School year almost over ...already?!

OK...is it just me or is this year slipping by pretty quickly?
Course, the cold & snow seemed to drag on & on, but in reality, it's mid-April already!

This time last year, on this very day, we were on a cruise ... our whole family on our 1st cruise.
We visited New Orleans for a few days & then sailed away to Mexico.
We had such fun & made many memories we'll treasure always.

When we came home, it was straight into the last minute details preparing for Garrett & Gunnar's
graduation from high school & their celebration open house.

It's hard to believe one whole year has passed by.
Amazing.

This brings me to the whole point with this blog post:
I just wrote out our final lessons for this school year!
Riley & I have schooled all by ourselves this year.
We knew it would be an adjustment, just the two of us minus the twin brothers ...
but we have managed just fine ... plenty of one-on-one time & I loved it.
It's hard for this homeschooling momma to believe that my last boy is almost finished
with his sophomore year!
Sigh.

Riley has done a great job this year.
He's a very independent worker, hardly ever asking for help.
I'm most proud of his work this year in Algebra.
Some just have a knack for it.
He does ... I don't.
Works well for the teacher ;)

Here's what he's spent his year learning:
{I always intend to make a post like this at the beginning of the year, but usually don't get around to it}


We switched from ACE English this year to Rod & Staff.
Riley had been in ACE English since the beginning & had done well with it.
Garrett & Gunnar had used R & S for several years.
{ACE is repetitive learning & it provided a great foundation for Riley & his style of learning,
however, we were ready to move on ... he's really enjoyed the change.}

We've done Apologia Physical Science this year & it's been fun ...lots of experiments.

First semester, Riley did Personal Help for Boys.
We loved this book.
It teaches character traits geared toward boys.
Second semester, we started Balancing the Sword by Allan Wolfe.
It's a super Bible curriculum ... very thorough.
He'll get about 1/3 of the way through this book before the end of the school year.
We'll pick up again in the fall {& we also have Book 2}.

Since we began homeschooling, we've used Total Language Plus for Language Arts/Reading.
Rifles for Watie is what we are currently doing.
It's a great story set during Civil War times.
Much of Riley's History this year has been right along these lines.
{I built my own History this year, using a variety of resources.}

First semester, we did The Call of the Wild.
I read the book aloud for the two of us, rather than assigning Riley to read it.
I found out many years ago that this works best for us.
As for his daily reading, he has assigned Bible reading & pleasure reading from an approved book
of his choice.

Another standard here is Math-U-See.
We've used it from the start.

In addition to these subjects, Riley has worked on & off with his dad & brothers on various job sites
& is becoming quite skilled in the tile trade.
He also spends much time in the gym &  loves to jog, skateboard, & play basketball.
These will count as credit hours in Industrial Arts & Physical Education.

I don't blog often about our wonderful homeschooling adventures, but if I had a penny for every time
I've shared, emailed, talked, advised on the subject, I'd be a wealthy woman.
It's something I believe in with my whole heart & I'm a huge advocate for it.
I never in a million years thought I'd be a homeschool mom, but I can say, hands down,
it's the most rewarding thing I have ever, ever done.
Not only that, it's one of the best gifts we've ever given our children.
God has been my daily help & sustainer.

You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Deuteronomy 11:9

A Child's Soul

Mad Scientists!

Ya ... that's what you can call Riley & me.
Mad scientists.

Yesterday was a day for experiments.

One, because we're homeschoolers & that's what we do ...
& two, complete necessity, folks.

We are suffering from a severe fruit fly attack!!
Erma-gerdness!
Where did alllll these fruit flies come from, all the sudden?
I'm guessing it's from this massive bowl of fruit {tomatoes & apples}?!

I did what any normal person would do to solve this pesky problem.
I got on Pinterest.
I knew if anyone knew how to kick these fruit flies in the teeth,
it would be all the stickin' geniuses on Pinterest.

Here's the little concoction I found:
I poured some apple cider vinegar {about 3/4 c} into a bowl & added about 1/2 c. of water.
After adding the last ingredient, 3 squirts of dish soap, I stirred it all together.
The trap was set.
I just hoped it would work.

So today, after hearing many complaints from my boys about how terrible horrific-smelling the vinegar was,
I decided that I would throw it out.
It had been 24+ hours & I saw not one single fruit fly in the bowl.
I was feeling quite disappointed,  but as I was preparing to pour it down the drain,
I saw a speck of black.
I grabbed up a spoon & stirred the vinegar & discovered there were gobs of fruit flies
at the bottom of the bowl!
It worked!!!
Success!
I quickly sat the bowl back in it's spot, willing to endure the nasty smell a bit longer.
My 'Vinegar Fly Trap' is doing it's job!

As for Riley's experiment, it was equally as exciting.
He mixed some yeast & hydrogen peroxide in a bottle & it blew up a balloon!
Then that same oxygen from the balloon, caused the flame of a candle {under a jar} to grow.
Pretty cool!

We got so excited about these experiments that we almost cheered when we saw that
we'd be doing another one today!
Thanks, Apologia!

Oh, & how could I forget this one?!
This was another experiment, of sorts.
I cooked beef bones to make homemade beef stock, for the 1st time.

James stopped at a vitamin store last week & the owner told him there were great health benefits,
especially for women, from doing just this.
She said to get beef bones from the butcher or the grocery store & boil them with root vegetables
to make a rich & healthy stock.
She said to drink it plain, or use it as the base for a vegetable soup.
I simmered it all day with carrots, onions, & celery, making about 1.25 gallons of tasty stock.

And last but not least ... I have to add a pic of the gorgeous sunflowers that James brought me yesterday.
I guess it's an experiment of sort too ... seeing as how I've never had live sunflowers before,
I'll need to see if I can keep these babies alive as looong as possible.
Aren't they just divine?!

In conclusion, I need to blog more about homeschooling.
We have so much funny doing it.
I also need to play catch up about sooo many things, blog-wise.
Time gets away from me too fast.
I resolve to do just that ... blog more about the goings on around here =)

Have a blessed weekend, all.

Garrett & Gunnar's Graduation Open House

I confessed a while back about being sooo behind on blogging about events in our life ...
well, here is the proof!
I wish I would've posted these right away, while they were still current, like any good little blogger would,
but alas, I am a good 2 months behind.
Where in the world has the summer gone??

I do want to share these pictures though, because although it was nothing fancy~schmancy,
I was proud of the decorations for our twin sons' graduation open house.
Due to the fact that we have all boys, my general decor theme throughout our home leans more
on the manly side ... nothing too frilly or frou-frou would fly around here.
When thinking how I'd decorate for their open house, I knew the same logic would apply.
My thoughts immediately went to burlap!
I am crazy about burlap & knew I'd have fun with this one!
All my ideas were approved by the graduating class of Garrett & Gunnar ...
the decor would be black & grey, using burlap, twine, & tin cans.
I have much of this same style & look in our home, so we decided to incorporate various antiques
& decor items that we already had {bonus ...saved some $$}.
All in all, it turned out beautifully.
The food was delicious & the fellowship was the best part of the day.
The boys got special treatment from start to finish ... many congratulations & well-wishes for their futures.
It was a day they'll remember always.

We decided to host the open house in our back yard.
My sweet cousin, Darlene, not only loaned us her tents, her husband came & put them up for us!
They were just what we needed!

The tents are going up!

Let's get the party started!

The candelier, one of my favorite ever, added just the right amount of flair to this tent!

{We hung three other candeliers throughout the yard, but sadly, those weren't photographed!
I tried to think of everything, but sadly, a few things fell through the cracks.}

James smoked a huge pork shoulder & 2 whole chickens ... let me tell you,
the sandwiches flew off the plates!

We feasted!
My little chalkboard that normally sits on my kitchen counter served as the perfect menu board.

I saved a few tin cans to use for various things ... here, they are holders for the plastic ware.

I wanted to buy small brown sacks for chips, the candy-store size bags, but decided to save $$
& go this route {more to come on these chip bags}.

Totally loved these!

I used Mason jars for the BBQ & the pickle bar.
Yes, we had a pickle bar!
My boys love pickles =)
{I can't seem to find pics of it}

This beautiful drink dispenser was a gift from my friend, Stacy, for my birthday.
I just love it!
It fit right in with this theme.

You'd have thought this gummy jar had magical powers!
There was a steady stream of adults & kids alike all.day.long.

I turned one of my vintage suitcases into a 'card box' ... isn't this adorable?
I tell you how I made the banner on a later blog.

This was my 1st project using chalkboard paint ...& it was a success!
I'll show you how I took this wall hanging apart & gave it a whole new look {blog coming soon}.

I've always wanted to do drinks in a wheel barrow!

The wheel barrow, full of ice, kept the water bottles cold.

Each table had tin cans filled with peanuts in the shell.
My sweet friend, Aleisa, helped gets the cans all decorated up {more on that later}.

 We also use a few various metal/galvanized containers ... here, we used my antique scoop too.

These lanterns ... what a find!!
I was so excited to come across these at the Christmas Tree Shoppe!
They were spot on with the decor theme & were only $7.99.

My father-in-law makes the best potato salad known to man-kind
& he so graciously made up a huge batch for the party!

My mother-in-law makes delicious everything!!
She is a wonderful cook.
All the party-goers found that out when they tasted this pasta salad.
I was asked probably a good 15 times, "Who made this salad & can we get the recipe?"

So proud of our boys!

 Homeschool grads rock!

And the party would have been incomplete without a whole host of family & friends.
They were truly the icing on the cake!

And what would we have done without all these mustaches?!

All in all, this day couldn't have been any better!
We are so grateful for all our friends & family for making this day over-the-top!
We love all of you!

Garrett's attending TeenPact!

Garrett love politics & this week, he is attending TeenPact Indiana.

He heard about this at the Indiana Association of Homeschoolers Convention 

& immediately knew he wanted to participate ... 

so much so that he voluntarily payed his own way!

TeenPact is a dynamic, hands-on leadership school for Christian students.

Their mission:

to train youth to understand the political process, value their liberty, 

defend their Christian faith and engage the culture at a time 

in their lives when, typically, they do not care about such things.

TeenPact Leadership Schools helps students to become informed citizens 

& to understand the political process through participation at one of our state 

classes {in 38 different states in 2012}.  

These students will learn these foundations of government from a Biblical perspective.

Before going to TeenPact on Monday, Garrett had lots of 'homework' to complete 

& he's been diligently working on it for several weeks.

There was plenty of memorization: scripture, state officials name & positions, etc.

One assignment was to write a bill that would be discussed & voted on.

Garrett's bill proposed teaching {in public schools} about our country's founding fathers 

& the principles which guided the shaping of our country.

Yesterday, Mike Pence addressed the group!

That was very exciting for all the students.

Afterwards, Congressman Pence opened for questions afterwards.  

Garrett raised his hand & Congressman Pence promptly picked him, 

"the young man in the bow tie"!  

Garrett stood, announced his name, where he was from, & thanked Pence 

for coming to speak to them, all before asking his question.  

After the Congressman turned it back over to the director of TeenPact, 

he {director} asked Garrett to stand.  

He thanked Garrett for the exemplary way he addressed Congressman Pence.  

Kudos to Garrett!

Later in the day, the students were divided into 3 parties.

Each party had to nominate one person to run for governor.

Out of 70-80 teen participants, Garrett was one of the 3 nominated!  

He was pretty excited!

Last evening, he went to buy his campaigning materials 

{markers, index card & poster board} so he'd be ready for today's campaigning, 

debating & voting.  

This is all so up his alley ... & we are sure hoping he wins!

Makes me sad that we aren't there getting pictures of all this activity!

Tomorrow is the ceremony for completing the course, so maybe I'll get some shots then.

Friday is an additional Political Communications workshop that Garrett opted to attend.

At the end of the week, he will have had a full week of learning & making new friends 

& contacts.

Garrett's Day at the Statehouse!

Garrett is spending the day at the Indiana State house serving as a page.
He is working with Representative Woody Burton.

I think he looks like a future politician, huh?

What does a page do:
House and Senate Pages are students who assist members of the 
General Assembly at our state capital in Indianapolis, Indiana.  
Their duties include delivering materials and messages within the Capital complex, 
answering phones in the Members’ offices and working in the 
House or Senate Chambers when the General Assembly is in session.  
Serving as a Page is an excellent way to learn about and participate in 
the legislative process of our State.   

In addition to visiting the capitol building and touring such locations as 
the governor's office, the chambers of the Indiana House and Senate and 
the Indiana Supreme Court, pages get the chance to witness floor sessions,
committee meetings, and help staff members.

Today will likely prove to be quite an electric day at the Statehouse.

The Democrats have boycotted House sessions in an attempt to prevent action 

on the controversial right-to-work legislation.

Indiana House Democratic Leader Patrick Bauer announced Friday that 

House Democrats would be willing to return to the Indiana Statehouse at 

“high noon” today. 

Garrett could not have been more excited to be at the Statehouse today, hoping

to get in on the action!

Another big 'to-do' in Indy right now, the Super Bowl is coming to town!

Super Bowl XLVI will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 5, 2012. 

On our drive in to the Statehouse this morning, we got to see our city getting all

decked-out for the big event.

Garrett is standing in front of our newest hotel, the ginormous JW Marriott.

The largest banner being installed for the Super Bowl is on the front of it.

It's only partially completed, but you can see the Lombardi Trophy taking shape.

I wouldn't want to be working on the scaffolds for this project!