Continuing to Organize for School

I admit it; I love to organize for school and not only before the new school year begins: I seem to enjoy it all year long! I've been working on our schedule for extra-curricular activities. Peter does a lot of Kung Fu classes which leaves Anne sort of sitting around several evenings a week after her class is over. Granted, she hangs out with friends and reads etc, but it seems like there could be other things she could be doing. I had been fretting about what to do with her to better utilize the time. I thought about enrolling her in art classes, but I feel like spending money on having someone someone else to teach her art is a waste since my job (before homeschooling and being a full time Mom) was teaching art! Anne, however, decided that she wanted to do a dance class (tap and jazz to be specific) and a theater class. So, ultimately it all worked out. Peter couldn't be happier: he could spend every spare moment training at Kung Fu...and he basically does! Anne still loves Kung Fu, but is branching out. I'm happy about this because I feel that she needs more interaction with girls. She is the only girl in her Kung Fu class, there is only one other girl near her age in the homeschool group and we're doing church at home for the time being. I think the dance and theater classes will be good for her!

Organizing for School

Today I've been organizing the basement which is where our homeschool room is. I like having a space dedicated to doing our schoolwork because it is in a location where we won't get interrupted too often. Since we have a home business/office, this is an awesome attribute! I don't know about you, but I really enjoy trying to get organized for a "new" school year. Why is it that the more you organize, the more you realize that you have to organize? After a couple of hours of work today, I realized that I could literally spend several more days working and not have everything "just so". Of course, I wasn't limiting my organizing to the third of the basement dedicated to homeschooling, I ended up working on the whole thing! I have this slightly ADD tendency where I start in one spot and then when I carry something to where I'm going to place it, I start something else and so on and so on and so on...Ugh!

Today (while organizing), I also realized how many items I have for a used curriculum sale. Unfortunately, my homeschool group's sale isn't until next March or April! I've been "saving" so many items "just in case", but my children have aged out of many of those items! Therefore, if you have a child that is in 2nd through 5th grade and you are looking for something, send me a message and I may have it for you! I will note that I resisted my ADD impulse to start boxing items up...mainly because I didn't want to look at boxes until next spring.

Anne...Blogging?

Anne has been wanting to have her own blog and has been asking for one (especially) since I began blogging in January. Her main goal is to have an outlet to "publish" what she writes. Writing is her passion and I certainly want to do everything I can to encourage her interests. In fact, she is going to be attending a "Writing Camp" in a few weeks and she's so excited.

Earlier this week I was talking with my friend LaRessie about what to do for Anne this "school year" in the area of Language Arts. It seems like I'm always piecing together different curriculums to suite her needs and interests. She suggested I allow Anne to have a blog. Obviously, if she did blog, it would be a private one, but I still have some qualms about it. I probably being ridiculous to feel uneasy so I'm asking for feedback from my friends. Does anyone allow their child to blog? If so, what advice would you give?

"The Shack"

I don't know if anyone that reads my blog is familiar with this book. My Mom bought this book for "us" to read because someone told her how wonderful it is. She said that she was told that the author is a Christian and had a terrible time getting it published because the Christian publishers said it was "too secular" and the secular publishers said it was "too Christian". My sister-in-law visited this weekend and she's reading it too. She's much farther than I am in it and is raving about it. She said that nothing but the Bible has impacted her this way. I'll admit that this book totally intimidates me because a little girl is abducted from her family. The thought is nauseating to me and is not something that I want to read about! Generally, I read to have a very cheap vacation! LOL...Reading is a mental escape for me. This book feels like mental torture though. I cannot imagine the pain of a child disappearing.

Does anyone have any experience with this book?

Interest-Lead Learning

In homeschooling I often let my children's interests lead the way on what we study...to an extent. There are certain topics that must be studied, but how we go about studying it is often flexible. Both of my children especially enjoy history and geography and I often let their interest determine our topic or time period that we're studying. We are now learning about the Civil War which is one of Peter's favorites. We are working through Sonlight Core 4 (which covers pre-Civil War to modern times in American history). Peter and Anne asked me earlier this week if after we finish the Civil War we could learn about the Renaissance and go back and finish up the Winterpromise program "Quest for the Middle Ages". We were using this program the school year before last (2006-2007) and even though we enjoyed it we ended up beginning American history last year. I think Anne and I just needed to get out of the war-torn and somewhat depressing Middle Ages! Now, I think we all excited to go back and finish up this program. I'm especially looking forward to including that arts and inventions of the Renaissance.

I think that we'll be able to finish both Quest for the Middle Ages and Core 4 (American history) next school year. This should work out great because my cousin (who's doing Sonlight Core 5 this school year) has offered to loan us the program after they finish with it. Thanks Mary Grace!

Disheartened and Disillusioned

I'm having a hard time saying anything positive lately...so this is why I haven't done a lot of blogging. However, I'm going to vent now. I am so disappointed in "church" people and the church as a whole. In a nutshell, I am disheartened. People believe what they want to...truth doesn't seem to matter even among "Christians" in the "church". My grandfather used to say that to true friends you don't need to explain and to those who aren't friends, you can never explain enough. Good motives and working for the Lord causes some people to resent you and question your motives when they were only good. I'll never join another church and I can't see attending another one again any time soon. That doesn't mean that I don't love the Lord and won't worship and serve him, but not through the local church (any time soon)! I would have never understood this statement 5 years ago: that's for sure! Only two people have even tried to reach out to us in any way and now one of those is shunning my family. I feel emotionally bankrupt and devastated. What's worse is the no one will say why we're being treated this way: the pastor won't even respond! Apparently, our situation is common knowledge "around town" (from a phone call we received yesterday from someone asking for money). Gossiping about us is OK, but talking with us apparently is not OK. How hypocritical that a church's mission can say they want to reach people and show Christ's love and they turn around a put a knife in a family's heart! The (local) church is sick and I am heart-sick.

Green and Blue Belts!

On Monday Peter and Anne were promoted in Kung Fu! I'm very proud of both of them.

The Ones That Didn't Get Away!

My Dad and Peter were invited to go on a Deep Sea Salmon fishing expedition while we were in Sitka. While I was excited for them, the thought of my "little" boy out on the ocean slightly unnerved me. However, I kept my mouth shut since it was after all a "good experience". I just hope that their expedition would be fun and incident free. It was fun and ended up being one of the highlights of the vacation for both my father and my son! It was not free of incident, but the "incidents" were positive ones. As they would say around here "They caught a big 'un!" They really did!

Peter's line was hit first and while he was "fighting the fish"my Dad's struck. Dad reeled his in first and was thrilled to see that he go a 28 lb. King Salmon! Peter soon "stole his thunder" with a 36-37 lb one! Dad didn't care though: he was so thrilled for both of them! Their boat guide told them that people have been fishing those waters for 20 years and never have caught a big one like Peter's!

Last Half of Our Trip

Day 5: Sitka, Alaska

I could live here! Our time in Sitka was too short!

Day 5: Sitka, Alaska


Day 6: Ketchikan, Alaska
We saw the Great American Lumberjack Show which was fun!

Day 6:

Anne attends a "tweens" cooking class.

Cousins Reunite!

On the way home we got to spend time with my cousin and her family.

It was the highlight of my trip!

Hubbard Glacier (Day 4 of Alaskan Cruise)

My absolute favorite destination on the cruise was going to Hubbard Glacier! I've never been anywhere so beautiful. Even as I stared at the bay/glacier with my own eyes, it seemed unreal! It felt as if I were watching a documentary even though I was right there! The sounds were unreal too. The entire bay is filled with pieces of ice crackling like in a glass that you pour liquid into, but 1,000 times louder. When the pieces calved off the glacier the sound was like thunder. I could hardly tear myself away. Peter really appreciated the violence of the calving and the waves they produced. He hung out with me to see several pieces calve (which can be an exercise in patience). Anne's sharp eyes saw a couple of seal swimming beneath the pieces of ice.

Alaska Photos (First 3 Days)

Day 1:

Sailing out from Seattle

Day 2:
Peter and Anne in the hot tub at the Lido deck pool.
It was a rough day at sea and they loved the "wave" pool. They swam for hours!


Day 3: The Lido Pool docked at Juneau with the sun roof open.
Brrr...it was chilly and a coat was needed just to be on the deck!

Day 3:
We went on a whale watching boat tour and saw about 7 humpback whales!
This was my one and only photo and it's pitiful! The black spot is the whale's tail.


Day 3: Native Dancers at Orca Point Lodge

The Billy Graham Library (our 1st stop on the way to Alaska)

On the first leg of our journey, we visited the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, NC. The "library"was more like a museum. It was very interesting. I love this photo of the children and my parents walking toward the library. The cross on Peter's shirt mirrors the cross at the entrance. The library is shaped like a barn because Billy Graham's family were dairy farmers. He grew up milking cows!

We saw where Ruth Bell Graham was buried in the "Prayer Garden". She grew up in China where her parent's were missionaries which is why she has Chinese writing on her grave marker. I really enjoyed what was written on her grave marker:
"End of Construction-Thank you
for Your Patience". What a wonderful spirit to write something like this on your final resting place! I am definitely a work "under construction"...apparently Ruth felt the same way. Sometimes, it would seem that the wife of Billy Graham wouldn't feel "under construction". It's comforting to know that she was a work in progress as well. LOL

Another fun aspect of our journey through the library is that they gave the kids a scavenger hunt sheet that they could fill out on the journey through the library. Anne was totally into this activity and busily counted Bible verses, looked for the details and did her best to answer ever
question. However, the highlight of the tour for her was having an ice cream cone at the end. She declares that it was THE best ice cream that she ever had!

I'm Alive!

We're back from Alaska and life has...well...EXPLODED! I want to go back on vacation!! We now have a very, very active, but very, very cute and sweet puppy named Baxter. We also came home to church problems. To top it off, I got sick...very, very sick...I've never felt so bad! I think it was food poisoning. I survived and am praising God!

Here's a photo of Baxter before he was trimmed: