Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Thomas's burn {not for the weak stomached}

 This is the "short" version.........

On June 22nd, 2012 we had a birthday party for Nathaniel and were burning pizza boxes. Once the actual fire had burnt out, my nephew and my son, Thomas both ran through the ashes {we were here, but not right there with them}. My nephew was fine {and had jeans on}, but Thomas {had shorts on}, got burnt. We called the fire dept. and they came out and cleaned his leg.  We took care of his leg the best we could until we got him down to the burn center at Chapel Hill. We went down there every 2 week until it was healed enough to wait 3 months. During those 3 months, he wore a compression sock along with sunscreen {for the first year} and Eucerin.

 On Monday, Thomas had his recheck back at the burn center. It takes almost 3 hours to get to the hospital, but it's well worth the drive. The doctors and nurses there are awesome, and were always good to us. They have released Thomas from their care and said that everything looked great!! 

The Lord was with him the whole time, it was a very scary experience, but we look back now and can see that Thomas has a testimony that lots of others dont have. It could have been much, much worse. 

Here are some pictures from the night he burnt it until today. 

***Warning***   Please do not look if you have a weak stomach.

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 This was the first photo, taken after the accident, and after the fireman came and cleaned it for us.
  







Thomas unwrapping the bandages. We had to clean it once a day with soap and water and redress it.                           
  


This was today about 1.5 week after the accident. The pictures look a lot better than if you looked at it in real life. Its a really deep burn {thus the white tissue}. That is NOT infection, just a deep burn.

 
 I was trying to get a good picture of the deepness, not sure that you can really tell in this one
 

All bandaged up and ready to play!!

 
taken 7-24-12
Its healing up =) The white tissue is going away and the hole is closing up.He was given a new cream the last time we were there, and it started looking a lot better.
 
 Thomas's burn is 100% healed!! We went back to the burn center yesterday and they said no more compression sock {unless he wants to wear it}, now its just sunscreen and Eucerin daily!! Thank you Lord for watching over my baby!!

 

Friday, October 26, 2012

unit 11 review {BLHFHG}

Unit 11


Bible verse:
Teach me to do thy will;
 for thou art my God: thy spirit is good;
lead me into the land of uprightness.  Psalms 143:10


This week was sorta blah for us. I was a little lazy, and didnt do any "extras".



Heart of Dakota:
The Pilgrims built one big house for everyone to live in once they got to where they wanted to settle. They didn't know how to build log cabins, so they built board houses. There was a little boy, named Thomas, who wanted so badly to help the men cut down the trees. He kept getting in the way, but still did all he could to help. Finally, when the frame of the house was going up, Thomas was a HUGE help. Some doubted, and others were encouraging.....Thomas climbed up to where a man was trying to hook the frame of the house together and he helped him get the job done.

We didnt do any experiments this week {slack/busy momma}. We did do the project to build the frame of a house.
And Thomas decided to continue with his designing.


Other:
My boys learned the first 3 steps to becoming a President this week
1.born a U.S. citizen
2.be 35 years old
3. been a U.S. resident 14 years

They had a lot of fun saying friends/family members names and deciding whether or not they would be allowed to run for President or not.


Thomas worked on his drawing this week. He's building more and more confidence with this program.



Both boys worked on math, and are still practicing what they've been learning. I'm really enjoying the Horizons curriculum. I don't make Thomas {2nd} do every single problem. I usually mark 1/2 of them out with a pencil.

I started working on teaching the months of the year this week. I found a cute song on YouTube, that they are already picking up. YaY!


We are still enjoying the workbox system we have started. I let the boys pick what they want to do first. Thomas about 98% of the time picks reading, which really surprises me. Nathaniel only has math and phonics as choice, so he chooses math 1st every time.

We have 1 week left of Sarah Witcher's story, and they boys are loving it still!! 



Friday, October 19, 2012

unit 10 review {BLHFHG}

week 10
{seriously? week 10?}

Bible Verse:
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: 
because his mercy endureth for ever. Psalms 118:1


{I have a question.....can anyone help??..........I have more pictures every week to upload, I can see the thumbnails of the photos, but on my computer, and on blogger it will say DRAWING FAILED, anyone know why?? or how to fix it?}


History:
 Francis Billington: a mischievous little boy who was "stuck" on the Mayflower {a.k.a. the kids had to stay on the boat while the men were away working}, and got into the ships powder room, fired off a loaded musket, and almost blew up the ship. By God's grace and mercy, the ship was spared along with the lives of everyone on it. The Pilgrims continued to look for a place to settle, but not just any place, they needed a certain spot....one that had trees {for wood to build houses, and keep a fire going}, but not too close to the forest {they needed an open field to plant grain}. They also need a safe harbor and a stream of fresh, clear water. Nathaniel and I drew what we thought would be the "perfect" place to settle.  {Nathaniel's picture in middle}


We also learned of an early morning attack on the Pilgrims, by the Indians. Arrows were flying and one hit Captain Miles Standish right above the heart, luckily he had his armor on so the arrow didn't hurt him. The Pilgrims shot their muskets and wounded the Indian chief in the arm. This scared the Indians and they fled. The Pilgrims picked up many of the arrows that were shot at them. They were made of deer horn and some with eagle claws. They sent the arrows to England with the Mayflower. The Pilgrims kept looking for land along the shore and faced a really bad winter storm. The boat was hitting rocks, and waves were crashing onto the boat. The men were scared and were hanging on for fear of their lives. They found land on an island, but it still wasnt the place the settle. They kept going until they finally found a place to settle. When the men finally found a place to settle, the women wanted to see the land. Mary Chilton was the first woman to step on the land, she stepped out on Plymouth Rock. The rock is still there in Plymouth Bay today.

Art:

 This is the explosion on the Mayflower and Francis Billington's white, scared face!!





Geography:
We learned a few new words:
bay: a small area of water partly surrounded by land
harbor: a bay that gives shelter to ships

We found Boston, Mass. on the globe and drew the outline of the area on paper. We labeled Boston and Plymoth.



Science:
We read about the different levels of the ocean {the shelf, the slide, and the floor}. We tried the experiment, but it didnt work for us. =(
  

Other {the boys individualized subjects}
Thomas is still practicing telling time, and is now estimating what time things happen {ex. John eats lunch at: 8:00, 10:00, 12:00}. This was a little bit confusing for him because we have a different "schedule" than "normal" families. We really dont have any set schedule except we go to church every Wednesday and Sunday, and we make/follow appointments. But as far as eating, bedtime, waking time.....this varies so he answered those wrong, but right at the same time. Thomas learned "borrowing" this week, and has picked it right up. Im always a little nervous when I have to teach them something new, and always to my amazement they pick up on it, fairly fast.
I don't make my boys do much copywork or writing. They have to write their name {x4} on a dry erase board {with lines for printing}, every day, but other than that,  Thomas writes on his Draw, Write, Now book  and Nathaniel in his phonics. Thomas finished his 1st book with the emerging readers set and started a new book this week. With the last book, I would ask him the questions and he would orally answer. With this book, I wanted to see how he did with writing the answers down. I have a composition book that I have written the questions in and he practices writing. He had a little trouble at first, kinda looking confused. I had to tell him to answer the question orally first, then write it in the notebook. Once he answers the questions, I go back over and make spelling/grammar corrections to his work.



Nathaniel is really suprising me with his reading. Im taking things really slow with him and just going over his phonics sheets, the letter sounds/recognition, and the flash cards that I made up. He's reading sentences and keeping up with his phonics lessons. I didnt realize that Horizons was so fast paced, and was nervous that he would get behind, but so far, so good.




We started somewhat of a "workbox" system this week. Im not 100% still on what all I will put in there, but so far we are using it for : math {x2}, spelling, phonics, drawing, and reading. The subject and stickers are on the boxes, once finished, they remove the subject and place the sticker on their chart. I give them an exta $1 per day the chart is filled. 












 






I also opened up the store on Monday. I had all intentions on opening it up before school started, completely forgot, and was reminded about 1/2 through our day. On Friday, I decided to have a 1/2 price sale with the store since the boys have not been buying too much. I wanted to make sure they work hard for thier prizes and not price anything too low, but they keep complaining about the prices.








And...........


We made some no bake oatmeal cookies for our dear friend, Sister Linda, who recently had her thyroid removed. She will be going through chemo soon, and my boys wanted to make her favorite cookies for her before the chemo treatments. My Papaw also had a surgery, this week, to have a cancer removed off his nose. We also made him some cookies {they are his favorite too} for his birthday.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:


  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1stick butter
  • 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3 cups oatmeal (old fashioned rolled oats, not instant)
Mix the sugar, butter, cocoa, and milk in a medium saucepan.* Boil for 1 minute.
Add the peanut butter and vanilla. Mix quickly until peanut butter melts, then add the oatmeal and mix til well blended.
Drop spoonfuls on tin foil, wax paper or parchment. Allow to set and cool completely. 

Friday, October 12, 2012

unit 9 review {BLHFHG}

Week 9

Bible verse: Colossians 3:23

Monday: In history, we learned that the Pilgrims were in the Mayflower for 9 long weeks before land was finally sighted. When the Pilgrims found the land, it wasnt warm like they had hoped, and it wasnt a good place to settle.
We learned some new words in geography:
equator
north pole
south pole
northern hemisphere
southern hemisphere
climate

We started a historical fiction book today called Sarah Witcher's Story. The boys pretended to be the Pilgrims on the boat and finding land, and we talked about how them acting that out would be like historical fiction because it really happened but we don't know exact details so it mixes the truth with made up details.



Tuesday: We talked about how the Pilgrims rested on the Sabbath, and on Monday they went ashore to do some chores. The women washed clothes while the children ran along the shore and then picked nuts under the hickory trees. By the night time, all the work was finished.
In science, we talked about starfish. Since starfish sometimes wash up on the shore, the Pilgrim children were likely to see some. We made our own starfish. 



Wednesday: While looking for a place to live, the Pilgrims seen some deer, and some INDIANS!! They offered the Indians some gifts but they refused them and ran away and hid. 

Thursday: The Pilgrims found an Indian village with empty wigwams, and they also found what one thought might be an Indian grave. When they dug it up, it turned out to be corn, lots of different colored corn that they had never seen before. They took about 10 bushels back to the Mayflower and planned to repay the Indians when they could. We played a game where boys followed directions {N,S,W,E} on a grid to find the corn. We also talked about the word FAITH. I told the boys that we cant see faith, and we read in the Bible about faith and not looking to things that can be seen, but to the unseen, well, Thomas stopped me and says, "Uh, I see Faith all the time." I was waiting to hear what he was going to say, and he says, "My Aunt Faith". Not what I had expected him to say, but he had a big smile on his face and he looked just like his daddy.



Friday: We read in the Bible about Nehemiah being called by God to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem.  Just like Nehemiah, the Pilgrims needed to build a protected town. The Pilgrims worked hard and trusted God. We also learned the exclamation point and reviewed the period and question mark.



Thomas: Thomas is still working #'s that come before and after by 7's and telling time. He also learned < and > symbols/meanings. We pretended they were a hungry PacMan and the mouth always went for the bigger number. He took a break to draw me a picture using the symbols. 

 I have a picture to put here, but it keeps saying drawing failed??

Thomas finished his first book today from the Emerging Readers set. Next week his work will get a little harder. I've been letting him verbally answer the questions at the end of his stories, but next week he will have to write the answers in a notebook {3-4 questions a day}.

Nathaniel: Nathaniel is working on blends in phonics {cl, bl, br, dr} and for the first time, all week, he has said all the letters and sounds correctly!! In math, he is counting to 60 and recognizing numbers up to 30. He is also working on addition, number lines, and telling time. 

 We will try something new next week with our school store. In the past the store was only open on Friday afternoons after school. Next week, I will open the store on Monday morning before school, and then again Friday after school. I also bought some shelve things at Walmart and we are going to try more of a work box approach next week with school. 


Some extras:

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great weekend!!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

unit 8 review {BLHFHG}

Week 8

Bible Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:11

*an apology~somehow I cant find the rest of the pictures I took this week on either of my memory cards or my cameras internal memory*

I was a little worried that after a week of no school that my boys would forget what we had been learning, but to my surprise, they picked right back up where we left off.

Reading:
We started the book Pilgrim Boy {an Abeka book} on the way to the beach that we borrowed, but the boys got busy and we finished it up this week. We also finished our library book A Lion to Guard Us{this was our 2nd adventure book}.  We also borrowed a book on Miles Standish that we will start this week as well.

Math:
Nathaniel is picking up on adding {he was struggling with the concept, but is showing lots of improvement}. He is also working on calendar concepts {find the 3rd Saturday, or all Fridays}.
Thomas is working on counting by 4's,6's,7's,8's, and 9's; telling time {review}, and carrying.

History:
We talked about the Pilgrims getting ready to leave, and how sad they must have been to leave their Dutch friends. When the Pilgrims left England, some rode on the Mayflower and some on the Speedwell. We talked about the Mayflower and learned a few things:
*it sailed in September, 1620
*there were 102 passengers
*it took 66 days to sail 2,750 miles
*it could carry 180 caskets/barrels
 The kids made their own Mayflower boats and then we counted 180 barrels {of cheerios} and put them next to the boat, then ate them, of course.


While sailing to the new world the Speedwell and the Mayflower had lots of weather conditions. They had days with calm winds/seas, but they also faced days with strongs winds and storms.
When it got cold on the boat, the children liked to hear stories, and play games. They also had a nice surprise when 2 new babies were born during the journey. The Pilgrims went from one country to another when they traveled. We talked about the country, state, and city we live in and found them on a map.

Science:
I forgot to take pictures, but we did a little experiment with water, oil, and salt. I filled a ziplock bag 1/2 way with water, then added a few drops of blue food coloring, and a few drops of oil. We watched the oil float to the top of the bag, then we added salt and watched the oil then drop to the bottom. We talked about John Howland, and how he fell overboard the Mayflower, but his life was saved. He, like the oil, would float for awhile and then he would sink in the salty water.
We also learned about the earth and how it slowly spins all the time!! The boys took an ink pen and spun it in the floor {it spins really fast} and then compared  it to spinning themselves {which took longer to spin}. We learned that the earth takes a long time to spin because it is really, really big!! It takes 365 days for the earth to spin around the sun 1 time. Also, they learned that when the sun shines on us, its dark on the other side of the world {we used a flashlight and a globe to visualize this}.



Phonics {Nathaniel}
He recognizes almost all the letters and knows sounds but still struggles with E,G, and Y. He's reviewing/learning cl,bl,br,sh,wh, and ch.
I have him in Kindergarten phonics {Horizons} because he had a hard time last year with his letters/sounds.
I also have flash cards that I made for him that he reads everyday along with his paper work.
So far his words are:
I
a
the
little
an
it
on
at 

Spelling {Thomas}
This week is a review from the past 7 weeks, so everyday is a different worksheet with all the spelling words he's learned so far.

Extras:
We've had specaial meetings going on at church this week, and we made an Oreo dessert to take for Wednesday  night. 

Oreo cookie dessert

ingredients:
 1 package of Oreos
1 stick of butter
1pkg. cream cheese
1 large instant chocolate pudding mix {made by directions}
12 oz cool whip

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Crush 2 ½ rows of Oreos and put in bottom of  9 X 13 pan
Melt 1 stick of butter and pour over cookies and mix

In a small bowl mix 1 package of cream cheese, 1 cup powder sugar and ½ cool whip
Spread on cookies
Mix pudding according to directions and spread on
Spread cool whip on top of pudding
Crush the remaining Oreos on spread on top







Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Family Vacation 2012 Holden Beach

Last week we were at the beach all week for a much needed vacation {we haven't been on a vacation like this since 2008}. We went in with 2 other families and rented a house at Holden Beach {on the coast of NC}. We had a lot of fun, and the weather was perfect!!

We took the ferry from Southport to Ft. Fisher on Monday and took the kids to the NC Aquarium. There, they got to touch some jellies, sting rays, crabs, and sharks. They also had a fossil hunt area where Thomas found a few sharks teeth.

On Tuesday, we took our kids to the USS North Carolina in Wilmington. Nathaniel wasnt too happy at first because the other families were going to swim all day, but when he seen how big the battleship was his face lit right up.

 Sarah trying to shoot the gun








Thomas and Nathaniel trying out the beds.






Daniel and the kids {the sun was in their eyes}









The rest of the week we were at the ocean or relaxing at the house.

 Hattie enjoying the water in the tide pool.
 My boys on a treasure hunt.


Me and the kids, saying goodbye =)

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