House Rule

The house rule is NO SCHOOL on Birthdays!! That's just how it is around here. And believe me, we fiercely stick by that rule!!

Tomorrow (Friday) is my birthday. I'll be a whopping 35 years old, and we're having a party with our friends on Saturday to celebrate.

My very clever children catch wind of this "party" and develop a plan. They start telling me this morning how they would much rather help me clean the house to get ready for the party than to do their school work.

*GASP!!* What???!?? Clean the house? I say, "Sure, I bet you would!" Then we get started on our day.

While we're working on our handwriting and doing our math, the thought keeps jumping into my mind "HELLO!! They WANT to help you clean the house. How can you turn that down??" I finally give in and tell them to finish up what they're working on right then and that will be it for the day IF they help me like they said they would.

I'm blown away really by their efforts and good attitude. With a joyful spirit they vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, and helped put stuff away. To me, this was SO worth a half day's lessons.

Thankful Thursday

With a very full and thankful heart, I'd like to express my thanks double-fold.

Before church last night I got to visit briefly with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. We only had a few short minutes to talk. During the course of asking how we had been and what we had been up to, she asked me about my classes. I gave her a few of the details and mentioned that I was really nervous. So nervous, in fact, that I was struggling to keep the nerves below "terrified." She let me know she would lift me up in prayer specifically about that, and I was so touched!! I love it. Then, she reminded me that while God wants to and will take care of me and this situation, that I need to CLAIM His promises and love. Don't just sit there and hope God does something for me, but ask Him and claim it!! Thank you, Lord, for sending Margaret last night!!

My next HUGE thanks goes to my unbelievably sweet husband, Robby. He is taking me to a concert tomorrow night for my birthday. He writes about what it means to him at his blog www.hourword.blogspot.com. I'm so blessed by my friends and family.

Visit more Thankful Thursday blogs by visiting http://www.eph2810.com/

Zoology 2

This year's science text is
Apologia's Zoology 2: Exploring Creation Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day.

Last year we did Astronomy with both boys, but B. just isn't interested in the subject this year. Ocean animals is right up Ry's alley (11). I'm not sure I've seen him this interested in a subject before. He reads the Apologia text, tells me about what he learned (narration, but he thinks he's "teaching" me!), then one or two days per week he notebooks the information. I let him choose which notebook pages he wanted to use, then he illustrates or adds photos and writes down his description of the topic. Neither of us are "good" at illustrations so excuse us!! But don't tell him I said so, because I tell him he does WONDERFULLY!
We do try and have fun doing it without stressing about it being perfect.

The guy floating in the water there is supposed to be the diver in the book's picture. The pink thing that looks like a water bag is a strawberry sponge.

Like I said, we TRY!! And we LEARN!!

You can find LOTS of notebooking pages at

http://www.notebookingpages.com/

All about the markerboard

We counted up how many stuffed animals that B. has.

WOW!! That's quite a bit.

Made for a fun bar graph on the markerboard.

Peek into our school room

We do our school work in the dining room mostly.

We've set up "shop" in there with our desks, computer, bookcases, and supplies.

Recently, I pulled up the carpet revealing this lovely hardwood floor.

Woohoo!!

Moving the computer desk AWAY from where we do our main academics

helps keep the distractions down.

Adding another bookcase helps keep our books and supplies handy but tidy.