Pilgrim Pathway School of Discovery

Moving Right Along

2011-03-14T14:23:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe we are nearing the end of our school year. Our biggest struggle is with math right now. They have improved a lot since we had them do the math drills on the Math-U-See website and some math games.

Little E just likes watching

Last Wednesday we joined our homeschool group on a field trip to the local Kroger. It was actually very interesting and the children loved it. Especially since they got a chance to taste test a lot of yummy things. :-)

Plus....Big T looks pretty funny in his hair net. :-)

Elisabeth was a good listener

You can see Little E (marked his shirt with an E)

Seeing where they crush the cardboard . Who doesn't love seeing something being crushed?

The children thought it would funny to reach through and grab someone's hand when they went to get milk.

Then the next day it was time for the dentist. This was Little E's first time and he did very well. I was nervous, but it went just fine.

All done and everything looks good!

Next up was Sweet E. Last time she cried, but this time she did great!

Another good report!

No pictures of Big T because we were getting our teeth cleaned at the same time. 5 of us went and only one cavity! I should be really happy, but I am the one with the cavity. :-( And it's between two teeth in the same tooth that had a cavity three years ago! So frustrating. Oh well. But now I have to wait over 2 weeks to get back in because the dentist is going on vacation next week. Nothing like being told you have a cavity and they can't do anything about it for over 2 weeks. So hard to not think about it all the time!

So anyway, we are continuing to plug right along in our school work. Oh yeah! We were even able to go to co-op on Friday. Finally, no snow to keep us away.

I am praying that you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the weather. The sun is shining and it sure makes a difference! Blessings to you and your family

Again...Still Here...

2011-03-12T02:20:00.002-05:00

I am doing my best to catch up. With the whole family being sick for almost for 1 1/2 to 2 months I didn't have a whole lot of time. (I guess I didn't make time to post) We have kept busy and are pretty well on track with our school work. We have struggled through math and went back about 5 lessons to try it all again. Seems to be helping with Big T but Sweet E is still having a hard time. May go back a couple of lessons and start again and hopefully I can find a way to help the information sink in.

There have been learning experiences for everyone in the family. Beloved and Big T learned how to change the spark plugs in the car. I was very proud of them. They did a great job!

My Dad was able to come up for a visit and Sweet E said she would like to make him a cake (just because). She made the two layer chocolate cake and iced it by herself (For the most part). She asked that I make the IU symbol to put on top and then she decorated even more with the red and white icing. It was a big hit and a great job for her first time making and decorating a cake.

Then we took Papaw letterboxing so he could see what we have been talking about. We ended up at Honey Run and it was so amazing to see how much water and how much power the waterfall had. It was incredibly loud as well!

Plus yesterday was a co-op day for the children. Big T and Sweet E had music, Spanish, gym, and story stretchers. Little E had a couple different preschool classes and Special K went wherever I took her. I was very grateful that we were able to have classes (2 out of the 5 have been canceled so far this winter due to snow.) I was looking forward to the children running off some energy. Cabin fever is getting REALLY bad!

Well, we have a busy weekend ahead as well (but good). The Pastor and his family are coming over to our house for the first time. So much to do! May the Lord bless you and have a blessed weekend!

Preschool Time!

2011-01-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

With cold snowy weather and sickness we have been stuck inside a lot the past month and a half. Seems like someone is always sick and the weather has been terribly cold this month. So I do my best to come up with things for Little E's play time during school. I think I have shown this before, but I will show it again. We have a few construction vehicles (by M@tchbox I think) and we keep them in a box with popcorn and dried beans.

He plays with this at least 3 times a week.

Unfortunately most of the trucks are buried. Too much dirt and gravel in the way. ;-)

The best money ever spent was on these trucks and the plastic case to hold it all. I just need a bigger sheet for him to use.

Here is Mr. Ornery himself :-)

I need to come up with a few other things for him to keep him busy and help him learn while I am occupied with the oldest two children. I should add that this activity is only brought out with Special K is down for her nap. Or else it would turn into a gigantic mess!

Puppets and Lost Tooth

2011-01-21T14:24:00.000-05:00

We don't brown bag our lunches but buying some to have on hand was a great idea (in my opinion anyway) :-) With the whole family (except for Big T) being sick we haven't gotten out of the house much. Sweet E asked for the brown lunch sacks to make puppets yesterday. The children had a great time and it kept them busy for over an hour. Anything that can keep them occupied for that long is a blessing. :-D

Little E didn't understand that during a puppet show he should be hidden.

Then last night Beloved told me he thought Big T would loose his tooth tonight. Well, that sort of thing makes me squeamish and I kindly ask them to go in the other room. :-) Next thing I know Big T comes in yelling, "My tooth came out!" He pulled it all by himself. The excitement was too much not to share. So, he called my Mom, my Dad, my Mother and Father-in-Love, and my Brother-in-Love.

The Before (Big T helped edit his photos)

And after!

Our firstborn lost his very first tooth. That's a big deal in this house! It is also a good learning experience. We have The Little Brainwaves Investigate: Human Body book and have turned this into a school lesson. We talked about the parts of the tooth and how we have baby teeth and adult teeth that replace them. Big T has really enjoyed the book. I think he finds it entertaining to see the silly pictures of the little cartoon people.

He can't wait for his other tooth to come out. I think it will in the next couple of weeks. :-)

COSI Fun

2011-01-17T14:02:00.000-05:00

Our family won a family pack of tickets to COSI (which never covers our whole family.) But paying $10 plus parking is a lot better than $60 plus parking. I have never been to COSI so it was new for me as well as the children. It was busy, but it was still a lot of fun.

Don't know why, but the children thought it was hilarious to be strapped on the space potty.

All three of them crammed into the submarine.

Big T was able to pull himself all the way up with the 3 pulley system.

Can you tell Little E thought it was great fun to sit in the buggy?

Figured Papaw K would appreciate this.

I think they would have spent half the day in this diner if we let them.

Guess what he is getting ready to do

Take a ride on the high wire unicycle....17 feet off the ground!

He got stuck halfway and they had to pull him back in, but he loved it!

Special K enjoyed her time at the water table in the Kid's Space

She didn't like the hood up on her raincoat though

Sweet E with the moon up close and personal

Strong Boy!

The children keep asking when we can go back. I know Beloved wants to get back to COSI soon so he can lift a car again. :-) Little E summed it up best....."a place to play and learn!"

Late again....

2011-01-13T14:37:00.000-05:00

Here we go...late again and again and again and again. We had small pumpkins left over from Thanksgiving (they lasted a long time). So the first week of December we used them pumpkins for science experiments. The children placed their pumpkins in water to see if they would float. (I should say that the children had to make a guess whether they would float or not.)

They Float

They they had to guess how many seeds were in the pumpkins.

The children also had fun making these adorable cookies. It is so much fun to see the children develop their culinary skills. These snowman are lacking in color, but they are absolutely adorable. I should also add that they are gluten free.

So Adorable and Delicious!

Here is Sweet E playing with her very first sewing machine. I will have to have her start practicing her hand sewing skills very soon.

She was so excited!

Next up is Little E. We started a lap book about Astronauts. He is getting much better at cutting on the lines.

He's Learning!

No, he didn't cut his finger. And yes, I was nervous :-)

I'll be posting more soon. I hope. :-) I guess I shouldn't make promises since I can't seem to keep them lately. (About blog posts that is)

WHY!?

2011-01-06T16:14:00.003-05:00

Why is it that some days it seems as though my children shipped their brains two states over? Unfortunately today is one of those days. :-( Sorry...just had to share. I have a friend that (at times) has told her children to go to their room and when they find there brain they can come back and finish their school work. LOL

What About Socialization?

2011-01-02T21:09:00.001-05:00

This video is hilarious!

Still here...

2010-12-29T15:10:00.000-05:00

still doing school. I can't believe that I haven't posted in such a long time. We are doing school, I guess I keep forgetting to get the camera out. ;-) We have struggled the past month or so. It's just the time of year where the excitement of school starts to wear off and with the children being cooped up inside more...they just need to run off some energy. I don't want cabin fever to set in already, winter has just started. So we do our best to find things for them to do inside. This picture was taken a long time ago, but this is an activity that Big T enjoys. Beloved's grandfather was a locksmith many, many years ago. When his grandpa passed away Beloved kept many of the keys his grandfather had saved. The children love to get this box out and sort them by size, color and type. (98% of them are skeleton keys.)

The children have also learned how to do without water in the house for a day. The city came in and shut off our water (was supposed to be for about 4 hours). It turned out to be almost 8! Where the guy is standing in the picture (in the hole) is where I usually park. Now our parking area is all uneven and there is a big dip in the road now. Guess the children will learn how to do some yard work to even our parking area out when it warms up. ;-)

Anyway, I plan on taking more pictures of our school adventures during the new year. So I promise I will have a lot more to show. :-) Hope you are enjoying your week and Happy New Year!

Really.....a Month?

2010-09-14T20:10:00.017-04:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted last. Seems I have fallen so far behind in so many things. I am afraid this post will be just like the one on our family blog. A little of this and a little of that. :-)

First up is Little E. I don't have anything structured for him. He is hard to keep in one place. :-) But he does love to color. One of his favorite things are knights. He usually says, "Mama...I want a knight paper." He likes to cut them out and give them to different people in the family.

Now why would I have a picture of a self-inking stamp? This thing has been a lifesaver! I wish I would have known about it sooner. No......really! I am serious. I am not always good at getting papers put in their place right away and they easily get mixed up. By stamping the children's papers as they finish allows me to put them in order more easily. I sort them by subject and then date. It is so much easier to file things away. I know I could just put them in their proper place every day, but we all know that won't happen. :-) So this stamper is my new school love.

Daily Sweet E hands in her school work with a picture at the bottom just for me. She is so sweet, but sometimes I wish she would just do her work. But I know that one day she won't doodle a picture just for me on her schoolwork. :-( So I will enjoy it for now.

Something I love about homeschooling.......It doesn't have to be in the home! WE frequently go outside and on little field trips. Special K joins in as well. They even sit in trees to do their work sometimes.

The week that we talked about Pocahontas and Squanto we also talked about the different types of homes different tribes lived in. The children made wigwams and tepees.

One warm Friday we packed up our nature notebooks, colored pencils and some water bottles and walked to the river. They had some new scenery to draw in their notebooks and then they got to explore the area afterward. Who wouldn't love having school outside on a rock island in the river?

Whoops!

I even have a video of their first memory verse for the year.

Best Sight....

2010-08-11T23:46:00.008-04:00

We all have those moments when you see your children (Or nieces and nephews) and you feel so proud. I have to say that this set of pictures shows some of the proudest moments in my life recently. This time last year I didn't know if Big T and Sweet E would ever learn to read. Now....they LOVE TO READ! I find Big T reading anywhere he can take a book. I love it and I just had to share. :-)

Learning Experiences...

2010-08-06T18:01:00.005-04:00

...around every corner. You never know what you and your children will learn today. For example, one day Big T found a teeny tiny toad in our yard. He became a lesson for the children through observation. This little guy was so small I don't even know how Big T spotted him. He seems to have an eye for this type of thing.

Learn to make any and every opportunity a learning experience for the family. That is the beauty of homeschooling the children. So much of the learning is never planned! I have learned (in the short time that I have been homeschooling) to take advantage of every single opportunity. I am so grateful that I have the privilege to teach my children at home! I thank the Lord every day. (Oh, and we have just completed our first week of school. I will post more about that later.)

Back In Session

2010-07-28T11:49:00.002-04:00

Sort of. We have started some handwriting/copywork/tracing this week along with math. Next week we jump into Adventures in My Father's World. I can't wait. Since the children are so interested in the Revolutionary War it is perfect timing to be using this curriculum. It goes through American history starting all the way back with the vikings. I don't have any pictures to show, but I will very soon. Promise. :-) As for Little E, he seems eager to do some school work too. (more than he was last year). So that's encouraging as well. Just thought I would give you an update and I will have pictures soon! Blessings to you all!

Hiking and Letterboxing

2010-07-16T16:46:00.014-04:00

Our family has enjoyed letterboxing a lot. It teaches the children to follow directions and we get some P.E. in at the same time. We went hiking over the 4th of July weekend and I think, as a family, we hiked 6 miles total. Little E did a great job keeping up with his little legs. I think walking NY and Brooklyn helped him prepare for hiking. LOL We went up to Mohican and I think we found 4 stamps in one day. It was great to have time with the family and have a picnic lunch. We started out at the Nature Center in the campground.

Special K had the best view of all

I just want to say....this thing is a whole lot bigger than you think it is. I can remember climbing the fire tower in Jackson County Indiana all the time as a kid. So I thought, "No problem. I can climb this in a jiffy." NOT TRUE! I think I only made it up to the second platform and called it quits. Beloved said that having children changes you. He is right. My self-preservation instinct has been kicked into high gear! Big T was so upset we didn't go all the way to the top. He wasn't scared of anything.

The first hike we did was very pleasant. We walked about 2+ miles and it was all along the river. It was so quiet. I forgot how quiet it can be. I loved it! The children were sitting here watching the fish in the river.

After the first hike we had our lunch and the children wanted to walk across the covered bridge.

Two of my favorite people

This little girl is so stinkin' cute!

Then of course we had to make a stop at the swings. Special K loved sitting on my lap while swinging. She would get so made at me when I would stop. But I tell you what....those swings are not made for plump bottoms! LOL

After the swings we went over to Pleasant Hill Dam and hiked another 4 miles. I was so tired! But it was a good tired. The children can not wait to do it all over again! Hope everyone is having a great summer! We are starting a light load of school work next week (hopefully).

Staying Busy

2010-07-16T15:37:00.006-04:00

We aren't doing any official/structured schooling, but we are always staying busy. One day I needed the children to run off some energy (P.E.). So I pulled an idea from my craft folder for the children to do. All it takes is a piece of paper, a string, and a stapler. You can find instructions for one close to our kites here. It's very simple.

You may trip and fall, but just get back up and try again.

See....you can get the kite to work. :-)

Everyone can have some fun!

And hopefully the children will sleep better at night! :-)

Letterboxing Adventures

2010-06-23T17:35:00.011-04:00

Our family has recently taken up letterboxing as an activity. You may be wondering what letterboxing is. Well, these two website will give you a quick overview.

Letterboxing North America

Atlas Quest

It really is a lot of fun. Geocaching is the more popular right now, but if you need something more inexpensive to do...letterboxing is it. You never know where you will find a letterbox. We have discovered a great new place for hiking in the process. We figure that any time we go to visit family or on a short trip we can see if a letterbox is nearby. This is the last place we discovered. It's the Spring Valley Nature Preserve outside of Granville, OH. I had no idea this even existed.

Hey look! The bank were Beloved works helped create the nature preserve.

I don't have any pictures of us finding the letterbox. Didn't think about it, but I did snap this one of Little E playing in the creek. :-)

I didn't expect to find platform tennis courts in the woods either.

Here is a quote from the Granville website about the park:

Spring Valley, once a community pool and recreational area, is a wooded natural area preserved in 2006 as public land through donations from several local Granville institutions, residents and organizations. Located off of Cherry St/Rt 16, Spring Valley adjoins Salt Run Park for a combined area of 97 acres. Denison University students and Granville Middle School students worked together in 2007-08 to clear paths and build rock bridges, Several hiking trails are now completed. The park also includes two shelter houses (rented through Granville Rec), a platform tennis facility, paved parking and portable rest rooms. Future plans are still under development.

So, there you have it. A little info about our newest activity as a homeschooling family. :-)

Our Newest Neighbor

2010-06-18T13:14:00.003-04:00

Yes, that's right. A baby snapping turtle is our newest neighbor. I don't know if he has a name yet, but I have been told he isn't an "Einstein." But more of a court jester without the hat. :-) Seems like Fred attracts all sorts of wildlife. He brought a hellbender for the children to see a while back. As long as he doesn't bring a snake back to keep. I think I'll be okay...but ask me again later...I may change my mind. :-) (Not about the snake part)

This is another great thing about homeschooling. Learning opportunities come from many different places and people.

Still Here

2010-06-03T16:15:00.002-04:00

I meant to post about our trip to NY and such on this blog, but I decided not to. But you can find the posts on our family blog. There are three posts about our trip to New York. I hope to blog soon about things we are doing this summer. Trying to get ready for our assessment this Saturday for Big T. I know it's nothing to worry about, but I will feel better once I get past the first one. Hope everyone had a great school year! :-)

I heart NY

2010-05-04T18:53:00.000-04:00

My lovely sister is getting married this Friday! I am so excited. They are getting married in Brooklyn with a reception in New York. So to prepare for the trip the children have been studying up on a few NY facts. I will have to post more about it when we get back. I should be packing right now instead of this. :-) Hope you all are having a great week! Blessings

What a Blessing!

2010-04-24T20:45:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to share a little blessing. My future BIL blessed our family with his old laptop. Our other one is over 10 years old and can't handle the newer software very well. So with this new laptop it will allow the children more access to a computer (with supervision of course) and prevent them from ruining the desktop. :-D The children will be able to do some of their lessons (typing, foreign language, etc.) without tying up the desktop and we will be able to take more school work along with us when we take trips (which is not very often.) So THANK YOU to E for this very generous gift to our family. We will see you very, very soon.

Laundry Time

2010-04-14T09:50:00.004-04:00

Yes, I consider this school. They are learning a new skill that they will use their entire life. First of all I need to explain. I will admit that I fall behind on my laundry. Not with the washing (I do keep up on that), but when it comes to folding and putting away...forget it. I tend to get distracted and it never gets done. Plus I have been hearing from Big T and Sweet E....I don't have any more socks......or....I don't have any more underwear, etc. (Just keep in mind most of the time they would run out of clothing items because they never made it to the dirty clothes basket. So they would never get washed.) So I figured they are old enough to do their own. They bring their laundry down, sort it, wash it, put it in the dryer, fold it, and put it away.

Big T washes his laundry and Little E's clothes too. (When Little is is 5 then he will do his own laundry. For now he helps where he can.) Sweet E is responsible for her own clothing. Sometime in the next year she will wash Special K's clothes too. Folding clothes is their favorite! Here is why...the "Folding Machine" (As Big T calls it.)

I am so proud of the children. They have only done this for 2 weeks, but we are off to a great start. They need prompted to get the laundry started and motivated to finish, but they do get it done and the do a great job. One more thing. Big T wanted a video taken so everyone could see how to use the Folding Machine. :-)

The Value of Home Education

2010-03-14T22:14:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to link you all to a wonderful post I just read this evening. I think you all will enjoy it. :-D

PPSD Preschool

2010-03-02T16:46:00.001-05:00

Pilgrim Pathway School of Discovery Preschool is now in session. :-) Well, it has been in session ever since this school year started, but I really haven't taken too many photos of Little E doing his work. First I should show you his kitchen skills. :-) He loves to be in the kitchen and to help out. Mainly so he can taste everything before it's finished. ;-) Since Beloved is out of town for the week on a business trip we decided to make brownies for supper (this was yesterday afternoon) to help us get through the day. LOL He is such a good helper!

Then the first thing we did today was the lace/puzzle letters. He enjoyed putting the puzzle pieces together, but when it came time for lacing he wasn't very interested at all.

Since he really wasn't interested in lacing up the letters we decided to try something different. This time I pulled out the shapes puzzle/lace ups. He loved putting the puzzle pieces together. The first time through he just put the pieces wherever they fit. Then he did it all over again making sure the green triangle was in the green circle, the red heart was in the red circle, etc.

This pictures shows Little E fixing a mistake he made. He had the right shape in the right spot, but the correct side wasn't showing. He did such a great job with these.

While Little E was doing his school lessons, Big T and Sweet E were doing their phonics and copywork.

Here's that face again. ;-)

When Big T finished up all his work he decided to play with Little E. First they said the pegs were a forest....

Then they said they were birthday candles....

Then Little E thought it was a trumpet. :-)

We have been reading about David in school. (How he killed Goliath, King Saul tried to kill him, etc.) MFW suggested we make a lyre (what David would play) out of rubber bands and a plastic coat hanger. It didn't work so well, but the children enjoyed giving it a try.

And the whole time Special K either took a nap, rolled around on the floor, or spun around in her exersaucer. She is just too much fun!

Meet Me on Decimal Street

2010-02-26T17:16:00.014-05:00

Yes, decimal street. NOT Sesame Street. :-D Those of you that use Math-U-See know exactly what I am talking about. For the rest of you...here is a video explaining decimal street.

They already learned about decimal street in the Primer but it is reviewed in the first lesson of Alpha. I am taking extra time (I should have in the first place) to make sure they really understand the concept. They all love using the decimal street lapbook I made and the blocks.

Little E wanted to get in on the action too. Here is a video of his version of counting and then it ends with Big T giving his answer to the decimal street. (Never mind Big T reaching in front of Little E. He had to get his blocks to finish the problem.)

When Little E was done playing with the blocks he decided to do some detective work. Although I think I had more fun taking pictures of him with the magnifying glass than he did playing with it. LOL

Then Big T worked on his art while Sweet E was doing math. I think you can tell by the pictures that he started to get annoyed that I was taking so many. :-)

So maybe next time you can meet us at Decimal Street. :-D

Memorization Work

2010-02-24T15:56:00.002-05:00

Struggles

2010-02-24T14:38:00.012-05:00

Why is it some children choose to struggle? You know what I mean. They know how to do something but it's like the can't just do their work without making it a big ordeal. Sweet E has been doing this with math. She is very capable of doing her work. When she is focused she does a great job. But she usually starts in with the whining and frustration after doing only one problem. She has improved greatly with writing her numbers. But you can see here that her zeroes are smaller than the rest of her numbers and her fives tend to be huge in comparison. :-)

This is usually how it progresses. She is excited to do her math, she completes the first problem and then this face makes an appearance.

Then this one...

And this one appears anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour later.

She finally decides to get back to work so she can play with her brothers.

She did complete her Primer yesterday and both children are excited to start in Alpha. They wanted to start today but I need a day to go over it and make sure what I need to have for the lessons. We have had lab days, but I didn't take many pictures (don't know why). Here is the only decent picture from one of our last lab days. We were discussing how water has a skin to it. The children had fun seeing how many coins they could drop in the glass before the water would overflow.

Okay...I am off to finish up our school lessons for the day and sift through the newer pictures that I downloaded today. Pray that everyone is staying warm and having a great week!

AAAAHHHHHH!

2010-02-23T23:41:00.003-05:00

Sorry...had to get that out of my system. Our main computer has been running slow and who knows why. We don't bog it down with unnessary items, but it's still 10 times slower than it should be. So anyway, I have pictures and other things I need to post but right now I am back on our 10 year old laptop as hubby is saving documents and resetting the main computer to factory default. We would rather start all over, but the d drive is not working at all. It won't even open! And our firewall/virus protection is junk because we have a virus we can't get rid of...which is why we are starting all over again! Oh well....could be worse I guess. I just wanted to give a quick update.

I can say that the children finished the Math-U-See Primer and we will be starting the Alpha book tomorrow. They are learning to tell time (and doing very well I might add) and their reading is going much better than it was 3 months ago. I still don't know how we all learned how to read English in the first place. It seems there is always an exception to the exception to the exception to the rule. LOL Anyway, I pray you are all having a great week and we hope to be back up with pictures very, very soon! Blessings. :-D

Different Levels

2010-02-16T10:37:00.002-05:00

School started out well in August with the different age levels. Now that cabin fever is setting in it is getting harder. Big T does a pretty good job on getting his work done, but Sweet E is dragging her feet more and more everyday. Why children just don't get their work done so they can move on to something else is beyond me. Well, you know....now that I think about it I do now. As parents we do this all the time (at least I do...so I hope you do too so I don't feel so bad.). We procrastinate instead of just getting something done. I procrastinate on washing dishes because I don't feel like doing them. Or I procrastinate on cleaning off my treadmill so I can loose the 50 pounds that I need to loose. LOL It just seems like Sweet E is making things harder and harder on herself. I just wish I knew what to do that would make her want to get her work done. I want her to enjoy school. Not hate it...like I did when I got older. When you dread doing something everyday it just makes life miserable.

And then there is Little E. He has been a struggle the past couple of months with his behavior. Every time I tell the older two to get their stuff ready for school, Little E whines and complains because he wants them to play. I have things for him to do, but it doesn't seem to be holding his attention anymore. As for Special K...at least she doesn't whine at me about having to do anything. She is content laying on the floor or sitting in her exersaucer. :-)

Speaking of procrastination...I better get the table cleaned off so we can have our lab day. :-D

Books of the Old Testament

2010-02-08T17:50:00.001-05:00

The children are learning the books of the bible. Here is a video of the books of the old testament. I think they are doing pretty good. It's definitely more than I knew. (I don't think I really knew any of the old testament until high school.)

Still Going Strong

2010-02-08T14:45:00.000-05:00

School is still going strong, but with a beautiful 3 month old I haven't been posting like I should. I hope to get better about that very soon. Just like my last few posts I just wanted to share some of what has been going on. Little E learned what it was like to do dishes with Beloved. HaHa. He has a lot of fun helping with dishes because he can experiment with what dishes and utensils hold water better (and which ones can make a bigger mess when the water is dumped.)

And we transformed this box....

into this. :-D

The children practice their writing be mailing letters to others in the family. It's been a huge hit. The love to wake up in the morning and see that the flag is up on the mailbox. :-D And Special K has discovered a new friend. It is so much fun for her to discover her surroundings and to watch her look in the mirror. She always gives a big smile when she sees her friend. :-)

Since I fell behind on writing blog posts, I also fell behind on uploading the videos of the children's memory verses.

Stumbling....

2010-01-16T20:48:00.004-05:00

That is exactly what we did this week. Stumble through our lessons. That is what it felt like anyway. We got all the lessons done, but not in the best way. Anyway, I wanted to show some pictures from some past lessons. First the children learned how to make paper snowflakes. They absolutely love making them, but I don't love the mess. I do enjoy having them hanging up on my wall though. :-D

And school is just not the sit down work. It's the everyday life experiences as well. Did you know that Big T makes awesome chicken nuggets? It's true. See...this picture is proof.

All I have to do is get the ingredients ready and he does the rest! It's so great to watch him enjoy being in the kitchen and learning new things.

So, I am praying next week is a more productive week and I can add some new pictures very soon. :-D

Bible Memorization Cont.

2010-01-09T23:32:00.001-05:00

Keeping them Interested

2009-12-14T15:30:00.007-05:00

I struggle sometimes in keeping the children interested in their school work. School goes much better if we get it done first thing in the morning. If I wait until after lunch to do the bulk of the work ....forget it...their brains are already playing hide-n-seek. LOL ;-) I will say that blocks and puzzles are a lifesaver for the preschool age. :-) Here is a picture of Little E last week. He played with his blocks the entire time the older two did their school lessons.

Yes his eyes are glowing. I seem to have more trouble with his eyes then I do with anyone else. Oh well....Sort of freaks me outside sometimes though. :-) Anyway, another great thing about these blocks is it sometimes gives motivation to the older children. If they know they can build with blocks when the school work is done...sometimes it gets them to stay on track and get things done.

I don't have a ton of pictures from school lately but I do have one of the lab day on Saturday. Beloved and the children did an experiment with a balloon rocket. Can you see it? It's the green blob on the left of the picture. Speaking of lab day...I have to get caught up on all the experiments we were/are supposed to do. I have fallen way behind on that, but Beloved has a half day off from work tomorrow so that would probably be the best time. :-)

Lab Day

2009-12-04T13:04:00.010-05:00

Today was a "lab day" for school. Except...we don't have a lab, but we had fun anyway. :-) We talked about volcanoes today: the different shapes, lava, how they can change the landscape, etc. This was our first experiment of the day.

What did we do with dirt, Styrofoam cups, and toothpaste? We were showing the impact lava can have on changing the landscape. We put a hole in the bottom of the empty cup, placed the opening of the tube of toothpaste in the bottom, and filled the cup with dirt.

When you squeeze the tube, the toothpaste displaces the dirt. Can you see it in the picture? I even made sure the toothpaste was red ...like lava. ;-) If you click on the pic to enlarge it...you can see the toothpaste a little better.

Then the children made their own volcanoes out of play dough. We then did the typical baking soda and vinegar to make the volcanoes erupt. :-) They had so much fun with this.

After we did our projects for volcanoes we went on to what I said we would do a long time ago. The next project for the Instant Challenges. We didn't follow it exactly again, but the children had fun. All three worked on it together. They used styrofoam cups, chenille sticks, tape, marshmallows, foil, and straws. Here is their boat that they made with these objects.

Believe it or not....it floats! The children did a great job. I am so proud of them. At first they complained because they didn't know how. They kept asking for help, but I told them to just think about it and they finally did it. See?!

School is back in session

2009-11-23T10:32:00.003-05:00

Yes, we had a long break since Baby K was born but Pilgrim Pathway is officially back in session. :-) We have a LOT of review to do though, but that is okay. It is to be expected when the children have had a month off, but we are on our way once again. I have a feeling that the math with have to be repeated the most for Sweet E and the phonics for Big T. The children are excited to have started school again, but it has been hard for me to get back into the "groove." It will just take a little time, but I know we are back on track.

Another Project

2009-11-16T16:36:00.005-05:00

I forgot to post about the latest project. On Saturday Beloved disappeared out to the garage. What was he working on?

Do you remember how I said Big T loves the video series called The Revolution (that we borrowed from the library)? He loves to play "British" at least that is what he calls it...but he is starting to call it "Revolution" now too. Anyway, this is what Beloved was up to.

He made rifles for all three children so they could pretend they are a part of the Continental Army (or the British if they are the "bad guys"). They have had so much fun with them. I actually heard Big T and Little E talk about the civil war today as they played outside. Anything that gets them interested in history....right? ;-)

Little E can be such a ham sometimes and it makes it hard to get a decent picture. But I do find this one funny.

Plus it wasn't a very good hair day to try and get a picture taken.

More Bridge Building

2009-11-16T15:36:00.007-05:00

You may have noticed a button in my side bar for Instant Challenges. (Go check out the challenges!) I am so glad I stumbled across this blog. With everything going on (having a newborn around again is so much FUN!) we don't get the challenges done on time with everyone else, but we do them anyway. So I just wanted to share some pictures with you on Big T giving the first challenge, Bridge Building, a try. Here are the supplies. They don't look like much but you would be surprised what you can do with them. There had to be 2 squares (8 " I think) 6 inches apart. I decided to do this on the wood floor so if the bridge fell we wouldn't have to worry about loosing any of the supplies off of the table. Anyway, you also needed some cards, scissors and the nails were for when the bridge was complete.

First I told Big T what he had to do and we gave him 2 minutes to think about how he was going to build his bridge.

Then he had 5 minutes to build his bridge.

After the five minutes was up he was supposed to have 2 minutes to place the nails onto the bridge to see how many it would hold. His first attempt did not result in a finished bridge so he decided to let Papa have a try at it and then he would try again after.

Beloved's bridge held 6 nails and when he put the 7th on it gave way. :-(

So Big T gave it a try once again and he was able to get all 10 nails onto his bridge without it collapsing. He was so proud that he beat his Papa! LOL

The next challenge was a boat race, but I haven't had the time to do that with them yet. Maybe we can do it tonight. :-) I am also hoping and praying that we can get school started back up again. Since Baby K was almost a week late we have had over a month off of school and we need to get back to it. (But that is why we started the first of August...so we could take this time off to spend with our precious little bundle.) Oh...and hopefully soon I will have picture of our attempt at the boat race. :-)

New Interests

2009-10-19T15:06:00.005-04:00

Don't have much to report this week. School has been put on hold this last week as I get last minute things done in preparation of our newest blessing. But I have discovered a new interest Big T has. Have you ever seen the Building Big Series on PBS? We found the videos and book at the library. Ever since the first video about tunnels Big T has been fascinated by them. Last night Beloved found found a game online where you construct a bridge that has to stay together (obviously) and hold the weight of different things walking across it. I think Beloved and Big T played it for almost an hour and he has already asked about playing it today. Here is a picture of them playing it last night. Who knows...maybe we have a future architect on our hands with an interest in history. :-)

Hope you all are having a great week and your children are having fun learning new things. :-) Blessings to everyone. :-D

Computer is back

2009-10-15T23:08:00.001-04:00

and I am so happy!

Computer is....

2009-10-14T17:25:00.001-04:00

no more. I have a post about it up on our other blog that you can go over and read. I will say we haven't done school yet this week because on Monday I went to see the midwife, Tuesday I did some organizing, and today there was a baby shower for me! We will have school tomorrow morning and I will do my best to update. Blessings to all!

Still chugging right along

2009-10-09T16:41:00.008-04:00

Some days it is a struggle, but we are still chugging right along. I think today was day 45 for school. I am very happy with how far we have gotten on our school lessons before the baby comes. We have less than two weeks until the baby's due date. We just have to wait and see when the baby decides to make his/her entrance into this world. But due to starting early we can have a few weeks to enjoy the precious baby and not fall way behind on school lessons. :-) I am debating but I am thinking of taking the week and doing lessons on Autumn. Not sure yet though. Anyway, I tried taking some pictures during school today but as you will see...my children tend to "ham" it up for the camera. It's hard to actually capture a picture of them doing any work these days. LOL ;-)

I did catch Little E doing some "big kid" work. (He likes to have the same papers as Big T and Sweet E.) But that wasn't going to last.

But then he noticed that I was taking his picture......

And then he decided to be silly at try to eat his schoolwork. LOL :-D

I think I was even tempted to eat the paper. I never realized how difficult the English language is to learn until I got into the middle of teaching it. You tell the children that a letter could sound one way, but then the next week you say it could sound another way. To top it off there are numerous exceptions to every rule. I am so proud of my children pushing through and doing their best to learn all of this. (The newest is the letter "y". It has it's own sound, but then can also sound like I or even E depending on how many syllables the word has....it's so tiring trying to keep up with all of this. LOL)

Even though I was unable to capture photos of their school work... I can show a video clip of Big T and Sweet E reciting their latest bible verse.

I even have a video of Little E. He loves trying to copy what his older siblings are doing. So I tried to get a variety of things he has been saying lately on video. :-)

Bible Memorization

2009-10-01T11:57:00.004-04:00

Here is the video of their last memory verse. Proverbs 12:18 :-)

Greek and Hebrew

2009-09-30T16:16:00.007-04:00

Yes, you read the title right. In our Bible lessons this week we talked about how the Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek. And...the fact that we have a Bible in English so that we can learn God's word. First we had Genesis 1:1 in Hebrew. The children (it's hard to see) drew grass, a tree, the sun, flowers, and a blue sky to represent creation.

After that they had copywork of the Greek Alphabet. It was interesting to watch them try their best to write them perfectly. I think they did pretty well. :-)

They actually did both of these activities yesterday. Today we made a time line and put it up on the wood trim dividing the front two rooms (it works perfectly) :-) At the start of the time line we put up their drawings with the Hebrew Genesis 1:1 and near 2009 we put a picture of the children up. So they can see where they live in relation to people in the Bible (As we learn about different people throughout the school year we will be adding to the time line.)

We briefly discussed what BC and AD mean and how we count the years "backwards" prior to Christ's birth. We will talk about it throughout the school year so they understand about it more.

Oh....and Big T and Sweet E both read their first story today! They are so excited. The read the title and about 4 short sentences. We are getting there. :-) Praise the Lord! Well....I need to get some other things done. I pray that you are all having a great school year. May the Lord bless you all. :-)

One of those days...

2009-09-24T14:09:00.009-04:00

Okay this is the third time I have tried publishing this. Each time a piece of the post disappears. Third time is the charm right? Anyway...for the veteran homeschoolers out there you will know what I mean when I say it has been one of those days. It's like the children left their brains in their bedrooms or somewhere today. They sure didn't act like they had them. LOL Oh, well....to keep from getting any more frustrated we have taken a break and will finish school when Beloved gets homes. But I did manage to get a pictures of all three children doing their copywork first. (Well...Little E's copywork is more of coloring, but that is okay.)

I also managed to get a video of their last memory verse and wanted to make sure I shared it. :-)

I know I haven't done a very good job lately on updating everything that is going on. Once we get past this weekend I hope to do some more updates that are more in depth. We have family camp this weekend and I am trying to get everything ready for it. I pray you all are having a great week and if you are homeschooling....I pray your children can find their brains. LOL :-)

New Verse

2009-09-16T12:26:00.002-04:00

Here is a video of another new memory verse. So....without further ado...Proverbs 16:24.

Those silly shepherds showed up in the house again for our school time. Oh well...it was fun having them around. :-) LOL And you gotta love what happens after school time. Once we finished what did I see except Little E getting rides from his horse. It was so fun to watch Big T give rides and Sweet E did too, but I don't have a picture of that.

You never know.....

2009-09-15T14:50:00.003-04:00

what can happen in the course of a homeschool day. :-) And that is why I love it. Today went more smoothly than our lessons have in a while....and I am so grateful for it. I did have to tell the children at one point to go to their rooms and stay their until they find their brains (LOL) but it was, overall, a great day. We had visitors from Bible Times as well. See....

Aren't they adorable. Sweet E left her outfit on the longest. They had a ball playing "shepherd." I hope they will put the outfits back on for Papa when he gets home. Oh, they also have their new verse memorized. I will try and see if I can get the camera to turn on so I can get a video of them. Well...I have a ton to do and I think I am getting another cold sore. :-( Second one in less than 2 weeks. Oh well..... Hope you all are having a blessed week!

The Water Cycle

2009-09-10T14:40:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to share a couple of videos that we used today on our "Exploration Day." We talked about rain and the water cycle. Hope you enjoy. :-)

**Please disregard an evolutionary comments**

Nature Day and Memorizatioin

2009-09-09T14:19:00.005-04:00

Beloved's work hosted a nature day at Camp Falling Rock. I have a lot of respect for the parents who take their Boys to Boy Scout camp there. It takes a lot out of you. We hiked for probably about 1+ hour around the trails and I had enough. The outdoor amphitheater was beautiful. Too bad our camera really doesn't work so I could get a picture. But anyway...since they hosted a Nature Day we decided to take advantage of it as a field trip. The children were able to make their own trail mix, roast a hot dog, and get some s'mores! Yummy! Here is a picture of the three eating their s'mores. But Little E disassembled his shortly after this picture and just ate the chocolate. LOL

Someone even snapped a picture of our family. I thought it turned out pretty well actually. :-)

We took along some of our school work. Last week we started a book of bark rubbings from trees. The children would take a piece of paper up to a tree and use a crayon to get the rubbing. We would then trace the leaf from the same tree on the paper. We had 3 done before we got to the campgrounds and I think we did at least three more. The children had fun seeing the differences between the trees. Too bad my camera won't turn on to get a picture of their books yet though.

It's been yet another busy week trying to get school work and housework done this week. It doesn't feel like I am getting anywhere, but I know I am...little by little. Speaking of...I need to get to work, but I wanted to share the latest video of the children's Bible memorization. Sweet E is sure to give you a laugh. :-)

Proverbs 23:12

2009-09-01T22:35:00.002-04:00

Sorry no new pictures, but I do have a new video for you. It's their latest memory verse. (They were given a new one today).

We have been super busy. We had school yesterday and today, but with a shortened schedule today. Big T and I both had crazy noses. His wouldn't stop running and I couldn't seem to stop sneezing! So we will have to double up on the math tomorrow. Not a big deal, but we won't be having school on Friday as I will be going to see the midwife. Can't believe it's only 7 weeks until the new arrival makes his or her appearance. I pray you all are having a wonderful God filled week and that the school sessions are going well. I am still waiting to hear back from our local district. The stuff was supposed to be mailed out Friday, but I doubt it. I live right in town so it never takes more than a day (2 at the most) to get to me. Sigh....hopefully tomorrow. :-)

Playing Catch up...yet again.

2009-08-27T10:32:00.013-04:00

When you homeschool everyday and don't post about it there is a lot to catch up on. But don't worry...I won't share every little detail. :-) At least I don't think so. Anyway, last week we discussed the four seasons and instead of drawing examples on paper we decided to branch out into a different medium. What better canvas than our large glass front door? Perfect! We divided it into four sections for the seasons and Big T and Sweet E each drew a picture that they felt depicted that season. I think they did a wonderful job. Here is a picture of Sweet E drawing a pink (of course!) flower for spring.

It's not easy to take a picture of drawings on glass though, but hopefully here you can at least see the sun that Big T drew to show the hot days of summer. You can't see it but Sweet E drew a beach as well.

If you remember we talked about how the Bible used to be written on scrolls. Well, the children finally finished all of the copywork for the alphabet and we turned it into a scroll. They did a really great job and are so proud of their work. They love to show it to anyone that comes by the house. :-)

Here the children are doing copywork of their new Bible verse they are learning to memorize. I used the program I purchased from StartWrite. For now they are both tracing over the memory verse to practice the handwriting. Next week Big T won't have that and he will have to start copying on his own to get used to it, but since Sweet E is still working on her motor skills I will have her trace it a little while longer.

Oh...I almost forgot....we are using Math-U-See for our math curriculum this year. We were flying through the primer until we got to talking about place value. Which is fine...that is the beauty of homeschooling. You can go as fast or as slow as you need to for your child. Well, they have a neat way of teaching place value using "Decimal Street." They suggest making a poster, but that is too big for us and I remember seeing on a blog somewhere another mother made a lapbook. So that is what I decided to do. Here is the front of the lapbook.

When you open it up you see decimal street, the units house, the tens house, and.......

once unfolded the building for the hundreds. Each one only holds up to 9 (units, tens, or hundreds) I then made numbers (outlined in each color) to use as well. The only drawback is that I only have 4 hundred blocks. I need to get the completer set to help out with this, but it will be a while. Anyway...the children can now practice and it seems to be helping. I can put the numbers down and they have to build it with the blocks or I put the blocks down and they find the numbers to go with it. They then have to say the number. I think that is the trickiest part for them, but they are getting better.

Oh yeah, here is the back of the lapbook where we keep the numbers for the children to use. So, except for the blocks (which are kept in a plastic shoebox) it is self contained and doesn't take up hardly any space. :-)

Okay, so I think I am caught up until today. It was exploration day today and we are talking about how flowers and other plants grow. First up was to make flower petal "juice" to get the color. Sadly I don't have much in the way of flowers in my yard right now, but there were a few blossoms from the Rose of Sharon bush left.

We then placed them in a plastic bag with a little bit of water so the children could mush them up. :-)

Pay no attention to the little boy in his underwear. LOL We are in the middle of potty training right now. :-)

Then we took a coffee filter and soaked up some of the juice. It turned it a little bit purple, but it would have been better with flowers that had more intense colors. Oh well..... We then picked some flowers and are pressing/drying them between some books and we have some beans that we are watching. We placed them in between paper towels (wet paper towels) and we will be watching them over the next week or so to see how they sprout and such. :-) Okay...I better get my little guy to the potty before we have an accident, but I wanted to share a video of the last bible verse they memorized. I pray you are all having a blessed week in school!

Schedule charts and Memorization

2009-08-18T16:54:00.014-04:00

I found this great website called Mrs. Riley. Here is a link about who they are. I have signed up for a 4 month subscription to make chore/schedule charts for the children. And I have to say....Big T and Sweet E love them! We have only used them for a couple of days, but it is already a big help! Here is a picture of all the pages I printed off...and it was a lot!

I then proceeded to cut all the cards out and laminate them. I use something similar to this clear shelf paper to laminate things like this and our school ID cards. I think I finished this whole process at like 2 in the morning. Don't ask...I started very late, but at least it's done. Except for the new cards I made. LOL This is what the charts look like.

This was the set up that the children saw first thing in the morning. I forgot to put a card up for breakfast (but I have made one since then). It's great because I can pull each card off.....

and change it when I need to. Because I put velcro strips on the "board" and squares on the back of each card.

Now I just need to find out the best way to store the cards so I don't have to go through all of them each time looking for one in particular. Any ideas for me? Maybe a index card holder with dividers? Hmmm...I will have to think about it.

Oh..and I should add that I got my notification "packet" sent off to the local school district and have received my receipt back that they did get it. :-) So, that is one less thing to worry about for now.

Oh...why not. I think I will show our School ID's as well...minus the personal information. I even made one for Little E. Last years cards came in handy at places like JoAnns, IMAX and museums. So I wanted to make sure we had some this year as well.

Oh...I guess I have 2 more things to post. Our Bible memorization. First up is the complete Proverbs 9:10 that they worked on last week.

And this next verse is just the first half of Proverbs 10:5. We will work on the rest of it the last half of this week.

Just another school day

2009-08-10T13:36:00.008-04:00

It was so hot today that it was hard to get the children to "get moving" on their school lessons. But we did manage to finish. :-) First thing today we made scrolls to go inside the pottery jars the children made. They just thought it was one of the neatest things. They were so proud they said, "Take a picture Mama!" :-)

And here is a short video of their memory verse for the week.

Once we had our Bible lesson and craft done we went on to writing/reading. This was the hardest to get done today just because it is so hot and humid in the house. But I told them, "The sooner you get it done and do it right...the sooner you can cool down. So once they finished it we promptly took our math work upstairs to the bedroom with the window air conditioner. It was so much more comfortable up there. :-) Math went by very quickly.

Once math was finished I brought up the video and worksheets for the children's piano lesson. Gotta love KinderBach. Did the sheets upstairs and will practice the exercises on the piano when it is cooler. :-) Now I just need to get somethings ready for tomorrow. :-)

Day 1 of First Grade .....

2009-08-03T13:39:00.010-04:00

...is done! So happy to have the first day done. It always takes a few days to get into the routine of the curriculum and I think we will be just fine. Big T loves the Math-U-See curriculum. He flew through today's lessons, but the great thing is...if he keeps going fast through the primer we can just jump to Alpha. Gotta love homeschooling! So the first day of Pilgrim Pathway School of Discovery was definitely a success. Here are a few pics of the day.

The children were so excited to get new school supplies. Gotta love brand new crayons and markers. :-) LOL

Although Little E was pretty mad at me because I didn't get him any markers. I know better than to do that. LOL ;-)

First up was a short Bible lesson (more in depth tomorrow.) We talked about how the Bible was originally written on scrolls and stored in jars. They found it fascinating actually. :-) Then it was on to a little bit of review over the letters A, B, and C (which included writing and sounds).

Then it was on to math. Big T loves this Math-U-See stuff. I am so happy for him. it makes it more enjoyable for everyone.

Sweet E got a little frustrated because she wasn't able to go as fast as her big brother. (but she did fine)

After math we had some reading time (They loved the book called Two Bad Ants) and then our sign language lesson. We used disc 1 of Signing Time volume 1. They love watching Alex and Leah. After Signing time they got their treat from E-pa (that is what Little E calls Grandpa Snow) and some popcorn. Now I need to go finish my chores and do some preschool with Little E this afternoon. (I should add that Beloved is doing art with the children this evening.)

Can't wait for tomorrow, but for now I have about 2 more loads of laundry to do.

**Just wanted to add a picture of the children's art time with Papa. They had so much fun. :-)**

Monday!

2009-07-31T13:26:00.001-04:00

School officially starts on Monday. I will hopefully have a post up on all that we accomplished on Monday. But for now..I have to get the house in order first. LOL :-)

Almost ready......

2009-07-14T16:52:00.002-04:00

I just ordered the math curriculum that we need to start our school year. I am praying that it arrives in the next couple of weeks so we can get started on August 1st. I know that is early for a lot of people, but I need to start school early so when the baby arrives I won't feel guilty for taking a few weeks off to enjoy the new bundle of joy. :-) Is it crazy that I am excited about ordering school supplies and curriculum? LOL :-)

It Came.....It Came!

2009-06-11T15:48:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I know I am a little crazy, but I am so happy. The 2009-2010 Rainbow Resource Catalog came today. I love it. To show how big it is (for people that don't know) I had Big T hold it for a pic. it is absolutely huge!

Now...I am off for an hour or so to look through my new book. :-) LOL

We're done!

2009-06-02T13:15:00.002-04:00

I know I really slacked off on this blog! I am so sorry, but my morning sickness really took me out for a few months. But we have finished our first year of Homeschooling. I don't know if I would call it successful (as much as I would like) but we are DONE! I didn't have to report any of the children this year (because they are all under the age requirement or whatever you call it. :-) Anyway, we are starting review either this week or next week and we will start next school year first week of August or so ...because I want to be able to take time off with the new baby and not feel pressured to finish next year. Hope to have pictures soon of what we are doing for review. Hope you all had a great school year! :-) Blessings- The Snows

Butterflies!

2009-04-21T13:09:00.003-04:00

Last week we finished up working on the Letter B and Butterflies. The children and I had a wonderful time with this week. It was a lot of fun. We also had some butterflies of our own. We received caterpillars a few weeks ago and got a chance to see them grow and turn into beautiful painted Lady Butterflies. It's so amazing...the creativity that God has put into his creation. Butterflies are one of my favorite things. So it was a blessing to actually see the change happen. We missed the first butterfly emerging but were privileged to see the second one. The children were so excited to see their butterflies and we released them this past Saturday. But not before the children got to hold them on their fingers. :-)

Did some one say Maple Syrup?

2009-04-06T12:21:00.007-04:00

I apologize...I am so far behind on updating both blogs. I have been feeling poorly the past week and I am trying to get caught up. Anyway, about the middle of March our family went to Malabar Farm for the Maple Syrup Festival. We don't have a ton of pictures, but it was a fun day. We rode on a horse drawn wagon to the sugar camp and got to see how the Native Americans made maple syrup and also how the pioneers/early settlers made it as well.

The first demonstration was how the Native Americans made it. They didn't have metal pots so they put the sap into a hollowed out log and took hot rocks out of the fire and put them into the sap to bring it to a boil. So their syrup had a lot of grit in it.

Next up was the early settlers. They would actually boil it past the syrup stage all they way down to sugar. And then if they needed syrup they would just add a little water to the sugar. We actually got to taste some of the sugar and it was very yummy! :-)

Little E was happy to be out of the carrier/backpack and be able to run around for a while.

Oh yes...I also can not forget to mention that the children got to try cotton candy for the first time. Not only was it cotton candy....it was maple syrup cotton candy! Big T loved it!

So...as I said...not many pictures, but the children sure had a good time. Hopefully next year it won't be as cold. :-)

Playing Catch up....again

2009-03-05T11:31:00.004-05:00

I feel like I just cannot catch up. So I figured I better show a couple of pictures. The other week we did the Letter P and penguins. One day we made our own icebergs (put baggies of water in the freezer) and then we watched how they floated (whether more ice was above the water or under) and how fast they melted. The children thought it was really neat.

And Beloved painted this picture to add to our collection. I think he did a wonderful job....again. :-)

Start of Penguin week :-)

2009-02-11T12:26:00.005-05:00

Today we started on the letter P and penguins. As I was looking at the blog today I realized that I skipped the letter H. I guess I don't have any photos from it other than this water color that Beloved did of horses for the children. The children painted pictures for the letter H and E as well, but they put them somewhere and I can't find them right now....go figure. Anyway....here are the pictures for Horses and Elephant (The elephant was fashioned after a picture in the book, Little Elephant Thunderfoot that I mentioned yesterday.)

Isn't the painting of the baby elephant adorable? I think it is. :-) And today the children practiced writing their letters in rice today. These pics are not the greatest, but it is all I have. They really enjoy doing this as they can "erase" their mistakes and try again and again.

I also wonder.....what I am doing wrong with this blog. It rarely ever gets any posts...I get posts on my main blog but it is as if no one bothers to come over to this one. I started the second one so the school posts would overshadow the other family activities we do....I dont' know......Just would like a comment every once in a while...you know?

Letter E

2009-02-09T16:02:00.005-05:00

We are at the end of our lesson with the Letter E. (We finish up tomorrow) But today our home was invaded by ELEPHANTS! :-D See.....it all started with this one.

Then it was joined by a second one.....not so sure about the second one. Looks a little "iffy" to me. LOL

But then the elephants did tricks to earn some peanuts. Like, standing on one leg.

And here they are enjoying their hard earned peanuts. Oh wait.....that isn't an elephant....that's Sweet E! :-)

They wore these masks while acting out parts from a book called Little Elephant Thunderfoot as I read to them. It was pretty funny to watch. After that we did work on ready words and then painting with our excellent art teacher. I hope to show those paintings to you all tomorrow. :-)

Letter C

2009-01-29T12:14:00.006-05:00

Boy, I haven't posted in a very, very long time. If you read my other blog you will already know that my husband lost his job on January 12th. We have covered the Letter C and the Letter H. I don't have many pictures because our camera is barely working these days. But, when we were covering the Letter C the children read a story called The Story of Ferdinand. They enjoyed the book and they even acted out the parts. They then chose this picture from the book.....

The children then painted their version of the picture. Here is Big T's.....

And here is Sweet E's picture.

And since Beloved has been home he has been a great help in our art department. Here is his version. I loved it so much it is now hanging up on the wall in our living room. :-)

So...there is a short version of what has been done. I hope to do much better in the coming weeks of keeping up with our school lessons. :-) Blessings to you all

Onward........

2009-01-09T15:01:00.018-05:00

and upward! No...that doesn't sound right. LOL But we are moving on with our school work. We started with the letter C yesterday and may I say, I don't think this was a good week to start my new "diet." LOL :-) For, with the letter Cc, we learn about Cows. Yep...cows. Here is a picture of the children working on their Cc flashcards yesterday.

Even Little E got his school work done. He loves playing with these stacking pegs. He had to have at least a peg in every hole and if he didn't like how the color scheme was looking he would pull that peg out and replace it with another color until he found the look he was going for. :-)

At one point he gave me this look like, "Really Mama? I am trying to concentrate here."

But then today....today was the fun day. They got to make butter all by themselves (Well, I did have to help just a little.) We don't have access to milk from our very own cow. Don't think the neighbors would appreciate it. ;-) But using the cream from unhomogenized milk would work......but I like to leave that in with our milk. So I purchased some cream separately, we put it in a jar with a tight lid, and went to work! The children loved shaking the jar.

Checking to see if it is ready......

Nope...needs some more shaking, so Little E decided he needed to take matters into his own hands.

But then he realized he really wasn't big enough to do this, so he passed it back off to his brother.

Looks like we finally have butter!

Poured off the butter milk and.....

Spread some fresh butter onto crackers. Yummy! The children loved it, but I had to cut them off. Didn't want them downin' the whole batch we just got done making.

See, I told you this was the wrong week to start. One of the next lessons we are supposed to have a "dairy" party. We bought three different kinds of cheese, yogurt, some unhomogenized milk, and of course....ice cream sandwiches. Yummy. Why...oh why did it have to be this week. LOL!

Week G

2009-01-07T09:13:00.003-05:00

The children learned the letter Gg this week and the topic was goats. We didn't get a lot into goats in general, but more of farm animals and babies and their mamas. I know this post is ridiculously short, but it's all I got. :-) Yesterday the children worked on puzzles. Big T is working on a puzzle that pairs up the mother's with the babies and Sweet E has a block puzzle with 6 different possibilities for pictures of baby animals. Tomorrow we start the letter Cc and Cows. Then the week after is Hh and horses. So these three weeks are all tied together with farm animals.

Week I

2008-12-29T15:48:00.004-05:00

Well, we just finished out the Ii (insect) week today. Yes, it turned into about a 2 week unit instead of one, but we had all three children sick last week (still getting over it), traveling, and family gatherings...I think we will be fine. :-) We talked about ants, ladybugs, inchworms, spiders, and other sorts of insects. We even have some in our home. See..... ;-)

Aren't they cute? I never thought I would say that about insects. ;-) We have centipedes, ants, spiders, and even ticks. The children had fun making these and choosing the colors. Well, I better get ready to start the next unit tomorrow.

Insects.....

2008-12-19T06:16:00.004-05:00

This week the children are having so much fun this week learning about insects and the letter I. On Wednesday we talked about the ant and the ant farm we had. All the ants are dead now, but the last one didn't die off until last week. They lived much longer than we expected. Anyway, yesterday we talked about the ladybug and that it is a predatory insect. So we decided to make our own ladybugs from rocks. The children chose the two small ones and we painted the larger one together. I know...they look more like Asian lady beetles, but that is what happens when we don't have black paint. Still haven't figured out why there are two shades of blue in the paint set we bought, but not black. You can make the other blue color by mixing paints. Oh well, I just need to go buy black paint. The children are happy with how the ladybugs turned out anyway. They want to put them out in the garden. I will put them on our back porch till spring and then I will have them put the bugs outside then. :-)

Homeschool Memoirs #18: Winter Treats

2008-12-17T06:16:00.003-05:00

THEME

This week I want to invite you to share one of your favourite winter treats. A treat you look forward to making when the snow falls and include the recipe for it so others can try it out.

When you add your link to the linky you’re welcome to put in what you posted. For example: Miss Jocelyn -Eggnog

My theme:

My favorite winter treat is easy....it's a Mocha or Stash's white Christmas tea. Yummy!

The mochas I make are super easy. Just brew yourself a good cup of coffee. Then you add one packet of hot cocoa mix (homemade or store bought) to your cup and add coffee. That's it! I usually add some milk and if we have it, whipped cream to top it off. Can't get much better then that. But if you prefer tea, White Christmas Tea is my favorite hot tea.

Letter W

2008-12-12T15:10:00.004-05:00

Well, we are finishing up our week for the letter Ww and water. We have done experiments with seeing how liquids change shape depending on the container you pour them into, seeing how water turns to ice when cold enough and which melts faster....ice in the refrigerator or ice left out. The children have had so much fun with this. Today was their favorite I think. Today we started with this. 5 glasses of water and rice, salt, coffee bean, sugar, and oil. The children then made guesses on what would dissolve and what wouldn't. They had a lot of fun guessing what would and wouldn't. They even wanted to see what the salt water and sugar water tasted like. Obviously they prefered the sugar water. :-)

We are finishing up the week of W tomorrow and then we will be starting Letter I and insects. ;-)

Homeschool Memoirs #17: Chores

2008-12-10T08:47:00.002-05:00

THEME:

This week I would you to share how chores are done in your home. How you order your day with school and getting housework done. How do you decide which chores should be done by which child, of which age? I’m looking forward to hearing them!

My Theme:

My children are still fairly young yet and this is something that we are finally starting to develop. The children are to help set the table and to clear it. Then one of the older two help me with dishes. Our oldest son helps feed the animals (just a dog and a rabbit) and give them water. He does a very good job of it. Actually we are in the process of making more of a list and a schedule as our family needs structure. Without it....it turns to chaos. :-) Hope to learn a lot today reading of others ideas.

When I was...

2008-12-09T15:07:00.003-05:00

I forgot to mention something that happened when our family went to the Messiah on Sunday. As we were walking in this is a conversation that took place.

Beloved talking to the children: "This is where Mama used to go to school."

Sweet E: "When she was smart?"

We had a good laugh over that. I guess after I got my diploma that my intelligence went down hill. LOL :-D

Water Week

2008-12-09T13:33:00.003-05:00

This week we are talking about the letter W and the theme is water. So here are a couple of videos for your. :-)

Another week

2008-12-09T07:58:00.004-05:00

Last week they children learned the letter "Oo" and the theme for the week was the octopus. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the mural they did yet. I do have a picture of them painting the water, but they then added their own octopus to the water. (I will try and get a picture of it up soon.)

Then I let Big T have some time with the magnets, which he loves! His favorite thing to make with them right now are ships. You can see how proud he is of his creation. He asked me to take a pictue for him.

The music portion of our lessons this week was easy to fill. The local college...my Alma Mater (MVNU) has a wonderful tradition of performing Handel's Messiah. We haven't gone for a few years, but I so happy we were able to attend this past Sunday. My pictures are not that great, pretty blurry, because we sat in the balcony and I can't hold still enough to get good shot with the zoom. But I do have a couple of videos. And I think you can hear Little E crying in both. By the time the Hallelujah chorus came around it was 9 and way past his bed time. :-)

Homeschool Memoirs: #16 Candy :-)

2008-12-03T10:19:00.003-05:00

This week it’s seriously going to be just fun. This week share your favourite candies. I know from being on the HSBA Post team that Sprittibee and Dawn love gummy-bears, and maybe Bunny too. Have fun with this… and you’re welcome to post a photo of YOU eating your favourite candy. Haha!

God’s Word is also like sweetness to our souls. His sweet love, forgiveness, comfort, peace, and more is what makes our lives seem a little more bearable when things get rough. Whenever you eat your sweet piece of goodness remember that God loves you and will always be there when life seems sour.

Share a scripture for this week as well. One that lifts you up when you’re feeling discouraged.

My Theme:

What is my all time favorite candy? Reese Peanut Butter Cups! I have a major downfall for those. Especially the heart, egg, or tree shaped ones because they have extra peanut butter in them. :-) I also like dark chocolate a lot, but I am telling you...the peanut butter cups are pure delight to me. :-)

Proverbs 16:24 "Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones."

Homeschool Memoirs: #15 A Thankful Heart

2008-11-26T09:27:00.003-05:00

"THEME

This week, you guessed it, is going to be about having a thankful heart! Yes, of course, we should always be thankful for everything we’re blessed with, but it’s not too often we actually sit and ponder what. This week please join me in writing 27 things you’re thankful (There’s got to be at least 27things!). I picked 27 because this year Thanksgiving is on the 27th of November.

Also, share a Scripture verse for this week!"

My theme:

1. My Lord, Jesus Christ- through him I am saved
2. My Husband- He is the most wonderful man in all the world (To me he is). He works hard for his family and makes time for the children everyday to tell them stories. :D
3. Big T- My oldest....he has been such a joy to watch, to see him grow up and learn new things
4. Sweet E- my little princess....the one who loves all things pink.....she is such a wonderful little girl to have around. it is so much fun to watch her play mom. :-)
5. Little E- Mr. Independent......also known as Curious George.....always keeping me on my toes. :-)
6. Family- They have been with me through all things
7. My Sissy- We have had our rough times, but she is always there for me.....she's definitely a blessing. :D
8. House- and opportunity to make a home for my family where we can have friends for dinner, hang art projects on the wall and have homeschool. :-D
9. Cinnamon and Clove candles- LOVE that smell this time of year
10. Dark Chocolate- Need I say more. :-)
11. Mocha- I can't drink coffee black, but add chocolate....it's great.
12. My Mill- it's a blessing to be able to grind fresh wheat flour for bread.
13. Homeschool Mamas- all of the mamas I have met in real life and on the internet...such a wonderful support group. :D
14. Miss Ginny- for keeping me on my toes and not being afraid to tell me when I miss something with the children. Thanks! Oh...and can always make me smile.
15. Brothers and Sisters in Christ- they are such a wonderful support group that without them.....I don't know how we would get through the rough spots that we have. :D
16. Pizza- especially homemade since the children and I make it together. AND it's better than any takeout. :-)
17. Shea Butter Lotion
18. Construction paper- without it....what would school crafts be. :D
19. Vinyl Tablecloths- Without them...my dinning room table would be ruined.
20. Water- not only do our bodies need it, but water helps with science projects of all kinds, whether it is a volcano, making ice, mixing with food coloring....it is used in many, many ways. :D
21. Pets- They are a joy to have around, but my oldest is also learning responsibility by taking care of their food and water.
22. Digital Cameras- this way we don't waste film by printing pics that didn't come out right. And...so I can take 4 times as many pictures than needed. :D
23. Internet- so I can keep in contact with friends and family, and so I can do TONS of research for school projects.
24. Snow- not only is it my last name, but it helps brighten any winter day!
25. Sweaters- Nothing like a warm cozy sweater and a mocha on a cold winter day.
26. Coloring Books- Their not just for children...it's great "therapy" for a stressful day. :D
27. These Memoirs- It's fun to learn about others. :-)

Psalms 95:2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

Rooooaaaarrrr!

2008-11-22T23:44:00.013-05:00

This week we learned about the letter "D" and dinosaurs. The children had a blast. Sorry it took me this long to get things posted, but that is what happens when the hard drive crashes. :D Big T finally got to use his birthday gift that a friends gave him. You dropped a dinosaur egg into water, it foamed up, and them you discovered dinosaur bones inside to put together. (The egg was pretty much a bath bomb, but the children had fun)

Then the children drew pictures of a pterodactyl and a brachiosaurus. I think they did a wonderful job. :D They are so proud to have there pics up on the wall. :-)

I almost forgot....we got the play dough out and make our own dinosaurs. The purple one is mine. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of their dinos because they tore them apart before I could. Oh well....I will just have to be quicker next time. :-)

But the favorite thing of the week was making/painting dinos of their very own. We saved this project for the "art teacher" to do with them. Beloved drew out the basic design of the dino that they wanted, stapled the outside edges together, the children stuffed them with newspaper, and then......

Can you guess what colors they painted their dinosaurs? I am actually surprised that Big T did not choose green, but instead chose......PURPLE!

Sweet E's should be easy.....it was PINK! ;-)

We have one more day of lessons to finish up with the Letter D and it's on to the next lesson. :D

Done....

2008-11-18T11:13:00.002-05:00

Our harddrive just crashed. We just happen to have a laptop that is pretty much just for the children to use to play games and such. So I just wanted to let you all know that it will be a while before I post again. I am praying that Hubby can save the files from the harddrive, but at least he said the pics to CD's about a week ago....So I haven't lost too many. Just ones of the first snow. So anyway, I pray that you all have a blessed day and hope to see you all soon. :D

Pirates and Symphony?!

2008-11-17T11:12:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, Beloved took Sweet E to a concert for children. She loved it! My SIL plays violin (First violin I think) in the Knox County Symphony Orchestra. She is on the conductor's left closest to the edge of the stage. The theme was pirates. This video is about 5 minutes long but if you have time I suggest you watch it. It's really good and you can hear Sweet E a couple of times.

After I posted it I realized that it is missing the ending. Gotta love technology. :p Anyway, here is the end. :o)

Deep Breath In.....

2008-11-13T08:52:00.003-05:00

and breathe out. That is how I felt yesterday. We had some difficulty with one of the lessons which gave me two children that didn't want to try. So we all had to step away and come back to it about an hour later. It was better, but the lightbulb still hasn't "gone off". So I am praying that today goes more smoothly. :D

Homeschool Memoirs #13 "Mom" Help

2008-11-12T08:00:00.002-05:00

"Homeschool Mothers do a lot in a day…. I’d say they do more than the working mom because they have to care for the kids, the house, the meals, and much more. They are constantly on the go and with the kids! Sometimes you just need a break. You need to sit down and have a break. While I’m not a mom - YET - I know there I are times I need to sit down for a breather."

THEME:

This week I’d like to invite you to share what YOUR “Mom” help is. Some drink coffee, soda, or chia-tea. Others check email or read their favourite blogs. Some talk a walk…. what do you do when you need to clear your head and take a breather?

Scripture Share:

Please share a Scripture that gives you a “mom” help when you’re spirit is feeling overwhelemed.

My Theme- Okay....my mom help is...well...it varies. It depends on what is going on. A nice mocha helps but I usually go to a piece of chocolate for the help. It is especially wonderful when it is Dark chocolate. I love dark chocolate. :D When I really need to clear my head I have a CD that sings "holy, holy, holy" over and over again. It is very calming and helps me clear my head.

Scripture Share- "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Hebrews 11: 1-3

On to....

2008-11-10T15:11:00.000-05:00

..the Letter U. This week we are learning about "Us" and that God made us wonderful! Today we read a book about our 5 senses and did an activity with touch. I placed some items into a bag and then the children had to put their hand in and guess what the object was by only touching it.

They had a lot of fun, but then we changed it. I put a sock on their hand and then they had to try it again. This time it was a little harder and we all laughed as they tried to guess the objects.

I think we are going to have a ton of fun this week with this topic. Oh and our ants are doing very well. The children just love to see what new tunnels they have made. Unfortunately I don't have a new pic of the ants, but they children wanted their pic taken with the ant hill so I will share those instead. :D

Gotta love....

2008-11-07T09:40:00.001-05:00

..new school projects. Look what we got in the mail yesterday. Can you tell what it is?

Do you know yet......................

They are harvester ants! The children were so excited to find that they came in the mail yesterday (and I was excited too) that we had Beloved put the ant hill together right away.

We all spent a lot of time watching the ants last night. This morning you can tell that they got a lot done last night. Here is a picture (blurry, I know) of 2 of them. I circled them to make them easier to see. The children keep asking to see the ants so that they can watch them.

Homeschool Memoirs #12 Let's Play a Game!

2008-11-05T10:19:00.000-05:00

"Homeschoolers are very resourceful people. They use what they have and use them to their best ability. I know in our home many times people ask us how we use this or that for learning, and we are happy to explain it’s value. I think the main thing that a lot of people miss is that life is learning, and you must use everything in your home for learning otherwise you won’t fully be prepared.

THEME

This week I want to invite you to share what different games you use for learning in your homeschool. Outside games, board games, or card games, and what purpose or subject you use them for."

My Theme-

My husband and I enjoy playing games and the children are starting to enjoy them as well.

Candyland- This games helps the children with counting, colors, and taking turns.

Little Bear's Leap Frog Game- This is one of the children's favorites. This game helps with their counting and matching. It also helps teach patience (as Candyland does)

Memory- Helps them to learn to match things and memorization

I Spy Bags- helps with their dexterity and matching skill. Here is a picture of some that I have made.

The newest game that the children have found is Mancala. They haven't figured it out yet, but they are trying. :D

Turtles.....

2008-11-05T09:48:00.000-05:00

I forgot to post these yesterday. Better late than never. Big T and Sweet E are continuing to make progress in school. Although, a new curve ball is thrown at them this week. They are starting to blend sounds together. Anyway, in these first to pictures it shows them doing one of their exercises. They have cards with pictures on them and they have to put the cards under the appropriate letter (The letter that it starts with). Big T did very well and Sweet E needed some help (but she is only 3 and is doing great keeping up with her big brother.)

I just realized that I forgot to show you what they started painting last week. Well, they made some turtles and had a lot of fun doing so. They are so proud of their turtles.

But, these days, they have to have a goofy picture as well.

Making Progress...

2008-11-01T18:51:00.001-04:00

I love seeing the lightbulb go off in a child's head...so to speak. Today we did a sound recognition type worksheet (They have to circle the pictures that start with the letter for the week and cross out the ones that don't) And Big T did his worksheets all by himself today. Usually I have to help a lot with them but he did it all on his own. I am so happy for him.

Also...the children started painting a project last night. I will show pictures when we get it finished. :D

Homeschool Memoirs #11 Field trips

2008-11-01T12:52:00.001-04:00

THEME:

"This week I’d like to invite you to share your favourite field-trip that you’ve been able to go on since you’ve started homeschool. I’d encourage you to include photos, but you don’t have to."

My favorite field trip so far......It would have to be to the apple orchard. The children, Nana, and I had so much fun. Especially after we went to Nana's house and made yummy applesauce. :D

It coincided nicely with out school lessons. It happened to be the week for the letter A and the unit happened to be...APPLES! It was fun to see my Sweet E learn that apples do grow on trees (she kept saying they didn't before we went to the orchard.) Granted.....we have only had a couple of field trips, but we are only into our 3rd month of homeschooling. Many more field trips to come. :D

Why this name?

2008-11-01T10:41:00.000-04:00

I know some have wondered why we chose to name our school Pilgrim Pathway School of Discovery. Well, it first came to me because my children love the story Pilgrim's Progress. They enjoy watching Dangerous Journey, which I think does a good job with the storyline and pictures. So pilgrim was a word that was stuck in my head. And then we got to thinking about how our life is a journey and that it is our responsibility to raise our children up for the Lord. So, that is where pathway came from. And the school of discovery part, well, that is what it is. They discover something new everyday. So that is how we came up with the name Pilgrim Pathway School of Discovery.

'Nother blog...

2008-10-31T17:38:00.000-04:00

Yeah...why two blogs? Well, I have been thinking about this for a few days and I thought it would be "easier" to put things that are school related in a different place. More so I can keep things straight than anything. Hope to have some posts up soon. :D

Pilgrim Pathway School of Discovery

Moving Right Along

Again...Still Here...

Preschool Time!

Puppets and Lost Tooth

COSI Fun

Late again....

WHY!?

What About Socialization?

Still here...

Really.....a Month?

Best Sight....

Learning Experiences...

Back In Session

Hiking and Letterboxing

Staying Busy

Letterboxing Adventures

Our Newest Neighbor

Still Here

I *heart* NY

What a Blessing!

Laundry Time

The Value of Home Education

PPSD Preschool

Meet Me on Decimal Street

Memorization Work

Struggles

AAAAHHHHHH!

Different Levels

Books of the Old Testament

Still Going Strong

Stumbling....

Bible Memorization Cont.

Keeping them Interested

Lab Day

School is back in session

Another Project

More Bridge Building

New Interests

Computer is back

Computer is....

Still chugging right along

Bible Memorization

Greek and Hebrew

One of those days...

New Verse

You never know.....

The Water Cycle

Nature Day and Memorizatioin

Proverbs 23:12

Playing Catch up...yet again.

Schedule charts and Memorization

Just another school day

Day 1 of First Grade .....

Monday!

Almost ready......

It Came.....It Came!

We're done!

Butterflies!

Did some one say Maple Syrup?

Playing Catch up....again

Start of Penguin week :-)

Letter E

Letter C

Onward........

Week G

Week I

Insects.....

Homeschool Memoirs #18: Winter Treats

Letter W

Homeschool Memoirs #17: Chores

When I was...

Water Week

Another week

Homeschool Memoirs: #16 Candy :-)

Homeschool Memoirs: #15 A Thankful Heart

Rooooaaaarrrr!

Done....

Pirates and Symphony?!

Deep Breath In.....

I heart NY