Busy Days Ahead

I may be slow at blogging for a week or so. I have so much going on. I have to finish a sewing project that I should have already finished. I'm in the middle of rearranging my house. Yep, not a room but the house. When I do something I go big. hehehe We are going out in service Wed morning and then having kids over for some pool fun. I have to make sure the oldest is ready for his exam on Thursday at the college. I am leaving on Friday for a homeschool convention and will be back on Saturday. Then the July 4th weekend we are going to the DC. With all going on I'm still trying to make sure our homeschool stuff gets done.


Ok gotta go get some stuff done. I'm already tired just writing all that out.

Our Lightening Storm

Yesterday, we had an awesome storm. It was like fireworks. Yes, I know, when there is lightening you are supposed to go indoors but I was outside taking pictures. I played around with my cameras settings and got some good shots. Here is what I got. Hope you enjoy seeing the awesome power of storms.



This last one was a bit blurry but it is also the best. Can you see the different colors on each light coming down?

Nature Pages

Here are two pages I made using photoshop. I love having this program and am learning how to use it. What do you think? Do you think I like it? You just might be seeing more of these pages on here.

Playing around in the dark

The nice thing about living where we live is that I can go out in my pj's and play with my camera in the dark. I had been wanting to take a picture of the moon with my new camera. I had to figure out those manual settings. You know those aperture and shutter speed settings. So here is what I did.
These were too dark......

This one was better....
But this was the best of all. So this is a keeper. That song always pops into my head when I am outside looking at the moon..."when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie".....

Did I get you singing it too? hehehehe These last two were taken at shutter speed 1/60 and aperture was at f32 but the last one was edited using photoshop.
By the way, don't forget to click on the picture to see it larger. You can really see some neat details.

Our Trees

Look at our trees that we planted a few weeks ago. The oranges on it are getting bigger and it looks like they like where we put them.
Can't wait to try our lemons! It's still a baby tree but can't wait to try these few lemons anyway.

I think I'll only be able to make one or two pitchers of lemonade with this batch. What do you think?

Summer Time Fun

So do you like my new way of posting pictures? I am having fun putting pictures together. I usually take a bunch of pictures and only use a few but this way I can post many pictures all in one. Pretty nifty idea, eh?

The boys had fun today at the pool. This has become their regular physical education time. They love it. My baby is getting bolder in jumping into the pool. He has a "super suit" on. That is what hubby called it and the name stuck. So now when hubby comes home my baby will run around asking for his "super suit" and he wants to get in the pool as soon as he walks in the door. hehehehe They are in the pool at least an hour. Maybe we'll try some bike riding tomorrow.

He did it!

He was so nervous. He told me before meeting if he could not do it. hehehe But he did it. He did great! Do you like the little stool he has to stand on?
Yep, proud mama taking pictures and more pictures.
What a cutie! I am happy he did it and got it over with. We took him out to have a slush at Sonic's. Of course, everyone else had to have something to help him celebrate his accomplishment. hehehe I had a banana split. Wow, its been a while since I had one of those. YUM!!
He listened to the bible reading on mp3 over and over while he had his purple paper with the bible reading printed on it. It didn't take him too long this time in preparing for it.

Now I have to work with the baby for his #2 reading coming up in Sept. I think they will have to put a chair for him to stand on. hehehehe

Just had to share our excitement.

Am I done yet?

So are you wondering if I am done with planning our history for next year? I am more or less done. I still haven't put books like The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History, The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, Streams of Civilizations and DK Children's Encyclopedia of World History and other references.

Don't think like I said before that I am doing everything on my list. I just added all I could find so that if I feel in the mood to read a book we can or if I feel in the mood to see a movie we can. We will follow this outline though.

I had on the list of people others but took them off and am making one just for them on a music and art list and adding some fun things to do. So what do you think? Do you have any ideas? Do you see anything that I can improve on? Let me know what you think.

Late Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850)
Interactive 3-D Maps:American History by Donald M. Silver
History Pockets of Colonial America by Evan Moor

approx 4 weeks
The Mayflower(g96 11/22 24-27) Netflix:The Untold Story of the Mayflower
Native American cultures(g96 9/8 7-12)(g2/06 10-13) Netflix: American Indian Homelands
early American settlements
George Washington (1732-1799) Netflix: George Washington:American Revolutionary
Thomas Jefferson Netflix: Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe

Pocahontas Netflix: Pocahontas Reveled..Nova
Squanto Netflix: Squanto:A Warrior's Tale
William Penn (1644-1718)
John Smith, Jamestown Netflix: National Geographic:Jamestown
Check library for these and other titles...Books to look for:Easy Make and Learn Projects The Pilgrams, the Mayflower and More by Scholastic;A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla; Naya Nuki by Kenneth Thomasma; ...If you sailed on The Mayflower in 1620 and If You Lived In Colonial Times by Ann McGovern; George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster; Step into Reading George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy; Step into Reading Thomas Jefferson's Feast by Frank Murphy; George Washington by Ingri d'Aulaire; Pocahontas by Edgar d'Aulaire;Columbus by Ingri d'Aulaire; Getting to Know The U.S. Presidents James Madison by Mike Venezia; Step into Reading The True Story of Pocahontas by Lucille Rech Penner; Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrams by Clyde Robert Bulla; The World of Capt. John Smith by Genevieve Foster
Extra projects:make our own moccasins

approx 1 week
the American Revolution, Declaration of Independence 1776
books to look for:The American Revolution History Comes Alive, Teaching Units by Jacqueline Glasthal; If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution by Kay Moore; American Revolution(DK Eyewitness Books); American Revolution A companion to the Revolutionary War on Wednesday Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne; The Declaration of Independence by Sly Sobel J.D.

approx 1 week
Russia under Peter the Great and his successors(1672-1725)
books to look for:Peter the Great by Diane Stanley

approx 1 week
The Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon(1769-1821)

approx 2 weeks
the siege of the Alamo Netflix:The Alamo (1960)
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett
books to look for:The Boy In The Alamo by Margaret Cousins; Davy Crockett A Life on the Frontier by Stephen Krensky

approx 2 weeks
the Lewis and Clark expedition
Meriwether Lewis (g05 1/8 3)(1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838)
Sacagawea (c.1788-1812) Netflix: National Geographic Lewis & Clark
books to look for:Lewis and Clark for Kids by Janis Herbert;

approx 2 weeks
the California gold rush (g93 8/1 32)(1848) Netflix:American Experience:The Gold Rush Learning Through History, Westward-Ho, pg.37-51
http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/fever01.html
books to look for:Stepping Stones Gold Rush Winter by Claire Rudolf Murphy

approx 1 week
the Constitution (g87 10/22 24-27) the Bill of Rights (g91 12/8 20-23)
books to look for:If You Were There when They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy

approx 1 week
Salem Village and the Witch Hysteria (g98 4/8 31)

approx 2 weeks
Slavery in the US (g01 9/8 20-21) Netflix: Prince Among Slaves, Underground Railroad, Race to Freedom:The Underground Railroad
books to look for:If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine

approx 1 week
Louis XVI (1754-1793)
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793)
the War of 1812 Netflix: History Channel:The War of 1812

Books
Don Quixote (abridged)
Oliver Twist
Treasure Island
Gulliver's Travels
Robinson Crusoe

List of people
Isaac Newton (1642-1715) w77 4/15 244-247
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Step into Reading Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares by Frank Murphy; Benjamin Franklin by Ingri d'Aulaire
Catherine the Great (1729-1796)
Betsy Ross (1752-1836)
Captain James Cook (1768-1771)??? g95 3/22 12-15
Andrew Jackson
Paul Revere
Buffalo Bill book: Buffalo Bill by Ingri d'Aulaire g96 9/8 3-4
Sitting Bull book: Sitting Bull (All Aboard Reading) by Lucille Recht Penner

g71 5/22 13-16

approx 27-36 weeks in all