Our Life- Home and School

Busy

2012-02-17T13:08:00.000-05:00

With school coming close to an end (we will be finished by the end of April), we have been staying busy with school work. We have just been staying home and haven't been anywhere.

We did celebrate my oldest son's birthday this past week. He turned 10!

My baby girl that is turning one in March wanted to do "school" a few days ago.

And we are just now, almost 6 moths later, getting our roof fixed from the Hurricane Irene damage. I am happy that it is finally getting done and we can move on and get the house back in order.

A Month In Photos: January 2012

2012-02-01T12:39:00.000-05:00

For more information click the picture above.

A month of field trips!

Wright Brothers Museum

NC Science Museum

NC History Museum

Blackbeard exhibit

NC Aquarium

Recent Field Trips

2012-01-26T14:31:00.000-05:00

On Monday January 16, we took advantage of some places offering free admission. One of the places that had free admission was the North Carolina Aquarium. We went to the aquarium that is located on Roanoke Island.

The kids loved looking at all of the different sea animals.

Sea Turtle

I think their favorite was the big tank that holds a big shark!

Having fun!

Diver

After we left the aquarium, we headed to Kill Devil Hill to go to the Wright Brother's Memorial.

All of us

Our last stop was the Currituck Lighthouse, but it is closed during the winter.

It was a fun, but long day!

Changes

2012-01-25T23:15:00.002-05:00

I am in the process of changing this blog from a school only blog to an everyday living type of blog. :)

Baking cookies

2011-12-06T21:39:00.001-05:00

One day last week, the kids had finished their schoolwork before lunch. We all decided to make some cookies after lunch. We made oatmeal butterscotch cookies and Josiah learned that tsp = teaspoon, NOT tablespoon!

Busy!!

2011-11-18T08:56:00.001-05:00

Wow, we have had some busy days since I last posted. The weekend before Veteran's Day, we were able to attend a Veteran's Day parade in our hometown.

Parade

It was a cold day!

Last weekend, the boys went fishing while the girls did some shopping and played at the park.

Enjoying a beautiful day at the park

Picnic lunch

The girls headed back to where the boys were fishing and we were able to see a pod of dolphins right befre we left the pier. Kevin Jr caught 4 fish, 2 blow-fish and 2 speckled trout. The speckled trout were too small, so they had to throw those back.

Dolphins

Field Trip Friday (10/28)

2011-11-01T18:55:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday, October 27, we traveled 2 hours south to get to our field trip destination. My mom was visiting Lake Waccamaw with her church group and wanted us to meet her there for a couple of nights. We arrived around 8:00 PM on Thursday. They were enjoying a camp fire and s'mores. We talked for another hour and decided 9:00 was a good time to settle down and go to bed. The next day, Friday, we met for breakfast, but split up to do some odd jobs around The Anchorage Camp. After lunch, we went into town and shopped. We also visited Lake Waccamaw State Park. We came back to our room and rested before going to dinner. After dinner, we were able to enjoy another camp fire. We said goodnight and my mom and her group headed back to Florida the next day and we headed back to the house.

My girls:

Fire:

Kevin touching the "pet" alligator:

At the state park:

Fall Break and a Birthday!

2011-10-24T18:41:00.003-04:00

Last week, October 17- October 21, we enjoyed having the time off from school work. Since we started the first of August and finished the first nine weeks, it was a good time to take a break and get motivated to finish the 2nd nine weeks strong.

My oldest daughter celebrated her 6th birthday on October 18. She requested a homemade chocolate cake with Nutella frosting. It was delicious. She received a brand new Bible and cover, a Ladybug Pillow Pet, a new hairbrush and some clothes for her big day.

Field Trip Friday

2011-10-15T10:38:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was field trip day! We went to the Waynesborough Historical Village in Goldsboro, NC. It is a neat little village of different houses, a church and a schoolhouse that represent the late 1800's. They also have walking trails that lead down to the Neuse River.

Charlotte in the house:

Kevin and Josiah checking out the house:

Sara outside the doctor's office:

Outside one of the houses:

Josiah preaching in the church:

In the church:

In the one room school house:

The church on the left and the school on the right:

After we left the village, we came back to Kinston and went to Neuseway Park. We had a lot of fun in the buildings.

We saw Oliver, the cockatoo:

And a bunch of other animals.

We went into the science building:

And finally, we played at the park:

It was a fun and busy day!

The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood Review & Giveaway! ~~ Winner is...

2011-10-10T07:41:00.000-04:00

I was recently given the opportunity to review the book The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood. This book, written by Shelley Noonan and Kimberly Zach, is a companion to the Beautiful Girlhood book, originally written by Mabel Hale and revised by Karen Andreola.

The companion guide is a 32 week study for mothers and daughters (ages 9-13) that correlate to each chapter of the book. Each chapter review begins with a quote from the book. There are several discussion questions for you and your daughter to go over after reading the chapter in the book. Next, there are some Bible verses and applications that are relevant to the topic. Finally, there are some journal topics and journal pages for you to write down your thoughts.

This is a great book that every mom and daughter should make a priority to read together and discuss together. My daughter, who will be turning six on October 18, is not quite old enough to go through this study yet. I have gone through a few chapters and really love the book and the companion guide and look forward to using it in a few years with my daughter.

I have one copy of this great book to give away. Giveaway runs from Monday, October 10 to Friday October 14. Please enter through the Rafflecopter.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood from Pumpkin Seed Press in exchange for my honest opinion. No other compensation was given.

Learning Link Review

2011-10-06T18:44:00.003-04:00

This summer, I was contacted by Judy Hanning asking me if I would like to review a product that helps children. Of course, since I have 3 school aged children who I am homeschooling, I decided to review the product. I was given the online version to review. After browsing the site, I found that since the activities are non -academic activities this program can be used for children of all ages. This product helps to retrain your brain and also provides a dyslexia test.

This is a twelve month program that includes:

Weekly brain retraining
Easy to understand instructions
20 minute daily session
and much more

The daily exercises include cognitive training, visual processing, and eye/hand coordination.

The results:

Grades improve
Self-confidence increases
Student is happy
No homework battles
and much more!

My children enjoy doing the exercises and it has helped them keep better focused on their studies throughout the day. We look forward to doing the rest of the program.

You can learn more about the Brain Training system and other products from the Learning Link website.

Disclaimer: This post was not influenced in any way, shape, or form. While I did recieve the above mentioned product to review, all opinions are my own.

End of our 1st quarter

2011-09-29T12:38:00.003-04:00

We are nearing the end of our first quarter. The end of the first nine weeks! It has been relatively smooth and the kids are really enjoying school. Something new for my fourth grader is the fact that he now has to take a nine week exam. He loves to learn and remembers a lot of things that I don't even remember! I really think he will do fine. We will review for a few days before the exam.

The other two children, who are in third and first, are doing really well with their school work. My first grader does have a rough time with learning cursive on some days, but other days she just sits down and gets it done. She has finally mastered her first name which is a big accomplishment for her.

The next nine weeks will mean we are halfway done with school for the year. And now that fall is finally here, we will be able to get out and do more things. We want to go on a few field trips the next nine weeks.

Having Fun

2011-09-23T09:05:00.001-04:00

On Tuesday, we went down to New Bern and just had a little bit of fun even though it was sprinkling. We went to the mall and then to Union Point Park and walked around the river front.

Josiah in a tree at the park

Kevin

Charlotte sitting on a bear

Sara relaxing in her seat

It was good to get out of the house and just enjoy the outdoors.

More Vietnam Traveling Wall

2011-09-20T18:50:00.000-04:00

We went back to the Vietnam Traveling Wall on Friday. It was cold and rainy, but we had a great time finding names. We don't have any family members that we lost, but we looked up names of people with our last name. My son Kevin found a James Collier with the same birth date as him and thought that was pretty neat.

Vietnam Traveling Wall

2011-09-15T19:13:00.003-04:00

The Vietnam Traveling Wall is visiting our city this weekend. Today, they had an opening ceremony. We went to the opening ceremony, but decided to go back at a later time to view the wall when it is not so crowded. I will post more pictures after we go back and see the wall up close.

Learning on Labor Day

2011-09-06T08:58:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the unofficial last day of summer for many people. We took advantage of the great weather and headed down to the coast. We decided to go to Fort Macon (North Carolina) and explore the fort.

First we went into all of the rooms (exhibits) they have set up that tell the history of the fort. We listened to all of the programs and learned how the fort was built, when it was used during the Civil War, and how it became a state park.

We wanted to explore the outside wall, but since Hurricane Irene had come through just the week before, there was an army of mosquitoes and they started to attack, so we had to get out of there fast.

Fort Macon has a wonderful building that has some exhibits and also a short movie about the fort. We were able to watch the movie and learn more about the fort away from the mosquitoes.

After we explored the fort, we decided we had a little bit of time to go to the beach and do some fishing,

playing,

and sleeping.

What a weekend!

2011-08-30T13:28:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, August 25, we realized that Hurricane Irene was really heading our way. Where she was going to exactly hit was still not known. We decided to take Friday off from school to prepare for her arrival. We put everything that was outside (lawn mower, trash can, etc) into the shed and garage.

Around 4 PM Friday, it stared to rain and get a little windy. After all the kids were in bed, I tried to get some sleep too, but the tornado warnings started. I stayed up until they were expired around 1 AM. About 2 AM Saturday, the power went off and when we called the power company, they said it would be a while before the trucks could get out.

I got the kids up around 6 AM because it was starting to get very windy outside and there are a lot of trees around the bedrooms. It kept getting more and more windy and around 8 AM a tree fell on our boat and dog pen. Around 9 AM Saturday morning, one of the trees fell on our house right above the boys bedroom. It didn't come all the way through, but it did cause a leak in the room. After that happened we all sat in the living room for the rest of the day. The wind was over 80 mph here at our house for a while, before calming down to 40 mph in the evening. It was a long day. We finally got into bed (the boys had to sleep on the pull out couch Saturday evening) around 9 PM. The rain had stopped, but it was still windy.

The "eye" of Hurricane Irene did up hitting Cape Lookout which is about 100 miles from our house.

I woke up around 12:30 AM Sunday morning and noticed it was very calm outside. I got out of bed and noticed the clock on the oven was blinking. We had our power back! We were without power for 22 hours and had quite a bit of trees and branches down around the house, but we are all okay.

We did take yesterday off from school and cleaned up some of the branches outside. The landlord came by and was able to get the tree off of the house and get a tarp on for right now. Now to get back to normal and back to our schedule. Praying we don't have any more major storms this season.

An Impromptu Science Lesson

2011-08-24T11:59:00.000-04:00

An Orb-Weaver spider made a web on our porch last night. I walked out to the mailbox this morning and a wasp flew right into the web. When the spider started running after the wasp, I called the kids to come and watch the spider. We watched as the spider wrapped up the wasp and carried it back to the center of the web. We then watched as the spider "ate" the wasp. What a way to start the school day with an impromptu science lesson!

This is a picture of the spider we had last year who made a web in front of our front door that we never use:

School Pictures

2011-08-22T09:01:00.000-04:00

Not the greatest pictures of the boys. I will try to get a group shot later.

Kevin, 4th grade:

Josiah, 3rd grade:

Charlotte, 1st grade:

Sara, 5 months:

Bad days

2011-08-20T10:26:00.000-04:00

Ever have a day when the kids don't listen and can't seem to focus? Yesterday was one of those days. For some reason, my boys had a hard time focusing and kept fighting and would not listen. I just decided to end school after math.
I received a devotional book for homeschoolers titled Encouragement Along The Way by Bobbie Howard. I read the first day and the Bible verse for the day was Isaiah 55:8-9: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than yours, and My thoughts than your thoughts." God knows what is going to happen before we do. His plan is the right plan. His way is perfect. Sure we didn't finish our school day, but God taught me something and I need to learn what He is teaching me while I try to teach my children.

Back to School Photo checklist

2011-08-18T09:44:00.000-04:00

Here is a cute back-to-school printable from Rebecca Cooper over at Simple As That:

This is a school photo checklist to help you, as parents, capture all those fabulous back-to-school moments!

Thoughts as we reach the end of week three

2011-08-12T08:54:00.000-04:00

Homeschooling three children in three different grades is really not as difficult as I thought it would be this year. Part of the reason why I think it is not as difficult, is my 4th and 3rd graders can do some independent work. My 1st grader does some independent work, but needs more help in certain areas. Another reason could be that I have actually made a schedule this year. The kids know what subjects are coming up as they do their work and can move on to the next thing if I am working with one of the other kids.
I have also been using the social media to find "help." What works best for others? Will it work for me too? I have entered a few giveaways on different blogs and have won a few items which has broadened my knowledge of curriculum and planning. One of the items I won this year is a Write Shop book. We are now using this curriculum for writing in place of our usual. Another item I won was a Well Planned Day planner and binder. I love it! It has helped me to stay on schedule and plan for the week ahead. I have also found a lot of free websites from being on Facebook which will be a great help.
Since I have a 5 month old baby girl, some days do not always go as planned. There are days she doesn't want to nap and wants to be held. Other days she takes long naps. I have learned to multi-task and go with the flow with her. We still get our work done and she is happy to be around the other kids. She's also learning!
As we finish week three of our new school year, I am praying the rest of the school year goes as smoothly as the beginning.

Now for some pictures:

Library day

2011-08-09T07:05:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our first Library day. Kevin needed a book report book. He picked out a Sugar Creek Gang book. They had been listening to the series on the radio and he has been very interested in reading some of the books. He also picked out a shark book and a squid book.
Josiah is a little different. He picked out 2 comic book type books and one historical non fiction called Pioneers.
Charlotte picked out a Fancy Nancy book and 2 others.

We enjoy going to the Library. I also borrowed 3 US History books. Both Kevin and Josiah are learning about US History this year. Since Kevin will be learning about North Carolina history this year, I picked up a Pirates of the Carolinas book also.

Painting- Art

2011-08-03T09:54:00.000-04:00

The kids wanted to do something for art yesterday. They asked if they could each paint a picture.
Here are the results:

Charlotte's:

Kevin's abstract painting :)

Kevin's other painting:

Josiah's:

Start of our 2011- 2012 School Year

2011-07-29T15:27:00.000-04:00

Well, it looks like I didn't blog at all any of our 2010-2011 school year. We had a good year and added a newborn in March and finished mid-May.

We started our new school year on Monday, July 25. I now have a 4th grader, 3rd grader and 1st grader. Our first week went great and everyone has enjoyed their new schedules.

Here is what each of the boys work stations look like. It has their schedule and a cursive writing chart, but I will add more stuff to it as the school year goes on.

The boys doing their school work (no dress code :) )

My 1st grade girl working on her cursive writing.

I found this neat little calendar at Target's dollar spot.

New School Year

2010-06-27T15:33:00.000-04:00

I can't believe our 8 week spring/ summer break is almost done. We start back up with school this Thursday, July 1. We will then have school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week in July and August. We will begin full weeks in September after Labor Day. The kids like getting back to school in July, because it means we can take more days off during the school year and also get done with school by the end of April. I like starting school in July, because it means they won't be fighting with each other all day.

Finished

2010-05-18T08:12:00.000-04:00

We finished our school year on April 30. We are taking an 8 week break and will start back up on July 1. During the months of July and August, we will only do school work 3 days a week. We will be able to do fun stuff and field trips on the other days. After Labor Day, we will start doing full weeks.

Some scrapbook pages I did

2010-04-26T09:33:00.000-04:00

Our year:

Wrapping up the school year

2010-04-17T10:42:00.000-04:00

We have 10 more days of this school year and then we will be taking an 8 week break before starting the next school year. It's been a busy year. I am so happy to be almost done and I know the kids are ready to be done too. I can't wait to see what next year brings.

Bentonville Battlefield

2010-04-10T22:34:00.000-04:00

We went here when they had their re-enactment in March. It was crowded and we didn't get to see everything we wanted, so we went back today. Here are a few pictures:

Cedar Point nature trail

2010-03-30T10:10:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday, we decided to go Cedar Point and walk on the Tideland Trail.
Here are some pictures:

A bird we saw:

Fiddler Crabs:

Looking at the fiddler crabs:

March

2010-03-18T10:17:00.000-04:00

It is finally warming up here in NC. The boys got new bikes and they have been enjoying riding them when they finish all of their school work.

February

2010-03-18T10:14:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been a long time since I have updated this blog. February was a good month. We celebrated my oldest's 8th birthday. We also enjoyed some snow, a rare thing for Eastern NC. We didn't go anywhere special in February since it was so cold, but we did enjoy some time off of school for a couple of days.

Beach day

2010-01-15T22:33:00.000-05:00

It was a beautiful day today. We did our school work and then headed for the beach. There were a lot of shells and the kids enjoyed looking at them and collecting them. We ended up going on a 4.5 mile walk.

Christmas

2010-01-01T10:31:00.000-05:00

We had a good Christmas break. We were able to take a couple weeks off from school and get rested.

Hiking

2009-12-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

Monday was a beautiful day here in NC. We decided to go for a hike after finishing our school work.

November just flew right by!

2009-12-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

Wow, I cannot believe it is already December. November seemed to just fly right by. We did get to go to a Civil War re-enactment in November. The kids enjoyed learning about the war.

I will try to update the blog more throughout December, but it looks like this will also be a busy month and I may not get back to until the new year.

Mill

2009-10-31T08:50:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from an old mill we visited.

From New09

Another Field Trip

2009-10-31T08:47:00.000-04:00

We went on a field trip to Moores Creek National Battlefield yesterday. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera. It was a neat place to visit and learn more about the battle. We also visited Fort Fisher.

Fort Macon

2009-10-09T22:13:00.000-04:00

We took a trip to Fort Macon today. The kids had a great time and it was such a beautiful day.

A model of the fort:

View from the top:

Fishing

2009-10-07T09:49:00.000-04:00

My husband took the boys fishing last night. It was great for them to be able to get out of the house after two days of rain. They had a great time.

Rain and Monopoly

2009-10-06T16:18:00.000-04:00

This week is our fall break week, but it has rained yesterday and today. Yesterday, the boys got out Monopoly and played from 2 pm until 8 pm. They loved it and it kept them entertained.

Fall break!

2009-09-29T10:03:00.000-04:00

We have been in school since the beginning of July. Although we have taken off a day here and there, we are ready for a little break. We will be taking a week long break October 5- October 9. We will use those days to go on a few field trips.

Flag Lapbook

2009-09-11T13:23:00.000-04:00

I helped the boys make a US Flag lapbook today. They enjoyed making it and can't wait to make another one.

School Pictures

2009-09-05T11:50:00.000-04:00

We went to the coast yesterday evening, so I decided to try to get the kids school pictures done.

Charlotte (K-4)

Josiah (1st)

Kevin (2nd)

New Bern, NC

2009-08-29T21:43:00.000-04:00

New Bern, NC is turning 300 next year and they have placed these bears all over town. Here are a few of the ones we saw today:

Keeping busy

2009-08-28T13:55:00.000-04:00

Charlotte finished with her coloring:

Kevin keeping busy:

Josiah working:

Week 6

2009-08-24T08:43:00.000-04:00

Kevin and Josiah are starting week 6 of school. I'm glad I decided to start early and I'm sure the boys will appreciate it when they get their 4 week break in October.

Charlotte has not started K4 yet, but she may start this week. I was going to wait until after Labor Day, but she said she wants to start now. All of her friends from church start today, so I may start her today also.

A better spider picture

2009-08-17T11:06:00.000-04:00

The boys actually named her Charlotte. I'm not sure how their sister Charlotte feels about this.

Saturday

2009-08-17T10:52:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we went to a Revolutionary War re-enactment. The kids had a lot of fun and learned some new things. We saw the original CSS Neuse (we visited the replica on Friday).

Here are a few pictures:

Spiders

2009-08-14T21:32:00.000-04:00

We have a bunch of these orb spiders around our house. One decided to make a huge web in front of our front door. We only use the back door, so I'll let her stay. The boys love looking at the spiders and the neat webs they make.

CSS Nesue II

2009-08-14T21:24:00.001-04:00

Today we went and visited the CSS Neuse II. It is located in our town. Here is a little about it that I copied from a website: "Visit the world’s only full-sized facsimile of a Confederate gunboat to realize what a sailor’s life was like during the Civil War. The 158-foot long boat draws visitors from across the United States and from foreign countries.
The boat rests a scant distance from the “cat hole” in the Neuse River where the original ironclad gunboat was fitted with iron plating."

Here are a few pictures:

Where the captain stood:

Ringing the bell:

Middle of August

2009-08-13T16:44:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe how fast this month is going by. I still have not thought about a field trip. I need to get on the ball and get these kids out of the house.

Plans for August

2009-08-02T16:16:00.000-04:00

Click on the button above to get to The Homeschool Lounge. A Great place to make friends!

This year I have a 2nd grader (Kevin), a 1st grader (Josiah) and an almost 4 year old (Charlotte). We began our school year on July 1 and it went smoothly for most of the month. We did have to take a week off because of sickness. I have actually started to use a schedule this year. We have Bible class first, then Josiah does phonics while Kevin works on some seat work. Then it is Kevin's turn for phonics while Josiah works on some seatwork. And after seat work is math (usually Josiah is done with his work first, so he gets his math lesson first:)) About the time I finish Kevin's math lesson, it is time for a lunch break. And finally after lunch is reading, science (Wed-Fri)and art (Fri). I enjoy teaching my children. It is exciting to see them learn.

We went on a field trip in the beginning of July, but stayed home the rest of the month. The kids did go to VBS last week, so they were able to get out and have some fun.

I haven't really planned out the whole month of August yet, because things may happen or come up, like sicknesses. I would like to plan another field trip day for this month. We have a history museum close by, but there is also the aquarium, zoo and Civil War forts. There is also a battleship in Wilmington, about a 2 hour drive. I have been asking the kids, but they haven't decided yet either. I will update the blog when we do take our field trip. I will have lots of pictures to share.

Another week

2009-07-31T11:41:00.001-04:00

We made it through our 3rd full week of school. Everything is going great.

Week off

2009-07-23T13:43:00.000-04:00

Since Kevin was sick Monday and Tuesday and it was Josiah's birthday on Wednesday, I just decided to take the whole week off. We can't wait to get back on track on Monday.

A Setback

2009-07-21T14:10:00.000-04:00

Kevin woke up sick on Monday with some kind of stomach bug, so we took a break yesterday and today.

Flying by already

2009-07-19T08:53:00.000-04:00

Wow, we have completed 2 full weeks of school and everything is running smoothly. I let the boys sleep in until 9 or 9:30 every morning (we stay up late) and we are still finished with school by 1:30 (with a lunch break at noon.

July 3

2009-07-06T10:03:00.000-04:00

We went to New Bern (NC) and visited some of the historic buildings.

We went to the New Bern Academy. It was the 1st school in NC to be established by the law.

We also saw Tryon Palace (we didn't tour it).

It was a fun afternoon.

1st day of school

2009-07-01T17:16:00.000-04:00

Today was our first day of the 2009 - 2010 school year. It went very well. The boys did great and were finished by lunchtime.

Field Trip Ideas

2009-06-21T20:51:00.000-04:00

Onslow County Museum
Lynwood Zoo
Aquarium
Wilmington (battleship)
Beaufort (museum)

Getting started

2009-06-19T12:11:00.000-04:00

I want to try to keep a blog of all the daily/ weekly activities we do in school for the upcoming year. We are going to start our new year on July 1. I am looking forward to having a great year. I'm not sure the boys are too excited yet, but I have a lot of new and fun things planned.