Sprittibee has come and gone from the Dixon homestead, and we were all sad to see her, Chickie and her two great little munchkins head back home. I know you all know how the Queen Bee is with taking pictures, but I don't think you have any idea how she is about taking pictures! She pulled into our driveway, head out the window, camera firmly in hand, clicking away!


Heather was quite impressed with barn chores, and her children took to it real quick-like. After arriving around 7:30pm, we ate a wonderful dinner of chicken and noodles (no relation to Mr. Bennet), and then it was time to feed the chickens and goats. They carried feed and water down to the barn from the house and wrangled chickens to their pens - that night and the next morning! It was great! And they actually had fun. Imagine that! A favorite memory of mine was Morgan dumping a bucket of fresh grass out for the goats in the morning and saying in a sing-song-y voice, "Here you go goat-iees! Come on and eat the grass, goat-iees!" That girl is a cutie!

That all happened when we were getting ready to go to Heather's mostest-favoritest restaurant: Chipotle's. We have one in Fort Wayne, and we have never been there! gasp! So, Heather introduced us before she left!
We all had a blast eating hard tacos, giant burritos, wonderful guacamole, and the delicious rice from Chipotle's. [I want that recipe, too, Heather.] We did get some very cute photos of all of us before we left and some from being up 'til four in the morning the night before, but I will let Heather post those... after all, it's her vacation, right? We just got to tag along for the ride! Thanks Heather! Looking forward to your return here to bloggy-world, my dear friend!!

And, we'll see you in the Lone Star state very soon!


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Labels: field-trip, friends, fun, vacation

Friday was a day of driving, driving, driving for the Bee Family. Sprittibee reports, "I thought I was going to get to take a bunch of photos - but we got in after 1am and lost an hour to time change... got to bed at 3 and had to get up at 6 to be at the competition at 7:30..."

Highway hypnosis is a mental state in which the person can drive an automobile great distances, responding to external events in the expected manner, with no recollection of having consciously done so. In this state the driver's conscious mind is apparently fully focused elsewhere, with seemingly direct processing of the masses of information needed to drive safely... In some parts of the Southern United States, the phenomenon is called white-line fever, in reference to the white lines painted on asphalt.

[I'm wondering if it's possible to live your life in a state of "white-line fever," aren't you?]

The robotics competition is taking place today, with awards at around 4:30 - 5 p.m. Although Kaden's team has done well, they aren't winning. It sounds like a team from South Korea is whooping up on everybody. It hasn't been smooth sailing for many teams today, and it's no wonder considering there are probably a lot of sleep deprived kids competing. Sprittibee said, "I stopped counting times that robots flung themselves off the table early in the day! " What's a kid to do when the robots have minds of their own?

---

While I've taken over I'm guest commentating (and yes, I've verified with The Free Online Dictionary that this is a real word) on Sprittibee's blog, I thought I would note that she and fellow guest author Dianne have indoctrinated inculcated convinced me that my life will be incomplete without Chipotle, so our family will be eating there for the first time tomorrow. Let it not be said that we failed to support the Burritos for Peace Program™.

Labels: field-trip, homeschool, Michigan, personal, vacation

Sprittibee made a quick call from Kentucky this afternoon to share a couple of very interesting pieces of breaking news:

Yesterday, while dining at Chipotle, the Bee Family was very excited to discover that a new global-wide peace program has been implemented. It’s called Burritos for Peace*, and as you can see here, Chipotle burritos are bridging the gap amongst nations, factions, and other –tions around the world.

Do your part to support the Burritos for Peace Program* by heading to your nearest Chipotle (even if it is in another state – after all, isn’t worldwide peace worth a small road trip?).


* completely fictional, made-up by little Lego men.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Secondly, the Bees were excited to discover the answer to a long-hidden mystery. While its clandestine location has been well veiled for many years, they unearthed the Hills of Teletubbies. While taking in its splendor, they were confronted by members of the TeleGuard, with strong warnings to never reveal the aforementioned whereabouts, so as to prevent innumerable visitors from trampling the lush, green hill grass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stay tuned for future Bees on the Road Updates.

Labels: friends, fun, humor, Kentucky, photos, vacation

Sprittibee is having a wonderful time on her road trip and wishes she could be here to post her news herself. She sent me these gorgeous photos of her drive today. Below you will see the park where she and her family ate lunch at, just outside of Texarkana, TX.




As many of you know she also enjoys the hobby of photography and captured these wonderful shots showing her hand and eye at Depth of Field.



Depth of Field is when you focus in one one object while the rest of the photo is slightly blurred. You can learn more about photography with me and our other fellow photographers on Foto Fridays at Homeschool Blog Awards.



Here we have Morgan, which from what I've heard is behaving wonderfully. I'm not sure I'd be as happy sitting for as long. Tomorrow they will be in the car for 14.5 hours. I wonder if we should pray for her sanity or her rear end. What do you think? ;O)





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Labels: Arkansas, field-trip, fun, homeschool, motherhood, parenting, photos, vacation

There needs to be a book written about how good that carrot cake was. That's how many words it would take. A picture is so inadequate. It was bliss, people. It was better than Whole Foods' Carrot Cake. I thought (prided myself, even) that I made a good carrot cake. Then I tasted this cake... and my life was changed. It had home made icing even! And those little ginger-bread people on top.

Of course, I'm exaggerating about my life being changed (unless you want to count the extra pounds I probably am wearing)... but I'm not exaggerating about my recipe needing to be changed. I'm going to exact this recipe from Aunt Mary. 'Resistance is futile'. She 'will be assimilated'.

So there's my photo for today's "Wordless Wednesday"... and as I sat looking at it, I just couldn't let it post without something being said about how delicious it was. If only blogs were edible, right? You with me here? Because THAT would be what I wanted my blog to taste like. And everything else in my life, too... besides Breakfast Tacos. Of course.

....

So this is what I do before a long 3,000 mile trip. I ramble into the night online when I should be sleeping or packing or paying bills. Procrastination is a disease. I'm pretty sure it is fatal.

The day wasn't a total loss... I did get the maps. One big fold-out to mutilate, spill coffee on, mark up with highlighters and all sorts of pens, and certainly fold the wrong way so it won't look good any more.... and another expensive 2008 USA spiral-bound map that shows close-ups of big cities.

And we went to art class. And Robotics - where the boys worked on their introductions for the contest.

And we ate breakfast tacos. Because who can go on a trip without breakfast tacos? Who can just endure a day without breakfast tacos? I am going to have to pay someone off at that taco joint so I can find out where they get their bacon. There's another item that needs to go in the food hall of fame. Mmmmm. I'm making myself hungry.

So I thought I would come in here and dump my brain out before bed... and update my Dashboard for the trip. And I did. And I started a bunch of sentences with conjunctions. Which was nice.

Now that you want some breakfast tacos with your carrot cake, I'll go. My job is done. I hope you have a super Wordless Wednesday.

Time for bed.

Tomorrow is Thursday and you'll be getting an update from SisLisa in here as we document our roadtrip. She's tomorrow's guest author. The next time I post will be next week after we return home. I'll be checking in when we have internet access along the way.

Happy Trails for me!



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This post was originally posted at The Old Schoolhouse Company Porch when I did their tips for the month. I wanted to have a copy of it on my blog because I love my prayer journal and want to make sure I have this post somewhere in my archives just in case they move it or dump it one day. Enjoy!

Tip of the Day ~ Prayer Journaling

by Heather aka Sprittibee

Probably the very best advice I could give anyone (especially a homeschool mother) would be to start your day off with God. My kids remind me of this when we seem to get off track and the days start ending with melt-down rather than feelings of joy and accomplishment. The question we all need to ask when we feel overwhelmed or like we are failing is “am I spending enough time with God?”

Jesus told the parable of the vine and the branches to his disciples right before he was betrayed and had to leave them. He spoke of the vinedresser’s pruning. Pruning doesn’t ever feel good to a vine… but sometimes those feelings of being a failure or being overwhelmed will lead us back to the source of our strength – the VINE. We have to remember that the fruit we produce will never grow without us abiding in Him.

John 15:4b-5 ~ “No branch can ever bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

A lot of why we think we are failing and overwhelmed is because we ARE failing and overwhelmed. If we are not connected with the vine, those feelings are the clippers of a loving vinedresser that is trimming away our self-reliance, self-pride, and wrong-priorities. When we see that we can’t do the job of a wife, mother, homeschool teacher, friend, daughter, worker…. Without Him… the light goes on and we turn back to abiding in the vine.

When we were doing the Stewardship Unit with KONOS more than a year ago, one of our assignments was to ‘start a prayer journal for the family’ so that we could all pray together and see how God was working in our lives to answer prayers. This was an activity that would foster a sense of stewardship of our talents and time. I decided that it was a ‘keeper’, and instead of having us do a family prayer journal, I got the kids their own notebooks and set aside time for them each day before we start school to spend alone with God so they could write their own requests and praises. Some times we had lessons on what types of things they might pray for. Some times we wrote lists of others who we knew needed prayer. Sometimes we wrote poems or “Psalms” to God. Some times I even let them draw things in there (they enjoyed drawing what the throne of God might look like one day after we read a verse about it in Ezekiel). I have never corrected or graded them on this journal. It was something personal - between them and God.

Journaling has always come easy to me because I used to do it as a child. I understand that some people have a harder time thinking of what to say, so I wanted to share with you a few ideas we use while we pray in our journals other than just the ideas above:

1. Praying in Victory by Carol Ann Hon is a little booklet with tons of scriptures separated by topic (ISBN 609 993). It is out of print, but you can get a copy of it online for free at the link I have included. Sometimes we use bible verses to help us ‘claim’ God’s promises as we write to Him.

2. Sometimes we write down notes for sermons and then go back the next day as we pray and talk to God about what we thought of them.

3. Sometimes we use our chart from Moms In Touch International (31 Ways to Pray for Our Youth) and pick a spiritual character trait to pray verses about, asking God to build us to be more like that trait.

4. Sometimes we pray prayers from Power of a Praying Wife or Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian. Both of these books are wonderful.

5. Someone handed me a copy of the PART prayer method and it is what I try and follow most regularly in my prayer journals. I wasn’t able to figure out where the idea came from, but when I went online, I did find this church website that explains it very well.

Here’s below is their advice (not exactly how my prayer journal – a simple notebook – is laid out… but this is very interesting):

Get a looseleaf notebook, paper, and eight section dividers. Write one of the following words on each divider tab: Praise, Admit, Requests, Thanks, Passages, Listening, Awareness, and Notes. You don’t have to write something in each section every day. Adjust the plan to your own devotional needs.

My PART

· P-Praise.

Copy a psalm or write a praise poem of your own on one page of the Praise section. Date your entry. The next day, skip a space and write a new love letter to God. Praise expresses your feelings toward God because of who He is, not for what He does for you.

· A-Admit.

On a page of the Admit section, write out a confession of your sins. Look back of the past 24 hours and ask God to show you where you have failed Him. Be specific in your confession. Then, open your heart to receive His cleansing and forgiveness.

· R-Requests.

Draw a vertical line one inch from the left-hand side of your page. This column will be used to date your requests. Draw a vertical line one inch from the right-hand side of the page. This column will be used to date the answer received. In the middle column, list your requests. Don’t hesitate to list your wants as well as your needs. Also include your intercessory prayer for others.

· T-Thanks.

Put in today’s date and write a thank-you note to God. Express your sincere appreciation for blessings sent your way, gifts given, trials permitted, and prayers answered.

God’s PLAN

· P-Passages.

Here you record powerful passages of Scripture that speak to you. When you find a verse that touches your heart, stop to look it up in other versions and in the SDA Bible Commentary. Write down your thoughts about this verse, including a paraphrase if you wish. If you limit yourself to one text per page, you can later file these according to the Bible book or topic; after several years, you’ll have your own commentary.

· L-Listening.

Take time to listen for God’s voice. Sit quietly for a few minutes and wait for the Holy Spirit to speak. Ask Him to reveal His thoughts and plans for your life. Write down impressions that come to you. Test your impressions against Scripture.

· A-Awareness.

Become aware of lessons God wants to teach you in nature. Spend some time contemplating a part of God’s creation; write down the object lessons you see. Try to find something beautiful or interesting in nature to record each day. If you sense a lesson for life, write it down; if not, just thank God for the beauty He made for you to enjoy.

· N-Notes.

Here you will include the notes you made of sermons or seminars. Take your notebook with you to church, retreats, and camp meetings. Date the page and make note of the speaker. Outline the main points and jot down Scripture references. Taking notes will increase your ability to concentrate as well as clarify the message the Holy Spirit has for you in each presentation.


Other sections you may want to include are: to-do list, goals, calendar, books I have read, ideas for articles I want to write, stories I have told (sermons I have preached), and dates to remember (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.).

Source: Becky Tirabassi. Releasing God’s Power. Oliver-Nelson, Nashville, 1990.

May God bless you through spending time with Him and teaching this practice to your own children each day. May you always abide in Him.


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Labels: advice, books, faith, homeschool, motherhood, personal, prayers, reading

First off, I'd like to offer this cute photo for Project Look Through. Dianne and Dawn have inspired me to join in the fun (with what little time I have left before our trip). This was what I saw when I looked through a family member's windshield the other day. I had to take a picture of it. Maybe I can send in a few more "look through" shots while on our big trip? We'll see!

SPRITTIBEE'S HEARTLAND-AMERICA ROADTRIP

I thought I would make this post the Dashboard for our trip. Here is where I'm keeping our list of things to get done and a place to refer to with all our updates. Hopefully if you have been to Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio or Michigan, it will also be a place where you can leave some comments about places that MUST be seen along the way. I'm also accepting emails to this affect - if you don't want to post it for the world, that is.


SPRITTIBEE'S 'BEFORE-WE-LEAVE' LIST

Sponsor logo on shirts (Can't - shirts too dark)
Paint front of new shirt for coach (He doesn't want one)
Get Kaden's hair cut
Do bills and checkbook
Clean house
Do laundry
Unpack and Pack suitcases (that's what I get for going out of town last weekend)
Check the weather online for our trip
Take addresses to mail postcards & Thank You's
Last robotics practice
Work on introductions
Map for marking on trip
Oil change and Sea Foam for vehicle
Batteries charged
Remember Tom Tom
List for packing for the trip
Gas mileage log/register
Buy snacks and drinks for trip
Pack ice chest
Substitute to Teach my bible class Wed.
Buy supplies for state notebooks
Pack school books/prepare state notebooks
Brief lesson plan for trip
Dinner with Papa John
Sponsor Photo
Bank, Grocery store
Mail birthday cards
Update calendar/check calendar
See if I can set up old Dell Axiom for email on trip (more trouble than it is worth)
Back up photos on storage drive (in case Kev forgets to unplug in storm)
Pack games, movies, music for trip
Get ideas on important stops to make (preferably free must-see places along the way)


SPRITTIBEE GUEST AUTHOR LINE-UP (so far)

I'll be having a few blog buddies step in to update you on our trip. Here are the ones who have agreed to post so far...

SisLisa of Apples of Gold
Dawn of My Home Sweet Home
Dianne of Bunny Trails


I'll be updating this post as we check off our list. If you have something to say, please drop a note in the comments box! If you are the praying type - pray for some sanity, peace, wisdom, and mad efficiency to be sent my way! Hopefully I'll be back in tomorrow! We are leaving Thursday.

Have a great week!

*updated 4/21/08 11:29PM
*updated 4/23/08 1:29AM
*updated 4/24/08 6:19PM from Arkansas


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Labels: Arkansas, field-trip, friends, fun, getting-it-done, homeschool, Missouri, parenting, personal, photos, prayers, vacation

And the second installment of our weekend nature shots is in... anyone care to guess what type of ducks those are? Bonus points if you can share a link to more info! Lovely red eyes. One of the kids said they looked "possessed". I saw quite a few other marsh animals tonight, too. These ducks were the only animals that weren't skittish. We had an all-day family get-together and drove a long distance to get there... and I'm pooped. Tomorrow we'll be on our way home. See you in here after we get back.


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Labels: family, nature, personal, photos, vacation

I'm on vacation visiting family this week, so I thought I would share a photo Friday and Saturday while we are out of town. This is a most interesting plant that we discovered tonight in one of our family-member's yards. Does anyone know what it is? I do, but I'm not telling.


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I found some WMD!!! Go see!!!

Wanting this.
Made me mad.
Don't forget. (today is the 17th!)

NOT TO MISS:



The HSBA (Homeschool Blog Awards) website has had a makeover. Our talented Dawn of My Home Sweet Home has done a smashing job with the gorgeous template. Stop over and leave her a comment or just leave a comment on any of our super author's posts. Today's post is an interview with Mama Archer. I guess I can forgive her this time for not sending a photo of her blogging desk in with her interview request!



Also spectacular is this month's issue at Heart of the Matter Online (HOTM). My long-winded sequel to the last political post in here is in their April issue. Hop over and read my article about Good Citizenship and the GOP delegate meeting we attended. You can also print the magazine off in PDF format to save your eyes. They are having a conference soon that you can sign up for. I'll be one of the speakers for that. If you sign up, tell them I sent you!



Here's a great link for girls: Growing in Grace Magazine! Young and teen girls can write articles, share photos for contests, and be a part of a wonderful support group online. Morgan won their pet of the month contest a while back when she submitted a photo of her and our cat Quaker. I love GGM and hope they go to print!


BEEHIVE UPDATE:

Great news: 1. We are going to see family this weekend. 2. I'm going to see Expelled tomorrow - opening day! 3. I'm looking forward to our trip across country with the kids for the robotics competition!

If you live in Arkansas, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Mississippi, Indiana or Missouri, I'll be waving at you as we drive through.

Also - I wanted to formally apologize for my lack of comment responses lately! If you leave your email on your comments, I am trying to get back with you via email. However, if you log in an comment anonymously, I sometimes don't have time to get back in to the web and comment on my own posts! I enjoy each one, though. They make me smile! Keep them coming!

I heart comments!


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Have you ever had one of those years that was so crammed packed full of stuff that you never had a chance to catch your breath? I'm having one of those roller-coaster years... and I'm not sure I can complain - but I sometimes wonder how I'm standing up on this magic carpet ride I call life.

Let me fill you in....

Last Friday I planned out our next school unit - a 15 week unit to last until the end of school: from now until July 31st. Then, Saturday we took my son to compete in a competition for robotics. He's only a 5th grader, and it was only his first time to compete - so I wasn't expecting much. I was just glad he got a chance to learn and be involved in something bigger than himself. That is usually the way it goes - we underestimate our kids, don't we? Needless to say, his team WON. The little buggers won First Place! ...and now I'm ditching all plans of a normal routine to plan a trip across the USA some time in the next two weeks for another competition. Plans, shmans. Who needs them when you can live life on the edge?!

So, on our first day of States and Regions, MOM was planning a trip while the children got in trouble. I spent the day yelling at the kids while they ran around in their pajamas goofing off every time I turned my head the other way. I was on the phone from the time I got up until after business hours trying to recruit sponsors to help with the finances for the 3,000 mile trip that we had no idea we would be taking until 48 hours ago. I was checking in to airline prices, car rental prices, gas prices, hotel prices... and calling all my friends I knew along the route. So far we don't have any sponsorship response, but I have petitioned some nice companies and hope they will consider it.

So I guess that explains why there haven't been any posts in here in the past couple of days. Hopefully I'll be able to find time to take my husband's laptop on our trip next week and blog from across the country. What a way to kick off a States and Regions unit for KONOS! A real-live thrown-together, emergency trip across the U.S. - wow! Now if only we can get our states notebooks started before we leave so we can learn about the states we will be passing through as we tootle along the freeway (burning liquid gold at $4.00 per gallon).

Pray for the Bees and the Bees' Friends and their Bots in this time of busyness, if you would! We appreciate it so much!



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Taking a field trip to the Audiologist is a great way to make learning about the ear and sound memorable. The photo isn't my best, but if you look closely, you can see Morgan screaming behind sound-proof glass. The faint red baseball cap is Kaden. Inside are a bunch of other kids from our small co-op in Arkansas. They were screaming at the top of their lungs and we couldn't hear them! [note to self: need to build sound proof room in house!] I think they did a sound test for the kids, but it has been a while - I can't remember. I do know that the doctor was great. She showed us the little tubes that they put in peoples ears, gave us some great books and brochures, talked with the kids about what they knew about ear health and hearing, etc. If you are interested in learning about hearing and sound, be sure to visit my links at the bottom of this post!

After the ear doctor our co-op gang all had lunch in the park and browsed a book store together. I miss the mild summers up there in Arkyland. The weather there was near perfect... unless you consider the summers in Colorado or Washington State? Here's a shot of Morgan eating Taco Bell nachos that day. It is fun looking back through our field trip 'fotos'. What a treasure it will be when they are grown to have these memories. I just wish I had time to scrapbook them all! I hope that this blog will sub as a memory book one day for them.

We took this field trip at the beginning of our Second and Third grade year (2006-7). We were living in Little Rock and using KONOS as our main curriculum (unit studies). If you want to learn more about our homeschool adventure (book lists, curriculum, enrichment ideas, favorite units, photos, and more) - visit my Homeschool Series Post (linked below). I keep a running tab of all my homeschool years since the very beginning! This year we are in 4th and 5th Grade and will be adding this year's records at the end of the school year or the beginning of the next! School will end for us at the end of July or in early August. I'm projecting a one month Summer Break this year.


Quick Links
Ear, Sound, Music & Senses Links
Sprittibee's Homeschool Series Links


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Labels: Arkansas, field-trip, Field-Trip-Foto-Friday, food, friends, fun, homeschool, KONOS, motherhood, parenting, photos, science, teaching

Sorry for the lag time in here, but I thought I would throw you an update real quick before I'm sucked into the time-space continuum of this weekend. [I can't believe that I spelled that word right on my first try.]

Yesterday was amazingly busy. Aside from the umpteen-million emails I've been sorting through with HSBA [...which is getting a face lift soon - shhhh! Don't tell anyone I told you.], our local co-op, etc... we managed to get a MSBC homeschool day accomplished. Wanna see what we did?

Check it out:
Bible reading
Prayer Journals
Pray for our day
Devotional (on Samuel)
Math
Timeline cards
Language
Pen Pal letters
A Beka Penmanship
Science Reader
Visualize World Geography (current event on Pakistan, map on Pakistan, facts on Pakistan & review)
KONOS: Worksheets about Tabernacle, Breastplate, Priest Clothing & Read about/view online
Paste seasons graphic in journal (on earth's rotation journey)
Typing
Free reading
Robotics for 1.5 hours
Help mom teach K-1 Bible Class about Great Commission (do artwork craft w/ other kids)
Chores

The only things we didn't finish were our family read-aloud and PE (the nature walk).

Oh, yeah, baby! This new schedule rocks. You know what we changed? We made sure that chores were done at NIGHT (no morning chores any more besides bed/dressed/eat) and we make sure to PRAY FIRST. You would think my skull wasn't so thick that I would have already learned that in the past seven years of homeschooling... but I kid you not, people - there are homeschool moms like me that still struggle with even the most basic concepts - after 7 years of being in the trenches. There, now my secret is out. The tabernacle is a great thing to study about when you are feeling like a failure (I'm going to write a devotional on it some time soon). Just imagine the pillar of fire and smoke by day and night leading you - the walls of water standing tall beside you as you pass by through the dry bottom of the sea on foot... and then.... you... BUILD A GOLDEN CALF. Ahem. I think it is human nature to err. [Again I can't believe my spelling skills. My son is a great spelling teacher. He may have really begun to help me get my act together. I really think that he's the teacher and I'm the student sometimes.]

So with that as our day yesterday, we got home at 10:30pm after a late dinner and a stop at the grocery store for milk and catfood... and went to bed just before midnight. Today is off to a late start due to our bedtime challenges, but we are working on getting something accomplished. We're doing school Lite and are thrilled to have a little 'out-and-about' detox. Tomorrow we have Robotics meet, States & Regions Planning with a KONOS buddy, and a slumber party for my little girl to attend. Saturday we have a competition to go to for my son. Sunday we have our usual extremely busy schedule and a potluck lunch and dinner to cook for as well. I think I signed up for a poppyseed cake. Hopefully, come Monday, I won't be wishing I could have another weekend. They are altogether too short, aren't they?! [There - I finally misspelled something... alltogether. That's more like me!]

Have fun doing what you guys do best - whatever that may be. I'll see you tomorrow in here with a Field Trip Foto Friday!

Have a super day!



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We finished up a study of the tabernacle today by building our own model of it while we read the instructions that God gave the Israelites in Exodus. I had been dreading this project because of the supplies I needed to gather and the mess that was sure to break out in my house if I had done it the "KONOS" way. Lately I am a big chicken when it comes to messy projects that are done indoors. Especially since my kids are doing most of the projects on their own now - and as of yet have not become really good at picking up their school messes without me having to badger them constantly.




My friend Tami told me about a PAPER MODEL of the tabernacle that we could cut out and glue or tape together while we read the story. I was sold. It made my week-long project a two hour project and is light, portable, and can be re-used for Sunday School class!

To go along with this project, I highly recommend the devotionals on the following site:
The Tabernacle Place

...And if your kids love a good family read-aloud, click my Vision Forum Affiliate button up there and buy yourself a copy of "For the Temple" by G. A. Henty. My kids and I are loving this book - even Dad likes it!




Not only did we build the groovy paper tabernacle, but we also enjoyed the tabernacle worksheets Tami told us about also. We will probably continue the worksheets for a while as we finish the last few activities for this unit this week. Next up is the States and Regions Unit by KONOS that covers all of the United States and ends in the Civil War. We'll be doing that for the rest of the school year, most likely. I think we are going to start on that either this week or next after some planning.




By the way, we had a SUPER school day (started with a super prayer to a SUPER GOD). Our new schedule is working great - thanks to the Lord's help. I even had time to cook a hot lunch and a Mid-Eastern dinner. I hung and put away all my laundry, too.




Here's hoping tomorrow we can have an even more blessed day. I know that the kids are both really encouraged... they told my mom tonight that this was the best school day this year. Of course, I think they were exaggerating a bit... but I sure like to hear stuff like that. Especially in front of Grandma.


Other Quick Links
3-D Bible Tabernacle Online
Bibleplaces.com Tabernacle Model Photos
Another KONOS Mom tours a tabernacle model with her kids
Printable Tabernacle Sunday School Lesson Plan


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I got my 'little bit of perspective' that I was after this weekend... although I didn't stay at home like I originally was planning. Sometimes God changes our plans for the better. We got out instead - as a family - and tackled some issues (like that carpet stain) together.



God is good. Amazing what some 'togetherness', a good view, a Rug Doctor, a nice bank manager that refunds you some bank fees, and some time out in the sunshine taking photos can do to lift my spirits.



See you tomorrow evening! Hopefully I'll be able to say that we had a super 'first day of the rest of our school year'!


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Going, going, going, .... CRASH. That would explain the last three years week we've had. There were some great moments, but we are fizzling out hard on this extra-curricular-to-the-extreme schedule (that's what I get for over-scheduling my month). In all honestly - we could use a swift kick in the rear for slacking on our weekly routine, too. Too much to do and too little discipline = not a good mix.

Our co-op had a meeting this week to plan for next year and I was in no mood for thinking of next year. I was thinking of everything that has gone wrong THIS year. I had been having visions of school buses whisking away my children so I could get some perspective earlier that morning, actually. Of course, I wouldn't "go there", but I do have those thoughts from time to time.

Tuesday, we got up at 5am for a field trip in another city and didn't go to bed until 11 that night. Unbeknownst to me, we were low on our funds before the trip. You wouldn't even believe the amount of overdrafts I got while out of town for the day-trip. Overdrafts stink even worse if you have the money in your savings account to cover them and you just FORGET to check the balance. Chalk it up to stupidity... but that won't pay the car note, will it?

Then there was the little 'accident' that happened on the dining room carpet (OH, it was bad, people). The cat knocked a small plant off of my dining table that we were planning on putting in the flower gardens and hadn't gotten to yet. Morgan tried to clean it up herself. Only, she didn't know that loose dirt is easier to get up with a vacuum - so she rubbed it all in to the carpet with a sopping wet rag.

OH, YES SHE DID. A big MUD puddle where I used to have beige carpet. It is the biggest carpet stain I have. ever. seen.

So having a meltdown this week wasn't that strange. The amazing part was that the meltdown wasn't over the money or the carpet (although I did think to warn my husband about those things before he got home Thursday). My moment of madness was over the general chaos that we have been experiencing due to our lack of routine. Our behaviors and habits have slipped into disintegration-mode. Especially mom's.

The solution? We had a "pow-wow" today. We have those from time to time during the school year. More in the past year two years than ever, it seems. We started our meeting with a few tears and apologies. Then we played a game where each of us told the rest of the group (mom, grandma, Morgan, and Kaden) one thing that was positive and one thing that was negative about each other. We are going to use the list as a springboard towards positive behaviors and goals for the future. By the end of this discussion, we were in stitches - laughing together. It was time well spent. My mom said it should be considered "Psychology Class" or a "Teacher Conference Day". I agreed.

Then we talked about our rules and asked the kids to come up with their own punishments for the rules - since my son thought being grounded on Saturday was worse than death. They came up with some great ideas that mom hadn't thought of before. The rules are more for Mom and Dad, really. With a rules chart on the wall, we can let the kids punish themselves so we aren't the bad guys. And if they don't get in gear - now we know what they consider "worse than death". I figure this is good information for later. Hopefully I won't have to use it on them.

Our crazy week and the emotional day we had has left us plumb tuckered out. Only after our pow-wow did I discover that Morgan has been suffering from silent sinus issues all day and did I notice Kaden's sneezing. Both of them needed medicine - poor things. That means the evening will end quicker than later! We might all be in bed before the sun sets tonight. Kaden is veging out in front of the X-Box, Daddy is surfing the net, Grandma is on her way home, Morgan is fast asleep on my bed, and I'm fixing to chill out for the rest of the weekend. I don't want to go anywhere or do anything this weekend. I think we all need some down-time.

I don't even want to go downstairs. Because that huge carpet stain is down there. Maybe we can have pizza delivered by pulley? That would be a great Science Project...


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I know you are wondering what that is all about... guess you'll just have to click over and go read it!

Lots of important stuff! Great links! On your mark, set, go! Click the title of this post to get there!


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