Blessings

Here are two of my sweet girls.
Oh, how my heart is full of love and hope for them.
I thank the Lord for the gift of being their mother.
Lord, grant me wisdom in being their mom,
help me to make the right decisions - rooted and grounded in love.

YaYa the Bean

This is our delightful 2 year old who makes us crazy! But oh how she lights up our lives.

I just look at her and smile.
She is a bundle of happiness.
And SO CUTE too!

Love the View

My yard. I love how peaceful it is here.
Funny, when we moved in the trees were so small. Most of them we planted ourselves. All the pines were planted as bareroot stock.
We still don't have any squirrels though, maybe because we don't have oaks.

Chore Charts

I have been looking at a few different chore charts and thought I would share my findings with you.

From PaintedGold.com
Tons of printable charts at ChartJungle, like homework charts, daily schedule, housework, printable games and more.
Print out custom charts at DLTK.

We have discovered that changing things up every now and then helps with motivation.  The cute chart that worked a few months ago may have to be revamped or something else take its place.  Maybe your incentive program needs tweaking?

CoCo's Photos

CoCo's Photos




Co-Co is experimenting with the camera and trying out some creative stuff with the camera and Photshop. Here is some of his work.
Look closely. Can you guess what it is?
It is the Big Dipper.
He set the shutter speed slower and mounted it on a tri-pod.

Here is another one with the shutter speed even slower.

Learn about Minnesota

Minnesota Unit Study
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/unitssubjgeog/a/susmn.htm

Minnesota Historical Society
http://www.mnhs.org/index.htm

Explore Minnesota
http://www.exploreminnesota.com

Minnesota Zoo
http://www.mnzoo.com/

Como Zoo
http://www.comozooconservatory.org/

A Taste of Minnesota
http://www.tasteofmn.org/

The Walker Art Center
http://www.walkerart.org/index.wac

Information and Lesson Plans About Minnesota
http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edmin.htm

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
http://www.thespco.org/page.cfm?id=1

The Guthrie Theater
http://www.guthrietheater.org/

Valleyfair
http://www.valleyfair.com/

Minnesota State Fair
http://www.mnstatefair.org/

Minnesota State Capitol
http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/msc/

The Homeschool Buyer Co-op is a free homeschooling organization for both new and veteran homeschoolers.  Co-op membership is free and confidential, and entitles homeschooling families to GroupBuy discounts on high-quality curriculum.  On the site you'll find lots of free information, such as databases of free curriculum, field trips, and educational contests and scholarships. Highly recommended. 
I have enjoyed trying new curriculum this way and often the group price is discounted enough to truly make it worthwhile.  Additionally, there are trials so you can try before you commit.
I do appreciate the reviews from parents who have tried the product.
One of my favorite perks are the Homeschool ID cards.  I have been able to use these cards to get retailer discounts and for my son who needed a student ID at a testing center.
Click here for more information.

Airmail!

We got a very scrumptious delivery all the way from across the pond!
My friend sent us a variety of British treats, including Turkish Delight. In one of our favorite books, Chronicles of Narnia, a boy betrays his brother and sisters for some Turkish Delight. We would like to know what kind it was because this tasted much different than the Turkish Delight that we tried at our homeschool group. Nicho said that had come from Turkey.
I loved the Treacle Toffee! MMMM.

Our Honeybees Lapbook

 We created this lapbook after a field trip to a bee farm.  After the field trip we spent some time learning about bees.  We were able to buy some different flavors of honey and then compare the taste.  Buckwheat honey was the hands-down favorite of my 3 sons.  I liked the orange blossom and daughter liked the clover.