It's an Oz-some life: February 2014

I have been meaning to get this typed out for a while and since I am fighting a sore throat and sniffles I thought now would be the perfect time...

A few weeks ago my family attended Finish Well 2014, a two day conference geared toward helping homeschoolers complete high school with excellence....to quote their page .

Their vision : " Our vision is to see families united under Christ and His church, to see teens captured by God's love and established in their faith, and to equip parents to raise their children up to be godly men and women."

So, let me tell you what I experienced and thought. First and foremost they are the friendliest group of people you will probably ever encounter. EVEN the teenagers. Day one was pretty laid back but we checked in at the front since we were already pre-registered, got our name tags and tickets for the lunch that they hosted, etc.

There were 3 sessions being offered during the first block of time, I attended " Great Gardening for Healthy Homeschoolers " of course. Other sessions included "The History of Homeschooling" and a "Teens- Get to Know Each Other"

After that there was a "Moms' Heart to Heart" that I attended while the hubs and kids went out to watch the airsoft games that were happening. I am thinking they will definitely be participating in that next year..... The "Moms' Heart to Heart " was just as it sounded. A very sweet time.

A break for dinner and then resumed in the evening . Unfortunately we missed that part. We had a kiddo who after dinner was not feeling great to put it mildly and so we headed home.

That evening the same kiddo was up all night with stomach pains until about 5 in the morning....we didn't think we were going to make it to the second half but by 9:00 that morning she was much improved and off we went. My guess was that she got something at the restaurant that we ate at that made her sick.

Anyway .... Day 2

I won't get into all the details of each session offered during each block I will just tell you about the ones we attended and then attach a link if you are curious about what else was offered.

Also, I should note that each block offered something geared toward a different group. For example block one had something for the dads, moms, teens, littles, and then just a general class.

Jason went off to the " Real Men Mentor Their Sons" session while the kids went to the " Children's Missionary Adventure in Australia"

I attended " Geography: Travel and Eat Your Way Around The World" SURPRISE!

A great class with tips on how to make geography come alive.

One really cool resource I learned about is " Mapping the World by Heart"

Here is a video link to show you what it's about :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gii4tNaCWOg

Session one was done and I headed off to check in with the kiddos and hubs. Everyone agreed that they really were enjoying " Finish Well"

Session 2 : The kids attended " Children's Missionary Adventure to Japan" and Jason and I went to " Make the Most of Middle School" Since, though it is hard for me to believe, my oldest will be a middle schooler next year. WAH!!!

Anyway, This was a really great session for my husband and I to attend. We discussed how middle schoolers are not really children or adults. We also talked about the emotions and boundaries that go along with this age group. What I came away with is a great amount of Godly wisdom and a greater amount of heart for my children as they go through this difficult stage in their life.

Meredith Curtis lead this discussion and you can find her at : http://joyfulandsuccessfulhomeschooling.com/

or her blog: http://www.meredithcurtis.com/blog.html

She has a huge heart for the Lord and her family and you can see that even after only meeting her once.

I encourage you to check out her pages.

Lunch break! Really nice lunch put out by Leah Brooks and Family. It was a great time to eat, check out curriculum , and fellowship.

Session 3

I went to " Museum and Homeschooling" while Jason went to "Defend the Faith" and the kids went to "Children's Missionary Adventure to Mexico"

I should note that while the kids are out on the adventures they are making crafts, playing games, and learning all at the same time. They were having a blast!

Anyway, another great class but I came away with a few sites you can access :

Let Creation Sing:

Directory to Creation Museums:

http://letcreationsing.weebly.com/the-creation-science-directory.html

If you have a smart phone you can use the " Creation Key" or "Creation Scout" app to get a Biblical world view at museums

A free information database:

http://www.ibiblio.org/

Wikimedia commons: a free site where you can find pictures, maps, animations, etc. for free. Anyone can donate or use the images. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Flicker offers the same thing at :

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Powerlines Materials available for purchase:

http://www.powerlineprod.com/

Session 4:

The last session of "Finish Well 2014"

The kids went to " Guinea Bissau" Jason went to " How a Man Leads his Home" and I went to " Cultivating a Heart for the World"

I really loved this one because she talked about our mission fields being anywhere. In the home, in our neighborhood, in our city, state, or across the globe. She also talked about our hearts being right first and foremost before going out to share God's word.

There was so much more she covered and well, there is just not enough space to type it all, but I loved that she spoke from the heart and her own experience.

If you are looking to serve here are some of her recommended sites/ organizations:

www.awestar.org

and

www.neverthesamemissions.org

Above all I came away with more than just information and sites to visit, I came away with the sense that these people, were truly people who loved the Lord . I took away a renewed spirit.

Spiritual, character, relational, and heart issues should take precedence , once those are in place there is no stopping your family from being successful in your homeschooling adventures.

Will I be attending "Finish Well 2015" ? you betcha, and I hope you will too!

http://finishwellcon.com/

Before I close..... some of our latest homeschool fun

Learning about the human skeleton

Making our own spine. The vertebrae were made out what " Saxon Mathers" know as linking cubes

Running ribbon down the vertebral column ( Spinal cord)

Dipping q-tips in food coloring to show how bones were covered in cartilage at the ends

History: Lots of fun! We have been using posters a lot lately for some reason. I like them because I can leave them up and the kids can revisit them

Botany! One of our favorites. Loving Apologia

Here are some boards we have been using to help us with our vocabulary words in Botany

I blogged the other day about going to the science center during "Otronicon". Well when I got there I decided to stop at the gift shop while I waited for my girlfriend and her family to get there.... you know how this ends...

I found this book- Awesome!

Here are a few of the boards we have made while learning about each girl. I have been having the kids write a paper, paragraph, and or comic about each ( depending on the age) once we are done.

And I also found this for the kids.... we sit around at night sometimes trying to figure these out. There are different levels of difficulty and some even stump me ...

I know I shared this the other day on Facebook but I decided to add it here because I want to be able to find it later. Here is Katie's first canvas and acrylic painting. Age 11

Here is another one she drew. She found a site online that showed her how to draw this, this is her first attempt... I am beyond impressed at how easily this stuff comes to her!

Well , that's all for now. We will be focusing on the Olympics over the next few weeks so I am sure I will blog about that soon. Until then, carry on, as the Olympic Motto goes : "Citius, Altius, Fortius"

Swifter, Higher, Stronger

As winter will be coming to a close soon.... at least here in Florida, (our growing seasons are short) I thought I would post a few pictures of what our winter gardens looked like before they get taken down.

Broccoli, amazing, effortless, and multi- functional. These are like the pocket knife of plants

Everyone knows you eat the florets

But did you know you can eat the leaves? I juice them but they are like any other green. Think Collards or Kale.

The flowers! Great for attracting beneficial insects like bees. But you can also pick the flowers and eat them. We put them in salads and they are a little peppery - delicious!

Those green sticks you see everywhere, those are seed pods. They will be collected and saved for next years planting.

I should also note that yesterday I found a cluster of aphids on one of my broccoli plants. They are on one of the flowering sections but I am not going to kill them or even worry about them, in fact I am going to appreciate they they are there. Why?! Because lots of beneficial insects eat aphids and this is my way of saying to those insects like ladybugs and the like " Welcome, the buffet is open" If there is food they will come. When all of that is over whatever is left of the plants will be composted and used to feed future generations of plants.

Spinach. Not the biggest plants but it appears that the more you harvest, the faster they produce. They also happen to be incredibly different when you grow them and eat them fresh out of the ground than when you buy them in the store. These are crunchy and have loads of texture!

Some loose leaf lettuce... I have yet to taste these. I am not sure what I am waiting for?!

This is one of my favorites... when it is not sideways... for the life of me I can not figure out why it keeps flipping to the side! Oh well! Oh it's a pea sprouting