CTG and MFW 1st Weeks 1 & 2 and

Our not back to school celebration on the 1 st day of public school here.

 We are loving Creation to the Greeks  so far. The first 2 weeks have been so smooth compared to last year's start. I think they kids were really ready for some routine. They have also responded really well to the move to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I have already decided I am going to give myself grace this year when it comes to some of the hands on projects and feasts.  I couldn't manage the actual Sabbath feast the first week. Between school,work, doctors appointments, and home health visits, I don't get the time needed. Not sure how I'll handle the next one, but we did take a Sabbath school day...lol. I would love to really do them up, but I am just not sure we'll get to the feasts. So far we've studied the 7 days of Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah. I have been floored at the kids notebooking pages so far. They've made huge leaps in writing. I am getting entire paragraphs and adjectives!!!!! Best of all NO TEARS!!!!!! Even Hulk is not complaining about his writing exercises! He told me the other day that it had gotten much easier to write. So its an understatement to say I am one happy Mommy!

We are veering away from Dinosaurs of Eden.  We are more Old Earth Creationist. Also  we've already been through the discussion with the kids that the age of the earth is debated based on varying evidence and the thing to realize is we really don't know all the details of what happened. God didn't feel we needed all the details, and he is slowly giving us glimpses all the time. We watched a very cool documentary on  the T- Rex . It explained  how over the last 50 years pretty much everything we thought we knew about it  has been proven was pretty much wrong. What I wanted the kids to get from it was that theories are just that theories, humans guessing at the divine. And humans are always reworking theories and learning more.

Science in the Beginning has been awesome so far. The lessons have been great. Short and sweet with a great hands on angle. Even Hulk has gotten a lot of the lessons. I really appreciate all the work done by the ladies previously on the notebooking sheets. So far all of the experiments have been simple, and worked ( or quickly modified to make it work). Our only one that didn't "work" was the day we were supposed to light paper on fire with a magnifying glass. The sun was just not cooperating enough to get the white paper to burn, but we did manage to get some dry leaves and a black peice to light up. We just talked about why the leaves and black paper were easier to burn.

Math we are continuing on with Teaching Textbooks 4. the girls are already a 1/3 through and its going alright. We are having issues with attention errors. I am trying to figure out if its just too easy and they are rushing due to boredom or what. When asked to correct the errors they can fix them in less than a min. Its almost always tiny calculation errors or they skip 4 problems. Only time will tell.


 Hulk is flying through the phonics in MFW 1st, and Saxon 1 math. Dude just gets Math. He listening in on the girls lessons too and picking stuff up. I am going to be in trouble early with this dude..lol

While we celebrated our " Not Back to School Day" we did a little Chalk bombing. Our first year homeschooling my nephew Taz was with us pretty much full time as a 3 year old ( Including 4 days of  the Atlanta Snowmagedon). Taz started Kindergarten in the public school where his mother is a teacher this year, so we decided to surprise him and celebrate the occasion. The kids plotted and planned. We chalked the driveway, left balloons and a big poster. The neighbors must have thought we were crazy, but Taz will never have the "get off the bus" big welcome home that many of his classmate get. So, we wanted him to feel special and loved even though he's not with us daily anymore. Per his mother it was a huge hit, and she was very thankful for the positive encouragement. She is due with #3 in just a few months and was really happy to shine some light on her oldest before the big day.

First Day of School 2015-2016--- MFW 1st Grade and Creation to the Greeks

For right now our "school" has moved to Grandma and Grandpa's House, which luckily for us is  5 houses down the road. There a a few reasons we've relocated.

1. My father is home bound for the most part. He is alone a good part of each day while mother still works a traditional full time service job. Us being around gives him some social interaction and allows me to help with more of his daily needs.  Today school got done around home health visits from PT and OT

2. There is physically more space for the kids to not be in each others faces 24/7. Here we school at the kitchen table. While there is plenty of space for 3 kiddos and book, I really struggle last year with the olders not paying attention to their lessons when I was working with the youngest and vice versa. Our home is very open concept with kitchen, living,dining, and playroom being very open to each other. If little guy was playing the way boys do while the olders were finishing up the noise would just be too much.  Now we have 3 distinct spaces granted to us.

3. My mom is helping me when she's home. Y'all have no idea how huge this is! My mother has never not supported our choice to home school, but she's never really approved either. Now she's taking over lessons, and helping keep little guy busy. He's done more yard work in the past 2 weeks then in his whole life, but he loves it. One reason I think my mom is opening up to this idea is how many days last year got interrupted by my dad's doctor's appointments.  Some days the kids would be stuck with us for 6 hours in clinic. We always got school done, but no 9 and 6 years old want to do school at a nurses station..lol... So this week she took over a morning for me, while I took my Dad to an appointment. Having seen and heard what we were doing the days prior really made a difference for her comfort. Plus she has faced facts that its better for me to be the one transporting Dad. I am more comfortable driving downtown, and have an easier time helping Dad physically. While the kids won't get out of all the visits this year I think the will have significantly fewer messed up days. Especially since we purposely signed them up for full day co-op once a week, and I am trying to schedule as many appointments as possible on those days.

1 unintended side effect so far.... We've gotten dressed every day for school so far. Not quite as easy to just stay in the nightgown when I have to leave the house and answer to my mother!

Adventures in Vacation.....

 The 11 " Adventures" of our 2015 Tybee Island week.......

1. Somehow Yang's suitcase did not make it in the van. Her suit case was in another room from the other's and DH assumed the girls had packed together. We ended up not figuring this out until around 10pm as everyone is trying to get ready for bed. So, off we go to Walmart. Luckily other family was coming down on Wednesday, so we only had to buy for a few days. 3 outfits, a nightgown, 1 swimsuit, and undergarments later, we chilled in the one open check out lane. All I can say is: Thank you Lord for your provision that was not a disaster, but funny story to tell in years to come. We thought that was enough adventure for a vacation but no... we had no clue what the Lord had in store for us.....

2.  One day 2 of Vacation 6 adults and 2 kids get stuck in the condo elevator requiring the fire and police to come rescue us. Poor Hulk was left on the outside by his self for about 15 min. He's one cool kid. Ying had a panic attack during our ordeal, but the great guys from the Tybee Police and Fire Depts made it all better with a tour of the fire truck, and autographs from our heroes :)

3. Adventure 3---- No pictures of the Island Wide Blackout that occurred later that night. Apparently a branch fell on a line on Wilmington Island knocking out power to part of Wilmington Island and all of Whitmarsh and Tybee Islands. Oh how fragile is our modern life. The kids had a blast as we went for a walk and tons of people were out, a kind of island wide block party. Hey at least we weren;t in the elevator? right?????

4. Monsoon rains- The next night it rained so hard that some of the major streets were flooded to thigh high. Its not a rare occurrence on the island, but it sure impressed the kids. Especially when out cousins who had been trying to get off the island were turned around because the causeway was flooded and would take a few hours to recede between the tide and rain. We were snug and dry in our favorite restaurant.

5. Adventure - Wildlife Encounters- We found The Tybee Bunny just hanging out in the parking lot. Blue crab on the back river. Dolphins playing just off shore. Sea turtle nests along the beach.

6. After 5 wonderful calm surf days we got slammed with a red flag day. Kids couldn't go past ankles because the wide and tides were just too strong. The kids were very content to stay on shore and were kind of unsettled by people being in the water. I think it brought back memories from last years incident where they saw the life guards pull a man out and do CPR. The kids know the man did not make it, and this is the first rough day. But they handled it like champs.

7. We don't have a picture but the kids met a movie star. They had no idea who he was but my husband recognized him. We knew they were filming on the island that month so we figured we see something. Its not a very big island...lol

8. The kids earned their Junior Ranger badges for Ft. Pulaski. It was the only educational thing mom forced on them all week and they enjoyed it.

9. Getting 32 people together for pictures on the beach...lol... Our trips to Tybee are really family reunions. We average between 25-45 people each year ;) Some of use as 3rd cousins by marriage once removed but hey..... its all family...lol

Almost everyone...lol ( 4 generations)

the younger group ( parts of the 3rd and 4th generations represented)

10. On the way home we got caught up in the back up from a bad wreck on I-16. The kids got to see LifeFlight land on the road as we were diverted off the interstate. The kids thought the helicopter was cool and then said a prayer for those in the wreck and the medics & first responders.

11.... Last but not least... We arrived home to find the AC had broken while we were away...lol... So off to Grandma's house we went for a cool nights sleep. Luckily DH and BIL had it fixed by the next night....

And so goes the story of our vacation.Wonder what will happen next year?

July.....part 1

 Swim team wrapped up just before the 4th of July, and over all i think the girls enjoyed. They honestly liked practice more then the meets. They could have just done without. But they did each earn atleast one riboon of every color which they were proud of.

We road tripped the 4th of July litterally. I got off at 7am on the Morning of the 4th and we were on the beach by 3 that afternoon. We went to visit my brother and sister in law who recently moved from Conneticut to a small town on the panhandle of Florida. Huge change for my SIL who has never lived outside of very small area on the Northeast.

This was Uncle J's idea of babysitting...lol.. Hulk loved it.

The kids spent hours over the 2 days we were they catching these Hydra Jellyfish ( they don't sting) and looking for shells and sand dollars.

Camp S'more gets dirty......

One of our Favorite weeks of the year is here! CAMP S'more! We don't do a whole lot of Girl Scout stuff but we love our one week of camp a summer. I volunteer as the nurse, and the kids all have a blast as campers ( including Hulk). This years theme was DIRTY JOBS and it was sooooo much fun.

The Daisies started the week making any farms, which they loved. over the week all the Daisies and Brownies earned their Insect badges.

 Ying and Yang were Juniors this year which meant all kinds of new adventures. 1st night sleeping over at camp and old enough to do archery which was a big hit!!!! The girls were in different units to give themselves a break from each other. They got dirty this week with a plumber, bee keepers, chefs, and our own park Ranger. They still had plenty of time for swimming, canoeing, arts & crafts, Adventure course and camp games. Our Adventure Course team has a lot of fun with the " get dirty" part.... digging for bugs in slime anyone?

Our over night Adventure was a bit rougher than  most. The girls lost it when it came to bed time. They've never slept in a tent outside and the noises overwhelmed them. After their counsolers were unable to calm them down, Mom/Nurse got called in. Guess who got to sit/sleep in a camp chair in front of their tent? Here's hoping next year goes smoother.......

Yang  had a rough day after sleepover. She ended up with a migraine between heat,emotion and lack of sleep. So she had to report to the clinic. After some medication and a nap in the air conditioning she was feeling better and got put to work cleaning the clinic. Her migraines are getting to the point where I can tell real from I need attention.  She has certain tells when they are real that she's unaware of at this point. This one was defiantly real so she got some TLC from mom/nurse, otherwise I am kinda a hard nose at camp. Suck it up Buttercup..lol.

Ying fared better the next day... maybe it was the dirt pudding?

Hulk had a fabulous time. He got to move out of the preschool group and into the "Boys Unit". Some of the older guys have been coming to camp since they were Hulk's age as their sisters have grown up an Mom's volunteered and now are the counselors for the boys..  They get to do all the stuff the girls do like swimming, canoes, archery,etc. They have a lodge on the other side of camp from all the girls have a great time. Over the year the camp has collected lost of cool Lego sets, games, and Nerf guns that the boys  get too since they aren't working on badges and awards. They even took a field trip to a local rock climbing gym. Hulk and 2 other boys were too young to do the actual archery range, so we set up Nerf bows and  make targets for them off the side of the range so they wouldn't feel so left out.

Summer Time......

Summer Break is upon us... the weather is warm and sunny and we've been taking advantage. Playing in the creek. Chasing fish, frogs, and cousins. The girls have been spending some of the hotter afternoons helping Grandma with puzzles.

 We also dove into to summer swim team. The girls have been  swimming since March twice a week and its done great things for their concentration. The meets were LONG but fun. No one is going to the Olympics any time soon but its great exercise.

Calling the end a bit early.....

 We Finished China with no fanfare, but some takeout. No art projects. Life is getting in the way right now and I am truly worn out creatively. My father is very ill and requiring a lot of daily care, trips to the doctor,and other random interruptions. My mother has also had surgery twice the in past month. The weather is so nice the kids are itching to play. SO..... I am throwing my hands up in the air. We've called and end to ECC for our family. I have loved ECC but for us its time to move on and let go. I don't feel I can do it justice and I just don't have the energy to  "push through" and drag the kids on. This is the season of our life and I am at peace with it. 

 We will finish the required days this year with basics and a mini unit study of Washington D.C. in preparation for our trip in early May. We are using the Junior Ranger Packets from the National Parks Service to aid our study. I was amazed to find the kids could earn so many badges while we are there. We are starting with the National Mall and Monuments Parks.