Winter Fun in February 2014

What do your children do when the weather is warmer than it has been in 2 months? Mine get to go outside and sled, snowboard, and ski! Oh, and let's not forget about the snowball fight! What a fun way to break in my new camera. ;-)

                                 Shelby "going faster"

                 Shiloh helping Sierra up while Shelby laughs.

                    Shiloh falling. :-)

 

      Sierra's "happy face"...I love this face!

                                     Shiloh "posing".

                        Shelby taking time out for a picture.

                                                                      Snowball fight!!!!

All in all, it was a great day. **Savannah was inside. She wasn't feeling very well.

Spring (?) Fun

Today was a beautiful day. A lovely 45 degrees F, sunshine, and snow in the forecast so we took this opportunity to get outside and get moving, take some pictures, and take Hemi to the park. Lots of fun was had by all. It's been a long winter and the day was a nice break from sitting on the couch and watching movies. "Mama, we need to do this EVERY day," was said multiple times.

Update

I have decided that I am horrible at keeping journals. Whether with pen and paper or electronically, documenting our life does not seem to be one of my strong points. Facebook seems to be the best way to keep up with it all. That being said, I am going to give this blogging thing one more serious attempt.

To catch everyone up over the past oh, 2 YEARS!!!: We are still in Walker, MN. We are still homeschooling. We are still happy here. Bryan & I are seeking out God's will as to whether we need to sign another year lease here or find another house to rent. (Prayers are coveted.) We are anticipating spring so we can take "The Mistress" (1974 HD Shovelhead) out of her prison (the garage) on rides.

PJ is doing well. He's living with his Daddy Chuck in the suburbs of Atlanta. He's been working at his construction job since he turned 18 and is doing wonderfully. He turns 20 in June. WHAT?! 20? When did I get old enough to have a 20 year old?

Logan is in his Junior year. Where did the time go?!? He is learning to play lead electric guitar. To my untrained mama's ear, he sound great for someone who hasn't had formal lessons and is teaching himself. He is loving his job at Hardee's in Walker where he has been for about a year. Chemistry and Algebra are kicking our butts. Logan has decided that he wants to go into computer animation so he is working on a course for that. We will start prepping for ACTs/SATs in a few months. He has to do the driving with a "certified MN driving instructor" over the next few weeks so he can take his driving test for his license. I don't know if I'm ready for that.

Savannah turned 15 in December. The summer of 2012, she got the privilege of going to Hawaii with Grandma Cathy. Savannah got to see "Wichita Slim" (Kenneth Copeland) and "Commander Kelly" (Kelly Copeland) in person. She also had some interesting experiences at a healing conference. She got to swim with hammerhead sharks and sea turtles. Savannah has been reading the driver's manual that Logan used. We will be ordering that for her this summer. EEEK  Savannah has become quite the cook. She is making homemade pretzels to die for. She has such a serving heart and loves to cook for people. This past summer she had the honor of going for a "short" ride with Dad in the big truck. Her "short" ride started at 5 am on Saturday and ended at 3am on Sunday. LOL Now she wants to learn to drive a big truck. School is going as well as can be expected. Savannah would rather be cooking or wandering around in the woods exploring.

Shiloh is now 13 ("almost 14") and is still determined to become a veterinarian. She takes care of our animals and is found reading about animals as much as possible. She is very upset that she cannot volunteer at the vet's office until she's 15. She is learning to downhill ski and will be learning tennis this summer. Shiloh is my warm weather child. She is ready for spring to get here. She has also become obsessed with shooting this rabbit in the backyard. Shiloh is also my budding photographer's helper. She's taking the online courses with me.

Sierra is still our Tootsie. At age 11, she's always putting a smile on our faces (when she's not being obstinate and driving me mad). This child is our comic relief. She still wants to be a missionary when she grows up.  She's going to have to get over this "I know everything" stage before that happens. Sierra loves her goat and being outside. She is still asking her Dad for a horse every opportunity she gets. "One day, he's gonna get tired of me asking and get me a horse," she says. HA! HA! HA! Oh, yes, and Sierra loves to sing--LOUD and off key. ;-)

Shelby is now two handfuls (10). She bought herself an American Girl doll with her Christmas and birthday money. She is learning to sew so she can make her doll some clothes. It is less expensive to clothe all five of the kids than it is to clothe one American Girl doll! Tinkerbell is Bryan's "baby". She loves her Daddy snuggles; she's always asking (and getting) hugs and snuggles. Shelby is an all around sweet girl who informed me earlier last week that she "doesn't want to be the baby anymore".

I will add pictures as soon as I get my new camera set up on the new laptop. Bryan bought me a Nikon D5200 for Valentine's Day. Then my silly desktop decided that it didn't want to work right so he sent me to get me a laptop. Welcome to the 21st century Kuhlman family!

How do you know if your kids are learning what you teach them?

Take them to church!  I guar-on-T, they will let everyone know everything about you and what you do.  Sierra told the pastor that she was "an atom that was one electron short of a happy shell". LOL Guess what we've been studying? Yup, atoms. Actually we are studying giants of the physical and spiritual world.  Atoms happen to have been the science subject the past couple of days. Atoms are the giants of the miniature world. Yup, she has learned the lesson. So if you ever want to know if your students are learning, take them in public and let them talk.  They will let you know what they have learned.

Shiloh (left) Sierra (right) The put sticky backed felt on for going "incognito"

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Sorry about the sideways picture. Sierra showing off her atom model. Actually, she is 2 electrons shy of a happy shell.

Oh my! My head is spinning!

Today was V4 C1 D2...we covered the giants of the microscopic world...atoms! Atoms + molecules + compounds = a massive headache for this Mama! How did we go from a simple review to chemistry in 2.1 seconds?! Oh, well, at least they learned something. Now they are wanting to make models of atoms and molecules with colored marshmallows. (It's a good thing I thought to purchase some just for this purpose.) We will review what we learned today by doing just that. BTW, YouTube has some "great" lectures on the subjects studied today.  YouTube...It's not just for entertainment anymore.

Our random "learnings" from today:

* A lb. of hamburger weighs more than a lb. of gold.
* Rabbits can see you move through the window. (LOL)
* It takes a loooooong time to write out a google.
* The kids next door will be homeschooling next year! (That's going to be interesting.)
* Sierra is more interested in Logan's science than her own. (What am I supposed to teach her in 9th grade
   if she's learning it in 4th grade?!  I suppose that is a good problem to have.)
* 8:30 gets here much faster now that it's spring.

God-bit of the day

We started back in Weaver Volume 4 Chapter 1. The theme of this chapter is "There are giants everywhere, from the physical world to the spiritual world." To introduce giants in the physical world, I read a book titled Can You Count to a Google? by Robert E. Wells  (FYI: A google is a 1 followed by 100 zeros. THAT's a giant number!) We were also covering how "giant" the world is and learning directions and how a compass works. I was showing the kiddos how a compass always points North and then, it hit me! I told the kids, "Just like a compass always points North, no matter which way you hold it; we as Christians should always point to God, no matter the circumstances we are in!"  WOW!

This is why we started Weaver in the first place: Because God should be our focus in all things...even academics.

Seriously?! It's been THAT long?!

So, we are all settled in at our new place; we've had our belongings delivered from Alabama; and we are wrapping up our school year by starting over with Weaver Volume 4.  We've had fun in the snow, fun in the sun, and Logan & Savannah got to have fun on the lake with Grandpa Keith and Grandma Cathy! Life is getting back on schedule...sort of. (Did we ever really have a schedule? Well, other than chaotic order?) I need to learn to listen to my wisdom that I have no problem telling to others -- do they ignore me as well? -- "Don't worry about it. Once you get in a rhythm and start feeling comfortable, something will surely happen to mess it up! Whether it be an illness, someone visiting, or a broken bone (or in our case, a MAJOR move!), your drummer will skip a beat and mess everyone up!" It keeps us on our toes and also keeps us from getting bored.  Maybe I will actually get in the rhythm of actually posting at least once a week.