Why Homeschool - Carnival of Homeschooling Graphics Contest

This is my submission to the Carnival of Homeschooling Graphics contest. They will be taking entries until January 28th. Give it a try!

Why Homeschool - Carnival of Homeschooling Graphics Contest

http://www.inpursuitofproverbs31.com/2007/12/why-homeschool-carnival-of.html

Our Family Christmas 2007

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas this year! It was full of family, friends, food and fun!

First, on Saturday, my sister and I threw a party with some of our girlfriends and their husbands. We had lots of food, catching up chat and the White Elephant Game! Ryan ended up with a used doorknob (?) and I got a wall hanging candle holder that can double as a fish bowl. Well, at least that is what Jodi said! It was a bunch of fun as you can see from the photo below:

Jami, Garrilind, Amy (moi), Andrea (my sis) and Jodi.

The boys spent Sunday with their dad and his family and got to see their grandparents who live a few states away so it was a real treat for them. They always miss mawmer and pawper so much!

Christmas eve was the start of the family festivities. The boys awoke to gifts galore under the tree. Dad began by reading the story of Christ's birth and we gave thanks to God for all that we have been given. Then the boys were allowed to open their gifts.

They received (and were excited about) ant farms, educational games like Monkey Math, How Things Work and Sentence Says, chemistry set, electricity set, and more. I shopped at Rainbow Resource this year! They also received some toys: remote control cars, action figures, airplanes, etc. Jacob was disappointed that he did not receive the one toy that he wanted this year. As he put it, "I have to have Optimus Prime Movie Leader" or I can't be a kid anymore!!!" That was said with real tears my friends. But, as any of you with young boys who wanted Optimus Prime Movie Leader for Christmas know, this toy was one of the hard to find items this year. I looked everywhere!

The detriment wore off when they saw this gift... another hard to find gift item. Just look at my Brennan's face! He was beaming with excitement!

and these: What little boys doesn't want a bike? And since we now have a house where they can actually ride them this is awesome!


We went to Christmas Eve service at church and listened to a great message by Pastor Dino. He talked about making Christ the center of the celebration. He used a manger scene as a visual aid. He said, "Christ is always the center of the manger scene. Just imagine putting anything else there. It doesn't work. Why do we try to adjust the rest of Christmas and take Him out of the center? It doesn't work." It was an eye opening message. Wonderful!

Christmas day we headed over to grandmas. We stopped the festivities of eating and chatting long enough to take a few pics...

Look at that happy family! Hi Pawpaw Mike and Grandma Brenda! Hey Uncle Sammy and Ms. Amy! We love you and we miss you!

I have the greatest husband in the world! He spends so much time with us, he works hard (two jobs) to provide for us and he still has the time to buy me the best gifts ever! I received about 4 books, a bathtub book rack so that I can read while taking a bubble bath, the new Building 429 CD and 6 new, LARGE size lotions for Bath and Body Works. He makes me so happy! Oh, and did I mention that he is currently semi-renovating my kitchen as we speak?! My sister and brother in law bought us a brand new range! It is a late wedding/Christmas present, whatever. They bought us one! It will be delivered in the next few days. (I will post more about all of this later). I may be somewhat MIA until then.

Here I am with my partners in crime. My sassy lil sis Andrea and my cool, chill lil bro, Ryan.

Aren't we so cute? And yes, I know we look alike! :o)

Here are all of our little munchkins. My three and my sister's two.

Some children are just rotten. NOTE the little girl on the right. She is a firecracker. Her nickname is the Pretty Pink Princess. She wanted a Hannah Montana Pink Katar (guitar) Purse for Christmas. She didn't get one. It took lots of presents to cover that one up!

Here is another great family shot. This is my dad, my grandma (still not feeling all that well so keep her in prayer please), little Grant and Jacob.

Smile Grandma!

Here is another shot at grandmas. They are opening gifts here.

My brother, the bachelor who thought toilet paper and shampoo grew in the bathroom has come to the realization over the last year or so that he actually has to buy this stuff. This is a harsh and cruel reality for him especially since he must pay rent for his sweet new condo, take his new girlfriend out to eat, and buy new clothes and shoes, and just be cool, you know? Well, he is in a slump right now because he is a National Guardsmen who works construction. His construction jobs are very slow right now and in February of this coming year he is going to Germany so that means he is having trouble getting any other type of employment. So... we got him the ultimate care package.

The whole family pitched in and got him toothpaste, detergent, cologne, deodorant, soap, cereal, tuna fish, ramen noodles, and so many other things, including toilet paper! It was great! He thought it was cool because he is Mr. Practical.

Below you can see my dear sweet grandma holding her ears and wincing. That is because Jacob just screamed! Why did he scream you ask?

Inside that wrapping paper is the coveted Optimus Prime Movie Leader he had hoped for. Yes ma'am! His mama saw it from across Wal-Mart, in Customer Service, and inside of a returns buggy (shopping cart for all you non Cajuns). I sprinted across the store and asked if I could have that toy and the associate just handed it to me! I got Optimus Prime. Do you realize what this means? Well, I am Mom of the Year, of course! My sweet lil man was so happy!

Now, here is my Gev. He wanted stilts. At first try they were much to big for his 3 ft stature so my manly man brother took them outside, sawed off the ends and made them about three inches shorter which was just enough to get him going. I was so scared that he would just fall face first into the concrete but my dad and brother just kept reassuring me to just let him go. I did and he did fall a few times but then he became really good at it. He can get all around the house on those things now!

Here is a gift that I gave to my mom. I wanted to give credit to it's designer when I won it but I didn't want to spoil the surprise for mom! I won this from Jill over over at the Diaper Diaries during the Fall Ya'll Giveaways. Her mom Janet from Script Yours created it and my mom cried when she saw it! This would make an awesome Mother's Day gift. My mom loved hers! Thank you so much Jill and Jill's mom! You rock!

Our Family Christmas 2007

http://www.inpursuitofproverbs31.com/2007/12/our-family-christmas-2007.html

In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 Blog Carnival 3rd Edition

Christin is hosting this edition of In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 Blog Carnival. Please head on over for some inspiration!

In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 Blog Carnival 3rd Edition

http://www.inpursuitofproverbs31.com/2007/12/in-pursuit-of-proverbs-31-blog-carnival_20.html

I Love This.. Merry Christmas Everyone!

I Love This.. Merry Christmas Everyone!

http://www.inpursuitofproverbs31.com/2007/12/i-love-this-merry-christmas-everyone.html

Submit Your Blog Carnival Entries

Be sure to submit your entries for this week's In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 Blog Carnival! Send them to amy (at) inpursuitofproverbs31 (dot) com. The deadline is Tuesday at midnight.

This week's Plate It & Post It will be at Amy's Milk and Cookies and the them will be Christmas Cookies!! Be sure to link back to your posts about those yummy cookies!

Go to The Common Room to check out this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling.

Submit Your Blog Carnival Entries

http://www.inpursuitofproverbs31.com/2007/12/submit-your-blog-carnival-entries.html

Confessions Of A Homeschooling Mom

We were so excited when we received our Konos Obedience Curriculum last summer. I mapped out our year in advance and charged in full speed ahead. According to my lesson plans we should be done with the text by now and moving on to Attentiveness. Hmmphh. We are still on week one.

We couldn't help it! As we began to delight in the activities and lessons outlined in week one of the Konos text I began to see a glimmer in the eyes of my curious sons. They wanted to see the authority of light. We did most of the activities and projects listed but they were hungry for more. They skipped sideways around the table asking questions about how light bulbs work and who invented them and how does light make rainbows and .... you get the picture. They were like starving lions pacing back and forth. I answered their questions as best as I could but I know them and telling them was not enough. They wanted to experience it.

I looked all over online for unit studies and kits on light. I found many but some were pricey and let's face it, by the time we would have received them the boys would have moved on to devour something else, you know?

So, I did what any good mother would do. I went to Toys R'Us. I remembered that they had some great science kits there because we had purchased some for a lesson we did last year. I am so glad that I went too because there, sitting on the shelf, was a beautiful box containing everything that I would need to allow them to hands on effectively "play" with light! It was from Edu Science. The Lights, Colors & Optics Kit was even more appealing due to its small price tag. Only $12.49! Any homeschool mom knows that by the time you purchase all of the necessary objects to complete projects and experiments and then pay shipping, well, you could have purchased a small town, so this was a great price.

I was even more excited when I got home and found the awesome unit study inside! There were great facts and tips and so much more. But it didn't stop there. During the short lesson about sundials the boys were intrigued as to who would use such devices. In comes Mystery of History. We did a whole three days of learning about the ancient Egyptians and other civilizations that used sundials. By week two of this kit we had crossed over into Exploring Creation with Botany and Astronomy, Mystery of History I and II and several Scholastic mini books ($1 each) that have proven to be very resourceful. Throw in some geography and board games like Go To Press and Spill and Spell and we had a wonderful learning experience with information that they actually absorbed and we did it by... hold on to your socks, having fun!

Now after nearly 8 weeks we are almost done and I am sad. We have built our own telescopes and microscopes and had fun with color slides. We refracted light, studied light waves, perused the house in search of transparent, opaque & translucent objects and we discovered many optical illusions (which led to a whole illusion "magic" show but that is another post!) We made a couple of lapbooks, boy style of course, and many fond memories. My lesson plans got trashed (well, except for math, reading and spelling) and I couldn't be happier. I really like this approach. It really works for us. We may even get to start on Week 2 of Konos during our 10th week of schooling!

Disclaimer: The kid in the photo is not mine. I have boys. I chose not to take their pictures since they refuse to wear shirts and their hair was sticking up straight because of the cow that comes to lick them at night. My photos would not have been appealing, entertaining maybe but not hardly postable (is that a word?)

FYI: Heart of Wisdom is having a half off sale on ALL E-Books! Just use the coupon code "halfoff" during checkout.

Beth over at Wisdom's Way of Learning is hosting a giveaway from Vision Forum. Be sure to surf on over and enter!

Confessions Of A Homeschooling Mom

http://www.inpursuitofproverbs31.com/2007/12/confessions-of-homeschoolilng-mom.html

Christmas At the Cross

This book was given to my boys by their grandmother a few years ago. It is a family favorite for Christmas time. Not because Max Lucado is such an amazing writer (he is) but because of the emotion and passion for family his words bring forth. This book is about the journey of a man who longs for his family; unity with his wife; answers to his childhood. His path crosses with another gentlemen, much older. That is where the story begins. It is a story about a man's love for his wife and child and the mistakes that he has made. It is about learning to listen and forgive. The story is captivating from the first page. Then, as though the picture painted in your mind isn't enough, the photographs take you there, to that place and time. Lonely. Searching. Hoping.

There are little envelopes with surprises throughout the book that just add to the experience. I won't spoil the joyful and surprising ending. I'll just highly recommend that you purchase or check this book out from the library.

Christmas At the Cross

http://www.inpursuitofproverbs31.com/2007/12/christmas-at-cross.html