Field Trip to Heidi's Heavenly Cookies!

We recently took a field trip to a friend's bakery here in Alpharetta, Georgia. Our friend goes to church with us and her daughter cuts our family's hair. What an amazing family!! They are so talented and I just LOVE their cookies! I am sold.... FOREVER. That means that if you are a close family member and you have a birthday coming up, you are probably getting some of these delish cookies... so act surprised, okay?! Here is a picture of her logo. Check out her website. They have been featured on "Rachael Ray," "Good Morning America," "The Today Show," and "Southern Living" magazine to name just a few. (Yes, they are THAT good!!)

http://www.heidisheavenlycookies.com/
Beautiful presentation and even tastier cookies!!
Here is my son, Tae. He was super sleepy, but he sure did enjoy that mint eclipse cookie!!
We had to wear hair nets and I think my kids felt extra special. We took a pic before going in. This was such a special treat to be able to see inside the workings of a national cookie business. We learned a lot about how to start a business and most importantly... we learned that if you set your mind to something- you can achieve it. Dream DO come true! Thanks to Heidi and Debi over at Heidi's Heavenly Cookies for the tour. It was simply amazing!!

Spring Break

We've been on "Spring Break" this week due to an overwhelming schedule and a bunch of medical issues. Everyone is fine, but I have been at the doctors everyday this week and part of last week. Lots of testing... and now waiting for results. Keep us in your prayers, and we'll be back next week with more fun school projects!!

Goodbye February!

I saved the last post to edit and add pics and then I never got around to it. So, I thought I would fill you in on our exciting February. We have done a lot with the kids that I wanted to document. Of course we have been doing our daily studies, but a few days this month, we took time out of our regular schedule to do some "fun" school stuff!

First up was working in the garden. Our little seeds are now all pretty large plants! I really need to plant my sugar snap peas and cucumbers quickly, (like this week...) or else they may be too large for their tiny space. Good thing I live in Zone 8 and can actually plant these now!!

Another fun event was going to support Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate. He came to Atlanta in one of the northern suburbs about 20 minutes from my house. I decided to take the kids to see him. As a last minute idea, I had Jenna make a poster for him that we could take to the rally. Good thing I did, because Mitt Romney actually came over and shook hands with me and just as his Secret Service agents were trying to escort him away, he said, "Wait..." and came over and grabbed Jenna's poster and signed it for her. It was so sweet and awesome. He talked about being Bishop in our church for 10+ years, which I didn't previously know. It was a great speech and I truly think he will be an asset to America. Go Mitt!!

We also started a co-op with a few neighbors who also homeschool. We just started last Friday, but the project we are working on is super exciting! The kids are paired up with a sweet girl (that is constantly surrounded by the boys in the group. This group is seriously lacking girls!) who is their partner in creating their own country. There was a super cool book that prompted this assignment that one of the moms got from the local library. I don't remember what it is called, but I'm sure you could google "Create Your Own Country" and it would probably pull up. The kids found an unclaimed island off of China where they are going to "claim" and create their country there. More research on Wednesday! So exciting for them.

Another cool experience was going to the local art studio, "Masterpiece Mixers" which is like 5 minutes from my house. (Awesome!) The kids learned about Georges Seurat from the 1800's who worked on a portrait of the Eiffel Tower using Pointillism- a style of painting using dots to create a larger picture. Then the kids were able to paint their own version of the Eiffel Tower using the same technique of Pointillism. It was such a great class! The kids each have a canvas of their own artwork to display in their rooms now! The best part was the low cost. Each kid costs $12 for the class, materials, studio space, and instruction! They offer this class once a month and I definitely see us doing this again in the future. (In all honesty- it has even inspired me to try a painting for my dad using the same technique the kids learned.)

So- there you have February. So much for updating the blog weekly, huh?! Let's just say, we've been quite busy. Rob received a new calling at church in the Elders Quorum. We are excited for the blessings to come from serving the Lord. Also- I have been having lots of doctor's appointments. We find out this week a game plan to get my health back on track. Unfortunately, this will probably include another surgery in March. I'll keep you updated! For now- we are happy and content with life. I love the feeling of contentment. The Lord is blessing us with peace and knowledge that we are a forever family!

Bring On February!

This last week was full of surprises. I took on a Superbowl party, a baby shower in March, and of course still being the "secretary" for book club. Also- my calling at church is being put into full effect and I will be the speaker at our next Relief Society event in one week! Lots of things to do, but honestly.... it is nice.

For school this week, we learned on Tuesday that Wednesday was Groundhog's Day. I was tempted to throw in the movie, "Groundhog's Day" with Bill Murray, but decided that it was probably not appropriate for the kids to watch. It did lead me on to think about how great other movies are though...such as "Multiplicity" also starring Andie McDowell. LOVE THAT MOVIE!!

Back to school... The biggest thing we did this week was to plan our family garden. a "FAMILY GARDEN" implies that not only MOM will do the work, but also the entire FAMILY! This is the first time ever that I have ever had to start from red clay and try to create a viable environment for these veggies to grow in.

This week in school...

I need to come up with more creative titles for these posts!! Anyway- this week seems like the week we got our groove back. Since having surgery and starting homeschool don't usually go hand-in-hand, it has been a bit of a rough start. Meltdowns from Tae saying, "I don't wanna.... ________!" You fill in the blank. It ranges from "sit here while you read the scriptures" to "be the youngest child in our family!" Wowsa. What a kid.

This week though, it hasn't been as rough. I talked to some soccer parents about homeschooling. They all like the idea, because it would free up a lot of time. I don't think they will end up doing it. (Which is just fine... I am not out to change the world.. just to do what's best for my family!)

We had 3 soccer games this week, 2 piano lessons, and numerous quizzes to make sure we were comprehending our studies this week. Here's the breakdown of what we studied:

Scriptures: 1 Nephi 14-18

History: The Early Jewish People (Abram and Sarai-now Abraham and Sarah; Jacob; Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors) Sargon and the Akkadians ( in Mesopotamia)

Science: The Skeletal System including the three smallest bones in your body (in the ear), "Dem Bones" song with lots of 'hands on' learning, and the way bones work, how they grow, how they are categorized, what the scientific names are, and how they are connected (joints and cartilage).

Math, Spelling, Phonics, Grammar, etc.: on their own levels...

Writing: Choose a biography and read it. Write a paper on the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How 's of that person.

For the writing assignment: Jenna picked Miranda Cosgrove and Addison picked Carrie Underwood and Ronald Reagan. She really wanted to please daddy, so she picked his favorite president:)

Summary: Fun times. Lots of laughs. Lots of bike riding up to the park. Learning how to play tennis. Getting our vitamin D. Lots of soccer. Lots of love.

Piano and Projects!

Before I begin this post, I wanted to share my new favorite cookbook with you. (Whoever you is.... I'm really not sure anyone is reading this. If you are, please leave a comment so I know whether or not I am speaking to an audience.) It is the new "Southern Living" cookbook titled, "comfort food- a delicious trip down memory lane.) WOW! Amazing southern food recipes are found in this hardback cookbook that costs $39.95 and shipped to my doorstep today. I am in awe. Let's just say- I will be cooking up a storm and may just start at the beginning and work my way through. It is THAT awesome. I mentioned in an earlier post that we made cuneiform tablets with our names written on them. This one is Jenna's. We turned them into door hangers/necklaces. Unfortunately only Taesun's hasn't broken yet. (Boy is it weird to say that...Usually Tae's is the first one broken!)
Little man with his grown-out hair. Yuck!! Boy needs a haircut- DEFINITELY!
The kids getting ready to leave for our first day of piano lessons. We decided to take lessons from the stake president's wife (a member of our church,) who is booked solid for after and before school lessons. Since we homeschool.... we got in!! Yahoo!!
Don't my girls look old?! I cannot believe how much older Jenna is looking and we call the oldest the fun nickname, "Decade!" She doesn't protest, so I guess she kinda likes it.

Martin Luther King Day

One of the perks of homeschooling is that you get to decide when you have school and when you don't. For example, my local public school is out today because of Martin Luther King Day. We are having school today. Why, you may ask? I thought this would be a good opportunity to teach my kids about why we celebrate Martin Luther King.

We started our day with pledge/prayer/scripture reading just like usual. Then we went on to memorize the following passage:

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Afterwards, we watched the famous "I have a dream" speech excerpt on YouTube. The kids LOVED hearing the excerpt that we had just memorized!! We talked about what life would have been like for little African American kids growing up with racial segregation around the time of MLK. We then watched a documentary called, "Roads to Memphis" which spoke of the assassination of Martin Luther King. It has a lot of MLK's speeches shown in the documentary.

Since we live in Atlanta, we could have visited MLK's childhood home and toured it for free today, but I figured it was going to be jammed-packed. Maybe another time...

(Ideas for older homeschoolers: watching "The Help" would have been fun and informative. Reading it would have been an even better option.) If only Addi was a bit older... For now we will stick with our documentaries.

What a difference a week can bring...

So second week has come and gone at our home. Schooling was definitely tougher this week. We had "tween" drama, middle-child syndrome, five-yr-old meltdowns, and too many repairmen coming and going for mama to deal with. What a week!! On the upside- we covered parts of a cell in science; Egyptians and Sumerians and their writings in History; another unit in math and spelling; book reports began on Monday and due on the following Monday; and we even worked on how to tie our shoes with little man.

Lots of ground was covered. Lots of tears were spilt. (Confession time: even mine.) By Thursday evening, I was ready to pull my hair out. I was OVER homeschooling. Tired of all the frustrations of teaching my children, finding a piano teacher, living life with no home phone or internet most of the week, and just plain recuperating from surgery two short weeks ago, left me with only a twinge of hope concerning lesson plans for next week.

Then on Friday around noon, Rob (who was working from home that day,) decided that we could go out to eat for lunch. Off to Five Guys we went. And then it happened... I saw the kids' school that they were attending less than a month ago. There were lots of cars in the parking lot. My kids looked out the window and then....

LAUGHED. Ha Ha Ha!! Look at those poor kids stuck in school while we are spending quality time together as a family. We were done with school for the week and they were stuck within those four walls, attempting to learn for another 3 1/2 hours. We all had a good chuckle and then I realized that I LOVE HOMESCHOOL and the flexibility it brings to my family.

What a fun week!

First week!

Well- homeschool got off to a good start this week despite the fact that I had surgery only days before to remove my appendix. The kids were BEGGING me to begin schooling, and so we started Monday, January 2nd... before their friends went back to school! At first, we just tried to chug along since I was pretty much immobile and couldn't sit up very well. By the third day, we were in a routine and kicking homeschool's butt!!

Our routine goes like this:

8-8:30- wake up/ brush teeth, get dressed/ clean room

10am- Say Pledge of Allegiance/ Pray/ Read 1 chapter in Book of Mormon

10:30-2pm- History (all together), Science (all together), Math (online for girls and I work with Tae one-on-one), Spelling, Grammar, Writing, and Reading (Currently, we are reading Harry Potter book 1)

So far, this week we have covered "What is History and Archaeology", "The Nomadic People", made cave paintings, (which got ruined by an apple juice spill after showing daddy), "History of Anatomy and Physiology", "Cell Structure", and lots of ABC writing and "Clock" work for Taesun.

All-in-all... a super fun week! The first day we homeschooled, a mom of a girl in Addison's old class dropped by the house and asked me lots of questions about homeschooling. The next day, I found out that two more people I know used to homeschool their kids but can't anymore due to work. The following day, another homeschool mom invited the kids and I to a "parkday" which we had to decline because I can't drive yet after the surgery. We have had lots of invitations to do projects with friends and other homeschoolers. This should be an exciting experience!

Today- we went to a local animal shelter and found out that the kids and I can volunteer there regularly. The kids can play with the dogs (not cats because of our family's allergies,) clean the cages, and help to feed the animals. I am so excited for this opportunity to teach my kids hard work. We signed all the paperwork tonight and we are looking forward to turning it in this week!