Wordless Wednesday

Pacific Northwest Blackberries ...

...sun-ripened, and freshly picked...

... are the BEST!!!!


Head on over to Renee's blog for more Random Summer Photography!

Our Plan 2009-2010: Overview

It's been quite awhile since I posted our History plans for this coming year and I am realizing that I am just not going to have the time to post about each subject we will be studying this year. (I really like to be able to look back at those posts.) In addition, I need to continue spending all of my "extra" time figuring out a schedule for these plans and trying to get our home back in order (it has been really slow going since we have been gone so much on the weekends and I've needed hubby's help)! So, here is a quick overview post of what we will be using when we begin again next month :


Religion ::

• Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism
  
• Angel Food for Boys & Girls Volumes 1-4 (using Jen's wonderful list of corresponding stories for the Baltimore Catechism lessons)
  

Celebrating the Liturgical Year ::

• Saint of the Day Story from Saints: A Year in Faith and Art. (We also read from Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 during dinner each night -- the version we have is out of print, however Pauline Books has reprinted these books (with a few revisions and new pictures), so here is the link for Vol 1 and Vol 2.)
• Calendar Magnet In Honor of the Saints
• Various Catholic picture books, Copywork and Coloring Pages
• Various Feast Day, Nameday and Baptismal day celebrations including lots of Catholic Cuisine
• Various ideas from Mondays With Mary A Celebration of Marian Feasts Throughout the Year, Catholic Mosaic: Living the Liturgical Year With Children, Celebrating the Faith in the Home, and A Year with God (As well as my other planning books!)
  
• The Jesse Tree during Advent
• The Advent Calendar
• The Jesus Tree during Lent
• Our Lenten Calendar
• Celebrate the 50 days of Easter
• Year of the Priest Faith Folder
  

Math :: (This was extremely hard for me last year. My kids, on the other, LOVED the program and so I am giving it another year... Hopefully we can make much better progress.)

• Right Start Math (level A with the girls)
• Right Start Math (complete level B and move on to level C with the boys)

Language Arts ::

For my older boys -

• Handwriting For Young Catholics 2 and 3
  
• Spelling For Young Catholics 2 and 3
  
• English For Young Catholics 2 and 3
  
• MCP Phonics Level B and Level C
  
• Wordly Wise Grade 3 Set (for Captain)
  

For my girls -

• Along the Alphabet Path
• Handwriting without Tears Hands-On Materials
  
• (I am still trying decide between Alpha-Phonics: A Primer For Beginning Readers and Sound Beginnings for Phonics with Twinkle Toes... I really wish we could just hire the tutor to come back for the girls or that I could be trained in the Lindamood-Bell method!)
• The Bob Books and other various readers for practice
  

All together -

• Prima Latina

Science ::

• Exploring Creation With Astronomy (Young Explorers)
• Corresponding Lapbooks for Lessons 1-6 and 7-14
• Various Science Experiments and Projects
  

History ::

• American History
• World History
  

Geography ::

• Globe and the Blackline Maps of World History Book and CD with our World History Course
• G is for Geography (I have decided to purchase a few of the books as, and IF, I can...)
• State-by-State Scrapbook (Using supplies from a dear reader!! Thank you Beth! My children are thrilled!!)
• Great States and Great States Junior
  
• Maps, Charts, and Graphs States and Regions Level D
• Geo Puzzles: USA and Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America

"He's on the front porch Mom!"

And I just let him out of my sight for a few minutes...

Hummmm, maybe I will join Renee's Random Summertime Photography Challenge!!  It would be fun to try and capture more of these random little moments which make me smile, and then start the bath! ;)

A World War II Birthday Party

It has been really really busy around here lately, and I have had hardly any time to spend online. I don't know if that is going to change much this week or not, but I thought I would pop in for a few minutes and share a few pictures from a wonderful birthday party we attended on Saturday. We all had such a great time!

~ The Battle ~

Even most of the girls joined the fun!

(On a side note, I found out that Kayla Hadley --Pictured on the left, who I've asked you all to remember in your prayers! --was born on the SAME DAY, at the SAME HOSPITAL, at nearly the SAME TIME as Captain!! They will both be 9 on the 20th!!)

Our girls, on the other hand, were more than content to play with the awesome dollhouse inside!!

~ Playing Axis and Allies ~

~ Lunch and Cake Time ~

~ Birthday Gifts ~

~ Pin the Monocle on Colonel Klink ~

~ Group Photo with Father~

On Scheduling and Organization

Jen at Wildflowers and Marbles is AMAZING!!!

If you by any chance are feeling like me, completely overwhelmed with trying to figure out a schedule for this coming school year and just how to fit everything in, don't miss Jen's post from today:

Organization of the Day - A Mother's Rule of LOVE seeking HARMONY

It was just what I needed to read today. Now, back to my own decluttering, organizing, and working on that schedule... ☺

Small Successes: July 9, 2009

"It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that."

~ 1 ~

I pulled out our favorite Shooting Star, Groovy, and Rocket Popsicle Molds and made jello pudding pops! Yum!! (These are the BEST Popsicle molds and we have been using them for a few years now... They also qualify for Amazon's 4-for-3 promotion!!)

~ 2 ~

I've continued working rearranging our home... I'm beginning to think it may take the whole month of July, or longer! My small success this week was being able to fill up 10 more bags of stuff to donate, and 2 more bags of trash, from the boy's old bedroom. That brings me to a total of 27 bags. Just 13 more and I will have doubled the "40 Bags of Stuff" we were able to get rid of during Lent. ☺

~ 3 ~

On Tuesday I took all 5 children with me to my monthly check-up so they could hear our new little one's heart beating, as well as see Linda, my midwife who has delivered all 5 of them! After my appointment we met two other families at the theater for a $1.00 showing of Horton Hears a Who. This was the first time that most of our children had been to the theater, other than the IMAX theater we visited while we were at the zoo in Nebraska. It was nice that hubby and I could pre-watch the movie (which was pretty good other than a little jab at homeschooling which went over my children's heads...) and that it only cost $12.50 for all 6 of us including a giant refillable tub of popcorn! After the movie we spent the afternoon at a friend's home and then ran errands till hubby got off work. I then switched cars with him and went grocery shopping by myself. I ended up being gone from 7:30 am till nearly 8:00 pm, but I was able to get quite a bit accomplished.

On our way to the movie theater...

Walking past Cold Stone!
(And not one of them asked to stop!! Another small success??)

What are your Small Successes this week?

Stop by Faith and Family Live to read more of this week's Small Successes.