I have waited a long time to finally get the chance to visit The Creation Museum of Petersburg, Ky.  A good friend of mine invited me and my boys to join her and her homeschool co-op on homeschool day.  I believe The Creation Museum offers homeschool days on every Wednesday and Thursday as long as you order in advance.  You can find out more information about this on their website.

I had heard and read a lot of great things about The Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY since it was first built, and all of what I learned built the place up in my mind to be something extraordinary.  I have to say that I was not let down in the least!  Every single display was done to complete perfection.  There is an unbelievable amount of quoted scripture that supports every thing that is stated.  It is like walking through the Bible and seeing it come alive! 

The first thing we did when we arrived was to encounter the Stargazer’s Planetarium.  This experience alone, along with all the oral documentation, is an absolutely unbelievable experience!  It explains the enormity and magnificence of outer space in such an incredible way, that it paints a miraculous picture of God’s true existence. 

The main focus of the museum is on creation, but there are some things on display that represent other issues.  Some of what I can remember pertains to times of now, but since I had my children with me on this trip I did not get the chance to absorb all of it. 

My children liked the outside petting zoo the best.  It is located at the end of a beautiful walking path outside.  There are a few animals that can be pet and fed.  I was impressed how knowledgable the animal caretakers were of the animals.  They were able to answer all of our questions.

For the Christmas season, there will be a beautiful Nativity display outside in the front of the museum that I believe is free of charge.  We saw people working on building the display when we were there.  I thought this would be a good place to mention, too, that I read an article in the Home School Enrichment magazine about how a large amount of work done at the museum is by homeschooled children and previously homeschooled graduates. 

I absolutely cannot wait to go back, though the next time I would like to go sans kids.  There is a lot to read and watch, and with little kids in tow it is very hard to accomplish.  Lucky for me, I only live about 1/2 an hour away, so this is very possible.

After returning home from vacation, we spent a good solid week on school- which is going great, by the way!  (I will have to make a post all about school later…)  Then, we had a week of school and field trips.  It almost felt like a mini-vacation in itself…lol!

Our first field trip was to the Wright-Patterson Airforce Museum.  It was a really fun experience.  The boys were amazed at all of the airplanes the museum owned and displayed.  It was very neat to see how the airplanes changed in design over the years.

I thought the museum did a great job of creating displays centered around different eras, such as the world wars, Vietnam, and even the Cold War.  One of the most touching display for me was a small one about the Holocaust.  I have always found that topic very intriguing, but emotionally appalling. 

There were also displays that included information about what it is like to be involved in wars now, like Afghanistan and Iraq.  I truly felt serious emotion while I was looking at all the planes and reading the various pieces of information.  There were even many videos that showed different people being interviewed about their experiences first hand during these rough times.

My boys especially liked the space displays.  There was an astronaut’s suit that you could stand in behind for pictures.  There was also a simulation booth that gave you an example of what it would be like to blast off into space!  And, there was a whole room displaying rockets!

In the hands-on room, we were lucky to have met a volunteer who really had a passion for his job.  He taught me some things, as well as my boys.  I wish I would have thought to get his name.  It is rare to meet people in the world today who are so wonderfully helpful. 

There is a display of some of the Presidential Planes, but were did not get to see those this time.  We will be sure to plan for that on our next trip.  We can’t wait to go back!

Would you believe me if I told you this was all FREE!  If you have the opportunity to visit the Wright-Patterson Airforce Museum in Dayton, OH, it is a must!

*I would have added more pictures, but it was a bit dark in the museum so they did not turn out well.

I guess the saying is true: “Time flies when you are having fun.”  The month of October proved to be just that- fun!  We were very blessed to be able to start the month off with a wonderful vacation to Florida with my mother-in-law and father-in-law.  We stayed in a private condo that was just wonderful!  Not only was it clean and decorated very invitingly, but it had a real kitchen! 

You might not understand why, on a vacation, I am excited to have a kitchen.  Having a child with severe food allergies greatly limits us as to where we can eat out.  We virtually NEVER eat out!  I have to add, also, that having a wonderful mother-in-law along who cooks wonderful meals was just the icing on the cake to made our stay even that much better.

I already posted a few pictures on a random post previous to this one, so I won’t add a ton of those.  I would like to add just one, though…

Little C, Baby J, and Little R.

… I wanna go back!

On Friday, September 11, 2009 the Cincinnati Nature Center has plans for a fun-filled evening for families.  The evening will start with a picnic brought from home and ice cream provided by United Dairy Farmers.  There will also be blue grass music for listening enjoyment.  The main part of the evening will be strolling through trails that will offer various learning stations, and the finale is a cabin re-enactment with the Queen City Harmonica Club.  It doesn’t matter if you are a member or non-member, and you DO NOT have to pre-register.  You can visit the CNC’s site here for more details.

The hardest thing about homeschooling so far for me has been getting use to changing things on an almost daily basis.  I have always been a creature of habit in that I like stucture and predictability.  I have spent a ton of time sitting at the comuter and looking through our chosen curriculum to plan our school days.  What I have found, though, is that homeschooling is a bit more complex than I originally thought.  That is complex in a good way.

The beauty of homeschooling is that if our chosen method or curriculum does not appear to be interesting enough or effective, we can change it!  It is just that the changing has been happening quite frequently around here.  I guess being new to the homeschooling lifestyle also brings with it a bit of trial and error.  I have read other’s posts on this subject (though, it has been awhile and I no longer remember where I found these posts,) so I know I am not alone. 

I have come to realize this past week that I need to make yet another tweak to our plan.  I am going to schedule more time on math and reading for Little R, and  I ordered the Shurley English program for grammar studies.  I will write more about that once we get our feet wet with it.  I have been trying to follow the TOG studies as well as including science, but I have a habit of making things more difficult than they need to be.  I am still going to teach these subjects, but I realize that I need to simplify my plans a bit. 

I just read about something called an Adventure Box on Belinda’s blog, and I love the idea!  I think I can incorporate them here, and my boys are sure to love the idea as well.  The adventure box idea will still let me be in control of what my boys are allowed access to for their learning, but it will also give them the feeling of control.  The best thing is that it will add an element of fun, which is always good.

Making an Adventure Box is simple.  First you pick a subject of interest.  In the box, you place books on the subject- both fiction and non-fiction-  as well as videos, hands on activities, games, etc.  Really whatever you can think of that will also encourage a particular skill that the child needs to practice.  Belinda uses a sort of accountability card as well to help teach the child responsibility.  

I am going to make two adventure boxes.  One will be for TOG, and the other will be on a subject of Little R’s choice.  I will write about our experience later along with some pictures.

You can also read more about this idea on The Heart of the Matter Online in this post by Heather Woodie.

I was offered the exciting privilege of reviewing a book about food allergies. Flourishing With Food Allergies, by A. Anderson, proved to be a great resource for information on living with food allergies. Living with food allergies, especially when it is your child, proves to carry a huge weight of worry and anxiety. The first part of this book provides snippets from other people’s experiences. It helped me to feel like I was not alone, or crazy for that matter.

What I like most about this book is that it is very thought provoking about the cause of food allergies. I know that there has been great effort in searching for a cure, but I have always felt that finding the cause is more important. If there is something that is causing such havoc on our biological system, it should be stopped! What about autism and ADHD? Could these be the results of the same culprit? Do you realize how many extra chemicals go into our food supply?

Many people take for granted that we live in a well protected society and that this protection includes our food supply. Maybe you have noticed all the press on things such as BPA in our plastic, hormones and antibiotics in our milk, and pesticides contaminating our produce, just to name a few. Ms. Anderson does a great job in her book shedding more light on some of these kinds of questions.

Little C gets lumped into two categories: the big brother category, and the little brother category.  Instead of letting him get caught up in being the “middle child,”  I want him to realize that he is lucky to get to be part of both worlds.

We are into our fourth week of school, and I am finally starting to feel like I have it together.  I struggled wholeheartedly with the decision of wether or not to homeschool, and in the end I truly heard God speak to my heart.  I will tell you, I have never had a harder decision to make, but now that I am here I cannot imagine it any other way!  I am certain that this is where God wants me right now.  I have come to the realization, too, that He will guide and comfort me along this journey.  I am grateful to be here

So far, we are liking or choice of curriculum very much.  Well, I guess Little R wouldn’t say the same for some of his work (he complains about any handwriting and reading,) but he has said many times when we finish the days work, “That was fun!” 

The Saxon Math 1 curriculum we chose still seems kindof easy, but I started doubling up on the lessons for now.  I don’t want to skip them because it is good review, but it is mind numbing to sit there doing too easy work.  I have to keep Little R somewhat challenged or I lose his attention.  The Veritas Phonics Museum is going well also.  I was worried about the D’Nelian style of handwriting, but Little R has amazed me!  His fine motor skills have improved GREATLY since last year at this time. 

This is a picture of an Egyptian Paddle Doll. This was an activity that we did with the TOG curriculum during Week 1 Unit 1 studies.

I have to say that our favorite work right now is what Tapesty of Grace has brought to the table.  Little R, and Little C for that matter, have learned so much already from our Ancient Egyptian Studies.  I also believe Little R has the story of Moses engrained in his mind forever…lol!  He and his litte friend K have been pretending to be baby moses and the princes (Little K is his girly friend that lives behind us.)  Another example happened one evening while we were playing outside.  He had a tennis racket in his hand and he layed it across his back with his arms hanging over the sides.  He said, “Look mom, I look like an Egyptian.”  One day when I was struggling to get him to clean up a mess of toys he made, he finally got angry with me and told me, “I am not an Isrealite!”  While I cannot condone the disrespect he directed at me, I had a hard time holding back a laugh at that one!  I thought to myself, -wow!  He is really soaking in this information.  It’s funny how the information they are learning seems to creep up at such odd times.  I am thrilled, though. 

Little R working on his paddle doll.

The things that I really like about Tapestry of Grace start first with how well it ties in with Bible studies.  After that, I very much like using real books for our studies of the time period.  And, of course, the hands on activities.  Here is another picture of a TOG acitivity…

Little C and Little R working with clay. What started out as a pyramid project, turned into clay coil pots...lol!

Another stuggle for me in regards to being a new homeschool mom, is learning how to relax!  If there are any new homeschoolers out there reading this post, you know where I am coming from.  I finally decided to break our schooling down into blocks of importance so I feel less overwhelmed.  The first block includes the three r’s.  For us it is our math and reading curriculum (our reading program includes writing as well.)  I know that if I can accomplish this task everyday for my first grader, then I will be fine.  Next my goal is filliing in our TOG studies (this program includes history, literature, geography, Bible, and art.)   Science is left up to me, so I decided to use lapbooks to guide us.  I cannot recommend them enough!   I will have to dedicate a post to this subject alone.

I am at peace with my decision to homeschool.  It is overwhelming sometimes, especially at first.  If you are new to the realm of homeschooling and are feeling overwhelmed, hang in there!  Pray about it.  I know this has helped me

The boys and their Daddy.

Silly boys!

Picking black berries.

Looking at fossils with Daddy. The farm use to be under water long ago.

Being silly with Daddy

Looking for crawdads in the creek.

Part of the creek where the flow of water created these ripples over a long period of time.

A footprint of something...

A BIG crawdad!

A big rock shaped like Ohio.

Now, for some of my random pictures…

Black berries.

I am sure you know what this is

Pretty wildflower. These grow all over the place.

Close up of Queen Anne's Lace.

We made it back to the house just as it got dark!

I know I am not the only one to deal with this, because I have read other people’s thoughts about this same subject.  How in the world am I to keep house and have a great homeschool experience???? 

We just finished our first real week of school - which I thoroughly enjoyed, and wouldn’t change even for a clean house- but, I stepped back yesterday and noticed the my house was a WRECK!!!  I know that some things are not going to be the same, especially in the beginning, BUT <<big sigh>> how have all of you emotionally dealt with this?

A few Satrudays ago, my Uncle stopped by our house.  It was still kind of early, and we were not expecting his visit, so we were a bit unprepared.  I was, in fact, still in my PJ’s!  It didn’t matter, though, because we are very close to this Uncle, even though he LAUGHED at my crazy morning hair when I opened the front door…lol!  I remember fun times with him when I was little.  It is amazing how the little things like this make an impact on little minds.

When he popped in on us, the boys happened to have their Play-Doh spread all over the kitchen table.  After we finished with our grown up business (Great Uncle M is going to help my hubby build a much need roof over our deck!) he took the time to play with the boys.  They were still talking about their playtime days later…

Uncle M with Little R and Little C.

Snail and Worm Pie!

Thank you for the memories Great Uncle M!