Thursday

Thursdays are our busy day. This one was a bit different.

I began with a workout and then ran up to the base with the 6 youngest ones to see this:

After years of planning today was the ground breaking for a new Chapel Center on our base. Our Wing Commander said this is somewhat of a miracle as this is the first Chapel to be built on an Air Force base in the last 15 years.

Bizarre Can-can line? (Michael is 3rd from right, Father Jim is next to him in Uniform - back from deployment YIPPEE on Tuesday night, Our Wing Commander is in the white hat and the man in the suit is our congressman.

We came back home and did school (see post below). Then we dropped Jamin and Jared at HoF for their weekly ministry volunteer time. I made FOUR phone calls while they were gone - some of you KNOW how long it takes me to make a phone call! When I went to pick them up, I noted that the van was bouncing rather much. I was sure I was losing a tire - but wasn't. Still not sure what is up. I took Jamin to work. I drove Jared to CAP. Ch. B called and said he'd bring Jared home. MICHAEL CAME HOME!!! What a treat, he usually works until 9 or 9:30 on Thursday night. Thanks Ch. B, for the ride home - it sure was a special treat for us!

I was bummed that we can't do produce co-op tomorrow (low members), but this worked out great. Mike was home and I wasn't busy getting ready for co-op. Tomorrow a.m. we have a play date. It's good!

Tonight the fantastic four, Michael, and I played charades. Krista sent some decks of cards with transportation and community workers on them. We drew a worker from a hat and then acted it out. When we ran out of cards we kept going. Josiah came home and joined us. Ignore the red eyes, I need to load Adobe and learn to touch up photos. LOL

Nolan, the Pilot

Arielle, the Chef

I drew "religious leader" - I have the DK family Bible from the library in my hands

Michael, the Cowboy He had the OTHER hat on first, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera and he refused to do it again! We laughed until we cried.

The two little cowboys - note the OTHER hat

Cy, the Tamale Vendor - Bre & Krista brought the sombrero home from their Mexico trip

School Today

I can't believe it. Things are clicking. It made a huge difference to move Nolan around on a few things and let Arielle speed ahead on extra Lit readers. I decided to let her read some of the dialectic lit in addition to her assignments, as she is somewhat bored with the Upper Grammar lit... We finished all the TOG for the week, yesterday(including literature and history SUPPLEMENTS). That left today for library books I'd picked up that looked fun and hands on projects.

I even cooked DINNER this week. ::snort:: I'm getting it. It took the first week of panic. The second week to adjust Jamin. The 3rd week to adjust Nolan and Arielle....we're getting it.

We each made a cartouche. We decided to follow the Egyptian practice of leaving out the vowels...which greatly sped up this project. LXNDR is much easier than ALEXANDER.

They all liked this project...even Stacia

RLL - Arielle

Stacia kept saying, "Mommy, I dit, I dit!" I looked...she was playing and eating clay. She was saying "I did it".

We also made apple mummies. I wanted to do something to bring the whole salt/drying thing alive and I think this will do it. We'll compare the apples at 2, 4 and 6 weeks. I liked this project as it required NO harming of animals...and no purchasing of dolls. ::snort::

Hmmm....all these hands on for Zander and he looks less than thrilled, doesn't he? ::snort::

I'm a bit skeptical about these apples on a plate lasting in TX for 6 weeks - seems like ant bait, but they've not found the pyramids yet. We have plans for more fun things next week - and maybe tomorrow afternoon.

Building Rockets

Last night Nolan and Zander talked Michael into working on rockets with them.....

hmmm...they measured the distance from the net to the ground.....

He built the rockets...

Not exactly the father/son bonding time we expected...but it will work. ::snort::

Michael has been home at decent hours all week....it's strange. It's wonderful.

Wednesday! Wow! Over the Hump!

Quote of the Day: "Eww....why do they always have to kiss?"

School....The youngers and I actually got ahead in many of our subjects. The older boys are on track. I think we're adjusting. I planned on doing hands on things the next couple of days....but um....I made a big mistake. More on that later. ::snort::

I took two boys for haircuts.

Nolan wasn't expecting quite this short - but I love it! Jared's Grumpy Face ::snort::

I helped Jamin start a blog. We're thinking of another one for the kids - or maybe we'll just put more of their writings on HERE, I'm still deciding.

I planned to make 4 meatloaves today - 2 for dinner and 2 for the freezer....but instead we're burning 3 lbs of burgers and I made 3 lbs of breakfast sausage.

The infamous package and Jamin

I swear I don't know where they got the idea to have a war with the peanuts!

OK- the mistake? I had planned to order an Ancient World History Kit. I thought it would combine a few experiments from Egypt, Greece, and Rome; countries we are studying. I bought the kit and two extra student kits. They arrived today. They look fabulous! There are even 3 homeschooling magazines included for FREE. I'm really thrilled with the kit....except I ordered the Ancient Far East kit (China, Japan, Tibet). I think we only spend one or two weeks on those countries this year, and if I remember right they are packed weeks. I was terribly frightened when I saw those three fish. I had some bizare sense that they would KNOW that I wasn't supposed to HAVE ordered them and they'd spoil or explode before we could use them. I really want to recommend Hands and Hearts. Kate has been a cyber friend via the SHS yahoo group for years. She and Jeff are the proud parents of Baby Noah to the right in the side bar. Our service was quick. The kit looks amazing! Fun!!! Jeff called tonight to assure me that the fish were going to be fine. I can send these kits back - but they look great! I don't think I'll order the Egypt kit. Actually we've already done a couple of the activities he mentioned are included in it....shoot if I'd bought THAT kit I would still have wooden spoons. ::snort:: I would like to make a senet board and they have a mummy project in the kit.... BUT I think I'll buy the Greece and Rome kits....I did order the Roman coins.....I guess because they went so well with Ancient Far East in my sleep deprived mind?

I briefly contemplated telling the kids that authentic Egyptians ATE with chopsticks and made fish prints....they just didn't show that in our books. ::snort:: We will briefly touch on China so maybe I can use that part of the kit and save the rest for later. I don't know. Has anyone out there used TOG year 2? Do we cover ancient China, Japan, Tibet etc?

OH - Stacia has twice had a strange reaction when getting dressing on her face. She breaks out in a red rash and welts....once all the way down her neck. Someone on SHS mentioned today that it could MSG. I realized that both times have been when she had store bought dressing. Tonight she had some Ranch - store bought since I'd run out sometime and bought this after our trip.....she turned red all around her mouth and up one side of her face. I checked the ingredients: MSG. The other types of dressing were Honey Mustard and Italian so the common ingredient seems to be MSG. I believe God is going to be sure I'm honest with my crunchy credentials. ::snort::

Dinner is over, clean up has commenced....think I'd best end this.

Freezer Challenge Winner

I've decided that for ME this challenge is NOT over and since the graphic does say 2007 and not Summer 2007, I'm going to keep right on in my quest to fill this freezer. I have a good start...but I've not gotten a lot of things done that I would have liked to get done. My goal is to have enough meals in the freezer that if I don't WANT to cook over Christmas, I won't have to. ::snort:: If any of y'all want to continue on, feel free to do so.

Now doesn't THAT sound appealing? Come to my home for the Holidays and I'll feed you frozen dinners! ::snort::

HOWEVER, I realize that most have completed their freezer challenge. And the winner is :::drum roll::: Michele at Dei Gratia, By the Grace of God! Winner was randomly selected from all who had commented.

I promise to figure out how to send you and Gilda gift certificates by the end of the week. Congrats!

School Daze

Today, I tried something new, again. I let Nolan sit in on the history books for lower grammar (he's a 3rd grader so technically this is a good fit). This gives Zander someone nearby and it gives Nolan less text and more pictures. Nolan joined Arielle and I for the literature and the core history of Upper Grammar. Rather than continue reading "Pyramid" by David Macaulay to Nolan and Arielle, I asked Arielle to read it on her own. She is happy to do that and Nolan is happier with less technological info and bright photos. LOL

Today we actually had time to visit the Internet links in our Usborne Internet linked books. Cool. We went on an Egyptian Animal Safari. We took a quiz on Egypt and watched a slide show on farming. We wrote our name in Hieroglyphics.

Stacia fell asleep while I read "A Place in the Sun" to Arielle and Nolan. We'll pay for it later, but we were able to read ahead a bit and make our simple step pyramids. This project comes from the book "Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors". I think this may be a TOG book, but I got it from the library. It's great in that the projects are simple and work will with a variety of ages. That said, Jared and Zander both opted out of making a pyramid. What am I going to do with the extra boxes of white sugar cubes? We don't use them any longer. LOL

Well - school is done and I'd best get moving on dinner. I'll update more about life later tonight - if I get a minute.

What was in the box????

Did I leave you all hanging?

Well, 3 1/2 weeks ago we got the trac phone that WAS in the box. Yesterday there were 8 Nancy Drew books, some mystery children's books, a drawing pad, how to draw book, two computer games (Axis and Allies and a Flight Simulator), stationary, whoopee cushion, 2 CD's, a paper by Nicholas, and THREE packages marked Top Secret for the older boys. They try to fool me but I KNOW what was in the packages. The girls have not fully embraced the new style of eating that has descended on our home. The "top secret" wrapped packages were full of contraband candy and chocolate....I'm sure with high fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes etc. Ah well - they were wrapped so the youngest and most vulnerable were not exposed to them. ::snort::

What was not in the box was a phone charger and a RISK computer game....we keep hoping.

BTW, yesterday I received an email from the Feingold Association with the results of a study done in the UK. You can go here to read about the study. They did a double blind study and results show that some food additives etc DO cause hyperactivity in children. Meanwhile, in the US the doctor's continue to say that there is no PROOF that Feingold makes a difference for these children. I understand that our experience is anecdotal and not scientific, but I've got two boys that don't function when they eat those additives..... Since we don't have TV, I don't know if this study is being reported in the media - I hope so.