Gymnastics

We go to gymnastics one morning a week.  It is a class for homeschoolers. The 3 younger girls started last January and had a recital in May and then took the summer off.  We just started back in September and Jadon is also now in the younger class. So we are now there from 8:30-11:30.  I promised the girls we would continue as long as they can come home and get their school work done in the afternoon.  So far so good!  : )

Jadon loves his class, it is the first 45 minutes and he does great!  This is the only picture I have taken so far.  HA!  We are blocked off more and hard to get a picture and I enjoy the time visiting with the other moms.  :)

First Lego League

This semester Joshua is participating in First Lego League competition.  The competition will be held in November.  The boys are presented with a challenge that focuses on a real world topic related to the sciences.  (You can google it)  This year it has to do with solving a trash problem.  I am pretty hands off on this one.  I have a friend who is leading the group and they meet on Tuesday mornings.  I take the girls to gymnastics during this time so either Jay or Anastasia take Joshua.  However, they had a field trip this past week to a transfer station and so I took Joshua and Jadon.  It was pretty cool.  One of the boy's dad in the group runs this place so he gave us a tour.  Even though it was nasty hot in the middle of the afternoon it was quite interesting.

 Showing us how the trash and recycle is sorted to be sold off to other trash and recycling places.

Their favorite part was getting to get up in the trash truck and push the buttons to make the truck pick up and empty the trash bin.  Then they got to blow the horn.  Jadon thought this was really cool!

My shopping score!

Shopping is not one of my hobbies or favorite activities but sometimes it is a necessity.  Ha!  All 5 of my younger kids needed new tennis shoes and all at the same time!  Ugghh....  I started praying before I went shopping, seriously! 

 I took all 5 kids and went to JCPenny (I have coupons for there).  I was prepared for all 5 pairs to be around $150 easily!!  So when we got there we went straight to the shoe department.  The tennis shoes were all on sale, name brands, Nike and Fila!  Each kid had gone up at least a half-full size.  We even had to go to the men's shoes for Joshua, he is now the same size as his dad!!  

So we found 5 pairs of tennis shoes.  Then we went to look at the clearance racks for the girls.  All the fall and winter clothes are out right now and it is too hot here still so it is a great time to buy more "summer" clothes.  I scored major!!!  All three girls wear the same shirt size right now, which I convinced them is a good thing!  Ha!  I bought over 14 shirts and 5 shorts/capri's.  And are you ready.......my grand total for all that plus the 5 pairs of shoes......$180!!!  I was so thrilled!!!  I saved over $400 according to my receipt.  I also earned another $15.00 off another shopping trip and an email for $15 off another pair of shoes.  So now I can bring Anastasia and get $30.00 off a pair of shoes for her.  I was so excited! 

I am documenting this as a reminder to myself of of how God is always faithful in the small and the big.  He provides for our needs and sometimes even our wants.

I did not take the time to lay everything out or get the shoes but here is a picture of some of the tops.  : )

Science Co-op

This year for Science we are using Apologia (once again) and are studying Human Anatomy and Physiology.  The kids are super excited to learn about the body this year.  We formed a very small co-op with just 4 other families.  We didn't want to leave anyone out but if we invited everyone we would just be another huge co-op like we already have.  And we meet in homes so we had to limit our number of kids.  : )

We do science on our own at home and then get together one afternoon a month to do hands on activities and experiments that go with the 2 lessons we have been studying.  This really helps keep me on track to get our science done on time for these meetings. Win-Win!  We again met over the summer and planned out the year of which mom would be teaching which lessons each month.  Whichever mom is teaching also hosts.  We usually have 3-4 centers all planned out and the kids rotate in groups to each center.  There is a mom at each center helping out.

This first co-op was all about cells and bones. They made an edible cell with all it's parts, they played a bone game, and made DNA.  It was so much fun and I think they learned a lot!

September Boys Book Club

I love book club and this is Joshua's second year participating in it.   Last year a mom started a book club for boys ages 10-13.  There are nine families some with siblings so about 14 boys.  Over the summer we moms each picked a book and which month we wanted to teach (book club runs September-May).  The boys meet once a month rotating houses based on whose book it is.  

The boys have the month to read the book.  Then during book club they usually eat a lunch together, discuss the book and share their story map.  They also concentrate on learning a literary element and there is usually an activity for them to do.  Last year we chose a series to read, which took six of the nine months. It was The Kingdom series by Chuck Black.  The boys loved it however, this year we wanted more of a variety.

The book for September was The Lottery Rose.  We really liked it. I was just going to read the first chapter with Joshua but then got hooked so we read the book together and even Savannah joined in.  This book was an easy read but tackled some difficult topics, mainly child abuse.  It led to some great discussions!

The girls' Keepers Club usually meets the same time as book club so I just drop Joshua off most times. However, I was able to stay today.  It was a wonderful afternoon.  Our hostess served the kids canned beans and bologna sandwiches which is something the main character probably ate.  They had a great book discussion and then the boys put together some Christmas ornaments.  

There is a big mass adoption day coming up for 50 families and these families will be given baskets filled with goodies. Not the best picture but the verse is Isaiah 40:31.  My friend had an extra one we were able to keep so we can put it on our tree as a reminder. 

Our hostess was even able to set up a field trip that is coming up for the boys to meet and talk with a judge who deals with child abuse cases.  I think it will be a good experience for them.

Our book for October is Maniac Magee.  

You say it's your birthday....well it's my birthday too!  : )

I had a great birthday today celebrating with friends and family!  Anastasia made me these amazing cupcakes and she put actual coffee in them.

We celebrated by going out as a family to our favorite  hot wings place, Cogburns, for wings and french fries.  They are really good and it doesn't break the bank to take our whole family there. : )

After that we headed over to Anastasia's volleyball game.  I love watching my girl play.  Get ready for some major bragging........

Anastasia has been playing volleyball for 3 years now.  This is her final year on Varsity with EVAC.  She has come such a long way!!!  Her first year on the team she was occasionally subbed in and there was so much pressure because the other girls were so good and she could hardly make her serves.  Last year she got better.  Well after a summer camp this year she improved even more.  So this year she is a starter, her serves always make it over (well at least 99% of the time)!  I am so proud of her.  The match her team played on my birthday was amazing!  Now before I totally brag, I understand it takes a team to win or lose a game and Anastasia is totally a team player.  So understand this is just a proud mom moment......

Anastasia made the winning point in two of the games and she served over and over winning her team points!!!  Way to go girl!!! 

 She even had another dad come over to her (his daughter had been on the team 2 years with her, but has now graduated) and congratulated her on how much she has improved and how well she plays!  That was awesome to hear.

Looking forward to many more games this season!  

Michael and Kara our friends and Anastasia's youth pastor and wife suprised us by coming to the game.  Then we invited them back over to the house to play some games and eat ice cream.

It was a wonderful birthday just how I wanted it.....spent with my family!

Here's to another year!

This is the start of our 3rd year with LOVE co-op.  Wow! I remember as soon as I knew we were moving back to the east valley, contacting Courtney in order to get into co-op.  LOL  It was a must for our family and it has been such a blessing.  The families we have met and friendships that have formed have been incredible.

This year Co-op is the largest it has ever been with 25 families and 80+ kids....double wow!!  I think I am most excited for the teen group.  When Anastasia joined two years ago there were only 6 kids in the class.  Now it is up to 20!!  So many fun things they can do together now!

I was asked to be part of the steering committee this year and am excited to serve.  I helped with the scheduling which is no easy task with all the mom's and fabulous classes being offered.  But I totally geek out at doing that kind of stuff.  : )

This year is very exciting because in addition to the kids regular classes (PE and art for this year) where they are grouped by ages each kid got to pick 2 discovery hour classes.  We have an awesome group of moms who stepped up to teach some amazing classes!!  Some of the offerings are outdoor skills,  handi-crafts, lego club, book club, choir/drama, crochet, and yearbook.

The young adult (teen group) is doing world geography, a bible study and logic this year and then they get to pick one discovery hour.

We meet twice a month.  We start the morning with Worship, pledges and announcements:

I didn't get pictures of all the groups as I was helping in Jadon's class in the morning.  It was really neat to work in this class and see how the kids have grown in the last two years.  There was a group of them in here who have moved up this year from the preschool class.  They are big Kindergartners now!!

The artist they are studying for the first two months is Matisse.

PE time

I am teaching two discovery hour classes.  During 3rd hour I am teaching book club.  This year we are reading through the Little House on the Prairie books.  They do the reading at home and we discuss the book and do fun activities in class.  Today we made corn husk/raffia dolls and butter.

During 4th hour I am teaching a Lego club.  For this first class they just had free play to check out the set they will be using this year.  Each class will have building challenges, presentations, learning new skills and playing games.  This is one of Jadon's favorite classes.  : )