La Clase Divertida (The Fun Class)

Los Vocales en Espanol

We are learning Spanish. The program we are using is La Clase Divertida. One of the first thing the girls learned was the vowels in Spanish (hence the name of the song). The progam came with an instructional DVD, a CD with all the songs and lessons for them to listen to, a fun workbook and a teacher's book. My girls listen to their CD at night when they are going to bed. They really like this song.

We got to record it on Curly's new Flip Video Camera. She won it in the "Disney Be a Hometown Movie Surfer" Sweepstakes when the Disney The Christmas Carol Train Tour can to our town. Hopefully she will be on the Disney Movie Surfers website by next week. We are going to have fun video taping segments to add to the blog. For now, enjoy.

All I Can Say Is . . .

PREACH IT PASTOR! Voddie Baucham

Catching Rainbows

I LOVE RAINBOWS!



This was a full rainbow I saw from my front yard. I ran in, grabbed my camera and told the kids to come outside. Of course, I had to take the "catching a rainbow" pictures.







We were on our way home from Fort Walton Beach, when I saw this rainbow stretch across the road. I had to take some pictures. Excuse the dirty windows.

Jaguar Game

Meeting Jackson DeVille


Meeting some of the Jaguar Cheerleaders


Waiting for game to start



This is what a 6 year old does when she is bored at a football game . . . Enjoy.






















By the way, the Jaguars beat the Redskins!

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine

I really enjoyed our visit to the Castillo de San Marcos. I think it was because I had prepared in advance for the trip.

Before we went to the Castillo de San Marcos, I downloaded the Junior Ranger Program Booklet from the National Park Service (NPS) website. It has information about the fort and the NPS. I incorporated it in our history lessons. A couple of days before we went, we completed the sections that could be done at home. The rest we finished during our visit to the Castillo de San Marcos. (You can get the booklets on site but it is a lot of work to do while there. They do give the option of mailing it in to receive your badges.)



The booklet directed us to places that we probably would not have gone.

For their Jr. Ranger Badge, the girls had to ask a park ranger and a park volunteer a question, it opened up a dialogue that gave us more information than we could have gotten from reading all the signs.


Curly is holding the device that lights the flint on the cannon.


Hubby enjoys sharing with Curly.


Curly enjoys listening to her father.


Angel does her Vanna White impersonation while showing us the cannon.

Now to my favorite part of the entire Castillo de San Marcos visit . . .

. . . the cannon demonstration.
Sorry for shaky video, holding onto daughters hand while taping.

When the girls showed a ranger their books, they both received a Jr. Ranger Badge and a very nice certificate. Because they wrote a letter about their visit to the fort (an activity in the booklet), they also received a Jr. Ranger Patch.

I will tell you I was impressed. I thought they would get a cheesy sticker and maybe a photocopied certificate.


A tired group leaves the Castillo de San Marcos.

Side Note:
My husband was curious about a show that he had seen about the Castillo de San Marcos. The show was Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel. According to a park ranger, they totally manipulated the footage they took. They edited answers from one question and put with another question. They misrepresented the facts--only two people died at the Castillo and both are buried in cemeteries on the other side of town. The "bodies' (as they are referred to in the show) that were found were in the area where they threw away trash and was, as gross as it is, amputated body parts. Think about it, that is how they treated a musket wound, amputate and throw away. Drafts that they felt, were from air shafts not some "ghostly" presence and their most dramatic video--someone walking with a lantern could easily be explained as lights from a boat in the water. Totally sensationalize their visit at the Castillo.

Schooner Freedom, St. Augustine

This was the first field trip of the year with the Arlington Explorers home schooling group.

First off, let me say that I am not overly fond of water--in fact, being on any boat scares the dickens out of me. So why did I plan, of all things, a boat excursion for our homeschooling group. Honestly, at the time, I don't know. But as it got closer to the day of the field trip, I got more and more excited. We were going to be on the type of boat that was used during the War of 1812 and the Civil War. How cool would that be? Still I was a little apprehensive--but we were going to have fun.

Before we even got on the boat, we got to see dolphins in the water. OK, the day was starting off good.



As I met the crew, I was starting to feel even better. The crew was fantastic--they mingled with the kids and let them help with some of the tasks of sailing a schooner.





My family had an experience that they would never forget.


By the way, that gorgeous woman is my mom!

Curly and Angel got to hoist the jib sail. Curly said that it was real hard to pull. Oh, we also learned a way to remember the sails: JIB STAYS beFORE the MAIN. I think I got that right--I will have to ask Curly in the morning.



Curly asked Captain John about the knots on the boat. He said that he tied most of them.



He then called her to him to show her how to tie a hitch . . .



. . . and splice two pieces of rope together.


The Captain and Crew are wearing Naval Uniforms (I don't remember the year).



He gave Curly the task of splicing two pieces of rope together



SUCCESS!



Even my husband enjoyed talking to Captain John.

THANK YOU CAPT. JOHN, SARAH AND THE REST OF SCHOONER FREEDOM CREW FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!

If you would be interested in experiencing the Schooner Freedom yourself, you can contact them at (904) 810-1010 or at schoonerfreedom@aol.com or check out their website.

All I want for Christmas is . . .

My Two Front Teeth . . . and a couple of bottom teeth, too!



Another sign of my little one growing up. About a month ago, Angel lost quite a few teeth. I was a little worried because she had these gaping holes in her mouth. But I was told not to be alarmed. It is a month later--she turns 7 in a couple of weeks and, much to my relief, her teeth are starting to grow in.

Have some wonderful things I want to blog about . . .

but they really wouldn't have much impact without the pictures. Finally, I was able to buy a cable off ebay. This is the first time I have bought something like this from ebay so I pray it goes ok.

As soon as I get my cable, I will show you my youngest without her teeth. It is too cute. Also, the girls catching a rainbow, Jaguar game fun, Curly's Lego creations, our field trip to the Fort Walton Armament Museum, our wonderful trip to Saint Augustine and the absolutely fantastic time we had on the Schooner Freedom and the Castillo de San Marcos and, of course, pictures of the modified workbox system I am using for homeschooling this year.

Hope to be blogging with pictures within 7 to 11 business days. :-)

Strategies for Addition and Subtraction Facts from Math Mammoth

Last Weekend

Last weekend, we went with my mom to go see a preview of the new TinkerBell movie: TinkerBell and the Lost Treasure. I will say I enjoyed the movie, but the highlight of my trip was meeting the man who did the voice of Yakko Warner, Rob Paulson. By the way, he did a couple of the voices for the TinkerBell movie. It was so cool because I introduced my girls to the Animaniacs a couple of years ago and Curly picked them to watch a couple of days before the trip. We had no idea that he was going to be there. I think my girls were the only young ones who cheered when they introduced him as the voice of Pinky and Yakko Warner.

He started asking where people were from first "United States", "Canada", then "Mexico, Panama" and then he completed the song. Curly was so excited because she remembered this song from the day before. Then we got to meet him in person and get his autograph. He was so sweet with the girls.



I wish I could show pictures of the weekend but my USB cable to my camera broke and I have to order a new one before I can download my picures. BUMMER!