2009...A Look Back

I can't believe 2009 is almost over. It just seems like yesterday that we were taking down last year's decorations and welcoming a new year, yet here it is again. Probably the biggest change in 2009 was that we resigned our CE positions at our church, searched for a new church, and have now found one. It was not an easy decision, but one we felt led to do, so we were trying to be obedient. How God has blessed us in this change, for whatever time we are to be there! The teaching is phenomenal...very deep and challenging to live beyond what we so normally view as Christianity here in America.


Darin finished up last school year and began his 4th year at our public high school. He is teaching World History and Government/World Geography. The school has been in trouble academically for a very long time, and the administration has really put a load on the teachers. It has been a very demanding year, but he is so thankful to have a job.

I am still homeschooling the kids. I miss being CE director at church, but have a new endeavor. I started a homeschool co-op in our area, meeting one day a week for classes. We have 10 families and 26 kids. Our first semester was fun and enriching. The second semester classes will be even more so, I do believe.


Hannah finished up 6th grade and began 7th. She is now taller than me, and still growing. She got braces in September for her bite problem. She took sewing classes all last year, but did not continue this year. This year she is in a novel club that meets monthly to discuss the book, and watch the movie of the book. She has also had the opportunity to take a writing class from a retired English teacher. That has been a wonderful experience for her. She already loved to write, at least on her own terms. She has notebooks and notebooks of stories, histories and maps of imaginary countries, and the like. Our homeschool group also has social events for the middle school/high school kids. She has enjoyed those this year. Changing churches at this age has not been easy, but she does really enjoy her classes at the church.


David finished up Kindergarten and began 1st grade. He is tall and skinny, probably because he is constantly moving and talking. He played basketball last year and is playing Upward this year. He is in Cub Scouts and really enjoys it. I've been much more impressed with the Boy Scout program than I was Girl Scouts. He is moving forward in his academics, and probably enjoys history and science the most. He has a fascination with non-fiction reading, especially the DK Eyewitness books. He thinks he wants to read mysteries so we have a couple of easy chapter books to give it a try over the break.

We are so thankful that God has blessed our family with another wonderful year to be together. He is faithful and gracious to us in so many ways. We cannot begin to thank Him enough or praise Him in all the ways that He is due.

Coupon Savings

I'm so excited to be couponing now! My best friend, Jenny, got me into it. Wow!! Here's what I did this past week.

Shopped at:
Publix
Rite Aid
CVS
Walgreens

Total Before Sales and Coupons:
219.32

Out Of Pocket:
88.48

ECB and Rebates:
14.98

Net:
73.50 66.5% Savings

Week of Dec 14th

This has been a full week. We started our week with a Christmas Cookie Bake and Exchange party with our homeschool group. We enjoyed baking and decorating cookies, as well as games, holiday music, and movies. David had basketball practice and Hannah had her final writing class of the semester, including a final on poetry. She'll have a few more weeks of classes next semester. We attended our church Christmas banquet, which was delicious and fun. We ended the week on a little bit of a sour note, a trip to the doctor. David has strep throat, but is better and will just need to finish his medicine.

A highlight of our week has been our read-aloud, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. None of us had ever read it, or seen it performed. We read at night so Darin could join in. We were rolling with laughter so many times, but it also brought us to a discussion of the true meaning of Christmas. We will probably get other books in the series so we can see what happens to those crazy Herdman kids.

We continued our Advent calendar activities, which included reading scriptures in Luke 1, putting out nativity pieces, making holiday gifts for special people, and reading a personality book, The Treasure Tree. As far as the rest of our academics, Hannah read more in the book on Christian history, did math skills reviews, studied clauses in grammar, studied light in physics, and is finishing up a unit in her CLE literature. She also read Black Stallion this week, as well as Swiss Family Robinson. David read about people groups and communities in social studies, reviewed some map and chart skills, reviewed spelling rules from this semester, practiced math facts, studied gravity and magnets in science, and did some work in his BJU reading program.

Week of December 7th

My sister was still here the first part of the week. She was not feeling well on Sunday, but a little better Monday. Her son was sick by Monday afternoon and she went home on Tuesday. She had never seen Lord of the Rings, so we watched most of those on Monday. We did our Advent calendar for Bible. One of the activities we did this week was to buy for the person behind us in line at a drive through. We really had fun doing this. We wish we could have seen the person's face.

Hannah had literature (Christian Light 7th), prepositional phrases in grammar, timed tests in math, lab in science, and work in logic. David had several stories in reading, grammar, spelling words that are the long i sound with silent e, physics studies in science, Mind Benders for critical thinking, and did a Christian Light diagnostic test in math.

We spent the end of the week at my other sister's house. I went to a Scholastic book sale while the kids visited with her. We spent the night and enjoyed getting to be with her for a couple of days.

I am considering switching to CLE in a few areas. He did fine with the 1st grade placement test, so I'll begin him at 2nd grade level. I looked over the Language arts test, and I feel that he could do a lot of the 1st grade, but would be unfamiliar with some of their methods, so we may start at the beginning of 1st, and skip through areas he's strong in.

Week of Nov 30th

In Bible we did our Advent calendar. Some of our activities involved buying items for shoebox gifts for needy children, reading The Pine Tree Parable, and going through our toys for donations to a Salvation Army store. In history, Hannah read from a book on Christian history. David studied America (symbols, freedoms, etc.). Both had work in grammar and math. David's spelling words were long e sound with "ea". I had him make complete sentences with his words, as a vocabulary practice. Hannah is almost finished with her semester of Physics. I have found some materials to do a simple study of Physics with David for this month and January. David read How Do You Lift a Lion? as a starter. Both are going to be doing extra math facts practice before the end of the year, just to review and see how quick they are.

Hannah and Darin were involved in a production at our church. My sister came in town for it and another presentation she enjoys in our area. It was a busy, but fun week

Advent

We took a turn in some of our studies for the rest of December and this semester. For Bible, we are doing an Advent calendar. We have never done this before, and it has always intrigued me. Each day we are reading scripture, prophecies leading up to Christ's birth and then scriptures surrounding the announcement and birth. On each of the first 18 days, we will be placing a piece of the nativity set under our tree. We are also including other activities some are for others, some are for learning, and some are for fun.

Some of these include:

FOR OTHERS:
Reading Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo and making a list of things to do for others
Buying gifts for needy children
Going through our things looking for donations
Buying for the person behind us in the drive through line
Visiting an elderly person (as a family)
Making gifts for friends

BOOKS:
Pine Tree Parable (another good one about giving to others)
Mary's Treasure Box
Miracle on 34th Street
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Arthur's Perfect Christmas
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Santa Who

FOR FUN:
Watch Holiday movies together
Go for a drive to look at lights, drinking hot cocoa on the way
Make cookies and decorate them
Christmas themed games online
Christmas printable games
Christmas crafts

Thanksgiving Week

We went to Myrtle Beach for Thanksgiving. We stayed 3 nights. The weather was cold, overcast, and foggy at times. I LOVED it! I've never been to the beach under those conditions and I think it was my favorite time to visit the beach. We walked at night with jackets and the cool breeze. We really did not do much, just relaxed, enjoyed the beach, ate out some, and let the kids go to a fun video game/scavenger hunt place. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at a Cracker Barrel. It was very good, except I didn't like the pumpkin pie. David didn't even want that meal, he wanted breakfast.

Oh, BTW, be careful when you go somewhere new! You never know what will be trying to get you!

Week of Nov 16th

I am really behind on updating, so here goes. The week of Nov 16th was our last week of co-op for this semester. The kids have really enjoyed their classes. Plans are underway for the next 10 week semester, and the classes are looking interesting. We studied Thankfulness and read about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. We listened to more Mozart together. Both had work in Grammar, Math, and writing. Hannah attended her writing class, which is studying poetry until Christmas. She worked on several ideas for her poem that is due the week after Thanksgiving.