Come on, 2008!!

Happy New Year to each of you...

Jackie Update

Hello All!

I haven't written much but that doesn't mean that things are not busy here for me! Senior year is going alright so far and it's becoming more difficult to believe that it's almost half over...my entire high school career is coming to a close. Wow. Along with academics, I still continue to work at my dad's office doing various clerical work. We recently had a move and I now have my OWN desk, computer and phone! Woohoo!! I have definitely moved up in the world. :o) The work is sometimes tedious and um, boring, but I get paid for it so can't complain much there.

This year I also began dancing again, which has been wonderful. Back to the studios and the world of tights, leotards, and all that stuff as I've taken ballet, modern and lyrical jazz classes. Exhilarating! I really enjoy this particular studio because everyone is grouped by ability and not solely by age like other places. Also, they have a dance company that I can audition for this summer; so it all doesn't end senior year as other studios do. All in all, it is a great place to be! And since Janelle and Jordyn take classes as well, we all have something to do together. I enjoy holding mini-classes for them in the basement....well, most of the time.

Here is a pic of me last week at my grandparents. Janelle & I wanted to show off the jackets from Nana & Grandad. Anyway, my last note is about my car. Ahhh, my car. Ooooh, my car. Well, it's not exactly my car yet, but I am buying it from my Mom & Dad. It's a 2005 Silver Honda Civic that I hand-picked this year at a used car lot owned by friends of my parents. I'm saving like crazy and already have put a chunk down, so just a little more to go! Fortunately, my parents have put some into the pot also. (whew!) All in all, life is going smoothly.

Well, that's a quick update...gotta run!

Ready for Carnegie Hall?

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Feed the Birds

This is the most we've posted in one day!

But, it seemed important to include a project started and completed in one setting. Sometimes Mom's ideas take a little longer than that. Inspired by this tutorial on Bella Dia's blog, today we made some wild bird treats to hang outside on the tree. We used dental floss instead of upholstery thread and it worked well. Jordyn is slightly upset that no feathered friends have come to feast though the snacks have been hanging for a total of two hours. Be patient, sweetheart.

Today we are Reading...

Because the girls really enjoyed watching a Wind in the Willows DVD this summer, we decided to check this book out of the library for a cuddle-up-on-the-couch-with-Mom read aloud.

The illustrations are beautiful and we have paused to study each one just a wee bit more than usual--they're so detailed. The adventures of Rat and Mole and the return to making Mole End a home again will keep us cuddled up today for quite a while. It's a wonderful story of friendship and the celebration of the Christmas season.

Home Again

What a wonderful whirlwind trip to CT we all had! The children were of course very excited to meet their new cousin and visit with grandparents. Food...fun...and the falling of snow! Almost twelve inches of 'cold, cold' as Josiah calls it, but the next day was fine for travel.

We celebrated Christmas and Jordyn and Josiah came home with these rocking chair treats as a present from Grandad and Nana. Grandad couldn't resist he says. :o) Getting them into the van was a challenge, but worth the 'trouble'.

Mom set up the chairs, a table full of books and felt nativity pieces in the family room. The new 'book nook' has been very appreciated and used constantly. Thank you Nana and Grandad!

Slowing Down

Tis the season to slow down our school work and focus more on spending some extra time on the celebrations of the month. Right now, we are keeping up with our language and math studies through next week but the other subjects will pick back up in January. Fortunately, we've wrapped up certain projects....like the frog dissection. :o)

Along with academics, Janelle has been busy practicing monologues and songs for 2008 auditions at local theatres. The soccer champ turned drama queen hopes to get a spot in either 'Charlotte's Web', 'Schoolhouse Rock' or many of the other children's musicals in the area. But, this is all about to pause for a few weeks as well. Jordyn is beginning to read 3-letter words! We're working in a relaxed way on some basic phonics, and she is doing well. Her attention span has grown this year, so that's a big contributor to her success.

Being indoors more has got all of the children in antsy and funky moods. We don't mind the cold, it's the rain and muddy ground that has us using the basement as a playground as well as learning area. Oh well, par for the course....

As part of our celebration, each evening (or thereabouts) we pause for an Advent focus. This year we've decided to use the Proclamation Ornaments instead of doing a nightly story reading. Usually we try to add some singing since it adds to the activity and keeps Josiah interested! So far, so good. We'll see how it goes until Christmas morning.

Over the mountain & through the woods

Yeah! The perfect Christmas tree has finally been found!! This year we all chose quickly (maybe because of the cold?). The kids enjoyed the adventure overall; it definitely makes a difference that there are more opinions this year!

I think they enjoyed the free hot chocolate even more?

After a day of drying and hanging, the decorating began in full swing. Mom mostly took pictures, Dad gave overall supervision and the girls did the bulk of the work. Josiah roamed from room to room disappearing with certain items and reappearing again.

The final result...

Remembering December 2, 2005...

It was a beautiful day when we welcomed you into the world baby boy. All nine pounds, nine ounces of you was a precious gift we all waited eagerly for. Happy 2nd Birthday!

We're Back...

Yes, we're still here dear faithful blog readers! The end of November was full with our school projects and also just family activities and the like. One thing we enjoyed was what Mom labeled The Great Pumpkin Project! Lots of math as we predicted, estimated and counted the actual number of seeds, did mental calculations, skip counted, etc. Jordyn's predicted 7, Janelle 50, and Mom 150. After cutting the pumpkin open and looking inside, we estimated based off what we could see. Jordyn changed hers to 100 ("no more than that!"), Janelle 150 and Mom to a possible 300. Well, the actual count was FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-NINE! No, we didn't count from 1...599, but rather placed the seeds in groups of ten and went from there. The pumpkin then got baked and the insides are to be used for a pie at some point. Jordyn also explored how a pumpkin grows as we read about the seasons of a patch and she learned that other seeds can be eaten besides pumpkin--she was excited about that! All in all, it was a fun project! Now, on to Christmas...:o)

We're moving along....

It's day number 46! Janelle has a few more days logged than that since she began over the summer, but Jordyn is excited that her number line is growing l-o-n-g-e-r!

My Gacko

I LOVE my Gacko (aka 'my jacket')! Everyday I ask Mommy to get it for me so that I can go outside. Sometimes I cannot go out, but that doesn't matter, I wear my gacko anyway! It's especially handy if I need to stuff extra bits of breakfast or lunch into the pockets. Gackos are wonderful--you can wipe your nose on it, stuff animals in it, unzip it and ask Mommy to rezip it several times a day, and a bunch of other things. Though I have several gackos around, this one is my favorite because it's soft on the inside. If Mommy would let me wear it to nap, I would! But that's not happening she says. Oh, well...when I wake up the gacko goes back on anyway. Do you have a favorite gacko too?

He Speaks!

Josiah said his first 3 word sentence recently. At almost two years old, he has an abundance of words and while he's been stringing two of them together for a bit, he's decided to expand his skills.

What was this flash of brilliance worthy of blogging?

"I NEED THAT!"

Need I say more?

Stories of our Faith

Wanting to focus some on the history of Christianity, last week we took time to read a story of courageous action in the life of Martin Luther. After listening to Mom read an excerpt from the book Trial and Triumph, the girls chose to act out the story of the posting of his 95 Theses on October 31, 1517. Jordyn was a poor woman buying indulgences and Janelle represented the church council. Dear Mom was Martin Luther ("because you know the story best Mommy"). Scenes switched as we rehearsed the ripple effect of one man's questioning and searching. We became the printers who spread copies of the theses throughout Germany and Europe; then we were the ones who threatened Martin not to speak out. Finally, we acted out the common German people who were happy to receive the Bible in their own language after Luther had translated it for them.

After the hulabaloo of costume changes and such, we took time to remember examples from the life of Jesus....another courageous man who defied the empty religious practices of his day to bring hope to others. We prayed for courage and strength for ourselves, that we too would not simply point others towards outward practices, but toward relationship with a real God.

Our time ended with a rousing rendition of one of Luther's hymns, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God". Janelle led by playing the melody line on the piano, Jordyn pranced & danced around, and Josiah tried to be heard above the music as he yelled for someone to get him his sippy cup.

It was a beautiful time. :o)

The Girl, The Grasshopper and The Owl

No, this not the title of an Aesop fable. It's the pictoral adventure of one young girl who loves science! We didn't catch the specimens ourselves :o), but ordered a dissection kit from Home Science Tools which included a frog, an earthworm and a grasshopper. Thinking it would be a good idea to do a 'dry' dissection, we worked on the owl pellet kit as well. Very interesting! And owl swallows its prey whole and regurgitates a pellet containing all of the bones.

Here are a few pics of the dissections Janelle has worked on so far:

taking a look at the owl pellet...

separating out the bones...

and the grasshopper...

(Jordyn suggested that we not show close up pictures because 'it might make people sick').

Have you missed us?

Sorry that we have not been updating as much, we've been busy! Enjoying the outdoors mainly and taking time to play in the fresh air before the weather gets too cold for long stretches of time outside.

Quick notes about what's happening in school~
Our new curriculum came in for Bible and History! Mom and Janelle are beginning this week to dig into The Mystery Of History Volume II. We'll be enlightened about events, people and places from early church history through the Middle Ages. Look for us to comment about this in the future.

As part of some music appreciation, today we listened to a recording of the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven and the girls had various responses. Jordyn asked why it was so sad and declared that we should listen to happier music. Janelle said "this song grips me". She went on to describe that the song seemed happy and sad all at the same time. That the happiness tried to rise above the sadness, but got swallowed back in. Excellent work Janelle! The sonata was written after Beethoven had witnessed the passing of a friend and it definitely has an overall somber tone.

Jordyn has almost completed memorizing Psalm 100 and is quite proud of herself. Janelle began working on John chapter 1 today. We'll try and record soon and pass this along! First, Mom has to learn how to do it. :o)

later everyone!

Just some pics

Simply Science

Okay, Janelle reporting here. I am here to tell you that I LOVE Science!! Mostly life science and anything having to do with the human body. Well, after almost a year of begging.....(drum roll please)....I have finally convinced my mother to let me dissect a frog! YES! I am so very, very excited you would think it was my birthday all over again. We ordered it this week, so it will be several more days for me to painfully wait. Mom says I should work on my skill of observation before then, so here is a simple project I completed.

If you take 3 apple pieces and place one in water, one in hydrogen peroxide, and one in white vinegar, what changes will occur after 1 minute? After 5 minutes? After 10 minutes?

Mom made me a chart to record my data. First, I made observations about the liquids. For example, they are all colorless. Can you think of others?

Then, I wrote a hypothesis for each of the three. You do remember what a hypothesis is, correct?

Then, with timer in hand and some help from Mom, the apples got dropped in as I kept a vigilent watch for any particular changes. One minute.....5 minutes....(nothing much happening, except the peroxide making sizzling sounds and bubbles around the apple).

Ten minutes....well, still no significant change for the water or vinegar solutions. Peroxide still bubbling. I guess some experiments are like that. Anyway, lastly I recorded all my observation on the chart and called it a day. I wonder if the apples changed in smell? Hmmm....

While I worked, Jordyn used an apple to paint.....

....and Josiah surveyed his kingdom.

Mama D's Musings

I thought it would be good to add my comments, musings or thoughts at random points throughout this blog. I have been so pleased with the start of our school year and am still basking in the 'glory' of fresh new days. This is partly due to our new basement and s-p-a-c-e to spread out, but today I realized it may have to do with the fact that I am more in tune as to why we homeschool.
On the first day, I processed this with the girls: 'why do we homeschool?' Their responses were funny and even impressive! But, I finally explained in words they understood. We have them home with us during this season of their lives because we want them to be instructed in our family's mission. They can receive an adequate or even superior academic foundation elsewhere, though we are committed to this as well. However, no institution can take ample time to teach our children some of the values we hold dear--or even if they did, it may not be with the same emphasis or passion.
So, what is this mission you may ask? In 2003, we adopted as a family (at least those who were speaking members then!) what we call our 'mission statement'--or purpose statement if you will. Five simple statements that we have felt sum up why the six of us are under the same roof---a LOT. I'll introduce them one at a time here and there along the way.

Number One: "We enjoy relationship with God and with one another. We love to laugh, talk & share, play, worship, work and have fun together."

Life is primarily about relationships. Period.

Yes, I guess it's important to know about Socrates, the dates of the American Revolution or how to calculate the area of a shape....but we strongly believe that our children also need time to build solid relationships. First, with their Creator God and alongside of this we emphasize that He divinely placed them in the context of a family to learn about relationships here on earth. Yes, we do branch out and encourage them to build friendships and associations outside of our family--but it all starts here. And home is at times the hardest place to put into practice the very aspects needed for great relationships: trust, loyalty, kindness, service...and the list could go on. We want to take not just small snippets of time, but huge chunks and large blocks of time to instruct them that real, rich and robust relationships with a holy God and with those in their family are BIG. It's the glue that kind of pulls the other pieces of life together I think. We don't always get it right, but we know enough to make it a priority.

So, there you have it. This, my friends, is the first reason as to why we base our children's education from home.

An Apple a Day...by Jordyn and Josiah

It's Friday!

This is Jordyn reporting: It's the end of another week of school. Yes, I know, I know. We haven't had that many. We've all been very busy this week as Janelle began adding more subjects to her schedule and I picked up my routine as well. Mom did say we were going to get more organized. Anyway, the way I see it, Janelle can give you her own report...so here's mine:

First, let me tell you more about my daily activities. Each morning we come together (we being Mom, Janelle, Josiah and me) to review our scripture of the week, some songs, and to pray. I usually offer to pray. I think it's cool to pray about random things that may not have to do with school at all and Mom once had to cut me a little short. Oh, well. Then Janelle goes off to her independent activities, Josiah goes to play and I work with Mom. We do the calendar, our number line and read, read, read. I really like our number line because we are counting up to the 100th day of school. Today was day 13. And, I love Mom reading to me! I also work on writing my first and last name and reviewing my letter sounds. Eventually I hear they are supposed to combine and make words! Yeah! I cannot wait.

Hmmm...what else? This week we did a science unit on apples, airplanes and archeology. Yes, a-r-c-h-e-o-l-o-g-y. Mom strongly believes in deviating from solely the apples, bears and cat mode of ABCs. Something about children being able to learn so much more if we only offer it to them. She turned out to be right because I enjoyed everything we did. We wrap it up next week, so I'll post pictures then.

Well, I should go to bed. Tonight we went out as a family to play mini golf and I'm pooped. Have a great weekend everyone!

There's a Voice in the Monkey in the Jacuzzi.....

There is a new game that Mom and Janelle are enjoying. It's called In A Pickle and we're having loads of fun thinking up silly and quite funny connections between words. This had us laughing today and we can't wait to introduce it to Jackie and Dad. It's sure to be a family favorite!

Taking Time to Play

Ah, warm air and beautiful sunshine make for a perfect day to hang out in the sandbox. Yes, even kings take time to play and enjoy their surroundings!

It's a Fiesta!

Feliz Cumpleanos to me! That is "Happy Birthday" for those who haven't studied Spanish. My (Janelle) 9th BD slumber party was last weekend and this year I decided on a Mexican Fiesta theme. We had lots of fun doing the Hat dance, swinging at our chili pepper pinata, eating at the taco bar, playing loteria (the Spanish version of lotto), and making clay bead necklaces. One game we did was a relay race where we carried pinto beans on a wooden spoon--talk about hard!

Mom and I made several tissue paper flowers to decorate & then we also cut the bottom of paper cups, & then hung them on some yarn for a garland effect. I was happy with the results and Mom was happy with the price. We stayed up very, very late! Jackie had the 10p.m. to 1 a.m. shift and then we had a mandatory lights out. But of course that didn't keep us from giggling and talking for a little longer. I had friends from church, our homeschool group, and also our neighborhood. A special guest was my mentor friend Crystal. She's in her 20s and married and has been to each of my BD parties since I was 4. I was in her wedding 2yrs ago.

After all my friends left the next morning, I went shopping with Mom to spend gift $$ from my Mimi & Popi (Mom's parents). Whew! Between a party in CT with my Nana & Grandad (yep, Dad's parents) the weekend before and this slumber party, I think I've celebrated my birthday in style!

Introductions

sweet little old Jackie

Hello folks! I'm the head of the group here at Westgate, though I'm attending another institution of learning at this point. :o) Hooray! for my senior year which consists of a half day of school and a half day of working at my father's office. I'm enjoying the work...ahem, *cough*...well, yes...the money as well. This year a big goal is to dig deep into my language studies--French 4 and Spanish 5. I also recently did an orientation to volunteer at our local crisis pregnancy center. My responsibilities will include helping sort and stack clothes and diapers then also providing childcare while the moms are in class or counseling. Of course I'm always doing something with my family and/or friends!

Janelle

Hi! I'll be quick because I'm much too busy to sit around and blog all day long. But, you'll hear from me often. This is my 3rd year with homeschool and I'm loving it! Outside of academics I enjoy soccer, piano, drama, sewing, ballet and reading, reading, reading. Playing with my siblings and coordinating my social schedule are top priorities. Gotta go...see ya!

It's me, Jordyn!

Hi there readers! I can't wait to be able to be able to read just like you, which is why I insisted that my mother include me into the program at Westgate this year.....it worked and here I am at my little desk. I am having soooo much fun so far and will have to let you know what all is going on around here (I'll tell you the good stuff). I enjoy Mom reading to me, coloring and cutting, play-doh, dressing up, cooking, eating and playing with my brother & sister. Tootles!

King Josiah

Hello everyone. I am King Josiah. And believe it or not, I'm in charge.

That's it, there is no more to say.