Sick baby, sleeping in and changes.

Maggie has been so sick with RSV.  It started out as a little cold, then she got Strep, then she tested positive for RSV.  She continued to get worse and worse and it was very scary. There is no medicine for RSV ( a virus) and breathing treatments don't really help.  Maggie's breathing was very labored and her respirations got up to  57 breaths/min - that's fast !  She had a terrible, hacking cough and a high fever. Why is it every time I start to think about how healthy my children are and how they never get sick - they get sick ?

But, she is starting to feel much better !! Her fever is gone,her breathing is back to normal and the cough is getting a little better.  I am just glad she is walking around and playing after spending three days sleeping in my arms.  We even got out and went to the park ( forgot my camera) and Maggie loved it ! She went down the slide a million times and even walked fearlessly on the swing bridge at the playground. And the weather was perfect !

We all stayed up way to late last night watching a movie ( National Treasure). So, after breakfast this morning, the boys made pallets in the kitchen and went back to sleep.  Why they didn't just go back to their bed instead of laying on the kitchen floor is what I want to know.  Today was President's Day so they didn't have school.

The boys are really trying to get all the sleeping in they can get because next year......

...they are going to school.  Yep.  This is my last year home schooling them. We have had a lot of fun these last four years, but it is time to move on.  We are all excited ( well, Walker and Will are not happy about getting up early).

 Maggie will also be starting school - Two year old preschool three days a week !  I think it will be very good for her speech development and she LOVES playing at Mother's Day out so far. So lots of changes for next year and an empty, quiet house that I will have to get used to. There are definitely seasons in a mom's life and I feel like I'm about to drastically change climates !

Summer Time

We are officially starting  our summer break today.  The boys will still have to read and do a page of math every day which they remind me about a million times that it's summer and they shouldn't have to do math or read.  They have worked so hard in school this year that a couple months off of doing nothing will not benefit, but hurt their studies. ( I am not popular around here right now).

Maggie is starting to really babble and "talk".  She works so hard to get sound out of her mouth and it just is the cutest thing ! Sometimes she "talks" for a long time, just babbling away about something.  I started asking her questions and she replys with a  little ughhs and ghaas.  Nothing recognizable, but she is breaking her silence and we are so amazed at her.  She really likes to "talk" to Charlie the dog - so funny !!

Living History

Today, we visited Fort Toulouse-Fort Jackson State Historic park for Alabama Frontier Day.

We love learning about history through reenactments- called Living History.

The boys learned a lot about life in Alabama in the 18-19th century and even "met" Andrew Jackson and Davey Crockett

The French fort, Fort Toulouse, is a re-creation of the last or 3rd French fort built between 1749 and 1751, and is a National Historic Landmark.

The American fort, Fort Jackson, is built on the site of the original fort in 1814.  

It is nestled between the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers and is scattered with beautiful Water Oak trees filled with Spanish moss.

This is the La Compagnie Franche de la Marine du Fort Toulouse, a living history organization dedicated to researching, recreating, and reenacting the everyday life of the French Marines, their families, and the Native allies. They reenacted a military training exercise and fired their musket's.

A 1750's French Marine jacket - Very Handsome
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Native American Reenactors representing many different Indian Tribes
They performed a ceremonial Indian dance around a fire.

A Magician reenactor entertaining the boys.  They were amazed at his tricks !
Notice the beautiful two hundred year old water oak with Spanish moss in the background .
 This place is Amazing and so is Home Schooling !

Why I love HOME-SCHOOLING

It really is feeling like fall here. Yesterday, we awoke to very cool temperatures. It was around 60 degrees at 8:00 AM, and who wouldn't want to have school outside ?







The boys took a little break to practice their archery.




Reading a good book outside is so much more enjoyable !

We did most of our subjects on the back porch while we listened to birds sing, woodpeckers hammer on a tree and lizards scurry up the brick wall. It is days like these that I feel completely BLESSED ! I certainly don't deserve to have all that I have been given, but God in His Grace has allowed all my DREAMS to come true.

But by the Grace of God I am what I am... 1 Corinthians 15:10

Fall Break

(Picture taken Fall 2005)


The "Beams of Light" Home-School is taking a Fall Break !!
We are taking a small break from school to spend some time with our family and friends, go fishing,sew,eat too much and relax.

We have been schooling for 8 weeks now and we are loving our SonLight Curriculum !!
This has been our best year of schooling and even the boys have commented on how "fun" school has been this year. Thanks to SonLight, I am so much more organized and consistent. We are so pleased with the readers and read a-louds. The boys BEG for me to keep reading ! Geography is taught in such an interesting way, and we nearly always go to the globe or map with every thing we are studying.

I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home and snuggle on the couch with my boys and read about missionaries in China like Gladys Aylward or timeless poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. We have seen the fruit of having family Bible study time in the morning and eating meals together around our kitchen table. I see my boys developing into best friends and enjoying each others company. My heart is filled with GRATITUDE and CONTENTMENT for such an amazing opportunity to home-school.


Be still and rest in the Lord... Psalm 37:7

Back To School

We officially start back to school tomorrow at 8:30 AM. No more sleeping in for us !
I am using SonLight Curriculum this year and am so excited. All the lesson plans are already done for me !!

The boys are really ready to go back to school ( gasp !). We do A LOT of read-alouds and it makes learning fun and interesting. I am amazed at how much they remember too. The other day some one was talking about getting a surveyor to come look at some land and Walker said " hey, George Washington was a surveyor !". It's funny the things they remember.

This will be our 3rd year home-schooling and we are loving it. It's not always perfect or easy, but it has been such a blessing to all of us.

what we're reading

 

Schooling In The Summer

 

 

We have moved to the kitchen table this summer for our school work. I have been working on a summer " schedule" to help the boys stay on track with their school work. They worked so hard all year, I don't want them to loose it ! So, our loose - summer schedule is: Morning - Reading short readers (some Rod and Staff Bible and Nature Readers), one page from their math book (Math-U-See), and One sentence dictation. Afternoon - Weekly library visits and we plan to spend a lot of time outside on the slip and slide, trampoline and at the pool. Science will be: observing nature outside (bugs, the stars, rain). In the evening, we plan on bike rides, trips to Calloway garden and lots of T-Ball games at the ball park. Evenings will be cooking out hamburgers, home-made ice cream on the back porch and read -a-louds. (We are currently reading Caddie Woodlawn) I'm also doing a little extra chore training this summer, so I can add onto the boys daily chore chart in the fall.

Living History !

We love History, so a chance to actually SEE some living history is a treat ! Saturday, we visited the Lee County Historical Society in Loachapoka, Alabama. There was blacksmithing, open hearth cooking, gardening, dulcimer music, gourd painting, and lots of other activites during the day. The feature activity was a group of local, Civil War enactors who set up their tent, displayed their weapons, and engaged in a little friendly fire. The group represented the 28th Alabama Infantry Company.

Reading to Charlie !

 

I read about a new reading program that uses dogs to help make reading more enjoyable. The dogs go through a 6 week training period and learn to sit and "listen" while children read to them. There is just something about reading to a cute, fluffy dog that makes reading fun. The program has been very successful in helping struggling readers. So, since we have "the best dog in the world", I thought I would start our own Dog Reading Program. The boys didn't complain one bit when I asked them to read a story to Charlie ( our dog ). They did look at me funny though !

I love the Library !

In this time of economic recession we are all looking to save money, simplify things and not be so wasteful. I believe it is a needed season in my life to evaluate how and why I am spending money that I don't really have to. Thus, I am singing the praise of our local Library. I am able to get so many good homeschool reference books for the boys, brand NEW cookbooks and organizing books for me....for FREE !! I am always blown away by the fact that it is free, available to everyone in our little community. Yeah for the Library !!!

Simple Things

I was inspired by a post on Heritage Schoolhouse (SEE SIDE BAR). My boys loved doing this craft today. It was our first day back to school,after the holidays, and I needed some crafty inspiration. The kids especially loved to break the crayons ( a very boy thing to do) and pick out different color combinations. The crayon nibbles - as we called them- turned out great and we used them in art today to draw with. We also gave some away as impromptu gifts to some little ones.