Baking with Granny

For the past month or so, Delaney has wanted to make gingerbread men cookies with Granny. The day finally came when her desires were fulfilled.

Granny spent the entire day with the kids while I was away attending a Classical Conversations conference. They raided the pantry for supplies and even found some tubes of decorators frosting and went to town.

They had a deliciously fun day.

Ahhh, Virginia Beach--and a wonderful LDSEHE conference

I have never before enjoyed visiting the beach as much as I have this past trip to Virginia Beach for the LDSEHE (Latter day Saint Eastern Home Educators) Conference.

Walking to and from the conference along the boardwalk, which was only a few blocks away from our hotel, was a wonderful way to enjoy the ocean view .....and get in a bit of exercise too.

Every day we met outside on the beach for lunch. Talking about the classes and activities we just completed, and, for Connor, playing in the sand was a wonderful lunch break for us all.









More playing in the sand....













and more....

they couldn't resist playing in the waves!

information overload....after so many wonderful classes and speakers we all get a bit rummy in the brain, but I can't wait to go back.

Some highlights:

-Listening to Dr.Micheal Ballam, of USU and a world renowned opera singer, and the wonderful talks he gave on the power of music and different learning styles. I knew music can help people in many different ways--learning, relaxing, therapy needs etc.--but I had no idea how powerful it can be. Of course, the right music enhances learning, the wrong kind will shut the brain down and keep it from learning properly

-All people have geniuses waiting to be found within. The challenge is helping our selves or our children to commit to doing the hard work to find it and develop it.

-That math, grammar, facts and such are TOOLS for education. We need these facts and memory work to help us understand how the world works, how we fit in the plan and our relationship to others, past and present, and what the Lord expects us to become--to develop our mission in life, our geniuses. BUT, math facts, grammar rules, etc. are not in themselves education. They do not make a person educated, they give them the tools to become truly educated. For example, I believe the Lord uses math to organize the world around us (as do many others), we need to learn multiplication math facts to help us learn algebra and then learn higher math, which in turn helps us understand how the world is organized.

Connor was told a great joke about math recently--"A father asked his son, who had just finished his first year of college--"So son, what did you learn?" "Well Dad, I learned that biology is really chemistry, and chemistry is really physics, and physics is really math and math is really hard!"

This has been a wonderful bit of knowledge for me to comprehend. It is important to me that they learn all the memory work we have in CC, but it's not the end goal why I didn't grasp this earlier, I'll never know--slow but, it gives me greater vision of my goal --to help my kids become truly educated and to learn of God and then, testify and make him known to others.

-The over all spirit and rejuvenation I get while around others who have taken on the challenge to educated their children at home....and the joy and peace I get when I realize, once again, that I am doing what is best for my family. I know it's not for everyone, but I'm sure glad it is for me. I love being with my kids all day long, learning and growing with them.

-I loved having time to spend with just Connor. Being in a bigger family (that another thing--where I live we are a big family, there at the conference, not so--many families with more kids than ours! )....anyway, I loved spending alone time with Connor.

Connor loved the classes by Dr. Jay L. Wile. He's a college professor who has developed/written science curriculum and a wonderful speaker on how creationism blends beautifully with science. What I love about this man is that Connor chatted with him about experiments that he want to do...he listened- with real intent- and gave him ideas on how to accomplish them. Dr. Wile asked Connor to let him know how the experiment went. He and Connor have since conversed via email for the past few months, off and on, about science related topics and he still responds. He doesn't ignore him--as busy as I'm sure he is--he find the time to respond to Connor's email. How cool is that!

A Bit of Family Fun

Needed to get out and have some family time fun! (It's been hard to find time between work, mowing business and school)

Went to the park for a breakfast picnic!

The sun was shining--a wonderful break from the cold rainy weather we've had lately.

Had a super time....yet when I took the camera out--the boys fled. "Gotta get to work, see ya Mom!!" Hummmm, how convenient. Oh well, the girls and I stayed and had fun playing at the park....the boys, they had fun playing with mowers, weed eaters and mulch!

Game night with the boys

Video games... (Mario Cart and Link, here we come)....pizza....soda.....lots of fun!!!!

Fun times with the Young Men's leaders and Geekons...oh I mean Deacons. :)

Those Mean Ole Greenbeans!

Laim woke a few hours after going to bed barking/coughing like a seal and having a hard time breathing.....ahhhhh......croup!
After sitting in the bathroom with the shower running to provide lots of steam and then a trip outside sitting on the porch till he could breathe and then fall asleep once again, I was hoping the eventful late night evening was over.
Alas, he continued to be sick and miserable. Within 2 days he had quite a bout with fever, coughing and just being totally miserable.
He never takes naps anymore, yet he took 2 in one day. The rest of the day he laid about moaning and listless.
By the fourth day, he was feeling much better and his usual chatter box self was zooming around the house once again.
I was sitting the the living room, reading a book while he was talking non stop about something--yes, I wasn't listening, after a while his chatter begins to be too much :)
when, all of a sudden he proclaimed loudly, "I know what made me sick, the green beans did! They made me sick Mom!" I know he doesn't like green beans, but I had no idea how much he did. You mean ole green beans leave my boy alone!

Cool!

While getting dressed and ready for the day, Liam joined me upstairs in the bathroom and asked, "Mommy, how do I look?"
I told him "Beautiful!"
Horrified, he responded with, "Mommy, I'm not a girl! I'm a boy. I'm not beautiful."
I stood corrected and then said "You look handsome,"
again he said "No, Mommy......I know, how about cool? I'm cool! Is that good?"

Yes indeedie, that is good, you are indeed Cool!!

Touring Claytor Lake Dam

For science we spent a bit of time learning about the different measurements of electricity. I thought I would be fun to tour a facility that harnessed electricity from nature.

We went to the AEP's Claytor Lake Dam to learn all about water generated electricity.




Our tour guide, Dino--what fun it was to learn that he too, is a homeschooling Dad. His kids are in the Roanoke CC group.

Viewing the three generators from the top level....

Going below to see the generators running

The equivalent of 26,000 horse power is passing through this pen stock. The noise level was quite high and the vibrations were amazing.

Up on top of the dam over looking the lake

....and on the other side, the New River.

We had a great day...even Connor enjoyed the tour and he's notorious for getting bored and unhappy with planned tours...just goes to show if it has to do with science, then he's all for it!!