My Favorite Place to Teach

My favorite place to teach my kids, hands down, is outside. It can be in our backyard, a park, or an open field. We always learn something.

Today, my kids took off outside for a while. I headed out after a few quiet minutes by myself. While we were out there, my son set up a target and practiced shooting his real slingshot. My daughter, yelling with delight, captured a moth. She immediately went inside to find an empty jar to contain her new "pet".

Later, My son and I turned the rope while my daughter jumped rope. Then, my daughter ran laps around the yard to practice for our coops upcoming field day. Both kids decided to practice doing the long jump for the same event. Last, we took a short trek into the woods, where my animal loving daughter pointed out some rabbit poo.

All that learning and observing going on with no plans to do any of them. These are the kind of days I love.

Culture Study

Studying different cultures fascinates me. Using SOTW, we have been able to touch on a lot of different ones, from Roman to Indian to Japanese. Last week, we studied Ancient Japan. I had been wanting to take the kids to a hibachi restaurant for a long time. What a great reason to go! We went on Saturday at lunch because it was much cheaper. The kids declared it a hit! My son said that the Kani House is now his favorite restaurant.





Today, I decided to continue our theme of studying a different culture, so we headed south to Super H Mart, an Asian grocery store. My kids were fascinated with all of the different types of fruits, vegetables and meat that we cannot get in our normal Wal-mart or Kroger. My daughter declared that we have to come here at least once a month, because it is "neater" than our other grocery stores. We bought a few new things to try like a bitter melon from India,honey tangerines and Chinese eggplant. We made a list of things we would like to try later like cactus. (Can't remember the rest) I told the kids we could research each new food. Then, we will decide if it's something we would like to try.

A New Blog to Follow

I happened upon a blog. Maybe I didn't just happen upon it. Maybe it was fate. The lady who writes the blog has a way of capturing things into words that touch me and move me. Just wanting to share with those who can appreciate a good writer who tells a good story. http://www.aholyexperience.com/

This Week

Just posting a few pictures from this week. We have been taking advantage of the warm weather here in GA. I took school outside on Monday, letting the kids do grammar and math on the driveway. I let the kids just have fun, getting dirty and using there imaginations. For Story of the World, the kids painted their own frescos. I also taught this week at our coop on Tournaments in Medieval Times. The last picture is craft that Caleb and all the other kids got to make.

Cooking Up a Storm

Tonight, after cooking dinner, which consisted of homemade mashed potatos, green beans, and meatloaf, I was still in a cooking mood. This NEVER happens to me. Usually after cooking dinner, the last thing I want to do is cook anything again.

The first thing I decided to cook was something totally new, whole wheat pancakes. I googled them and pulled up a great sounding recipe. After making a few, my husband walked by and "agreed" to taste test. His verdict was that they were "great, much better than regular pancakes." This is a high compliment from him. Then, I decided to make a small batch of white bean chili for me to eat over the next few days. Yummy! And as if I had not had enough, I decided to make use of 3 overly ripe bananas and make strawberry/banana whole wheat muffins. For those of you her are thinking, "Has she started grinding her own wheat?", the answer to you is "No!" I decided to make the switch to healthier eating for the family, so buying whole wheat flour from the store is a small step for me.

The muffins turned out beautifully. Thumbs up from all of the family! Maybe I will get inspired another day to cook until I can't!

P is for....

I never do blog tags. I have started them from time to time, saved them to be finished later, but one has never been completed. So here I go...

My blog friend Katy over at Treasured Chapters challenged her readers to take a letter of the alphabet and write 10 things about myself and my life using that letter. She and her children randomly chose the letter P for me. Definitely not the letter I was envisioning, but I embraced the challenge nonetheless.

Prayer-Taking others requests, pains, and struggles and taking them before my Father is something I find joy in. I am infused with life as I spend other times in prayer just talking to God. Prayer brings satisfaction and peace.

People-Some folks are introverts, but not me. I thrive off of time with people. I was created by God to interact daily with people. To touch them, encourage, smile or just have a quick word with, people! Classify me as a people person.

Pages-Give me a good book and I can occupy myself for hours. I love a well written story, where the turn of each page draws me further into the story, where I don't want to be disturbed. Pages unread bring excitement. How will the story turn out?

Pupils-These would me my two children, whom I teach. On an almost daily basis, I journey with them through math,science,history, reading, and life. No day quite resembles another with my pupils. We learn together. This is another one of my callings right now.

Pick-During the summer and fall, one of my favorite things to do is to pick my own fruit. I know that summer has arrived when my daughter and I venture to the thorny bushes and begin to pick the ripe, juicy blackberries. We also usually have the opportunity to pick blueberries, pears and grapes at relatives homes. One of my favorite things!

Picnic-Whether it is a warm summer day or a breezy fall day, picnics bring a breath of fresh air into this gal's life. I am an outdoor person. Being outdoors is one of the things that recharges me. So, when you mix eating a meal with being outside, it makes for a near perfect day (given by her at random)

Pregnant-OK, disclaimer, no I am not pregnant, but I loved being pregnant the two times I was. I loved imagining the growing life inside of me. Loved feeling every flutter and kick. Loved how special and radiant I felt! Well, at least most of the time!

Play-I love to play games. Online and computer games are fun, but my absolute favorite are games you play with real people. My favorite all time games are Scrabble, Taboo, Monopoly and Boggle. Playing also brings out my competitive side. So, if you play a game with me, watch out, I am playing to win!

Photos-Taking or looking at them, photos intrigue me. Old photos from other generations or pictures just taken, I love to study people's expressions, clothes, etc. I can try to imagine what that moment was like for them. I can smile with moments of celebration. Photo browsing can consume hours of my time.

Prize-In the Bible, it says that we should run the race in a way that we will get the prize. I pray that I run my race well and keep the prize always in my sights. The prize of living my life wholly and holy for Him.

Wii're Having Fun

You can tell from the title, that we have joined of the ranks of those that own a Wii. But, our Wii is different from all those thousands of Wii's owned by others because of how we acquired it. My husband had the idea about a week and a half ago to buy 5 Wii's to resell for a profit in order to purchase one for our kiddies free and clear. We sold 4 of the five, plus a few other things on Craiglist and ebay, and totally paid for the fifth Wii by embracing the entrepreneurial spirit of America. Then we bought 3 more Wii's and made enough of a profit off of these to purchase 3 games for our children, after also trading my son's xbox games to a local gaming store. We let the kids open it on Monday so they could enjoy it. (They also were with us when the other Wii's were purchased, so they knew the plan.) Tonight, we acquired the three games, Lego Batman for Caleb, Petz Horses 2 for Bethany and Winter Sports for my hubby. Wii!!!!!!!