Getting to know Kansas and Newton

Today we learned that the Chisholm Trail went right through Newton, where we now reside. It was neat to learn about the history of the little town that we are now calling home. From 1871 to 1873 our quaint little town was known as the "bloody and lawless, the wickedest city in the West." In 1872 the western terminal for Santa Fe Railway and the rail head for the Chisholm Trail were established here. With the railroad came a horde of gunslingers, gamblers, "soiled doves", cowboys and railroad crews of every kind. By the end of 1872, there had been 12 murders documented, although there was evidence showing twice as many.

This is a old one room school house here in Newton, KS. This is the Kellas School.


Edward and the other co-op students, were able to find out what it was like to go to school back in 1800's in a one room school house. This school house was very authentic, complete with a wood stove to heat it, which do to the cold, we utilized. The children sat according to grade with the younger children in the front of the class and the older ones in the back, just as they would have done back then. They also participated in the same school activities as the children would have.

These are Indian artifacts.

Edward is holding a Buffalo bladder. They used these to carry water from the river back to their village to use. The other things he is holding is a sewing needle made of buffalo bone.

Edward is standing in front of what would have been worn by someone during the times of the Chisholm Trail Days. If I remember correctly, this was rain gear.

Here Edward is looking at some of the various Santa Fe and other train memorabilia. Of course with his fascination of trains, he was excited about learning all about trains and what the bringing the railroad through Newton meant for it back then.

New Homeschool Daily Activity

Last Christmas (2007), Edwards "Auntie" Trisha (one of his God Mother's) gave us a book as a gift, it is 365 Days of Celebrations and Praise: Daily Devotions and Activities for Homeschooling Families by Julie Lavender. I had planned to start it at the first doing the book on Jan 1 but things were hectic with all we had going on. However, we'll be starting this activity in Feb. We will be sharing with you via our blog what we learned about certain days.

I survived 650 feet under ground!!

Edward and I went 650 feet underground this afternoon. We went to the Hutchinson Underground Salt Mine. This salt field runs from Missouri to New Mexico, it is a working salt mine (it produces 500,000 tons of rock salt each year). It was amazing, there more than 67 miles of mined caverns. Salt mining has been a significant industry for well over 100 years. I had a great time apart from having to be stuffed like sardines in an elevator for about 1 1/2 minutes to go 650 feet underground. As a part of our tour we got to bring home a chunk of salt and small bag of salt pieces.

Edward donning his hard hat and emergency breathing apparatus

Edward on the tram, ready to take a ride through the salt mine.

A wall of salt and sediment.

Edward standing in front of a large block of salt and sediment

Edward standing infront of the orginal Superman Costume that Christopher Reeves wore in the movies. There are tons of things stored in vaults in the Saltmines from movies to movie props...even a computer from the 50's...that thing was longer than my couch.

A lite up piece of Salt.

Its Loose!!!!

Well it's official Edward has his first loose tooth. He freaked out about it. He cried for about an hour or a little longer. I think it has a lot to do with when he fell and rammed his front tooth up into his gum, having to have emergency surgery to remove it. He isn't very keen on the idea of loosing his teeth needless to say. We tried everything to let him know it is okay. I guess next week during school, we will be learning about teeth and that it is natural to loose them at his age.

Hanukkah

This year as a part of our Christmas festivities, we took part of Hanukkah too. We light a candle every day from Dec 21st to Dec 28th, and read from a devotional by Roy Lessin. We learned about Hanukkah and what it stands for in the Jewish faith. We want Edward to learn about these things because we feel they are an important part of the Christian walk. He enjoyed doing this and we read books about the dredel and laukas. In Dec of 2009, we will be able to focus more on the Jewish traditions to do with Hanukkah as it is celebrated a few weeks before Christmas. We will even be learning about the Passover Celebration in the Spring.

Sorry Virginia.............

Well, the other night Edward informed Kirk and I that Santa was not real. I wasn't really shocked by this but Kirk was actually (and surprisingly) a little bit upset by this revelation coming from our 5 1/2 yr old son. To top it off, Edward has informed that the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny aren't real either. I guess no one can ever say that we warped his mind in the sense that we had him believing something was real, only to turn around when he was older and tell him we lied point blank to his face about it.
Now, please don't think that it was us who told him. We don't make a big deal out of Santa (we do have stockings and get pictures with Santa....LOL....I asked Edward about the Santa's we get pictures with and he just said it was some man in a costume working a job) or the Easter Bunny (we do have baskets and find eggs) but we have always made a point to make Jesus's birth the main focus of Christmas and Jesus's resurrection the main focus of Easter.
Kirk asked him where he had learned such a thing and Edward said in Sunday School. He said that some kids were talking about the fact that there was no Santa (this when we went to the other church and Pre-K through 5th grade were in Children's Church together. Edward said that the teacher confirmed this by saying that Jesus's Birth was the reason we celebrated Christmas.
I was kinda shocked by Kirk's initial reaction because we together had always agreed that Santa and the Easter Bunny were not to be made a big deal of. I think that it was just the point that Edward was so grown up about the whole thing that upset Kirk. I think it made Kirk see that Edward was growing up and not a baby anymore....maybe even a little analytical.

A Yellow Candle

Edward was in his first Christmas Pageant this past Sunday. He was a yellow candle on Jesus's Birthday Cake (they held up a candle that was cut out of posterboard in the color that represented which candle they were to be on the cake). He did very well, a lot better than he did a few weeks prior at the Co-op Choir Performance. He spoke his lines very clearly and smiled. He was so cute. All the kids did great. The Older 3's and Pre-K were hilarious....they were enamoured with the huge screens feeding the live videos of them preforming. One little girl kept jumping up and down, watching herself on the screen and another little boy kept taking off across the stage. Way to cute and funny.

First Play

We have taken Edward to things like Elmo Live, Thomas Live, The Wiggles and so forth. Yesterday though, we went to our first real live play with our Homeschool Co-op Group. We went and saw The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever. This was based on the book by Barbara Robinson. It was put on by a Childrens Theater Group. It was very well done. Edward loved it and he was very good through the whole play. I was so proud of him. He says he would like to give acting a try sometime and maybe in a play himself one day.

It Was SO Easy Daddy!

Lets see where should I begin.......

Two Father's Days ago, I bought a Wii for Kirk (thought he and Edward would have fun with it plus I saw some of the things actually got you up and moving). We looked at the directions and didn't install it because we wanted to put it in the room with the projector and larger screen. We didn't see how in the world we were going to be able to install the eye bar thingy plus to be honest it looked complicated to set up.

Then we had builders come in after last Christmas and do a remodel/renovation/add-on to our house. Well during that time, Edward had gotten into the boxes for the Wii and we thought for sure that some of the pieces had gotten lost. After the builders were done, we moved all the boxes upstairs to the new theater/play room. There the Wii sat until yesterday evening.

Last night, Edward without saying a word to me went upstairs. I thought he was just playing. He gets the phone and calls his daddy on it. Says to Kirk "Daddy. I have the W-i-i all set up for us to play in my room (he has his own tv)." Kirk had just pulled into the driveway at that time Edward called him. Kirk comes in, says to me "Do you know he says he has the Wii set up in his bedroom?" I say "No! How could he? I thought we lost all the pieces plus we couldn't figure the thing out." Kirk goes upstairs to have a look at what Edward says he has done. Sure enough our 5 1/2 yr old has successfully installed the Wii and has it working. The only thing that he did wrong was he had the disc in backwards. Oiiieee, he is way to smart and ingenious for us. He and Daddy played it last night and boy did they have fun. This is something that we may never live down, after all we were ready to ditch it or sell it. I guess that goes to show Edward will get the job done and work towards what he wants. That is a plus.

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope that today was a beautiful and blessed day for you and yours. We (Kirk, Edward and I) had a traditional Thanksgiving meal....well, pretty much traditional. We fry our turkey instead of cook it in the oven. YUMMY!!! It is a great time saver too. Took about 1 hr and 15 minutes to cook a 20lb bird. I made cranberry sauce for the time. It was yummy. Don't think I will ever go back to canned again. I also mad a Sweet Potato Casserole this year instead of the Sweet Potatoes we usually make. Of course we had pie for dessert. It was basically a nice simple meal. I can't wait until tomorrow when we get to have left overs in the form of sandwiches. We do miss sharing the holiday with our family though, that is the down side to living so far from home...can't just hop in the car and drive to grandma's for the extended weekend. All in all it was a great day.

Do Re Mi Fa So La Te Do

This past Saturday our co-op children who take Choir had their 1st Semester Performance. They sang so beautifully. It was like the angels singing and brought tears to ones eyes as you heard them singing such beautiful praise music to our Lord and Savior. Edward wasn't so keen on the idea but he still did well. He will be a candle on Jesus Birthday cake at the church that we are going to for their children's Christmas Pageant. Please pray for us as we are searching for Gods will about a new church family. We love our old one so much but there are some issues that we just can't over look. We need a church with a great childrens program for Edward. This new church has that, we have gone 2 weeks now and so far we like it a lot. The sermons are what we are use to...book by book, verse by verse through the Bible for the most part. That is also a plus for us. A lot of the families that go to our Homeschool Co-op also attend there, so that is another huge plus. This church is only about 3 or 4 miles from our house verses the other one being well over 30 miles away.

Inside of a Pumpkin

We don't celebrate Halloween at our house, so Edward has never carved a pumpkin. In science we have been learning about seeds, flowers, plants and trees. So during the second week of November, we cut up a pumpkin, so he could see the inside of a pumpkin and help to to expand on his knowledge of seeds, plants and so forth. I know that he had a blast doing it. I unfortuantly got busy and we didn't get around to baking the pumpkin or roasting the pumpkin seeds and I had intended. However at Co-op during our recreation meal of the First Thanksgiving from 1621, he was able to taste both of these items the way that the pilgrims would have made them back them.

The Glockenspiel

Edward got his glockenspiel this week in Kindermusik. He has one more class left in this session and then wont have classes again until Jan. We will be spending a little bit of each school day practicing it. All of the children were so excited to recieve their first real insturment and work together on leanring to play it. I will post some pictures in the near future of him playing it.

May I madame?

1 2 3 1, 1 2 3 2, 1 2 3 3..... Edward has been learning about Mozart and the period of time that he lived in, in Kindermusik class this past session. What I thought was really neat, is that part of what he was taught was how to dance the minuet. The moms and the children learned together, how to dance the entire minuet in 3 classes.

School Pictures

Kidney Bean Science Project (October 2008)

Edward spelling some of the words he is learning to read (Oct 2008)

Edward doing a math problem (he was learning about units (ones) and tens -October 2008)

Edward at Homeschool Safety Day (October 9, 2008) put on by the Teaching Parents Association

Learning the order of the Alphabet (September 2008)

A Science Project (September 2008)

We Are The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Here are the pictures from Vacation Bible School back in July of this year. The theme was Pirates. Edward had a blast. It was his first time to attend VBS, he gave his heart to the Lord during an alter call at VBS. Doesn't he make a cute Pirate?

Fall

In Science Class, we have been learning about plants, trees, leaves, seeds and so forth. Today as a part of our science lesson, we played in the leaves out front of our house. Then we took a nature walk; collecting leaves, doing bark rubbings and talking about the differences in the leaves and that some still have chlorophyll, while others have already lost all their chlorophyll thus turning them, their beautiful reds, yellows, oranges, rust, purples and browns. We are very lucky that we live on a street that has so many different deciduous trees. When we got home with our leaves, we sent them through our lamenator, to preserve them for further study.

Plays and Concerts

We went to church this morning. They announced that the children would be doing a Christmas Play this year. We signed Edward up to participate. His part wont be a huge one but he will still get to be in his first play. I can't wait. I will let you know how it goes. I hope that the play wont be until Nana is here, she is coming for Christmas this year. This will be her first Christmas with Edward. He is looking forward to sharing Christmas with her. Last year was his first Christmas to share with a Grandma. Grandma Bev came and he loved that. Now it's Nanas turn. It is so hard being so far away from family, especially during the holidays. So much we want to share with them.

He will also be having his first Choir Concert on the 22nd of November. He participates in Choir classes through our homeschool co-op.

Of course Mommy will be there, at both with her video recorder. :0)

Going the Extra Mile

Friday night we heard Edward in the kitchen, running the washing and what sounded like he was doing the dishes. We asked him what he was doing. He came out of the kitchen in his little footie pajamas, with his sleeves pushed up to his elbows...hands dripping wet. He smiled and came over to me, took my face in his hands and said "Mama, I am going the Extra Mile like the Elephant." This past month we have been learning about Obedience and there was a story about an Elephant who was obedient and had gone the extra mile. Amazing how much he absorbs. Once again, God reminding me that he is a little sponge soaking everything around him up (yep good and bad things). He then proceed to tell us that he was doing the dishes and was stacking them on the counter for us to load into the dishwasher later on.

Catch Up

Have you been wondering what we have been up to? LOL! So have I.....no actually September and October were busy months for us.
Edward started out bowling again this year but after only 4 weeks in, we ended up pulling him from the league. We did this because we had a situation happen that we felt wasn't healthy for Edward to be around on a weekly basis. I feel bad because he loved it so much but we wanted to do what was best for him and not cause him un-do stress. I am trying my best to take him once a month or more, it would be easier if our towns Bowling Alleys were open more during the week.
Edward is now almost 12 weeks into his 1st Semester of Young Child through Kindermusik. He will be receiving his glockenspiel in about 3 weeks.
Edward started going to Awana's 2 Wednesdays ago (this coming Wednesday will be his 3rd week). He loves it and so do we. He has to memorize Bible verses and so many other wonderful things. It is a great experience for him. He has a little vest and has to earn badges, and receives jewels in a crown for memorizing his verses. I was so impressed the first week he had to say the American Flag Salute on his own with no help...he recited it perfectly word for word. We start every school morning with reading our Bible, doing our devotional, calendar work, saying the Flag Salute, the Christian Flag Salute and the Bible Pledge. It was just amazing that he after only 1 1/2 months into our school year was already able to recite it word for word. He is such a bright little guy.
Edward is still participating in Monart Classes. He drew an elephant 3 weeks ago and we were just amazed by his drawing. I will have to scan in some of his drawings and post them on the blog. We didn't have Monart Classes this last week. He only has 2 more classes this session and then nothing until mid-January.
Edward just finished up his 2 month long tap dancing classes. He loved it and desires to take more lessons. He is also asking to participate in Soccer, I just need to find acceptable places for him to participate in these activities.
I am still busy teaching the A to Z Animal Science Class for the K-2nd graders in our homeschool co-op, I also am the editor for the weekly newsletter, always am making something for the weekly luncheons and shuttling Edward to his extra activities.
Kirk is busy with work and coming home to play with Edward.

Future Republican

Today Edward and I (with some members of our homeschool co-op) went to a Republican sign holding. We stood on the corner in our town for almost an hour and held signs for the Republican party. Edward will be going with me to the polls on Tuesday to vote and we might even go to another Republican sign hold that day.

Moses

Edward went to Awana's dressed as one of his favorite Bible Characters for Favorite Bible Characters Night.

Tip Tap Toes

Edward loved his Tap Dancing Classes that he took during the months of September and October. They had a little 3 to 4 minute recital the last day. He was the only boy in the class. He says he would love to continue on with Tap Dancing Lessons.

Origami Me Please

Want a good laugh? I have been teaching a A to Z Animal Science Class for our homeschool co-op. I have 23 children signed up for my class. The basic curriculum comes from our local zoo, I supplement it further with researching the web for more information and facts about the animals. So far we have done Alligators and Bats (I now know more about these animals that I ever thought I would). This coming week is Cranes. Last week we made bats that we glued together onto crafts stick, so that you could fly your bat. With Cranes we will be attempting (using this term lightly as these kids range from Kindergarten age to 2nd grade) to make Origami Cranes. Let me first say, I have never done any time of Origami in my life. So yesterday while Kirk picked up Edward from Tap Dancing Class and took him to the park, I worked on honing my skills at this craft. It took my 5 tries and they still aren't perfect. Trust me Origami is as complicated (if not more so) than it looks. Near the end of his Kindergarten Year, Sonlight has them doing some Origami. I better keep practicing, so I know what I am doing. I love homeschooling....I get to learn new things right along side of Edward at times.

No Soccer This Fall

I really need to find a good place for soccer. Maybe I am wrong but I don't think that 5 yr & 6 yr old children should be practicing soccer at 7pm until 7:30 or 8pm. Edwards bedtime is 9pm and I don't think he should be doing an activity that winds him up right before bedtime. This is another activity offered through our rec center. Parents are the coaches, we didn't recieve a call about the first practice until 3 days before it. She could even give me at that time set days for weekly practices. With our schedule we need set days and preferably earlier times. So we just ended up dropping soccer altogether this time and will be asking around about Soccer Programs. Edward will of course be taking the British Soccer Challenge again this summer. That is through the rec center but I must say it is the best program I have ever participated in through them.