Vacation Bible School: Fruit of the Spirit at the County Fair

This was the first year that the church we attend had a traditional Vacation Bible School.  Well, I would say semi-traditional, because we had the classes in the evening.  When I was growing up, we always had VBS 

during the morning.

The theme was Fruit of the Spirit and a County Fair. I did the actions for the songs.  Ellie and Wyatt, and some of their friends, wound up being my backup dancers; that is why Ellie and Wyatt are dressed country.  The volunteers were supposed to dress up every night.  I wish I would have had the kids take pictures of me, because I wore a different outfit every night.  I still like playing dress-up!

I added this because it shows the awesome stage that some of the volunteers created for the skits.

This is Ellie during recreation, using a fly swatter to put stray balloons into the corral.

Ellie and her BFF.

Wyatt modeling his green house.

I only remembered to bring my camera two nights.
This night, the Farmhand Fun was all about goats.
The kids got to try goat milk and goat cheese.

And meet a live meat goat.

Wyatt at Farmhand Fun.

They made garden stones.

Ellie, her BFF, and a friend from church.

Ellie at Farmhand Fun.

A fellow homeschool mom teaching the kids about goats.

The "actors" for the skits.

Wyatt working his stray balloon into the corral.

My ladies Bible Study group, the inspiration for our first ever traditional VBS.
Just for fun, we are three homeschool teachers and one public school teacher.
Wonder if anyone could guess who was who... there are pretty good odds.

Afterwards, people were asking if I had recovered from VBS.  I said there was nothing to recover from.  Truly, I had fun.

A Few Things from May at our House

Our cat, Butter, decided to make a bed out of my paper shredding.

Ellie's turtle, Jamie, from the last class at Co-op.
We eventually set him free.  

My Mother's Day Flowers... all FREE!
The white ones were from Ellie's Sonshine Girls Tea Party.
The yellow one was from a charity banquet we attended.
The pink one was from Price Chopper, when I happened to pick up groceries on Mother's Day.
And the little plant, with buds that you can't really see, is from my Grandma.

This is Ellie's Creation Science notebook from Co-op.
She wanted a picture of all the decorations she put on there.

This is one of Wyatt's famous block towers.

This is my "Mother's Day" picture (I take one every year),
taken after the charity banquet where I got the white flowers.

Taking Time To Play

After a very sick winter, then months of catching up on cleaning, etc., I took some time to just play with my kids.  One of the things that I really wanted for them when they were little was Fisher Price Little People.  I got a Little People House for Christmas when I was 4 years old (maybe 5, if I had Mom & Dad's picture album, I could tell you for sure).  Anyway, my brother had a Little People Gas Station/Garage... so I wanted Ellie & Wyatt to have them, too.  My brother and I had so much fun playing Little People together.  I still have my Little People House, so we all got out our Little People things and played together.  Wyatt has a Little People Fire Engine that he got second hand.  My brother had a Little People Airplane. :)

So, here are some pictures we took:

You can see Ellie's house behind the kids, with the pink roof.  My house had the yellow roof and blue siding.
Wyatt's Garage and Gas Station (much larger than my brother's) is in the front of the picture.

Pointing to my house, not sure what I was saying.  You can see my "Dad" in his red car.

Ellie and I holding our babies in our right hands and mommies in our left hands...
from the 1980's to the 2000's is quite a difference in the look of Little People!

Wyatt is holding his mechanic in his tow truck and I am holding my  dad in his car.
Wyatt likes to put my family's dog in the car!

Playing with them is something the kids always say that I don't do enough of.  They do think I'm fun, and that's a nice compliment.  We enjoy our time together.

AWANA Year End Review

Yes, I am totally playing catch up on my blog posts.  I have a few hidden away even, that can wait.  The fact that we have officially started our new school year, although the rest of the kids activities... like Co-op and AWANA won't start till September... so I'm hurriedly trying to catch up!

The last theme day the kids participated in was Hippie Night.  Those of my readers who know me from my own youth, know this is near and dear to my heart... bell bottoms, long  hair, tiny braids, headbands, peace signs, etc.  So, I had a lot of fun helping the kids dress up for this (though 50's night was pretty "me", too... aka Elvisgirl, you know... and I love the tv shows set in the 50's, and the other musicians from that time period.).  Okay, so hear are some pictures:

My Hippie Children.
Wyatt wore his cowboy boots, instead of his tennis shoes, to the club meeting.
We thought the boots made the look more authentic with his flare leg jeans
(couldn't find any actual bell bottoms in his size).
Ellie wore her "go-go" boots and peasant skirt, and formerly my peace sign chain belt
(it's silver, if you look close).

Ellie with the mood ring that used to be mine.

Wyatt wearing his Daddy's mullet wig from when he played on That 70's Team for basketball.
I was going to let Wyatt wear the necklace that my Dad made in high school, but I couldn't find it,
so he got to wear the hemp necklace that I made in college.

Make Peace, not war.  Wyatt and I tie dyed his shirt.

Ellie and Wyatt both finished their books this year.  Wyatt has completed Sparkys, and next year will move up to Truth and Training like his big sis.  Ellie will be moving from the Ultimate Adventure to the Ultimate Challenge.  These are some pictures after the end of year Awards Ceremony:

I just noticed Wyatt standing on tip-toe, trying to be as tall as his big sis.

The kids had been outside playing, which is why Wyatt's cheeks are red and Ellie looks mad
(she was mad... at some mean kids, not her parents).

Civil War Kids Days 2011

This year's Civil War Kids Days was even better than last year.  I expect next year will be better still.  The first night was such a treat for me.  Ellie has become an expert tour guide of the cabin.

There was a couple driving by the cabin and we were ready for spectators, but also still kind of getting ready for the big day on Saturday.  The husband hoped out and asked if the cabin was open.  The cabin we use in rarely open to the public.  It is an original that survived Order No. 11 from the U.S. Civil War.  I answered that the cabin was open to the public right now.  He and his wife stopped and got out.  Ellie proceeded to give them the tour, with Wyatt adding his two cents.  The wife asked if they were homeschooled... I answered, "Yes."  She replied, "Oh, I can tell.  They are good speakers and they are not afraid to talk to adults."  They spent quite awhile with us that evening.  They were such a blessing.  The couple were homeschool veterans themselves, their children graduated and in college, and even graduated from college.  The wife told Wyatt he would be a great leader some day, she could tell by the way he spoke (I would say the way he preaches.).  She said she could tell they were Christians (and that is such a lovely thing for someone to observe, rather than for a body to tell another person).  She also thought I looked too young to be their mother, and exclaimed that I did not look my age when I told her I was 33.  Sometimes, I think God sends people just to give you a little boost  and let you know that really you are "doing a good job, keep it up."  Parenting, and homeschooling are both arduous tasks, and sometimes you can't see the light.  When some else shares their journey, how well the end result turned out, and tells you what a wonderful job you are doing... ah, words can be such soothing balm to the soul.

Wyatt hanging out on the porch between skits.

Ellie and her new friend, who just joined the club.

The Civil War Kids Club with their two parent volunteers and  the Elliott Sprouts.

My Pioneer Family

Cameo pin courtesy of my Grandma.
Thomas loves when I look old, because I sometimes get mistaken for his daughter. ;)

My hairdo, that many complimented, born of frustration in getting my hair in a bun.

Ellie and I after the first Civil War Kids Days Church Service.

The rest of the weekend had challenging moments, but overall the weekend went great.  No one got shot... so that is always a plus.  We took a big group to the local Christian Book Store, also Ice Cream Shop, to get ice cream.  Thomas decided he will be our pastor next year.  So, that is really exciting; he's never participated in the reenacting with us before.  Now I've got to get him a Civil War outfit.  This was the first year that the group has had a church service.  That got mostly left up to me, the Saturday before church on Sunday!  The service turned out alright, I tried to do it like a meeting would have been held in the days of pioneers and traveling preachers.  I had far too much to do in leading the meeting than I would have liked, but next year will be another story.

Dinosaurs at the Homeschool Conference

The homeschool conference this year was so much fun.  The first day was my first day all by myself.  In the past, I have gone with friends... and had a great time.  I enjoyed meeting up with friends this year and having some solitary time, too.  I enjoyed new-to-me speakers and authors, like Carol Barnier ... I wasn't planning on buying any speakers books, but I couldn't pass up The Big What Now Book Of Learning Styles (there is a great interview with her HERE).  I also enjoyed "old" favorites, like Nancy Bjorkman (this is the store her family helps run and her Math Galore packet, which I highly recommend).  These ladies both make me laugh, smile, and helped me fuel up for the rest of the year and the coming school year!

The really cool part about this year was this is the first year my family came with me to the conference.  Friday I was "alone day" and Saturday was "family day"!  There was a Dinosaur exhibit, the Creation Truth Foundation Mobile Field Collection of Fossils, so I couldn't let the kids miss out on seeing that.  Hubby went to one of the workshops featuring Dr. G. Thomas Sharp of the Creation Truth Foundation, and really enjoyed himself.  He wants to go next year as a couples weekend (he has knows a homeschool dad at his work that does that... actually we saw them on Saturday).

Anyway, here are some pictures of us with the fossils:

Ellie with Tyrannosaurus Rex head.

Wyatt with T-Rex head.

El and Wy with an Albertasuraus Libratus.

None of us here, but this was the fossil we were most fascinated with. 
This is an Icthyosaurus that was fossilized while giving birth!



Me and Ellie with Triceratops... thanks to Hubby, I was in front of the camera!

Academy of the Gospel 2011 Science Fair Project

This year's Science Project was called The Tooth Truth.  The local librarian has put on a Science Fair for homeschooled kids both this year and last year.  This is the kids' display board. 

Ellie and Wyatt studied how different tooth cleansers work at cleaning your teeth and why.  Our dentist is always saying how children need fluoride and how important fluoride is.   I haven't used fluoride toothpaste since Wyatt was a baby and I haven't had a cavity since then either, so I don't put much stock in statements on the necessity of fluoride.

The kids studied how well different toothpastes, and baking soda, cleaned teeth by using the blue tooth dye that you can get in the toothpaste isle to identify plaque when brushing your teeth.  Ellie was afraid the tooth dye would permanently dye her teeth, so she asked her friend Sam to be her stunt double.  Sam was happy to oblige. 

First the kids got their teeth really sugary with ice cream and any other sweet thing they could think of.

Then they used the rinse to dye the stuff on their teeth blue, so we could see the build up of sugar.



Next they brushed their teeth with different tooth cleansers for two minutes each.  After two minutes, the teeth were checked to see how much blue dye was left.  All the the natural toothpastes (no fluoride included) and baking soda showed no blue dye on the teeth.  The commercial fluoride toothpastes still showed blue dye on the teeth, and the teeth did not feel as clean as with the other tooth cleansers.  I was one of their subjects and can attest to the results.

They also learned about fluoride and fluorine.  Fluoride, a synthetic form of fluorine is actually prohibited in many countries as a lethal toxin.  Fluorine is a naturally occurring substance found in greens, spinach, almonds, carrots, dandelions, and black tea.  Fluorine does have positive effects on the teeth.

The kids then had to do an oral presentation at the library.  There was supposed to be a Science teacher there to give them a score on their projects.  I don't know what happened, but she was not there that night for presentations.  The librarian said the scores were really close, but the kids did not get a ribbon this year.
Had we known the criteria on the sheet they were going to be graded on ahead of time, the kids would have done a few things differently. 

Ellie and Wyatt did a great job presenting their work.  The project was totally original.  I loved that they decided to dress up for their presentation.  I am so proud them!

I know I am a little late in posting this, but I'm trying to catch up.  There are some homeschooling things that I really want to chronicle on the blog, and this is one of them.