Soccer Tournament

 Setting up a corner kick

 Celebrating an assist on goal (from the corner kick)!

 Happy teammates - learning to work together

 The serious face of concentration

 Back in goal

 Setting up for another corner kick

 Good defending

 Go Fireballs!

 Coaches being recognized for their hard work

Another great season

1st Science Fair

Jeremiah has been taking a science class this past year at Hilger Higher Learning. It has been a great experience for all of us. Jeremiah has benefited from learning in a classroom environment with a teacher and other students to interact with. He has learned how to manage his time during the week - completing homework and studying for tests.  This year's science class was about astronomy and he was very excited and interested in the subject matter. I loved knowing that he was learning a lot, getting to do lab experiments, and getting instruction in a whole subject that I did not really have to help much with.

At the end of every year the elementary students have a science fair. Each student picks a topic that relates to the subject they studied during the year and completes an experiment or project to present at the fair. This was our first ever experience with a science fair and my goals for us were:
- For Jeremiah to do as much of the project independently as possible
- For Jeremiah to learn through the process of creating the project
- For this to be completed with no stress

I think that we met all of those goals. Aaron helped Jeremiah with parts of the project but for the most part this was completely Jeremiah's idea, execution, and presentation. He learned a lot about gathering data, writing and editing, and creativity in presenting information. There were a moment or two of stress and irritation but in general we parents were able to keep our cool and we were all able to enjoy the process.

Jeremiah was very excited in the days leading up to the science fair. He completed his experiment, went shopping with me for his supplies (being mindful of the budget that his teacher had set), and worked on putting the elements of his presentation board together. The actual day of the fair was so much fun! All of the students had their display boards lined up around the perimeter of the room. The purpose of the fair was for the students to learn from each other. For about an hour there were kids and parents milling around viewing the various projects and interacting with each other. I was very impressed with the level of thought and creativity that all of the students had put into their projects (this was a 3rd and 4th grade class). At the end of the presentation of the awards their teacher had all the kids recite the verse that had been the class verse for the year. I must admit, it was quite something to hear a group of about 40 children reciting

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. - Proverbs 3:5-6

I am so thankful for this opportunity we had. For not only the high level of education Jeremiah received but also for the care and kindness of his teacher. Jeremiah is signed up for science class again next year and is excited to study the creatures that were created on the 5th day.

Mother's Day 2013

 

It was a gorgeous Mother's Day full of laughter and hugs and special gifts made by little hands. 

I am blessed by my mothers and feel blessed to be a mother. 

I have been challenged this year in my mothering. I have come to the end of myself more times than I can count. I have been aware of my weaknesses in newer and deeper ways. Yet, my weakness has truly made me aware of God's breathtaking grace. I am a daily spectator of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, despite my bumbling efforts and outright selfishness and sin. On Sunday morning we worshiped, rocking out to the words

When he shall come with trumpet sound

Oh may I then in him be found

Dressed in his righteousness alone

Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. 

What freedom and joy that truth gives me! I will not stand before God and be judged on my record as a mother. If that were true I may as well give up because my record as a mother will never be good enough. But I will be judged by Christ's record and righteousness and in that is my hope! He has already done the work for me! So I am free to do my best mothering out of joy and love not out of fear and judgement.  Breathtaking grace.

Box Day!

Even though we still have 6 weeks left of our Sonlight Core C curriculum to complete before we can call our school year done I went ahead and ordered our Core D curriculum for next year. We went hiking with friends this morning and got caught in a rain shower. When we returned home our Sonlight box was waiting for us in the carport and the boys were anxious to open it and see what was inside. I will admit I was anxious too. I love to open the box and stack up all the shiny new books. It is so fun to look through them all and see what our next year of learning holds. We are completing two years of Intro to World History and next year we will start our first year of Intro to American History. I actually don't know as much about American history as I do about European history so I am eager to learn right along with Jeremiah.

Today Nathaniel was excited to get his new handwriting and math workbooks. He breezed through his first Reason for Handwriting workbook this year finishing it a few weeks ago and he is itching to get started again.

Next year will bring some significant changes for us. I will be starting Nathaniel on Core A: Young Adventurers: Explore God's Big World! while also doing Core D: American History, Year 1 of 2 with Jeremiah. It will probably take some adjustment to get us used to doing the work of two Core curriculum rather than just doing one and having Nathaniel listen in as he is interested. But I don't have to worry about that right now. Right now we are enjoying finishing up our year, taking a break for a few weeks, and looking forward to the new things we will be learning again in the fall.

We order all our curriculum through the Sonlight website. You can click on the referral link below to see what resources they have.