The Bough Family Homeschool

Winter update - SPRING is here!!!!

2011-05-01T14:01:00.000-05:00

It's finally getting warmer which means more pictures and outdoor adventures are coming soon. The winter has been particularly interesting since we experienced an amazing snow storm that managed to shut down the Chicagoland for two days. The season also brought a time of change in our family as we decided to stop the adoption process. The decision was made around Christmas when Tom and I both felt that God was steering our family in a different direction. The message was so clear, but it still took me most of four months to fully accept. Our social worker always talked about how peaceful our family was; where she never verbalized her reluctance for the adoption, I could feel it from her. She tried to politely tell me that she didn't want possible disruption to come to a family as close are ours. We took the rest of the winter to pray and really look at the priorities of our family, even when we already knew God's answer. Tom finally mailed in the paperwork to surrender our DCFS liscence and life is moving forward. It was a hard journey to take, but many relationships were healed in the process. God works in wonderful and mysterious ways!

This first video is of our first snow early in the season followed by the big storm aftermath in February.

This winter also brought a life change for me. Once I finished my Master's Degree almost 10 years ago, I vowed to never work again! I wanted to have children and perform; something that definitely puzzled the professors on my Master's defense when they asked what my goals were following graduation. I thought I had learned to never say "never", and God, once again, had other plans for me. I wouldn't actually call it work since I REALLY enjoy what I'm doing and it allows Stephen and I (hopefully Rhea in the future) to participate in an activity where we grow together. God knows I still need growing in so many areas, and Stephen has also blossomed. Soooo...

After Stephen started martial arts about two years ago, I wanted to get involved so I could be effective in teaching him at home. We stopped lessons with his current school when we found out that our church had a dojo. We thought it would be a great opportunity to involve the whole family since it was financially possible. After about eight months, another opportunity came my way. Stephen was taking an archery class when I heard of a Christian homeschool mom that owned an amazing Taekwondo school. Divine intervention had me in her school in less than a week; on a road that I never pictured taking with my family. My first interactions with her opened doors for our family that I didn't see possible anywhere else; so the journey began. Let's just say I've learned a lot and still have pleanty of room to grow, while LOVING my work with kids and adults alike! Stephen is making new friends, learning self control, and definitly growing in perseverance. Rhea is also coming back around to the idea of being involved again and will be a true warrior when and if she decides to join us. I'm still performing musically, but my heart has been more into growing stronger as a martial artist and teacher these days. In the end, I've taken what I've learned, and feel like I'm a better mom, wife and friend as a result of this new endevor. I look forward to what God has planned for all of us!

Taekwondo Tournament and Testing

2011-04-27T00:39:00.001-05:00

Taekwondo has been such a blessing to our family. Stephen's interested has only increased since we have been with our current school and continues to grow. The first video is of him competing with his form during a tournament in Nebraska and the second is at testing back home. He is SOOOO awesome!!! Congratulations big guy!!!

Happy Easter

2011-04-27T00:27:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter!! We had an incredibly BIG day today; complete with sugar highs AND lows. Tom and I began our morning performing an 8am Easter service in downtown Naperville with the kids in tow. It's awesome to be able to work and have the whole family together!! It was then time to come home for an early lunch and quiet time so the Easter bunny could come and hide all of those eggs. We weren't to keen on keeping the kids at home after gorging themselves with sugar, so it was off to the rock wall. Stephen was a champ and Rhea, well, I don't have to tell you that she throughly enjoyed herself for the first time on the wall. I was the designated Belayer since I didn't quite have enough energy to make it up the wall after a long weekend/two months of Taekwondo tournaments. I honestly crashed for two hours when we got home and look forward to much rest in the coming weeks!!

Pinewood Derby

2011-04-27T00:12:00.001-05:00

We had so much fun at Pinewood Derby this year. I made sure we had a two week window to complete our cars this year and we made it to the finish line!! Tom made the initial cuts and then it was time to carve, sand and paint. I might have gone a little over board on Rhea's since it clearly was done by mom and not a 5 year old. She at least picked out the design, paint color and decals while participating a little in the sanding process. Tom also helped me with the weights in the end and was perfectly at 5 ounces for both cars. Way to go dad and awesome job to the whole family since each car made it down the track!! Stephen also won a speed award and I didn't manage to get a picture of his busy body that day. I at least have video if I can ever manage to get my computer to behave long enough to post them....lol

A Journey Through Time

2011-04-13T13:30:00.005-05:00

Our homeschool is still going strong with a trip through time. We started with astronomy this year along side creation. Next was a study of the ocean, birds, dragons (hey, it's somewhat like a reptile), and we have finally made it to dinosaurs. The human body will be next along side the stories of Adam and Eve, and then onto Egypt! The sad news for me in all of this is that Stephen is venturing onto second grade by next week. How did that happen?? Rhea is plugging along and will start Kindergarten soon and constantly keeps us on our toes!! Praise God for our little ones....that aren't so little these days!

The videos were taken at our homeschool group at Calvary called Impressions. The mission of this group is not as much about academics, but rather on relational development through organized activities. I think I can speak for everyone that one of our favorite class is art, taught by Pastor Michael Grove. He can take a simple art concept and turn it into a life lesson like I've never seen! Amazing!! Tom has been teaching the upper level bible class and helping me with our Physical Education activites too!! I've really enjoyed working with these women this year and look forward to what God has planned for us in the future. The kids present book reports twice a month and these videos were taken on our first attempt. Stephen and Rhea both did an incredible job and set everyone at ease by volunteering to go first. Rhea had to be bribed a little with letting her wear a costume; but hey, whatever works...right? I'm so very proud of their vigor and inspired by their fearless confidence!

Frisca

2011-04-12T23:24:00.003-05:00

I can't say enough about my feline best friend. This little girl has been with me through the best and worst times of my adult life. I found her along side the road during my sophomore year in college. The poor thing was in horrible shape, but by evidence of today, sprang back and has filled all of our lives with her fuzzy joy. Our little 17 year old bundle of joy still demands her meals three times a day and we are happy to oblige. Thank you, Frisca for continuing to brighten our days!

In Motion

2011-04-12T22:23:00.000-05:00

My latest photography project... After all that time learning about how to get that perfect picture in focus, I decided to take another route and play with light and motion. The first picture was taken at the end of winter while the Christmas lights were still in the trees in downtown Naperville. I managed to get close enough to the street without getting hit by any Metra buses! Tom and Rhea were then very patient with me as I asked them to walk around in circles for a half hour. As it turns out, I went with my first shot of them...lol

Rhea's Birthday

2011-03-05T18:38:00.003-06:00

Halloween

2011-03-05T18:00:00.001-06:00

We had a beautiful Halloween this year...as the Halloween holiday goes. Let's just say we had incredible weather and Rhea didn't freeze to death in her pink fairy costume. I was a pirate, and we even got ol' dad in the groove, going out in style as a priest. We left the bible at home, thinking that would be a little much since our neighbors already think we're weird. Sorry, no pictures of us since we got preoccupied with the little ones...

Christmas

2010-12-31T11:30:00.005-06:00

It was a Merry Christmas indeed!!! The house was decorated and the excitment of our two darling children made this once again, the best Christmas ever. We enjoyed all of our usual traditions of finishing all the decorations by Thanksgiving day so we could enjoy the lights, trees and Christmas houses for the entire holiday season. Stephen and Rhea made their usual Christmas gift bags for the family and eagerly awaited their big Christmas morning. I think it's obvious that they had a GREAT Christmas and concluded with their usual "crash" by 5pm....

Stephen's Birthday

2010-12-31T10:23:00.000-06:00

My baby is 7 years old today! How did that happen!?! Stephen had a GREAT day today at his Lego birthday party. Lego hasn't gotten around to making party decorations, so I improvised this one. He was happy, so that's all that matters!!

Stephen's Karate Promotion

2010-09-21T22:13:00.003-05:00

Stephen's orange belt has been a long time coming, so we are very proud of him and celebrated with a large scoop of ice cream!!

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Fall Fun

2010-09-15T21:51:00.004-05:00

The apples are finally ripe and the kids are ready to go. We went back to our favorite orchard near NIU. The first stop is to always partake of a few apple doughnuts followed by an iced apple cider to wash everything down. For a family that eats as healthy as we do, we consider this living on the edge. Really....

It was then off to the orchard and to play. The kids did a great job this year of actually taking time to pose for pictures. Here are the videos with pictures soon to follow.

Lincoln Park Zoo

2010-09-03T19:45:00.003-05:00

Our next stop was to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Yep, you read that sign right. There wasn't really a sign that said not to climb the trees, but there should have been for children like Rhea that have been climbing anything since she was six months old. We enjoyed beautiful weather at the zoo and witnessed how cranky a tiger can be at feeding time. It could have been a little warmer since our next destination was just across Lake Shore Drive to the beach, but we all survived.

Sport's Zone

2010-08-21T20:44:00.002-05:00

Our next stop on the big family visit was to Sport's Zone. We had a great lunch at Cantigny and were ready again for some fun. The first stop was go-cart racing. I was driving Rhea, so you'll be happy that I didn't take any pictures while driving. Uncle Dennis lapped me twice, but he didn't have a four year old with him either. At least that was my excuse. It was then onto the batting cages for the boys. Everyone managed to get their fingers smacked by a ball, but all survived and had a great time! Next up was a round of miniature golf. Ryan, Stephen, and Rhea pretty much had their own rules. At times, they were all putting the same hole at the same time while running circles around each other. Rhea would frequently give up and just throw her ball in and call it a success! I think this is the first time she actually "played" all 18 holes and even did a few over again while she was waiting for everyone to keep up. I don't think we actually kept score, but my guess would be that either Alex or Aunt Carla won. We were very hungry by the time the game was over, so it was off for pizza at Maciano's!!

Cantingy with the Family

2010-08-15T18:42:00.001-05:00

This is the first of several post of pictures from our visit with extended family. My sister, brother-in-law, nephews and parents came to visit us last week. Everyone had a great time and our first stop was to get the kids some exercise at Cantingy Park while my sister and I passed it off as 'school' for the day. I've performed here many times, but always in sub-freezing temperatures for Veteran's Day or marathon Memorial Day concerts. Both events were well worth it, and I managed to not complain in EITHER circumstance. OK, that's maybe a little stretch on the no complaining part, but I was mostly happy if no one stole my heater on Veteran's Day. Anyway, it was nice to spend the afternoon walking around and finally taking a trip through the museum. If you live in the area and have never been, it is a wonderful tribute to our service men and women.

An Arboretum Summer

2010-08-12T07:43:00.001-05:00

Rhea and I love to take a trip, just the two of us, to the Arboretum each summer. We always go on a bike ride through the woods to visit our favorite field and climb our favorite tree. Remarkably, she still fits in her front carrier seat, but I think this is the last year. I'll be hooking up the trailer for her next year, but still enjoyed one last time being close to her while we rode. We then took off for the Children's Garden where her first stop was to the stream. Rhea loves water, and more importantly, loves getting messy. I love these times with her and will remember them always!

Halo Hoops Basketball Camp

2010-07-25T21:08:00.004-05:00

Stephen went to his first basketball camp this summer at Calvary. We are so grateful for our church with how many sports opportunities they offer the kids. Halo Hoops was no exception to the wonderful environments provided by these incredible people. They not only learn the sport, but continue their journey with Christ. Did I mention that I thank God every day for our church?

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Karate Kid

2010-07-13T11:10:00.002-05:00

The Bough Family started a Martial Arts class at our church this past March and it was time for us to compete. Tom conveniently had to work, so it was me and the kids with Stephen insisting that I compete. I opted out of Kumite (sparring) and decided that it was safe enough to enter the Kata (forms) competition. I was pleased that I did my forms clean and at the best possible, but knew that I wouldn't win since I didn't have a formal Kata yet. Stephen, on the other hand, did both Kata and Kumite. He won second in the Kata and first in Kumite. I included video his Kata and the first of his two sparring matches since he figured out an easy way to win towards the end. You will see him score his last two points by tapping the kid on the head. In the end, this is how he won his division since no one could reach their foot above his belt or compete with his 'wing span'. Clever kid!

Sorry, no video of me. I was lucky to get Stephen to his events and make it just in time for my own. I didn't trust Rhea with the video camera, so you'll have to wait until next time. Oh, this was taken in our church gym since it was our own tournament. Rhea helped at the trophy table the whole day!! We were very proud of her too and she received a ton of compliments on her helpfulness and behavior. Go GIRL and congrats to Stephen!!

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Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-05T11:33:00.009-05:00

We had a fantastic 4th of July week. That's right, a whole week of celebration with my birthday on Monday followed by the 4th of July weekend. The kids gave me a beautiful necklace for my birthday and then proceeded to go on a two night camping trip with dad. It was really quiet around here, but I got caught up on my sleep and took advantage of the time to get the house back under control, get ahead on curriculum, and even watch two movies snuggled with the ol' kitty, Frisca. She really enjoyed sleeping in the big bed for two whole nights!! Dad's home now, so it's back to the basement.

I enjoyed getting things done, but found myself walking in circles by the end of the second day. It was nice to see them come home, only to find them crashed out in their beds after lunch. Oh well, I guess they had a great time with dad! They came back to life by the evening, so we pulled out the fireworks and finished off the left over smores supplies from the camping trip. YUM!

Rhea still has issues with loud noises, so Tom makes sure to have enough smoke bombs on hand as well as things that sparkle without too much sound. She loves to chase the smoke around the yard and smells REALLY bad by the end of the evening! We moved onto the rockets as it got darker and I moved inside with Rhea so the boys could have their fun. Rhea still enjoys the rocket, but from the inside window. Some rockets had sparkles, some had parachutes, and then there were the good ol' bottle rockets. As you can see, Stephen really enjoys the rockets and held his first sparkler. These are much safer than when we were kids. I remember hot metal rods that would throw sparks all over your arm and hand. I was never too keen about them and was happy with the new design. These things are huge, but don't give off too much spark while keeping everything away from the body. Daddy's big finale was a sparkle fountain that had little pops at the end. Just enough for Stephen to enjoy and not too much for Rhea. I was hoping to take her to a fireworks display this year, but maybe next time. We'll revisit the issue when we can at least get her to stay outside for a bottle rocket.

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!!

Spring

2010-05-02T21:54:00.016-05:00

I would have to say that this spring has been our most exciting yet. We had many good times with a little bump in the road along the way.

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Our spring began with Stephen taking on another round of swim lessons. He learned how to float and has been perfecting basic strokes. This makes me feel better as he becomes safer in the water. Rhea will get her chance after the first of the year due to her sensitivity issues. Her confidence has improved greatly, but she's not quite ready for group lessons.

Once swim lessons were over, we all headed to church on Saturday mornings for soccer practice. The first three weeks are inside since it was WAY too cold outside. I was especially grateful for this decision. All of the coaches have a chance to get to know the players during this time before choosing teams. Stephen was off and running on the first day and has made many friends that are involved in all the Calvary activities that he attends. Rhea, on the other hand is still in preschool and was pretty much attached to my leg for the first three weeks. The coaches were great and assigned her the perfect coach for the season. Coach Joyce has been incredible with her. Rhea has not only improved with her soccer skills, but her confidence with who she is has improved. Loud sounds still bother her, but she works through the sensitivities with a little help from the people we put in her lives.

Stephen's time with soccer took a different route. He played against his sister's team on the first game and scored five goals. He was pretty excited about that, but his luck turned there. It was a beautiful spring day, which is unusual since it's pretty cold here in the spring, and we decided to take a family bike ride. We thought it would be nice to take the children along in the bike trailers so Tom and I could get a nice ride, and then stop at a playground on the way home. The bike ride was wonderful, but Stephen ended up falling off of one of the playground platforms resulting in a badly broken arm. I spent the rest of the night with him in the emergency room since the break was so bad. The doctors had to wait for the right specialist in order for us to go home. He ended up breaking his arm just above the elbow in three different places and had surgery a few days later. He was such a trooper!! He was very excited about showing off his green cast and telling people that he had three pins in his arm. Surprisingly, the doctor cleared him to compete in the state Junior Bible Quiz (JBQ) finals just two days after the surgery. We proceeded to drive to Springfield, IL where Stephen took home first place in his division. We are all very proud of his hard work this year in JBQ and I was so happy that he was able to go since I didn't know what the outcome was going to be for the rest of his activities.

Stephen healed quickly and had his cast off just three weeks after the surgery. After another two weeks, he had full range of motion and mobility. An answer to many prayers that were requested! His speedy recovery allowed him to participate in his Royal Rangers (boys scouts at our church) program again AND play soccer. His coach was VERY excited to hear of his return. It has been fun watching both kids play soccer this year with only a few games left before finals. Calvary Church has offered so many wonderful opportunities for the kids, and soccer is one of many.

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Stephen has had a GREAT time in Calvary Royal Rangers this year. One of the big activities was the Pinewood Derby. We had never been to one before, so there was a lot to learn while we were there. Stephen's car did very well and he even won a few races. He was disappointed to not win a ribbon, but I told him that he should be excited with all that we were going to get to learn this coming year about how to build a fast car. He finally came around to the idea after about a week when I ordered a few plan books and researched all of the cool tools for our next car. Santa will also be leaving Pinewood goodies in their stockings!!

The latest Calvary Church activity that the whole family has started has been the martial arts program. Stephen had been taking Karate through the home school co-op, but we decided Stephen needed more of a challenge. We contacted the dojo at our church and after giving it a trial run, we never stopped. It's great to have the whole family involved and it makes mom and dad work harder with the kiddos staring at you. I'll never forget being nervous about my first board break. The kids were very specific with us to break it on the first try without help. No pressure!! Tom and I were successful on our first attempt which really wowed the kids. It was cute to see. We are all challenged by our new endevour. Stephen excels and loves achieving the next level, while Rhea tested and learned the boundaries of her new environment. She has grown so much in all the Calvary programs, but it warms my heart to see her eyes twinkle when she is successful in Karate.

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-10T23:04:00.001-06:00

Winter

2010-01-06T18:25:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Stephen

2009-12-31T23:30:00.008-06:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. The Bough Family Homeschool Blog has an overhauled look for 2009 and now 2010. I have discovered the world of digital scrapbooking and LOVE it!! I hope you will enjoy my new creations and the story of our year in 2009. Just click on 'older post' at the bottom right to see more or click on the month to the right.

This year has been a great one for the family. Tom now has tenure and we are almost done with round one of paperwork for the adoption. We hope to be done soon so grant writing and fundraising can begin for the international paperwork process. We are very excited and would love for you to keep those prayers coming in that area! Stephen and Rhea are progressing in school and are beginning to become more involved in activities outside of home. The both attend co-op on Friday's were Stephen does Karate and P.E., while Rhea does tumbling and a Dr. Suess class. Stephen will also start swimming lessons again next week!! Calvary church has provided us with many activities for the kids such as soccer, Royal Rangers and Junior Bible Quiz, while Tom and I have been involved in the Children's and Music Ministry. All in all, a great year and we are looking forward to the adventures of 2010!!

First up, Stephen's Star Wars birthday! Yep, the boy is now six!

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Merry Christmas

2009-12-30T08:28:00.007-06:00

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My Silver Bells

2009-12-11T15:50:00.003-06:00

I wanted to do a page that included the special moments that we spend together as a family during the holidays and here's what I came up with. I think it is safe to say that Christmas is our most favorite holiday and we LOVE to decorate. The whole house is decked before Thanksgiving except for our Christmas trees. Each one of us has our own tree which is why there are four trees in the picture and we make a big deal out of decorating them together. Rhea, of course, has to put on her first of several holiday dresses and away we go. Yes, we actually have enough ornaments to completely overload four trees and no, we don't have a huge house. If we are blessed with snow that day, we proceed to the outdoors for sledding after convincing Rhea that she needs to wear something warmer. I tried to use the wording segments of the song "Silver Bells" to represent sledding down a hill. Silver Bells is a wonderful song and really describes our family during the holidays. I titled this page MY Silver Bells because of the precious three that make up my life and I am so thankful to have this time of year and our memories to share with them.

Riley and Santa's Candy Shop

2009-12-11T15:49:00.004-06:00

Wetlands

2009-11-23T22:40:00.001-06:00

Grandma Rosey and Fall Festivities

2009-11-11T16:03:00.006-06:00

We were back in St. Louis for fall festivities and were fortunate enough to visit with Grandma Rosey. My first instinct was to just use her face and cut out the dog on this page, the newest Grandchild to date. However, to cut the pug, is to cut out what is one of the most important things to my Grandma. If there is a newborn baby and a newborn puppy in the room, she will dash for the puppy. She says she hates kids, but she also drove a school bus for 25 years, so not so much (mother of 5 and endless grand/great grandchildren). We know she loves us very much, but don't ever come between Grandma and her dogs or her colony of birds! The cops already tried, but that's another story for another time that we of course remind her of when we get the chance. She was also quite the artist, so I tried to include some brush strokes. The flowers are for her crafty side since she could make almost anything. We love our Grandma and we know she loves us along with her beloved animals.

We had so much fun on this trip starting with a trip to Eckert's Orchard. This is a place that we used to go as kids, so it was fun to take them back. We picked apples first, followed by all sorts of kid fun. The evening ended with a haunted hay ride. Stephen didn't know what to expect and I think he did OK since he was with his cousins. Rhea, however, could have skipped that part and she has already asked to go home when it gets dark next year. I'm glad I brought a blanket with me since she wanted to be covered up the whole time. She survived and the ride was actually quite good.

The trip ended with a visit to the Gateway Arch on the way back home to Illinois. The kids were tired, but really enjoyed seeing more of where Mommy grew up and doing the things I did as a kid. I was even able to show him the stage that I played on down by the riverfront during the 4th of July celebrations. Both kids passed out in the car on the way home. Ahhh, nice and quiet..........

Apple Picking and Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-04T22:21:00.005-06:00

We had a BEAUTIFUL day for apple picking this year. It was slightly cool, but pleanty of sunshine and no need for a jacket. The kids, mostly Rhea, were in an extra spunky mood. Stephen was just trying to do the right thing and give Mom a good picture so she would leave him alone for the rest of the day.

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Royal Rangers

2009-11-04T21:43:00.004-06:00

Since Stephen officially entered Kindergarten this year, he also entered into Royal Rangers. Royal Rangers is an Assemblies of God boyscout troupe where they earn badges for everything from bible memory verses to camping badges. He LOVES it, especially since the camping trips are without Mom, and he doesn't have to bathe or brush his teeth. Their next camping trip is in January! Burrr...... In the meantime, he is working on his bible badges.

Royal Rangers meets on Wednesday nights, and he is also involved in another program on Sunday mornings called Junior Bible Quiz. He is by far the youngest in the class, but loves the challenge. We memorize about 4-6 verses each week and another half dozen bible facts. He is then quizzed on these each Sunday. I would honestly rather be singing songs and playing with the bible puppets, but he seems to enjoy the intensive environment and the older kids don't seem to bother him. He actually has several homeschool friends in the class which is another reason why I think he likes it so much.

Karate

2009-11-04T19:43:00.000-06:00

Stephen started Karate this year with a Pastor. Yep, a black belted Pastor. It is an amazing experience. The first line of defenses taught are prayer and the bible. We are very happy with his instruction and he has already advanced to his gold belt!

BOO

2009-10-31T16:04:00.000-05:00

The kids had a very Happy Halloween this year! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, Stephen enjoyed adding his scary mask to his cute cowboy outfit this year. There was at least no blood involved, so even Daddy approved. You could say that Halloween was big in my family growing up and we enjoyed everything scary. Grandma and Grandpa still see to it that the kids have an acceptable time on Halloween. Rhea, however, gave Mommy one more year of cute, but I'm sure that will change next year. I tried to get a picture of them together, but it was way too cold and they were not amused.

Caly

2009-10-30T08:08:00.001-05:00

One of my best memories of college was coming home to my two kitties. I would always see them sitting on the balcony of my third floor apartment when I came home and I looked forward to spending time with them at the end of the day. Caly was my snuggler. She didn't like to be kissed, but she loved to be held. Next came the husband that didn't like cats and she of course adopted him. Over time, two kids and a master's degree later, she preferred him to take care of her. He was at her side in the end and purred herself to sleep in his arms. We love you, Caly.

Happy Birthday, Rhea

2009-10-24T16:16:00.006-05:00

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A Day At The Field Museum

2009-09-24T14:38:00.008-05:00

This was a day full of surprises. We had intended on going to Shedd Aquarium downtown to take advantage of the last free day of the season, but quickly found out that we were not the only ones with that idea. The sign coming into the parking garage said 3+ hours wait to get into Shedd. For those of you that don't know, waiting for the Shedd is outside. Did I mention that it was raining? Well, after already paying our $25 to park, we decided that we might as well do something, and ended up at the Field Museum. I had a lot of fun with these pages and the kid's personalities really do shine. Stephen's dinosaur page reminds me of the book Dinotopia where dinosaurs coexist with humans in a good and peaceful way. Rhea, on the other hand really is our Pirate Girl. Oh, the dinosaur in the background is Dinosaur Sue. I tried to explain to Stephen that we were the only ones in the whole world with a complete T-Rex. I think he just wanted me to finish taking his picture so he could move on. Oh well, he will appreciate it later.

Rhea's Bike

2009-09-21T23:47:00.006-05:00

When I Grow Up

2009-09-21T23:26:00.004-05:00

I was able to get Rhea alone for a day and took her to the Arboretum. I love the taking pictures of her when she is just doing her own thing. She loves the water and isn't afraid of getting dirty as long as there is a dry set of clothes when she is finished.

Lake Michigan

2009-09-08T14:57:00.005-05:00

We had a trip planned to the Lincoln Park Zoo and across the way to the Lake, but almost cancelled due to the temps. So, middle of the summer, be packed our sweatshirts and extra clothes since it would be too cold to have swim suits on. As you can see, the cold waters didn't stop us (or at least Stephen). The water wasn't really that bad once you were in it for AWHILE.

Since Lake Michigan was pretty much the same size as an Ocean in the chidren's eyes, we talked about sea animals this month. Below is a sample of Stephen's Ocean Notebook.

A Warm Day

2009-09-01T23:20:00.003-05:00

Ah, a warm day at last. I took Rhea to Phillips Park today and enjoyed all of the flowers followed by a trip to the mini-zoo and the playground. I love this garden because it's different every year. I lucked out on the dress choice. It went great with the flowers!

Summer Trip to St. Louis

2009-08-11T15:37:00.001-05:00

We had an opportunity to visit the Transportation Museum over the summer while seeing Grandparents, cousins and aunts in St. Louis. Stephen LOVED seeing all of the many trains and had a great time with his cousin Ryan!

While Stephen's favorite part of the weekend was the Transportation Museum, Rhea really enjoyed the Magic House. I don't think we missed ANYTHING. This was one of the first things that we saw. It was a huge wheel with tonal bars attached to it so that once you turned it, you would hold a mallet next to the bars to make music. I didn't blow up the wheel that she is turning. It was really that big!

Summer Fun in the Backyard

2009-07-21T16:33:00.006-05:00

Stephen Camping and Fishing

2009-07-06T16:06:00.017-05:00

June Fun has finally set in as it FINALLY got warmer. Well, mostly warmer. We had a few really hot days, but it has otherwise been our usual enjoyable summer.

Stephen's reward for his sticker chart in May was to earn a backyard camping trip with Daddy in hopes to earn another trip in June to the "wild." His behavior was all of a sudden amazing and we have had two months of super-kid on a mission. Hey, whatever works! The trial camping trip in the backyard went quite well except for Daddy's sore back in the morning. We managed to involve Rhea that night in a good ol' marshmallow roast followed by girl time with Mom while the boys settled in for the night.

Stephen and Tom then tried their luck in the "wild" forest preserve where they would let you out if the "wild" didn't agree with your kiddo. It was great that we didn't need to take them up on their middle of the night exit offers. Stephen had a GREAT time and caught a ton of fish, including a 12" bass. Daddy caught a few fish too including one with teeth that he discovered after it was too late. Ouch!

4th of July

2009-07-04T17:08:00.003-05:00

Animals and Cultures in God's World

2009-06-04T08:28:00.026-05:00

Welcome to our new curriculum, Animals and Cultures in God's World. Last year was my first year with a schedule that I bought, and this year is my first year with my own schedule. I was finding that I was spending more time than I wanted tweaking a purchased schedule, and then adding a ton of stuff due to our very busy kiddos. Stephen was also requiring more in depth studies that can't be found for his age level. So, I spent a few hours developing a program for him that he is loving. We will travel around the world this year visiting animals, people, music, dance, art food. Stephen has been especially interested in the geography portion and enjoys building his own replicas of monuments and animal habitats. I have included a few samples from his notebook as well.

Time to land on planet earth now and start exploring our world from the ground. We first started with introducing maps. I had already been working with Stephen on map skill for about six months, so he had an understanding of where continents and oceans were as well as general map reading skills. I was fortunate enough to end up with these incredible maps. Each day, Stephen locates the country on the big wall maps as well as his globe.

The kids made some puppet videos with the animals they created. Click on the lower left hand arrow, not the center of the frame.

Stephen's Soccer

2009-06-02T07:53:00.012-05:00

Stephen is playing soccer again this spring, but this time at our new church. We have been attending Calvary Church in Naperville since February and love it. There are so many opportunities for the kids and Tom and I are starting an orchestra for the music ministry. It is an exciting time and like I said, the kids really enjoy their time at Calvary.

Stephen says that he enjoys every position, but he really excels at goalie

Dirty and lovin' it!

He actually pulled these out of the dirty laundry that morning. I told him to find a clean pair of pants and then he pointed out the obvious by telling me that they would get dirty anyway.

Grandma and Grandpa Spring Visit

2009-06-01T22:57:00.002-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us just in time for the spring flowers at the Arboretum. They were also just in time to watch us let our butterflies go that we raised over the past month. Everything was so beautiful and Grandpa took some amazing pictures!

Our Children's Garden

2009-05-11T16:11:00.001-05:00

We are SO ready for Spring and have been very busy. We had tons of sunflowers, zinnias and other flowers I can't pronounce to fill this garden over the summer. The kids mostly liked building the garden and playing in the sprinkler! Stephen is working on a mosaic step that we will be watching once the snow hits. I hope all of the little glass beads actually stay in the concrete!

Happy Easter

2009-04-21T16:36:00.001-05:00

Winter Fun

2009-02-19T20:32:00.008-06:00

Stephen's Birthday

2008-12-31T08:16:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday, big guy! He is growing so fast and SO tall. This year's birthday theme was Wall-e from the new Disney-Pixar film. We began our party with a treasure hunt game. I had hidden clues and mini planter pots for them to find, just like in the movie. For those not familiar with the movie, the earth had been evacuated to space in order to clean up. Wall-e was still left on eart when a probe bot, Eve, came to investigate life. She found a plant, but it was then taken from her when she arrived back to the ship. The movie was filled with both adventure and a sweet love story. Most important, Stephen LOVED it and I was ready for him to move on from the Disney Cars. Sorry, but I can only watch movies 1150 times in a row.

Good friends, Ruby and Macy came to join the party

Beetle Barn - Yes we are going to raise our own beetles

Slot Car Time

All Stephen wanted from me was a new quilt. He had been asking for a new one for about a year and I told him that I would make one for his birthday. We decided on a Wall-e blanket, so I found some sheets to cut up and make him his own. It was a long three days in the making, but he makes it so worth it. I think I have made him four quilts now and he keeps three of them on his bed at all times. The fourth one is boxed up in his baby stuff, but I am sure he would hold on to that one too if he knew we had it. Seeing him treasure these really makes my heart melt. Oh ya, he managed to get a pillow out of it too since there was left-over fabric; a bonus he didn't know about.

Ah, the pinata. This was my attempt at a quick and easy game. However, I had forgotten that this was a bit of a struggle at our wedding rehearsal dinner. These things just don't break easily without a little help. Thanks Dad.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T20:33:00.000-06:00

The month of December was full of Christmas fun. I thought I would start with our Christmas Eve picture and then tell you about the month. Rhea had left her necklaces in the car and managed to talk us into taking them in. She didn't part with them the entire time.

We began our Christmas celbration by making gifts for our family members. The kids put together key chains, Christmas ornaments, bookmarks, and reindeer bags to put everything in. To by surprise, Stephen finished almost everything on his own over a couple of weeks. Rhea enjoyed the projects for a few minutes, but Stephen sat for hours working on everything.

Our church had their annual kids moment in the second Sunday service of December. Rhea pretty much hung out while Stephen really got into it.

Grandma and Grandpa always get us a membership and we chose Morton Arboretum this year. Fortunately, our cards arrived early and Grandma said it was OK to go before Christmas. We were able to see the Christmas train which facinated the kids. I had to keep Rhea from playing with the track and taking the little presents out of the backs of the trains.

Snowball Fight

Gnome Hunt

Wrap up for the nature hike

Why doesn't this pump work?

Merry Christmas

Rhea's New Sled

Stephen's New Robot

Rhea's Dolls

New big girl bed and new bedding

Wow! A Globe!

Princess Dress-UP

Daddy had to ship out with the NIU football team, so we headed to Grandma's house to keep the Christmas high going. My sister and nephews were there, so the kids had a GREAT time. They had to leave on Sunday, so we ended our trip by going to Chucky Cheese with Grandma and Grandpa.

Ryan and Stephen

Alex and Rhea

Chucky Cheese

Winterpromis I'm Read to Learn - Pond

2008-12-01T19:07:00.000-06:00

The pond was next on our Winterpromise journey. These little guys were played with until they fell apart. We played games for each animal and had a little song to teach the kiddos too. They still sing the frog and dragonfly songs months after we have been done. We also threw in the poem "I Caught a Fish." Stephen really enjoyed this particular poem since it involves eating fingers. So, what do I do with all of these critters when I am done? Good question. I have a toy box downstairs dedicated to paper plate projects. I figured they would ask for them as soon as I threw them out, so I have kept them all. They haven't played with them much lately, but they at least know their animals are safe.

Our journey to the pond began with a version of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" combined with "I Spy". There was a line that stated "Pull out your binoculars, what do you see?" At that point, we would name the animal and either row faster if it was something like a crocodile or slow if it was a turtle. This was one of those endless games that would typically get out of control with the "what do you see" part.

The frog segment got me thinking about implementing more streching and yoga into our circle time. I have been modifying the songs and movements to get more of a range of motion for the kids. Dad hangs in there when he joins us and the kids are VERY encouraging! I wanted to see how the kids would like the yoga since I have a ton of it planned for next year. They more than LOVE it and request to do poses literally every day.

I know that it is hard to tell that the kids are having a great time here. We decided to make shapes out of our stuffed animals. The kids added the element of running around the shapes when they are finished. I just love when they come up with their own games. Well, most of the time.........

We have been talking about ways we show God's love during our bible lessons. One of the ways we are teaching our children is by reaching out to our neighbors that don't go to church. We combined this with making letters out of dough when we made beginning letters to each of the four neighbor kids names. They worked really hard on this project and I regret not getting a picture of the letters when they were done. We made the letters, cooked them, and then painted the finished product. We then repeated the process a few days later and made animals out of cooked dough. Overall, a great use of flour and water for the week!

Dad is gone, so it was time for Mom to start getting creative with what to do with all that time when it is too cold to play outside. Answer: Ants in the Pants and every other board game that my mother kept when we were little!

Stephen decided to build a house out of paper

We have a ton of fun, but still stop to take time out for our reading, writing, math and geography. This was going to be an example of why Stephen is not going to a regular school. There was really no part of his lower body remotely close to the chair prior to me taking the picture. He figured out that I had caught him and lower his knees quickly.

Rhea had just recently been joining us for afternoon school work since she wasn't going to sleep at noon any more. She does matching type worksheets and then cuts them to shreds with the scissors. She also enjoys playing with her pocket charts and manages to be productive until she is ready to take a nap.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T19:10:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Between NIU basketball and football, we never know how our Thanksgiving week is going to look. This year was another peaceful year on Thanksgiving Day before Tom was called back into work over the weekend. He prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving feast with a little "help," while I finished the decorations with a little "help."
Daddy's Pumpkin Pie

Once a year left-over treat

Time to Decorate

"Helping"Collecting Leaves for the Turkey Project
Turkey Project

Last Trip to Brookfield Zoo

2008-11-01T18:53:00.000-05:00

So, call me crazy, but I am always one to get the most out of my memberships. It was November, but still slightly above freezing and we were off to the zoo. Wow, NO LINES! I think we were three of about six people at the zoo, but were able to see animals that we had not yet seen due to crowded buildings. I was even able to bring the stroller inside!

Did I mention that it was a little cold? The kids were not too thrilled with being forced to take this picture, but I neglected to get a zoo entrance picture earlier in the season.

Ahhhh, that's better!

Stephen and Rhea were two of three children at the dolphin show, so they had extended one on one time with them. Stephen complained later that night that he was bored didn't get to do anything that day until I pointed out that he played catch with a dolphin!

We warmed up in the gift shop and then a quick foot massage before dashing back to car.

Halloween

2008-10-31T16:33:00.000-05:00

It was time for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! Rhea insisted on picking out the tiny pumpkins while Stephen wanted the "super huge" ones. We always have fun at this place and never seem to have enough time or energy to play with everything.

Corn Maze

Tractor Races

Cow Girl

Climbing Area

Digging In

Stephen was trying out his new costume with Daddy's Help

I can't remember if I bought an extra one for Daddy or Rhea??

Our Lioness

Sorry for the double picture; she is just that cute

Handsome Knight

OK, so this is where Halloween night comes in. Let's see, how do I put this delicately...... First, I have the most wonderful husband in the world, but he wasn't high on the popularity list this night. There is only ONE holiday of the year that I can't change and it happens to be Halloween. The neighbors seem to look down upon knocking on their door after the fact and explaining that we are here to trick-or-treat since your husband knowingly scheduled a gig on Halloween. Did I mention that I have the most wonderful husband in the world. I really do, but he bugged me a little this night. The kids actually made it easy on me since it was the shortest trick-or-treat run we had ever done. No, I didn't encourage them to quit. They were happy going home to hand out the packages of goodies they had prepared earlier in the week while looking through their own treasures. I think darling husband plans to be home next year.
Even Mommy Dressed Up

Rhea's Birthday

2008-10-24T17:58:00.002-05:00

Rhea's birthday was a huge hit. Her theme was a tea party complete with a chocolate cake iced by her own little hands (and mouth).

Time to open presents!

Rhea's new butterfly kit

Rhea's big birthday present this year was a new table and chairs. I was going to attempt to do the painting myself before finding this wonderful set!

The big tea party cake was quickly sang and wished upon before the grand tea party began. Stephen was very excited to serve his sister as they sat in their new imaginary world.

An October Wedding

2008-10-20T16:04:00.000-05:00

The begining of October marked a huge milestone for us. Well, I guess it was mostly for my brother, David considering it was his wedding. But, for us (lol), it was our first airplane ride. I will be honest by saying I was only slightly terrified to put two kids on the plane by myself, but we had a very positive experience. Tom was only allowed to drop us off at the door, so I prepared myself by teaching Stephen how to drag his car seat. Rhea earned a new, lightweight foldable car seat for the trip and I was just hoping that she would actually stay in it. It mostly worked for her, but I put her back in the old car seat for another month or so upon our return. Back to the plane trip....

To my surprise, when you travel alone with kids, everyone will move mountains for you. It was the easiest time in an airport I have ever had. The kids understood that we needed to stick together and really didn't say a word from the time we entered the terminal until we got on the plane. I kepts Rhea in pull-up until after the trip, but I realized that I needed to take her to the bathroom before getting on the plane anyway. We were of course all ready at our gate with the bathroom at the opposite end. No problem. We walked back down (Rhea in the stroller), and about ten women motioned for us to go ahead of them. I thought this was unessecary, but I didn't turn it down either. Once on the plane, the kids were very excited and enjoyed trying to find our luggage on the trucks outside the plane. We turned on the movie after awhile and I kept the snacks and drinks flowing. Rhea then needed to use the bathroom right as we were about to land which was an interesting situation, but we made it. The return trip was a bit more challenging since both kids were exhausted. Rhea threw a fit resulting in me restraining her on my lap with the guy in front of us giving us dirty looks. I honestly didn't care what ANYONE felt at that point. She settled down and sat in her own seat long enough to eat a snack and watch a movie. After a trip back to see the bathroom, it was about time to land. However, the captain came on and said we were in a holding pattern and it would be about 20 minutes longer before landing. Great! I was getting a sinus infections, so my ears and head were killing me. I prayed for us to land soon and someone give me a break along the way. Both prayers were answered when the pilot then came on and said that we were landing. The captain then let Stephen play with the windsheild wipers in the cockpit since the previous on our flight to Dallas didn't let him in. We exited the plane and was met by another mom that didn't have her kids with her. She was just coming from a MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) conference. She helped me get off the plane since Rhea had since passed out in my arms. We managed to get her in the stroller along with a stuffed tiger the lady had given her. God does answer prayers.

Children being tortured and forced to pose for pictures

Stephen and Rhea had a GREAT time with their cousins. David got married somewhere in there, but you will have to see my sister's blog for that since I was too busy shoving cookies in Rhea's mouth during the ceremony. Right about the time they said "I Do," Rhea blurts out "I was to go home," followed by "I want to go home NOW!" More cookies?
We made it back to the hotel without incident and without grandma and grandpa. The kids decided to take advantage of their side of the room to build a fort and throw roses at one another. We managed to get everything cleaned up before the grandparents made it back.

Tired Grandpa

Bible Lessons

2008-09-16T18:58:00.030-05:00

Our next Bible stories stop was to visit the miracles of Jesus. Since these occurred during the worst time of year for us, NIU band camp and Tom's west coast activities, very few pictures were taken and the core of the month was provided by Netflix. It is amazing how many biblical movies they have. Not all of the them are good, but Stephen enjoyed many of them and retained the information just as well as if I had done a ton of crafts. I prefer crafts to the DVD player, but we needed to survive the month of August.

A few craft project ideas survived and where completed prior to marching band madness.

Great Faith: Jesus Heals the Sick Servant

We must apparently cover our whole face when we sneeze. LOL

Good Soil: Jesus Talks About Growing

Be Still: Jesus Stops the Storm

Let's Eat!: Jesus Feeds the 5000

Netflix Picks

Greatest Heros and Legends of the Bible

This is about the time our schedule went out the window for awhile, but we also covered:
She's Alive: Jesus Brings a Girl Back to Life, A Ghost: Jesus Walks on Water, The Christ: Jesus is God's Son, White As Light: Jesus Shows His Glory, The Greatest: Jesus Talks About His Greatness, Forgive: Jesus Talks About Forgiveness, Now I See: Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind, My Sheep: Jesus is the Good Shepard
We have been having a much more productive month in September and here are the stories that we studied.

The Baby: Baby Issac is Born

Each morning, the kids come down to do an activity that introduces the story. This gives us time to vacuum and empty the dishwasher without too much incident. For this story, I decided to bring up the container of baby toys. I think Tom was a bit sceptical on this activity and it was a HUGE hit. I think some of the toys were smuggled up to their rooms since the container wasn't as full as when I brought it up from the basement.

The Bride: Issac Marries Rebecka

This activity was also a big hit when I had them use ground coffee to glue onto their camels. We talked about how the servant rode to find Issac a wife and how Rebecka gave them water. I think they actually remember the story AND had a great time playing with the coffee grounds. I'm not sure why I have not done this project before and plan on using it again on those cold snowy days coming up soon. I had a picture of the finished product, but it has somehow disappeared.

The Twins: Esau Trades His Birthright
This was a story with another fun introduction activity. I gave the kids our big soup pot for them to make their own stew using their plastic play food. It was interesting since I only gave them one pot and asked them to work together. They weren't crazy about it at first, but then saw that there were two spoons. I didn't think it was wise to push my luck and have them take turns stirring. It was, in fact, first thing in the morning; that is my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

The Liar: Jacob Takes Esau's Blessing

This morning, I brought up the whole play kitchen that proved to be another snowy day idea that I will tuck away for later. Typically, only Rhea plays with the kitchen set downstairs in the playroom while Stephen plays with his trains. When I brought it to the kitchen, everyone cooked and served meals like Jacob and Esau.p align="center">
The Ladder: Jacob Meets The Lord

Stephen drew a touching picture to begin this lesson. Our focus was "God is with you ALL the time". He was instructed to draw a picture of him and God together. The result was the two holding hands. God also needed a kite and a few other things too...

The Worker: The Lord Blesses Jacob

Helping hands was our theme today and the opening activity was "supposed" to involve drawing and coloring their hands. This turned into a short period of making hand bats followed by an immediate breakfast. I think they were extra hungry and missed the whole helping hands application. Oh well.....

Forgiveness: Esau Forgives Jacob

This was another activity that took a different form. The kids were supposed to draw roads on the floor using butcher paper and play with their cars. The object of the activity was when one child crashed into another child's car, we would teach forgiveness. I was told that we didn't quite get that far since bodies were somehow crashed before the roads were drawn. Hey, however the concept was taught really doesn't matter, right?

The Coat: Joseph's Brothers become Jealous

This lesson was a big hit because they were able to construct their own coat out of paper. Stephen's came out really nice, but as you can see, I think I underestimated Rhea's size. She is small, but not that small.

Slave: Joseph Helps the Potiphar

The Dream: Joseph Becomes Egypt's Leader
The Reunion: Joseph Welcomes His Brother's
The Blessing: Jacob's Family Grows in Egypt

These lessons were a lot of fun. We talked about God's faithfulness and that he will take care of us no matter what. These pictures are of the kids shopping for food. We talked about the famine and how Jacob's family came to Egypt to find food. I'm not sure how much sunk in, but they had a great time with their store.

Victory: The Walls of Jericho Fall Down

Building the Wall

Can we knock it down yet?

.....and the walls came tumbling down!

I think the kids had more fun acting this one out rather than their activity sheets. We first built the wall, but then had to resist tumbling it down before we marched around it.

The Wool Fleece: Gideon Becomes a Warrior

The Little Army: Defeats the Minianites

This one took a little practice, but was a fun story to act out once they got the hang of it and remembered the words. We took turns "sleeping" while the "army" snuck up and said "The army of the Lord, and Gideon!" The "sleeping" group would scream (big fun) and run away. I can't remember how many times we did this, but we had a great time!

Jesus Heals the 10 Lepers

This was our version of Jesus healing the 10 Lepers. We talked about the people in our lives that take care of us and that Jesus loves all of his people. The kids love playing with my blood pressure cuff that I had when I was pregnant. Stephen, however, is a little confused as to where it goes sometimes since he has it around his bear's leg.

Little Dancer and Little Mozart

2008-09-16T14:16:00.009-05:00

OK, so scratch that last post. School looks completely, well, at least mostly different that previously explained. Rhea was supposed to have her music class on Monday mornings while I taught Stephen the piano in another room. At the time, this fit in perfectly with my workout schedule and it set us up for the "perfect" week. That was until her class was cancelled two days before the first class. My first reaction was "These things happen" and I went along my merry way to find her another class. My demeanor went from happy homeschool mom to crazed and frantic homeschool mom on a mission. There were many similar classes around the area, but they either didn't fit into our schedule/situation, or they too, were cancelled or full. This lead me to the Naperville School for the Arts. They offered the same class and were willing to let me use a practice room, free of charge, to teach Stephen. However, the class was cancelled. Not being a huge girly girl myself, dancing wasn't high on my list, but the class was open AND the same practice room deal was available to us. Rhea understood that we were registering for her class one day, but missed the memo that it wouldn't start until the following week. This resulted in foot stomping and a huge verbal "What about my class" as we left the building. My next stop was to Target and Payless for our dancing gear. I honestly thought I would be buying a Karate uniform before buying a leotard and ballet slippers, but it has turned our week into the best semester yet! We showed up early the next week to find our practice room and for Rhea to watch the class in progress prior to her time. I could tell that she wasn't completely wild about the idea of doing the class without me, but I had high hopes. I wised I would have had the camera with me that day, but you will just have to picture her peering through the crack in the door at the other little girls in skirts and tutus. After about ten minutes of complete silence (impossible, I know), she turned and said "I am ready to go in NOW". Her teacher soon arrived for her class and she marched in without even a glance back. It was almost too easy, so I watched for a few minutes before taking Stephen to the practice room. I am thrilled to say that I am VERY happy with the class and the teaching! Her teacher is a 15 year Disney instructor, so what do you expect. Well, apparently, flawless teaching that Rhea LOVES!

Stephen is enjoying most of his piano class. The sitting still parts are not as fun as the running and jumping to music parts. I have a non-traditional way of teaching piano that doesn't always involve a bench. This picture was at the end of class after he wrote his very own music. So far, we have talked about how to sit, arm and finger placement, high/low sounds, loud/soft sounds, bar lines, and quarter notes. Today, I handed him a dry erase board with staff lines to write his own music. I am sure that you can guess that only forte markings made it into his music since he wasn't much into playing soft. Here are the results

Now that our fine arts classes are taken care of, we can get on with our semester. I would not have thought that one 45 minute class would re-arrange the ENTIRE week, but it did and I am sure this is not the last time.

So, Monday mornings are spent doing our core curriculum, Winter Promise, and bible study followed by a trip to Lifetime fitness for the kids to play and for me to workout. Stephen gets to do his math and reading in the afternoon when Rhea goes down to take a nap.

Our Tuesday's start with Winter Promise and Bible study followed by a trip to the library. We then head to dance/piano class and then home for lunch and rest and sometimes reading and math if Stephen is in a decent mood.

Wednesday mornings are free play and then a second trip to Lifetime. When we come home, so shower while the eat in front of the TV before we head off to the playground to meet our homeschool group. Rhea is indifferent about the group, but has been getting to know a small group of girls that lead her around. Stephen, on the other hand, LOVES the group because the older boys treat him very well and include him in everything they do. The other mom's are nice too and we will be taking field trips together as the year goes on.

Thursday's are spent at home no matter how many times Stephen asks to go somewhere. We are, in fact HOMEschoolers. Well, mostly........ We do Winter Promise and Bible in the morning followed by a play date with our neighbor five feet away. We don't even need to change our clothes or shower for this one! Gotta love it! Stephen does reading and math again during Rhea's nap followed by some quiet time. Daddy isn't home on Thursday evenings, so it is a "No bath night", unless they just really stink!

Friday's are much the same and are spent getting caught up from the weeks chaos. Everyone will be happy to know that I rarely clean my house like I used to in order to soak up all the wonderful blessings or otherwise that God gives us through our wonderful children. Laundry gets done when we have no more underwear and Tom has been helping by preparing meals and freezing them on Sunday's. WOW, what a HUGE help!

I have committed (mostly) to not doing traditional school on the weekends. Saturday's are set aside for field trips after our third trip to Lifetime. The kids are also involved in a Preschool Sports class during my workout class which, in their words, "WE LOVE IT"!! It is as organized as you would expect a preschool physical education class to be, and most importantly, they have a great time.

Sunday's are the best day of the week since Tom will be with us most of the time, except the next two weeks :-( We have been more and more involved at church and have been asked to join the Counting Team which is a huge honor. Each Sunday, a group of people are locked in a room (literally), to count and document the offering. It is a bit overwhelming since the offerings are from all of our campuses, but we are up for the challenge. We considered it an honor when our pastor asked us to help and are looking forward to being locked in a room together once a month! Sunday's are then planning days for meals and curriculum. Tom takes Rhea shopping while Stephen and I go throw rocks in the lake at the library. He never has enough time to browse at the library when Rhea is with us, so he and I make an extra trip and get some exercise long the way. We then come home for the kids to take naps and the fun begins. Tom and I found that we are most efficient when we are working on separate jobs. We wanted to be together on Sunday, but we really do think about the same project differently. To remedy the situation, he does meal preparation while I make sure we have all of the supplies for the coming week of school. This guarantees us a happy afternoon while still being in the same room together. So far, we have been successful with getting everything done by the time the kids come downstairs from their nap/quiet time and we are able to finish the evening together.

Last Summer Blast

2008-09-15T22:43:00.002-05:00

Our Wedding Gear

My little baby brother is actually getting married which required some new wedding apparel. The first picture of Stephen is what HE would like to wear to the wedding, but I am afraid it is going to be too hot. I think he might be wearing it even if he has to sweat from the look on his face. He really likes his second outfit since he calls it his "work shirt" like Daddy's. This is what he will most likely wear, or at least Mommy will have it in a bag for when he passes out in the Texas heat. Rhea likes her new clothes too as the picture tell you. The first dress with detachable jacket is for the rehearsal dinner (it will go great with BBQ sauce on it), and the second is for the wedding. Poor Stephen just has a polo and pants for the rehearsal dinner, but I don't think he much cares. It was nearly impossible to find a fall formal dress for Rhea that didn't scream "Merry Christmas", or had something on the arms so that she wouldn't freeze to death even with indoor air conditioning temperatures. I did buy the shrug separately and was relived when it all went together. The last picture is of my dress which was easy to find compared to the shoes to match (what a nightmare). Anyway, we are all set for Texas in October and I think Stephen is almost ready for his first airplane flight. I haven't prepped Rhea at all which could be a mistake. I hope that she just takes Stephen's lead since he now knows EVERYTHING about airplanes.

This is Stephen's very first drawing. He did it at church and it made Daddy's heart melt. Stephen told us that it is a picture of he and his Daddy. The border around the picture means that his Daddy loves him. We also noticed that Stephen drew his face looking up at his Dad. How cool is that?Soon after this drawing, Stephen wanted help drawing other things. I had been reading the Artistic Pursuits "The Way They See It" which has really helped in his free drawing. However, he wanted help drawing other things that he sees in books. All of these pictures were done with me drawing my own picture and him doing the same with step-by-step instruction. Everything was done by his own hand. I have since ordered the Draw Write Now full set to help me with this since it take too much brain power to break a picture down and explain it to him. He feels more confident in drawing on his own after this session, but I know the Draw Write Now books will help us out even more and encourage him to see more shapes within the pictures he wants to draw. A trip to the garden helped out tremendously as you will read in our Winterpromise post. It is amazing what he can do with just pointing out a few basic shapes!

We took one last trip, for the summer anyway, to the Brookfield Zoo. The main even was to the Butterfly House since it will be closed by the time we return. We were in there for about 45 minutes before Rhea lost interest. Luckily, Tom was with me and stayed for quite a long time more with Stephen. There was a poster of all the butterflies and their names, so Stephen was determined to find all of them. Rhea and I meanwhile enjoyed the Butterfly and Birds giftshop.

We are still have beautiful weather, well, now that the rain is finally gone. Here are the last of our warm days. First is a scooter race which ended in a crash that Rhea wasn't too happy about followed by a water fight with Daddy in the backyard. We also had a brownie making night where Rhea always manages to make a mess of herself.

WP I'm Ready to Learn - Farm

2008-09-15T19:41:00.000-05:00

Despite a long month due to NIU Marching Band, it was looking like we had a bare spot in our curriculum this year. Stephen was perfectly happy with his McRuffy Phonics, Singapore Math, and Bible Stories. He especially was enjoying the Bible stories. Rhea enjoyed working with Daddy and Stephen on the Bible stories, but was even more content with the the crafts and sticker pages. However, when they were done, they wanted more of something. While Stephen has been happy with picking out Encyclopedias and a ton of books of his choice from the library, that "something" was still missing. So far, we have cover Dinosaurs, Knights, Castles, and Airplanes. Last week, he woke up and asked for an Usborne Internet-Linked book on Outerspace. I thank God every day for our library and for Usborne. Rhea, however, enjoys her libary books, but needed structure and more to go along with her book treasures. I noticed that she was picking all farm related book which reminded me of the Winterpromise program I'm Ready To Learn. http://www.winterpromise.com/ This will be a great introduction to our Animals and Cutures unit next year.

It was August 23rd, and I couldn't believe I was actually going to order a curriculum so late. I did anyway, and received everything within two weeks. I am so glad I got this for the kids! There is something for everyone and more importantly, Rhea can be more involved. There are a number of activity books included that could have been ordered without the program, but Winterpromise has done a wonderful job with organizing and scheduling everything for me. We also found that Tom loves teacher manuals because they keep him from trying to remember my ramblings.

I had every intention to add pictures of our animal crafts along the way, but they were all joyfully played with and thus mostly destroyed by the time we were finished, so "not so much" on the pictures. We used each animal project in our circle time since we had songs and games to go along with our themes. The kids still randomly sing these several months later, which is really cool to hear.

I drew this mural the night the box of curriculum books arrived. You could say I was only a little excited. Stephen liked it so much that he wanted to draw his own, BUT he had to add the right amount of fire alarms.

Our Paper Plate Barns - Rhea's is on the left, and Stephen's is on the right

I love how easy and adaptable this curriculum is for both kids. We use all of the activities which allows both kiddos to be included. Clearly, some of the activities are too old for Rhea, and Stephen merely humors us by participating in activities that are more Rhea's speed. As always, we really enjoy the crafts and I can't say enough about the trinket box. I don't follow the schedule for the box since we like to explore it in its entirety. Rhea spends the whole time sorting, while Stephen uses it for story starters. Again, there is something for everyone so that brains are occupied and my house stays intact. They have enjoyed this box so much that I have added a few things to it from left over art projects that are similar to what is already there.

Our Firefighting Cowboy

Chicken and Hen Week - Easter in September

We did a really cute song about a Farmer that would come in and "steal" the chicken eggs. This prompted me to do Easter in September since we had the eggs out. Or, maybe it was the craving for Jelly Bellies that led me to that activity. Anyway, all of the "chickens" would close their eyes with their egg in front of them, and the "farmer" would come and swipe the eggs. The "chicken" would then have to guess who the farmer was. We played this over and over again and the kids loved it. Yes, we hid Easter eggs all over the house too for fun.

OK, so here is a funny story; well, funny for me because it happened to my darling husband. It was Cow Week and we always talk about what we get from each animal. We obviously talked about getting milk from cows and figured we would make ice cream. We have done this once before and it was a big hit. We happened to have some bannanas that needed to be eaten, so it was a perfect opportunity to make bannana ice cream. The bannanas were mashed, the ingredients poured, and the ice cream maker didn't start. So, here we are, it is almost October, and no ice cream maker. I needed a break from the morning, so Tom decided to take the kids to the hardware store to buy a replacement motor. I didn't know you could do such a thing, but wasn't going to question my opportunity to get a little peace. Time passed and I began to wonder what happened to my family. Three stores later, my darling husband comes home with a new ice cream maker. Now, you have to ask yourself, how did he find an ice cream maker in our region in the fall. He says that it was God since there was only one and it was in the out-of-season isle. I would have been willing to make bannna bread and take the kids out for ice cream, but we still had our ice cream thanks to a faithful Dad.Stephen's Barn

Our first field trip with Winterpromise's Farm unit included a nature walk. We had just visited a farm at the Zoo, and plan on some farm visits with our fall activities, so it was time for something a little different. I made sure we kept it simple since Tom is working most Saturday's and I was on my own. We went to our local Phillips Park where we have a sunken garden, small zoo, mastodon museum, and a really fun playground. One of our Winterpromise activities throughout the week was to go on nature walks. Since we live in suburbia, this calls for drastic measures sometimes depending on the topic. The garden was our focal point, but I didn't think we would be there quite as long as we were. Three hours later, I informed Stephen that we just had to go before Rhea started into a complete melt down. I think I phrased it differently, but that's what I was thinking. We started out in the garden and I had put together a simple drawing bag for the kids the night before. Yes, two of everything (Sidebar - I could never figure our why my parents thought it was necessary to buy two of everything for my sister and I. Shouldn't we be able to teach our children to either share or be happy with what they had as individuals. I can hear you laughing from here, Mom. Now, no matter what it is, if I think we MIGHT need two, I buy two). So, Stephen headed into the garden (running), with his clipboard, paper, and crayon box. I am so glad I though to get a picture of it. Maybe someday he will be an artists and I can pull this out and show him his first adventure. Otherwise, it will just be a wonderful memory for mommy.

We must have stayed in the garden for about an hour with Stephen drawing for the first time, the WHOLE time. Rhea, on the other hand, spent about five seconds "drawing" and decided that she wanted to see and touch instead of stand still for too long. Part two of our nature walk was to collect treasures along the way, so that satisfied her. Luckily, we were in a sunken garden, so she couldn't go very far or get away from me too easily. Rhea eventually announced that she needed to use the potty, so off we went after I promised Stephen that we could come back to the garden on the way back to the car. The bathrooms were located at the Mastodon Museum, so we stopped and checked out the very large fossils. Stephen had just finished his Dinosaur encyclopedias, so he was very interested and drew some of the fossils in his nature book. Next, was off to the little zoo where the reptile house was the main attraction. When I say little Zoo, I mean suburban zoo with crocodiles, turtles misc. animals and a 50 gallon fish tank. It is small, but enough for a stress free trip to satisfy little minds and antsy bodies. Yes, the playground was last on our list and we stayed for a short while before I thought it to be wise to head back to the car before the cranky children troll arrived. Stephen didn't forget that I promised a second trip back to the garden, so off we went. On our way, he asked to stop to sit under a tree to draw. I knew what the results were going to be since I didn't have a blanket, but I agreed. We sat down and by the time I got out the paper and crayons, here came the first army ant. Did I mention that our home is in the heart of suburbia. Rhea then freaked out at the Daddy Long Leg, especially when I picked it up to show her that it would not hurt her. An ant interfering with Stephen's work was NOT OK, and Rhea thought that Mommy should NOT be handling "big giant spiders", so we were on the move again. We made it back up to the paved path with Stephen still drawing as we walked. I told him that we could sit on the path for awhile, but he insisted on continuing on to the garden where we spent another hour. This was about the time that I was running out of snacks for Rhea and she was now flat on her back in the stroller with her blankie hanging out of her mouth. It looked like naptime to me, so we finally headed home.

We did manage to find some roosters and this was Stephen's impersonation

Time to Play

Our Journey Back to the Garden

No Creepy Crawlies Here

The family fun activity for this week was singing "In and Out the Barn Door", which Stephen didn't care for, but Rhea loved, followed by animal charades. These activities are done either before book time in the morning, or after dinner when Daddy gets home. Here is our "barn" and we added a few non-traditional farm animals according to some masks I had from our Noah's Ark unit. Stephen decided that this activity was cool enough for his participation and proceeded to have a great time! We did the activity correctly the first time and the kids enjoyed guess what the farm animals where. To my surprise, they actually took turns acting out and listening to each other at the appropriate times.

I started using the Williamson Science Play and really liked it. However, it just gets too cold here too fast and stays like that for too long. That said, it was best that we save that book for spring and summer. We did manage to do a couple of projects in the the book. The first one is the bug hotel. This one frustrated me at first since it is looked down upon to have bugs in the suburbs. I honestly couldn't attract ANYTHING. I was just about it give up until one day when I had been munching on an apple while the kids played out side. I walked over to our little bug hotel and put the apple core in there along the the untouched cheese. We had ourselves a little army of ants by the next day. Stephen was pretty grossed out, but I thought it was pretty neat to watch. I think he will appreciate it more this spring.

We were fortunate to have a warm start to fall this year, so the pool was left out a little longer than usual. I figured that I wouldn't stop with that and have them wash the car too!

A Patient Dog

Mix and Match Spinning Plates

Sequencing Crowns

I took sequencing cards out of some workbooks for these crowns. Rhea's was very simple with tree pictures showing bird eggs hatching to go along with our Chicken theme this week. Stephen's was a series of four sequences. Two are on the front and two on the back. He taped them together and used some scraps to complete the crown so that it fit his head. These are still a hit even a few days later

Painting with Circles

Apple Picking

2008-09-10T08:07:00.000-05:00

We made our annual apple picking trip this year, but to a different orchard. We are SO glad we did. We went to a smaller orchard, but really enjoyed how it was run. We began our experience in the shop to partake of some apple doughnuts. YUM! We then headed for the orchard a few steps away and then to play. The best part is that we were only a little way from Dekalb, so Daddy was able to join us before going to work. As you can see, we had a GREAT time.

Fur Trade Museum in September and October

2008-09-05T07:49:00.000-05:00

The kids and I were looking for something to do and I stumbled upon a wonderful nature preserve and museam just a short drive from where I work-out. Isle A Chache Museum, or the Island of the Hiding Place has been a stop we have made several times now. The name of the island refers to a time when the French voyageurs traveled down rivers, the native Potowatomi lived off the land, directly using their resources for food, shelter, clothing, and medicine, and when it was stylish in Europe to wear fur hats from an animal found plentiful in the new land - the beaver. Speaking of the beaver, this is Rhea's favorite thing and she hugs on it every time we go. They are allowed to touch and play with everthing that is in their reach.

Hats from the period

Rhea wore two hats at the same time

The main reason for this trip was to take a walk in the woods. However, due to all of the flooding, the paths were closed. We decided to take a break from the museum anyway to do some rock throwing.

It is never really that hot here, but it was on this particuluar day. We were only out for a short time before retreating back into the museum.

Rhea was hanging out by one of the birch wood cannoes playing with camping supplies like gun powder containers. Good wholesome fun for a three year old!

Underwater beaver habitat

Making corn meal

Indain Wigwams

Indain Toys

We made our own when we got back home

After most of the leaves had fallen and the water receded, we made another trip back. The ground was still pretty wet and smelly from the flood waters, so we didn't stay long. I hope to go back again next year.

Visiting Daddy's Office

2008-09-01T07:35:00.000-05:00

We managed to make it to one of Daddy's rehearsals this season. We hope to make it to games again next year, but this is easier for now. The kids have a great time playing soccer in the staduim during rehersal and occasionally stopping to draw a picture.

The kids are more than a little comfortable in this environment, making it a challenge keeping them out of the way of reherasal. Stephen charmed himself to the top of the podium in attempts to take over the band for awhile.

We had a great time!

Bible Lessons

2008-08-15T21:22:00.027-05:00

School officially began after the 4th of July and Tom just went back to NIU this week. He worked through the summer, but we had many fun family days in between. Most importantly, the month of July gave us some time to figure out how we are going to do this year's schedule. So, after a month of tweaking, I think we are REALLY ready to begin our school year.

We try to have conversations throughout the year about how to squeeze as much family time and Mommy/Daddy time into our schedule. Our revision this year has been to take every Sunday that isn't "owned" by NIU for family stuff at home. For as much as I hate to miss a field trip opportunity, we have vowed to go to church and then home on Sunday's to take care of the family. Actually, we take two cars to church now since Tom and Rhea go shopping for dinner supplies for the week. She is just as happy doing this with her Daddy as Stephen is going golfing or to the baseball game. Stephen and I come home to work on 3R stuff in our quiet house before his sister comes home. We then spend the remainder of the day cooking meals and curriculum for the week, and if we are lucky, a movie. The kids and I then head off to Lifetime Fitness for me to work out and for them to play in a wonderful childcare facility. We usually go swimming to, but that will soon be replaced by Kindermusik for Rhea while I teach Stephen how to play the piano in another room. Tuesday's are library days with a bike ride around the nearby lake while the temperatures are still favorable. Stephen will do the 3 mile trail and Rhea enjoys riding along as long as we stop to throw rocks down the waterfall and check out the Mulberry Trees. Wednesday's are spent back at Lifetime and we will soon join a homeschool playgroup through our church as long as Rhea can stay awake into the afternoon. We stay home on Thursday and Friday followed by a Sports class for both kiddos back at Lifetime on Saturday. The best part about the class, is that I get to get a work out in while they are having a blast. They always have fun in the childcare center, but I think they are really going to enjoy the class when it starts.

When we are not out and about, we have been enjoying our Bible curriculum. It fits both kids perfectly. Stephen still does his own lapbooks, but Rhea enjoys he crafts that go along with the lesson pages.

Creation Week

This is our collage of the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge, and the desert where Adam and Eve were then told to go.

Adam/Eve and Families

Noah's Ark
We talked about how Noah obeyed God and made necklaces with "I will obey" on the heart. Boy, did I ever get weird looks in the store with these. Oh well, at least the kids understood the concept.... We also talked about promises and made our own rainbows.

Dress-up Night

These masks were originally craft projects for the kids, but I then remembered that they hate glue on their fingers. They will make a mess with anything else, but they are a little funny about the glue. So, I made the masks to ensure a happy evening of play. All I used was a blank mask from JoAnn's and some animal print felt that I found at Michael's. The snake mask was made out of leather strips that I also found at Joann's. This was the one that I was sure I was going to have to make on my own anyway.

Netflix Picks

Bedbug Bible Gang: Creation Celebration - I can't stand these but the kids loved them

Bedbug Bible Gang: Big Boats of the Bible - There is a line in their opening song that if you like the song, then you will love the bedbugs. Well, the kids loved it.....

Noah's Ark: The Story of the Biblical Flood - This was actually a little scary for Rhea, but Stephen enjoyed it.

Go! Diego Go! The Great Dinosaur Rescue - Stephen wanted to know more about Dinosaurs and had been viewing the Usborne Encylopedias. We included Dinosaurs in our creations talks. This was one of Rhea's favortie movies!

Art Adventures

We have recently been experimenting with different art supplies since the kids were getting tired of splatter the same paint on the same ol' paper. This project is from the Noah's Ark unit and we used droppers to apply food coloring to coffee filters to make rainbow parachutes. The parachutes didn't have anything to do with Noah's Ark, but it was a cute rainbow idea that I found in our Bible Curriculum. We also decided to do "blow" art since I already had the food coloring out. You are supposed to use ink, but I thought the food coloring would have the same effect. I was mostly right. The food coloring soaked in pretty quick and I think the ink would have spread better for them; not that I am going to run out and buy the kids ink to blow at each other.........
Stephen's favorite art activity is mixing paint. This begun after this first lesson pictured below. We did a color triangle/wheel to show him basic colors and he now spends 1-2 hours in the floor mixing paint. He will actually paint to test the color, but mostly enjoys just mixing.
Besides painting in the afternoons, Stephen has been using McRuffy Phonics and Singapore Earlybird Math. Yes, Grandma Rose, your grandson is being taught how to read by a dog :-) The picture below is one of our first lessons with Singapore Math. Stephen really enjoyed searching around the house for solid shapes and played with them for the next three days. We worked on less than/ greater than today by filling up different sized bowls, pots and vases. We made a pretty big mess, but he is really enjoy his math program. The phonics program was purchased after he sulked around for 2 weeks since he could only read his Bob books and not "real" books. He is doing really well in such a short period of time and smiles more when it comes to books. It's nice to see that excitement back.
These last pictures are of an impromptu Blueberry Pie night. The kids had been asking for blueberry pie all summer and we had planned to go pick our own. All of our crops are so far behind up here due to a cool start to the summer which means we never had the chance to get our own. So, Stephen saw that we had blueberries in the fridge and was already making plans for a pie before I even knew if I had enough ingredients for the rest of the pie. We did, but the crust was a bit of a challenge. We didn't actually have 12 hours to refrigerated the crust, so we decided to give it a try. Well, the reason for refrigeration, if anyone else is wondering, is because you can't work with the crust otherwise. We managed to piece it together and it turned out great, but it would have been easier if we would have actually followed the directions. Yes, the kids had as much fun eating the pie as they did making it.

2008-08-08T23:06:00.005-05:00

HAPPY 4th of JULY!! OK, so maybe I am a little late on my July greetings. We still, as always, had a great time together this year. Our downtown Aurora parade started off with an airshow this year. This was a real treat and they even played music during the show. It was pretty impressive for a town parade. While Stephen, Daddy and I enjoyed the airshow, Rhea found ways to keep herself occupied.Dare to silence a Bough! No, I didn't do this to her. It was completely voluntary.
This is my "hey look" picture that I always get of him at parades. I am sure I will make him to it when he is 20 years old just to re-live the Ole' days.

Stephen made friends with this other family before the parade began. There weren't any kids in our general area, so he really enjoyed being the center of attention. Tom, nor I are sure where he gets this trait from???

It didn't take Stephen long to figure out how to get free stuff. He took advantage of his kid cuteness and I should have brought another bag to carry out all the candy and "stuff" he caught from the parade participants. He was excited about the candy at first, slowed down after about an hour, and then started giving it away.
Rhea was quite content in her stroller the whole time, especially if she had a sucker in each hand.
Taking cover for the Daddy show.Ooo, that was a good one!
Roman Candles just for you, Aunt Carla! Yes, we had to go to another state for these and our other perfectly legal fireworks. LOL

June Fun

2008-07-12T13:19:00.014-05:00

The month of June finally brought us some warm weather. We took a short break from "school" and ventured out to explore more about what we have recently learned.

Our first family field-trip was to the Mortem Arboretum. I am not sure how we got so lucky, but it happened to be on the absolute hottest day of the year. When you are used to 70 degrees and below, above 90 can be a little toasty. Of course, it hasn't been that hot since that day.

Fortunately, the children's garden has plenty of water features for the kids to enjoy to the fullest. There are not too many places where the kids are allowed and even encouraged to play in the fountains. These pictures were taken at our first stop and I think the kids would have been happy to stay here all day.
It has been about two years since we have visited the Arboretum and I think Rhea slept through most of it. So much had changed that Stephen didn't remember anything which is unusual. They added a lot for the smaller kiddos while still keeping the climbing area for older kids (and younger kids that had moms crazy enough to take their two year olds).

Small kiddo climbing and sliding

Active garden and hands on activities

Medium size kiddo climbing area

This was taken in the 5yr old and up area. You can't see too much of it since I was holding on to Rhea at the same time, but instead of a wood bridge, this one is rope. This is the one an only picture since Rhea's little feet would fit through the holes. I unfortunately just couldn't turn back once we started since it was a one way route. We made it with a little help from Dad at the end since you have to climb down. Oh well, I will know next time....

Daddy came to get me.

Tadpole Hunting

Building a beaver dam

Or just throwing rocks; notice the very large rock at the upper right of Stephen's head.

We changed into dry cloths and walked around to see all of the bug sculpture that is featured this year followed by a hike through the woods.

I couldn't resist the photo op

Our next trip was to the St. Charles Red Oak Forest Preserve. We have been coming here a couple times a year and the best part is that it is free. There is a nature center, cave, and our favorite a place to throw rocks.

Friendly girl helps our dad with his bee hat.

Stephen tries it on but the matching gloves were too weird.

Rhea checks out the bees

The table behind Rhea is filled with animal treasures from animal teeth, snake skin, rocks, pine cones, and a huge piece of beaver chewed wood.

Stephen was more interested in the hand crank on the windows.

This is the incredibly decorated shrinking room. I wish I had more pictures of these murals, but the kids were moving too fast. Each mirror made you appear smaller in order to go inside and leaf, a tree trunk, and eventually underground.

Inside a leaf
The kids moved too quickly through the tree trunk, so this is the underground area. Each section of this exhibit is labeled and wonderfully educational. Well, for a little older kids than ours, but otherwise visually and texturely stimulating.
They had a wonderful room of aquarium animals as well as this room that contained more focused educational items like puzzles, books, and mommy's puppet show. I love this place since they just lay everything out for you to play with and teach your kids. Did I mention that all of this was free?!?

Last, but not least, we finally did our long overdue Bear Hunt. I promised Tom that I wouldn't take the kids to the cave when it was below 30 degrees, so we never made it during our book We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Both kids recalled the book so well and they didn't want to go into the cave by the time we arrived. Oh well, we threw rock instead until some other children came along to spark Stephen's curiosity. Yes, Mom and Dad had another rock throwing contest. I won the first round and Tom won the second only because again, he worked a little harder (and stood closer to the shore line, but I let that one go).

Flashlight in hand, maybe I will check it out.

OK, I'm done

Meanwhile....
Back to throwing rocks

I didn't care for the bear hunt, but step away from my hat and Diego bag!

One last rock

BOZ The Green Bear - Imagination

2008-06-11T15:39:00.012-05:00

We decided to sample one of our curriculum choice for fall this week and it was a hit. I had received a teaser DVD of BOZ, The Green Bear Next Door from mops just after Rhea was born. My kids were too young for it at the time, but we finally bought the whole curriculum this year. The DVD's and books are for purchase (and stuffed animals, toys and other stuff you don't REALLY need), but the curriculum activities are free to download from their website.

So, I proceeded to burn through another ink cartridge after falling in love with BOZ all over again. Oh yes, I did take it for a test drive first by allowing Stephen to play some of the games and see a few samplers on the website. The only problem was when he saw all of the other "stuff". He used every manipulative begging/whining tactic before I caved and bought two of the small bears. Instead of standing in the checkout line thanking God for giving me such a wonderful curriculum, I did steam a bit about having to actually buy stuffed animals. I guess I didn't "have" to buy them, but I was not up to enduring the six months of whining while trying to enjoy this awesome way to bring God into our home. I put these cute green bears in their hands and stopped steaming about it when started to see their minds open throughout the week.

Every preschooler has an imagination, but this unit blew theirs wide open. The video has three 15 min. segments which is just about the right amount of time for them to calm down after a long day and for me to get dinner on the table. We also purchased all of the books including the two workbooks. The first one is much easier, so we do hand-over-hand with Rhea, while Stephen works out of book 2. The content is much different in both books, but it is still BOZ and we save the lesson teaching text for quiet times when we have the kids separated. The other pages in the book are written activities revolving around the text and scripture reading. Stephen listens very quietly to his lessons and then talks about them later while Rhea receives her lessons before nap time. Her favorite one was pretending with the sock puppet. We talked about how God gave us our imagination followed by creating a puppet with his own name, favorite food, color and sound effects. She has asked for her new "bear" every time I put her in bed now. She pulls my socked hand close and cuddles her pizza loving bear while he sings her our new bible songs. Actually, the songs are from when Tom and I were kids during our Joy Bible days so I guess that makes them a few years old.

The workbook pages included writing, stickers, dot-to-dots, art, sequencing and cut/paste. I was really impressed with the variety of activites. The activity below is from their website. The kids cut BOZ out along with other objects to help them pretend with this new friend.

In addition to the workbooks, a free online curriculum is offered for the other DVD's. Each unit will take us more in depth with additional hands on activities like we were doing with Five in A Row. For now, we just had fun with the topic of Imagination. By day two, both kids were working their brains extra hard to use this new imagination. Stephen told me on a bike ride that he was going to use him imagination to help him ride across the street without peddling. I knew then that we need a little work on our vocabulary since he knows that we stop and wait before crossing the street. I didn't, however, want to squelch this moment by adult thinking, so I said "alright". He came to a stop, laughed, and said "never mind".

Later in the week while we were all playing outside, I was in the sand box with Rhea while Tom was fixing an ant infestation. Stephen proceeded to move the play slide all the way across the deck to the back rail as I observed him without him noticing. He then climbed up the slide to the top, stood up, raised his arms, and commanded "HORNS UP". Now, it has been eight months since he has seen Daddy conduct, so it was humbling not only to see his imagination come to life, but that it vividly reflect what he sees. You guessed it, our back yard turned into a marching band. He kept having the need to go and talk to the flute section for reasons that we couldn't figure out since the flutes are typically at the very top of the stands behind the brass. Tom stepped in after a few minutes to play with our new backyard band until Stephen insisted that we needed to decorate for the concert. I think this part comes from the Little Einstein's series, but we all had fun putting up imaginary balloons and streamers until dinner time.

Our Library Book List:
The Paper Airplane by Fulvio
Dreamland by Kevin Hawkes
I had a Hippopotamus by Hector Viveros Lee
My freight Train by Michael Rex
I pretend by Hedi Goennel
It's Funny Where Ben's Train Takes Him by Robert Burleigh

Stephen's Soccer Class

2008-06-05T21:02:00.012-05:00

Stephen just finished his final soccer class of the year. He really enjoyed both classes but was driven more by the second session, more challenging class. Half of the class is dedicated to skills while the last half is a small scrimmage. As you can see, Stephen did really well and was never shy. He ended the season strong, but has decided to do something different in the fall. The fitness center offers a homeschool class for both of the kids, so I think we will begin that in September followed by a free Karate class offered by a near by church. Stephen will be old enough for rock climbing on his 5th birthday, so we are looking forward to tons of active fun this coming year!

Here are some video's of their final "games". I call it organized chaos. Stephen is in yellow and dominates the ball most of the time, but I guess that it is part of the game. They didn't actually work on passing the ball and were lucky enough to get each group of kids to run in the right direction. Have fun viewing!

VIDEOS

Transportation

2008-06-05T15:06:00.031-05:00

We decided to step away from Before Five in A Row for awhile and do some simple unit studies. Almost all of the lapbook content came from Homeschoolshare.com. This is a wonderful website offering TONS of free lapbook content.

The first segment covered both Stephen and Rhea's all time favorite subject of trains. We did a huge lapbook and read dozens of books. There is no shortage of train books at the library. The second segment included other vehicles and modes of transportation and another dozen books from our wonderful library.

The big family adventure to conclude this unit was to Blackberry Farm. The kids are finally old enough to appreciate the 1840's atmosphere and slightly grasp the concept of how people might have lived back then. They had a small warehouse of old horse carriages and we talked about how they were pulled by horses and people used them like we use our cars. Stephen found an old two seater sled that would have also been pulled by horses and was trying to figure out how that would have worked. We were also able to go into some buildings that we haven't seen before including a simulated street of old downtown Aurora. The kids saw a barber shop, pharmacy, photo studio, music house, bar, hotel, dress shop, and general store. Rhea kept wanting to go into the shops and was upset that all of the doors were locked. She finally gave up and said "let's get out of here". From there we went over to see the animals, Blacksmith, and Weaving House. This of course lead us right up to the carousel and train station!

Lapbook #2

VIDEO

Book List:
Choo Choo Clickety-Clack by Margaret Mayo
Little Louie Takes Off by Toby Morison
The Little Engine That Could by Waty Piper
Train Song by Diane Siebert
Train Song by Harriet Ziefert
Fire Truck to the Rescue by Steven James Petruccio
Freight Train by Donald Crews
A Ride in the Crummy by Gary Hines
If I Could Drive an Ambulance by Michael Teitelbaum
Boats on the River by Peter Mandel
The Train by David McPhail
Cars, Cars, Cars by Grace Maccarone
Hello Frieght Train by Marjorie Blain Parker
Train by Chris Demarest
Train Stories by Heather Amery and Stephen Catwright

May Family Fun

2008-05-27T21:08:00.000-05:00

The month of May was chilly, but that didn't stop us from having fun. The weather has been really crazy with 80 degrees one day and 40/50 the next. We actually went swimming outside yesterday and then pulled the coats back out today. Crazy...

We managed to take two trips to the Zoo; once as a family and another trip to finish a school unit. I listed our unit trip in another post, so make sure you check it out. Tom also took the camera with him on one of his baseball game trips with Stephen and the final pictures are of the box that my bike rack came in. The kids have always played with boxes in the past, but they had extra fun with these.

The Zoo

Nesting

Just add leaves

Microscope discoveries in the animal hospital

X-Rays

Who's hungry?

I'm a Fish

Feed Me!

Water Conservation Exibit

House of Primates

Cougar's baseball game with Daddy.

Junk Food

More Junk Food

Fun With Boxes

Why do we buy toys?

My Blue Boat

2008-05-27T07:39:00.003-05:00

Our main book this week was My Blue Boat by Chris Demarest. This was definitely a favorite this week, but it was followed by about 20 other ocean and boat books. You could say that this was a hot topic among preschoolers. I am starting a new format for our lapbooks this summer and decided to take it for a test drive. Instead of almost $1 for each folder, we spent a mere penny each on a huge box of folders from Sam's. We have eliminated worksheets from the folders since our focus will be mainly on the book or topic. I think it turned out well and I included pictures at the bottom of this post.

Meanwhile, once again, we thought that it would be nice to conclude this unit with a trip to the zoo. Stephen requested to see the Dolphins, and Rhea wanted to see the Penguins. Tom just had sinus surgery, so I took this solo trip as an experiment for the coming months. Besides a mishap with the automatic flushing toilet that scared the kids, we did pretty well.

Sting Ray Bay is the new exhibit that allows you to actually touch the Sting Rays. It was pretty crowded, so the kids didn't really care for the noise and were not at all interested in touching slimy creatures. Myself, on the other took advantage of touching my first Sting Ray. They were really amazing. The Zoo website said they were friendly and they were right. It was almost like the Rays were playing with you since they acted like they wanted to be touched. I thought it was really amazing while the kids just wanted to get away from the noise of the other kids. Oh well, I still got to touch one!

Sea Lions

Dolphin Show

It was snack time, so I took advantage of the situation and arrived at the show 20 minutes early to get good seats. We sat in the "splash zone" and had a great time!

Dolphins from underwater
The Living Coast
The mouth of a Parana
Our lapbook

Ask Mr. Bear

2008-05-15T20:20:00.014-05:00

Our week with Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack was filled with love and snuggles. This wonderful book was a sweet story about a little boy looking for the perfect gift for his mother. He could not think of what to get his mother, so his animal friends helped with suggestions. Mr. Bear's suggestion of a bear hug was the best, and I would have to agree!

I received an even better gift from Stephen on Mother's Day. The kids went to church with Tom that morning since it was Pentecost and I had to perform at a different church. I dress up a little more when I'm working, so the kids knew that I wasn't going with them when I came downstairs in my suit. I promised them that I would be home before nap time. Rhea sweetly asked me to stay, while Stephen said "That's OK, you will still be in my heart". I honestly can't think of a better Mother's Day gift than those words!

The kids made wonderful Mother's Day crafts at church and we topped it off with a tea party and shortbread cookies after their nap. I admit, this was my favorite part of the week! We drank our tea from the play china that my mother saved from when I was a little girl, paired with their Great-Great Grandmother's china. Actually, I think it might even be Great-Great-Great Grandmother.

More Please
You're All My Favorites by Anita Jeran was given to us by Stephen's Godparents and came with three matching bears. The bears were such a big hit, that they made the trip to the zoo with us.

We went to the Zoo and Stephen took pictures of all the animals that helped the little boy. We found all of them except the sheep. They might have been there, but unfortunately, it was too cold to find out.

We had an unexpected ending to our Ask Mr. Bear week. Tom and I planned on going rock climbing at our indoor climbing facility, but they had closed the main fitness center down for maintenance leaving us with no child care. The climbing portion was still running since it is an outside company, but we decided not to take our chances trying to keep the kids off the wall (mainly Rhea since she is still 3 years too young to be on the wall). Our off-the-cuff plan B was to go to the forest preserve not too far away and take a hike through the woods. I wish I would have had the camera with me since we had such a great time. We also found the perfect spot for our first away from home camping trip when the time comes. Meanwhile, while we were driving into the forest preserve Rhea exclaims "FOREST" from the back seat followed by "Ask Mr. Bear?" Now, you have to realize that although I have a picture of her sitting in Tom's lap reading a book, she typically participates while twirling or rolling around the room. I asked Tom if she ever stopped to read this book with him, and he said that she was only ever within ear shot. Apparently, she was listening. We proceeded to find a grassy trail around the lake and managed to run, walk and laugh along the way. Our trip ended with throwing rocks into the lake and ultimately a distance competition between Tom and I. He won, but had to work at it ;-)

All of these go-along books were great.
In the Rain with Baby Ducks by Jill Barton
I'll Always Love You by Paeony Lewis
Tell Me One Thing, Dad by Tom Pow
I Love You, Dad by Iris Hiskey Arno
I Love You As Much... by Laura Krauss Melmed
Franklin Says I Love You by Paulette Bourgeois
Franklin's Birthday Party by Paulette Bourgeois

The Carrot Seed

2008-05-09T21:20:00.019-05:00

We had so much fun this week reading the Carrot Seed by Ruth Kruass. I know I say that every week, but we really did. We first had a cooking project that included fried apples, raisins, carrots, cinnamon and lots of sugar on top of an English muffin. Sorry, we just threw stuff in the pan, so I don't have a recipe. Stephen actually had a liking to the raw carrots for some reason. They weren't very good, but I wasn't about to tell him...

Next, you will find our lap book. Most of the items included are from homeschoolshare.com along with several KUMON cut and fold activities. I think I found the popsicle stick puppets from abcteach or preschoolprintables. I can't remember since I have had them stashed away for awhile. The kids also worked on veggie and gardening coloring books as well as a couple of file folder games from preschoolprintables.

I also found a great math game from homeschoolshare involving seeds and simple math problems. Stephen wasn't completely crazy about it, but he did it and had the slightest bit of fun.

I almost forgot about MY favorite activity of the week. Tom was gone this week, so we went shopping for my Mother's Day present (s). Flowers, of course....lots and lots of flowers. The kids helped me pick out the flowers and grew impatient with me when we got the home. They wanted to take them out of the buckets right away without giving me the chance to put them down. Stephen ran to get his shovel and started digging. It was really fun and worn them out enough that they took a long nap. After I put Rhea down for a nap that day, Stephen and I worked on a planting kit that we found. He complained that my flowers were already grown and he wanted to grow his own. I don't have a great track record with these sort of things, so we shall see if anything comes up...

Chef Stephen's Special this evening will be fried carrots and apples topped with sugar and cinnamon....and then a little extra sugar and cinnamon

Sniff Test

A little more please...

We're Done! By request, raw carrots first. No, really!

The "fruits/veggies" of my labor.

He wasn't sure about eating this until I reminded him that he cooked it. Somehow, this made a difference and he started eating right away. Rhea saw Stephen eating it and assumed that it was O.K.

Veggie Mini-Book

Carrot Seed Poem

We pretended to plant carrots seeds and I put carrots in the same areas while they weren't looking. We then went and "harvested" our carrots.
Our Bible Verse - Luke 17:6 focusing on the words "Faith, Seed, and God"

In the Seed Addition game, Stephen collected the appropriate number of seeds and successfully executed simple addition questions and wrote the answer.

Veggie popsicle puppetsFile Folder GamesI found this growing kit at Home Depot for $6. It containted 3 varieties of flowers complete with dirt and instructions for Stephen to follow. I thought it was a good $6 spent since it made the project easy and mess free.

Planting Mommy's Mother's Day flowers

Go Alongs

Fluffy Grows a Garden by Kate Mc Mullan
Sunflower House by Eve Bunting
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Zinnia's Flower Garden Monica Wellington

The Big Green Pocketbook

2008-05-01T17:25:00.023-05:00

The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Ransom presented us with a huge week in the Bough house. This book took the kids on a journey of following a little girl throughout their morning of running errands. They are picked up by a bus and make stops at the dry cleaner, general store, drug store, insurance company, bank, ice cream shop and jewelry store. The little girl fills her pocketbook with treasures from each stop, but when she decides to use her new crayons, she realizes that she left it on the bus. Fortunately, the driver brought it back and left it in the mailbox.

The kids loved the book and loved making their own pocketbooks even more.

Winding the bobbin

Concentration

Rhea did more than I thought she would with this project. I sew a lot of quilts and the floor is typically my workspace. This is also typically the position that I end up in when I put the backing on.

Attention span over and time to push the buttons

We are finished!

We played a matching game with cards that would remind us of each place we would visit. We then put them in our new pocketbooks.

Coin Matching Puzzle Game

Money Game with MathUSee blocks. Stephen requested that we play "Store". He created this game all by himself and I added the blocks to incorporate some money problem solving. He would tell me what he wanted to buy and I would tell him how much is cost followed by payment options. I would show him a blue five block and a pink three block to represent the #8. I then told him that he could pay me with 8 single dollars represented by 8 green unit blocks, or with a 10 dollar bill represented by one dark blue 10 block. If he picked the 10 block, I would put the five and three block next to it to show him how much change he was supposed to get back. Now, I only did this because he was interested and kept wanting more problems to work on. This is a lot of information to throw at a four year old, but he kept at it for about 1/2 hour before moving onto his Bob Books. We even worked on $20, $50 and $100 problems as seen in the below picture.

Our "Bus" - yes, even I cut corners :-)
Before I continue, I have to say that the mother in The Big Green Pocketbook must be super mom to make all of those trips in one morning. We managed to make three of our stops with Rhea still in her PJ's before it was time to head towards home for lunch. We then took a family trip the mall the following day to finish up our adventure. I guess that means that we had twice the fun!

You guessed it, the dry cleaner stop. We have the greatest dry cleaner ever! He is so nice that he called us the day of the NIU shootings to see if Tom was alright. He is also so good to the kids every time we come and even took them to the back of the shop today.

We love our suckers. Stephen kept correcting me since they are called lollipops in the book.

The Drug Store was the next stop and Stephen remembered that he needed to look for crayons like in the book. I talked him into colored pencils since we all have enough crayons. Mommy of course needed a contain to put them in as well.

The kids got distracted by the toy aisle

Suckers still in mouths, we found our colored pencils and container

I didn't have a need to go to the Insurance Company or Bank like in the book, so we substituted a few things like the library.
I hate this stupid book drop. It used to be at the kid's level but they changed it. It is supposed to be wheel chair accessible too, but I don't see how. They at least took the doors off since they kept pinching every ones fingers.

Need I say more....

We even took time to smell the tulips that have been hiding from us all week.

Stephen remembered that the little girl forgot her pocketbook on the bus and later found it in the mailbox, so we pretended to do the same.
We typically don't do any school work before nap time, but the kids insisted on coloring like in the book as we finished the morning. I think they were really procrastinating...

Day 2

OK, so I cheated again. We went to mall to cover the last "stops" on our Big Green Pocketbook adventures.

Picture Day for Stephen at JCPenny

Not sure about this.....

Off to our next stop

Our Jewelry Store

Tough Decision

I'll take these.

Thank You!

The Candy Shop was next

Gum Balls first

We found the orange slices just like in the book, but Stephen wanted to get something else

Of course there had to be candy and ice cream in the same book.

Last Mall Stop

Rhea had the slightest bit of ice cream left in her cup and was determined to take it with us.

Step away from my ice cream.

Shopping for Stephen's new bike

Selection made and waiting for a tune-up

Still waiting with GREAT anticipation

It's hard to wait

It's DONE!!

Final adjustments

We tried our bikes the next day, but only for a short time since the kids complained that it was too cold. Feel free to pray for some warm weather in the very near future.

Just call me "Crash"

Look at me go!
I ran into the mulch while posing
Our Lap Book

We took these everywhere this week and now keep our sequence/matching cards and money puzzle game in them.

Bunny Money by Rosemary Wells - The perfect go-along!

General Store by Rachel Field

The Adventures of Taxi Dog by Debra and Sal Baarracca - Really cute

Ice Cream Cows and Mitten Sheep by Jane Belk Moncure- Talks about where milk products, wool and eggs come from

Benny's Pennies by Pat Brisson - Another excellent go-along

Big City Song by Debora Pearson - Lots of action sounds

Going to Town by Laura Ingals Wilder - Little House on the Prarie book

Yellow Ball

2008-04-26T09:02:00.016-05:00

We had so much fun this week with our Yellow Ball adventures. Rhea has enjoyed the book so much that she would not let me return it to the Library and we still read it every day. Yellow Ball by Molly Bang is about a ball that accidentally gets swept out to sea. The artwork was beautiful as we are shown illustrations of the ball from different angles. The Yellow Ball goes out to sea, gets stuck in a storm, and then makes it back to shore where it is found by a little boy. We really enjoyed reading this book and took the opportunity to throw in a unit on different sports that use balls.

Stephen's sequence and sort project. I had not planed on doing the elaborate project that he created, but he asked to use paper fasteners for his sequencing project. We of course then needed to give it the appropriate decorations.

Stephen's Basketball book and other worksheets
Stephen created a mini-book for each of the sports that we talked about this week. Here is a sample from the Basketball book. Other books included dot-to-dots, mazes, writing and coloring pages.
Stephen's Soccer Book

Our Yellow Ball adventures at the pool where much anticipated all week long. The first picture is of the kids waiting in the dressing room with their yellow ball in hand. We then took a picture of the ball floating away. Stephen talked all day about making a wave for the ball just like in the book. You can see that picture on the bottom left. I will include a larger picture too since it was so important to him. We started to take pictures from different angles, but the lifeguards turned on the cool fountains and Mommy's project was over. Oh well, we at least had a great day throwing our yellow balls at each other and playing in the water while it was snowing outside. Did I mention that it was a heated pool?
The kids looked through Daddy's album of old baseball cards. Stephen then made his own Baseball card and placed it in his lap book next to his Baseball mini-book.
We learned the rules to Baseball just in time before it snowed again, as I mentioned before. Yes, snow at the end of April. Everyone does well at hitting the ball, but we have never talked about the rules. Stephen has been to several baseball games with Daddy, but I think they pretty much eat junk food and heckle the batters the whole time. We began with definitely the bases and running after we hit the ball. We then explained that the base is a safe place where Daddy can't tag you "out" followed by a short lesson in "stealing" the bases and running towards "home". It only took one demonstration and Stephen was hooked!

The Wind up

The Hit

Safe on First

The Steal

Score!!!

Rhea prefers Golf.
....and then wacks Daddy

Other Go-alongs
The Ball Book by Margaret Hillert and Balls by Melanie Davis Jones- goes through each ball sport

Let's Play Ball by Pam Zinnemann-Hope - Very simple

Kenny and the Little Kickers by Claudio Marzollo - Favorite - confidence/self esteem

Soccer Sam by Jean Marzollo - Mulit cultural

Swish by Michael Chesworth - Basketball

Apple Batter by Deborah Turney Zagwyn - Baseball - great for fall