Brandon and Emily went in for their 6 month dental check up and all was good! Now if I can just get Emily to let me pull the tooth that has been barely hanging on all week..... And don't even get me started on her keeping the teeth. She insists on writing notes to the tooth fairy asking her nicely to leave the money without taking her precious teeth.

This is our first year in 4-H and sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed. To tell you the truth I don't think I could do it without my friend that already knows the ropes. She is practically leading me by the hand. However, we are really enjoying it.

First of all, it has given Brandon archery which he has really just thrown himself into full steam. Brandon has always been easy going with not a speck of competitiveness in him. He is truly content at doing a so so job at just about anything. This the first time I've seem my son actually willing to do whatever it takes to excel. In short, he has found his "thing" and I'm really proud of him. But there are so many more opportunities!

Here is a picture of recent community service: The kids donated stuffed animals to the hospital to
help when they have to draw blood from scared children.





Here are pictures of Brandon & Emily at Archery:

Perhaps she shouldn't shoot straight UP? Ya think?


Daddy came to Archery this time. It made Brandon's day.
I forgot to take pictures at Rifle this time and it is only once a month.
So, I guess you'll just have to wait to see...
yet another shot of Brandon's back as he uses a weapon. LOL





Here are the kids at Food Fun Night:

This was more or less a food and nutrition class. They also learned about food safety and comparison shopping. I was really impressed that Emily sat and listened so well. They also learned about a Food Show that they will participating in; in early November. Originally I just signed Emily up for this project but Brandon asked if he could do it too. I didn't even think about how much he loves food! Duh, this project is just a natural for him!






Still coming....who knows what. Emily is supposed to do Clothing and Textiles at some point and our group is really holding out for a Dog Care project. I know one thing there are 101 ways for a child to learn, grow and be active in their community through 4-H. If your worried that you don't own a cow, stop worrying and find a local group for your children!

This year we are using The Mystery of History II. Brandon seems to be enjoying this curriculum more than all the other history curriculum we've used in the past. Dare I say, we've finally found the perfect history curriculum for us? Gee, it's only taken us 5 years of homeschooling to hit pay dirt!

Here is his Time Line. I followed the book's advice and just bought a package of historical figures. He really likes this method better. The time line will fold up to for an easy put away...say, under the couch...or you can hang it on the wall to work with it. I just leave it up on the wall.






















He has done a few little projects already this year. Nothing big but he has enjoyed them and I do feel confident that this is a curriculum he "gets" with very little necessary input from me. That kind of makes me sad because I love history and think I'd enjoy this study myself but at least I don't HAVE to help him which means he can do history even if I'm busy. I guess I could catch up and read the lessons in my spare time....LOL

Any way, here are a few of little things he has done along with his lessons:

When he studied the Dead Sea Scrolls he tried to duplicate the environment the scrolls were found in so you'd see how the salt preserved them. He boiled salt in water and left the paper in a tray of the salt water in the sun to evaporate. So, the paper ends up covered in salt crystals and stiff. Also by accident he found that it was also at least slightly fire proof! How about that?




Here he made a copy of the Apostle's Creed and then made the paper look aged by crumpling, soaking in strong tea water, drying it out and burning the edges. Around this time is when he discovered that the sea salt paper wouldn't burn. We then mounted it under self sealing plastic to put in his notebook.



This is a topographic map of Israel made of salt dough to remind him of the Salt Sea. The little flags are places where important things that he has studied so far this year have happened. It's not supposed to be quite so flour-y but we had a hard time with the dough sticking to us and not the cardboard. This was messy and not quite perfect but a nice break from the ordinary map worksheet.

Daddy took some time off work recently and we took some time off school (surprise, surprise). We used this time mostly to catch up on things that were falling apart around the house. However, we did spend one day together just having fun. First, we went to a close by drive thru Safari, Cherokee Trace. It mostly contains deer and cattle type wildlife, very few what most people would consider exotic. Still, it was often just jaw dropping to see these animals up close. I was surprised how hard it is to get good pictures because once the animals surround the car they are too close to snap shots of! Many would run to the car and simply beg. A few could care less that we were there. We never saw the kangaroos (which was disappointing). I was prepared to love the llamas (which we did of course). I was not prepared to fall in love with the bison. The pictures do not do them justice and I didn't get many of them because they surrounded the car and Cecil made us roll the windows up. They are amazingly cute! Their noses kind of stick up a little like a pug or pig and their eyes seem so sweet and innocent. Any way, Loved loved loved the bison!




After the Safari we went over to the Tiger Creek Refuge which some of you might have seen on Animal Planet's show Growing up Tiger. It is a small-ish place but they are trying so hard to love and care for these animals and are working on building larger habitats. The guide took the time to let us know about each cat, their special personality and how they came to be there. Even though we all know that these are savage beasts that can turn at the drop of a hat it still was hard not to see a little of our cat Snowy in them. This was Brandon's favorite stop of the day.




Well, I have more to post on recent events and activities but we're currently running behind on getting ready to head out to Awanas. So, I guess it'll have to wait until the next time I can steal a few minutes to myself to post.

Our church has finally gotten an Awana's program! Emily is a Spark! This is a wonderful program and I think Emily will love it! Here is a picture of her at game time during the very first meeting.

I also have her signed up for All American 4-H. Her projects will be in Food and Nutrition and Clothing and Textiles.

She will be going to the monthly American Girl Book Club at a local library.

When we remember them we'll go to the Home Depot and Lowe's kid's clinics. She loves those.

I haven't decided if she'll do children's choir this year.

I've also gone to a local dance studio and checked into the price of putting her in tumble and ballet. We just have to talk Daddy into it!

Even though I haven't really mentioned here lately, we have indeed started our "school" year. Brandon has some really great curriculum and I have high hopes for this his seventh grade year. However, he personally is most excited about our newest extra-curricular activity we added this year. We joined the All American 4-H group and he is doing Rifle and Archery. He is doing so/so in rifle and I think it has dampened his enthusiasm a bit. He doesn't like the prone position they make you start out in and he can't move up to standing until he conqures prone. I think with more practice at home and better scores, his interest will rise back up for rifle. Now, on the other hand Archery he loves! So much so, that we went ahead and made the investment in buying him his own bow. Yes, he is a very proud boy! He even gracefully accepted that this meant he would not get much for Christmas.