As I was washing the breakfast dishes Friday morning I saw spider webs glistening in the morning sunlight. An idea came to my mind! Let's study spiders today! So we got the camera and took some pictures. While we were out there we found a hurt butterfly. I almost got a picture of it on Jenni's leg but it scared her.

Jenni got a close up look wearing her new sunglasses from the Hillman's.

This was a neat web. It looks like it has something in it that the spider wrapped up. I wonder what kind of bug it was. We weren't sure but had lots of guesses.

We didn't see a spider even though there were so many webs all over the place.

Our pretty butterfly climbed on the gate as we watched it. Butterflies are one of God's creatures that has always been one of my favorites. Those who know me can tell you I have lots of things with butterflies on them in my home.

JC did his best to catch it and get a closer look. He finally did and we noticed that its wings were torn up. That is why it was on the ground and climbing up the gate instead of flying away. Poor thing.

The kids looked up information on four different spiders and did a report (mini report) on it and drew a picture of the one they chose. I wanted to share that with everyone. They did a good job.

The Wolf Spider by Jennifer

Wolf Spiders don't spin webs. They hunt for there food at night. They have very good eye sight. They have strong legs to make them run fast. They have four large and small eyes. Spiderlings will live on there mother's back until they are big enough to hunt on their own.

The Jumping Spider by Jonathan

Jumping Spiders are small. They have four pairs of eyes that can see their pray from 12 inches away. They can jump a very long way for such small spiders. It leaps on it's prey before the insect can see them. Jumping Spiders eat small insects. They do not make webs since they catch their prey by jumping on them. They are easily identified with their black and white markings. They have a hairy body.

I am very proud of their work and that they had a good time doing it. We went to soccer afterwards and they had a great time doing that. Next week starts the games, this was just a practice week.

I love being able to spend our days together doing fun things like this. Discovering Gods world and creations is an amazing thing!

Until next time I find a chance to blog, usually too busy doing...

Colorado Dreamin'

First Day of School 2009-2010

Today was the first day of school for these two, just like AISD. It is true, we usually don't start until after Labor Day weekend. But every year I get to hear about their friends being off for a teacher work day or something like that. So I decided we would give it a try this year. We will be off when they are off and on when they are on. But that means no more "free Friday's" and no more "no book work the whole month of December" with only crafts and reading projects to do then. We usually spend December focusing on Christ's birth and all the things that go with that special holiday, like making gifts for others, serving others and just enjoying our family time when the rest of the world seems to be so wrapped up in commercialism. We will still have two weeks off in December so we will make the best of our time. We will still finish school the first week in May, like last year. I really liked being done with school before the bookfair that weekend. It made looking for next years stuff so much more fun. Instead of having to go home from the bookfair and having to work so hard for the next few weeks before summer, we were able to just enjoy our time and look forward to the next year.

Of course, we had to do the traditional "first day of school" pictures! I have done them for years and years, even though we homeschool. Why should we not when that is part of the fun? We get to look at them each year and see how much they have grown. These two have grown so much this year! I now have a 3rd grader and 5th grader.

I just love her smile! She makes me smile when I see it! She was really excited when she found the purple binder. We tried to find hot pink but it was a different type of binder. These are really neat, they have two sets of rings inside! So I got those so they would have similar binders. I have some great ideas on using the binders and keeping things more organized this year.

He wanted to take the picture with his backpack even though it is the same as last year. It has stayed in such good condition we didn't need to buy new ones. He has a cool red binder. He was trying not to smile too big in this. I think he thought he was too old to take this picture. But I am glad he did! He won't be this age ever again and "mom" needs the pictures so I can look back and remember!

This year we did some things differently to help them with their organizational skills and just to make it more fun. Also, so they could grow in their writing. We have many aspects of English. I am looking forward to see how creative they can be with their writing. We have three composition books each; story journal, daily journal and newspaper journal. I am sure the first two are pretty self explanatory. But the third one you might not know. Each week they will have their own Sunday paper (I buy more than one each week for the coupons). Each week they need to look through it and find an article that catches their attention, cut it out, and paste it in the journal. That way they get used to reading the paper and finding articles of interest. It will also help them learn how a paper is put together. By the second half of the school year I would like for them to be able to put their own "paper" together monthly. We will send it to family and friends. And possibly "publish" some of the articles on this blog.

We will be doing Grammar together. We will be memorizing the prepositions and playing fun games to help us remember them. Plus other fun grammar games. I have a writing book, The Write Stuff, that has some neat writing assignments in it that we will do throughout the year. They will also be required to write a REAL letter once a week and mail it. Not an e-mail, but a written letter. It seems to be a lost art these days. We are still using our Spelling Power for Spelling. They placed very well on the test, both 7th grade spelling levels! I was impressed!

The Bible verses we will learn this year are many, instead of one large one. They will have weekly verses to help them towards their goals in GA's and RA's at church. We will learn the verses from Ephesians on the Armour of God since last year we did the Beatitudes. They still have their daily devotion books plus we have our Discovery 4 Yourself studies we will be working on through the year.

I think we will have a great year!!! So far, so good!!! I am very happy with how things went today. They worked hard! I am trying to keep things fun so they will want to keep working hard.

~Colorado Dreamin'

Home School Book Fair 2009

Every year in Arlington the weekend of Mother's Day the Home School Book Fair is that Friday and Saturday. We set aside that weekend for family time. A time to focus on the past school year and what we accomplished or didn't. And a time to focus on the coming school year and what we want to accomplish during that time for each child. It is such a joy and a privilege to have this responsibility. I wouldn't trade it for anything!

The kids were able to finish up their school work on Thursday. That is the first time we have done that and we really like it. So that will be our goal from now on, to be finished before the bookfair! We may have to work a little harder in some areas at certain times of the year but we will still not start until after Labor Day and we will still take a winter holiday from Thanksgiving week through New Years. We do so much during that time anyway, just not workbooks.

This year, while I did get the traditional math workbooks that we enjoy, my heart was drawn to things that will prepare my preteens for the things that will be coming in the near future. It may seem early for that when my children are only 10 and almost 8 but I know that if I let this window of time slip by and do not prepare them in the way that the Lord is leading me to do then I am not doing my job correctly as a mother. The world has such different standards than the Lord does. So if I want my children to have the Lords standards for handling things then I need to get to them before the world does.

I found this neat series for preteens and young teens and their moms called Secret Keeper Girl. It is for moms and daughters. I purchased the younger version of the 8 Great Dates for you and your daughter. I also got the Bible study called: My Best Friend Jesus. I want my daughter to know that above all, Jesus needs to be her best friend. And that I am here for her in all things. My older daughter and I went through some hard times so I am trying to learn from the mistakes I made. We are very close now but went through so many hard times to get here. I am hoping I can help my other little princess have an easier road.

I also got the Beautifully Made set. It teaches her about the changes that are going on in her body and how to deal with them. There is one for younger girls like her and then when she does start. There is also one for moms. It has ideas for celebrations you can do with your daughter when that time comes. It helps them celebrate the changes that God created instead of dreading them. I am very excited to do this because I didn't learn them this way. I learned most of it from kids from school. Not really the best way.

I also found some things for the guys in my family. Most of them are to teach them what God expects them to be as a godly man. I even found one for moms called Preparing Him for the Other Woman: A Mother's Guide to Raising Her Son to Love a Wife and Lead a Family. I thought that would be really good for me to read.

That is a glimpse of what I found. I am praying that this new school year will be full of wonderful memories for our family and building blocks to a godly life for my youngsters!

~Colorado Dreamin'

Too Busy to Post

I realize that there have only been a few posts on this blog since I started it last May. I have to be honest and say that we are usually too busy to take pictures while we are doing school. But we have had a very full year, indeed. The younger two kids are almost finished with math. They only have about 4 or 5 more weeks, if that. We will spend the summer reading and exploring.

My teenager is working hard to catch up after not getting a lot done. He will work through the summer to catch up and then through the next year to graduate! He is excited about picking out his SR. ring! I will post a picture of that on here when he gets it.

The book fair is coming up and we will post what we find there. I love that time of year when everyone gets to plan special things for the school year as a family. God is good and is doing so much in our family right now. Please keep us in your prayers.

School Pictures

I finally got their "school" pictures done for this year! Last year they went to the private school and the photographer was terrible. So I didn't buy them. I did them myself this year. Not too bad!

2nd Grade/Age 7

4th Grade/Age 9

11th Grade/Age 16

Field Trip to the Park

Last week we had a day where we knew we wouldn't have any daycare kids until late afternoon. So I told the kids if they got up and got school done early we would spend the morning at the park. It was going to be a lovely day so we were very excited!

Our homeschool is relaxed in one way. The kids have their books in in a crate in the cabinet. Each morning they get them out and put them on the table. When they have completed a subject they put those books back into the crate. In the picture above they are working on their book study together. They had to look up some vocabulary words in the dictionary.

The park we went to was our favorite park from when my older two kids were little! It is called Creative Playground and it is on Fielder and Green Oaks. It is the best! We had many a birthday party there.

They loved running around all over the place and doing the rock climbing wall. They played for an hour and then Pirate Lad rode his skateboard for a little while.

We took our drawing pads to the park so that after an hour of play they could get some art in. Game Champ drew the tire swing but wouldn't let me keep it or take a picture of it. He did a good job.

Pirate Lad decided to draw a tree. He was very serious about his drawing. He really has a gift when it comes to drawing because it is something he loves to do. He wants to get all sorts of drawing materials so he can try lots of new styles.

I think he did a great job! He put all the little limbs on it and he loves to sign and date it. I wish he would learn to do it smaller so it takes up less attention from his drawing but I suppose that will come with time.

Star Princess went around finding different leaves that she liked and she traced them and then taped them to the other page. That is a style in her nature book she learned from her last school.

This is her finished product. She didn't put them in the book exactly like she drew them. I had thought she would color the other ones or draw the lines on them but I think she was too tired from our day out.

We had such a wonderful day. We went to eat lunch afterwards. I wanted to go to Souper Salad but they convinced me to go to Pancho's. I must say that I am disappointed in how they make their food now. Everything is changed and not for the better. Except the sopapias (spelling wrong, sorry). But live and learn. We won't be back. Next time, we use my idea!

I know it has been few and far between posts but we are really working hard each day on our book stuff. For the month of December we will be doing lots of fun things that I am hoping I can get pictures of and blog about. Until then, there might not be too much on here. As the holidays approach us at a fast speed I wish all of you many blessings and love. And don't forget to remember why we celebrate and who we have to thank for all good things! Blessings!

~Colorado Dreamin'

Field Trip to the Circus

Two weeks ago we were given tickets to the circus in Fort Worth. It was such a treat because none of the kids got to go. We thought Baby Girl was going to get to go with us but it didn't work out. We were very sad because she had never gone either. I know that sounds terrible that we never took them to the cirus before, but there are a lot of things we have yet to do with our children. We are working on fixing that.

Pirate Lad was the only one brave enough to ride the elephant! He loved it. It only went around in the ring twice. For $8 it should have gone around a few more times. But I suppose since we were gifted with the tickets it didn't hurt to spend that money on an elephant ride. He is the third from the front with a white cap on backwards.

The boys really enjoyed the motorcycles in a cage. There was a 10 year old riding one of them. It was something! It made me feel very nervous for them. They also liked the trapees and high wire acts.

Star Princess loved the rope climbers that spun around and did fancy moves in the air as they hung from silky material "ropes". She loved the poodles that did their act. There were also ladies that did fancy things with hoola hoops.

Pirate Lad took a picture of us and he did pretty good. All in all, we had a wonderful time at the circus. We love doing things with our family! What a blessing our friends are, too! Thanks so much for the tickets. It was a blast!