Whataburger Field....Field Trip

Earlier this year, HOST had a behind the scene field trip to Whataburger Field. It was really interesting. The tour guides showed the kids how the entire operation
works for a baseball game to run smoothly. Personally, I have never been to Whataburger Field or even to a Hooks baseball game. I may just have to do that next season.

2012 HOST Geography Fair...

H.O.S.T.,known as Homeschoolers of South Texas, held their annual Geography Fair on Jan.19, 2012. Pumpkin and I decided since we are studying Brazil in Geography we'd just do that country for the fair. It was a great experience for Ariel and she learned how to organize her ideas, facts about the Brazil Flag, statistics about the country, such as population, the capital, and exports they are known for. Pumpkin is definitely a kinesthetic learner, therefore, this project was perfect for her learning style. She really enjoyed putting the board together. She learned about the history, culture, and even did some art projects related to Brazil. She made a "Carnival" costume, a dancing carnival wooden man, and made Brigadeiros, which is Brazilian candy.

Our Peanut Diva...

Today, Peanut is 22 months old. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Peanut is definitely a Diva. She has an amazing personality. This picture is a GREAT example of her personality and that smile melts our hearts every-time.

Operation Christmas Child - 2011

Four years ago, I began a teaching job at Cathedral of the Palms Christian School. That year was the first time I'd heard of "Operation Christmas Child". My class participated in that event every year thereafter. This year, as a homeschooling family, I decided to continue the tradition. What was even more amazing is that our church, Real Life Corpus, was a drop off site.

So what is "Operation Christmas Child"? Samaritan's Purse is a non-denominational evangelical Christian humanitarian organization that works worldwide to assist people in physical need alongside their Christian missionary work. The organization’s president is Franklin Graham, son of Christian evangelist Billy Graham. The name of the organization is based on the New Testament Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus uses a parable to teach people the second great commandment - how to "love thy neighbour as thyself".

Check out there website for complete details and see how you can make a difference in a child's life.

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php

Here is a picture of Peanut & Pumpkin after they were done packing their boxes. We had a great time, shopping, packing, and praying for the children whom would receive these gifts. Thank you Lord for allowing us to be a blessing.

Learning about continents - My Father's World

My Father's World is an amazing curriculum that we are using this year. The curriculum begins with a one-year foundation in geography, entitled Exploring Countries & Cultures. The first part of the study begins with learning the continents and oceans, as an end of the unit review, Pumpkin made this continent cake.

In addition to the cake, Pumpkin had to understand how a map is not to scale since the world is round and maps are flat. She was taught maps are not to scale because a continent on a flat map has to be stretched out to show everything. It's an abstract idea to grasp but drawing the continents on an orange, peeling it, and lying it flat was a great hands-on demonstration activity.

January 4, 2012

As I was helping Pumpkin with her math, Peanut found a sharpie marker and decided to use her legs as paper. We just had to laugh...Could of been worse, she could of written on the wall.

2012...The Start of a Great Year...

New Years Eve was great! For the first time, Aaron and I went out. We were invited over to Mando's mom's house. It was one of the best times we had in a long time. It was so much fun and no one was even drunk. My past experiences with New Years Eve's party involved lots of drinking and someone fighting in the end.

We had a nice dinner, played games, and prayed in the New Year. For the first time we played Apples to Apples and Cranium. It was a blast and we stayed at their house until 3:30am.

It was a great start to 2012!