Love, Love, Love Our Library

When we moved into this house in June of 2007 we were excited to be so close to our local library.  (Our home is actually at the end of the walking trail that leads by the library .....how cool is that!)  I knew that the library would be a great resource for us when we began home school.

We have been able to request rare children's books at no cost to us.  We have borrowed countless cd's of classical and jazz music.  Art books.  Craft books.  Cookbooks, etc.

Recently we have enjoyed some DVD's which are perfect for preschool through early elementary school.

Art appreciation:  a simple and straight forward introduction to Claude Monet and some of his most famous works. This DVD is part of a series Getting to Know which includes other masters.  The publisher also has a series on our presidents, composers, scientists and inventors.  We really enjoy these. 

According to Dacia Grace "the movie was Funny and taught you what Monet did." 

Science:  Finding science videos that are age appropriate and content appropriate has been somewhat difficult for us.  One Smart Cookie Productions has two videos that we have enjoyed:  Autumn and Winter and Spring and Summer.  These are the only two that I can recommend with confidence.  I like them because they offer the same material but taught at three different learning stages:  preschool, kindergarten and 1-3 grade.

Dacia Grace found the content to be introduced in a fun and playful manner.  She watched this several times.  Later when we went out for a walk I noticed that she had retained much of the information and was able to recall and apply it appropriately.

Insomnia Strikes HARD!

Occasionally I have bouts of insomnia.  It has been awhile but last night it struck HARD!  I slept a total of about 75 minutes last night! 

After tossing and turning for what seemed like forever, I came downstairs to do something productive:  cleaned the laundry room, washed a load, folded a load, reorganized our family info notebooks and purged duplicate and triplicate to go menus and then finally sorted a large stack of paper. 

Arthur finally tucked me in for some sleep at about 5 AM this morning!  My alarms went off at 6:15 am this morning. 

WHY!?!

Well the Lord has been prompting me for sometime now to add attendance at the Thursday Morning Worship at Athey to our homeschool curriculum.

(Hmmmmmm......any coincidence that last night is when the insomnia hit so hard!)

I contemplated rolling over and going back to sleep.  Boy, am I glad that I did not.

Last night I had Dacia Grace lay out her clothes knowing that hurdle could be very difficult in the morning......once again....very glad that I did.

While we arrived late, what a blessing it was to worship with my girl tucked in beside me singing her heart out to Jesus......

All my life

All my love

My heart belongs to You!

Then to have an opportunity to share communion with her.  To hear her heart as she thanked Jesus for "bleeding so that our sins would be washed away."

I am so thankful to add worship to our curriculum....to train her to worship Jesus .... to love worship.....to hear her heart in this fashion.

Book Basket

One of the things that My Father's World encourages is exposure to books other than textbooks as well as "silent reading".  Dacia Grace does not read on her own yet; however, she loves to read books by herself.  With each lesson/unit, I checkout books corresponding to that unit and provide them for her to read and for me to read aloud.  Here are some of her favorites from the "M"oon lesson.

Pebble Books published by Capstone Press provides simple science books that make the topics easy for her to understand.  We have read many books from this publisher and like all that we have read.

A great alternative to Good Night Moon  by Margaret Wise Brown is.........

More exposure to science, particularly to animal science is... 

She enjoyed" learning that there are animal shelters to help protect God's creation. 

These shelters described in the book help the animals return to the wild if possible."

Finally here is exposure to one of the classic children's poets, Robert Louis Stevenson.

This book has updated illustrations that Dacia Grace could really relate to and enjoy. 

The book not only held her attention but provided laughter and merriment.

More science in the form of a great story!  What great imagination! 

A conversation between the bear and the moon.

Dacia Grace specifically asked that I share these books on our blog.  She believes that other children will enjoy these books as much as she did!

Park Day

Having had a "cold" summer this year, due to the G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S weather we took a break from our normal schedule and headed to the park with some friends. Free play and bike skills were enjoyed by all. Here are some highlights:

First Day of CBS

Community Bible Study (or CBS) is affectionately referred to as church school in our home.   Dacia Grace and I have attended since the fall of 2007.   It is a much anticipated beginning each fall.  Each fall we take "new school pictures".  This year was no different.

Pretty in pink and
ready for church school.

With Teacher Chrystal

With Teacher Julie

Dacia Grace was very excited to be "graduated" upstairs with the big kids!  Her classroom is also right across the hall from mine room.

Trader Joe's Field Trip

A field trip to Trader Joe's with a homeschool group has been on our calendar for almost two months now.  Dacia Grace has been anxiously awaiting this trip.  Here are the highlights:

MMMMM Sample Time!

Yummy produce

The sign makers' art corner.
Dacia Grace wanted to go have fun in there.

One of the highlights of the visit:  checking out your own items.

This was a very fun field trip.  Some of the highlights that I was not able to photograph included a tour of the subzero freezer, the regular freezer and playing peek-a-boo with the customers and the box crusher and baler.

Waiting for School to be done!

Waiting and waiting and waiting!

"They seem to like things in this library box.
Maybe they will take me for a walk soon!"

MFW Lesson 2: "M"oon - You are the light of the world

We are still working on parts of this lesson but here are some of the highlights thus far:

Artist hard at work on her "M"osaic.

Artist with finished "M"osaic.

"M"om with "M"osaic
Photo taken by Dacia Grace

Enjoying some "M"acaroni for lunch.
Notice the blue paint still on her cheek.

This is the week that Dacia Grace voluntarily sounded out and wrote "Mom" and "Dad" by herself on her notebooking page.  When I am able to take a picture of this I will add it.  :)

Anniversary Weekend

Happy anniversary to the best husband in the world!  To celebrate our seven wonderful years together we started off with.........power washing the driveway!  The rest of the weekend included more power washing,  power sanding and hanging out together as Dacia Grace spent the weekend with some friends!  What a time we had.  These are the only pictures from the weekend!

Happy 7th Anniversary Honey!

Our little helper striking a pose to show off
just how dirty she became.

A clean schnauzer after a good power washing.



This is what greeted us when we came home from dropping off Dacia Grace
at a friends' for the weekend.  LOL!  Happy Anniversary from the slugs.



Character Development: Compassion

After hearing about a sweet friend in the hospital for bladder reflux surgery, Dacia Grace immediately began to plan a gift basket for delivery.  Rummaging through the pantry for just the right items to fill the basket.  Carefully picking out the perfect peach that was sure to be the juiciest.  Arranging and rearranging the basket in the perfect order so that precious cargo would not be crushed.  What fun!  Waiting and waiting until it was time to leave!  Hoping and praying that her friend would be awake and not asleep from the pain medication.  Finally the joy of delivery!

What a blessing it was to Arthur's and to my heart as we watched the Holy Spirit working in her heart and watched her listen intently to His leading!   We are so blessed that the Lord saw fit to share this little sweetheart with us and allow us to train her in the ways of the Lord!

MFW Lesson 1: "S"un - Jesus is the Light of the world

One of the many reasons that we choose My Father's World curriculum is because of the biblical focus that permeates all of the curriculum.  Every week in kindergarten we will be memorizing a different memory verse as well as working on math, writing, phonics, science, music and art.  (I am sure I am forgetting something.)

Working on her Sun lapbook for science.

Her "S" collage
Art and phonics collide

Science Lab:  How many days to make raisins from black grapes? 
21 days in our house.

Pure Sweetness!

Puzzle Mania Abounds

Dacia Grace obsessed with puzzles!  Recently I had about 18 COMPLETED puzzles on my dining room table stacked one on top of another.   (Not sure that I documented that or not.)  Overnight it seems that she has graduated from puzzles in the 24 to 36 piece range to 100 to 300 pieces!  At any one time, you can find a completed puzzle on the dining room table, the coffee table, her school desk and on the floor by the school shelf.  For those of you who don't know, working jigsaw puzzles increases the brain's cognitive skills (not sure of the correct term).  In order to keep her adequately challenged, I scoured our local Value Village and Goodwill and found a gold mine!  Here is one example of what I found......like brand new for just a dollar!

MFW Week 1

Weeks 1 and 2 of our homeschool curriculum involve studying the biblical account of creation not that Dacia Grace knows any other account.  :)  We read the Genesis account daily and talked about all that God made and how great is His creative genius.  Dacia Grace enjoyed making a book about the creation that she could share with others. 

Here are some of the highlights in photos:

Practicing scissor skills while
making her book on God's Amazing Creation.

One of our backyard visitors during this time.
I had just enough time to run into the house for the camera.

Playing letter B-I-N-G-O with D-A-D-D-I-O!

There is so much  more that we did.  It is hard to pick and choose what to include here.  If you are over for a visit Dacia Grace would love to share her notebook portfolio with you. 

Growing Up

When asked to smile, this is what I got!  Goofiness!

Day 2

Preparing for the day by

organizing her toy closet.

(Nope, not really school but shows her personality)

Alphabet tip toe

Find the letter that Mommy says before she counts to 5!

This is the best breafast EVER, Mom!

Nun's Puffs

View From the Kitchen Window

The other morning while doing the dishes I looked out my kitchen window and saw this scene which brought a HUGE smile to my face.

Dacia Grace had been busy playing in the backyard.  Anyone know what movie this comes from?  It happens to be her favorite movie.  She plays it continually.  I am sure that by the end of this summer there will be many more popsicle sticks added to these two.

Here is another view of these precious popsicle sticks.

My minature rose bush bloomed this year even though

I planted it in the wrong area....not enough sun.

Tia

Randy, Leilani and Gabe, these two photos are for you!

Sitting on my computer desk

She makes a good supervisor!

Her favorite place to nap when I am at the computer is right at my feet.

First Day of School

The last weekend of June, Arthur and I were able to attend our first home school conference which was hosted by OCEANetwork.  What a blessing!   We were challenged on many levels. 

For today, however, the challenge I am referring to is starting our school year early so that we are ahead from the get go.  This allows for "sick days" for Mommy and for Dacia Grace.  It allows for spontaneous field trips and vacation times with Daddy.  So today was our first day of school.  

We are using the kindergarten curriculum from My Father's World and really love it.  I am going to attempt to keep the blog updated with all that we are doing throughout the school year.  I have lots of fun things planned for us.

Here are a few pictures from our first day of school. The composition may not be the greatest. The focus may not be the greatest but the memories ah....now they are the greatest!

Working on Day 1 of her Look What God Made in Seven Days book.

Wonder what letter I will find?

"An l!"

We had lots of working on our new book, playing math and letter games.  All too soon our time was done for the day.