What happens when you study Indians??

You have one very creative little boy outside all afternoon making bows and arrows with the jack knife his grandpa gave him. Lucas is my creative and imaginative one he can make anything out of anything. He took tree branches stripped all the bark off them with his jack knife and then proceeded to make these bows. Also arrows you can see them in the picture sticking above his head he also made them from tree branches.

We've been studying John Smith, Pocahontas, Squanto etc. in history the past few weeks. Yesterday I rented them "Squanto: A Warriors Tale" by Walt Disney pictures from the library. After seeing that they've been making Indian weapons and having wars with them. Oh the imagination of kids...I love it!!

Kaleb also made one he just missed out on the photo op he's at football practice:)

Lessons learned from homeschooling...

For those of you who Homeschool do you ever have moments when your teaching that you feel like you never went to school? I mean I graduated from high school and even went to college for a brief stint for teaching no less. Yet sometimes I feel as though I'm relearning all over again guess that is the beauty of teaching your kids yourself.

Have you ever seen that show "Smarter than a 5th grader"? I was talking with someone at the Y and he said "wow, I don't hardly know any of the answers I can't believe how smart kids are now". Well we homeschooling mothers would do quite well I think at that game show. I've actually known a lot of the answers only because I've taught my own kids and it's things we've recently learned.

So this morning while teaching complex fractions to Lucas I was a) really glad I am not in school anymore and b) that I've relearned all fractions again so that I can teach and explain complex fractions to him. Thank the Lord my oldest is good at Math or we might be in trouble! So although I'm sure I did learn complex fractions and everything else to do with them...which is a lot...I remember nil about them. Anyway I really wonder how much from school I really do remember. At least you do remember a lot better the second time around! I guess at times I really am back in school again to:)

Fun at the zoo....

This morning the kids and I decided to play hookie from school and go to the zoo. It's about 1 1/2 hours away but well worth the drive. We try and go here once a year and it's always so much fun. I get a picture of my kids on this giant ant every year it's fun to see how they've grown from the previous years.

The highlight of this zoo is the giraffes that you can feed and pet. Roman was a little freaked out by their tongues at first but he quickly realized it was gross but fun.

Kaleb, my animal lover was very popular with the animals as you can see. Of course he did have food for them both times but none the less he was having a great time with all these animals. He even made sure that all the giraffes he was feeding got equal amounts of food from him. It was to cute.
Here the boys are looking for fossils and whatever you find you can take home with you....we didn't find any but they had fun looking.

We took a mile hike called "swamp adventure" we learned all about our native species that live by us. With the leaves starting to change colors it was extra pretty.

So even though we played hookie they still learned a lot...lest anyone thinks I'd really let my kids play hookie for the day :~)

Fun at the Park

This morning with it being so gorgeous the boys and I went to the park to do a little nature walk and play..of course.
Kaleb showing his skills on the monkey bars.


Here are the boys studying the map of the U.S. The grass and rocks in front of the map is an actual U.S. map. The rocks are the lakes and streams going through the U.S. I loved this part of the park when I was a kid so do my boys. We actually studied it for awhile and tried to pick out all of the states so there was our geography lesson:~).

These are some of the flowers we saw on our walk through the woods and a huge meadow/field. It was really pretty we also found lots of milkweed. I'm not sure what the above flower is called it's considered a weed where I live. I thought it was pretty in white as well as purple I've never seen a white flower in this kind before. Anyone know what it's called?? ah, I'll have to google it and edit it on later.

God's blessings

As we embark on another year of homeschooling I'm ever reminded of all God's goodness to me. As our economy continues to spiral I'm ever so thankful that I can remain at home and teach my children. That the Lord has provided me with a small part time job that I am able to do. Yet still keep homeschooling and raising up my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Lord has provided beyond our measure and my heart is just overflowing with thankfulness today. For a supportive, loving and above all God fearing man as the father of my children. In times when we hear so much complaining we truly have so much to be thankful for!

I am truly blessed with these three sweet little boys!!

School Book Shopping

Every Year there is a huge homeschool book sale by us. Many good deals are to be had almost all books are used but I did happen to find two new books this year. This is the pile I came home with yesterday brand new $187.75 what I paid $57.00. I was very excited by what I found I still have to order some of the boys workbooks but I'm mostly done. I always try and keep the school books to $150.00 or less but as Lucas gets older more subjects are required. This year I'll be almost to the penny. I even found a little arts and crafts book for Roman he is very excited about his "schoolbook". I did this book with Lucas when he was four and he really enjoyed it. Something to keep the little one semi entertained while school is in session:)

School Blessing's

How blessed my children are to be homeschooled. It really struck me this week how very blessed we are as parents to have this time with our children. It goes by so very quickly I'm so thankful for these times to see our children learn and grow. This week Lucas took the Iowa Basic Skills tests do you remember taking those? He's hitting Jr. High next year and I wanted to make sure that he's where he should be grade level wise before than. He had testing for two days from 9-2 each day. I was more nervous for him taking them than he was he was not one bit nervous. He came out on Monday with a big smile on his face and said "Mom, that was fun I had a good time today"....What excuse me as a kid I would get so nervous about taking tests like this that I would want to ..uh...vomit..pee my pants you get the idea. I would do horrible on them and would feel so for lack of a better word dumb. When I new I wasn't I just would get so nervous that I couldn't focus at all. My children are so blessed to not have that pressure when taking tests I'm so so thankful we can homeschool them! Now mind you he did get a lunch break for 30 min. to quick scarf down his lunch and then play b-ball with his friends the remainder of the time. Plus as an added bonus the teacher made a boy and girl sit at a table together. It just so happens that the girl he has a crush on picked to sit next to him:) Maybe that's why he had such a big smile on his face:)

Greenfield Village

This is the time of year when we're done with school for the year and I always try and get in a few extra field trips while everyone else is still in school. Yesterday the kids and I went to Greenfield Village in Detroit. It's about a 21/2 hour drive for us but oh so worth the trip it was incredible. All of us learned so much it is one of the coolest places I've ever been to. I do enjoy history quite a bit so to me it was really neat. The boys and I studied Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and the Wright brothers the past two weeks. Once the kids each wrote me a report on one of them I told them we could go. Lucas wrote one on Thomas Edison he was so enthralled by Edison's house, factory, offices and research facility. The cool thing about the village is that all the buildings are the actual houses where the people grew up or lived at one time. Nothing is a replica all are the original and they are very well preserved keeping a lot of the furniture the
families had.
The boys and I on the train the elderly gentleman behind me who Roman had made friends with asked if I would like my picture taken with my kids. I of course didn't turn him down:)

Here is the wright brothers shop.

All the people that work there are dressed in the period costumes so you really get the authentic feel for the "good ol' days". Model T's are common on the streets you can take a ride in one if you want to.
At Thomas Edison's park we watched this actor portray Thomas Edison. He did a short skit and told us all about Edison it was really good this guy did a great job. He called some of the kids up front to read different things here is Kaleb reading his line.

This was Roman's favorite part the steam engine train. It was awesome to say the least. We paid our train fare and boarded on for a ride Roman was just all smiles the whole 45 min. ride.

Can you tell he enjoyed the train ride?:)
This was Henry Fords house that he lived in.

Tulip Time

This week our annual tulip festival is going on so I decided to take the boys to learn about our dutch heritage. We went last year to and had a great time but seems like you can always learn something new. The boys really enjoyed it and learned a great deal to. Here they are in the old dutch pioneer house dressed in dutch costumes. Aren't they cute!
A picture of myself and the boys don't get enough of those.
The senior dutch dancers doing a dance. They even taught the crowd a dutch dance and we got to perform it with them in the square. The boys did it for Ben after dinner that night.
Here we stopped and learned about wooden shoes. They show you how they are made and you can try them on. Roman tried convincing me he needed a pair:) He didn't get them.
Here were some ducklings floating in a pond they were so adorable we fed them pb&j sandwiches from our lunch. They were so fun to watch they entertained us while we ate.
Kaleb driving his horse and buggy he thought it would be great fun to own one of these.
Little Roman on the way home all worn out he crashed almost immediately.

Butterflies..

Yesterday my friend Sherri and I took our kids to see the butterflies at the Gardens. They were so beautiful I couldn't believe how many there were out this year. It was 70 outside and just gorgeous so we walked some of the trails as well and let the kids run it was a very enjoyable afternoon.Heres a picture of all the kids aren't they cute!


My boys posed for me in front of the pretty waterfall so handsome!

A picture of one of the butterflies. Now if I could just get them to fly around my yard all summer..:)

And my favorite butterfly of all.

Da Vinci

Last week I took the kids to our local hospital to try their hands at this machine. It's called the "da vinci" and it's a robotic machine used in surgery's. It was very fascinating to say the least the boys thought it was "awesome" is the word I believe they used. We got to stick our hands into the computer where they guy in green is sitting in the picture and try our hand out at a pretend surgery. Thankfully I left Roman at home with Ben because we had to wait 45 min. in line to try it. They had a doctor you could ask questions which Lucas took to heart. He talked with the doctor for 15 minutes or so about this it was really quite cute. He actually knew a lot about it and the doctor was very impressed he said this to me:) I guess that Body works science class and all that reading he does is paying off:) Anyway this machine costs well over a million dollars and is used in a variety of different surgery's. It makes the recovery time much faster for patients and the incisions the Dr. has to make are so much smaller it really speeds up recovery. You can read more about this machine here who knows one of us may very well have a surgery with it someday. I was glad we went the kids and I learned a great deal about our advancing technology in the field of medicine.

Making Maple Syrup..

On Saturday while my hubby was working all day I decided to take the boys to our local nature center. Every March they tap their sugar maples and have a festival two Saturday's of the month. So off we went in search of how do they make maple syrup. First they tap the trees as you can see the buckets here with the sap dripping into them.
If you look closely you can see the tap and the sap dripping in.
After they've collected enough sap they cook it and...wallah... maple syrup. We couldn't get close enough to the big fire where they were cooking the maple syrup so I didn't get a picture of it. But it was very interesting how they do it. We did learn that the sugar in sap when cooked is what gives the syrup its rich amber/brown color.
Here Lucas is trying is hand at carrying buckets how they would've carried them in the old times. They had a trail to walk and they showed how the Indians would make maple syrup and cook it up it was very fascinating to the boys they had a really good time.

Lastly we stopped in the barn and got to see how a blacksmith would've made something out of metal. They heated it up and then showed the kids how to shape into something and what tools to use. So without the boys even knowing it they got a school lesson for the day:)

Field trip to our local press

Yesterday we went on a Field trip to our local paper which is quite large. The building, the press and the land total costed 88 million. It was quite a sight to see. Only fifth grade on up could go so I just took Lucas. It was nice to just spend the time with him after the trip we went out for lunch with one of my good friends and her son who Lucas is friends with. We had a good time and came home with a list of things to research that Lucas wanted to know more about. This picture below is how they used to print this was heavy steel.
Here is Lucas learning how they look and go through each paper to find things wrong before the final printing.
Here is the massive printing press it costs 27 million and was built in Germany.
If you look close you can see the papers on rollers this is the final step.

Sledding...

Every year the boys and I go sledding it's a great way for the boys to burn some winter energy and it's fun for all of us. We only live about five blocks from this sledding hill so we go quite often. As you can see we were the only ones there yesterday it was pretty cool!

Here is Roman smiling for the camera he had a ball. He looked so little going down in the sled by himself. He loved it though he'd laugh all the way down.




Roman and Lucas going down together.













Kaleb and I going down the hill they love to go with me because we go really fast.