A Dancing Girl

This morning, during our devotional time, we were reading in Proverbs 19.  As we go through the reading, I give the children each a turn to talk about a couple of the verses each morning.  When we got to verse 21, it was Sissi's turn to "talk about what that means to you."

Here is verse 21... "Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand."

Here is what she said... "It means that I can have all kinds of plans for what I'm going to do with my life, but I need to listen to what God wants me to be."

Wow, good job girl!

So, I said to her, "Well, what kinds of plans do you have in your heart?"

She told us that she wants to be a dancer, but she's not sure that God will let her be one because there are no regular dance classes here for her to take.  I asked her, "What do you think God would have you do?  Why do you want to be a dancer...is it for Him?  Do you remember Proverbs 16:2-3?"

Sissi, "Oh yes, God knows our motives and wants us to commit our plans to Him so that He can establish them.  It's also like our Hebrews 4:12 verse, isn't it....the Word of God, Jesus, knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart!"

Well, Yes!  Yes, He does!  He knows why we want to do, what we want to do.

So, then I asked her how she could commit her future dancing to God.  She told us that she'd like to travel all over the world and give dance classes to people that wouldn't normally be able to take dance.  This way they could dance for God when they sing to him, and if they didn't know about Him, she would tell them all about Jesus.

So, I'm wondering if I have another future m*ss*onary on my hands.  Guess we'll be signing her up for those dance classes as soon as we get settled this fall.  She's got a plan, she's committing it to Him, and we're going to claim Psalm 37:5 as well, "Commit your way to the Lord, trust Him and He will do it."

Wrap Up of the Civil War and....

I wasn't really sure what to name this post.  There are pictures in here of all kinds of things from this school week.  I'm tired though, glad it's Friday and that I've got a bit of time to recuperate before I have to move on to planning a few more weeks of school.

Sissi was already dressed and ready for her dance class at breakfast time.  Here she is working on her Explode the Code, Book 1.

Gwangi, on his last lesson in Beta of the Math U See series.  Yahoo!  He's moving into Gamma and all things multiplication on Monday.

We're just 4 lessons way from the end of Epsilon for Krypto, he's already planning his Glo Stick party as well.

Gwangi with his graduation certificate and his new math book.

Sissi with her adoption certificate that I created and we both signed.

Since I made certificates for the younger two, I just had to make something for my oldest...he was thrilled, a "love note" he called it.

We wrapped up our 3 week mini-unit on the Civil War this week.  I had them each do a 4 quadrant review of things they remembered from our discussions and readings.  Sissi drew Ft. Sumter, soldiers marching, Lincoln giving his Gettysburg Address, and how people lived on farms.

Gwangi drew a picture with a brother turning against his brother (we read "Across Five Aprils" as our read aloud these past 3 weeks,) a battle scene from Gettysburg, a picture of farm life in the North, and Lincoln's assassination.

I had all the kids do a "quiz" map at the end to see that they remembered which were Union States, which were Confederate, which were territories, and then had them double shade the 3 border states (Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland) that were Union states, but allowed slavery.

Krypto's pictures were a chart showing the causes and progression of the Civil War, the Siege at Petersburg, a map showing all the places that Lincoln had lived, and a flow chart showing how travel has changed over the years...from walking to the train :).

Tonight's congratulatory Glo Stick party!!!!

Dance Class

It might not be a regular thing in our schedule...in fact, the last time we went was in November...but, it's a dance class just the same.  Our little girl LOVES to dance and so this just brings out her expressions of pure joy.

Wearing the "jelly fish skirts" and twirling all around.

Prancing around behind the teacher.

Playing a "row, row, row your boat" game.

One of the favorite activities.

Talking about the "baby ball eggs" that they had put in the flag.

Tossing the balls all around.

My girl as a mermaid.

Her friend, Caroline.

Layla, as a dolphin.

Flowers outside of the house.

Gwangi, spending some time during the class riding one of the host children's bikes.

Making up a story about the sharks chasing the mermaids.

The two mermaids, sunbathing...before the sharks come out again.

The view of the ocean from the house's veranda.

The mermaids are dancing with the dolphins.

More dolphins running amuck.

Playing with some balloons at the end of class.

Lily is 4!

Happy, happy birthday Lily!  We were so excited and thrilled to be invited to your birthday party.  Thanks for sharing the afternoon with us.  We pray you have many, many more happy and blessed birthdays dear friend!

Sissi, all dressed up as a princess and ready to go to Lily's party with Carol.

Doing a princess curtsy before we leave the house.

Balloons, balloons, balloons!

A rousing game of "hot potato"

Cuuuuupcaaaaakes!!!!

Lighting candles on the cupcakes with Mommy!

Slightly different pose, and in sepia tones.  Classic Mommy and Daughter shot!

Birthday girl, so excited about her cupcake.

Ok, so you might get bored, because the next dozen photos are all of the same thing....VERY excited and happy children on a home made zip line.  THANK YOU Mr. Medina!

Layla on the zip line

Grace running after Sissi

A very happy birthday girl!

What a face....and yes, it's upside down, too!

Josiah got a few turns...poor guy, all by himself at a princess party...but, he was a great knight!

My girl and her silly faces.

Beautiful Gracie!

Gil helping Sissi get ready to go fast.

Ahhhh!  She had some speed going on this one!

School Fun!

This week of school has been so much more fun...it's amazing how much better things go when Mommy is more well rested and has put in some prayer and planning time.

Now, of course with a more productive week, I also took less pictures.  I guess you've got to have a toss up somewhere.  I'll try to take more next week. Especially because I know a few little someones who are looking forward to a glo stick party when Gwangi finishes up his 2nd grade math book with more then 3 months still left in the school year.  Way to go, son!

We worked through a big chunk of this coloring book over the course of our read aloud this week.  I would tear out the pages, read the caption as a review of what we had covered, and let them color it while I read a chapter in "Across Five Aprils."

We colored the Union and Confederate flags and did some mapwork to find the major battles of the middle of the Civil War.  Last week we covered the first year of the war and next week will be the wrap up of the war.  You can't see Vicksburg on here, but we labeled and discussed that battle as well.

One of the crafts we did was a soldiers haversack, and what they would have carried with them.  I got this craft from the Homeschool in the Woods - Time Traveler Civil War CD.

Also popular during the time of the Civil War was scherenschnitte....German for "scissor cutting."  You can see some amazing scherenschnitte examples by doing a Google search.

The boys, holding up their completed haversack items.

We also started a new Character Study.  I'm having them draw cartoons of examples of each of the character traits as we study them.  We have a short discussion and find a relevant Bible verse as well. This week we studied - appreciative, attentive, available, committed, and compassionate.