granite flashed through my mind and made me move out of his reach. I was severely annoyed-annoyed at my parents, annoyed at my bracelet-turned-handcuffs, but most of all, annoyed at myself. I was letting a little rock dominate my romantic life.

I furiously glared at it during the whole embarrassing walk to the bathhouse. But then God hit me upside the head with a shocking epiphany. I couldn't give up my little chunk of granite. It was a part of my bracelet, which in a sense made it a part of me. I wouldn't be whole without it. It wasn't a priceless gem, yet it was still valuable. It made sense after that.

Kevin came along eventually. We had fun. We hung out a lot. I thought I might love him. I thought I might tell him so. I thought of my pearl. It turned out that I didn't love him as much as I thought I did.

So my parents had been right. They couldn't make me believe the things they wanted me to believe. So they let God and my bracelet do the work instead. Among the four of them, I figured out how valuable I was. How valuable my purity was. How not valuable guys were who just wasted my time and emotions. If they weren't in it for the whole bracelet, why should they get one part of it?

Nate. He thought my bracelet was awesome. So he never tried to hold my hand. He never tried to kiss me. But he asked me to marry him.

I never knew that so many years of torture could amount to so much happiness. I'd thought it was silly. I'd thought it was overrated. But now, I‘ve never been more glad of anything in my life. As I gave my husband the charm bracelet in its entirety, I wondered why I had found it so hard to hang on to those little rocks when it was so amazing to give them all to the man I truly loved.

But it didn't end there. Now our daughter wears it.

This story brought tears to my eyes, and we currently plan on designing a bracelet, like the one in the story for both of our daughters : )

Florida Travels

Just a couple weeks ago, the girls and I traveled to Palm Harbor Florida to celebrate Easter with my wonderful in-laws!

 Palm Harbor is just outside of Tampa, and is so diverse with Ocean/white sand, green foliage and boggy swamp area. (Yes, one must keep a look out for Alligators!)

The first outing was to book club with my mother-in law Laurie. The book they were reviewing was Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival  by Laura Hillenbrand.

I have not read the book, but I loved the story she wrote on 'Seabiscuit', the race horse, so I plan to read 'Unbroken' soon!

The atmosphere at the restaurant was so beautiful. Big, comfy chairs, outside on a patio, with ferns and flowers all around!

After lunch, we stopped at a Nature Trail that is about 1 mile from their home. It is so cool because the boardwalk is built high, because part of season the land is flooded!

Jessica sat on a big cypress tree that grows well in these sandy, wet areas. Very fun!

At the end of the boardwalk, it opens up to a 8'by 6' enclosed platform that looks over a shallow water hole. We were not disappointed with all the animal friends waiting for us!

No alligators today! (Whew!)

Grandma and the girls on a little bench. Thank you Laurie, for taking these photos and showing us wild Florida!

Clean

I am feeling pretty pathetic. More important to me right now, than my kids schooling is the state of my home! (That makes me feel pretty pathetic!)

This morning, after being on vacation in Florida for a week, I woke up at 5 am to the smell of dinner cooking in the crockpot. Yes, that's right. I went to sleep with pinto beans and rice in the crockpot so that I would have my protein ready for breakfast/lunch/dinner. (How does oatmeal and beans sound for breakfast? LOL)

So, 5 am, and I am up and running. I fulfill my computer addiction by reading news/blogs/email/FB for over an hour. (This is something I don't want to waste my life on, and plan not  to spend much time on the computer in the future.-ah my noble goal!)
Afterwards, I work-out, start laundry, feed kids, load the dishwasher, put the trash out and start mopping the floor..I really think i may have a problem with wanting things to be a particular way.
I want to get to the point where my house can be in utter chaos and I still am able to peaceably continue my homeschooling day! I will get to this point!  Even after waking up at 5 am, we still did not start school until 8:30 am! Because everything had to be just right, before I could focus on homeschool.


So that is my goal, getting my house to an organized point so that it is not constant cleaning and de-cluttering. (*Tip* Look at everything on your desk or counter, and say "Could that go somewhere else?"
and you will start getting rid of clutter :)

J.R. Miller says~
"The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies." 

This website has a free e-book if you blog or twitter about it today. "Having a Martha house the Mary way".
 Reminds me of the story where Jesus was visiting with Martha and Mary. Mary was busy listening attentively to her Lord, while Martha was more anxious about the state of the house and preparation of food for her guest. Jesus finally admonished Martha and said "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42).

I believe that often in our hurry to have everything "just so" we can miss out on the
important things right in front of us! So I will be working on this :)

My Semi- Montessori Method

I have always been interested in Maria Montessori. I spent about 5 months working in Montessori Childrens House of Denver, as a teachers helper. I really loved how the kids were treated like little adults.
They really "led" their own education, daily free to do as they liked in the classroom. Whether it be working with an abacus, reading in a cozy corner, measuring colored liquid with droppers, or cleaning oxidized pennies with baking soda and lemons! It really is quite amazing. I saw five year olds reading fluently and doing multiplication and division-True, they had been in Montessori since 6 weeks old, but it was amazing for me to see. It made me a true believer in "Montessori Method"

Carrying that method out is another story! The organization and consistency I do not have, and the educational toys are extremely expensive, so I stick to ones that are easily found around my home or the dollar store :) I found a tray, a rug (for setting activities on), some little glass bowls, a shower curtain for messy events, and fun timers,(to give an added time-limit element to some activities)

One simple Pre K activity is a smell/match game. It involves multiple bottles with different scents mixed up, the child then finds the 2 that match in scent.
I used the above salt/pepper shakers and placed 3 cotton balls in each. On the top cotton balls, I scented 2 bottles with vanilla, two bottles with Almond extract, and two bottles with Peppermint extract.
Jessica really enjoyed it, and it took Tori just a minute to match the mixed up bottles with the correct scents!

Every week, involves filling our reading corner, and bedside table with lots of wonderful children's classics. I follow a classical education site, where these above books were recommended for ages 5+

Here is a picture of Tori in our homeschool room with a couple of her activities that we did for "Letter T" day. I have to admit, I have shifted my focus to the phonetic sound and not the letter name anymore. That can come later :)

Closer, you can see the Tree is made out of colored noodles, and she painted the Trunk.

We then colored a Tiger and made sand paper letters "T t"

The next day I had Jessica work with Tori, I just gave them all the materials and Jessica gave the lesson on letter "Z". This is common in Montessori environment where they have Multi Age Grouping. An older child will often be paired with a younger child to work/teach a skill.

They also read the two Bob books that pertained to the "zzz" sound.
I think this encapsulates the Montessori method, because it was a child led activity that was fun & play while still being educational. Positive for everyone. :)

The Sound of Music play

We went to see The Sound of Music at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater in Mesa, AZ.

We went for my Mother in law's birthday and were happy that the tickets were thru the H.E.R.O
newsletter with Jan Parsons. (always happy with the shows we've seen thru them)

To say it was absolutely wonderful would be an understatement. It was undoubtedly the highlight of my year, and I wish I could watch the show EVERY single day.

Jessica and I already sing most of the music from the soundtrack daily, so as we prepared for the show to start, we were already noisily humming "Lonely Goatherd"

The ambience is beautiful there. Lot's of teacups, candles, dark wood, and chocolate chip cookie smells.
We had so much fun dressing up, having dinner, and an all you can eat dessert bar, before the show started.

Here is "Maria" and the children singing Lonely Goatherd during the thunderstorm scene.

And Captain Georg Von Trapp with Elsa on his lap!

So funny! Please, if you are able support our local theaters. A great evening was had by all!

Easter party

My great friend Kimberly Delongchamp put together a fantastic Easter party for our neighborhood. Complete with the Easter Bunny himself!

I was honored to be asked by the Easter Bunny to read a small story on the steps of the park about "Curious George and the Easter Eggs"

Yes, my friend is amazing, that is 800 filled plastic eggs!

Show & Tell

We had show and tell, one of the last Friday's in March. The girls really wanted to buy my mom a gift for her farm.
 This made a wonderful opportunity to a) buy gift b) have cool show & tell object to share.

Off to the Triple D Feed store and we are now the proud owners of two French Guineas!

Who will grow up to look like this

They love to eat ticks, so they are awesome for farms in the south that have tick problems. Many junk yards also have guineas instead of a dog. Guineas will roost high in trees and sound quite the alarm if ANYTHING happens out of the ordinary.

Here are the girls telling about their guineas (You can't see the 12 or so people listening!)

Play time

Snack time ( we were celebrating March B-days)

March 22nd a Sunny day for the Renaissance Festival

I was bound and determined to learn how to spell the word renaissance by the time the day was out, but I still misspell it every time!

I did the girls hair in the morning because I did not want to be suckered into those $40 braids they do for kids at the festival.                                          Et Voila !

We had just finished the portion of our Sonlight curriculum that covered the time period 1400-1600 AD. We studied lots of Michaelangelo, the Medici family, and the rise of King Henry's Church of England.
Here is a great book on Michaelangelo and Queen Elizabeth.

I definitely wanted Jessica to learn something about the renaissance from all this.
 (We went on elementary student day-which made the festival very modest & clean)

We watched the falconry show -

And the jousting tournament.( I was so glad she finally was able to see and understand a joust!

After we had read so much on Castles, Keeps, pages, stewards, lances, knights etc etc etc. She finally got a great visual!)

Their favorite part of course was a pantomiming fairy named Twig

Tori still talks about Twig, and how her stone is out of fairy dust. :)

Jess on the bungey line

The long day was finished off with a visit to Great grandma's house, and a rest in Grandma's lap

And a mad rush back to a church in the West Valley where Jessica sang "Raindrops On Roses" and "Part Of Your World" at her very first vocal performance! 

Great job! Although eye contact was only made with the floor for her ;)

I am so proud of this gentle girl!

What that in the Sky? It's a bird! It's a plane! It's rain?

March 21st we had a scheduled trip to go to the Glendale airport's Fixed Base Operator (fancy name for flight school)http://www.aerosimaviation.com/

The plan was to have the kids get a presentation from a real life airline pilot, (step in nervous airline pilot husband) fly in a simulator, have an aviation related snack (my airplane cookies with the wings falling off) and hopefully listen to Air Traffic Control bringing in a few personal aircraft to land on the runway.

BUST!!!-We had rain, 60 degree temps, and heavy clouds above the airport that morning. But that did not stop our determined young minds-we pursued our FBO tour, hoping that we could steer some of the talk toward weather and how it affects flying. 

This is the 710M simulator the kids flew. I think only a few crashed ;-)

Bobby told the kids that being good in math is an added plus (pun intended) in aviation.

But anybody can do it. They just have to teach themselves how to learn the material and retain it.

 He started when he was 14 years old mowing grass and washing cars, to make money for his flight training!

Bobby showing the kids a Cessna 172

I think he touched very briefly on Bernoulli's principle of lift, (how particles of air move faster over the curved top of the wing thus creating a sucking vacuum and therefore lift)

First Office Stokes pointed out the Stall Indicator device. Which can be tested manually by sucking on the bug infested wing (yum!)

"Yes, I think this wing is flight worthy"

All in all, we had a great time. Above are two of our 8 year old boys who may have dreams of sailing the skies one day soon.

Thank you to First officer Stokes and Aerosim Aviation for your knowledge and time!