The first day of school!!

Well, we made it through the first day.  I thought it went really well, Austin loved it and Wyatt's in his room pouting :)  We started with pictures at around 830 (an early start, we were all excited).  Then we started reading aloud from the Bible.  I started with Mark 1 for no reason.  It was random!!  We enjoyed our time reading and praying and then got into our Bible lesson from our Answers for Kids curriculum from Answers in Genesis.  I think it's all really redundant and will probably NOT do an actual curriculum for Bible again, though I want to finish this since I bought it and it won't hurt anything!!  Than we did math, which caused some tears.  Austin raced through his math and got done quickly, about 30 minutes before Wyatt finished, not because he's better, but because Wyatt was being a perfectionist and was just going slow!!!  After that we did history, which was about creation (I am SOOOO sick of creation!!!  LOL) and started making creation booklets to remember what God made on what days.  Then we did Language, which was super easy and quick, but I made them use it as handwriting time as well.  Then we wrote down our spelling saying for the week from our Charlotte Mason spelling book (I am; I can; I ought; I will.).  Then we did geography books and were done!!  Well, after they read for 20 minutes and wrote 3 sentances about what they read. 
My biggest high of the day was Austin exclaiming over and over "I love this!!" and biggest low of the day was Wyatt crying that he wanted to go to school :)  Yes, that's the opposite of how it started!!  LOL
My biggest worry is that everything only took about 3 and a half hours.  We need to average more than that!!  I'm waiting til next week to start science though, so I'm sure that will help...

Creation Museum

We spent Saturday at the Creation Museum in Cincinnati.  First off, some wonderful friends gave us 2 comp tickets so that instantly saved us $50.00, and we bought our tickets at the hotel so we only spent $24.00 to get in.  So, for that price we enjoyed it.  The gardens outside were AMAZING!!  Words can't describe how beautiful they were.

The rest of the museum was very nice, everything was very high quality and nicely done and the message was presented several times.  I guess the name of the museum should have tipped me off, but I wanted more than just creation.  They believe that the world is young, only about 6,000 years old.  That when God created the world in 6 days everything was created then, including Dinosaurs.  That Dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark and just recently died out...  And it seemed the whole museum was about that.  I understand why they believe that, reading the Bible it is right on.  But, I don't think it's imoirtant enough to harp on and harp on...  I don't understand science enough to declare that they are right and everyone else is wrong.  I believe without a doubt that God created the Earth and all living things.  The rest of it is just stuff to not worry about... 
Over all, we decided not to use their science curriculum.  I'm afraid that that's what they will put alot of weight on and I've already heard enough about it... 
Fun, but overkill...

FUN FUN FUN!!!!

I am so excited to start school now!!  We have our curriculum (except our science, which is on back order but should be here next week) and are in BAD need of getting a routine started...  Because I changed my mind SOOOO many times, here's what we're using
-BIBLE- Answer in Genesis' Answers for Kids
-MATH- Horizons (3rd for Wyatt, 4th for Austin)
-READING and SPELLING and VOCAB- AiG Pilgrim's Progress (I'm REALLY excited about this!!)
-GRAMMER AND LANGUAGE- First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind Vol 3
-HISTORY- The Mystery of History Vol 1
-SCIENCE- AiG God's Design for the Heaven and Earth
-HEALTH- Horizon's 4th gr. health
-SPANISH- Speak in a Week
And the boys will be doing art, music, gym and library once a week at Gilead Christian School.  Austin is also taking drum lessons and Wyatt is playing soccer and we are ALL doing Cub Scouts.

I havn't done my lesson plans yet because I got my stuff Friday and then left for the night to go to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati.  Super fun, but over priced :)  Now we have to get into the swing of things.  One of the downfalls of homeschooling is I can't work.  Even babysitting made a decent amount of fun cash for us that we won't have now :(  So, we're tightening down the hatches and thinking cheap here.  We know God will bless us for being obediant and doing this, but we have to be good stewards of what he's already blessed us with!!

Forgot...

Hi!!  I totally forgot about this, but wanted to get it going again to help share what we're doing during the school year :)  We're really getting anxious to get started, but will probably really not get into the swing of things til September.  While we've had a really good time babysitting this summer, we're taking a break when Fredericktown School starts to just be us...  We've got some stuff thrown into that though, a trip to COSI and The Columbus Museum of Art, maybe the Dayton Air Force Museum and of course soccer and drum lessons, so I don't feel like it'll be wasted time. 
Other than that nothing really going on here at the Strong house... 

Mother of boys...

So, I was HIGHLY amused at what was coming out of my mouth last night as the Cub Scouts were putting up birdhouses.  "Please don't run down the steep hill with a cordless drill"  "Please don't throw the sledge hammer up in the air and then try to catch it"  "Please don't don't your face after picking up that bottle of antifreeze"  'We found the liscence plate and a shirt, think we'll find a body?"  You know, where is this in the parenting books?  I love my kids...

Beautiful day...

Well, beyond it being Resurrection Sunday, Austin and Wyatt were baptized yesterday.  It was AMAZING to hear them share their testimonies in front of the congregration!  Wyatt saying his too fast and Austin saying his too quietly, but both perfect to their Mommy :)  And then to watch Brian being able to baptize them both.  I am truly blessed!!  It must be God's blessing because I have done NOTHING to deserve such a wonderful family!  My heart swelled with love, joy and pride yesterday at the sight of my two boys taking their first real steps toward being gentlemen.  More than any other thing, this was the first sign that they are growing up.  I'm working myself quickly out of a job!!  It was an amazing day.  He's ALIVE and my children BELIEVE!!!!

Austin's testimony-
I felt scared before I knew Jesus as my savior.  I thought I would go to hell instead of heaven.  I did many bad things because I did not have Jesus in my heart to help me.
I accepted Jesus as my savior on August 8, 2008 at W4 vacation Bible school.  I learned that Jesus is the way to heaven.
Now that I have accepted Jesus in my heart I will go to heaven.  He helps me to remember to do good things and to help other people learn about Him.

Wyatt's testimony-
Before I knew Jesus I was very bad.  These are some of the things I did- I'd swing my cat around by it's tail, hurt other people and disobeyed my mom.
I accepted Jesus in a prayer, my prayer was: Lord, I have been a sinner and I am sorry.  I believe that you died on the cross and rose again from the grave.  I want you in my heart.  I accepted Jesus Christ on March 5, 2006 in my bedrrom.
My life is amazing with Jesus in my heart.  It is also very hard because if someone bes mean to you you have to be's nice to them (bad english his, it's cute!)

Over the cold...

OK, so I'M FREEZING!!!  I just turned my heat on!!!  My fingers kinda have that cold numb feeling as I'm typing!!!  :(  I don't think I've been warm now for 6 months!! Now, I know some you (Jen P) say "well, you live in Ohio, if you want warm, just move"  Really?  Why didn't I think of that!!  I'll just pack up and move to Florida!!  Who needs family, or a house or a job????  UGH.  Seriously though, it's APRIL 22!!!!!  It's not supposed to be 40 degrees out :(  OK, I'm done whining.  I wish I knew how to put video on here, while I'm typing this the boys are dancing to Michael Jackson on Wii and Austin's pants are sagging and he's shaking his booty and you can see his star wars underwear :)  It's adorable!!!!