Compassion

Today we took a field trip to the Compassion International tour. It was very humbling. We walked through the lives of 2 children from 2 different continents. The first was a little girl who grew up in Uganda. After her father died, she worked with her mother selling food for less than $1 per day. She watched most of her friends sold off into marriage. Finally she was sponsored and was able to return to school. She graduated and is now attending college in the US to be a social worker so that she can go home and help more at risk children.

The second child was from Bolivia. His father was abusive so his mom chose to leave with her children in the middle of the night. He had to get a job shining shoes just to be help pay for food and a bed for his whole family to sleep in. Some nights they did not eat at all. He watched the children around him become addicted to drugs and alcohol. Once he was sponsored he went to school where he was feed every day and educated. 

As we walked through the experience, I could tell by the looks on my children's faces that they were appreciating it all. They showed genuine concern. 

After the tour we went out to eat with friends. I felt so blessed to be able to feed my children every day and keep them safe from the things those children endured to get where they are today. When we left the restaurant I pointed out to the kids that we ate more food at lunch than Ruben got to eat all week when he was a child.  I can't afford to sponsor a child on a monthly basis but if I was able to take my children out to lunch, I can help feed a hungry child one meal or help them get clean drinking water. I never signed up to sponsor a child because I was afraid I would have to make a financial commitment that I would not be able to keep. I did not realize I could make a one time donation. Who knows what lives it may touch. So I donated the amount of money I paid for our lunch and we prayed that it will go to the child who needs it the most. 

• In language, Twizzler learned about plural and singular nouns. Skittles added adverbs to sentences. 
• In history we read about the Celts. While we were in the car we listened to some Celtic music. 
• In science they read about quetzalcoatlus. Then we watched a short video about them. Some parents may want to watch this video before showing it to their kids. Of course it is narrated from an evolutionist point of view. Some parents might want to talk with their kids first or just mute the first 5 seconds of the video. 
• Finally, I have BIG news..... Hershey pooped on the potty!!! He earned a toy car out of the mom store. 

I Don't Know You But Your Fez is Familiar....

Today we went on a field trip to a Cowart farm with our homeschool group. We walked through a "corn" maze actually it was not corn. It was another plant, sorghum or broomcorn, that looks like corn and is used to preserve the soil when the field is not in use. 

We also went on a hayride, raced down a slide on burlap sacks, played in a huge pool of feed corn, roped pretend cattle, had rubber duck races using an old style water pump to push them to their finish line, and we got to see and pet some common farm animals. We also got a brief lesson on how a pumpkin grows from a seed. 

On our way to and from the farm, we did our school work in the car, well anything that we could do in the car. 

• Language lessons are easy to do in the car. Twizzler just had to find the subject of 3 sentences and circle them. Skittles just had to write the plural spelling for 4 words. He pluralized 'fez' as 'fezzes' I thought it was supposed to be fezes. I had to look it up. He was right, although both spellings are correct. 
• We had to do math when we got home because we use Teaching Textbooks and lessons are done on the computer. Skittles is learning about angles and Twizzler is learning about rounding to the nearest hundred. 
• Skittles did his writing in the car but Twizzler is still just learning to write in cursive so we did it together again. He is getting it. 
• We read about how the plagues of Egypt correlate to the gods of Egypt and that God used those specific plagues because he knew they would be well understood by the Egyptian people.
• Spelling is another subject that is easy to do in the car. They just copied their words and copied the first sentence. Since I was driving, I had them read their words to me and spell them aloud before copying them. 
• Skittles read half of the chapter for science in the car. Then I had them complete their work page. We will read the rest of the chapter tomorrow. They had to draw what a deciduous tree looks like in each of the 4 seasons. We have studied this before so it was review. It still opened up a great discussion about the changing of seasons effects on trees. 
• We stopped off at break dancing class on our way home. The boys learned some new moves today. They are having so much fun in that class. There is a ballet class after break dancing. It me smile to see the contrast of the break dancing kids coming out wearing running pants, t-shirts, and sneakers. Then all of these graceful ballerinas in their leotards and toe shoes prance in with their hair pulled up. They look so precious. It reminds me of my days in ballet. 
• They could have easily done their Awana in the car but by the time we got to that subject we were already home. They both worked on their pages after dinner. 

Day at the Dentist

This morning we all went to the dentist for a cleaning. I am so proud that all 3 of my boys were so good for the dentist. We brought some school work with us to get through while we waited but we really did not spend too much time waiting. All 3 boys teeth looked perfect and healthy, no cavities. 

• In Language Lessons, Skittles copied the second stanza of a poem. Twizzler copied the months; April, May, June, and July. 
• In Math Twizzler learned about the seasons. It said, "In most states in America the weather changes with the seasons." LOL. Not this state. Skittles learned how to work more difficult multiplication problems. 
• Both boys got their writing done at the dentist office. The painting in Skittles book is so beautiful, I wish I could cut it out and frame it. 
• In history we read about Joseph preparing for the famine by storing grain. Then they added to their journal. 
• In spelling, Twizzler is learning how to spell words with 'th' in them. 
• In science the boys took turns reading about how Oakie became a tree. Then we looked up the varieties of deer in North America. We added Key deer to our list since they were not on the first site we found but we know they live in North America since they are native to Florida. 
• Reading was another subject that was easy to get done in the waiting room. Skittles is about half way through The Phantom Menace. He read chapter 7 and then narrated to me that they had to land on Tattooine.  Twizzler started another Star Wars book about pirates. It says it is a level 1 reader but the words are not easy words to read. For example; Spaceships, pirates, treasure, etc. So there are fewer words on the page but they are not CVC words. It is giving us lots of opportunities to break up big words and sound them out in parts. 
• Finally we worked on the next pages of their Awana books. Skittles read that we can trust God's word because we know that God tells the truth. 

I Got a Golden Ticket!!!!

Not really, but I did get to tour a chocolate factory with my family today. A bunch of homeschoolers in the area met at the chocolate factory down the road from my house and took the tour. Unfortunately as we were walking out the door, Hershey had an asthma attack. So I had to stop and give him a breathing treatment. We were a few minutes late for the tour and when we got there, poor Hershey was still recovering and coughing like he was about to die or release Ebola onto the public. I finally took him out of tour and into the store area. He had fun watching the "choo-choo" circle over our heads. Skittles and Twizzler learned where chocolate comes from and how it goes from plant to dessert. The tour guide taught them the health benefits of chocolate and made sure that they all know that chocolate is a vegetable. Haha. After the tour we each got to pick out a sample. YUM! 

• In language lessons, Twizzler capitalized the days of the week in some sentences. Skittles added punctuation marks to some sentences. Hershey colored a letter G and a giraffe. 
• In math, Skittles reviewed multiplication and Twizzler learned about writing about dates. 
• In writing, Twizzler learned how to make a cursive Z and z. He did great. 
• In history we talked about Jacob and Esau. Then the boys drew pictures to compare the 2 brothers and wrote some things about each of them. 
• After they copied their sentences in their Learn to Spell Through Copywork books, we did an oral review. Twizzler only got one word mixed up. Skittles also looked up the definition to some of his spelling words. 
• In science we researched how to tell the age of a tree. 
• Twizzler read some more of his Star Wars book and told me about how Ashoka rescued Jabba the Hutt's son. Skittles read chapter 3 of Number the Stars and wrote about the Mama Johnson. 
• We finished our school day by working on Awana books together. 

There And Back Again

We kept learning everyday even while we were far away. Here are some fun things we learned while on vacation.

1. Day 1 was spent on the road. Twizzler kept track of the states we drove through and Skittles learned how to read a map.
2. Day 2 we went to a pirate festival. The boys learned about the different types of weapons pirates used. 
3. Day 3 was Sunday. We went to church. The boys all loved Auntie's church. Skittles teacher was very impressed. I loved the church too. 
4. Day 4 we went kayaking in Auntie's pond. 
   
5. Day 5 was beach day and even though we were 600 miles away we went to the beach. Auntie took us to Yorktown. 
   
                       Since we were already in Yorktown we drove by the battlefield and the kids climbed in the cave that Cornwallis hid in during Washington's siege. 
6. Day 6 we went to the mall to meet up with a couple of my Cafemom friends. Our babies were all born in March 2012. I brought my nephew. There were 2 year old boys all over the place. It was pretty neat. 
7. Day 7 we went to Jamestown settlement. We mapped the voyage and toured the boats that carried the English to Virginia.             
   
                        We got to see what Jamestown looked like in 1607. The boys spent close to an hour in the guard shack learning about all the different kinds of weapons the English brought to the New World. All 3 boys tried on armor. Then they went to the armory and just stared at the ammunition.                                         
   
                         After we walked around the settlement and saw what it looked like 400 years ago, we went a mile down the road to the actual archaeological site. We learned the gross details of the "starvation period." We got to see site of the church where Pocahontas was baptized and married.
   
                 We also saw, the well that John Smith dug. In the museum, we saw the actual skeletons of some of the first settlers. Then we walked through the town that grew out of the fort over the following years. The boys recognized the type of fences that they built with their Lincoln Logs.  
   
8. On day 8 we drove all the way up to Rhode Island. We got to hang out with Mom's family. We all went camping for the first few days. We made yummy dinner by the campfire.                                                    
   
                             It was delicious meatloaf, baked potatoes, green beans, and carrots. 
9. Hershey learned how to peddle a bicycle with training wheels. He spent most of the trip going from one riding toy to the next.
10. I got to spend a lot of time with my nephews. The twins, who are only 10 months old have decided to follow in their father, (my brother's) footsteps, figuratively speaking anyway. They learned to walk while I was there.
11. The rest of the vacation is a blur. It was relaxation mixed with fellowship, silliness, and a touch of stomach flu. Twizzler got sick on the 5th day and was sick for the rest for the vacation. Poor kid was so sick that he could not leave the bed for a few days. On our last day there, he was so sad that he had missed out on most of the vacation. Grampy built a fire in the back yard and Grammy laid out a cot for him to rest on while we sat by the fire. 
12. We got very lucky with our journey home. We were able to avoid most of the traffic. We stayed the night at Auntie's house on our way home. It was a LONG journey and like all adventures there is nothing quite like coming home at the end of it. 

Field Trip!!!!

1. The kids got their spelling, dictation, and English done bright and early this morning so that we could go on a field trip and enjoy the day. 
2. We went with another homeschool family to Marineland. I have lived near Marineland half of my life but I had never been there before. It was free admission today so I thought we should take advantage. The kids enjoyed seeing the animals up close. 
   
3. I had no idea that Hershey even knew what a dolphin was but he saw them and squealed, "Look Mama, dolphin!" 
   
4. After the show it started to rain. We ran to the car for cover and drove home. I LOVE to drive A1A. It is so beautiful. I like to imagine myself living in a beach front condo one day. 
5. Right around the corner from my house is a chocolate factory. They give free tours on the hour. We decided to run over and take the tour but we got there 9 minutes late. We ended up buying a few pieces of chocolate instead. Skittles picked out a white chocolate star fish. Twizzler picked out a milk chocolate crocodile. I got Hershey a little chocolate starfish also. I bought a couple of truffles for my friend and me. 
6. Twizzler is learning how to tell time in math. He is learning phrases like, "half past" and "quarter till." I have a little dry erase clock that I use to teach this concept by drawing lines that divide the clock into quarters. Then I have him show me the time using the hands. Then we look at how much of the clock the hand has passed since it pointed to the 12. 
7. Skittles read our history to us today. He read about Chanute requesting Wilbur to come speak. He did not want to accept and was not sure what he could speak about since he had only built a few bicycles and one glider up to that point. 

Civil War

We went to a civil war reenactment today after church. The boys loved the guns and cannons. The battle raged on for about an hour. In the end, the confederate army won today.

When it was over they played taps and we all bowed our heads out of respect for the people who died. It was very humbling. Then we went over to the medical tent and watched the doctor work on a few injuries. We saw a leg amputation complete with am artery that squirted everywhere. The medical staff and injured soldiers were great performers. They might have traumatized the kids a bit.

We stayed after the amputation to look at the medical equipment up close. They let the kids come in the tent and see that the soldier still had both legs. They explained the medicines and methods that were used to treat patients. 

1. Skittles favorite part was the gun salute at the end. 
2. Twizzlers favorite part was when the cannons would fire, they set off the car alarms in the parking lot. 
3. Hershey said his favorite part was dinner. I have no idea what he meant though, since we did not have dinner there. We did snack on some crackers and fruit snacks. (shrug)
4. My favorite part was the medical tent. 

Out of This World

We got to go to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University last night to check out their new telescope and Astronomy building. First we went on a tour of a scale model of our solar system. We started off at the sun which was about the size of a soccer ball. Then we walked about 50 yards to the scale model of mercury. It was the size of a pin head. It was a long walk all the way to Uranus, let me tell you.

Then we got to go on the rooftop and look through some telescopes at the moon, Jupiter, and Mars. My favorite part of the night was seeing Jupiter. It was really beautiful. We could see 4 of its glistening moons lined up in orbit. 

Then we got to see the BIG telescope. ERAU has the largest university based research telescope. It was very impressive. 

After looking at the new telescope, we went into the red room. They showed us some images from space on a giant screen. They used a free website called Stellarium. I am downloading it tonight. I can't wait to use it next year when we study the constellations. 

Twizzler was bored with looking at the universe so we went downstairs and played space bingo. It was just a little group of homeschoolers and an astrological engineering student. The questions were really hard. It was not meant for little kids but I was impressed with how much they actually knew. Skittles has not studied outer space since first grade and Twizzler has not studied space at all. Poor Skittles knew the answers to most of the questions but he did not have the answers on his bingo card. If it had been just a trivia game, he would have won. 

Before we went home, we went to the Wright brothers statue. We are going to be studying them in the next couple of weeks. Skittles is so excited. He has been dying to read the book ever since we received our box full of curriculum last summer.

Water Testing

Today we went on a field trip to Lake Ashby to test the water quality.

It was a cold but beautiful day. 

The kids experimented with water.

We came home and journaled about our experiments.

Hershey did not want to be left out so he scribbled on a scrap of paper. 

We learned about being a tinker and made tin lanterns out of old pie tins. The boys drew out what they wanted to design and then hammered nails through to get the lantern. 

We liked the pattern that it made on the wall. Skittles wants to make more and use them to make constellations in his bedroom. 

1. Hershey counted to 3 all by himself today. He counted six fish in the tank at church too but that was with a little help from Mommy. 
2. Twizzler was excited to practice his math facts playing Monkey Math on his new tablet. 
3. Skittles informed me that he read a book that described Japan as an isolated country. "That does not mean that it is covered in ice," he explained, "It means that their communication with the outside world was frozen." 

Lighthouse

We went on a field trip to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse for homeschool day.

1. Our favorite part was climbing 213 steps to the top of the lighthouse. I chalked it up to my workout for the day. The real trick was coming back down. 
2. The boys played games and performed chores from the18th century. 
3. Hershey's favorite part was the playground during lunch. 

Last But Never Least

Today I picked the boys up at church. They told me all about their sleep over and what a wonderful time they had. I am so glad.
After lunch I took Skittles and Hershey over to Nana's house so Twizzler and I could have some time together just the 2 of us. It was his turn since I had Skittles all day Thursday and Hershey all afternoon Saturday. We went to a local carnival. I bought $20 worth of tickets and let him choose any rides in the park. He had a blast. He faced his fear of rollercoasters. He went on one all by himself.

He has actually been on much bigger coasters than this but this is the first one that he smiled during the whole ride. 

After he had used up all of his tickets, I spent a small fortune on some lemonade and funnel cake. It was worth it, just to have some time alone with this amazing little guy. I love the things he tells me when we are alone. He has such a big heart. I am truly blessed to have 3 amazing little boys in my life. 

Conquering Fears

To celebrate Skittles turning 10, I took him to Busch Gardens. We all woke up at 6 am so that I could drop off Hershey with Nana. Twizzler also stayed despite me spending the past month trying to convince him to come with us. He is terrified of roller coasters right now.

The great thing about homeschooling is that we can go to the theme parks during the week when they are half price and there are no lines. Skittles and I rode every single roller coaster working our way up from the little Air Grover, to the terrifying ShieKra.

Before I had kids I was stupid fearless. I went on every roller coaster and any other crazy ride that I came across. Then I had kids and fears crept up in me. I became afraid of heights and big roller coasters and scary movies. When we started out today, we were both apprehensive about the big coasters. We walked past them, looked up at them and decided not to ride. Skittles talked me into following him through a tree top adventure. It freaked me out a bit. We were walking on ropes and looking through nets at the ground below. It is amazing that the fears I have had since Skittles was born are the same fears that I conquered today along side of him.

When he asked me to go on the first big coaster, it was one I rode 16 years ago so I did not blink. I was not afraid of it. Once he had braved the Kumba, he was ready to take on any coaster in the park... except the SheiKra, which we both decided was never going to happen. We walked the entire park 2 times and ran about halfway through it chasing the elusive train once. We walked from Egypt to the Congo and back again. I feel like I have actually traversed Africa by foot. Every time we would stop at the bottom of SheiKra and say, "Not going to happen! Why would ANYONE want to ride that thing?"

Thirty minutes before closing, Skittles had just conquered his fear of the suspended, looping, Montu. He looked up at me and said, "Mom, I am going to be a fighter pilot one day. I need to face my fear of the SheiKra. I want to ride it." So we walked ALL THE WAY BACK across the continent of Africa!!! I stood in line praying for the Lord to keep us safe. The SheiKra is only 3 rows long but it is 8 seats wide. We sat in the middle seats, middle row. It took us up and up and up. It felt like forever. When we got to the top, it took this slow turn around so that we got a beautiful view of all of Tampa and possibly all of central Florida. Then it inched us towards the edge and stopped. It just hung us there on the edge. I knew it would because we had watched it soooo many times today. We hung and hung and hanging there we could not see the track. It just looked like we were hanging in mid-air. I had a DEATH grip on Skittles hand. I was praying, "God PLEASE don't let these bars fly open!" Then WOOSH! We dropped out of the sky, face first into the ground and there, finally was the track. We went right back up and into a few loops. Right back up again and what do they do??? They decide that just in case the first direct drop was not enough, they are going to do it again. This time straight down into a tower. SERIOUSLY?!?! We survived. It was time to go home. I told Skittles that I had to get a picture of him in front of the coaster that he conquered... we conquered. It just so happens that there is a small pond that the coaster "dips" down into, actually it is a sensor thing that when the coaster goes by, it shoots up a spray at passersby... I had him stand there while the coaster passed once, twice, and, "Hold on. Just one more smile." Third pass and the coaster splashed him!!! IT  WAS AWESOME! That is what you get for dragging your mom through a theme park the size of a continent all day and then taking her on the scariest coaster of her adult life.

We had a great time though. I hope that when Twizzler turns 10, he will be ready to conquer his fears and drag me all over some giant theme park from coaster to coaster.

1. As we were walking through the park, Skittles pointed out examples of simple and compound leaves. 
2. When we walked through the animal habitats, Skittles told me everything he knew about each animal.
   
   He really knows a lot about African animals from reading, Lions at Lunch Time, in co-op. 
3. On the way home I called the other boys. Twizzler told me that he typed me a message on Facebook. Then he asked to talk to Skittles. I love how much they love each other. 
4. Hershey told me all about his day but all I could make out was, "Mama, Nana, boo boo" and a bunch of phrases that sounded like, "I love you" and "I don't know." It was precious. 
5. We had to drive past Disney to go home. As we approached the began their fireworks display and it just so happened that we had a great view of it from beginning to end as we drove past. It felt like God was saying, "Hey, How awesome was this day that I created for you."
6. All the way home Skittles talked my ear off about all the rides today, our family, and his fears. I told him he did a good job facing his fears. He said, "I did not just face my fears. I chased my fears." Oh boy, I have created a monster. LOL. 
7. On the way home from Nana's I asked the boys, "Who had a good day?" Skittles yelled, "ME!" Twizzler yelled, "ME ME ME!" and Hershey yelled, "ME ME ME." 

Homeschool Skate

Today was homeschool skate day again. It was fun for all of us. We all got to socialize with our friends. Skittles took off skating. He is trying to be as fast as possible. Twizzler pretended to play the arcade games. Every once in awhile he would go out and skate. They both won a free soda in the race today. Skittles gave his away. He does not like soda. Hershey and I pushed a car back and forth across a table. I spent the rest of the time chasing him around. He was all over the place.

1. The boys got math and reading done before lunch. Twizzler was excited that he got a bonus round with his math lesson.
2. In English we studied nouns. I explained that a noun names something and usually it is something that you can touch, 
3. Twizzler had some pretty tough words this week for spelling but he only got one wrong. He spelled cross, kross. I think he made the mix up because earlier in his English lesson he tried to spell kid, cid. I explained that when 'c' is in front of an 'i' it makes a 's' sound. This language is so complicated. I am still learning all the rules and I have been studying it all my life. 
4. In history, Skittles read aloud about Benjamin West who apparently was one of the first artists in the colonies.
5. Science was kind of gross again. We read about the first small pox vaccines. Then we did an activity to demonstrate how our bodies fight off a virus. I enjoyed learning this along with my boys. I had a general idea before but now I actually know how t-cells and antibodies work. 
   

Day at the Dentist

Today started with a trip to the dentist. I scheduled both boys at the same time. It worked out great. I got to park the stroller in the middle of the hall and stand in the doorway of both rooms. All 3 boys were so good, even Hershey who was stuck in his stroller watching all the fuss. Skittles is going to be 10 on Saturday and he still has never had a cavity. Twizzler has a tiny cavity on the side of a baby tooth that is wiggling and about to fall out so we are leaving it alone. They did seal his molars today though. He was such a trooper. Afterwards we went to the Dollar tree next door and I let them pick out a toy. They both picked out a pair of Ninja Sais. They carried them around all day and wore their cute little headbands too. 

1. After taking a week off of school, both boys still did great in math. 
2. Twizzler only has 2 lessons left in his reading book. He really cruised through his lesson today. 
3. English was a review. I am thankful for that since we took the week off, it was good to start off with a review. They both did great on the oral part. Twizzler struggled with the written part. 
4. We read about William Penn in history. In the middle of the story they mentioned Louis XIV which led to a discussion on how Roman numerals work and who Louis XIV was. We also had some talk about how Charles I and Louis XVI lost their heads. 
5. We are a few days behind in science somehow. Today we read about science in colonial America. We talked about how sailors used the North star to find their way. Then we drew pictures of the big dipper and little dipper so that we could easily locate the north star. 
6. Hershey has started saying words that end with "y" like "Mommy." I am not just "Mama" or "mom" anymore. I am "Mommy" I like that. He can also say "Yummy." He keeps going to the kitchen and pointing at the pantry or fridge and saying, "Yummy," while nodding his head. And he says, "Happy." In fact he says, "Happy, happy, happy." I think he is watching too much Duck Dynasty.... 

Right now he is NOT happy. He is certainly not, "happy happy happy" He is mad, mad, mad. He is ready for bedtime cuddles and some "yummy" milk. 

Goodnight

Day 23 Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo....

I did not get home from our adventures last night until after midnight but we had an amazing day yesterday. 

1. It was $2 Tuesday at a local zoo. It was an hour drive so after the boys finished their math, we packed up the other school work to be done and hit the road. They did English, science and history on the way. 
2. We had a great time looking at the animals. Skittles favorite was the Jaguar. Twizzler liked the ant eater. I loved the Capybara family. (seriously they look like Giant Guinea pigs, I just want to take them home." Hershey seemed to love the vultures. To be fair the King Vulture is the prettiest vulture I have ever seen.... For a vulture anyway. 
   
3. This zoo has a zipline course and Skittles struck up a conversation with one of the guides who gave us info on the course. Both of my big boys were chomping at the bit to get a chance to try it out. 
4. We went to the splash park first. Really it is an amazing kiddie pool. The boys cooled off in the water right beside a wall of a giant fish tank. It is a really fun set up. 
5. Then we went to the zipline course. Skittles and Twizzler had the best time on that course. I am so proud of them both. They are very brave.  
   
   
   
6. After the zoo we went to my aunt and uncle's house. My Aunt made us a delicious dinner that my children devoured as if they had never eaten before. We had a wonderful time hanging out with them. When my cousin got home, we all bombarded him with questions, "Can you recommend a good laptop?" "How do I get to your house on Minecraft?" "How do I start a fire?" "hi hi hi hi hi" You can figure out for yourself who made which statement. haha