Kingdom Arrows

2013-10-05T12:44:00.002-04:00

2013-10-05T11:49:00.000-04:00

2012-01-07T17:28:00.000-05:00

Anxiety and other 'A' Things- AKA Fruit Basket Turnover

2012-01-07T10:51:00.000-05:00

How often we think we have everything under control and God, in His mercy, continues to redirect and mold our life. He redirects in a way that is really answer to prayer, but not how one is expecting.

That would be life at our house this week.

We took Joy-Bug to public school in order to enroll her. See this post for background. She was tested and came out below average for second grade. You need to know she has been in third grade this year. I knew she had learning issues, but this was somewhat confirming and somewhat saddening. The principle wanted her to be in second grade. But, after his explaining all the third grade pressure that would be on Joy-Bug next year (as in not passing a test would make her have to retake third grade), we knew we needed to regroup. We can not have her two years behind her peers.

So, we came back and called the local Christian school. You'll remember that we really liked it, but felt it would be too challenging for Joy-Bug. Well, they met with us and put her in second grade- ADHD, anxiety and all. She has two teachers and only SIX students in that class. There is also pull-out tutoring for her to get her up to snuff. And, to top it off, they gave me a coupon for half off tuition this spring! So, God is obviously in that! Joy-Bug brought her first folder home last night and had FIVE WORKSHEETS COMPLETED. Dan and I cried tears of joy!

In the meantime, we were still not happy with the plan or lack of plan, for Kae-Kae and her completion of eighth grade and impending high school in eight months. We have prayed diligently for three weeks and in the middle of the night, God gave us the answer. We enrolled her in Morning Star Academy- an online school. This means she will graduate from their school and be able to circumvent the state requirements for where we live. They have a non-college track which just means she has to have Algebra I and Geometry, and NO FOREIGN LANGUAGE. Kae-Kae tested and was below grade level on everything. Even though this program is online, I know it is going to take me sitting knee-to-knee with her, which means we have to have a plan for my other two children.

Sooooo, we put them in Christian school, too. About two weeks before Christmas break, Gracie-Girl stopped touching paper. Yep! That is right. Which means, she will not cut, paste, color, handwrite, etc. This is just too much for me to manage- child number three as special needs. So, even though she was in homeschool as a first grader, she also tested low and will begin Kindergarten on Monday.

So, now that the fruit basket is turned over, I have a 7th, 2nd and Kindergartener. Little Guy is the only one on grade level, which is K4. We are also paying private school tuition for FOUR children. And, I am only kind of a homeschooler- I will be helping Kae-Kae all day. Little Guy will only be going to school for 2 days a week, but you can't really homeschool a four year old. We will just play soccer and wiffle ball!

So, I am hanging up my hat as Homeschooling Heather for a while. Maybe to return at another time, or ready for whatever new adventure the Lord brings, as Kae-Kae gets to where she can do more and more of her own school-work during the next six years.

Thanks for listening-
Heather

Anxiety and other 'A' Things

2011-12-21T11:59:00.000-05:00

Hellooooooo-

Yes, Kingdom Arrows is still alive and not so well. But, we are here and I am making an update. You will see in this post why we have dropped off the face of the blogosphere.

Anxiety
Both Kae-Kae, almost 14 and Joy-Bug, 8 yo, have been fighting this fall with their anxiety. Many times the anxiety has won out, but we have persevered. Kae-Kae has made an A-plus at her 2 day a week school, in spite of her increased anxiety. But, it has been at the expense of everything else in her life- chores, music, friends, sleep, etc. So, we are planning on making the step of reducing her class sehcuelde to 2 days a month. This allows her to return to weekly counseling, ramp up Math and Science to the 8th grade level and have some rest. She will be stopping piano/composing and may be beginning the flute choir- if we can work through the panic attacks she has when she practices the flute! Hopefully increasing her meds last week and counseling will also help with that.

Joy-Bug had about 2 pretty good weeks this entire fall. By pretty good, I mean she was able to do her 4 subjects with serious modifications. Like, spelling five words out loud while she walked in a circle, playing violin for 5 minutes, doing math for 10 minutes and reading a 2 paragraph story and answering 5 reading comprehension questions. The rest of the fall has been a marathon of never ending whining, crying, and computer games for her.

But, overall, she has not done anything this fall but advance to second level Green Belt in Taekwondo. And, we are SO HAPPY for Taekwondo! Joy-Bug is at the max of her anxiety meds she can take. She can not continue in such a compromised state and our family can not take the pressure and stress she puts on us.

Which leads me to the other 'A' Topics.

ADHD and ADD.

Yep- our new psychiatrist feels that Joy-bug has ADHD. Wow! I am so glad someone could figure out a gigantic piece of our puzzle. She answered YES to every single ADHD question (oh, so did Dan and I). I could write pages of specifically how this plays out in Joy-Bug, but I am sure you don't want all the sordid details. But, this leads me to our gigantic ANNOUNCEMENT.

Joy-Bug will be beginning public school in January.

Whew- I said it! I know many of my readers will not believe that God could lead a Christian family to public school, but He is leading us to put Joy-Bug in. We always thought if she went to school, it would be the Christian school, but they use mostly homeschool curriculum that she can not do and keep up with. It is so small that she would struggle with being in two grades together, always feeling behind the fourth graders. Since it so small, it is more individualized like homeschooling, which she is NOT doing well with. After increasing her meds as much as possible and being in weekly counseling all fall, and doing modifications at home, we can not take her any farther. We need to broaden our team that is helping Joy-Bug to health and wellness. The psychiatrist, counselor and us are not enough, so we are now including school for a semester to see what happens. Oh, and for the record, I have been very pleased with all my interactions with our public school. They have not despised me for having homeschooled and have been very supportive.

Now, we have learned that Kae-Kae has ADD. I kept telling all of the therapists when she was in third grade that she had ADD, but they wanted to label her with all sort of other problems- CAPD, SID, VT, etc. The big puzzle piece seems to be ADD, and that may have led to the anxiety and mental breakdown! Kae-Kae's additional counseling this spring will be helping her develop more ADD coping mechanisms and helping her with her panic attacks- which she thought was asthma all fall. She answered over 90% of the ADD questions as a yes and is very excited to know that there is something somewhat fixable for her. I could list a mile of issues about how this shows up, but the most consistently obvious is the fact that she can not remember to do one thing for longer than one minute. Literally. Like every night and morning we tell her to immediately go brush her teeth, and she immediately forgets- every time. And she will be 14 in a month. She does not even notice when she goes FOUR days without brushing. This is not normal. And the 1-2 hours to do 15 math problems EVERY DAY. I could go on....

Anyway, that is what has been happening here. Joy-Bug has taken every free brain cell that Dan and I have. That is why we have that deer in the headlights look ALL THE TIME.

But, God has been faithfully helping us navigate in His time and with His provision. We made it to Christmas. We made it to the end of year 2 of the worst years of our lives. He is still God and we are still His children.

Amen.

Heather

October Tweet and See

2011-11-09T16:07:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Kingdom Arrows and the October bird list for our family. This is a meme I have been hosting for a year.

As you can tell, I have stopped posting very often, however I am honored to be nominated for Best Nature Blog. I actually had to have someone email me and tell me that, I am not being a good blog reader right now either! I do feel like all my nature ideas have come from Barb at the Handbook of Nature Study, so I would REALLY suggest you vote for her. She is my nature hero!

Please feel free to keep up with your own list and you can linky here. Normally I post the last day of the month, but chaos has reigned freely around here the last few months.

Here is our list:

American Kestrel
Killdeer
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
American Crow
Bluebird
American Coots
Canada Geese
Double Crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Carolina Chickadee

Heather

September Tweet and See

2011-10-14T08:04:00.001-04:00

Whew, I have never posted Tweet and See on the 15th of the month.

But, I promise, I am not a slacker," (said in the most whiney voice).

Name that movie!

Anyway, I am motivated to post since Homeschool Dawn and fam are on their way to our house for Fall Break! And, they are coming even though the Sandhill Cranes have not come for the winter. What great friends they are. Of course, being that we are here at the "Scenic City," there are plenty of other tourist things to do.

So here is my list:

mourning dove
house finch
bluebird
cardinal
chipping sparrow
american crow
carolina wren
american goldfinch
brown-headed nuthatch
white breasted nuthatch
song sparrow
eastern peewee
ruby throated hummingbird
brown thrasher
robin
mockingbird
killdeer
turkey vulture
black vulture
american kestrel
red tailed hawk
osprey

Heather

Canada Goose Outdoor Challenge

2011-09-18T10:33:00.000-04:00

This week we studied Canada Geese. In the Handbook of Nature study (pg 130-135), there are some great stories about geese. I had no idea they were smarter than dogs!

Joy-Bug with a feather. Notice the geese in a row.

I have to say that the most exciting thing about our study this week is this:

Joy-Bug completed this entire sheet by herself. This is monumental since she quit writing all but her name in March. She is struggling with a Panic Disorder. We have been working on getting her meds straight since June and she has been in counseling since May. Even with all this hard work, she has not been up for much school, even read alouds were too much for her for several months. For the last month she has been writing only one sentence a day for copywork, and has not done anything on her own.

So, while I was helping Gracie Girl with her Venn diagram comparing Canada Geese and Ducks, Emmalyn produced her masterpiece. She has lost most of her skill in handwriting and spelling, but we have 9 more years to work on that:) This week she had the two BEST days she has had in about 10 months, and she has eaten at every single meal!

I think doing the Nature Journal took the "school" pressure off and made it easier for Joy-Bug to feel she could write. Also, she loves nature and it is always easier to write about something you love. So, in case you were on the fence about nature study, here is one more reason to begin!

Gracie-Girl's Venn diagram

We compared geese tails with duck tails.

Are you enjoying any fall Nature moments? Click over to Barb's Blog to see more goodies!

Heather

Autumn Outdoor Hour Challenge

2011-09-13T14:34:00.000-04:00

Just in case you thought your eyes were playing tricks on you, it really is Kingdom Arrows writing a post in the MIDDLE OF THE MONTH.

I know...

it has not happened in seasons....

and since seasonal change is what I am writing about here, it is thematic!

We began Barb's Autumn Outdoor Challenge and we are SO EXCITED! Fall is our fav time around here, so it was easy to get started again.

We chose to study weeds. I emailed and Facebooked every local person I knew trying to find some milkweed to study, but it was a no go. Apparently, milkweed is not really a native plant here in the Tennessee River Valley. So we chose to do a weed study in our yard. One thing I found about weeds, is that out here in the country, we call them FLOWERS.

We idenitfied something called Tickweed Sunflowers. They are small compared to a real sunflower, but are very happy flowers. They are called Tickweed, since in the middle the tips of the stamins look like little seed ticks all over them.

We also found Honewort, which sounds like something from Middle Earth, but it was really here in our yard. It is my new favorite weed. The white flowers are about 1/8 inch wide and the entire plant can grow up to your knees.

Here are the littles pretending to be in a jungle of weeds.

Heather

August Tweet and See

2011-09-01T09:39:00.002-04:00

Wow, Tweet and See has had a hard month!

Our area of the country is in a severe drought. We had the least amount of rain in August that has ever been recorded in a month in our area.

I think the birds have left for greener pastures and better water. My birdbath actually evaporates before it even has a chance to grow algae in it!

Here is my microscopic list for this month. BUT, I want you to know that I just purchased more black oil sunflowers and have readjusted both of my feeding stations this morning in an effort to woo some birds back. As we are entering September, some of our birds will be beginning their migratory flight, and we are waiting for our Sandhill Cranes to be arriving within the next SIX WEEKS!

Barn swallow
Mockingbird
Carolina Chickadee
Bluebird
Northern Cardinal
House finch
Tufted Titmouse
Blue Jay
Mourning Dove
Rock Dove
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Red-Headed Woodpecker*

My red-headed woodpecker is a life bird!!! And I will tell you, the pictures do not do them justice!

How has your bird watching been this month?

Heather

July Tweet and See

2011-08-02T15:03:00.000-04:00

As is obvious, I am taking a seriously long blog hiatus. Life has other demands I need to focus on, such as the second of my children developing a panic disorder. But, I did want to let you know a little of what is still going on around here, and list my Tweet and See!

As for books I have been reading:

The Importance of Being Earnest- absolutely hysterical and a quick read
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- an honest look at total depravity
Ben- Hur- another LONG book, but very quick moving and a very real look at Rome's occupation of Israel.
The Pursuit of God

Reading aloud to my kids:

Dr. Doolittle
American Stories, Vol 3
Five Little Peppers Midway
Swiss Family Robinson- a book worth wading through to get to the end. It took us THREE months to finish:)

As for art:

We have finished Drawing with Children- but the meme's are still open and anyone can participate. I will begin using a book called You Can Paint Pastels, to teach my kids more about this medium this week. Oil pastels are their favorites!!

Now for Tweet and See, July 2011

Bobwhite
Bluebird
American Robin
American Crow
Cardinal
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
Red Shouldered Hawk
Ruby Throated Hummingbird
Great Blue Heron
Kingbird
Killdeer
Hermit Thrush
Canada Geese
Downy Woodpecker
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Brown Headed Nuthatch
White Breasted Nuthatch
Tufted Titmouse
Hairy Woodpecker *
Common Yellowthroat *
Louisiana Waterthrush*
Yellow Warbler *

The most exciting thing happened this month, Homeschool Dawn and I got to go birding for a few hours, and we were chauffered by our friend Amy. We three had a girl's weekend, and we visited the local Nature Center. Three of the four new birds for my Life List this month came from Dawn's awesome birding auditory skills. She even got the Common Yellowthroat to answer to our Identiflyer. I hope to do that again REALLY SOON!!

So, how was your birding month??

Heather

Tweet and See

2011-06-30T18:40:00.000-04:00

Tweet and See for June was AWESOME for Kingdom Arrows. I added FIVE birds to our Life List!!!

Add your list to our meme and post it on your blog!

Here is the list:

Cedar Waxwing *
Amercian Crow
Killdeer
American Robin
Indigo Bunting *
Eastern Towhee
Canada Goose
Mallard
Blue bird
American Goldfinch
Morning Dove
Rock Dove
Mockingbird
Grackle
Cowbird
Eastern Kingbird *
Wood Thrush *
American Robin
Eastern Pee Wee
Song Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Pileated Woodpecker
Barn Swallow
Osprey
Wild Turkey
Great Blue Heron
Carolina Wren
Blue Jay
Cardinal
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker *
Bobwhite
Chuck Wills Widow

Here is my photo for the month:

Here are several American Goldfinches playing in a puddle in the middle of a road. They were so cute hopping around!

Heather

Drawing with Children, Lesson 5, Chalk Pastels

2011-06-29T11:06:00.000-04:00

This week we used Chalk Pastels as our choice of mediums from Chapter 5. We are a week behind, but I could not fit in DwC because of Drama Camp and VBS.

I was able to get a set of Chalk Pastels for less than $5.00 at Walmart, and they met our need. I did buy the really nice Pastel Paper, and it was fun choosing different background colors. I would recommend it if you can afford it.

We moved away from Nature drawing this week, and the girls all made still life pictures, and Joy-Bug did her own thing, as per her anxiety level. Barb on her Squidoo site, has a great video on using chalk pastels. They blend, layer and are very forgiving.

Gracie Girl's Christmas Still Life. She added some fruit and veggies from the fridge.

Kae-Kae's china doll, Emily and her straw hat.

Joy-Bug's Chicken Coop at night.

The good news is, if your child colors the entire page black, the pastels do wash out of clothes and off tables!

What have you been doing in your Drawing with Children? You can link up and show us where you are in the book. These meme's don't have closed dates, so they are open forever, and whenever you chose to hop in, you can! I have had some people say they are considering participating in the fall. I will be moving forward with some different art options then, but the Meme's and comments will continue to be open.

Heather

Drawing with Children, Lesson 5, Colored Pencils

2011-06-15T11:30:00.000-04:00

This week we were to practice using Colored Pencils for drawing nature. My kids decided to bring nature inside and draw. Right now they are on a flower kick, I think I need to take them somewhere else to practice drawing other items.

During our nature time we are practicing drawing birds, Killdeer this past week.

Now the special treat this week is the kids did not have to use these...

I let them use these....

My special Prismacolor pencils, which ROCK.

Two of my daughters wanted to practice with my watercolor pencils. To use them, just color as normal like a colored pencil, then get water on a paintbrush and do a wash over what you drew. They are a fun change of pace and still easy to stick in a backpack.

13 year old

So, what did your family do this week with Drawing with Children? Link up with the Linky at the bottom and let us all know how you are progressing. Did you enjoy colored pencils?

Next week we will be doing chaulk pastels. I found a cheap set at Walmart for less than $5.00!

Heather

Foto Friday

2011-06-10T12:46:00.000-04:00

Well, I can't imagine anyone really liking this challenge of a

SELF-PORTRAIT.

Click here to see more Foto Friday.

Heather

Killdeer Nature Study, OHC

2011-06-09T08:06:00.000-04:00

We are doing Animals and Their Worlds by Winterpromise, so I combined our OHC walk with it. We are studying Woods. We had to shake a branch and draw what fell off of it.

The bird we chose to study is the Killdeer. It is not in our yard, but in our neighborhood. Everytime we take a walk, we hear him yelling at us and walking around acting like his wing is broken. The girls loved watching him.

In Barb's June newsletter, I printed off the Bird Study Grid and we tried to see who would win Tic-Tac-Toe first on their grid. They really loved it. In fact I just wanted them to do one thing from each box, they wanted to all the things in each box!

One of their tasks was to tally birds at the feeder.

They saw their first Ruby Throated Hummingbird for the summer this way.

Joy-Bug's Journal page

Gracie-Girl's page

Heather

Don't forget to work on your Tweet and See for June. Just keep a list of all the birds you see this month, write a post and link up here on the last day of the month.

Drawing with Children, Lesson 5, Drawing Pencils

2011-06-08T09:22:00.000-04:00

This week we used drawing pencils. In the book Drawing with Children, she explained all the different codes for pencils- HB, B, 2, #5, etc. This was very interesting to learn.

We were to work on shading and layering using the different types of pencils. Barb's squidoo page also explains this.

Only my 13 year old really liked this medium. But, I have committed to drawing one thing in my nature journal this week using only pencils. The pencil drawing I did, was not well suited to shading. Another great thing to note, is that if you have 4-6 pencils, they are lightweight for carrying on a hike and still great for capturing what you see.

My family really is into color, so the pencils were a stretch for them.

Here is a little stuffed Eagle Kae-Kae drew.

Here is the original. See how he lists to the side?

Here are flowers in a vase. Joy-Bug wanted to make sure we knew the light source!

Heather

All this week is the Great Reveal Blog Hop, hosted by Kingdom Arrows and Olive Plants. Write up your plans for the new year and link over here with the linky and hop! Olive Plants has an awesome giveaway this week and I WANT TO WIN!!!

Ticonderoga Pencil Review-Really!

2011-06-07T07:27:00.000-04:00

Susan from Learning all the Time has a fun Meme called Favorite Resource of the Week. I was so inspired by some new pencils I started buying in March that I could not wait to participate.

And then March, April and May happened.

Remember... blog hiatus.

Anyway, here they are. I buy mine at Staples but Amazon has them too! For cheaper!!

I pay $2.99 a box at Staples and pay tax. Amazon has them for $2.49 for 12 pencils, with FREE SHIPPING.

These pencils have three sides, so it makes it much more natural to hold the pencil in a "normal" pencil-hold. Even my 13 year old prefers these pencils, since she has always struggled with a proper pencil hold. They are three sided, but sharpen in a regular pencil sharpener. The other important detail is these are such smooth writers. Now, I am one of those people who uses free pencils, or gets free CVS pencil boxes when I buy other things. Not any more. I throw out any pencil that is not the Ticonderoga brand. We actually used these pencils for some of our Drawing with Children pencil drawings because they are so smooth. AND THEY DON'T BREAK!

I am still trying to convince my 13 year old of the importance of a good pencil hold. I know from experience that it slows you down in notetaking and makes your wrist hurt if you don't hold your pencil correctly.

If you are a mom of young ones, they have the "fat" pencils, called "My First Tri-Write" pencils. Amazon only has them in a 36 pack, but I am not kidding, I have already bought 36 of the others. Pencils vanish like shoes and socks at my house!

Heather

Don't forget about the Great Reveal Blog Hop that Kingdom Arrows and Olive Plants are sponsoring this week. Blog about your upcoming year and hop on over here.

2011-2012 Homeschool Grand Reveal

2011-06-06T07:53:00.000-04:00

I know you have been waiting with baited breath to see what Kingdom Arrows has put together for our 2011-2012 school year! OK, maybe not. But, I have! Here it is. Of course, you know that a list like this does not come together without much prayer, research, consulting friends, speaking with curriculum writers, etc. This process of planning my school year usually takes about 2 months.

*GASP*

But, for me, and other moms who shall remain nameless, it is almost a hobby, and an enjoyable way of life. It is also one of the many reasons I wanted to homeschool. I know there are certain curriculums whose goal is being able to "open and shoot." And, I wanted you to hear it from me, that is GREAT. I am thankful those Christian writers and developers are out there. Many people don't want to pull it all together, or they have more than four children, or they need to work part-time while they homeschool, or they are a single mom, etc. So, these companies are meeting a valuable need in our homeschool community.

But, here are the plans for Kingdom Arrows.

Kae-Kae, grade 8, 13 years old

Sonlight, core 200- Church History and Literature. This is OUR FIRST HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT!! Under our umbrella school, we can count this as high school world history. Sonlight has a weak writing component, but Kae-Kae is so strong in writing, since doing IEW for six years, we will just be doing some additional assignments.
Latin Alive, Book A- OUR SECOND HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT! I tried teaching the first lesson and threw in the towel. I bought the DVDs, and that was a good plan.
Singapore Math- Lord willing, books 4A-6B, over the next 15 months. Remember, we have had a crash course in math this year, leaping from second grade Math-U-See up to Saxon 7/6. Thanks to Dawn, as I was thinking about starting pre-alegebra this fall, I decided to schlep over to the Singapore website and see what in the world was such a big deal about this curriculum. Well, (hanging head), I realized that being one-third of the way through Saxon 7/6 got us to the end of Singapore 3B. Yep! Those Asian countries are serious about their math. So, we are doing a double tap year to plow through all this math and get Kae-Kae ready for Algebra next fall. Oh, I and I will let you in on a secret- it is going to be Video-Text Algebra. Go check it out, it may change your life.
Rainbow Science-finish year one and do as much of year two as we get to before high school science. This is a well-written course, and is stretching Kae-kae more than any other science course I have seen. She reads it and usually can't answer the questions, so I skim it and we talk through it. The whole first semester is physics, which is an entirely new area for her. Also, the teacher's guide is thorough and I recommend it. This is written to be a seventh and eighth grade curriculum, and I believe it.
Continue working through Phonetic Zoo- A
Extras- The Thinking Toolbox, Analogies 1 and 2, 4-H, nature journaling, weekly art lessons
Continue with flute, piano, and begin ballet again. Kae-kae earned one of two partial flute scholarships for the fall at the college where she takes lessons!

Joy-Bug, grade 3, 8 years old

Josuha through Malachi and Ancient Greece, from Simply Charlotte Mason
Right Start Math, level D
Institute for Excellence in Writing- starting her on the Unit 1 and 2, Key word outlines, etc.
All About Spelling, finish level 2, go to level 3. I am now an affiliate, so click through on my side-bar to purchase it and I make a little egg money.
Animals and Their Worlds and other nature journaling, weekly art lessons
Speedy Spanish
Pinao, Ballet, 4-H

Gracie-Girl, grade 1, 6 years old

Josuha through Malachi and Ancient Greece, from Simply Charlotte Mason
Right Start Math, Level B
All about Spelling, finish level 2
Animals and Their Worlds and nature journaling
Speedy Spanish
Ballet, 4-H

Little Guy- 4 years old

Animals and their Worlds and Nature Journaling
Whatever his big sisters do!
Soccer

Share your post with our Great Reveal Blog Hop all this week! This blog hop is co-hosted by Olive Plants. She has a fun giveaway this week, too. You do not have to have a blog post to participate!

Heather

Photo Meme and More!

2011-06-03T08:25:00.002-04:00

For A LONG TIME, I have wanted to participate in Renaissance photo meme, but just can't consistently get my act together. In fact, you'll notice I have not been blogging consistently since March.

But, TODAY IS THE DAY!

The topic was WIND.

Taken at Yorktown, VA.

Click here to see other photos in her Meme.

I also participate in the ABSee Meme, or at least I did before my blog break of 2 months, so this is what I sent in...

S is for Swords at the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg.

Oh, and here is a new look for me...

My kids love the purple wrap around my toe.

I actually broke this 2 days before I went to Williamsburg, but who has time to go to the doctor 2 days before vacation with 6 children that is 12 hours away? One great quote I learned from my doctor, "No one ever breaks their toe glamorously."

That is true. Leave a comment telling how you think I broke my toe!

Remember next week is the Great Reveal Blog Hop that Homeschool Dawn and I are hosting. Read here to see more about it. Just write a post at your blog about your curriculum for the next year and click back here and link for our Blog Hop!!

Heather

Drawing with Children, Lesson 5, Oil Pastels

2011-06-01T11:17:00.001-04:00

For this lesson I had told you we were going to be using chaulk pastels. Well, due to the fact that I did not drag out my supplies until last night, I found we only have Oil Pastels. Seeing that we live 45 minutes from Hobby Lobby, I will have to plan ahead on that one.

So, we are trading chaulk pastels with oil pastels. This means we will do Chaulk Pastels on June 22. Make sure to check out Barb's Squidoo page on Drawing with Children!!!

If you already did oil pastels, link anyway! Remember this is a come and go meme, and even if your fearless leader has some foibles, it will be OK!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Barb's youtube for using oil pastels. So, for our warm-up, we just used what she recommended. We used hairspray as a fixative, but do plan on buying some fixative.

Here is Joy-Bug's warm ups.

We went outside and took a nature walk specifically looking for things we could draw with our very awesome oil pastels.

Kae-Kae's Dandelions. She has decided this is her favorite medium.

Joy-Bugs landscape scene. They LOVED blending.

Gracie Girl drew a wildflower arrangement. Notice her red spot on the Queen Anne's Lace.

This pastels book is what Barb suggests for further study and I can promise it is on my bookbuying list!

Heather

PS: Kingdom Arrows and Olive Plants is sponsoring a Great Reveal of all our curriculum for the next schoolyear. Write a post and link up with our blog hop next week, starting on June 6! Click here to read about it. As usual, I am having trouble getting the widget to post here:)

Tweet and See, May 2011

2011-05-30T20:10:00.002-04:00

Wow! This was a crazy month, and I wonder how many of you were able to keep up with your bird list! I am adding a new component to Tweet and See, thanks to Angie at Pebblekeeper. If you would like, you can add your Favorite Bird Happening or Bird Scene picture for the month. Here are mine for the month.

Here is the list we saw in May where I live:
A * represents the first time on our list.

House Finch
Eastern Pee Wee *
Carolina Wren
Bob White *
Osprey
Cardinal
Grackle
Amercian Crow
Mockingbird
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Bluebird
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Killdeer
Red Shouldered Hawk
Mallard
Muscovy
Canada Goose
Carolina Chickadee
Brown Thrasher *
Starling
Downy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Brown-headed cowbird
Catbird
American Robin
Peacock
Red winged Blackbird

Here is the list from our tirp to Williamsburg and the Outer Banks. I really was surpirsed at some of the common birds, even though we were 12 hours away and in a completely different habitat. Some of the same birds were the Mockingbird, Crow, Robin, Catbird and Cowbird.

Birds in the Outer Banks:

Brown Pelican *
Laughing Gull *
Herring Gull *
Rock Dove
Sanderling *
Double Crested Cormorant *
Ring Billed Gull
Purple Martin
Great Egret
Boat Tailed Grackle *
Fish Crow *
Foster's Tern *
Snowy Egret *
Black-Capped Chickadee (not a Carolina)*

Birds in the Williamsburg area:

Blue Jay
Barn Swallow *
Royal Tern *
House Sparrow
Immature Female Dickcissel* (any other ideas, this even has stumped Dawn)

What do you think? Is this a mystery bird?

Heather

PS- June 6 Kingdom Arrows and Olive Plants are co-hosting a Blog Hop, the Great Reveal. Read here for info on how to participate. I can't wait to read what everyone's curriculum plans are for the next school year!

Vacation 2011 and BLOG HOP

2011-05-25T08:07:00.001-04:00

Read here to see the Blog Hop that we (Olive Plants) and I are hosting on the week of June 6.

My favorite vacation pictures from yesterday included none of my children. They were all quite droopy due to the heat, 92 degrees and exhaustion. We just spent about 2 hours of yesterday at Williamsburg, and most of that time was in the William and Mary bookstore eating Strawberry-Lemonade Icees. We actually divided and conquered, my 2 shoppers-girls 2 & 3 and I went shopping. Wait until you see the cool gadgets I bought to make flower arrangements from candlesticks!! But, that post may not come until Christmas.....

Kae-Kae, Joy-Bug and I went to the Governor's Palace for a Candlelit Chamber Music Concert. It included the violin, cello, harpsichord and soprano soloist. Joy- Bug still recognized that the 'E' was out of tune, so it seems to me that this hiatus from the violin may just be for a short while. Once her anxiety is dealt with, I think she will go back to it.

Heather

Vacation 2011 and BLOG HOP

2011-05-24T07:47:00.001-04:00

Homeschool Dawn and I LOVE planning for our new school year and I know some of my readers do too!

We decided to sponsor a "Great Reveal Blog Hop" where we can tell each other our plans for the fall. We are going to do it on Monday, June 6. Please tell others since we LOVE to read what other people are doing for the fall and steal a.k.a. adapt, others ideas. So, pull your resources together, find your links, and HOP WITH US!

On June 6, write your post and come back to Kingdom Arrows and post your link. To participate, write a post or create a page on your blog telling us all about your curricular plans for next year, 2011-2012. You can add pictures and links to products if you want. Then link in at Kingdom Arrows on Monday, June 6.

In return, we ask that you do three things:

Display our picture header in your post or post the button in your side bar. You can grab the picture from above or the button code over in my sidebar.

Link to Kingdom Arrows. If you display the button, that's already done for you!

Link to Olive Plants somewhere in your post. You can mention that I am the co-hostess if that helps.

Here are my favorite pics for the last 3 days.

This is the USS Wisconsin. We took this for Poppie, Aunt Wyndy and Aunt Pat!

We are riding in the Governor's Carriage. I will not admit to how much I paid for this 15 minute ride:)

Joy-Bug and Dad taking dancing lessons just like Felicity!

Only a tiny representative of all the weapons in the foyer for the Governor's Palace. Little Guy made sure I got his picture in front of several weapons. It is fun having a boy!

Heather

Vacation 2011

2011-05-20T20:19:00.001-04:00

Day 2 of Vacation 2011, Nags Head, NC

Favorite Pictures of the Day (there was more than one).

Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, Lots of sand dunes, lots of birds!

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Taken from the top of the lighthouse by Gracie-Girl

All the kids became Junior Rangers today at the Wright Museam and Cape Hatteras.

Heather

I want to remind you about May's Tweet and See! Just over a week to work on your bird list for the meme. Make sure if you travel this summer that you keep a special travel list! All you do is write a post about all the birds you have seen or heard this month, and link over here at Kingdom Arrows.