♥ Box Day! ♥

It's a happy day around here when the mail lady arrives with a package, but it's a really happy day around here when the Fed-Ex guy pulls up with our Sonlight books!

It's so exciting to see what reading adventures await us for the year!  For those of you not familiar with Sonlight, it is very literature rich.  We spend a great deal of our school time independently reading and me reading aloud, which is my favorite part of homeschooling by the way.  :)

And this year, there was even more excitement.  Gleaning from the years of excitement watching his sister get a box of books and have a love of reading, Luke was thrilled to get his own box of Sonlight books - his very own Core!

And then today, Luke got another box of  extra goodies....educational games and puzzles to supplement our Sonlight through Timberdoodle, which I also love by the way!  This adds lots of hands-on elements to the reading and writing!  :)

Now we've got all our books......we're ready to get this thing started.  Although we just "eased" into school with a subject or two, our first official day of school will be this Monday!  I think I'm ready......yes, I'm ready!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

Faithful Friday - "Mary Jones and Her Bible"

A little book that Joy and I read together this week, Mary Jones and Her Bible, really got me to thinking just how much I take the Bible for granted. Most of us probably have several Bibles in our possession. Speaking for our family, I know we even have several different versions as well.

But do we really appreciate them for the treasure they are?

In the book we read, Mary Jones and Her Bible, which is a true story by the way, Bibles were in shortage. Mary saves for 6 years (as a child) just to own a Bible of her own, meanwhile traveling to a neighbor’s farm to study the Bible (and commit its verses to memory) every weekend. When she was nearing her 16th birthday, she finally has the money saved to purchase a Bible. But the next obstacle is that the closest place that has an order of Bibles is 25 miles away. She walks the 25 miles one way alone over the mountains to purchase her Bible. And that’s not the end of the story, Mary is one of many who played an important role in the reprinting of more Bibles across the world through the creation of Bible Societies. She sacrificed much during her life time to help make sure that those that wanted a Bible could have one, and her life was a testimony that she lived out what she learned and commited to memory from the Bible as a Christian. She was loved and admired by many.

This really convicted me. I know that I take the Bible for granted. What if Bibles weren’t so readily available? Would I want one so badly that I would be willing to make the sacrifice she made and go to such lengths just to own one? Do I read it often enough so that I have it stored away in my heart? Do I treasure God’s Word as much as I should? After all, it IS our light in this world of darkness that guides us and leads us down God’s path for us.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psalm 119:105 (KJV)

I hope you’ll stop by Joy’s  blog for more Faithful Friday posts. If you would like to participate, you can link up on her blog here.

Have a great weekend! :) 

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ A Busy Week ♥

We’ve had a busy week! Monday marked the first day of our homeschooling year! Actually, we “eased” into schooling, as I call it. I decided it would be best to get Joy started and on a routine again before I began working with Luke. I think it was a wise decision. You know how it goes, there are always interruptions and getting into the schooling groove again after a leisurely summer always takes a bit of discipline, especially staying away from the computer. So please don’t think I’ve abandoned you if I don’t get around to visit right away. I’m trying to find my groove and best way to do it all.

The day our box of Sonlight books arrives is an exciting day. It’s like Christmas! We are always anxious to see where our reading adventures will take us…..including read alouds as well as independent reading. I wouldn’t miss reading aloud for anything! It’s my favorite part of homeschooling! The books you see here make up Joy’s History, Literature, Bible, and Spelling curriculum. (The rest comes from different companies and were already waiting for us on the bookshelf).

Luke catches on to the enthusiasm when books arrive. He has been asking all summer if I was ordering his school work! He has learned so much informally all summer already. But we are going to tackle beginning to read and since we make a big deal out of books and being able to read, he’s pretty excited!

This picture was taken on Joy’s first day, Monday.   I'm likely to find her reading in the strangest of places. :)  I would think sitting down would be more comfortable?

And as you can see in the background, we still have a mess from the staircase project!  Leave it to us to start a project right at school time! 

While Joy and I were working together, Luke played on the iPad. Do you see what he’s eating?

Let's take a closer look......

Yep, that’s chopped onions, folks! He had just helped me prepare lunch and we had left over onions.  When he found out there were some left, he asked for them………and he ate just about every one of them too.

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes on Tuesday! I have to say that I had a very nice birthday! And all of your comments……well……they really topped it off! Thank you so much!

After our morning of school, my mom and I, and the kids, went to the antique gallery where she told me to pick out something for my birthday (on a budgeted amount of course). That was fun because so many times I put off buying because I talk myself out of buying because I “don’t need it” right now. But it’s fun to be able to pick something out and bring it home! We were all laughing at the check-out register because I remarked that not many folks would want for their birthday what I picked out for my birthday.

I loved them both though!  And I came home and immediately found them a new home.

And then for dinner that night, we went out for Mexican food at my favorite Mexican restaurant. It was all of our family including Colt and Amber and my mom and dad. Between Jason and all the kids, I got 4 CDs which included two from TobyMac, one of Mandisa and one of Tenth Avenue North, a DVD called Monumental by Kirk Cameron, and some butterscotch maple cream tarts. Oh, and Luke wrapped up an old ID chain he found all by himself and made me a card from a piece of typing paper and had it taped over closed. He was quite proud of all the letters he made including the letters LOVE……….and so was I. :) 

It was a good day! I’m so thankful for the blessing of another year.

Oh, and my cake! Oh…..my cake! I requested this cake. My mom made it.  She makes it often and I make it from time to time.  It’s my favorite!  We shared some with the server and cooks at the restaurant and I still had some left to bring home.  It only lasted one day though.  It's long gone now.

I had a cute helper blowing out the candles.

 

I’ll come back and share the very simple but delicious strawberry cake recipe tomorrow along with Faithful Friday (by the way, we’d love for you to join us for Faithful Friday too)!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a great day!  :) 

Soaking up the Sonlight!

This past Wednesday was like Christmas at our house. Really! That's how much we look forward to our Sonlight Box Day. That's the day our box of living books arrives at our doorstep! The excitement of going through the box and seeing what adventures are in store for our school year is greatly anticipated!







It's always exciting for Joy and me, but this year, I guess Luke could sense the excitement and knew it was really "something great"! :) Joy was saying, "Yes", and "Awesome", and Luke mimicking Joy's every word, was echoing her as he pulled books out of the box. This made me smile because when Luke first came home, he wouldn't sit still very long for a book at all, and just wasn't interested in books much, but we're slowly seeing changes in his attitude toward books. That's very important around this house! He definitely caught the "Sonlight fever"!





This year's books are from Core 5 - Eastern Hemisphere. This will especially have meaning to us since we spent three weeks in China. It's stacks of books related to Asia. We're really exciting about diving into these adventures!

Want to know what Luke pulled out of the box for him to make this face?



It was this book: (He didn't like it all all and said, "Yoo (which is his way of saying Ew) Yucky, yucky". lol! It does look kinda creepy!



The kids didn't make it very far in the foyer and perched themselves on the stairs soaking up the books. Joy was reading hers and Luke, of course, not to be left behind, was right next to Joy and captivated by his own book (and hers). I'm planning on using this well to my advantage. ;) I'm hoping & thinking between our love for books and Sonlight's exciting feast of books, we're creating a book lover in our newest little family member.





We truly are big fans of Sonlight. It is so literature rich and as I've said before, reading together, is our very favorite aspect of homeschooling. Having spent many years (with Colt) pulling together my own curriculum plan and finding appropriate books, I really appreciate that Sonlight has the best book selections already done for me!





After soaking up all the Sonlight, it's now time for us to organize all these stacks of books and then dive into them!

For previous years Sonlight Box Day posts and pics, you can read and see more here and here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! :)

A Beautiful "Sonlight" Day (THE BOX)

This past Friday morning, I dropped Joy off at her summer homeschooling Botany co-op class, which has been wonderful by the way! I realized, when I did, that I had forgotten something I needed in order to run an errand, so I had to make a quick run back home. When I pulled in the drive, I saw THE BOX on our front porch. I know it's hard to believe that THE BOX can be so exciting, but I tell you it is! It was our core curriculum for our homeschooling year.....our beloved Sonlight! It's like Christmas when we bring THE BOX into our home. I wouldn't dare open it without Joy. I don't think she would ever forgive me! I did bring it into the house and left it sitting by the front door. I then waited until we got home, pulling in the driveway, to tell her that there was a surprise waiting for her inside! She guessed it before we made it in the back door. I ran to get my camera and by the time I got it out and ready to go, she already had the box opened and books were coming out.....the very first one she pulled out already had her drawn in!



Honestly, it is so fun and exciting to see what adventures we'll take through the pages of these books. This year we are completing our American adventures as we journey through the second half of American History. THE BOX contains so many living books....History, Geography, Literature, Bible and just readers for her mere enjoyment as well. We browsed through the many wonderful books just waiting for us!



I love the fact that we have REAL living books to read, share, and discuss, and I still have my schedule to use as a guideline to keep us on track....although we read ahead many times because we just can't stop when we get into a good book.

And I tell you that if our cat, Bambi, could talk, she could probably tell you so much. She is always very curious and as usual she checked out the books too! Everyday when we read and are engrossed in our books, Bambi comes and lies at our feet or beside Joy or in her lap and listens and looks so interested! She just might be the smartest cat around when it comes to History, Geography, Bible, and Literature......! Hmmm...I wonder!



As far as the rest of our school books, we will use Math-U-See (Epsilon), Easy Grammar/Daily Grams, and Elementary Apologia (Science), Rosetta Stone Spanish, Handwriting Without Tears, and Sequential Spelling. This makes for a full schedule, but we're looking forward to getting started next week (hopefully) after my parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration.

Sharing the bond of a great book and the many adventures on which it takes us, is a beautiful way to spend time with my family, so it really is a beautiful Sonlight Day when our new books arrive and everyday that we share these stories together! Reading aloud or reading together as a family is my single most favorite part of homeschooling. If you don't do this on a regular basis, give it a try! You'll love it!



And if you've never looked at a Sonlight catalog, you don't know what you're missing. I LOVE when my new catalog arrives! (And there was a new one tucked inside with all of our books)! Yay! Thank you, Sonlight!

And if you'd like to read last year's Sonlight arrival day post, click here for O Happy Sonlight Day! Those books from last year became dear friends to us. They have a new home this year with Mandy of A Mayberry State of Mind . She will be enjoying those wonderful books with her precious children, Zach and Leah Kate. I hope you all love them just as much as we did, Mandy! We enjoyed remembering each one as we packed them up to send them your way! Enjoy!

Blessings,
~ Tammy ~

"Zu Zu's Petals", Home School Open House, Award & Giveaway

For my next post, I have been searching earnestly for a picture I wanted to share, and then I remembered it was the Tuesday for Tammy's Home School Open House (okay,really Tammy reminded me).....so I thought I would combine the two today, along with an award and giveaway too. (I hope you don't mind, Tammy...but being the old movie lover that you are, I figured I'd be okay putting this on here today)! And if you came just for the Home School Open House....just scroll on down until you see the button and that's where that part begins!

First of all, about Zu Zu. Do you recognize the name?



If you guessed, It's a Wonderful Life....you're right! Zu Zu was George Bailey's daughter...the little girl that caught a cold and was upstairs in bed sick. Remember him sitting on the side of the bed as she showed him her broken rose petals? Her daddy "fixed" it for her (by putting the broken one in his pocket and handing her back a perfect rose)! I always loved that because isn't that what all little girls (and big ones too) think about their daddies...they can fix anything and make it better?

It's a Wonderful Life is a favorite Christmas movie at our house. It's not a question of IF we watch it during the Christmas season, it's how many times. If you're a fan, you probably know the lines...."Hee Haw", "Hot Dog", "Teacher says, every time a bells rings an angel gets its wings"......And I could go on!

Well around Christmas of 1997, we found out that Karolyn Grimes, who played Zu Zu was going to be visiting our local library and signing autographs. Colt and I stood in line (before a ball game) to meet her. Colt was 8 years old at the time (and Joy hadn't come along yet). He took her a vase of pink roses "to replace the broken petals". She loved it! She was super nice! Here she is with Colt.



Notice the "Z" pin on her suit? Would you believe I've never noticed that EVER before today, and Joy pointed it out to me right when she looked at it. She said, "Look she has a Z on her for Zu Zu." How could I have missed that?

She signed our copy of It's a Wonderful Life.



We bought this ornament (that I absolutely love and treasure) and she signed the back of it too. It always gets a place of honor on our tree and I make sure it's wound tight around the branch.....because my heart would break if it fell off and broke!



This particular picture on the ornament is a shot of her when her daddy (George Bailey) is holding her at the end as all his friends, relatives and neighbors pour in to help George out!

Here's the back:



I love what she wrote! Life is wonderful!

If you've never seen the movies, you're really missing out....it's a favorite here! And speaking of favorites, on another day, I will share my very favorite Christmas movies and I'm also going to ask all my family for THEIR favorites and I'll share that too!



Now on to the Home School Open House sponsored by Tammy of Lattes and Lollypops. Again this time, I don't have a big project to show you...but as usual we have been reading....lots of reading. This particular book has been our read-aloud (from Sonlight) for the past couple of weeks and we sure have loved it....it's probably been our favorite actually so far this year (Joy's and mine).




The name of it is The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. I remember reading this with Colt when he was younger. It's a wonderful story set in the Colonial Days in the colony of Connecticut during the times when the Puritans would "accuse" people of being witches. It's much more than that though....it has history & courtship weaved throughout too. It also brought the opportunity for Joy and I to discuss what gossip and judging people can do. We also discussed desirable character, how to be a true friend and what to look for in a mate. It's hard to believe one little book could pack that much punch to discuss, but it did......and we loved it! Don't let the title fool you either.....it's a GREAT book to share with your family (or read alone).

And speaking of character, here's a book that Joy and I just started reading together and discussing. This an old book republished...it's been around a long time.



The back says, "What can be more beautiful than the budding and blossoming of girlhood? Those years of transition from childhood to womanhood are filled with wonderful interest and promise. But the young feet that travel this way may be unsteady and unsure. Each could use guidance, a helping hand along the way. To encourage our girls to a nobler life and truer ideals is the task of this book."

And since all that I've shared is reading...here's a picture of Joy doing an experiment she did at home and showed at recitation last Tuesday. Since we are studying astronomy (God's Design Series), we discussed the laws of thermodynamics as an introduction to earth science. This experiment showed the 2nd law of thermodynamics.....that all objects tend to go to a state of rest. (or slow down because it loses energy).



We tied a string around a tennis ball and taped it to the top of a doorway. She stood back the length of the string...holding it to her nose and let it go. By just releasing and not giving it any motion, it just swings out and back without touching her, because it's losing energy as it swings through the air.

On to the last couple of things for today...Here's an award given to me from my bloggin' buddy over at Cat Nap Inn! Thank you so much! I've met so many wonderful bloggers and enjoy so many blogs that I don't want to have to choose, so I pass this award along to ALL my blog readers!


And last of all, if you love Christmas and love to read, you'll love Trudy's giveaway. Click over and pick out your favorite Christmas book she has and if she draws your name out, you'll win your favorite book!



Thanks so much for stopping by today and for the kind comments! I enjoy them all so much and I enjoy visiting your blogs too! I don't get to do so everyday, but I try as often as I can, and I usually catch up a few days a week.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving week too! Check back for more Christmas decor pictures!

Blessings,
Tammy

Homeschool Open House & a Giveaway!

Tammy, over at Lattes and Lollypops, just started up a Home School Open House where we could share what we've been up to, books we're reading, or just anything really that we'd like to share about our learning adventures. Well, today is the first day and I sure wish we had some fantastic science project or geography project to show you, but we don't. However, we're ALWAYS reading, reading, reading around here...so I figure that's what we'll show you today!



Very rarely do you ever see the kids or me leave the house without a book in hand. We just don't want to be caught somewhere without a book!


Here's a picture of Joy, my little 4th grader, hanging out this weekend on the tire swing!

And some of you may remember from awhile back how excited we were when our Sonlight Box came in the mail full of our reading goodies! Well, Joy has both the regular and advanced readers from the Core and is a little over 7 weeks ahead on her personal reading (I mean how can you tell them NOT to read, right?). Here's what she's been reading since the second week in September on her own:



And the book that we're really into right now that I'm reading aloud to her is The Sign of the Beaver. We just don't want to quit reading, so we're ahead in that too...but we also have another motive....I have the movie that is based on the book that she's never seen.....Keeping the Promise.....and I won't let her watch it until we read the book! That's the general rule around here....first read the book...THEN you can watch the movie! And it's funny how most of the time, the movie just never measures up to the images that our minds have created for the characters in the books! :)



And she's reading this one right now. I wish I had gotten a picture of her when she goes to bed...the book is either lying on her where she falls asleep or just beside her opened up to the page where she quit for the night!



And while we're talking about books....she was on the phone with a friend the other day (Molly Grace), who was doing a book report. She decided SHE wanted to do a book report. So in her spare time, she decided to read another book, Eleanor Roosevelt, and wrote this report. Now had I given her an assignment, I would have asked for better paper and writing, but mind you...she just DECIDED to do this! So here's her report. I typed it up for her so she could share it today at our homeschool recitation. We have recitation once a month with our homeschool support group so the children get a chance to recite or perform in front of a group. She will be sharing this today during recitation.



And last of all, we have been reading and learning a bit every week about different styles of poetry.




Well last week we read about the haiku and I asked her to write one. If you remember anything about those...they are 3 lines...with the first line being 5 syllables, second line has 7 syllables and the last line has 5 syllables.



She wrote this one for her first one. (We were sitting in Colt's room at the time and the first thing she spied was his fan).

A Fan

Twirling all around,
You can hear it's whirling sound.
Summer cannot hide.
Since then, she's been on a haiku roll....she's written several more!


Snowflakes

White, flaky, and cold.
Each one is so different.
Can't resist, must play!


Christmas Time

Baking, wrapping gifts,
Twinkling lights all over town!
Yummy smells, sleigh bells.


Taekwondo

Kicking, yelling....Yaaa!
Breaking boards....Smash! Bang! Shatter!
I am yellow belt!


Our Cats

Polly pocket, Run!
Clawing felines want to play.
Don't be swept away!

(Our cats LOVE to play with Joy's polly pockets...they get into them all the time and drag them all over the house....they want to play with them MUCH more than any of THEIR toys!)



And sometimes situations just call for a poem I guess! She's had a cold and I've been having her take medicine (which you know how kids LOVE that) so yesterday as I told her I needed to get her medicine...she created this haiku! lol!

Medicine

Have a cough and cold.
Dreaded medicine mom seeks!
Grosses me out, Yuch!


And in awhile we're off to gym for our homeschool co-op day! Joy will go to her last Art Class and I will go to the Lapbooking Class. We will then have our recitation and hope to see the robot perform that our robotics team created and then have skate day (we skate once a month on the gym floor). Then we're off to dance class!

Maybe next time, I'll have an interesting project to show you...until then...you'll find us......on some adventure that our book takes us! :)

And I wanted to tell you all about a great giveaway in honor of Char's daughter's birthday! Char of the Pickled Pepper Patch is giving away this wonderful prim toaster cover. Click on over and sign up today!