Merry Christmas from Dickson Academy!

FINALLY!!!! I'm not sure who was more interested in Christmas Break...me or the girls. I am tired of writing lesson plans, tired of teaching phonics, tired of wrestling a three year old during instruction time, tired of getting up early, and just in general tired. What? I'm allowed. This is a busy time of year for any family, but a work at home mom prepping for a major event who is homeschooling and directing a major musical production is even busier than I thought I would be.

Not to mention that we spent our entire first week getting the girls back and forth to practice for their own musical. They spent hours the first week of December working on their show. It was all well worth it. I personally thought I had the cutest little shepherd there ever was. I just wish we had been able to see Kadoodle better. The only way I could find her in my pictures was to look for the poofy headband I had bought her that day.

You can almost see Kadoodle in the center.
Look for the poofy headband!

Boo's earring business is keeping her busy and she is working very hard trying to keep up with orders there as well. I am a sewing fiend trying to prepare for my first Christmas Market with our local Market group. I worked the YMCA Market last year, but I had eight weeks to prepare for that. This year, I had TWO, yes that's right, two weeks to sew enough items to fill a booth and keep folks shopping for two weekends. Guess what? I made Christmas this year and next year, I'ma do it all again!

We also started Upward Cheerleading this month. So the girls had sign ups, clinics, and first practices all leading up to their season of cheering. This is Boo's fifth year cheering and Kadoodle's third.

This month also brought a special field trip into the local VW plant where Daddy works. We got to see where they make the cars, run some tests on them, and even play ball with a robot. Outdoor iceskating was a big hit, especially since it was 70+ degrees!

Of course, we had to take a day and go visit Santa at the mall. We were out for the holiday by that time, but since we started our break early, we were able to do other things that we ordinarily wouldn't have been able to do. We had a great Christmas season.

 I loved that when we were on our break, we still used our time to learn and continue several of our homeschool lessons. The girls didn't want to "do school" every day but they also didn't want to be without school the entire time either. We have decided to start back right after the New Year. See you next year!!

On TARGET in November

November brought us a potentially dangerous undertaking. Boo decided that 4H is the thing for her and is pursuing an education in archery. We are staying clear of her for the time being! Just kidding, she is learning a lot and for someone as small as she is, just drawing the bow is a major undertaking. We took her and bought a small beginner bow to practice with at home, but the bow she will eventually use for competition will have to be borrowed for now. I wonder if it is acceptable to do "fund raisers" for home schoolers? We need supplies and equipment too. Maybe I will contact my local Celebrating Home Designer and hit her up for fundraising brochures. Dickson Academy needs some fundraising LOVE! :)

November has also brought a lot of extra classroom time in music as both older girls prepare for our annual Worship Arts Link for Kids (WALK) Christmas Musical. Boo has a drama part as well as a solo and both girls will be singing in the adult Christmas Concert as well.

And of course, just like the public schools, we are taking a break for the Thanksgiving Holiday. When the photos came back from our Fall Trip to Indiana, Mama did NOT like what she saw and so we are all now on a journey to fitness as part of our regular classroom schedule. We are learning about portion control, proper eating habits, and getting daily exercise. We also have done a little research into carbonated sodas and they have been officially nixed from our home (at least for Mama anyway). As a result of a lot of this new information, Boo and I did some research on freezing herbs to use fresh ones instead of processed ones. She also learned a lot Thanksgiving weekend as she cooked the entire Thanksgiving meal for the whole family.

By the end of the month, Mama had lost her first 12 pounds and was much happier with how she felt than she had in October.

We have made a lot of good use of our chalkboard as well. This month we worked on some writing assignments and discussed better ways to say certain words. Here is just a small example of our work.

Only a few weeks are left until Christmas break and both the teacher and the students are looking forward to some out of the classroom down time. However, we have decided that we are going to spend some of our time learning some new skills. In October, Boo received some jewelry making supplies for her birthday. Since then she has been creatively working on a new jewelry line that is available on Mama's website, www.facebook.com/OneDivaThreeDolls and is found under the album "Bailey's Baubles and Bits." We are also doing a lot of research to plan our homemade Christmas gifts and what we are going to give each other this year.

October in Indiana

The girls looking over the falls at Cataract

We decided not to take a "Fall Break" as the county schools do every year. Instead we opted for a week long field trip. And yes, I know that is what many public school parents do with their children on fall break. I even know some who use the opportunity to do educational field trips instead of just, "We're going to Disney and calling it a field trip." Although, Disney has an amazing homeschool education program and a homeschool field trip day every year that we are definitely going to check out next year.



Learning the ins and "outs" of outdoor plumbing

So, when our county schools went on Fall Break, we packed up "Stella" (our Routan) and headed for Indiana. Why Indiana, you ask, when there are so many great things to do in Tennessee? Well, I will tell you. While I may be southern bred, I am Hoosier Born and that is where I went for field trips as a child, so why not? Also, I really wanted one last chance to visit the property where I grew up before a new house was built where ours used to stand. See, in February, my parents' home of 30+ years burned to the ground, taking with it all of my childhood mementos (the fire started in my old bedroom). So off we went on our Indiana adventure. I made Boo research Indiana and learn about the places we were going to visit and we had just completed our History Unit on Prairie times and one room school houses. I giggled when they said, "Our school has LOTS of rooms."

Our first stop in Indiana was, of course, Grandma and Papaw's new house. We are so blessed by how God has blessed them in their new home. It is beautiful and SO much closer to everything and everyone they need. I am so glad they are minutes from the hospital instead of more than an hour (Daddy has a heart condition). They are minutes from my sister and their church. They are much closer to my aging grandparents and my Grandma. And we were so excited to be there.



Mama at the "Lower Falls"

Of course that excitement only lasted as long as it took to discover where the closest adventure was. So after an evening of rest we headed off on our adventures. Places we visited were: Cataract Falls, the Cataract Old General Store, Lieber State Park, Conner Prairie Historical Village, a pumpkin patch, and an apple orchard. After our trip to Indiana, we capped off our month in Alabama visiting family and working on a real horse farm. We also visited our favorite animal friend, Cisco, and took a few rides.



At the Cataract General Store

At Cataract Falls, we took several pictures of the girls looking over the falls. We learned about erosion and the local water shed. Cataract Falls is the largest water fall in Indiana. At the Old General Store, we got lost in the myriad of historical objects on display. The girls enjoyed Coca Cola in glass bottles out of an old fashioned reach in cooler and pickles from the barrel. We giggled at the old sign on the wall from the door that read, "We are out, leave the money under the door" and talked about a time when it was safe to do things like that. There were spectacles, old post cards, widgets, gadgets, mustache wax, scissors, and more in their display cases. We had a great time.

One of my greatest joys as a homeschool parent is
seeing my girls walk hand in hand.

The girls visited with other homeschoolers as well as grandparents and other family. We had a great time attending AWANA at another church and even completed sections. My favorite photo op of the week was this picture of the three of them walking hand in hand down the walkway that used to be the main entrance to the park. After walking the old covered bridge, they decided to take a walk "just the sisters". I was lucky enough to snap this precious shot as they walked off. I think it really sums why we are homeschooling. They are already growing so much closer to each other.



With our homeschool buddy
in IN (our cousin, Caleb)

Sweet Nayners in Pioneer Dress

Kadoodle in pioneer dress
and her homeschool shirt

Conner Prairie Historical Village was probably the most expensive field trip we will take this year, but it was worth every penny. I will admit that I was so frustrated with the fact that if they had been with a brick and mortar school, their admission would have been only $5.00 each and mine would have been free as their teacher. They offer no discounts or special privileges for homeschool families so it was nearly $80 for the four of us to go, but like I said, still worth every penny. We took this trip with my sister and her three children who are also homeschooled which made it much more fun! My teenage nephew and neice (who are a senior and freshman in high school) were a great asset to have as they had been to the Village many times throughout their school lives. I especially enjoyed my nephew and Kadoodle as they are both in first grade and experience things similarly. However, Kadoodle is much more laid back than her cousin so she and I ended up taking a much longer look at everything. The rode old fashioned wooden horses, dipped beeswax candles, Kadoodle roped a bed, they all milked the cow. It was a grand adventure. One of my favorite picture moments was the "dress up" section where they all had the opportunity to dress in pioneer fashions. Nayners stole the show with some of her finds.



Learning how to stencil. We learned that in
pioneer days, people used these stencils for
decorating their walls when wallpaper was too expensive.
Thankfully no one came home and tried this on MY walls!



Kadoodle dipping candles









She roped the bed all by herself!

Nayners was obsessed with milking the cow!



Typical sister silliness!

The girls also enjoyed an exhibit on one of the first balloon mail delivery locations. The balloon "ride" does seem to be more enjoyable for Kadoodle than Boo. It would appear that Boo is afraid of heights. Not to worry though. This particular balloon is firmly rooted to the ground.

At the Apple Orchard wearing their "Homeschool Diva" shirts

At the end of the week, we packed Stella once again and headed home. The girls got tired of sight word videos and such so there was quite a bit of Barbie and Disney on that return trip, but thankfully no one got carsick, so maybe there will be an opportunity to do this again some day.

Visiting Cisco at Pinedale Farm

Later that month we kidnapped Daddy on one of his RARE days off and took him to Springville, AL to Pinedale Farm where our PeePaw and Marilyn now reside. Their enormous estate and working horse farm was a great joy for the girls. Of course, seeing their buddy, Cisco, was a big deal as well. The girls explored the farm, groomed horses, read stories with Marilyn, and got to push the WildKat when it ran out of gas! Of course, lunch and treats at Chick-fil-A with PeePaw were a big bonus as well.


A great way to end the month of October

Y'all come back now, ya hear?!

I'm not a slacker, I've been investing!

So, I was talking about my blog the other day and I realized that I quit writing just after the school year really got into swing. Well, there is a very good reason for that! I was busy, you know, teaching my kids! But we did learn so much and I hope that some of it will be an encouragement to someone so I am going to re-cap a month at a time and share our journey.

First, let me explain why I quit writing. When we got into a routine, I discovered that I could not EVER sit at the computer while the girls were doing seat work. It was the same principle I knew when I was teaching in a classroom. When my back is turned, NOTHING gets done. So I stopped writing so much. Then my computer broke and I couldn't do any writing. Then I started writing something else and got kind of obsessed with that. A while back our Minister of Missions who is also our director of our orchestra and student choir, whose wife is one of my best encouragers in this journey, and whose family is very dear to me...well, he asked me to do something. I said no. Three times (kinda like Peter, ya know?). Then I said, well, I will pray about it and God said, YES!!! So I spent some time writing something else and God took that and turned it into a full length Musical Drama entitled We Are The Light that our student choir performed in January. I just recently got my copyright documentation on it and it's registration with the Library of Congress. Now for some that may seem trivial, but for me it was huge. So I spent MONTHS working on that while I was teaching, running a business, and picking up the slack for my precious husband who works two full time jobs so that we can stay on this crazy journey.

So, I have A LOT to share with you about what I learned and where God has taken us and where we have yet to go! I hope you will be blessed.

Having "school" out and about

We finished school in record time this afternoon so we went to Hobby Lobby to get some school supplies for tomorrow. I never really realized what a wealth of learning there was there. lol

Boo worked on fractions, percentages, addition, subtraction, and multiplication AND ended up with a cute stuffed toy! A lady let us in front of her in line and after double questioning if she was sure, we proceeded. Boo had already estimated her price by getting out $5.00 (the price of the item was $4.99). Then we had a discussion about tax (ours is HIGH, 9.25%) and the fact that she would need almost fifty cents more. After seeing her face fall ($5.00 was about all she had), I remembered that wonderful thing from Hobby Lobby called the 40% coupon. I had just used my phone to buy mine so I gave it to her and told her she got 40% off. I watched the wheels turn as she thought out loud "five dollars, 5x4 is 20, add a zero, that's two dollars...THREE DOLLARS! I have more than enough!"

She proudly put her toy, her coupon and her dollar, seven quarters and three dimes on the counter and waited. Of course, her total was $3.27 so she rustled in her bag for another quarter and came out with two dimes. I quickly pulled her two dimes together with the other three and pulled a quarter down. "Oh, I see what you did there," she said. "Yes, now you have $3.25," I told her. She proudly produced two pennies from her little bag and handed them to the cashier (who has known her since infancy). Then she turned to the sweet lady behind her her and smiled. "Sorry that took so long," she said. "We are homeschooled now and everything is a learning experience." The sweet lady behind us looked at her and said, "Good for you. That's how EVERYONE should be." I was so proud of her response.

Later we went to Sam's for some groceries and stopped to have a snack. A gentleman came by and spoke to the girls fussing over them (it happens a lot, they are REALLY pretty). He asked Boo how old she was and she told him she was eight. He commented that she was very small for eight (she is). To which SHE replied, "I'm actually almost nine. I've always been small; I was born very, very, very early. It's called premature." He laughed and asked her if she was in school. She looked at me like, "poor man, he just asked the silliest question." THEN she looked at him and said, "Of course I'm in school. I'm homeschooled. We are ALWAYS in school."

I think this might have been one of my proudest homeschool mom moments yet. :)

 

(Kadoodle designed the above graphic. It is Psalm 32:8)

Sticks and Stones

Today we had a little object lesson about words. I thought I would share. One of the reasons many parents choose to pull their children out of school and home school them is bullying. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world and kids can, indeed, be cruel. One of the things we love so much about home schooling is that our oldest child is no longer experiencing that on a daily basis for being short, young or smart. I hate to hear about a child I love going through difficult times because of the opinion of others in regards to their hair, skin, clothing, weight, etc. I hate to hear children make fun of each other.

 

Recently, I discovered an amazing resource for my budding tween (yes, as much as I hate it, statistically, she IS a tween and is beginning to exhibit many typical "tween" traits). A friend told us about an event called Secret Keeper Girl, LIVE! and they went last year. We are planning on going this fall. I highly encourage any mom of girls ages 9-12 to check it out. www.secretkeepergirl.com

 

We read Dannah Gresh's book, "How to Keep the Little in Your Girl" as well. (Pick up your own copy here, http://purefreedom.org/bookSixWays.htm) Dannah's book is about teaching young girls self esteem in Jesus. She focuses on three things: purity, modesty, and a healthy body image. After all, we ARE all made in the image and likeness of our Holy Father and when we hate our bodies, what does that say for our image of HIM? Anyway, it was part of what spurred us on in our decision to homeschool. If you have boys, check out her book, "How to Keep the Good in Your Boy" because it is an excellent resource as well. (http://purefreedom.org/bookSixWaysBoys.htm)

 

Anyway, I digress. Our object lesson. Last night after a little disagreement our middle child quoted, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." I stopped her. I explained to her that words could hurt more than sticks and stones ever did. I explained (as best I could) that while bruises and bones heal, a deep down hurt that came from evil speaking could do more long term damage than any stick ever could. She seemed to get it, but then again, she's only six (almost) so I wasn't sure.

 

 

 So this morning we took a paper plate and turned it upside down (the other side has Easter eggs on it and wouldn't show as well, hey, we're frugal.). Then I gave Kadoodle a small tube of toothpaste and told her to squeeze it onto the plate.

 

 

Then I gave it to Boo and told her to do the same. Then I took a crack at it.

 

 

Then after we had all squeezed, I looked at them and told them to put the toothpaste back into the tube. They giggled. I didn't. Then they realized I wasn't kidding. Kadoodle gave it a try and really thought she could do it. She succeeded in smearing the toothpaste all over the plate. "Ack!" I said. "Now it's even worse!" Again, more giggling. Then I looked at them both and explained that when we speak ugly to others, it's like squeezing the tube of toothpaste. The words come out, but they can't go back in and when we try, the mess just gets bigger. Then we sat down and discussed what Jesus wants us to do with our words. Not only was it a good lesson for them, but for me as well. I am preparing to begin an endeavor that will challenge me on many levels and each challenge will bring a choice as to how I respond with my words. My theme verse is as follows.

 

Revelations for a Friday

I got a lovely surprise last week. My parents came in from Indiana for a surprise visit. They were here for almost a week. Which means we had to do school each day with them present. I got my first experience of what it was like to do that (surprisingly easy). We did really well. But beyond that, I got the greatest compliment on our day off this week. More about that later.

 

We had A LOT of family in from out of town this past week. In addition to my parents from Indiana, Hubby's dad finally finished his contract up North and was able to move here to be with Mom full time. He brought HIS mom to live in a nearby assisted living facility. Because Grammy was moving into town, Grandpa's brother from Northern CA, his sister from mid-CA, and his sister from MD all came to town to help settle their mom. So, Grandpa is finally here (haven't seen him since June), Grammy is finally here (haven't seen her in over a year), two great aunts and a great uncle are visiting AND Grandma and Papaw are visiting. I am amazed we got school done at all! In the midst of that we had a big party for Nayney's third birthday, mine and Hubby's 17th anniversary and Grandpa's retirement party. We even managed to mix in a little lesson on
Christopher Columbus while making breakfast for Papaw!

 

 

Yes, that is an egg standing on its end on our kitchen counter. No, it is not hardboiled and no, it is not supported by anything. It comes from an old story about Christopher Columbus and goes right along with the entire homeschooling concept...

 

 

I was asked at the retirement party why we decided to homeschool. Of course, if you have read my blog, I started this adventure with the reasons why we decided this was what is best for us. But this time I was asked by a family member who happens to be a brick and mortar teacher. What to say? How to answer? Hmmm...

 

I began by giving our reasons (they haven't changed) and got interrupted by a child. I dealt with that. Then we went on for a few more minutes before I got interrupted by a child. Dealt with that. A few more minutes of talking before I, yes, you guessed it, got interrupted by a child. Don't get me wrong. My children weren't interrupting an adult conversation (not that they don't do that on occasion). They were just being children at play who occasionally had to be redirected, corrected, kept safe, disciplined, or just generally taken care of in the way one takes care of small children. By the time we were done, I was exhausted, but still felt like I had a good time and that Hubby had gotten plenty of "grown up talk" with his dad and other relatives. I wondered later if I had messed up the conversation. I wonder sometimes what others think of the way we parent our children. I wonder sometimes how we measure up to others. I know we aren't supposed to do that, but we do. A friend recently told me that she doesn't read blogs because she has a tendency to try to measure herself against the blogger's parenting or homeschooling or housekeeping style. I get that. I also get that this business of parenting while homeschooling can be a challenge and a blessing. Someone posted this on facebook today and I loved it...

 

 

I totally agree!! But homeschooling my kids has done some other amazing things for me. I got this message from one of the aunts after she went home... "Really enjoyed spending time with you, Bill, and the girls! You & Bill are a great compliment to each other and you are raising 3 beautiful girls! I like your parenting skills that I observed this past weekend! Miss ya!" Wow! Talk about a compliment! It really made my "we're running late so let's get busy" morning shine!

 

Then of course, there was an added benefit. Even with my precious parents here, my girls were constantly crawling into my lap to snuggle, stopping to give me a hug or kiss, or coming to me first with every need. To some, that might seem like a trial, but to me it is nectar. To know that my children know that Mommy is their first stop for comfort and necessities is a great blessing to me. It is yet another reason why I do what I do. It is why I love what I do!

 

Oh! And I got a little something extra this week...a new pair of shoes. Maybe ACTUALLY homeschooling in my high heels isn't such an improbability after all! :)