our dozen beautiful feet

This week we studied: VIKINGS!  It was a great fun week, and we learned a lot.  I love homeschooling.  Here's one reason.  We briefly read about the belief system of the Vikings, and the names of their main gods, two of which were Odin and Thor.  The kids knew about our common pop culture Thor from a comic book a friend had given them. : )  But this weekend, we decided to watch Captain America as a family, and in the opening scene, when the villain is fining the tesseract, he mentions Odin!  I said, "Hey guys! You know who Odin is!!!"  Fun times. We learned all about Viking culture, and how they would navigate as they sailed and raided.  We made a simple sundial, since no one back then had clocks.  Kiryn marking her sundial with Roman numerals This is Kiryn's note booking page.  I love these Vikings. : ) And, please note the top left corner where it says "Side Kiryn."  She has started writing this on everything...

This is a special day.  One I don't take for granted.  Not at all.  The blessing of it was heavy on me all day.  So many children don't get to spend their first birthday with their families.  They're still waiting... waiting in orphanages.... sometimes with good caregivers... sometimes not... but almost certainly no one will know its their birthday, no one will whisper "Happy Birthday Baby!" in their ear, no one will make a special fuss over them that day, or give them something sweet or remember that they were born and given as a precious gift to a family. I am so thankful to have celebrated Meryn's first birthday, and to have her with us for this day!  God has been so faithful to us and to her, and she was surrounded by loving friends who have faithfully prayed her into this home over the past year.  We had such a great time celebrating this beautiful girl's first year and where God's brought her in it! ...

Kiryn's notebook page about the battle between the Arabs and the Franks Luke was tired and didn't want to write, but he did manage to scribble out a drawing of Charlemagne. This week we began to learn about the history of Europe and how it formed in the early middle ages.  Our first character to study was Charlemagne the Great.  We learned all about how Charlemagne united the Franks and was able to defend their land against barbarian/Viking invaders, as well as Arab invaders.  I am really learning a lot! : )  I have heard all the names of these historic figures, but didn't really know much about their lives, when they lived, or even where they ruled.  So putting it all together for me has been really interesting! : ) This week in science, we learned about earthquakes and tsunamis.  We got to do a fun experiment in which we simulated an earthquake.  Here is our model town all set up and ready for it's quakes. After a light shake,...

This week we took a look at the history of the beginnings of Islam, and how it affected the world at the time.  We read about the prophet Muhammad and his life, and how he received his messages from Allah.  We read about how he moved from Mecca to Medina, and conquered different lands and peoples, and how caliphs took over his empire after his death.  We also read a beautiful book called Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp.  We all really enjoyed that story! Kiryn's map of the Islamic Empire Luke's Map This is not intended to be controversial, but I just got such a giggle out of Luke's misspelling on this notebook entry. : ) In science this week, we learned how the earth spins on its axis by spinning a raw egg and a boiled egg.  We learned that the raw egg spins all wobbly, and the hard boiled egg spins smooth, and for a much longer time.  We also took a look at the water cycle.  We were supposed to make a rain gauge, but since it's not r...

I entered this week with fear and trepidation, but also a determination to conquer being the homeschooling mommy of four kids.  It's on. Each morning, we'd start as soon as Meryn went down for her nap, between 9 and 9:15.  Levi we'd keep occupied coloring, getting out toys, or as a last resort, a Baby Einstein.  (Only twice all week, I'm pretty proud of myself!) During Meryn's naptime, we almost always could knock out our Bible, Grammar, Spelling, and either math or science. (We do math M-W-F, and science T-Th).  So then all that was left is our Tapestry work.  We'd either take a break, or they kept working on independent work, while I'd then entertain the littles from 11 or so until lunch.  Then lunch, littles back down for a nap, and around 2, we're hitting the books again.  Things went so well this week, that I actually managed to work out every afternoon (except Friday) either before or after our afternoon school time.  This week was a hu...