C.M.S. Academy

SPACE DAY 2010

2010-03-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

One of the last activities that we participated in at Roper Mountain Science Center (in addition to a great star show on winter constellations) was the presentation of Exploring Mars and the Moon in 3D! The speaker for this presentation was a NASA scientist who is also a teacher at Cornell University. He is the lead camera operator for the Mars Rover Spirit! The boys and I were so excited to hear him! We have been keeping up with the progress of the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity for a while now and to be able to listen to one of the operators for our favorite rovers was a real delight!! We even went up to talk to the presenter afterwords and asked a few questions about Spirit! I know that I sound like a total nerd for being so excited over this, but after moving to Spartanburg in such a rush and then being able to continue the boys astronomy education in such a fun, informative and exciting way, was just a great blessing to me. And not not mention, the boys loved the 3D aspect of it. We got our own 3D glasses to take home with Spirit and Opportunity's launch dates on the side!

SPACE DAY 2010

2010-03-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of the day at Roper Mountain Science Center was launching a rocket. Carter was chosen to put together the rocket, including all of the launching "stuff". He got to press the ignition switch and everything! He was so excited to do this!

Another great activity at Roper Mountain was weighing yourself on earth and comparing your weight to what you would weigh at different places in space. The boys had already participated in this activity at co-op, but this was a great reinforcement of those ideas!

SPACE DAY 2010

2010-03-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

When we lived in Spartanburg before, we really didn't have school age children. Now that we are back in Spartanburg and have children that age, we have found that Spartanburg and Greenville offer some great things for kids, if you know where to look! Saturday, March 13 was SPACE DAY 2010 at Roper Mountain Science Center. Since the boys have been studying space at our homeschool co-op (and since we will continue to study Astronomy through the end of the year), I thought this would be a great family activity. As you can see, Roper Mountain Science Center boasts an observatory, which on this day, allowed you to look at the sun. Roper Mountain Science Center has night programs called Starry Skies, where they are currently studying and observing the planet Mars!

The two budding astronauts (astronomers), ready for their voyage into learning more about space!!

OLD FORT JACKSON FIELD TRIP!

2010-03-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

The boys and I are not currently studying the Civil War (or the Northern War of Agression or the War Between the States or any other war, for that manner). However, the opportunity came up for us to attend a field trip to Old Fort Jackson in Savannah, where students would be taught from beginning to end the duties and responsibilities of a Civil War era soldier that had just arrived at Fort Jackson. The first lesson, taught by the Captain of the Regiment, was marching. In order to enter the fort, the "soldiers" had to march into the fort!
One of the next lessons that the "soldiers" were taught was how to signal the other encampments that surrounded the fort. Here, the Captain of the Regiment is teaching the students the "code" for each letter of the alphabet and how to signal using the different flags. Carter was chosen to be a signaling soldier and he was very excited to have this job!

The students were also taught about wire transmissions and communications. The Captain explained that this box would have been connected to wire and the message transmitted via wire. The Captain also explained that many of the southern "codes" transmitted via wire were easily broken.

One of the last lessons taught was Civil War Era clothing. Here, the Captain is explaining the type of hat worn by soldiers. The students also learned the types of shoes, socks, underwear, outerwear and weaponry worn by the soldiers. After the presentation, the students were invited to try on and feel the clothing. Carter and Cooper were surprised at how "rough" feeling many of the items were and said that they would rather be wearing their own clothes, if they were soldiers!

MORE SNOW 2010!

2010-03-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

Who, in the south, can have an inch or more of snow and NOT make a snowman? Not our family. The boys were intent on making a snowman and sending pictures of their snowman to everyone they know and everyone who knows them! This is the first snowman. He has a Ford Assett hat, eyes of carrots, a nose of a lego, a mouth of what I think was electrical wire and arms of sticks! Ahhh, a true southern snowman!
This is the second snowman! He has a Tim Smith Racing hat, eyes and a nose of carrots, and arms of sticks. Yet another, great snowman by the Smith boys!

SNOW 2010

2010-03-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

O.k., so snow is not educational, but it was fun for the boys, so I am posting it! We were trapped on I-95 the night it snowed in Savannah, because we were on our way to Spartanburg to celebrate Cooper's birthday. We were able to drive the next morning and luckily, there was still plenty of snow at Joyce's (Grandma's) that the boys could play in. As you can see, even Otis (the dog) got in on the fun!
Carter could not resist making a snow angel! These boys have been waiting on snow for YEARS now, so snow angels it was!!

Ah, the devilish grin that accompanies a large snowball aimed at a brother!!
Run, Forest (Carter), Run!!

TOSTONES!

2010-03-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

We have started to study La Clase Divertida, which is a spanish curriculum. As part of the curriculum, you are encouraged to make different spanish crafts and cook different spanish foods. One of our first forays into spanish cooking was tostones. These are really easy to make and really yummy. To begin, I took both boys to a mexican grocery store. We went in to buy our plaintains and the lady asked me what I was going to cook. I told her that we were making tostones as part of our spanish curriculum and then she encouraged both the boys to both say "hello" and "my name is" in spanish. They were a little embarrassed, but did so and were proud of themselves when they left! So, after we bought our plaintains and went home, the next step was to cut them into one inch slices. I was nervous, but I allowed each boy to cut his own plaintains.
After cutting the plaintains, you have to fry
them in about three tablespoons of oil until lightly browned. When lightly browned, you take the plaintains out of the oil, and "smoosh" them with the flat end of a cup. The boys delighted in this, they giggled each time they smooshed! After the smooshing process, you fry the plaintains for another few minutes or until lightly browned again!
After the plaintains are lightly browned, you take them out of the oil, place them on a paper towel to soak up the remaining oil and dust them with either salt or powdered sugar. Then you have TOSTONES!! Mmmmm . . . these were a yummy little treat and the boys loved eating them!! I have to say, now I love spanish, too!!

SHREDDING!

2010-03-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

Carter and Cooper love all things EXTREME. Anything that is (or could be) a sport on the X Games, they love it!!! For Christmas, the boys both got a pair of skates and skateboards and Carter got a ripstick. This picture is of Cooper practicing his "moves" on his skateboard! And yes, the neurotic mom makes them wear the protective pads and helmets!
Carter rocks it out on his skateboard. His "moves" are a little better than Cooper's on the board, but Cooper is beginning to hold his own!
This was an awesome trick, and he fell, but he got up and was so excited that he had jumped the board and "almost" stayed on!

HANDS ON LEARNING - LOWE'S STYLE

2009-10-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Usually, Home Depot and Lowe's are the "Dad and Kid" type trips. Mom is usually spared from these trips unless something is needed for our house in which I am needed to help make a decision about. This Lowe's trip was an exception. I have never brought the boys to a "Build It" workshop (ALONE) before. In all honesty, I was terrified!!! Two boys, hammers, nails, instructions, goggles . . . what was I thinking? As you can see, Cooper is ready for the task!!
The "make it take it" as the crafter in me likes to refer to it, was a fire truck. I must admit that I decided to take the boys to the workshop because it is educational, in a manly sort of way - and they had to read the instructions, so we can count that as reading aloud to mom, right? Ha! Just kidding! Carter is hard at work here, with his hammer and nails. I did my best to keep my OCD under control and let him hammer all the nails and place all the stickers. All I did was set the nails in place and he went with it. He did great!!
Alas, two completed projects. They received their aprons, patches and got to chat with real firemen and sit on a real fire truck. Lowe's is AWESOME! I know that you cannot tell it by the picture here, but the "cab" of Carter's fire truck is upside down. I insisted that the cab went one way and Carter (who read his directions) said to put it the other way . . . mom won the argument and was wrong. Go figure:) But, all in all, I got over my fear of doing "manly" work and I think both boys had a great day!

Do you want to go to a Lowe's "make it take it" or A Lowe's Build and Grow as they call it? Click here!

ART SCHMART!!

2009-09-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

Carter and Cooper are studying Art and Art History at our homeschool co-op this year. One of the suggested activities for extra credit was to visit an art gallery. The suggested gallery was the S.P.A.C.E. gallery, here in Savannah. An artist named Erica Rollings was having a exhibition called, "Stained Glass: Beyond The Traditional". As you can tell, it was beautiful. There were a variety of works, ranging from game boards (a favorite of the boys) and parts of
the human body to Celtic designs and zodiac symbols.
This stained glass divider showcases the zodiac symbols. During this field trip, we found out about many of the programs that the City of Savannah offered here at the S.P.A.C.E. gallery. We were so impressed that we decided to take an art class through the city called Hands On Clay for Kids.

A work of art and a work of heart!

This is the group of children (all boys in such a breakable environment . . . whew) who went to visit the gallery. All of the boys are on the GCAT Swim Team together and attend co-op together. The lady in the picture is Ms. Tiffany, an artist herself, who has planned a great deal of the co-op art study. If you look behind the boys and Ms. Tiff, you will see the beautiful stained glass gameboards that all of the boys loved!!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2009

2009-09-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2007

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2008

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2009

NEW ORLEANS 2

2009-09-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

Tony and Cooper covered in powdered sugar after eating the world famous beignets at Cafe Du Monde. This was definitely a highlight of our trip. The beignets were INCREDIBLE!! However, if you tried to eat them wearing anything black, "May Gawd ha mercy on ya!".

Another famous landmark, The St. Charles Street Car. I have to admit, I really wanted the boys to ride this street car. First of all, it is famous. Second of all, they have never ridden in a street car. However, we all found this ride to be a pain in the butt!! It was fun and I am really glad we got the experience (especially for the boys), but I think we may choose to walk or pay for the ridiculously expensive parking on our next visit!!

Here we are at the Famous Door on Bourbon Street - yes, we took the boys to Bourbon Street. It was during the day and it was not at all as bad as I had envisioned. We were in New Orleans during Gay Mardi Gras and I had a whole speach prepared on how we have to overlook some of the bad things that we see, how we should just ignore anything that we know is not appropriate, etc. Though there were some racy pictures on one of the walls, we came out unscathed by the debauchery!! As a matter of fact, the worst thing we saw was on Canal Street, when we saw a man in nothing but a pair of high top reebok's and a speedo. I thought Carter was going to fall down on the street laughing . . . luckily, he waited until the man passed to cackle!!

Cooper . . . getting his New Orleans on!!

NEW ORLEANS 1

2009-09-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

The New Orleans Superdome - it really is a site to behold. The boys were wondering why Tony and I were so amazed at the sight of it, so after our visit, we showed the boys pictures of the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that surrounded the Superdome. Then, we all began to be amazed that the places we had been in New Orleans were under water four years ago (almost to the day), from the day that we visited.
You can't come to Louisiana without having your picture made with a giant crawfish, right?
Ahhh, giant multi - colored jesters . . . truly New Orleans!!
I could not resist . . . I have been dreaming of going to Mardi Gras since before we even thought about children. We were so close (only 5 months away:)). As you all know, I love a good party and great revelry and I would LOVE Mardi Gras!! This is why you are looking at the sign . . . just a piece of what I covet!!

AUDUBON ZOO - NEW ORLEANS

2009-09-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

Our day in New Orleans, at the Audubon Zoo started out pretty soggy, but we did not let it dampen our spirits! Spirits, you say . . .this zoo, in addition to being totally awesome, is the only zoo that I have ever been to that serves daiquiri's at several locations throughout the zoo and at all the eateries in the zoo!! Amazing!!
I digress, here is 3/4 of our family beginning our day at the zoo!!
Cooper was feeling VERY photogenic at the zoo. I, of course, indulged him at every turn. Here he is with the albino alligator. Too cool!!
Once again, our budding model wanted to have his picture taken. The Audubon Zoo has a Komodo Dragon on site (which eats small children like Cooper) and Cooper could not resist having his picture made with the Komodo statue. The boys both thought that seeing a Komodo Dragon was totally awesome, especially since we had watched an Animal Planet special about them a few months prior to our visit here.
Audubon Zoo . . . one of the best zoo's I have been to. It is beautifully shaded, has a variety of animals, is very clean and is just great all around!! The Audubon Institute in New Orleans also has an aquarium and an insectarium. I really hope to visit both of these on our next trip.

WORLD TRAVELERS??

2009-09-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not world travelers, but we sure did some traveling in September. We began in Pensacola Beach and you can see those pictures here. We traveled over 3,000 miles and spent around 30 hours in the car. Tony, Nikki, Carter, Cooper and Joyce (mother in law). Yes, the corny blog mom made everyone take their picture in front of the state signs. Hey, it was Carter and Cooper's first trip to these states, what can I say?
Finally, Louisiana!! Family, great food, good music, fantastic zoo, New Orleans, drive thru daiquiri places, what more could we have asked for? You can see all of our Louisiana pictures here.
This shot was actually on our way back through Alabama, on our way home. We had so much fun on our car trip. The boys were really well behaved; we played a lot of car bingo, watched a few movies, played a license plate game (we got about 1/2 or more of all of the states), played a little nintendo and did a little sightseeing. It was a truly memorable trip!!

HILTON HEAD FUN!!

2009-09-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

One lazy summer afternoon, Tony had a great idea to take the boys to play Putt Putt on Hilton Head Island. He had heard that Legendary Golf had a great putt putt course, complete with sand traps, water hazards and the like and thought the boys would enjoy it. Boy, did they ever!!! Here, Tony is standing in "the rough" putting his shot!! How cool is that?

Carter, our resident Tiger Woods for the day, ended up having two HOLE IN ONE shots. Can you believe it? Here he is after his first hole in one on hole 6. Can you see the excitement?
HOLE IN ONE shot number two on hole 15. Again, can you see the excitement? Legendary Golf has "secret" holes where you can win a free game if you get a hole in one. After our game ended, we went in to ask what the "secret holes" were. They were on holes number 5 and 14 - yes, the holes before Carter's HOLE IN ONE SHOTS!! Too funny:)
Also, this course has a bible verse at each hole (added bonus). If you look to the right of Carter, you will see a passage from Romans!
Cooper totally enjoyed his day as well. No HOLE IN ONE shots, but several good shots. He was thrilled with that and so were we!!! After Legendary Golf, Tony took us to Cold Stone Creamery and, as you all know, that was Cooper's favorite part of the day!! What can I say, the boy loves food!!

SWIM TEAM AWARDS

2009-09-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Carter was really excited about his participation in the YMCA Swim Team this summer. He was also really excited about his cool coach, Coach Cooper - yeah, I know, what a name:) Anyway, Carter received his medal and was so excited about it!!
Do you see the way he is holding this medal? Priceless:)

SWIM TEAM 2009

2009-07-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

This summer was Carter's first time competing with the swim team at our local YMCA. It has been a blast for him. This picture is Carter swimming in the backstroke in the 8 and under age bracket at a recent swim meet.
This is Carter swimming the backstroke at the Coastal YMCA Championship Swim Meet. He has really worked hard on his swimming this summer. The swim team practiced every day (Monday through Thursday) and had a swim meet every Saturday during June and July. It was a hard schedule, but really paid off for Carter and his team. Our branch of the Coastal YMCA won the first place trophy for the summer swim meets. It was a really great feeling for the kids as well as the parents:)
Here Carter is swimming the breaststroke in the Coastal YMCA Championship Swim Meet. Not only did the hard practice schedule pay off in winning first place, it paid off in all of the children really learning to swim better. Carter has improved in his butterfly, breast, back and freestyle strokes. He has gained a great confidence in swimming and it is something that he really excels in. He has earned many ribbons, including several first and second place ribbons.
Carter's swim coach, Coach Cooper, promised the swim team that if they won first place at the Championship Swim Meet, the entire team could push him into the pool. As you can tell, they won. Carter is on the right of Coach Cooper - the look on his face is priceless. Carter talked about the possibility of pushing his coach into the pool during the entire week before the last meet. It was a great moment for him when he finally got to push the coach into the pool!!!

HILTON HEAD ISLAND:)

2009-07-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

O.k., so I have been out of the blogging loop for many months now. Summer has just been too much fun. I am now back into school mode (even though we don't begin school for a few more weeks), so I am going to try and begin updating the blog weekly again:) We have been many places over the summer and I was so excited about blogging about them, but alas, Carter deleted ALL of the pics on my camera. In a way, it is a blessing and a curse. A blessing as I am not behind in posting pictures, because I have no recent pics. A curse because I have no recent pics:( Anyway, I have been snapping away and here are some recents:) This pic is Tony and the boys at Hilton Head Island!!!

We have spent many weekends at Hilton Head this summer and it has been great!!! The boys are really doing great on their boogie boards. This picture is of Cooper "catching a ride"!!!
Carter has also really gotten good at his boogie boarding. He has spent countless hours at Hilton Head and at Tybee Island riding in and out on some "choice waves":)
Cooper and Tony are true sand builders at the beach. They really love building and creating. They have built everything from castles to turtles to our new dog, Otis, in the sand. And yes, for those of you asking, I build a little, but mostly spend time working on my tan:) What . . . can't mom get a break, too?

ANOTHER FIELD TRIP OF THE YEAR - TERRACOTTA ARMY!!

2009-04-08T18:43:00.000-07:00

In addition to going to see King Tut during our time in Atlanta (see previous post), we went to see the Terracotta Army of Emporer Qin. The exhibit was at the High Museum in Atlanta. Cooper did not want to come to the museum, so he stayed at Aunt Traci's with his nanney. Carter and I were really grateful to have a day together to explore. Here is an example of one of the Terra Cotta Warriors. You could not take any pictures inside the exhibit - just like King Tut - so we took as many pictures as possible before getting inside!!

The Warriors inside were much taller than this. Carter and I took the audio tour and learned that each warrior was 6 and 1/2 feet tall, not including the platform that they stand on. As you all know, I would be lucky to be 5 and 1/2 feet tall, so this cardboard example is not a good representation of the size of the "real" Warriors.

Carter was really impressed with the exhibit. He loved the audio tour. He walked around punching in the numbers on the exhibit to his audio device and listening to the tour guide. We learned through our studies at home that each Warrior had individually distinct facial features. We also learned through our studies that each Warrior had different armor and hair styles to show their rank in the Army. Carter and I were really impressed with the detail of each Warrior. Carter even said how "cool" it was to see so many of the things that we had read about!!

The story of the Terracotta Army is a very interesting one. Carter, Cooper and I studied Ancient China for history and geography and we read several books on the First Emporer and his Terracotta Army. The Magic Tree House series has a book called Day of the Dragon King that we read that tells of the Terracotta Army. If you would like more information about the Terracotta Army, you can find it here.

BEST FIELD TRIP EVER!! KING TUT!!

2009-04-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the school year, I read that the King Tutankhamun (KING TUT) exhibit was going to be at the Atlanta Civic Center until May. I knew that the boys and I were going to Atlanta to visit in April and and I decided that we would take advantage of this great opportunity while we were there!! The exhibition was great!! We were inches away from real heiroglyphics (not in glass cases) that we could have reached out and touched - if the guards would not have arrested us first. HA! There were real sarcophagus', huge statues and not to mention the gold . . . aaaaah the gold!! It was beautiful. I was in awe to be in the presence of such rich history and so thankful to be able to expose my children (and nephew) to such a once in a lifetime cultural event!!
While both the boys liked King Tut, I think Carter was much more impressed than Cooper. However, Cooper really enjoyed the "Egypt 3D" movie that we watched after visiting the exhibit. Part of the movie, Egypt 3D, shows the mummy of Ramses II or Ramses the Great. Ramses the Great is known as the Pharoah of the Exodus. Therefore, his mummy is probably the only face we will ever see from the Bible. HOW COOL!!
Overall, the trip was awesome!! I am so impressed that Carter and Cooper remembered a lot from our studies of Ancient Egypt and are still associating things we see and read to our studies and our visit to the exhibit!! BLESSED ARE WE!!

Don't they look Egyptian?

Cooper . . . walks like an Egyptian!!

Carter . . . walks like an Egyptian!!

SAVANNAH MUSIC FESTIVAL 2009

2009-04-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

Another great year at the Savannah Music Festival for the Smith Family. We are so lucky to live in such a great city with so many cultural opportunities. The following is a list of programs we went to see at the Savannah Music Festival:

1. Roger Day - We have his tapes (yes, we still use tapes) in our car and we love him!! We love his song, "Mosquito Burrito". We sang along and had a great time on this day!! We had our friends, The Sebrings, with us at the festival on this day! We have seen Roger Day four times now and he always has a great show!!

2. Max and Ruby - what a great performance. The picture of the house above is from Max and Ruby. It was so fun. It was a musical and the boys really enjoyed it!! We had our friends, The Whiteheads, with us at this performance and it was so fun!

3. Sounds Crazy: The Science of Music - WOW! What a funny show!! The two pictures above of the older gentleman with a tuxedo on were from this show. He was hilarious. He made great instruments out of things that you can find around your house. He was also full of "slapstick" comedy that mainly the adults got, but it was really enjoyable!!

4. Concert GRAND! - This performance was wonderful. The famed violinist, Daniel Hope, brought his friends, who played violin, piano, viola and clarinet and they made beautiful classical music. They also played a piece by a Russian composer that was VERY non - traditional and it was really good for the boys and I to be exposed to such wonderful music!!

5. Billy Jonas - We have seen Billy Jonas twice now and he hasn't dissappointed yet. Billy Jonas makes music out of recycled materials and things that you can find locally. The last picture above is of the Billy Jonas show. He gives you a feeling that "Everyone is in the Band". It is great and educational entertainment!!

You can click on any of the above links for study guides or additional information about these performances! WOW! We had fun!!

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!!

2009-04-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

Cooper is playing soccer for Pooler Recreation Department this year. He had the choice to play t-ball again or to play soccer. He really felt that he was ready for "real" baseball (as his dad and I did, too), so he decided to play soccer!! Cooper did really well during his first soccer game. He scored two goals. He was really good. He is a tremendous runner. He is very fast!! I think that his coaches think that he is a really great player, too. He even got a compliment from a stranger after the first game who said, "Hey, great ball handling, number 4"! Cooper had a "big head" for an hour after that!!
Carter is playing U8 baseball for Pooler Recreation Department this year. Here is Carter, playing catcher. I am really amazed at the difference a year makes in baseball. Carter is doing great hitting the ball this year. They use ball machines instead of coach / player pitching and it is difficult, but Carter is really hitting great this year!!
Here is good old dad (Tony) feeding the balls in the ball machine for Carter's team. Tony really has a heart for coaching. He is really good with the boys on the team. When coaching, he has a good mix of being stern and being caring. I am so proud of him and all that he does for our boys and our family:) He is a great husband and father:) We are so blessed!!!

ART SHMART!!

2009-04-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

Recently, a young man from our homeschool co-op offered to teach art classes to local homeschooled kids. He will be attending SCAD next year and is very artistically talented. As you all know, art is a gaping hole in the education of my children. Therefore, this was a *PERFECT* opportunity for someone who actually knows about art to teach Carter some basic art principles!! This picture is one that Carter drew on his first day of art. He was soooo proud. I was also very proud:):)
In co-op, Carter is taking an afternoon club called "Creative Learning". In Creative Learning, the kids did Junior Mad Libs. Carter's favorite was the Diego Junior Mad Libs. He got to bring a copy of the mad libs home and he spent lots of time during that week completing mad libs. When Carter's art teacher asked him what he wanted to draw, he chose the Diego from his Junior Mad Libs (above). You can compare and contrast, but I think he did a GREAT job!!

BURTON 4H CENTER - TYBEE ISLAND

2009-03-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

Carter has been studying wetlands at co-op. I really wanted to go somewhere that he could see a wetland "hands on". I was thinking about places that may have programs relating to wetlands here in Savannah and I found Burton 4H Center on Tybee Island. This place usually only does group outings, so I thought I might organize a small group homeschool field trip. Here is our small group:) HA! We had about 37 children in all and about eight adults. WOW!!
This little plant is know as "sea pickle". Yes, you can eat it and yes, we all tried it. It really doesn't taste bad - it is salty and crunchy. Our guide told us that very "fancy" restaurants sometimes put it on the top of salads. Mmmmm . . . marshy, wetlandy, sea pickle!!

These are some great pictures of periwinkle snails. Yes, these snails are edible and no, we DID NOT eat them!! These snails were all over the spartina grass in the marsh that we walked through. These snails cling to the grass or shells like you see above. They respond to vibration as the tide comes in and we were told that if we put them on our neck and hum, they were know to come out of their shell. No luck for us, though. None of us got to see a snail out of it's shell. It was too cold!!

COMMUNITY SERVICE

2009-03-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

At our co-op this year, I offered to teach a Community Service Projects class. I had really tried to get the kids at the After School program involved in Community Service when I worked in Spartanburg, and I thought I could help some of our students here in Savannah as well. It was a GREAT class. In these pictures, we are at America's Second Harvest, donating all of the canned goods (and money) we collected at co-op, for the Souper Bowl of Caring. We collected over 200 canned and boxed goods and around $82.00. I was so proud! Here are Carter and Cooper getting their goods to "stock the shelves"!!
O.k., I know this is a posed picture, but isn't it cute? Cooper is such a Community Servant!!
Here is part of our homeschool co-op who went with us to stock the shelves. I had ten children in my Community Service Projects class, but we had several more just come to help! It was great!!
O.k., another posed picture of a great Community Servant, but isn't he cute, too? He did not take Community Service Projects class with me this year (as I have a rule that I do not teach my own children at co-op - you can ask me about that later). I am probably going to enroll him and Cooper in the Community Service Projects class next year at co-op, since it is such a great class. Just FYI, I will not be teaching the class next year:)

SAVANNAH OGEECHEE CANAL

2009-03-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

This is the Savannah Ogeechee Canal. The boys and I went on a trip here to have a nature walk as well as to fulfill some requirements for Carter's Georgia State Parks Junior Ranger Program. Isn't this beautiful? It was a chilly day, but it was so serene.
These are some of the Cypress "knees" that we saw along the way. Carter and Cooper love these because we saw a lot of these when we went to Okefenokee Swamp. They have remebered them since our trip there and they remind me each time we see them what they are!! They love showing off their smarts!
We reached the end of the canal, where the canal opens into the Ogeechee River. It was so pretty at this spot. We visited the museum before we left and the guide there told us that when the weather warms up, you can see a lot of native wildlife around the canal. As she said this, I was thinking in my mind, "FIELD TRIP"!!!
As part of the Junior Ranger program, we went on a plant scavenger hunt. One of the items we had to find was spanish moss (which is not really a moss, but a flowering plant). Carter and Cooper love spanish moss because they like telling the stories they have heard about bugs being in the moss. Boys . . . they love bugs!

TENNIS

2009-03-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

The boys both took some more tennis lessons in January as a way of keeping active during the "cool" season here in Savannah. They loved it! These pictures are from some one on one sessions. The trainer was trying to help the boys with their backhands, volleys and forehands. Tennis here in Savannah is great. There are a lot of programs for younger kids, which is a blessing as Cooper wants to do whatever Carter does!!

IGLOOS AND INUIT FOOD

2009-03-05T13:07:00.000-08:00

Here is our finished igloo. It took a very long time to create this masterpiece. We had to build the igloo two layers at a time. When the two layers were finished, we had to let the icing dry so that the sugar cubes would set up before we started another layer. Carter finally got to take his igloo to co-op on Monday and everyone thought it was great. He had a lot of comments on how "cool" the igloo was!! He was really proud of his work. I think it was good that it took a while as it was a good lesson in patience for us all!!
These little cakes are bannock bread. Bannock bread is a food that is common among the Inuit peoples. When Carter was studying the Arctic Tundra biome at co-op, they sent home a dry mix for this bread. We added the wet ingredients to the mix and made this pancake like bread and fried it in a pan with a little oil. It was really good. Carter, who is a notorious picky eater, loved it. As I always say, food can be a great learning tool!

IGLOOS, INUITS AND CARTER!!

2009-02-20T17:09:00.000-08:00

In addition to losing more than one tooth since Christmas, this cute, little snaggle-tooth kid and I have been working on a lot of school related stuff during January and February. We started back to co-op in January and Carter's group has been studying BIOMES!! We began studying the Arctic Tundra which has been really fun. We have learned about the weather and animals of the Arctic Tundra as well as the people who live in these frozen tundras. We learned about the Inuit people. Carter was fascinated by this group and we read a lot of books about them and watched some educational videos on Discovery Streaming about the Inuit and their lands.

As you can see, we are in the process of building an igloo in honor of our studies about the Inuit people. We have begun building our igloo with sugar cubes and icing. We can only build the igloo two rows at a time because we have to allow the icing to dry. Each row of "ice" must go in towards the center a little more each time and stability is an issue if we try to complete more than one row at a time. When we complete the igloo, I will post the picture here.

BACK TO REALITY

2009-02-20T16:45:00.002-08:00

O.k., so I know that I have totally neglected this blog lately. I am really sorry, but the month of January was spent catching up on school with the boys after a busy December as well as finalizing plans for WALT DISNEY WORLD for Cooper's 5th Birthday. I am not going to post any of those pictures here, but if you would like to see them, you can see them here. In this picture, you can see Cooper working on his Saxon Math. He is doing so well on his school work. We are already on lessons in March and should be done with the math book well before the end of the school year. We are also pretty far in Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. We should be done with this book by the end of the year as well. Cooper is reading so well. If I can figure out how to, I am going to put some video on here of Carter reciting some poetry and Cooper reading. They are both doing so great in school!!
Here is Carter, hard at work in his pajamas (one of the great things about school at home - COMFORT!!). Carter, Cooper and I are working on memorizing all 50 states and interesting facts about each one. I really wanted to have the states memorized by the time we went to Florida, but we got started late. That's okay though, because the boys really look forward to this part of their school day each day. I am going to try and borrow the book, Eat Your Way Across The USA from our local library. It has full meal recipes for each of the states and the boys and I can make "state themed" suppers each night as a great addition to our learning!! We have really enjoyed learning about this amazing land we live in!!

GINGERBREAD FUN!!

2008-12-29T16:20:00.000-08:00

Aren't these amazing? The boys and I went to The Westin Savannah to see their annual gingerbread and Christmas tree display. It was awesome!! The picture of the large hotel like building is actually The Westin Savannah in gingerbread!! Cooper has said up until this day that he could eat the entire Westin (meaning the gingerbread Westin)!! This was the first gingerbread village that the boys have ever seen and they thought it was great. I have to admit, I did too!!
This was one of my favorite pieces in the gingerbread village. I love the bridge!! It was just too cute!!
Here are the boys on the Savannah Belles Ferry. We took the ferry from one side of the river to The Westin. They were so cute, both on their knees, looking out into the water, I had to take this picture!! They love the ferry. It is a free ride across the river and they think that it is the best thing!!

AHOY MATEY!!

2008-12-29T15:55:00.000-08:00

This huge ship was downtown in Savannah on River Street during Thanksgiving. We had heard from some friends that there was a ship in the river that you could tour for free, so we toured it. It was awesome!! Here are the pictures of the ship (it was huge) and the boys on the upper deck!!

Here are the two troublemakers trying to drive the ship and navigate! Lord help us if they decided to leave port!! It was a beautiful ship. The wood was polished and beautiful. I would love to really sail on it and I think the boys would too!!

CAN YOU SAY CROQUET?

2008-12-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

Tony bought us a croquet and bocce ball set after Thanksgiving. The boys really like bocce ball (they had played it before) and we all LOVE croquet. Tony and I are really competitive and these games are great for "friendly" competition!! It has been so warm this month that we really got a lot of great use of the games. It has been really great for us as a family. I am posting this link here because I think that knowing the rules for croquet can count as educational, right? I hope so!!

MORE MORE FLOWERS AND FUN!

2008-11-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

Cooper is taking some time to smell the flowers (leaf in hand again - boy they loved those leaves!!). Cooper has always done this, even when he was little. He has always loved smelling the flowers. Once again, do you see the yellow? I know, I know, you are tired about hearing about the yellow, but I truly believe that I was meant to see the yellow that day just to remind me to take time at the gardens and to enjoy the beauty that God has given us.
The sand dollar and the little bird girl were too cute. As I try to notice these beautiful things in life, I am also trying to capture them on film or video so that we can remember them later. This garden was so beautiful and had so many beautiful little additions in the gardens. Since moving to Savannah, I have been fascinated with the "Bird Girl" statues as well as the fountain at Forsyth Park. They are just real symbols of Savannah to me and when I see these symbols somewhere, I love it!!

MORE FLOWERS AND FUN!!

2008-11-28T19:05:00.000-08:00

No, I did not just take pictures of yellow stuff! I told you guys in the previous post, it was amazing at the yellow in that garden at that time. Aren't these roses beautiful. I was so impressed. The Chatham County Garden Center and Botanical Gardens is home to several prize winning Georgia roses and these are two of them!! What a little gem we have here in Savannah!!
Here are the two "explorers". There are several boy scout trails that wind along the garden and believe you me, we read the names of each one and traveled down each one. Here are Carter and Cooper, leaves in hand, reading the markers for one of the trails.
As I have said lately, I have felt the need to just take time and enjoy the things that I would normally rush through in my life. I am also encouraging and at times enforcing that the boys do this also. This bench overlooked a really pretty pond. I asked the boys to just sit down and look at the pond and tell me ten things that they liked or that they saw in the pond that they thought was something cool. We are going to do things like this more often in nature. Appreciate more, live more, love more and be thankful more!!

FLOWERS AND FUN!!

2008-11-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

The boys and I took a field trip to the Chatham County Garden Center and Botanical Gardens as to try and complete some of the requirements for the Georgia State Parks Junior Ranger Program. Here are the boys clowining around in the beautiful gardens!!
Recently, a friend of ours, Jim Maier passed away. Jim's favorite color was yellow. Tony has been wearing yellow to work a lot lately and as I was taking pictures at the gardens, I was struck at how much yellow was in the garden that day. I was taking pictures of different trees and flowers and this one just struck my fancy. Notice how vibrant the yellow is! What a great reminder to be thankful for the simple things in our lives!!
Well, if this is not the cutest kid on the block, I don't know who is. This is not a posed photo. I asked Carter to turn around and as I shot the picture, this is the shot! HOW CUTE IS HE? This leaf was collected off of the ground to keep for our Junior Ranger stuff. Notice the yellow again!!

There was a beautiful (and in bloom) Rose Garden at the back of the gardens. The picture at the left does not do it justice. It was filled with rows and rows of roses (say that three times fast). Walking around the gardens in that area, you could just smell "rose". I am not a fan of fake rose smells like in lotions and perfumes, but I love fresh roses and their smell. I also love love love the Rose Petal Ice Cream from Leopold's in Savannah! O.k., off topic, but it really is great!!

I IS FOR . . . ICE CREAM

2008-11-28T18:37:00.000-08:00

Cooper and I have been working on lapbooks for each letter of the alphabet as we go over them in our Kindergarten studies. So, we could not go over the letter I without making ICE CREAM!! Here you see Carter and Cooper mixing together the sugar, milk and vanilla. Even though this is Cooper's unit, Carter wanted to participate so that he could have some of the end product!!
You have to shake the ice cream mixture in the zip lock bag for about 10 minutes for it to harden. You can see that Cooper was very diligent in his mixing of the ice cream. He sat on the counter and mixed and mixed and mixed. He had the towel because his hands were really cold half way into the process!!
OOOOOO . . . . the look on his face. It's like a kid in an . . . Ice Cream Store!! Can you see how excited he was. He was ready for his hard work to pay off!!
THE FINAL PRODUCT!! Look at those swirls of goodness. The right ice cream cup has some whipped cream on it. Carter wanted to go above and beyond homemade ice cream!! He wanted the works. My kid . . . you can tell!

BARBIE AS A MUMMY!!

2008-11-28T14:40:00.000-08:00

O.k., so I know that Barbie is in a bit of an odd position and situation here (with no clothes on and all), but this was a great learning opportunity and I was not about to pass that up for the modesty of a doll. As you know by previous posts, we are studying Ancient Egyptians and mummies in our history and geography text, The Story of the World. Our activity book said that we should mummify a chicken, but I was really scared about the smell of that. So, I was wondering what was the closest thing we had, that looked like a person, that was in our house and that we could mummify. I came up with . . . Barbie!!
Cooper was not to sad to give up one of the two Barbie's that he owns for his educational advancement. O.k., he did not say it that way. It was more like, "We're going to make my Barbie a mummy? Awesome!". So, after rubbing Barbie with our "spice rub" to preserve her, Carter and Cooper pretended to take out her vital organs and place them in canopic jars and began wrapping Barbie in her shroud of linen (helped along by some plaster of paris).
The boys took turns and wrapped Barbie very gently, making sure to cover all of her extremeties individually. Oddly enough, her hair was the hardest part to wrap. I guess, had she been in a house full of girls, she would have had no hair by now, but lucky for her, she lived with boys. In this picture, Carter is wrapping Barbie's hair. I don't really know if the Ancient Egyptians cut off the hair or left it and wrapped over it. The boys asked this question and I have been meaning to look it up and calm their thirst for this knowledge. Well, they're not really thirsting. They asked because they wanted to cut off her hair because it would be easier and I said that I did not remember the Egyptians cutting off the hair and I wanted us to mummify Barbie as close to the "real" way as possible. HA!
Our finished mummy.
R.I.P. Barbie - she sacrificed her life for the sake of her owner's education. Barbie - the selfless doll.

SPICE BOYS!!

2008-11-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

As we continue to work through Story of the World for our History and Geography text, we are doing some really great activities. We are continuing to study the Ancient Egyptians and now we are moving on to mummies. The Ancient Egyptians used oil and spices to preserve the bodies of the dead. Here, Carter and Cooper are making their own "spice rub" as we have affectionately come to call it for our "mummy". Our "rub" consisted of vegetable oil, cinnamon, ginger, and basil! MMMM . . . the smell of . . . !!

Here is our final "spice rub" concoction. It really did smell very good. I don't think the boys really understood how just spices could keep a body from decomposing and smelling bad, even though the concoction smelled good. However, in December, we are going to make a pomander for Christmas and I will bring their minds back to the Ancient Egyptians and how they also used spices to preserve!! Wow . . . even oranges can link back to a discussion on Ancient Egypt!!

HOMESCHOOL GROUP SKATE DAY!!

2008-11-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

Here is Cooper in his awesome "trainer" skates. He was really excited to go skating. Our homeschool group, F.E.F.C. has a skate day once a month at Super Goose Sports in Savannah. The boys really love it as it gives them even more time to spend with the kids from their co-op and different homeschool activities that they go to!!
Here is the skater himself, on the rink. There were a lot of kids at the skate day, but Cooper held his own. He is growing up to be such a big boy and a cutie!!!
So, true to form, Carter was flying through the rink so fast I could not get his picture skating. I did, however, snap this shot of him laid back on a carpet roll that was sitting around the rink at Super Goose. He was a little tired, to say the least. This was the first skate day that he was able to use his new in - line skates (purchased by Uncle Timmy and Aunt Sally for his birthday - THANKS!). He really did great! He and his friends were flying through the rink!! They had an awesome time!

HALLOWEEN FOR ONE!

2008-11-28T14:04:00.000-08:00

O.k., so we are going to call this picture "The Halloween That Never Happened". These are Carter and Cooper's $20 & $25 Halloween costumes. I spent $20 on Cooper's Transformer "Bumble Bee" costume and I spent $25 on Carter's Obi Wan Kenobi costume. I am happy to buy Halloween costumes because I know that one day, I will no longer have to buy them and I will miss that time in my children's lives. However . . . see below.
When I have to buy a $25 Obi Wan Kenobi Halloween Costume for a child that then had his trick or treating taken away from him because he had been so disobedient, I loath spending that kind of money. I loathe spending that kind of money on an costume that was worn for these pictures only and then ended up in the dress up bin in our playroom. While we felt terrible for taking the priviledge of trick or treating away from Carter, it was the only thing that we could take away that would have been "big" enough to make up for his terrible behavior. Anyway, Carter had no trick or treating and we felt guilty the entire night. Cooper did and he had a great time doing it! Please take a good look at both of these pictures so that we can at least get a little of our money's worth on the Obi Wan Kenobi costume. THANKS!

IN MEMORY - JAMES RUSSELL MAIER

2008-11-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

I recently took the pictures above as I have really been trying to appreciate the beautiful things in life and take more than a few seconds to enjoy these things of beauty. I know that this is a homeschool blog, but a terrible tragedy has happened recently in our lives and I would like to take this time to remind all of you to take a minute and appreciate those things that God has given you. Appreciate your family, appreciate your friends and appreciate life in general.

As many of you already know, Jim Maier, a friend and business associate of Tony was struck and killed on the side of I-95 on October 14, 2008. Also, as many of you know, Tony was a witness to this horrific accident. Jim's family has been going through a very hard time. Please pray for Jim's family as well as for Tony during the next few months. Please take a few minutes to read the article written about him in the local papers.

SPARTANBURG SCIENCE CENTER II

2008-11-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

Here is Cooper, up close with his personal friend. Is this not the cutest picture you have ever seen? Really, I mean really, it is!!
Here are Carter, Cooper and their cousin, Katie posing near their friend,the bear. This area of the Science Center with the "stuffed" animals was really interesting to us all!! We couldn't believe how tall the bear was compared to ourselves. Whew!!

Cooper loved looking at the turtle shell. He asked if we could buy a turtle shell in the gift shop to take home. This was such a great opportunity for the boys to touch and feel and learn about these animals!!

SPARTANBURG SCIENCE CENTER

2008-11-05T12:37:00.000-08:00

Hands On Learning!! My favorite!! Here are the boys at the Spartanburg Science Center learning about machines!!
Here is Carter trying to get the rays of light to go through a series of prisms. This was a great learning exercise for him because this summer when we studied Exploring Creation with Astronomy, we learned about prisms and light refraction and absorption.
This was a really cool program. It did, however, have some glitches. The point of the program was to build a bridge (Carter's was a railroad bridge) that could withstand the force of whatever was traveling over it. It was a great educational tool.

SPARTANBURG MUSEUM - WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT??

2008-11-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

On a recent trip to our hometown of Spartanburg (Sparkle City), we visited the newly constructed Chapman Cultural Center. Boy, were we surprised!! It had all kinds of great information about the history of Spartanburg as well as a great new Science Center!! Here is Cooper, in the Spartanburg History Museum with some "artifacts" from early Spartanburg history. This was a great trip for us because we had just discussed Archaeologists and artifacts.
Here is Carter with the microfilm machine. The paper on the microfilm was from the early 1900's and Carter was simply amazed that they had paper from "way back then" that you could read. We have a lot to learn still:)
Here we are in the Spartanburg Science Center. This was a great exhibit. We scanned these cards with fruits, veggies and no so good for you stuff (which are supposed to be what the person eats) and the person on the screen reflected our choices. If you look hard, our person was struggling, because the boys were feeding her french fries and bacon. It is a great way to learn about the food pyramid, though!!

HIEROGLYPHICS AND CUNEIFORM

2008-11-05T12:19:00.000-08:00

Here is Carter with his completed Hieroglyphic scroll. He chose to pain random letters instead of his name or some sort of message. As you can see, he is particularly proud of his creation. As for the hoodie, that is the "Shawn White" jacket that we have been unable to keep off of him since we purchased it. He is also particularly proud of that jacket!!
Here is Cooper's Heiroglyphic scroll. Cooper chose to write his name in heiroglyphics and even though it is upside down, you can see a little of it, right?
Here are the boys Heiroglyphic Scrolls and their clay tablet with Cuneiform writing of their names. Carter completed his cuneiform (from our guide) with no help at all. Cooper needed a little help using the wedge that we used to carve the symbols. The boys though it was so cool that they got to "write like an Egyptian". We should totally make a video and use that as our song. HAHAHA!

HEIROGLYPHICS

2008-11-05T12:11:00.000-08:00

As we continue our study of Ancient Egypt in The Story of the World, our activities have become more and more interesting to the boys. The two pictures (above and below) are of the boys writing on their "Heiroglyphic Scrolls". We had a guide to heiroglyphics and the boys did their absolute best copying them to create a message.
As you can see, they are working hard. For those of you who know me, art is my Achille's heel (I'm sure we will learn about him later). Anyway, I am proud that we even attempt art projects since I am so inept in this area and am even more proud when they turn out great. Read the next post to see how their works of "Heiroglyphic Art" turned out!!
There is really nothing particularly special to tell you about this picture. I just saw Carter working hard on his penmanship practice one day and with the light shining through the blinds and him working so hard, I felt a wave of pride sweep over me and just wanted to share it with you all!!

TENNIS

2008-10-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

Carter and Cooper are taking tennis with the Savannah Area Tennis Association. Their teachers are really good. In the picture above, Cooper is listening to his teacher about how to take a swing with his new racket. The boys were so excited!! The teacher said that Cooper had great hand - eye coordination.
Here is Carter doing what I believed they called "bounce ups". It is supposed to help with their hand - eye coordination. Tony and I have been playing tennis at the courts near our house. The boys were both psyched to have their own rackets and be able to play "doubles" with mom and dad. I think Carter was the most excited about getting to play with the grown people!
At the park where we play tennis, there is a great biking / walking trail around a lake and it is also really wooded. It is a great place for the kids to play before and after tennis practice. Here, the boys were practicing their balance by walking across some logs above a small creek. It is so great to see them do things like this. They love the outdoors!!

THE NILE RIVER

2008-10-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

We have been studying Egypt in our history and geography text, The Story of the World. This is our model of the Nile River. The first picture is of when we first "planted" our river. The second picture is after about a week. As you can see, we have had a little growth of our grass along the river. As you all probably know, before the Aswan Dam was built, the Nile River flooded each year. With this project, the point is to fill the middle area, the "river", with water and have it overflow the "banks" of the "river" to simulate how the Nile River used to flood. Can you tell that the far side of our model is the Nile Delta? Anyway, the boys think this project is awesome. I have to admit, I do too!!

LAPBOOKS A - D

2008-09-29T19:19:00.001-07:00

This slide show shows all that Cooper and I have accomplished in regards to lapbooks in the past few weeks. Cooper really enjoys doing the work for the books and I think that they are a great way to keep his alphabet work:) If you would like to do any of these lapbooks, please visit the following links:

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/
http://www.first-school.ws/

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2008

2008-09-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

The picture on the top is Carter and Cooper on their first day of Kingdom Builders Co-op 2007 and the picture on the bottom is Carter and Cooper on their first day of Kingdom Builders Co-op 2008. As you can see, they have grown tremendously. Carter is now in 2nd grade at co-op and Cooper is in Kindergarten. Carter, our resident BIG BOY requested "skate shoes" to start school in this year, and as you can see, he wore them on the first day of school.
Carter is studying the Election in co-op this year. They will not be delving into the politics of the election, just the process. The will be voting on different ice creams as their candidates. They will campaign and debate on their particular choice. How creative!! Carter is taking two clubs in the afternoon (1) Art and (2) Lego / Board Games. Cooper's class will be studying their ABC's and math in the morning and will be doing a study of countries in the afternoon. The first thing Cooper said when I picked him up from his class (as he was wearing a macaroni necklace) was, "Mom, Italians like pasta". I was impressed!! He also knew where Italy was on the globe!! WOW!!

SMITH FAMILY ART!

2008-09-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

O.k., so I had already decided that art would be THE gaping hole in my children's education at home. While I am crafty, I am by no means any type of artist. I cannot draw, paint, etc.. So, I purchased a book called Draw Write Now at a book sale because I saw that it was a step by step method that I could maybe do with the boys. Let me just say that this book is AWESOME!!! The picture above is the first picture in the first volume. The page before this one in the book begins with a shape by shape diagram of how to draw the hen.

Here are the boy's masterpieces. They are not copied, they are true representations of Cooper (top) and Carter's (bottom) work. I was so amazed that the pictures even closely resembled the model picture!! This was not because I have little faith in the children's abilities, but because I know that I am NOT equipped to teach art. Anyway, as you can see, the book has done wonders. My kids can draw a hen and her chicks - so far. Carter will be taking art and drawing in co-op this year as well, so we will not be relying solely on Draw Write Now for art education!! WHEW!

HOME DEPOT LEARNING!!

2008-09-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

Our Home Depot has Kids Workshop classes on the first Saturday of each month. While I shopped for groceries, Tony took both boys to Home Depot for some male bonding; including hammering and nailing and other testosterone filled stuff. As you can see, they both made ESPN College Game Day Goal Posts. They were so proud. They also got a paper football to flick between the uprights, which they thought was awesome!!
This was both boys second time doing the Home Depot Kids Workshop. Their first project was a castle that had storage underneath the top part. They look so cute in their aprons, huh?

FIRST LAPBOOK

2008-08-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

This is Cooper's lapbook. It is our family's first ever attempt at a lapbook. I am only posting Cooper's lapbook as Carter's book is basically the same. Below are ALL of the websites we used for this lapbook and our Unit Study on the Olympics:

http://www.tooter4kids.com/china/activities_to_do_at_home.htm

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_zodiac_game.htm

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/summer_olympics_2008_lapbook.php

http://www.first-school.ws/theme/coloring-pages/olympic-games.htm

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/summer_olympics.htm

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/china_for_kids.htm

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/social_studies/places/asia/china/

http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=23340&it=1

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/theme_units/sports/olympics/

http://homeschooling.about.com/od/freeprintables/qt/summerolympics.htm

We had a great time doing this unit! We hope you have enjoyed watching us have fun and seeing the fruits of our labor:) Now, on to the business of learning to read and spell and more fun stuff:)

CHINA!

2008-08-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

We have learned many wonderful things about China in our study of the Olympics. We have also created several crafts associated with China. One of the boys favorite crafts were chinese lanterns. As you can see, they decorated their lanterns and then we hung them on doorposts and from our chandelier. Carter's lantern is orange. Cooper decided that he would get more creative and added extra elements to his lantern, which was purple. The best thing about these lanterns was that we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant later that week (home school field trip - haha) and there were lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Carter was so excited when he saw them and recognized them. He then told Tony all about Chinese lanterns. How great is that?!!
In studying the Chinese culture, we learned that they have over 200 different characters in their writing. The boys wrote their name in Chinese, which you will see when we complete their lapbook, and they also wrote the Chinese Numbers from one to ten. We had seen the characters for the numbers on the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and since I had recorded the Opening Ceremonies, we replayed the countdown and they got to see the Chinese numerals before they wrote them. The picture above is an example of both boy's work! I think they did great. I tried to copy the numbers and it was a difficult task!!
I forgot to put this activity on the previous posts and I thought that it was a really neat one. I was struggling to figure out how to explain to the boys the significance and reasoning behind why time is denoted as B.C. and A.D.. In the book, Ancient Greece! 40 Hands - On Activities To Experience This Wondrous Age, I found this activity. You make a chart that details the events before the child's birth. We are lucky, in our case, as Carter and Cooper's initials correspond with B.C.. So, these are the events Before Carter / Cooper. (or B.D. if your child's name begins with a D). You explain that these are some of the events that took place before his or her birth and that is why they are labeled B.C.. Then you explain that in the modern world, all events before the birth of Christ are labeled as B.C. or Before the birth of Christ.
Then, you make a chart that details several key events that happened after the child was born. I made the label read After Delivery (A.D.), but the book did not say to do that. I just thought it was funny! You then explain that all of the events that took place after the birth of Christ are labeled A.D. meaning Anno Domini (In The Year of Our Lord). I told the boys that after Christ was born each year was the year of our Lord and will be until he comes back:) I think this was a really easy (and fun) way of explaining these designations.

CRAZY SMITH OLYMPICS 2

2008-08-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

We also had a WATER BALLOON TOSS at the Crazy Smith Olympics. The boys liked this event. Cooper, as you can see by the picture, was really into the water balloon toss. He and Garrett were on a team and they did really great together!
Our last event was an all - out WATER BALLOON FIGHT. Yes, it did take me forever to fill up all the water balloons needed for these activities, thank you for asking:) This was the FAVORITE activity of the day. We gave each team an equal number of the remaining balloons and asked them to please not throw the balloons at each other's faces and they were off! They hit each other every which way but luckily, no one got hurt!! That was good, clean, boy fun!!
This was our final medal ceremony for the Crazy Smith Olympics. Each boy had lots and lots of medals, they had played their hearts out and had a fun day with one another. What else could a boy ask for? I have no clue because I was so worn out when the Crazy Smith Olympics were over, I didn't ask a thing. I took a nap!!

CRAZY SMITH OLYMPICS!

2008-08-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

O.k., so we started school the first week of August. I knew I would feel guilty about making my kids begin school so early - even though we are out early in May for pool weather:) Anyway, I scheduled the CRAZY SMITH OLYMPICS for the end of our second week of study. I did activities like this with my after school kids and they really loved it, so I thought the boys would, too!! We invited the boys friends, Ethan and Garrett over to compete and have fun, too. Our first activity was a WATER CUP RELAY. Each team got a small cup. One at a time, each member had to fill the small cup with water, run SLOWLY to a larger cup and the first team that filled their larger cup won the event!! It was great fun!
Here is our second event. The WET T - SHIRT CONTEST. I know what you are thinking, but no, it was not that kind of wet t - shirt contest. I wet the t- shirts with a hose. One at a time, each team member had to put the shirt on, run to the end of the sidewalk, come back and take the shirt off and give it to their partner. The first team to have both members complete the run and take the shirt off won the event! Let me just say that it was hilarious watching these boys try and put oversize, wet t - shirts on and run in them::):)Notice the logo's on the shirts. Ha! Tony will be happy!!
Ahh, a good old fashioned SIT AND SQUISH! Each team got several balloons. One at a time, each member began at the starting line, took their balloon, sat on it until it squished and then ran back to the starting line so that their partner could go. The team that squished all of their balloons won the event. This was a hilarious one, too, as two of the boys were small and their hineys were rolling all over the balloons but not squishing them!! Too funny!
Carter and Cooper are now professional "sit and squishers". As you can see by the medal around Cooper's neck, we gave out medals to each team that won an event, just as we did when we had the first Smith Olympics. I think that all of the boys really enjoyed the day and the events. They are still talking about how much fun they had! I will do anything for the sake of education:)!!

OLYMPIC FLAMES!

2008-08-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

The second week of August, we began studying the modern Olympics and their symbols and China. We traced the route of the Olympic flame on a map and the boys created their own Olympic flames. We then had our own torch relay where Carter came down the stairs with his torch and lit Cooper's flame on the bottom step and Cooper proceeded to run his relay route!
The boys and I followed the route online as well and then looked at the great pictures and architecture in each city that the torch passed through. Click on the link to see one of the best web sites I found to trace the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay Route.
While we did not get into the human rights discussion and the controversy surrounding the Olympics in China, I did think that this was a good opportunity to tell the boys that there were people in some of the torch relay cities who were not happy about the Olympics being in China and they tried to stop the Olympic flame. When they asked why, I just told them that the government in China would not let their people be free to do whatever they want, like we are here in the U.S.A.. I told them that the Chinese people could not go to whatever church they wanted or have as many children as they wanted and that they could not say anything that they wanted without being afraid that someone would hurt them or their family. They understood these facts and then we just talked about how we should pray that the Chinese people will someday be able to do all the things that we are able to do in the Unites States of America!!

IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME!!

2008-08-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

As we studied the Ancient Olympics, we read the book, Ancient Greeks by Daisy Kerr. We learned that the Greeks were pioneers in art and music and drama. So, our next project was an art project. The Greeks used broken pottery tiles to make mosaic designs on their floors. In the book, Ancient Greeks! 40 Hands - On Activities To Experience This Wondrous Age, we found a mosaic activity involving using several different kinds of beans to make mosaic designs. The above picture is Cooper's lion which was cut out from a coloring book we had. As you can see, he did not complete the entire mosaic (he started at the tail), but I think he got the idea!!
This is Carter's mosaic. Carter wanted to make a mosaic out of a card that we had that said, "I love you" and had a flower drawn on it. So, I traced these words on the paper plate and drew a flower next to them. Carter got tired of doing mosaics as well, but I think he got the idea, too!
While studying the Ancient Olympics, we also read a book called Hour of the Olympics by Mary Pope Osborne. In this book, two children travel back in time to Ancient Greece and meet Plato. They also learn that girls were not allowed to compete in the Olympics and that men, dressed as women, performed in plays because women were not allowed to act in the plays of Ancient Greece. The boys thought this was a bit odd, just as the children in the book did!! So, what could we do but put on our own play. We learned that the Greeks had two kinds of masks for their plays - tragedy and comedy! We had also been reading Aesop's Fables (did you know that Aesop was a Greek?). So, we decided that our play would be one of Aesop's Fables.
The fable that the boys chose was The Eagle and The Tortoise. The moral of the story was "Be Careful What You Wish For". Long story short, the tortoise wishes for flying lessons and says that he is rich and will pay half of his money for flying lessons. So, the eagle picks up the tortoise and takes him flying - and then lets him go. Then the tortoise screams as he is falling through the air that he will give the rest of his money for landing lessons. Anyway, Carter's mask above is the comedy part of the story or the eagle and Cooper's mask in this picture is the tragedy mask or the tortoise. Carter and Cooper LOVED doing this and I even taped them performing their play. I will try and put the video up as soon as possible!

GREEK GODS AND THEIR ALPHABET!!

2008-08-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

After the Smith Olympics, each "Greek God" (haha) was awarded with an olive leaf crown (as was customary in the Ancient Olympics) and medals for the sport that he triumphed in!! The boys also got to do victory laps or whatever kind of celebration they wanted to celebrate their acheivement!!
I checked out two really great books from the library called Classical Kids: An Activity Guide to Ancient Greece and Rome and Ancient Greece! 40 Hands - On Activities To Experience This Wondrous Age. These books had some really great ideas in them. One of the ideas was to have children write the greek alphabet. I was very nervous about having the boys write the alphabet because I thought it would be too complicated. However, as you can see, they did GREAT!!
The above picture is of Cooper's copy of the greek alphabet and this picture is of Carter's greek alphabet! I am hoping that learning the greek alphabet will help them if they join a fraternity later on in life!! Maybe they will remember a little of it!!

SMITH OLYMPICS!!

2008-08-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

After learning about the Ancient Greek Olympics, we decided that we would compete in our own Olympics - mainly the sports in the Ancient Pentathalon!! I bought some wooden dowels for javelins and our first even was the javelin throw. The boys lined up behind our chalk line and threw the "javelins". We then measured the distance from our chalk line to the place where each javelin landed. The winner of this event was Carter!!

Our next event was running. We had three different races up and down our sidewalk and Cooper prevailed in all the races but one!! He sure is fast!!

Next, the boys competed in the discus throw. We used a regular frisbee for our discus and after the boys threw, we measured the distance from the start line to where the "discus" landed. We threw the "discus" three times and Carter won all three!!

Lastly, the boys competed in jumping. The boys ran and when they came to our chalk line, they had to quit running and jump as far as possible. As you can see from the picture, Cooper won several times!! After the jumps, we measured the length of each boy's jump!! They really had a great time with these activities! The boys did not compete in the final event of the Ancient Pentathalon, which was wrestling. If you know our children, then you will know why!

OLYMPIC CRAFTS!

2008-08-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

We have started school:) During August, we have been focusing on a broad study of the Olympics, from Ancient Greece to China to an in-depth study of each sport that is represented at the Olympics. I downloaded a great unit study / lapbook from Currclick and then got busy!! Here are the boys preparing their olive leaf crowns after studying about the Ancient Greek Olympics.

As you can tell, both boys are happy with their creations!! Carter is preparing his pose for when he actually competes in the Olympics!

Here is a classic C.M.S. Academy school picture. Carter, dressed in a Savannah St. Patrick's Day t - shirt and Tony's old cub scout shirt and Cooper doing school in nothing but his undies!! Anyway, after learning the significance of the colors of the Olympic rings, we created our own that we hung outside while we competed in the Smith Olympics!!

MORE ATLANTA ZOO!

2008-07-31T15:57:00.000-07:00

Gorillas and monkeys and any type of animal in that class of animals have always fascinated me. I notice that I take many more pictures of these types of animals than any others when I am at a zoo (with the exception of THE GIRAFFE INCIDENT).
Here are some of the meerkats from Meerkat Manor, one of our favorite shows. Oh, wait, that is Carter and Cooper!
None of us had ever seen a kangaroo with an actual joey in the pouch before. I got several pictures of this awesome sight as it is a rare one!!
This is my favorite picture from the zoo!! This goat was sooo funny looking. He looks like he has goat dentures with teeth like that:) I could not quit staring at him. I liked him and petted him several times because he made me happy with his toothy grin!!

ATLANTA ZOO

2008-07-31T15:46:00.000-07:00

The Komodo Dragon was my FAVORITE exhibit at the Atlanta Zoo this time. I still really like the Panda exhibit (my old favorite), but seeing the Komodo Dragon was really awesome! Carter and Cooper got to ride him! Just Kidding!!
Here are my two monkeys with two gorillas and a cousin! They really like posing on top of the animal sculptures. Just another climbing opportunity!!
AWWW! Baby birds!! That is the reason Cooper has his mouth open like that:) When all of the boys posed in the bird's nest, I asked them all to open their mouths like little baby birds. There are some pictures with all of their mouths open, but this one is the only one that shows their cute little faces!!
We are all suckers for the petting zoo. Carter and Cooper have been to several petting zoo's as children and they never seem to tire of it! They just pick up whatever brushes or pads that are laying around and go to it! They also thought it was really cool when the goats when to pee and poop. They both had really good laughs when that happened near them! Gosh, I love having boys!!

IN FLIGHT 3!!

2008-07-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

During the week of July 19 - 27 we decided to take a vacation to Atlanta since we were going to the GHEA Homeschool Conference on July 25th and 26th in Atlanta. Tony and the boys had arranged with Uncle Jeff to fly from Spartanburg to Atlanta with Uncle Jeff. I was driving with nanney! Unfortunately, towards the end of the trip, Uncle Jeff let Cooper fly the plane and due to the back and forth / up and down of Cooper's flying, Carter got VERY, VERY sick (right on Tony's leg and sandals to be exact). He looks to be having a good time in this picture, though!
Here is Tony and Cooper in the plane. Tony is looking a little pekid, but he was hot. Cooper had a really good time. He loves flying the plane!!

BLUEBERRIES!!

2008-07-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

Ottowa Farms is a really cute little farm about 10 minutes from our house. They have pick your own blueberries and strawberries. The day we went they were also selling watermelon, cantaloupe and okra. MMMM!! We asked a few of our friends to go with us and pick blueberries and it was great!! Here is Carter smiling and picking blueberries.
We decided to pick blueberries in the afternoon around 1:00 and it was very hot!! As you can see, Cooper was hot as well! I found him under several blueberry bushes picking the berries from under the bush. He was too cute:)
YUMMY! Between us all, I think we got about 10 pounds of blueberries. All of the children were eating them right off of the bush. I have to admit that I was too:) They were so sweet and not at all tart!
Here is our group of pickers:) We are missing one child in the photo, Ethan, because he had been bitten by an ant. He was not a happy picker. From left to right, Garrett, Cooper, Chloe, Carter and Emeline. I think the kids had a good time even though it was hot. When we paid for the blueberries, the lady at the farm showed the children a bull and several goats as well. They were excited!!
We have made many blueberry recipes with our fresh picks! We have made blueberry cookies, blueberry buckle and blueberry cloud pie. All of which were hits!!

MORE OLD TIME FUN!

2008-07-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

This is the flag at Fort Pulaski, which is near Tybee Island. We bought a season pass for Fort Pulaski and are trying to go whenever they have special events like Canon / Musket Firing as well as the event we went to in this post. We went to Celebrating America at Fort Pulaski which included canon firings, musket firings, a staff game of 1860's baseball and then a family game of 1860's baseball.
Here is Carter "Batter Up" Smith. As you can see by the picture, the bat is much larger than today's baseball bat and the ball was much different as well. You could tell that the difference affected some of the children (and adults!) who were used to playing with today's lighter equipment!
Here is Cooper "Homerun" Smith. He had a smaller version of the 1860's bat, but it was still a little hard for him to handle. Luckily, we did not have to dress in 1860's fashion, as the staff at Fort Pulaski was wearing!
Here is Tony "RBI" Smith. The family game was adults verses children. All of the children really got a kick out of their parents playing ball with the different equipment!

CARDBOARD TESTIMONIES

2008-07-03T13:02:00.001-07:00

MIGHTY EIGHTH AIR FORCE MUSEUM CAMP!

2008-07-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

Carter really enjoyed the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum Camp he attended in the middle of June. He learned a lot about World War II. The picture at the left is of the dog tags that he received at camp. Even though you cannot see it, the dog tags have his name engraved in them. He was so proud of these. He is still wearing them! Camp was really great for Carter! He drank powdered milk and ate Spam. For those of you who don't know Carter, eating these foods is an AMAZING EVENT! He informed us that, "the P.O.W.'s drank powdered milk and ate canned meat" and that he did too. Once again, too proud for words!
What good soldier from World War II doesn't have a tattoo to remember their sacrifice for their country. As you can see, Carter got his own tattoo for his "service" in camp. The symbol on his arm is the symbol for the Mighty Eighth Air Force group for which the Museum is named. Carter was also VERY proud of this tattoo. He showed it to everyone!
Here is Carter pretending to be a wounded soldier on the battlefield. He had worn this soldier hat out into the yard and I thought that he looked so cute that I asked him to pretend that he was a wounded soldier on a battlefield. This is his dramatization. Pretty good, don't you think?
Ah, Carter in classic form. Here he is with his souvenir purchase from the gift shop at the museum, his Mighty Eighth T-Shirt. He had a really great week at camp and made some good friends. The teacher was really sweet to them all week. On the last day of camp, she dressed as "Rosie the Riveter" and when I asked Carter to explain why the teacher was dressed that way, he informed me that, "when the men were away at the war, the women had to go to work so that everyone in the United States could live". Again, he learned A LOT!! The kids learned how to plot points on a map, the different types of planes and bombers used in World War II and played many interactive games. It was a great week!

ASTRONOMY FUN!!

2008-07-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

So, we began astronomy with a book called Exploring Creation with Astronomy, graciously loaned to us for the summer by a leader at our co-op. At left, our first experiment. The point of the experiment was to learn that the planets are different sizes in relation
to one another. We tried to follow the instructions for the experiment and we were close, but the boys really did get to understand that some planets are larger / smaller than others. They were amazed that Earth was not the largest planet and that the last four planets of the solar system are the largest, which was their own independent observation, of which I am most proud!! Oh, just FYI, the first balloon is to represent the sun, then come Mercury, Venus, etc.
Here is our sweet Carter with the experiment from Chapter 2 of our Astronomy book. We were discussing the sun. This experiment used a magnifying glass, which is not seen clearly in the picture to focus the sun's rays on a small part of chocolate candy. We then compared how quickly the part of the chocolate candy that had the focused rays melted in comparison to the other pieces that did not have the focused rays. Of course, nothing is better than melted chocolate, so we cleaned the plate when our experiment was complete! By the way, Carter went to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum for camp during this week, so all science was done with this green soldier's hat from World War II on his head! Carter got to take his own camera to the museum for camp
and hopefully those pictures will be on here soon!

In this experiment, we focused the sun's rays on a small part of the first piece of chocolate and it melted VERY quickly. We then focused the sun's rays over a slightly larger part of the second piece of chocolate and it melted quickly, but not as fast at the first piece. Finally, we focused the sun's rays on an even larger part of the third piece of chocolate and it took it a noticeably longer time to melt. The point of this portion of the experiment was to show that the more focused (smaller) the sun's rays, the hotter the point of light! Once again, we cleaned our mess by licking our plates! I love science!

OLD TIME FUN!

2008-06-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

Carter is playing an old timey game called, "hoop and stick" at Old Fort Jackson, where we went to celebrate the 200th Birthday of the fort. The boys both played several old timey games that were part of the birthday celebration. The celebration also included additional games from the past as well as canon firings and fireworks. It was a fun night!
Here is Cooper, playing "hoop and stick". They really liked this simple game and really tried hard to get it right. They had so much fun that I think Santa Claus may be interested in bringing a "hoop and stick" game to Savannah!!
Here is Carter literally DRAGGING his brother in the three legged race. The boys competed against two older teams and amazingly, won the first race. They were so proud!

T - BALL

2008-06-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

Here is Cooper consulting his favorite T - ball coach, dad. Tony is on the field with the Cooper at each game, teaching him how to play and where to throw the ball. Cheese for the camera!!
O.k., in T - ball, EVERYONE gets to score a homerun. Not necessarily when they bat, but eventually. This is too little competition for me, but Cooper loves it! This is Cooper on third base, waiting patiently to score:)

MATH!!!

2008-05-19T16:40:00.000-07:00

The boys really love the geoboards that we sometimes use with our Saxon Math. It is a really good curriculum because it is very "hands on" and they do not have to write in order to learn math concepts (for this year at least). Here is Cooper doing his skills assessment for the geoboards.
Hard at work!!
The boys had to copy a pattern that I had given them (colors and placementof the bands) in order to complete an assessment portion in our math book. Carter is hard at work trying to copy the pattern. We had a really fun year in math and I think boys both learned a lot!
Carter made a cross on his geoboard after his assessment. He was very proud of it because he said that he made it to remind him that Jesus died on the cross so he could go to heaven. He can be so thoughtful and contemplative at times. I love when he does that!

GIRAFFES!

2008-05-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

O.k., this post is a little on the adult side, so no children viewers (or readers). Anyway, we are at the zoo and are excited about the prospect of feeding the giraffes. Well, we get to the top of the giraffe exhibit and I quickly realize that the giraffes are not hungry. We are in the middle of giraffe mating season with ALL of the boy giraffe parts showing for the world to see. See below for more:)
So, with everything "hanging out" and twenty or so people gawking and talking about what is going on, the boys begin to ask questions like, "Why is his peepee hanging out?" and "Why is he trying to jump on the other giraffe". So, what do you say to that? Well, needless to say, at the Jacksonville Zoo, we had our first foray into what it takes to make giraffe babies. See below for more:)
So, here are the giraffes, that sparked our "birds and bees" conversation or "Giraffes" conversation. If you are wondering what we told the boys, call me and I will be happy to talk with you about it:):):)

MORE JACKSONVILLE ZOO

2008-05-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

Tony is such a great dad. Carter wanted nothing to do with feeding the Lorikeets. So, Tony got two birds on him and then coaxed Carter over to hold the nectar. He was still a little scared, but he liked it!
O.k., here is our second (of three) peeks at animal parts during this visit to the zoo. The boys and I were totally entranced with the baby chimpanzee breastfeeding. The baby would nurse and then walk away and then come back over and nurse some more. It was fascinating.
See below for description!
We all thought that it was really neat that the bird above was named Cooper's Hawk. Cooper made sure that I took a picture so that he could show everyone that he had his "own" hawk. We always knew he was special!

JACKSONVILLE ZOO

2008-05-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

Isn't this funny? This bird was sitting on top of a roof sunning himself and I had to take a picture. He looked like he was trying to flash us!! That's what was in my mind, anyway!! This was not the only peek we got at animal parts on this day. See the GIRAFFES post:) HAHAHAHA!

Tony, Cooper and Carter having a great day at the zoo. We all love it when we can spend more time with Daddy! The boys really liked the elephants. They can now tell you that African Elephants have ears that are shaped like Africa and that you can tell the difference between African and Asian Elephants using their ear shape!!
Here are Carter and Cooper with the Jacksonville Zoo Mascot, Jazoo!
Our two monkeys with one big ape!

STINGRAYS!

2008-05-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

On a whim, we decided to go to Jacksonville Zoo. It was a really great trip for all of us. We arrived as soon as they opened at 10:00 a.m. and we did not leave until 6:00 p.m. that night. It is a very large zoo and we covered the whole of it!! One of our favorite attractions was the stingrays. It is the newest exhibit at the zoo.
Cooper is the bravest four year old I know. He had no fear about practically falling into the tank to touch the stingrays. He was very excited and in true Cooper form, he liked that they were slimy:):)
Carter, Carter, Carter!!! The tank area was a little fishy smelling and Carter was a little apprehensive when we arrived at the stingray tank. He decided that he was not going anywhere near the water, though he did enjoy looking at the stingrays from a distance. True Carter personality!!
Here is the brave beast again. Tony had to hold Cooper down so he wouldn't fall into the water. He begged to go back to the tank throughout the day.

SAVANNAH KIDS DAY

2008-05-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to the Annual Savannah Kids Day this year. I was interested in going for the education activities and *hopefully* find Summer Camp options for both boys. This picture is of Cooper in the Army's Hum-V at Kids Day. He was very interested in all of the equipment and definitely wanted to try on the gear, as you can see:)
Here are the boys at the Savannah Roundhouse Museum's craft table. It was a really neat educational activity. They were given wood shapes and asked to create a train with their pieces. When the project was completed, they were able to decorate their creations. They loved it!!
Well, as you can tell, Cooper (face paint and all) had a great time at the JEA Kids Day. Tony had bought both boys a dinosaur at Target and Cooper has his in a death grip, even in his sleep.

BASEBALL

2008-05-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

We have missed the entire month of April and are well into May on our blog. However, we have been soooooo busy:) This picture is of Carter when he tried his uniform on for the first time for Pooler Baseball. He was very excited!
As you can see, Carter wanted Cooper in the picture to celebrate his venture into "real" baseball, as he calls it. They are sooo funny. They love smiling for the camera.
This is Carter on first base after his first hit in real baseball. He is very serious when he plays baseball. I have had one grandmother who comes to watch her grandson, Carter - yes, another Carter on the same team, that she enjoyed watching our Carter because he was so into the game!!
Carter played left field for the Pooler Athletics this year in the 8U division. He really wanted to play a base, but since this was his first year he was in the outfield. He was also one of the youngest kids on his team.

SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS

2008-03-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

So, here is the HUGE printing press that they use at Savannah Morning News. We were in awe at the size of it! It is made by a German company (hence the flag), but there was an American flag on the other side to provide a nice balance!!!
We are so happy to be on a field trip!!
HOMESCHOOLING FRIENDS!! Carter is in the front row, fourth kid from the end on the right hand side. Cooper is sitting behind Carter and cannot be seen:(
Savannah Morning News!! This is a week of excitement for us. We are going to several events at the Savannah Music Festival and as you can see, we visited the newspaper!! Lots going on!!

GREEN EGGS AND HAM!!

2008-03-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

So, here are our Green Eggs and Ham (Sam I Am)!! We also had Green Eggs and Ham Tic Tac Toe, which was a big hit with BOTH the boys - see below.
Cooper, as he is about most food, was very excited to eat his Green Eggs and Ham. The boys helped to cook (and color) the Green Eggs and Ham. They also had Green Eggs and Ham placemats to eat off of. This has been a really fun unit!!
Carter was not too excited about eating his Green Eggs and Ham, as you can plainly see. I am so happy that I got this shot of him though. It really portrays his personality when he is upset. Only a bite of Green Eggs and Ham for him on this day!!
As I said in the previous posting, Carter and Cooper have taken to wearing their hats each day when we do school. Here is Carter coloring in his calendar for the day while wearing his hat. Each day, in addition to our regular work, we have been reading a Dr. Seuss book (mostly the classics) and doing several activities that relate to the book. The boys are really enjoying it!!

THE CAT IN THE HAT

2008-03-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

We have been studying Dr. Seuss in the month of March. This picture is our edible Cat In The Hat Hat!! Carter and Cooper loved this project - not only could they eat it, they got to make it and they were psyched!!
Here is Carter In The Hat, with his Cat In The Hat Hat. Truth be told, Carter made three Cat In The Hat Hats and ate them all!!! He also made his hat (on his head) and is saving it so that he can wear it each time we read a Dr. Seuss story.
Cooper and his Cat In The Hat Hat. He made a very tall hat at first, but it fell, so he toned it down a little and got this little creation. He only made two Cat In The Hat Hats. Oh, and yes, Cooper loves doing school without much clothing, if you were wondering:)
Here are the boys after finishing their hats (on their heads). They were so proud. They run around the house with their hats on saying things like, "I do not like Green Eggs and Ham, I do not like them (Carter or Cooper) I am". They are too funny.

MONSTER TRUCKS!!

2008-03-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

I am sooo cool!
Tony surprised us and took us to a Monster Truck Show at Oglethorpe Speedway. Carter and Cooper really like monster trucks and this was a really great surprise for them. As you can see, Cooper was "stoked"!!
Carter was happy, too. He really wanted to be by himself on the benches alone, until "DRACO THE DRAGON" came by. Then, he was cowering behind me and Tony. He was terrified. It was kind of funny!!
MONSTER TRUCK MANIA!!!!
DRACO THE DRAGON!!! He spits water and breathes fire!!!!

BASEBALL CLINIC

2008-03-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

We took Carter to a baseball clinic with his friend, Garrett. Here they are waiting to be called down to the fields. They had a really good time on this day. Cooper is not old enough to participate in the clinic, but he did get to watch. Carter is starting baseball, so this was really good practice for him!!
Here is Carter fielding a ball. The boys learned a lot of valuable skills about fielding the ball, catching the ball and hitting the ball. There were two former pro baseball players, Bobby Bonner and Mark Brown, who helped the kids with their skills. WOW!
Here is our little pitcher, Carter, winding up to make a throw. He was so excited on this day. He really felt like a big guy out there with all the other big kids!!

THERAPY DOGS 2

2008-03-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here is Carter reading to his Therapy Dog, "KILLER"! Carter was a little apprehensive about reading to him when we heard his name, but as soon as we saw him, Carter was fine with it and sat down and read to him!!
Here is Cooper and "MANDY". Cooper read to Mandy last time and he really like her and was comfortable with her, so he decided to read to her again.
The boys really like reading to the Therapy Dogs. They get these cool bookmarks that they use in the chapter books that I read to them.

MATH FUN

2008-02-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

This is one of the neatest math experiments we have done in a while. Prior to the experiment, I made up three cups of blue water water and three cups of yellow water. Carter and Cooper were to follow the written "recipe" by pouring two cups of yellow water and two cups of blue water into a seperate bowl.
Here is Carter measuring his two cups of yellow water for the experiment. He was really proud that he could read where the two cups mark was on the measuring cup.
Here is Cooper measuring the two cups of blue water for the experiment. Carter, A.K.A. Big Brother, had to help Cooper find the two cup mark on the measuring cup. They kept asking why they were using colored water. They were so excited!
So, after mixing two cups of yellow water and two cups of blue water, we
made . . . yes, green water. After we had green water, we then measured the total amout of cups of green water (four cups). This was a really great math experiment because the boys learned measuring in cups, they learned yellow and blue make green (in an interesting way) and they learned that two cups of liquid plus another two cups of liquid gives you four cups of liquid. We are using Saxon Math and everday is a real hands on math experience and the boys really love learning this way!!

ROOTS & SHOOTS

2008-02-27T12:58:00.000-08:00

We have been learning about plants and what it takes to grow a plant (seed, good soil, air, water, sunlight, etc.). We have also been learning about the different parts of plants (flower, leaves, stems, roots, etc.). We also talked about how plant food is more like plant "vitamins" than plant food because plants actually make their own food using the sun and a process called "photosynthesis". We didn't get into the whole process, just the idea of it:)
So, above is a picture of our first home grown plant for homeschool use - a green bean plant. The boys took the plant out daily, since it is still a little cool here, and brought it in at night. They made sure that it had water before taking it out daily and it was a really great experiment for us. Dad even put us a little mulch on the top of the plant when we were mulching the yard to give it the red you see in the picture. The boys thought that was too cool.
Here are the roots of our plant. The boys seemed especially amazed at this part of the growing process. I told them that since the green bean plant was now a seedling, it would soon be growing out of the container and we would either need to give it to someone to grow in a garden or throw it away. They are not too happy about this and want to know why, in our small little yard, we can't have a garden of our own and plant our plant in it. As you can tell, they have really become attached to the green beans.

GEORGIA DAYS!!!

2008-02-26T13:16:00.000-08:00

O.k, so here we are at Georgia Day!! The boys were dressed as colonial children for the Georgia Day Parade. For those of you who were like me and had no idea what Georgia Day was, visit the Georgia Historical Society for more information. For about two weeks, we learned about James Oglethorpe and The Trustees, Cheif Tomichichi, the Creek and Cherokee Indians, and much more relating to Georgia history. The boys really got into it!! We went to the a book sale at the library last week and Carter begged to buy some books on Colonial Life:)
Joyce (or Nanney as the boys call her) came to visit us for a few days and she was here during the Georgia Day Parade. She even marched with us in the parade. The parade was from Forsyth Park on Bull Street all the way to City Hall. The boys were really well behaved along the walk down the route and Carter was "cheesing" and waving the whole way!! We went, again to Leopold's for lunch after the parade and took Nanney on a trolley tour of downtown Savannah. It was a really educational day!!
F.E.F.C. or Family Education For Christ is the name of our local homeschool assocation / group. We marched with other members in the parade. Each group is challenged to create a banner for a contest for Georgia Day. This year's theme person was founder, James Oglethorpe. What do you think, great banner, huh? Well, our group didn't win, but I think we should have!! If you click on this link, you can see the Georgia Day Parade in it's entirety. Their are clips of all of us, including Nanney, at the beginning and at around 9:00 minutes.
The Georgia Historical Society really helps to make "Georgia Days" a real treat for all of those involved. We went to several "Georgia Days" activities that were put in place by the Historical Society, including the Colonial Faire and Muster at Wormsloe Historic Site. We feel so lucky to be living in a place with such great history attached to it!! Here are all of the dignitaries, and even costumes characters representing the Trustees and famous Georgians, including James Oglethorpe.

IN FLIGHT 2

2008-02-21T13:35:00.000-08:00

Further evidence that Cooper can't hang!! Here he is on a great flight over the town he was born in and what is he doing? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's!!! Too funny!
Look at that cute face. Is he thinking about how many controls and buttons he can push before his dad can get to him or is he thinking about how fun the flight is going to be? You decide!!
WE LOVE THE PLANE!!! Click here to see video of us flying!!

IN FLIGHT

2008-02-21T13:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of Carter and Cooper and Tony flying with Uncle Jeff. They were so excited. I am counting this as educational because Jeff let Carter have the controls of the plane and fly, so hopefully he learned something from having that much of his own life in his hands!!

Tony took this picture of himself and Cooper while in flight. Cooper later fell asleep during the plane ride. This was a really great birthday gift to Cooper, even though he could not stay awake for some of it!!
HMMMM. . . what if Uncle Jeff let's me fly this plane myself?

OKEFENOKEE

2008-02-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
We went on a swamp boat ride and really learned a lot about the wildlife in this area as well as the habitat of the different animals. The website has a lot of educational / curriculum helps, so we printed these out and learned about Okefenokee on the way. Some of the worksheets were like scavenger hunts and we used the whole trip as an impromptu school day and an opportunity to learn and have fun!!!
Again with the binoculars. . . These are dad's really good binoculars and both boys used them to get a closer look at the Ospreys and Blue Herons in the trees as well as the alligators we saw along the swamp boat ride.
Cooper was very adventurous on the swamp boat ride. Carter was a little cautious around the sides of the boat and really wanted to stay in the middle of the front seat while Cooper continued to scare his dad and I by leaning over as far as possible and saying that he wanted to find a beaver!!!

THERAPY DOGS

2008-02-17T18:34:00.000-08:00

The Live Oak Public Library in Savannah has a really great program where kids can read to "Therapy Dogs". I had never heard of this before, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for Carter to practice his reading and for Cooper to get a little more friendly with dogs. So, Carter went in first while Cooper and I were picking out a book and was finished before I could snap his picture. So, here Cooper and I are reading to the Therapy Dog, Mandy. She was a super sweet dog and Cooper and Carter both got bookmarks saying, "I read to Mandy" with the dogs picture on it!!

THE NUTCRACKER

2008-02-17T18:18:00.000-08:00

Here are the boys standing beside their favorite character after seeing, The Nutcracker, performed by the Savannah Danse Theatre. They really enjoyed the play. Cooper got a little antsy before the intermissions, but he really liked the "Rat King", as he called it. Carter thought that the fighting scenes in the play were the best. He even said that he did not know that they had fighting in plays. After seeing the Nutcracker downtown, we went to Leopold's Ice Cream on Broughton Street for lunch and had "Sugar Plum Fairy" ice cream. It was a real treat since the owner of Leopold's and his wife made cameo appearances in the Nutcracker and then served us our ice cream. The boys thought that was so cool!

OATLAND ISLAND

2008-02-16T16:56:00.000-08:00

Here is our trip to Oatland Island Wildlife Center, with daddy (Tony). The boys really had a great time here. They enjoyed walking on the paw prints with their dad.
We really enjoyed seeing all of the animals. This brown pelican was awesome. It was in an enclosure with alligators and the boys went crazy. You could really see the tracks from the alligators crawling in the mud and the boys wanted to replicate this is the mud when we got home:) Favorites for the boys were walking on the boardwalk across the tidal marsh and feeding more turtles than we had ever seen in Ledbetter Pond. In the tidal marsh, we saw lots of sand crabs and saw a fish beaching itself trying to get food. We were all amazed.
Here are the boys overlooking the water. Oatland Island provided large binoculars for visitors to look out over the water and the boys loved this idea so much that we purchased them their own "kid" binoculars at the gift shop.
LEARNING MINUTE BY MINUTE!!

SOCCER

2008-02-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

SOCCER - Carter and Cooper have played soccer for a while now. Both boys love playing. The boys both played soccer for the Coastal YMCA from about August until October. Tony coached both boys teams, even though he was super busy with work. This is a picture of both boys before their first practices.
This is a picture of Carter at Picture Day. He was so cute and smiled so good for the photographers that I had to take his picture, too. He was really proud of his purple jersey.
Cooper's team was a group of three year old children and it was really hard to get them to take pictures for the photographers at Picture Day, much less me, so I only got a picture of Carter's team. Here they are with their great coach!!

HOME SCHOOL IS SO COOL

2008-02-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

How many kids who "go to school" work on their phonics looking this cool?

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

2008-02-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

So. . . I am going to try and start at the beginning of this school year and work my way to the present time. This is Carter and Cooper on their first day of school at co - op in September. We attend a co - op every Monday from 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. called Kingdom Builders Coop. We really enjoy it. Carter is in first grade at co - op and Cooper is in the preschool class. I teach 7th and 8th grade General Science and assist with the Physical Science Class as well as Chemistry. Carter has studied "The Bible and Ancient Civilizations" and is now studying "Forensic Science". Carter also attends clubs at co - op. Last semester he took P.E. and Sign Language. This semester he is taking P.E. and Drama. Kingdom Builders Co - op is a really great organization and we feel lucky to be a part of it. Our journey into homeschooling is adventurous and tiresome for us all. We hope you keep track of our activities on our new blog!

WELCOME

2008-01-27T19:29:00.000-08:00

I am creating this blog so that our family and friends can see our what we are doing with our home school days. I do not know why I did not think to begin this blog at the beginning of the year, rather than at the end, but hindsight is 20/20. I hope to post pictures and blogs bi - weekly. I look forward to hearing your comments and questions. I hope you all check back soon!!