Wordless Wednesday

We are SO ready to be doing this...

Wordless Wednesday

Sweet, sweet memories!

Since the Cutting of the Cord

Probably not the cord most of you are thinking about......

We have decided to put out a garden this year.  One more of our feeble attempts to "homestead" in town.  We are very blessed to have a big backyard.  We have been saving up compost all winter.  James began tilling last Thursday.  Unfortunately our cable cord for our internet was also "tilled" in the process.  But we are up and running now !  Instead of doing several posts, I am going to do one long post.....

First up is our snow pictures the weekend before last.

The girls had a blast, until one got hit in the face with a snowball and one got cold.  Our little trooper, Lil, would have stayed out all day if Daddy and I had.  I could not believe the other two wanted to go in so quickly.  When I was a kid my Mom had to make me go inside.

The girls painted water bottles to keep their water in.  Their Daddy has a new halogen bottle and they always want to drink out of it.  James thought if they had their own special bottles they would leave his alone .  We will see how well that works.  The bottles look great though.

Next up is an afternoon at the park.  Always great fun!  The weather was so nice.  We finished up our school work early, packed a lunch and headed out.  This is one of my most favorite perks about homeschooling.  When we want to pack up at the last minute and head out...we can! 

Add a birthday party in the mix for pure excitement.  A friend at church was having a super hero birthday party.  There is a newer show on PBS called "Super Why".  Lulu went to the party as Princess Presto and Monkey went as Alpha Pig.  Lil went as Super Elmo...not a real super hero but, hey, she's 3.  It was a lot of fun.  Unfortunately these great friends of ours are moving out of state this weekend.  We will miss them.

And finally (in photos anyway) we end up back where we started....the garden.  The girls are really excited about planting our own garden.  I hope this will encourage one of them, ahem Lulu, to eat more vegetables.  They worked hard and, as always, there's more where that came from.

I also wanted to say what a blessing Nancy Carter is!   She came and spoke at our homeschool group recently.  She did awesome!  She spoke on grace in our homeschools.  Her humor and sweet spirit is a delight.  If you ever have the opportunity to meet her and listen to her speak, you will not want to miss it.

Wordless Wednesday

Our sweet boy, Annakin!

Homeschooling Under Attack

There was a court case recently in California involving homeschoolers.  The court ended up ruling that homeschooling was illegal in California.  HSLDA was not involved from the beginning because the family was not a member.  HSLDA heard about this case after the ruling.  It is being appealed.  They have a petition on their website that ALL parents, especially homeschoolers, need to sign.  Please click here and sign the petition.

If you read my blog because you know and love our family personally, please go sign this petition in support of Lulu, Monkey and Lil.  I have heard it said before, "As goes California, so goes the rest of the U.S."  Parental rights are under attack in this country.  There are many people in Washington that want to be able to tell parents how to raise their children in every aspect of their lives.  And the really sad part is that it all has to do with money.  If our children are not in the public school system they are losing money. 

So.....please sign the petition!  You do not have to be a homeschooler for this to be important to you as well.

Wordless Wednesday

The price we pay for beauty....

History and Science Fun

In history we have been looking at the Wars of the Roses.  The Lancastrians (red roses) and the Yorks (white roses) were part of the same family in England.  They fought over which family would sit on the throne of England.  When Edward IV died, his 12 year old son became king.  Edward V was too young so his uncle Richard was to rule in his place until Edward V was old enough to rule on his own.  Of course, once Richard III assumed the throne he did not intend to give it up.  Long story short, Richard III put Edward V and his younger brother in the tower of London.  They eventually disappeared and there was no threat to the throne.  The boys' bones were found many years later but we still do not know for sure who had them killed.  Anyway....here is a project the girls did while they were learning about all of this.

Now for science.....while studying two of the gas giants, Neptune and Uranus, we did an experiment to make clouds.  The girls filled the jar half full of hot water, I struck the match and dropped it in the water, and the girls covered the jar with a bag of ice.  The water vapor rises and cools when it hits the colder air that is coming down from the ice.  This cooling causes the water vapor to become liquid again, creating a cloud.  This is the same process that happens on the gas giants.  The girls really enjoyed this experiment.