HSV Garden Challenge–June Edition

My goodness it’s hard to believe that the end of June is here already!!   The gardens have gone from being bleak and lifeless…

…to lush and thriving!

We’ve already harvested all the peas, spinach and endive for the year.  A couple of the lettuces are hanging on nicely.   We have lots of green tomatoes, teeny peppers and baby squash and eggplant!

The green beans are loving their homes along the fence line.

The girls helped with harvesting the peas.

This week Olivia and Lindsey planted pumpkin seeds in the spot where the peas had been.  I’m hoping we didn’t get the seeds in the ground too late, but we’ve had an over abundance of rain again the last few weeks.

The little herb garden is doing wonderfully!  We were able to use some of our fresh basil and oregano this week in a pasta salad!

I mustn’t forget my lovely flower beds.  I rescued several abandoned Easter lilies from our church dumpster one year and planted them in with my tulips and gladiolas. The tulips are long gone for the year, the gladiolas are on their way, but now I have LOTS of lovely Easter lilies!

In the adjacent flower bed, I have a bounty of red bee balm, Shasta daisies, purple spiderwort, woods violets, gladiolas are forth coming.

My mother in law thinks we have too many things planted on our property.  I think that’s just absurd!  How can one have too much of God’s beauty??

Be sure to visit other gardens at this months HSV Garden Challenge!

Extra-Curricular Activities

As we all know, the “socialization” issue is a farce.  The biggest issue for most of us is trying not to over commit, and actually have enough time at home for homeschooling!

Since the curriculum choices are made, bought and unpacked it’s time to start looking at what activities the girls will be participating in outside the home.

Sadly, it doesn’t appear that our monthly Activity Day program will be happening this year. There are several new co-ops in the area and I think those have taken higher priority.  So far for next year we only have 3 teachers (me being one of them), no director or co-director either…so yeah unless something drastic happens soon, it’s a lost cause.  Personally that really bugs me and the girls, but some things are just out of our control.

So what are we doing?  Well, here is what I know for now.

Ballet/tap:  I do know that both girls will continue in ballet/tap classes.  This year will be more involved as both girls move into 1 hour classes, two nights per week.  Since Lindsey is skipping a level that means both girls will be performing in Nutcracker and the Performance Awards too.

Piano:   Olivia will continue to take weekly piano lessons.  

Awana:  Both girls love the Awana program and the local church that hosts it.  So definitely keeping this on our must do list.  This will be a weekly commitment. 

American Heritage Girl:   This is a new opportunity that I’ll be looking into during the local chapter informational meeting in August.  I love the fact that the program is Christ centered, works on character training through community service opportunities.   This would only be a 2 day a month commitment.

4-H:  Dropping this one.  Although 4-H is an awesome program both my girls still fall into the “Clover Bud” age group.  Which means they pretty much do nothing besides an occasional coloring sheet while the older kids learn and do real things.  So at least for this year we’re stepping out of this activity.    However, we will be using some of their Publications and Resources to enhance our school work throughout the year.

Of course there will be softball and baseball in the spring (and a possible fall league yet to be organized).  So the kids will be getting lots of exercise between dance and ball. 

What activities does your family participate in outside the home?

Weekly Wrap Up–The VBS Edition

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is one of the best parts of summer vacation in this area.   Some of the churches here do some pretty amazing programs.   Some are held from 9am until noon ALL WEEK.   Some are in the evenings with free dinner each night.  Just amazing!   The girls participated in their first VBS of the season this week at the church where they attend Awana and they had a wonderful time.  (And no, I didn’t remember to take my camera, at all.)

Wednesday was the softball teams end of season pool party.  It was a lot of fun and one of the dads made the coolest cake! The infield was graham cracker crumbs, and he added each girls name and team number in the outfield.

Both girls are reading, reading, reading for their prizes through the library summer reading program.  Lindsey has read 20 readers this week.  Olivia has finished up “Ten Brave Women” by Sonia Daugherty and “Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi.  I thought if was funny that she pointed out how far off the Disney movie is from the book…and she likes the book better!

Our state requires that you send in a Notice of Intent to Homeschool each year.  I completed our NOI and mailed it this week.  I find it a bit absurd that it cost me $5.55 to mail a certified letter from our city post office TO our city post office.  However, I need to have that little return receipt as proof that I did in fact mail my NOI in on time.

The Bible in 90 Days Challenge is gearing up for the next session (July 11 – October 8).   Sign ups began this week and we’d love to have you join us!   You can get all the details and sign up by clicking here.

We’ve been riding bikes, chasing lightning bugs and just having summer fun most of the week.  How are things in your neck of the woods?

Be sure to visit the Weekly Wrap Up to catch up on everyone else’s week!

Bible in 90 Sign Up Begins Today!

Have you ever wanted to read the Bible from cover to cover but just haven’t gotten around to it?  Or maybe you’re feeling the nudge to spend more time in the Word and less time doing “stuff”?   Perhaps you’re looking to fast some “things” and need to replace it with something else?  Regardless of your reasons for wanting to read more of the Bible (or excuses for not), the Bible in 90 Days Challenge is an awesome tool and accountability venue.  Reading begins July 11, 2011 and runs through October 9, 2011.

I can tell you from my own past experience, just making the commitment and FOLLOWING THROUGH is a big step.  I can also tell you that the benefits reaped are amazing!  God is cool like that!

You don’t NEED to purchase anything.  But if you want to be counted and assigned to a accountability group, you do NEED to sign up.   Registration begins today, sign up here.

I’ll be a mentor this go around, so if you’d like to be in my group, just enter that information in the last question where it asks if there is any other information you would like to share.   (In case you don’t know, my full name is Joesette Huffman…grins.)

Gifted, Unique or “Different”?

Have you ever thought (or been told) that your child is gifted, unique or “different”?  Some of those labels make us puff up with pride, others strike fear into the heart of the strongest parent.   Regardless of what label your child does or does not have they are all amazing and wonderfully and fearfully made by God (Psalm 139:14).

If you have ever wanted an opportunity to share your child’s story, here is your opportunity.  The Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences (PFL-CSS) at Columbia University is conducting a Unique Child Study, and they want your input.  

Unique Child Study

This study considers, through life history methods, how children who are unique in some way are identified and develop.

While all children are unique, the goal of this study is to identify how children with unique developmental abilities or trajectories develop over early childhood. Our specific focus is on children with unique artistic or scientific abilities, children on the autism spectrum, children who have been identified as gifted, children who have been identified as having attention disorders, and children with unusual empathetic capacities.

If you would like to participate and share your child’s story through the survey process you can do so by going here.

2011-2012 Curriculum Picks

This year I’ll be teaching grades 1 and 3.   Lindsey will be using all Abeka 1st grade for math, reading, writing, spelling and poetry.  This is the approach I used for Olivia too; all Abeka through 1st grade and then I start changing it up.   I feel Abeka gives a really good foundation on reading, cursive writing and math skills.

Last year’s goal for Olivia was to work on her reading skills.   She made lots of improvement in that area.  However, I think she still needs some tweaking, so she’ll be using  Beginning Reading Detective from The Critical Thinking Company.  This year we’re focusing on writing skills (as in composition not in handwriting).

Writing:

Writing Strands will be Olivia’s main writing program for the year.  I’m starting her out with Writing Strands 3 based on her age.  The best part?  $5 at a used curriculum sale, SCORE!  I’ll also be supplementing it with the Cursive Writing Skill book from Abeka.

Language Arts:

Both girls will continue to use First Language Lessons.   We’ll finish Level 2 and part of Level 3 this year.  So Lindsey is way ahead in this area.

Spelling: 

We all love the All About Spelling program so we’re sticking with it.  Olivia will be working through Level 3.

Math:

This was the area I wasn’t sure about for Olivia.  I had planned to switch her this year, but the husband wasn’t convinced it was a good idea to move her to a computer based program.  So…she’s using Abeka 3rd grade math this year.  I’m not sure I’m happy with it, but it’s here, so we’ll use it.

Geography/History:

We are still working through Cantering the Country.  We plan to wrap up the 50 states this year.  We’ll also be using Evan-Moor’s Life in Plymouth Colony History Pocket in October/November.

Science:

Start Up Science is our weapon of choice for the year.  There are 4 workbooks in the series.  The description says it’s for 7-8 year olds or 1st and 2nd grades…so I think it’s going to be a good fit for both girls.

Latin:

The girls really enjoyed Song School Latin last year, so this year we’re getting a more “serious” program.   Prima Latina is my choice for the year.  Olivia could have gone a level higher, but I don’t feel it’s fair to always be pushing Lindsey to do work that’s so far ahead of her.

Art: 

Yeah, well see….I still have the same pick that I’ve had the last 2 years.  If only I’d get around to using it.  So in the event that I DO focus on art outside of our normal crafting, we’ll be using Discovering Great Artists.

Bible:

Surprise here, we’ll use the BIBLE!   I’ll be using the Awana program for the basis of our study.  Olivia will be in 1st year T&T and Lindsey will be 2nd year Sparks.   I want to focus on some character training this year as well.

Have you made your choices for the upcoming year?  Are there any earth shattering changes in your shopping cart?

We Have a Winner!

The winner of “Hungry for God” is comment #2 from Becca!  Congratulations Becca and thanks to everyone who entered! 

Weekly Wrap Up–The End of Ball Season Edition

Yes, finally!  The week you’ve all been waiting for!  Softball and baseball seasons have ended!!  (Don’t get too excited, there are softball clinics looming on the horizon.)

First, Olivia’s team did REALLY well in the tournament this last weekend.   Their first game was Friday night, and it was a loss.  Then something amazing happened, the team finally clicked.   They began playing like they were much more experienced than they truly are.  Next thing you know they’ve worked their way out of the losers bracket and are gaining ground.  Then they beat the number 2 team in the league!  It was a pretty intense weekend.   I’d like to say that they went on to win the trophy and the championship, but that’s not the case.   They lost to a team that isn’t necessarily a better team, but a team that cut some corners and pushed the envelope and were just plain rude.   However, our girls played fair, they carried themselves with dignity and they showed excellent sportsmanship.  So they took third place, and that’s ok. 

Lindsey had three games this week.  The last game of the season was Thursday night.  The opposing team didn’t show up, at all.   So we divided up our team and coaches and team mom (me) and we played a game with just us.  We had a  BLAST!!!  Lindsey had a wonderful season and made a few good friends.   As of now, she’ll play another year of t-ball next spring (because of her birthdate).  She’s already daydreaming about her uniform for next year.   The league picnic won’t be until July so we won’t know until then if she earned any trophies.

We signed up for the summer reading program at our local library.  It just seems strange to be filling in the names of books that Lindsey is reading.   I didn’t even look to see what the prizes are!   I did however bring home a whopping big pile of books.

Both girls have been practicing their bicycling skills.   I picked up a couple of bike safety books at the library and we worked on being safe riders (yeah, totally skipped that part about wearing a helmet).

The weather has been phenomenal this week.  Low to mid 70’s and sunny.  We’ve spent a great deal of time outdoors working in the gardens and just playing.   

How was your week? 

Weekly Wrap Up!

Weekly Wrap Up–The Bruised Edition

This week, I taught the children how to careen out of control at warp speed and slam into large non-moving objects ride their bikes without training wheels.  Thus, the “Bruised Edition” lives.  

First of all, in my defense it, was never my intention to teach the 5 year old to ride without training wheels.  Ok, I wasn’t planning on teaching the 8 year old either, but then her training wheel broke off and I was forced into it.   The five year old, God love her, has the mind set of “well is SHE can do it, so can I!”.   Yeah, so the 5 year old typically out does her sister..this was no exception.

And yes, I really do let my kids ride their bikes without helmets, kneepads and elbow pads.  Please don’t send me nasty messages telling me I’m a bad Mom.

In less painful learning, the girls learned how to pick, shell and cook fresh peas from the garden.  Eating the peas was not mastered as easily.  They much prefer the taste of frozen or canned peas.  

This morning both girls visited our local Senior Center and performed for the folks.  Olivia played two songs on the piano and Lindsey sand two songs…and was immediately adopted by all the sweet little old ladies.

Oh and remember how last week I said that Olivia had finished her regular softball season?   So somehow, that translated into they’ve had practice EVERY.STINKING.NIGHT.THIS.WEEK.   One of which was from 4pm – 6pm during a day that we were under heat advisory.  The tournament starts tonight, yes TONIGHT….their first game is at 8pm, which means it won’t be over until at LEAST 9:45pm.   Seriously folks.

Be sure to visit the Weekly Wrap Up this week, and I’ll let you know next week how the softball tournament turned out.

Fishing With Girls

You really have to feel sorry for my husband at times.  The poor guy lives in a house full of females, all of whom like to fish, none of whom will touch worms.   Yes, that’s right folks, I don’t touch worms, bugs or spiders.  I’m sure my image is forever tarnished now, but so be it.

This last weekend was free fishing in our state, meaning you can fish without a license and not get fined.  The husband has his license, and the girls don’t need one because they are under 16.  Me…I wait for that one weekend a year and take full advantage of it.  There is a beautiful lake near our home that just beckons to me.  Isn’t it lovely?

This lake has perch, trout, catfish and carp in it.  (Not to mention bull frogs, snapping turtles countless Canadian geese and an occasional black heron).

Like I said the girls don’t touch worms.   However, they are not to proud to use sticks to find worms in the bait container.  Nor are they too grown up to resist NAMING the worms.   Thankfully they don’t have enough time to get attached to the worms before the poor little guys (or girls as most of them were names Sallie, Carrie, etc.) become fish food.

Final score at the end of the fishing trip Mommy-12 fish, Lindsey 9 fish, Olivia 4 fish and Daddy-0.  Like I said, you have to feel sorry for him at times.   Yeah, because I may have failed to mention that I also don’t touch live fish either.  So between baiting hooks and removing fish, the poor guy didn’t get to do much fishing of his own.

Fun in the Summer Sun

Each Monday  until September 7th Mama to 4 Blessings along with Harvest Moon by Hand, Adventures of Mommydom, Sweet Diva, and Sweet Phenomena will be hosting Fun in the Summer Sun link up events.

If you want to plan ahead for your posts, here is the “schedule”:

The 1st Monday of each month: link up your "Kid-friendly summer activities".
The 2nd Monday of each month: link up your "Kid-friendly summer crafts".
The 3rd Monday of each month: link up your "Kid-friendly summer recipes".
The 4th Monday of each month: link up your "How to stay cool in the summer heat".

Looks like this is going to be a really fun link up each week! 

Weekly Wrap Up– The Nada Edition

What kind of educational activities did we do this week?  N.A.D.A.  So now on with the rest of the week.

The softball regular season wrapped up this week.  The team won their game on Wednesday night.  Tonight wasn’t as favorable,they lost, again.  So for the year two wins and one forfeit in their favor.   We have one week to practice and then we’re on to the tournament.

T-ball is still dragging along.  Tuesday was blistering hot here.  The temperature was hovering around 100 and the heat index was 110.   Not surprising, the turn out for Tuesday’s game was poor.  Three kids on Lindsey’s team and one kid on the opposing team.  We called it a draw and went back to our air conditioning.   We have one game next week, and one game the following week and then we’re done.

I did spend time this week pulling together lesson plans for the first 6 weeks of summer school.  It consists only of language arts and math, just to keep those areas sharp.   Perhaps I’ll be motivated and start next week.  Truly, it depends on the weather.  Blistering hot = summer school.  Hot but tolerable = time in the backyard.

Our local support group had an opening for a coordinator (volunteer) for the Box Tops for Education program.  It’s amazing how many of those little box tops can fit in a zip lock baggie!!   I counted and grouped several THOUSAND of them this week.  Feel free to collect and send me all of your Box Tops, it gives me something to do in my free time.

Oh and I’m offering a book giveaway on my “other blog”.  Please go visit, read my review and leave a comment to be entered to win a copy of Hungry for God by Margaret Feinberg.

That’s pretty much my week in a nutshell.  The kids are having a great time playing in the yard and just being kids.  I’m enjoying it too, I get to play WITH them.

Be sure to visit this weeks Weekly Wrap Up!