A little hard Spelling Lesson today!

See March 15th's post to learn about this weeks Spelling fun!

1st year PASS Testing

We recieved Lil' Man's 1st PASS test (for him to take) today. He took the placement tests today. We are very proud of him. He placed in the middle for reading (he struggles with reading, so I was pleased that he placed in the middle, I was sure it was going to be on the lower end), top of the testing in math and language (language shocked me a little, I was so sure it would have been more towards the middle. He'll be taking the actual tests next week. I like that he can take them here at home and take as long as he needs to complete each section, no pressure. No, I don't help him. I found other things to do this morning while he did the placement tests. The tests will be sent in after the end of the month, then we'll hear back in about 6 to 8 weeks (I believe) the results. It will be helpful information, knowing what to work on during the summer. On a side note, he's already asking to do the reading program through our local library again.

Todays Spelling Lesson

"Target" Words (various Lesson 1-13 words from All About Spelling)                                

        

                                               Getting ready to "shoot" the "target" words                                                   

                                                             Aiming at the "target" words

Disappearing "target" words equal correct "aim"

I saw this idea on Pinterest and just knew that Lil' Man would love doing it. What a great way to review words and improve reading at the same time. You can use this idea for more than just spelling words.

Crazy Hair Night at Awana

 Tonight was crazy hair night at Awana. Lil' Man decided that he wants to have Silly String hair. He had a blast with the Silly String and getting it sprayed on his head. Well, it didn't last long. Once we got to Awana and he saw that one of the Awana Directors had colored hair spray, he wanted it off (plus it was making a mess all over the place). I helped him remove it and he had orange hair after that. Sorry no picture of that, I didn't have my camera with me as I wasn't expecting a change. I wore a green wig that we have from a couple of St. Patty's days ago. Nope, no pictures of that either.....sorry!

Awana Games 2012

               The Co-ed Awana Games Team from GCC.
                  We also had a all girls team.
              Both teams placed 2nd in their group.
           I had a hoarse voice from all the yelling. 
           Lil' Man had a blast, as did all the kids.

Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure Field Trip

                   Lil' Man posing on a tractor in the kids area of the zoo.

                     A close up of Lil' Man on the tractor at the zoo.

          Lil' Man posing with the Rolling Hills Sign in the kids area of the zoo.

Dad (a.k.a the principle of Little Shepherds Academy) checking out a docile cow. That is until we bought some feed to feed it, then he became very lively.

                     Black Swans. Oh my, these were so funny to watch.
           They would bob their heads up and down, sometimes at the
                                      same time and squawk.

              Lil' Man with a Camel. We took this picture for Lil' Man's Grandma,
                                     she collects camel things.

                                        Close up of the camel.
                         
                     A Deer! As close to shooting on as I will ever get
                               --- sorry couldn't resist the pun!

                  The beautiful Kansas Plains on a partly cloudy day.

        Cool picture of the moon in the middle of the day behind a cloud

                           --- just one of God's Amazing Creations!

We had a beautiful time. It was so great getting out of the house and being around God's creatures. It had been a while since we had gone on a field trip, especially as a family. We were so happy that Daddy (a.k.a our school's principle) could get off of work to go with us.

Valentine's 2012

I found this idea on Pinterest and loved it. It was a great way to start a Valentine's Day. Lil' Man loved them and asked for more.

A boy and his Dino's

Lil' Man has a collection of dinosaurs from T-Rex Cafe in Kansas City, KS. Kirk brings him back one everytime that he comes back from a meeting in that area (which is about once a year). He has also received some in person from a couple of visits there. All his dino's names start with the letter E -- Elmo the Great, Emma, Elvis, Ezekiel, Edwina (just to name a few), like his name. His first was Elmo the Great (he's the blue one in the front), he received him the first time we visited T-Rex. Elmo the great has been quite a few places with us since he was adopted. He went to Vegas twice, Washington state a couple of times, and on all our road trips to OK and KS. He has been such a loved compain by Lil' Man. And even though his herd has grown to 8, Elmo the Great is still amongst the favorites. Ezekiel (his latest adoptee), seems to also be among the favorites. Some may say Lil' Man is almost 9 and it's time to put away the stuffed animals, I don't agree. When he's ready, and only when he's ready, we'll put these beloved stuffies loving away for Lil' Man's children to enjoy when they come along.

Planning a summer of science fun

We've been doing Physics, Chemistry and Ecology in Science (God's Design by Answers in Genesis) this school year. There never seems to be enough time in our day to do everything that we want to do, like awesome science experiments. So this coming summer, I decided that it would be fun to have an at home Science Camp (We're calling it Mommy's Mad Scientist Day Camp). I have been searching places like Pinerest for ideas of experiments we might try. I also have some books of science experiments. My plan is to do 2 or more experiments a day with Lil' Man. I think he'll have a great fun doing them. I know I will have fun doing them with him. Look for blog posts this summer on our experiments.

Officially in 3rd Grade

I can't believe we on our 5th year of our homeschooling adventure. My Little Guy just started 3rd grade at the beginning of this month. He is doing wonderful so far. We haven't been struggling and school is being completed in a reasonable amount of time. Of course his favorite subjects are still Math, History and Science. He is improving in reading, thankfully. I was so concerned about issues with that. He's been reading Flat Stanley by himself at night for a half an hour before bed. We made a Flat Stanley of our own and is currently off on it's first adventure with my Mother-In-Law. I am hoping that this proves to be an adventurous year for him and myself.

Excited about 3rd grade

is enjoying seeing Lil' Man's face light up as he is getting out his new 3rd grade books and

 seeing ones that he loved from 2nd grade for 3rd graders. He is so excited and actually

 jumping for joys, hugging me and say I LOVED THIS BOOK, I am so glad that they have it

 in a 3rd grade edition Mommy.

Sum, Sum, Summer Time!!!

Okay once again time has just gotten away from me. I will have to go back when I have some downtime (ROFLOL, what is that???? not sure what downtime is anymore). Who would have thought that homeschooling 1 would be so time consuming? I guess you could say that busy is an understatement. My health for the past year has also played a huge part in my downtime. I have another blog about that subject, so I will digress. Lil' Man has grown so much this past year. He turned 8 in May. Hard to believe. He had a Phineas and Ferb birthday party with his friends at a local park. We did some science experiments, in addition to the just plain playing and having fun. We finished up Sonlight Core C at the end of May. We will be doing Core D in the fall. We have been wrapping up all our other curriculum as the summer has progressed. I am a stickler about finishing all the workbooks and completing all the assignments. We basically school through out the year, a littler lighter in the summer time. I like to do a bridge program with him, to help keep things fresher for him. This was recently shown to be a positive thing to me, we took off the first 3 weeks of June for a surgery and recovery time for me and then we had company. After just 3 weeks of being off, it was just way to hard to regain focus and get back into the rhythm of things for Lil' Man. He finished his 2nd year of tap dancing in May. He took his first year of Piano this past school year. His teacher offers summer classes for the months of June and July, so we continued with them. He'll have August off. Swimming Lessons are planned for this month. He is in a Bowling League for the summer. So far he's been enjoying that. This is his first experience without bumpers. He's also been taking a monthly 2 hr Monart Workshop for pretty much the past year (only missed 2 months -- 1 because he didn't want to draw bugs and the other because there wasn't enough interest). We're going to be beginning a lapbook next week about Chocolate. We are looking forward to that. Of course there will be tasting the different types of chocolate, cooking with it and we are even going to be making chocolate from scratch (found a really neat Make Your Own Chocolate Kit). Who says science has to be boring? He is signed up for another year of Tap. He finished up Sparks (Awana's) and will be starting the TNT (Truth and Training) Awana's Series in the Fall. He completed 2 Awana's book last school year. He was so excited to have made such an accomplishment. We have been doing History Pockets this summer also Life in Plymouth Colony and Native Americans, while we have been reading American Pioneers and Patriots. I choose to do a summer history lesson with him because he was so upset when we end Mystery of History vol. II. We are looking forward to starting Mystery of History vol. III in the fall. Of course he was also upset when Math-U-See was completed. Luckily, we had a few other Math workbooks to complete. This seems to have kept him happy. However those are almost completed now too, so I will have to print of worksheets from Math-U-See's website. Well that about it in a nutshell for an update. I hope to be able to go back and put in some more specific updates from the past year. God Bless!

The Big 8

Lil' Man turned 8 a few weeks ago. Today we had his birthday party with his friends.

Phineas and Ferb was the theme (of course!!! LOL!!!) He loves this show and so do we, it's very creative and I must say that we've only encountered 2 episodes that we deemed unwatchable.

Playing in the sand together! They were building Kidsboro (Adventures in Odyssey) 

Blowin Out the Candles

Soda Gyser (need I say more -- as you can see by the picture we did more than one. This one was much better than the first. The bottle was agitated a little before it was loaded, it seemed to increase the effect of the gyser going off)

Worms (Science Project)

Showing off one of his worms

Some of the kiddos with their worms

Mini Native American Artifacts

  

The Canoe

The Teepee

Arrowhead necklace

I found these cute little Native Indian leather craft  and necklace kits for Lil' Man to do while we are learning about Native Americans. He really enjoyed doing them. Especially the leather ones.

Health Experiment with an Egg and Vinegar

This is an experiment that we recently did in health, regarding teeth and the importance of brushing them consistently. The experiment is a simple one, all you will need is 1 fresh egg (do not crack or break it, it needs to be whole), a small container with a lid and vinegar (enough to cover the egg). The egg represents your teeth and the vinegar represents the acids that food create in your mouth. It shows what the acid does to the enamel on your teeth overtime if you didn't brush regularly (it eats away at the enamel, which is why you get cavities). This experiment will take 96 (4 days) hours to conduct. I had my son look at it everyday, so he could notices the small changes that were going on with the egg. Place your fresh egg in the small container and pour the vinegar over the egg. I found that over the time, the gases that are building up seemed to push the lid off the container if I completely sealed it, so just place the lid loosely over the container (it helps to cut down on the smell). After 4 days, you can throw this experiment away, but I think that what really made the point to my son was when he gently poked the egg with this finger and it broke the egg so easily. He was able to see that only the thin lining of the shell was left, all the actual shell was gone.
Please note: that our enamel on our teeth is made of calcium and that the shell on the egg is made of similar material. When we eat food, the saliva in our mouth helps to break down the food. But it can also break down the enamel on our teeth. Below are pictures from our experiment over the 96 hours.


24 hours after we placed the egg in the vinegar


48 hours after we placed the egg in the vinegar


72 Hours after we placed the egg in the vinegar


96 Hours after we placed the eggin the vinegar (last day of the experiment)


After lil' man gently poked the egg with his finger


What is left of the shell after 96 hours in vinegar

So, So Far Behind

Just realized that I have not updated this blog since July of 2010. I am going to go back through the past 6 months and try to update the blog as best I can. Please look from July 2010 until Jan 2011 for updated posts. Sorry for the neglect. God Bless and Thank you for reading my blog

Lil Man went to the doctor yesterday because he had some funkiness going on between his big toe and the "pointer" toe. She thinks it's a combination of a few things (caused by sweaty feet from tap and just being in shoes and socks), ezcema, callouses, corns and possibly warts. So she has him soaking his feet nightly and me filing them and apply medicine, along with keeping his feet aired out and putting on clean fresh socks immediately after he changes out of his tap shoes. Praying it takes care of this for him. I feel so bad for him.

Update on Tap

Lil Man is done with his first semester of Tap. We signed up for second semester and I was happy to see that it stated that if you were not signed up at the beginning of second semester you wouldn't be able to take part in the spring recital. This is a plus for Lil Man, he can work on his recital number without having to worry about a new student suddenly appearing and taking time away from the practice for the recital.

Back to Tap

Lil Man will start back to tap dancing here on the first Tuesday of this month, he is so excited to be returning to it. He'll be the only child in his class (again). I hope that they don't allow to happen last year, this year. 2 to 2 1/2 months before the spring recital, they allowed another child to join the class. It wouldn't have been so bad if the child had had classes before but they had no experience. So all practicing for recital had to ended and a few classes were just to catch them up to where Lil Man. As you can imagine, the child was no where close to where Lil Man was. I think I just might have to politely say something this time, if this happens.

5 O'Clock Shadow

Edward was in the bathroom yesterday when I was brushing my teeth, and he grabbed a can of shaving cream and his little play razor that he got with his Diego Bathroom set a couple of Christmas's ago. He proceeds to squirt some of the shaving cream on his hand to apply to his face. I ask him what he is doing, he says he is going to shave. I convince him that this is not a good idea at the time, the shaving cream might get on his clean shirt and we're head out the door to go play with friends at the splash park. He says "Okay, Mommy!" This morning, he comes to me and announces that he is going to go shave his "beard". He goes into the bathroom lathers up with shaving cream, "shaves" and then comes out to have me check to see if he has left any shaving cream on his face. He smelled of shaving cream and had a smooth face. He is just growing up so fast....before I know it he will really have a 5 O'Clock Shadow and need to shave.

Blog Changes

If you are looking for my posts on PCOS, Infertility or TTC #2, I have created a blog for that subject alone. You can now find them at: http://desireespcosjourney.blogspot.com/

Sorry for the inconvience but this way all my posts (I had them on 2 different blogs) about that one subject are easy to see and you wont have to go through all these post about our family life if that isn't an interest to you.

Please note you will get a adult content only notice prior to entering the blog. It's not because there are intimate details on it but it's due to the subject being discussed.

Also this blog now will pretain mainly to our homeschooling adventure and Edward's adventures. If you wish to read about our General Family Life, you can find those posts at: http://desireesdailylife.blogspot.com/

Edward's 7th Birthday at T-Rex Cafe with the Kimmel Family

What a Birthday Face!

Randy and Jj, being silly

Edwards best Dino Roar Face!

Here Comes the Birthday Dessert (the Chocolate Extinction)

Lighting of the candle!

Preparing to enjoy his Birthday Dessert

Ee and Jj digging for Dinos

Edward dino diggin

Blasting a Dino Skeleton (he got a Triceratops)

Ee, Edward and Jj...all so grown up!

We met up with the Kimmel Family at T-Rex Cafe in Kansas City for Edward's 7th Birthday celebration. It was so great to see them and spend the evening with them. The kids had so much fun. None of my babies, are babies anymore!