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.

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.

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. :-)

Why do I homeschool . . .?

Why do I homeschool? Since public school is starting (or has started), this question has been asked quite a lot.

So I started thinking -- why do I homeschool?

My first response used to be that I homeschool because, in general, the public (government) school system is terrible. I know there are extremely good teachers in the system, but what if my daughter doesn't get that fantastic teacher? Oh well! Also, even if the teacher is fantastic, do I really want to expose my children to someone else's worldview for 40 hours a week? Am I willing to render my children to Caeser?

But it goes so much deeper than that--actually the reason I homeschool has nothing to do with educating my children. Well, not in the traditional sense of the word. My first and foremost reason for homeschooling is to raise my children in the Lord.



I have two beautiful girls. In a society where the divorce rate among Christian couples is about the same as non-Christian couples, where it is ok (even encouraged) to have sex at a younger and younger age and where purity and modesty are laughed at, I want to guide and educate my girls in what God says about women and their roles in society. I want them to know how much God loves them and cherishes them and that if it is God's will, they find a husband that loves and cherishes them as Christ does. I want them to be spiritually strong women of Christ.

I am still learning about this myself--I did not even hear about the "Proverb 31 Woman" until a couple of years ago and just kind of heard about Titus 2:4-5. I have been reading fantastic books by Voddie Baucham and have been challenged in my thinking in many areas. Some of them being about the churches' role in spiritually raising my children. That is another blog. I also have some wonderful blogs by wonderful women of God (some of them I know personally--some I know only through their blogs) that I follow. I need to add some of them to my blog list--I will put that I my "to do list." I would recommend reading this post by my friend at Keepers At Home.

For those of you who are worried, YES--I do teach my girls the three R's. It is just not the primary reason WHY I homeschool.

A Terrible Injustice

Hard to believe--two posts in one day. I must be ill! LOL

I have been really thinking about my role as wife and mother. I have read many posts from my friends' blog, Keepers At Home and also from Generation Cedar. They have really got me thinking. I used to tell my girls that they need to go to college before they are allowed to date (it was said somewhat in jest, but the meaning was perfectly clear). I have done them a terrible injustice, which I am now trying to rectify. I cheapened the great profession of being a wife and mother. I think I can thank the "women's movement" for that.

I have been a SAHM since my first was born. I will say that the first time someone said to me "Oh, you don't work" I was terribly upset--my self-esteem plummeted. I had bought into the idea that unless I was financially contributing to the household, I was not worth much. WHAT A BUNCH OF FOOLISHNESS! I have been called to be the keeper of my home.

I know this is old-fashioned, but they got it right. Need to get back to the "old-fashioned" ways.

Do I think girls should not go to college? Absolutely not! I have no idea what God has in store for my girls. But I want to prepare them for all avenues. I want them to the seek God and do what is pleasing to Him NOT society.

I also fell into the "2 kids are enough" mentality. I was 35 when I had my first child and 38 after my second. I decided that would be my last--I didn't want to "burden" my children with an older parent. I had a tubal ligation. I would say that two was enough and if God really wanted me to have a third, He could make it happen. How arrogant of me. I do mourn the thought of what God might have planned for me if I trusted Him. Maybe two children was all He planned--I will never know. I have asked God to forgive me (which I know He has) and am making sure that my girls are better equipped not to fall in the same thought processes of the world.