VBS, Hank the cow Dog and Sue Gregg cooking

I have been busy this last week in the evenings toting my two boys to a local church for a VBS program. It was wild. The church had the basement turned into a cave, the upstairs sanctuary decorated with all kinds of rock formations made out of cardboard, and playing squishyball outside to get rid of energy. It was called Sun Rock Kids Camp. Daniel had an awesome time and wanted it to carry on for another few weeks. I told him the Camp counselors were very tired too and definitely could not do this for another three weeks. He did not really have time to make friends but we did find out another homeschooling family we know from that church are moving in the fall to Eastern Europe to start serving on the mission field. They are moving to a secular environment but will be a light in a dark place.

I also would like to pray for a friend of mine Joanna C who has been battling breast cancer recently. She originally got sick with heaps of allergies 4 or 5 years ago when they discovered mold growing in the crawl space of their home at that time. Joanna, her husband and her 2 children all got terribly sick and have never really recovered totally since that time. The children are allergic to all kinds of foods and so never 'eat out' like most of us do, it is not worth the reactions to the foods. Joanna and her husband have the most amazing ministry as Pastors in their church and I am asking for prayer for the whole family, for her Doctors in Chicago and for the church family that are their support right now. Thanks.

I am currently reviewing some material for the Homeschool Crew on Hank the Cow Dog and some web page designing curriculum, as well as some healthy food recipes from Sue Gregg's website at http://www.suegregg.com/. She has lots of neat ideas on how to make your family's diet healthier all around. Drop on by her site and see if you feel inspired. I will be writing my reviews later this week for you all to read.

I am also looking at a few counseling options that have come up for my son to help him with his grief and anger issues over the death of his brother. I can not even imagine how this is in his mind, only my own. I am grieving and he does not know how/what to work through first. if things don't go his way he just gets outright mad! There are a few places in Indiana that may be able to help us out, one very expensive and the other on a donation basis.

I have to go now and prepare breakfast so we can scoot to church and say goodbye to one of our couples who are leaving to go to Honduras to serve on the mission field in a school and orphanage there for a year. Have a great Sunday at church and encourage your pastor for his job is a really tough one. He works 24/7 like all Moms do!!!

Summer days are buzzing by!

I have just realized it has been almost 12 days since I updated. Other homeschooling Moms do this just about every day. I just returned from a small town south of Indianapolis where I have left my oldest son to stay with good friends for a few days. He needs the interaction with other older boys who are in to the same stuff as him, as well as the wide open spaces that 15 acres of land offers! I do thank the Lord for these opportunities for him to do. I am also preparing him for a grief camp that he will get to attend later in August. This will help him cope some more with losing his brother. He has loads of anger related issues every day and some times just can not work himself around those tantrums.

In our mail box this morning we found some Hank the Dog items to be reviewed which includes a book and a board game. It should be interesting as my son has already taken an interest in the game of course. We are gradually learning HTML code for making web pages and we are both excited to see what we can do on this Blog in the future.

My little one loves playing in the paddle pool in the backyard, minus the bee stings he keeps getting! We have heaps of clover out in the yard and bees just love clover! His bee sting is healing with the help of the wonderful Essential Oils I have on hand. He loves to be outside like his ^^angel ^^ brother did too. Sunshine and water are both excellent for your health of course.

I am examining my health as my eating habits have slipped somewhat recently and so exercise and my greener diet are the goals for my days next week, as well as putting together a Unit Study on Trains. There are some available on the Internet already put together but I want to see if it is possible to do with all the resources I already have in my home. If anyone knows of a good resource or book for putting togehter a Unit study let me know - thanks.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I know in the Midwest it is going to be glorious and low humidity. I am looking forward to some one on one with my toddler tomorrow! Get out and support your local farmers at the Farmers Market near you or just to meet some new people who are growing healthy food for you to try out!

General Daily Summer Life

I have not updated in a week or so as it has been a tough one. We went to Brendon's graveside last week on Thursday just to visit where his body is but not his spirit. He would have been 6 years old on July 2nd and ready to start Kindergarten. It is hard to even think that some days. I had been to a funeral that morning for another 7 year old who was affected by the same Medulloblastoma cancer that Brendon had. This little boy Peter was also a living testimony of how to survive longer even though the Doctors prognosis was really bad.

I am also going to be attending another "Healing Oils of the Bible" class given by Brendon's homeopath next week and hoping to take some other friends to it. Essential oils are amazing and whether applied to the skin or swallowed in a capsule or diffused they can change your whole environment and health. I know of another child in southern Indiana who is 'annointed' with oils daily 3- 4 times per day and her cancer is in remission and her health is phenomenal especially as her oncology doctors said she would not survive. She is still here on earth. If you live locally in Indiana and want to come to this class please email me about it.

My oldest D, is still having a hard life coming to terms with the loss of his brother, my husband is doing okay at the moment, and my little toddler A, is growing and changing daily.

Neat example of unity unplanned to watch and enjoy

This is one of my favourite songs to hear and look what happens when it starts playing in a train station in Antwerp, Europe. Enjoy this clip from Utube it is so much fun to look at and show it to your children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq6b9bMBXpg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftammycardwell%2Enet%2Fcluttered%5Fdesk%2F%3Fm%3D20090&feature=player_embedded

Have a great fun day! We are enjoying our summer and the reading program we are involved in at our local library. There are some rather fun toys to claim with our reading points. My boys have always loved to read and do not need a toy to encourage in that either.

I believe reading to your children and with your children from a young age and even in the womb is so amazing. B, our ^^angel^^ boy could not read yet, but could sing and tell you stories that he had heard from when he was about two and a half years old. I was definitely looking forward to hearing him sing and read to me some more.

My oldest son who is seven years old now loves to tell you back a story, or whenever he has had an adventure he recites it back to you. He gives details even when you do not want to know them. I guess that some boys are like that, loud and detailed and full of energy.

We are enjoying the somewhat cooler weather in our area of the country these last few days and know the heat will be back for the holiday on Saturday.

We are home and so glad to be here with our own stuff I guess surrounding us. There really is no place like Home!

We enjoyed the River Museum as I said before but was not able to put a link in until we got home again. See the link below:

http://www.rivermuseum.com/index.cfm#images/hm_features_nightmuseum.jpg

Our boys are happy to be amongst their own cars again too. I am looking forward to doing some outings with my MOPS group, seeing friends over the 4th July Holiday, and trying to figure out a schedule for the rest of the summer as well as the school schedule for the fall. I have a few Unit Studies to put together to keep my ever active toddler and future 2nd grader interested in any kind of book work or learning. If it does not involve football then he is usually not interested.

I was also saddened this morning to find out another little infant of 6 months old had passed away from a congenital heart defect. Between all the cancer issues and childhood illnesses I think the Lord must be coming soon.

Vacation Blues or Heat Woes!

Just dropping by in here to let you know we are awol from home and somewhere in Wisconsin where the heat wave is massive. We think it is actually cooler at home. This part of the country only has temps like this for 3-4 days in August but it sure came early.

Yesterday we travelled to Dubuque, Iowa where there is a Maritime museum which details the history of the Mississippi river. It is an awesome Childrens hands on museum with lots of interactive exhibits and fish to see if aquarium that come right down to the floor. Our toddler thoroughly enjoyed that. Outside is a huge old boat that used to be used to carry cargo up and down the Mississippi river. These boats, barges and paddlesteamers usually only last up to 5 years because of all the intense movement they had to do on the river. We watched a short movie on the history of the boat industry on the Mississippi river including why they built locks to insure the rivers do not flood intensively any longer. Of course we all know this still happens from time to time. If you are ever in this area of the country it is well worth checking out.

We do look forward to going home and having our own bed to sleep in and the children their own stuff to play with. Talk to you later this week.

Julie

The 2009 Schoolhouse Planner Review

Wow! This was my first response on opening up this extremely comprehensive Planner. In my first few minutes of flipping through the pages I was amazed by the amount of detail and the excellent practical information provided throughout the pages.

When the time came to reading it through thoroughly I paid greater attention to the individual subjects outlined in the “Table of Contents.” I realized this could take me a while to read and perhaps this could not have arrived at a better time for our family. Our family has been in a chaotic state with a combination of hospital visits, doctors appointments, and the birth of a baby during these last two years, followed by the death of our five year old son in October 2008. We definitely require some restructuring and planning once again.

On reading slowly through the Planner there were many subjects covered that I have not begun to teach my son yet. One example is by Steve Demme of http://www.mathusee.com/ who wrote “Ten Keys to Success Learning Math in the Decimal System.” This article and the links to products and other math websites are all listed together.

Another favorite subject to read up on was from Molly Green at http://www.econobusters.com/. Molly shared on Fire Safety and what to do before this situation may happen to make the aftermath slightly easier. Having had personal experience after losing a home and belongings to a tornado some years ago this was a gentle reminder of documenting our home’s inventory and important papers once again and keeping the lists and video/photo records in another safe place. This information will especially help those out who live in areas prone to flooding and/or tornado areas.

Other items of interest to me were “American Government Basics” by Amanda Bennett where she outlines the details of how Federal, State and Local Governments are set up. Here is a link to her website where you can find the American Government Unit Study ( http://www.unitstudy.com/ ). “Learning to Spot the Planets” by Jay Ryan; Bible reference tables for the Miracles and Parables of Jesus; “Lap Books: A Creative Road to Retention” (we use Lap books in just about every subject). My son picks up his completed Lap Books weeks later and re-reads them over and over again, thus cementing the information once again.

After the calendar and article pages are all the homeschool forms that a Homeschool family could wish for. There are definitely some that I would never even think of, or that I would need perhaps. They cover everything from curriculum planning, courses of study, unit study, book reports for both elementary and higher education, to grading, report cards, progress reports, chore schedules for parents and children. I can honestly say there was nothing in this Planner that I do not like or need now or in the future years.

This Planner is a ‘bible’ or ‘dictionary’ in my opinion of homeschooling information. I suggest you visit The Old Schoolhouse Magazine website at http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/ and take a look at some sample pages of the Planner. There are additional modules that can be added for a cost of $7.95 per month for additional unit studies. The 2009 Homeschool Planner is selling for $39.00 at the following link http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191_193&products_id=10450.

If you are not totally sure after reading this review there are many other reviews for this product on the website or at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/
I truly think that for the amount of information that is obtained in this e-book it is well worth the price. The Forms included can be reused during another year with a different calendar perhaps. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this Planner and endeavor to make the best use of as much information from it as possible. Enjoy it too.