Journey to Excellence

Last night we FINALLY had Eli's Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts, after two cancellations due to weather. It was a super fun event! The theme was pirates! The boys each made a cake with their parent for a cake decorating contest, and the cakes were then auctioned off as a fundraiser. Most of the boys did pirate-themed cakes. Eli chose to do a WWE cake. He thought it was "perfect"! He won third place in the division that allowed you to use non-edible props. We had a great meal and then the boys did skits. Eli's den did one where each boy came out and the cubmaster said, "Hi, [insert boy's name], nice [insert piece of clothing here]! Where did you get it?" And each boy said, "JC Penney". After all the boys did that same thing, Eli came out in nothing but his robe and socks. The cubmaster said, "Hi! You are new here. What's your name?" Eli said, "My name is JC Penney, and I want my clothes back!" I...

My two kiddos have been working for two weeks on their projects for our Homeschool Co-op Science/Geography/Arts Fair. Although I admit to doing all of the hot gluing, the kids learned about their birds, their habitats, and nests, gathered all of the materials, and did all of the work themselves. I gave ideas here and there and provided necessities, but each day they worked on an aspect of their projects and finished them yesterday. They were proud of their work and I was proud of how hard they worked. It's hard to see what amount of work really went into their dioramas at just a glance. They had to learn each bird's habitat and recreate it. Then they had to learn how each type of bird makes their nest, locate the materials (in the freezing cold weather), and make the nests. Eli's is actually grasses and weeds held together completely by mud, lined with string, pieces of cloth, and more grass. Brynne's included very specific layers that cardinals use, including a bed...

I'm not sure we have ever needed some time off in a warm, sunny location as much as we do right now! We are all having trouble getting motivated in the mornings (or the rest of the day, for that matter), and seem to be getting a little more frazzled, cranky and emotional with each passing day. We are leaving for Florida on Saturday for 10 glorious days of sun, warmth, and relaxation! I have so much to do between now and then it is frightening. It's not just packing and getting the house ready to leave it (in the hands of my 16 year old ... gulp!), but involves church activities, Cub Scout activities, our last day of Co-op that includes a Science/Geography/Arts Fair, a possible park play date with some local homeschoolers, celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday, and making a trip to the grocery store and library in another town (to get books for the seashells unit study we are doing in Florida while we are there.) So today, I am comfortably dressed. And so are th...

Art. It's that one subject that always gets cut out when time gets short. But, it's that one subject that I always say is going to be a priority in our schooling. Why does it get pushed aside? Usually it's because it takes work on my part to come up with a project, put everything together, and instruct how to do the project. And by the end of the week I am just all tapped out. Enter ARTistic Pursuits . The kids and I had an opportunity to review Early Elementary K-3 Book One: An Introduction to the Visual Arts ,  newly expanded and revised 3rd Edition. We were able to complete four lessons in the time period allowed. We received a spiral, soft-bound book containing all lessons, supply lists for each lesson (contained in the front of the book), and instructions for 36 lessons. The book also included many master works. This particular book of lessons is intended for children in grades K-3 (ages 5 and up). My children, who participated in the review and completed the le...

This week the Schoolhouse Review Crew is hopping with posts about Teaching Creatively. Today's topic is Delight-Directed Learning. I didn't officially sign up for the blog hop, but this weekend's events led me to this post. Eli and Brynne have HUGE imaginations. A lot of times their playtime consists of reenactments of television shows or video games. They make paper puppets of characters, use other toys to play their characters and act out scenes, build scenes on Minecraft, use cardboard boxes to make rooms and houses and other scenes, etc. They have a Wii  and Nintendo 3DS and love all of the Mario games. A new game is coming out called "Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon". Eli already has "Luigi's Mansion", the first game, so he knows what to expect and is so excited! It will be released at the end of this month. The Easter Bunny knows this! **wink** This weekend Brynne and Eli spent the majority of their time ghost-hunting through our ...

In our regular life this week… I am kind of on a personal spiritual journey right now. You go through those times, right? I am spending a lot of my time in quiet reflection, prayer, and study. I am trying my hardest to be very mindful of the Spirit and be obedient to It's prompting. Something I heard in Sunday School really stuck with me this week. I am called to "walk with the Spirit" which was explained as "staying in step with", not too far ahead and not too far behind. That takes lots of concentration. We were able to get back into some of our regular schedule this week. We had church on Wednesday night and I was able to go to handbell choir practice. I just love that. And the kids have a great time playing with their friends for an hour. We were also able to get back to Co-op on Thursday.  In our homeschool this week… Ahhh ... what a great week of learning! After having a week off from sickness and snow, we were ready to get back into t...

In Oklahoma, the kids and I were involved in an awesome Homeschool Co-op. It was right up our alley. We met on Friday mornings. One morning it was "mom's meeting" with childcare for the kids. Two Fridays we had P.E. and Music class. And the fourth Friday we got together for a service project. There were various other class opportunities that met at different times, like art and writing. We went on  at least one field trip a month and the moms went out for dinner or a fun activity one evening a month. It was a large group so we carved out a smaller group of about five families that all had girls the same age. We did lots of fun things together. The parents even had an Ugly Christmas Sweater party one year. It was so much fun and we miss it like crazy! Here in Missouri, we have to drive 30 minutes to our Co-op in another town. Most of the families that attend are military families with a major Air Force base nearby, so the turnover rate is high depending on length of sta...