THE Fair

I've gone as a baby in a stroller, a toddler in a wagon, an excited child, an awkward teen, a girl on her boyfriend's arm, a newlywed, an expecting mom, a nursing mom, a mom with a one-year-old strapped to her back, and a reflecting mom soaking in every minute of her children enjoying the fair that ended all my summers and signaled the start of each fall. It may look like some photos from some 'ole fair, but it's much more precious than that to me.

Latest Artwork

Today I did a painting job for an old high school friend.  We connected through facebook, she saw some work I had done, and hired me for her son's bedroom.  He loves planes and wanted an AC-130 to span the entire wall of the room.  The actual size is much longer than my "wingspan" from fingertip to fingertip.  I wasn't there to get their reaction, but she sent me an email and the room is a hit.  Her son loves the plane and said, "I can't believe this is my room!"  How cute is that!

Planning for the Schoolyear

We are thoroughly enjoying summer here!  My parents blessed us with a swimming pool for the kids and we've spent every hot day cooling off in it.  The backyard has taken the place of the kitchen and family room.  Dinner is cooked on the grill, we dine at the patio table, play beach volleyball, card games - you name it!  ALL outside!  Yes, we're soaking up every bit of summer.

BUT, planning for the 2010-2011 schoolyear is a priority.  After attending the CHEO (Christian Home Educators of Ohio) Convention last week, I feel refreshed, edified, and excited about the school year ahead! I listened to encouraging speakers and shopped the exhibition hall for curriculum.  Materials have been purchased and we're ready to go!  So, here's what the materials for 3 kiddos looks like...

Actually this is just SOME of what I purchased for the school year.  Most of it I bought at the CHEO Conference and I'm sharing with you even though I agree with Rev.Voddie that it doesn't matter much to you what I use because I'm not teaching your kids!  There is so much curriculum out there and you have to choose what works for YOU.  Still...I'm a curious person and like to know what other moms are using, too!

So, for the curious mom's- here's what I'll be using this year:

J-Saurus, age 9:
Math U See (finish Beta, start Gamma)
Switched On Schoolhouse Grade 4 Language Arts
Any Child Can Write
Sequential Spelling

M.J., age 7:
Math U See (finish Alpha, start Beta)
A Beka Letters & Sounds 2
A Beka Handbook for Reading
A Beka Language 2
A Beka Writing With Phonics 2
A Beka Spelling 2

Buster Brown, age 5:
Math U See Primer
A Beka Letters and Sounds K
Handwriting Without Tears

J-Saurus & M.J. will also begin "My Father's World."  This curriculum is multi-level teaching that helps parents instill a Christian Worldview in the next generation.  I'm really excited about starting Exploring Countries and Cultures - the first volume in the 5 year cycle of teaching.  Click on the link to learn more!

To all you Mommies (and Daddies) teaching at home, teaching for Him...have a refreshing summer and a great time planning for the year ahead ;)

Signs of Summer

No more coats or jackets on these hooks! Time to hang up the shades.

Workboxes Worked for Us

If you homeschool then it's very likely that you heard of workboxes.  They're all the rage!  I'd guess they peeked in popularity over this past school year and it seemed everywhere I looked for homeschool resources I saw info on workboxes. So of course I had to give them a try and I was really excited with the results!  Our workboxes are an adaptation of the original concept as we were limited by space.  Workboxes are supposed to be just that; boxes filled with the child's assignments.  The original system calls for 12 boxes per child so with 3 children that could take up quite a bit of room.  What I did instead was use folders placed in a plastic basket for each child.  I picked a different color for each one of the kids and labled the folders with their name and the activity numbers that each folder corresponds to. When it's time to begin our school work, each of the kids takes out the first folder from their basket and opens it up.  Each pocket of the folder holds a different worksheet, assignment, or activity.  Attached to the front of the pocket is a laminated number held in place with velcro.  As each pocket of work is completed, the child takes that number card off and attaches it to a velcro strip with their name.  When the strip is full, the work is done!  My oldest son is on the Autism Spectrum and each school day started with questions like..."What's first, Mom?"..."How many worksheets do I have to do?"..."What's after Spelling?"..."How much more work, Mom?"    Worboxes have been wonderful for him!   Now he can see exactly WHAT he has to do, HOW MUCH he has to do, and WHEN his work is finished.  I'm certain workboxes will be a big part of our school day in the upcoming school year!

Latest Artwork

Here is the latest painting I did for a child's bedroom. The sister of an old high school classmate found me on facebook and saw some of my work. She hired me to paint in her 3yo son's bedroom. With baby #2 on the way, she wanted big brother Jeffery to feel special, so we took his love of trains and turned it into a very personal space for him. My client had a bedspread from The Land of Nod that we used as inspiration. I altered the designs & color just a bit and transfered those train cars from the bedspread to the wall. She knew she wanted his name as part of the mural so I came up with this...



The space over the closet was perfect for this phrase my client wanted incorporated into the room... "Always remember... you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." To make it even more whimsical, I added a red plane pulling a banner.








And here's a better look at the plane...















...and the bed put back together complete with bedspread.







and now I have a serious itch to redo my own kid's rooms...stay tuned!

Valentine's Day

One of my favorite memories from my schooldays is decorating a box for Valentine's Day and stuffing my classmates boxes with cards. My kids may not "Go to school," but they did not miss out on this holiday tradition. Our local homeschool group held a party at our church and they kids were SOOoooo excited. M.J., of course, took her box decorating very seriously. She had her heart set on a castle box. We covered 2 boxes, 4 paper towel tubes, and 1 Ovaltine container with some red & pink paper I've had since God knows when. We finished it of with some princess stickers and glitter letter stickers.


Buster Brown wanted a box that looked like Rocket from Little Einstein's. It was challenging making a rectangular box look like a rocket, but we used our imagination and he was so proud when we finished.

J-Saurus doesn't like to bothered with such things as arts and crafts. He has a one track mind and it's all about dinosaur facts! Well, I don't know what else we could have done to reflect his interest than cover a box w/ dino stickers!


At the party, the kids had a blast! Mrs. M always does everything w/ excellence and she had some great activities for the kids. Make a note for next year...


1. Hershey hug relay: The kids paired up and then formed 2 teams. Each pair linked arms and stepped up to the table. With their free arms they had work together to unwrap a Hershey Kiss and then eat it. The first team to unwrap all their kisses won!

2. Smartie Suck-Up: This was another relay where the players of each team had to transfer Smarties from a white plate to a red plate using a straw. Each player transfered as many as they could in 30 seconds and then the race continued until all the Smartie's were transfered.

3. Love Verses Puzzle: The children formed 2 teams and each received an envelope with 4 heart puzzles to assemble. The puzzles were large foam hearts with a Bible verse about love written on it. On 4 seperate pieces of Foamies where the chapter and verse. After assembling the puzzles (or while assembling them), one player looked up each verse and matched the chapter and verse to the heart with that verse on it.

There was also a Valentine box judging. The categories were: yummiest looking box, largest box, smallest box, box with the most hearts, etc. Every child won. No one was left out. Then the kids voted for their favorite box and my dd was so happy to win the "Kid's Choice Award for Best Box!"

What a wonderful time of fellowship and what a wonderful way to celebrate Valentine's Day as we reminded our children that..."We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

Snow Much Fun!!!

The best thing about Daddy's job is the time off! Having 2 weeks to enjoy Christmas and New Years with him is priceless. This year, public school kids had school on Mon. & Tues. the week of Christmas, but Daddy's school was already on break. That meant that Rocky Ridge was all ours! We didn't have a lot of snow, but it was enough to cover the hills and it made for some excellent sledding! We had a blast!

Happy Father's Day!

Summer Vacation

For anyone wondering "what happened to her?"...

I've been far to busy enjoying the beautiful weather to be at the computer. I've thought of blogging, I've wanted to blog, but I just didn't have the time! Warm temps and sunshine are a rare thing in northeast Ohio, so when the weather finally brakes - I'm outta here! After being couped up all winter and looking out the window each Spring day to see a gray and rainy sky, I feel alive again!!! I can't believe how much more motivation I have when the weather is nice. I'm already crossing off projects on my summer to-do list and feeling refreshed. I guess that could also be because we had an awesome family vacation.

It had been 5 years since any trip or vacation to speak of, so when we did decide to go, we went all out.

Yes, we went to Disney World, "The Most Magical Place on Earth." This was my 6th visit to the Magic Kingdom and the kids' first. I was just as (if not more) excited than them. Josh isn't in this picture because he was in the stroller with Dan trailing behind me yelling, "Slow down Mommy! Wait Up! Sorry, but there's so much to see...there's no time to waste!

Our first full day in Disney was also our Anniversary. We came here for our honeymoon 11 years ago. Now we were returning with our 3 blessings and it was absolutely wonderful. How precious to see it all again through the eyes of a child.

Now that our vacation is over our summer break begins. I plan on doing a little catching up on a few things we didn't get to in our homeschool. I will be continuing to do Math-U-See with the kids through the summer. (They can lose so much in 3 months!) Lots of work still ahead over break. We will be taking our CATs (California Achievement Test) and putting together our portfolios to have our reviews done which we need to send in with our notification for next year. So glad we had our family vacation to refresh and re energize Mommy!

Blessings All!