Field Trips

We have enjoyed several field trips this fall.  The first one was to the Blue Bell ice cream factory. 

 Our favorite part:  free ice cream at the end of the tour.

We also enjoyed the Moundville Native American Festival.  Darren even took the day off to join us.

Our favorite part of the festival was watching this man hoop dance.  He has performed all over the world.  His ancestors were part of the Alabama tribe.  Now he lives in Texas and is part of the Alabama - Coushatta tribe.   

Finally, we visited Old Baker Farm.  We love this place and have been several times as a family.  We were very thankful to have Hannah and Lindsey join us.

Best Buddies

Nate and my dad truly are best buddies and I am so very thankful. :)

Tae Kwon Do Tournament

I mentioned in my previous post about Nate's first tae kwon do tournament.  I did not get to be there because I was home recovering.  I was nervous for Nate, even from home!  Nate was nervous too.  One of the themes for our family lately has been Joshua 1:9:  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged; for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.  We prayed this prayer several times before the tournament. 

Darren texted me throughout the tournament to keep me updated.  We were both surprised by how many people were there.

Nate competed in forms first.  Darren texted that Nate had tied for third place and he would have to do his form again to see who would get the third place medal.  I was so nervous waiting to hear the results.  I was so excited to see Darren's text: "He got it!"  Next he competed in sparring.  He had only been sparring about three weeks at this point.  We were not expecting him to medal in this round, but he ended up with another third place medal. 

This was a great experience for Nate.  The medals were just icing on the cake.   

Life: Expect the Unexpected

A lot has happened since my previous post.  The previous weekend was Labor Day weekend.  That's when the sickness started that led to my cholecystectomy.  That's the fancy medical term for gall bladder removal.  Being sick and/or recovering from surgery for almost a month has been no fun!  It has kicked my booty physically and mentally.  I am so thankful that I had a great surgeon and a fairly easy recovery.  I also had great help from my awesome husband, parents, and friends.    

This did not happen at a convenient time.  :)  One of my biggest disappointments was not getting to participate in the R(un) for One 5K.  A friend from church organized a team, the W(un)der  Women.  I trained for weeks and worked really hard to improve my 5K time.  I also had to miss Nate's first tae kwon do tournament.  Thankfully Darren was able to text me throughout the tournament. 

I am now two weeks out from surgery and feeling great.  I am thankful to be back into a normal routine.  Most of all, I am thankful for God's healing and provision during my down time. 

Sparring Gear

This summer Nate moved up to green belt in Tae Kwon Do.  Once you receive your green belt, you get your sparring gear.  Nate was so excited...like Christmas morning excited.  He could not stop smiling. I was pretty impressed with his first-time sparring skills.  He was much more assertive and confident than I thought he would be.     

Birthday Questions

I asked Nate these questions this morning.  I asked him the same questions last year.  It was fun comparing answers. 

How old are you?  6

What makes you happy?  animals

What is your favorite animal?  hippopotamus

What is your favorite thing to eat?  macaroni & cheese

What is your least favorite thing to eat?  pepperoni pizza

What is your favorite thing to do?  watch TV

What is your favorite TV show?  Ninjago

What are you really good at?  running

What is your favorite movie?  Turbo

What is your favorite color?  yellow

What is your favorite song?  Jesus Loves Me :)

Who is your best friend?  Gabe

What do you and your mom do together?  school

What do you and your dad do together?  play

What is your favorite sport?  Tae Kwon Do

Where is your favorite place to go?  the movies

What is your favorite book?  Ninjago: The Golden Weapons

What do you want to do when you grow up?  Veterinarian

Kindergarten

After several years (yes, years) of prayer, Darren and I decided to home school Nate.  We never dreamed of home schooling our children.  That's for weirdos who want to have little or no contact with the outside world, right?  I honestly hadn't even heard a lot about home school until we started noticing a whole lot of families in our church family home school...and they are all perfectly normal and extremely social.  The more we learned about it, the more we began to seriously pray about it for our family.  We continued to receive confirmation after confirmation pointing us toward home school.  

So, we decided we were going to home school.  Now we had to tell our families and friends.  I was nervous about this because there are not a whole lot of families who home school in our neck of the woods.  Our church family is located in another county, where home school has been on the rise for years and now is pretty common.  Not everyone has been positive, but most people have.  I have honestly gotten a lot more encouragement than expected. 

We started Monday, July 29th.  Nate and I were very excited!  I taught for six years and was a media specialist (librarian) for two years.  I forgot how much I enjoy lesson planning and teaching.

We had a great first day!

Here are some other highlights from our first week.  All of these ideas came from Pinterest.  I love putting ideas together and executing them, but I am not very creative.

 

Squirting sight words

Build the word activity

Writing letters in shaving cream (mental note: you only need a very thin layer for this)

Shaving cream art (since we had a pan full of shaving cream)

Painting like cave men with things from nature...and crayola washable paint :)

Completed shaving cream art

One of my biggest concerns with home school involved where we were going to have school and how I would organize school supplies, books, etc.  I really wanted to have a school room, but by the time I came to that decision it was almost time for school to start.  For now we are doing school in the living area - either on the couch for reading or using Nate's table for writing and craft activities.  I am storing our supplies in a cabinet my parents gave us.  They found a great piece of furniture at a yard sale for $15.00 several weeks ago.  It had been sitting in their storage building just waiting to be discovered. :) My dad had already stripped and sanded it.  All it needed was some paint and a little distressing.

I am still working on how to display Nate's work. This iron piece was already in our living area.  It occurred to me that I could use magnets to hang Nate's work until we can come up with a better plan.  This is working well so far and a great way for Nate to show Darren what he's accomplished/created during the school day. 

I have been working on this post for several days (mainly due to blogger issues) and now two weeks of school have come and gone.  Our second week was just as fun and encouraging as our first.  We certainly had some challenges each day, but overall it's been a great experience.  I am so thankful for God's grace, wisdom, and provision.