Journey to Excellence

It's time to Rediscover Christmas , the true meaning of Christmas, that is! If you missed my previous post about all of my plans for this series, you can review it by going HERE . Next week will be our first week of study. And, moms, you aren't to be left out. I checked out the book, The Christmas Story by G. A. Myers. It's a sweet little devotional that will go hand-in-hand with the children's study we will be doing. Read and meditate on Chapter 1 and all about "The Announcement to Mary". If you don't have the book, then just spend some time reading in your Bible (Luke 1: 26-38), or in another book of your choosing, about Mary and the angel when she received the news that she would be the mother of the Messiah. I will be posting my reflections, and you can comment and share your heart, as well. Now on to the kids ... In The First Christmas by Francine M. O'Connor, we will be reading the first two stories, "Listen to Isaiah&qu

Well, this week's wrap-up has nothing to do with school, because we didn't do any this week. I had intentions for us to do some odds and ends, but daddy has been here this whole week and we have had lots of activities going on. Our personal life has been jammed packed, so I thought you might enjoy a glimpse into it. Last Saturday we took the kids to the movies to see Wreck it Ralph and then to a Japanese steakhouse so they could try sushi. Since we are studying Japan, this is something they really wanted to do. We had a great time eating our sushi, using chopsticks, and watching the cooking show. On Sunday, I played bells at church and Brynne was an acolyte for the first time. After we got home, since we were all showered, dressed, and together ... at the same time ... we went down to the park for some family pictures. Monday we hung out at home during the day, but then I spent some time Monday night working on the Boy Scout Christmas parade float with

Ahhh ... a (semi) normal week! Well, after Monday. Brynne woke up with a fever, sore throat, headache and vomited first thing. We took care of her all day. She was all better on Tuesday morning. (God bless green tea, ibuprofen, and the privilege to be homeschoolers so we could all just rest!) Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, however, we were able to get into our regular schedule. (Well, Kyndal did come back home from school on Wednesday because she was sick AGAIN and we finally were able to determine from more blood testing that she is severely anemic and has the virus that causes mono. She's out of school until after Thanksgiving. We were able to continue on with school, though.) We started each day with Bible learning about Jacob and Esau. I love our stick-figuring through the bible lessons with Grapevine Studies . Excellent! Our writing program had the kids writing five-sentence paragraphs about the color of their choice. Brynne chose blue and Eli chose red. We had some

While shopping for Halloween costumes, we had to walk through Christmas decorations. Isn't that the way things are now? It's all commercialism. Where is Jesus? Oh, yeah, he's on that plastic nativity set on Aisle 8. Lest you think I am judging others, know that we are guilty of it, too. Although we do not decorate our house until after Thanksgiving, the magic of Santa always seems to take the place of the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place. Every year at about this time, I like to do a Christmas Book and Activity unit. This year, I am making it all about Jesus and the Nativity story. And it will be called Rediscovering Christmas . How does Rediscovering Christmas work? We will start our series on Friday, November 30th. Why a Friday? Each Friday we will list the book we are going to use for the following week and supplies you might need, in case you are doing the same books/activities as us. Then the following Wednesday of the week , join us as we

Well, darn. I planned a really great day of studying and celebrating Veteran's Day, and then Brynne woke up with a sore throat, fever, headache, and then vomited. We won't be using our lesson plans, but maybe you can. I'll be saving these plans for next year. Literature: Veteran's Day (American Holidays) by Arlene Worsley Bald Eagle (Animals in U.S. History) by Lynn Stone (for nature) Spelling: brave, strong, humble, protection, caring, hero, respect, honor, America, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, courage freedom Math: Veteran's Day 3rd grade common core worksheets (free download from TeachersPayTeachers) Activities: Writing and Art - "How Do Veteran's Show Bravery?" and handprint eagle Word search (made using our spelling words) Physical Education: Boot Camp!

I get the opportunity to write my final review for the 2012 Schoolhouse review period about my favorite product we reviewed this year! "Growing up Wild" is a 5-volume dvd series written and narrated by the Wild family, missionaries in the Wano village in the jungles of Papua, Indonesia. The Wilds have four sons, and the videos are told from their perspective as children. We had the privilege to review the 1st and 4th volumes. And let me tell you, we had a blast watching these videos!  Each dvd contains three episodes that are about 15 minutes long. They are very personal, narrated by either mom or dad, and show amateur video footage of many different aspects of village living, accompanied by music. Even the family's pets are involved! They are very fun to watch and so, so interesting! Each volume also contains a separate cd that has a printable Activity Guide. Each video has suggested activities at the end of the episode (which are the same as what

Normal doesn't seem to be in our vocabulary anymore. How I long for a full week where we are on our regular schedule, touching all subjects each day, with no drama or disruptions. Maybe next week? Maybe not. Only time will tell. This week had us starting our school week in Oklahoma. We had to make a trip back there for various reasons. On Monday we went to the Tulsa Zoo for some fun. While there, we used an activity assignment from our Indonesia study and observed specified types of animals. Then we discussed their environments and ecosystems. We got a REAL education in tactics chimpanzees use to urinate. Oh. my. goodness. This guy got up close and personal with Brynne. His name is Bernsen and we have been visiting him since he was a baby. He kissed Brynne through the glass and touched his hand to hers. Adorable. For the first time in YEARS we located the sloth in the Rainforest. He is my favorite animal, and I have missed him! We spent Tuesday learning a