Blessings in Disguise

Hoggetowne Medieval Faire

We have so much fun going to the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire. 

We go on Student's Day--not only is the price great, but they have many educational talks, as well as, the various performances. 

I really enjoy the talks on armory and jousting. 

We learned about the type of horse that was used in war and how each part of the armor worked. We also learned that what was allowed in a fighting situation might be considered unacceptable in a joust.

I did not realize how many rules were involved in jousting.

At the end of his talk, he took questions from the group. I asked about the vision with the helmet on.

He asked for a volunteer to try on the helmet. I was very surprised when Angel raised her hand.

I was even more surprised when she did not freak out when he attached the helmet on.

Here he is showing the extremely limited field of vision when you are wearing a helmet. 

Then . . . I wish I had a picture of this but it happened so fast.

He asked "With such a limited field of vision, why would you wear a helmet?" Before any one could answer, he pulled a broadsword out of the ground and hit the top of the helmet. I think you could hear the "thunk" out in the parking lot. I kind of stared . . . not really believing he had done what I saw him do. I thought the knight that was with him for the demonstration was going to die. He had to walk away, he could not believe that my daughter was just whacked on the head with a broadsword. He looked at me and my husband and we started to chuckle (after all, I have no problem with a hands-on approach to learning something) and then he started to chuckle. The helmet was removed and he asked her if she was hurt . . . she said no. And then she got to sit down. No one asked any questions after that . . . wonder why? 

I wonder if he knew we were homeschoolers? I think I would worry about the school getting upset if that was attempted on a public school kid.

I will tell you something now--my daughter doesn't argue about wearing bike/scooter/skateboard helmets. I just remind her of the knight at Hoggestowne Medieval Faire.

Crochet Sock Monkey Blanket

This image courtesy of redheart.com

Sock Monkey Blank from Red Heart

Happy Father's Day

Made a neat Father's Day gift that we found on Pinterest. Angel made the Tie Fighter cards to direct him to his gift. Enjoy the pictures.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Daddy was sent on a mission to ambush the rebel base.

Down the hallway . . .

Past the living room . . .

 

Mission accomplished!

Curly and Angel helped make the gifts. There is Yoda Soda, Leia Buns, and VaderAde.

The blanket was for Daddy's birthday last week.

Busy week . . .

Taken in my Grandparents' backyard around 40 years ago. FYI: I am second from the right.

Between home schooling, getting my oldest ready for Youth Camp, making the over 7 hour round trip drive to pick up my Mom, and helping at a garage sale for my daughters' American Heritage Girls, I have had a busy week. So, I thought I would post a picture of my Grandpa and my brother and sisters. Have a great weekend and a blessed Sunday.

Big Ol' Sweet Iced Tea

Star Wars Snowflakes

Star Wars Snowflakes written by Anthony Herrera

Go to his blog and check them out. 

They are totally awesome and guess what? You can download the templates for FREE. 

Check out comments to find more templates.

Note: banner is not mine.

It is from Anthony Herrera blog--I wanted you to see some of his awesome snowflakes!

Amazing Wonders Aviation & Tomorrow Clubs

At the end of this month, my church will be having their VBS.

My concern is that many churches and parents feel that VBS is a babysitting service.

VBS can be a wonderful outreach tool--many families will come to VBS that do not regularly go to church. I want every child who attends VBS to have a good time--but most importantly I want them to hear how awesome God is and that they can be saved from the punishment of their sins through the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. If nothing else, I want to sow the seeds of salvation in the hearts of these children--and by extension, their family.

That is why I choose the Tomorrow Clubs as the recipient of our mission offering.

Tomorrow Clubs is a weekly ministry that now reaches more than 11,500 Ukrainian children across the country by sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. 70 - 80% of these children do not attend church. The ministry is run completely by local Ukrainian staff. Over 400 clubs operate on a weekly basis, staffed by 1,500 Ukrainian volunteers. Tomorrow Clubs partner with local churches in Ukraine to support and operate these clubs. When children and their parents become interested in attending church services, Tomorrow Club leaders connect them to local congregations.

If you would like to support Tomorrow Clubs financial, click here.

Please pray that God is lifted up during our VBS.

SOME OF OUR VBS Prep

We have been working hard to get VBS ready, I would like to thank the ladies who helped me with this 8 foot x 12 foot backdrop that is going to be in our kindergarten class. 

I love the jelly fish -- they were made by cutting a child's bouncy ball into quarters (could only use three of the pieces because of the bar code) and then used fancy yarns as the tentacles. The corals are Hawaiian leis. I printed out the fish and turtles from graphics I got on the internet and VBS clipart disc.

We were blessed to get a lot of these 8 foot foam boards from a local production company that was throwing them away. I forgot how expensive foam board could be! I would say that this entire project cost around $15 to make. (2 balls and 3 packages of leis from Dollar Tree = $5, Fish and turtles printed by volunteer = free, scrap yarn = free, blue tulle from JoAnn's = less that $10, used foam board from production company = free)

These are the boards I made for our mission offering. This first is information about the Tomorrow Clubs and the second charts how much money we have collected. The plane flies from our church to Ukraine as the collection increases.

Vintage Radio Show: You Are There

 

You Are There Vintage Radio Show 

Free at archive.org

So true . . .

Summer Session

Our summer session of school has started.

I am really emphasizing reading with Angel this year. It is not that she is a poor reader. She is a reluctant reader.


She has reading to do during her character studies. We are finishing our Book of Virtues lap/notebooks. We are using the Book of Virtue by William J. Bennett Study by Shiver Academy.  For 10 days, we study a particular virtue. By the time she has completed a virtue, she has read 10 stories/poems and answered comprehension questions, completed 10 copywork pages and completed 10 lapbook elements.

For reading and comprehension, she is also doing the Abeka reading books grades 3/4 (I got them free--YEAH!).  I have started a grade lower just to help her get used to all the reading. She also hates writing, so I am sneaking in writing for her in various subjects.

I am also going to slowly introduce Total Language Plus: The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Whipping Boy. I am going to wait until we have completed the Book of Virtue Study. 

Curly is continuing with various Total Language Plus. We are going to study The Hobbit and The Twenty-One Balloons. I bought these last year. I think I was a little overambitious and thought we would complete many more of these that we did.

I am starting Excellence in Writing this year for both girls. I am a little nervous but I have a friend who has been doing it and says it is wonderful. I also went to their workshop during our convention to understand the reasoning behind their curriculum and it really made sense.


We are starting new math books: Angel is very excited to be starting the Life of Fred: Elementary Series. I know there will be a lot of review in the beginning but it is going to be worth it to make sure she has her basics. It is in a story format so this is another subject that will have reading comprehesion in it. Curly has started Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra. This is a sample of the book.

For Bible, we have been learning A Catechism for Boys and Girls. We are making a lapbook along with our study. For each doctrinal belief, or group of related beliefs, a mini book is completed.

I have been searching for a doctrinally sound Bible curriculum that is not just regurgitating facts but actually making them think on the Scriptures. I did not think I would find it, until I saw the creator of this series at our state home school convention. Everything she said made me want to jump up and run to her booth and buy the curriculum. I did have the common decency to wait until the workshop was over. :-)

Curly's Bible Curriculum

Angel's Bible Curriculum

Curly has been doing History Revealed for history. She finished Ancient Civilizations and the Bible. We are taking a break and working on American History. We are using America the Beautiful. It was great because I either had or bought at Chamblin's Bookmine all the literature books except one.

Science is not my strong point, so I am trying an online science class. This class is a 12 weeks Creation Apologetics course taught by Catie Frates.  

Catie Frates is a nationally recognized speaker on Biblical Scientific Creationism. In an entertaining fashion, she enthusiastically shares the scientific evidence that supports the Biblical Scientific Creation Model of Origins which empowers her audience with the information they need to interpret history and science into a thoroughly Biblical worldview.

I am really looking forward to this class. I am going to wait until Curly gets back from summer camp before we start this course.