Kelly's Current Read

I thought I might as well show you what I'm read (really it's re-reading - again!!) right now. This is my favorite homeschool book of all time. It has such great insight to the Charlotte Mason mentality of homeschooling. Very easy to read and implement. It's good to read before starting a new school year to get some inspiration. I have many ideas planned for this upcoming year with the girls.

Brenda's New Book

Update ~~~~ Okay, Mother Teresa got bumped until later in the year. Brenda is gonna start with the Hiding Place - the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her life during WWII in a concentration camp. The Hiding Place is my all-time favorite book. I don't know why I didn't think of this first. We will study a little of Holland, Germany, the Nazis and then Corrie's family and how faithful God is. She had the most remarkable spirit about her. I am so challenged when I read her words!!



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It's the end of July - time for lots of new books coming in here. Brenda's first pictorial biography came in the mail today. She will begin studying the life of Mother Teresa when school starts (tied in to a study of India for geography).

I'm more excited because today looking at the Come and See book - it triggered my brain and I thought of Brenda's next bio. She is gonna read one of my all time favorite books - The Hiding Place - about the capture of Corrie Ten Boom and her family and how she never fails to love God and see His beauty in the hellish life she leads in a Nazi concentration camp.

I'm sure we will both learn a lot from these ladies who have seen more than we could ever imagine.

Good to Great

Summer reading 3
Originally uploaded by publicmind / Hans Henrik H. Heming

This is a book Artie is currently reading for work. It has some good principles that can be used in a family as well.

"Good is the enmy of great."

"Few people attain great lives, in large part because itis just so easy to settle for a good life."

"When you have disciplined people, you don't need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don't need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don't need excessive controls." (where we are working with our teenagers!!)

Level 5 Leaders - "ambition first and foremost for the company and concern for it's success rather than for onle's own riches and personal renown. Level 5 leaders want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won't even know thtat the roots of theat success trace back to their efforts. As one Level 5 leader said, 'I want to look out from my porch at one of the great companies in the world someday and be able to say, 'I use to work there."

Brenda > Kelly > Brenda and Emily

I want to pour everything I have into Brenda and Emily so that their home and family rise above anything I've ever dreamed of. Just like the president of a large corporation dreams for his company.

Created for Work

created for work
Originally uploaded by tlpgina

Artie, Troy and I are reading this new book. It just came (from e-bay) last week. So far it is excellent - although Troy hasn't quiet yet found the joy in reading it with us.

"And whatever you do, do it heartily" Colossians 3:23

Here are a couple of ideas from the first chapter...

give more than is required in your work - just like God

learn to put abundance into what you do

put your heart into your work

use your imagination

Our goal is to read a chapter (they are very small - only about 4 pages) a day and then maybe talk about it at dinner.

Mama's Movie Night

A delightful Movie. Feb.14th 2007
Originally uploaded by JIGGS

I also got a movie night this week. Artie went to bed early and I settled in and watched Miss Potter all by myself!! It was a beautiful movie!!! I loved it!!!

Emily is going to be studying Beatrix Potter in her artist study this year and we will top it off watching the movie. It seems like the little town Beatrix Potter lived in wasn't too far from Ambleside (Charlotte Mason)...then there's Phillipa in England too. It would be such fun to go and visit some day. It is such a beautiful country!!

Night at the Museum

MUSEUM
Originally uploaded by Valence

We had such a fun movie night last night. We popped six bags of popcorn (free thanks the a Harris Teeter triple sale a couple of days ago) :-) and away we went.

Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight was the first to recommend this.

http://dawnathome.typepad.com/by_sun_and_candlelight/2006/12/eight_thumbs_up.html

It was a huge hit. Ben Stiller is great. It's a family friendly movie that even had Terry laughing!! Owen Wilson is my favorite in the movie - he's a "little" cowboy who doesn't like to be man-handled.

The littles had it back on this morning when we got up.

School Book Preparations - Brenda

Mary Cassatt_The Cup of Tea
Originally uploaded by Redbud

Here is my best shot at listing Brenda's books. I'm still working on lots of her preparation. She is doing Marbleised Pre-year 7 and Keepers at Home - Year 2.

Here is her book list...


Bible

Devotional -
Mere Christianity - CS Lewis
Pursuit of God - Tozer
Pursuit of Holiness - Bridges

Bible History - Trial and Triumph

History -
Augustus Caesar's World
The Story of the World - Modern Age
Story of the Greeks
Story of the Romans

Biography - beginning with Mother Teresa
Ruth Bell Graham
Amy Carmichael
Sara Edwards

Geography - this will be a study corresponding with her biographies - beginning with India

Nature Study - School of the woods

Math - Saxon 87

Spanish - still looking

Poetry - still looking

Literature -
Pilgrims Progress
Anne of Green Gables
Little Women
Little Men
Little House Series - book 2
Shakespeare - Charles Lamb

Artist appreciation - studying Mary Cassatt (pictured - The Cup of Tea) first quarter

Composer appreciation - studying Keith Green first quarter

Memorization - beginning with the greatest commandment

Physical Science - Apologia

Science Biographies-
Einstein
Archimedes
Galileo



Keepers at Home - Subjects:

Cooking - Amish
Home Management/Cleaning
Sewing (from year 1)
Gardening - Four Season Harvest
Knitting? (from year 1)
Godly Womanhood (with Emily)
~Beautiful Girlhood
~Making my Room Special
~Spirit of Loveliness (Emilie Barnes - Emily's namesake)
~Welcome Home (Emilie Barnes)

School Book Preparations - Emily

childrens book illustration tag (Finland)
Originally uploaded by Feel like dancing_Portugal

I am beginning to get things ready for school. I can't believe it is less than five weeks til the first day!!

I am going to start with Emily's books (second grade). Hers are a little easier for me to get all together than Brenda's.

Emily will be doing Ambleside Year 1 and Training Your Daughters to be Keepers at Home - Year 1.

Here is her book list...


Bible - I am stilling deciding on the child's version we will use

Bible History - Trial and Triumph

History -
An Island Story
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Viking Tales (maybe?)

American History -
Benjamin Franklin - Ingri D'Aulaire
George Washington - Ingri D'Aulaire
Buffalo Bill - Ingri D'Aulaire

Geography -
Paddle to the Sea - Holling C. Holling
Tree in the Trail - Holling C. Holling
Seabird - Holling C. Holling

Nature Study - The Burgess Bird Book

Phonics - Hooked on Phonics

Math - Saxon 2

Spanish - still looking

Poetry -
A Child's Garden of Verses - Robert Louis Stephenson
Now We Are Six - A.A. Milne
When We Were Young - A. A. Milne
Oxford Book of Children's Verse - Iona and Peter Opie

Literature -
Aesop's Fables - illustrated by Milo Winter
Tales from Shakespeare - Charles Lamb
The Blue Fairy Book - Andrew Lang
Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling
Parables from Nature - Margaret Gatty

Free Reading -
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire

Handwriting - Getty & Dubay - Book B

Artist appreciation - studying Beatrix Potter first quarter

Composer appreciation - studying Keith Green first quarter

Memorization - beginning with the greatest commandment



Keepers at Home - Subjects:

Cooking - Rachael Ray (Emily's favorite)
Rubber Stamping - (Brenda will be teaching this)
Sewing
Gardening - Square Foot Gardening
Knitting?
Godly Womanhood (with Brenda)
~Beautiful Girlhood
~Making my Room Special
~Spirit of Lovliness (Emilie Barnes - Emily's namesake)
~Welcome Home (Emilie Barnes)

~ The King's Daughter

Carowinds

Welcome to...
Originally uploaded by ~Living the American Dream~

Sunday, Artie's work sent all their employees and their families to Carowinds. We had such a good time. We meet and had lunch provided for us - hot dogs and hamburgers. I got to meet a lot of the people I hear about every day from Artie's office.

We split up - Troy and Brenda went to ride the Borg (a 1 1/2 hour wait) and Artie and I took the littles to the Nickelodeon rides. Everyone had such a good day. Stephen, Bobby and Terry rode their first roller coaster and first bumper cars. Terry was the funniest!!! He was terrified on the roller coaster and loved it - they rode it four times!!

We spent most of the afternoon on that side of the park - Troy and Brenda came and rode the little cars with us. We all met back up in the water park. The littles played in the wave pool. It was a great day!!

My camera is still acting up, but I found some pictures on Flicker of our favorite things.

This was the littles' favorite ride - Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion

You ride in the mystery machine throughout the mansion and shoot ghosts and Scooby snacks.

Carowinds 14
Originally uploaded by flip.angle

Artie and I rode the Lazy Town Copters with all the littles

Carowinds (6)
Originally uploaded by teri_brooks

Here's Artie's favorite ride of the day - Danny Phantom's - Phantom fliers

carowinds_2007-36
Originally uploaded by kycz

Emily and I rode Granny's favorite ride - the Needle.

Carowinds 2005!
Originally uploaded by Travis Hellstrom

This was Troy and Brenda's favorite ride - The Vortex

VORTEX-CAROWINDS-070707
Originally uploaded by VAN JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY

We finished up the day with a nice meal at Taco Bell. The children were exhausted - not to mention Artie and myself!! :-) Thanks Comfort System!!

$1008 worth of groceries for $145!!! - Triples Coupons at Lowe's Foods

I had my best ever one day shop and best triple sale shop too this past weekend!!! (the picture is from the first shop on Thursday - sorry the picture isn't the best - there was a bad glare from the window)

Thursday, Brenda and went to Lowe's Foods in Gastonia (about 40 minutes away). We each did 6 shops (you could only do 20 coupons per order - so we went through 6 times) - for a total of 12 shops.

Our total bill before coupons was $711.68 we only paid $89.57 - a savings of $622.11!!!! What a shop.

Artie and I went back on Saturday. We went through 3 times each and our total was $297.08 before coupons. We paid $58.94 - saving $238.14!!! Artie was so funny. He couldn't do anything but laugh at the register!!! :-)

So our family total for the triple sale was $1008 worth of groceries for $145!!!! WOW oh WOW!!! :-)

There is another triple sale coming up this weekend (Thurs - Sat) at Harris Teeter. I usually go to the store in Shelby. It is only about 30 minutes from our house. I pack up the coolers to keep the cold items in and head out. Brenda will probably go with me and help out. Wow, if I had learned to shop like this before I was married - we would be way ahead financially where we are now!! Better late than never I guess! :-)

Swimming at the Griffins

What a pool full!!! 9 kids and 4 grownups!! Notice how Gwyn and I avoided the camera!! :-)

Emily and Terry

Bobby had just had stitches in his pinkie toe - Artie and Shay wrapped his foot in a Wal-Mart and then taped it up with duck tape!! A man and his duck tape - what a match made in heaven!!

Terry got more and more comfortable as the day went on.

Camping

We had such a fun weekend camping.
 

The sun set was very pretty the first night there. Artie, Marshall, and Ryan got most of the tents set up before we got there. I brought all the children a little later (we had been at Emily's Girls Scout program in Spartanburg - Artie left and went straight to the camp and I went home and got the other children and finished packing the car)

We stayed busy playing all weekend. Brenda's baiting someone's fishing line - she's definitely her daddy's girl - didn't get that from me~~~~ My Papa Troy would have been proud!!

Bobby had a lot of fun swimming in the lake. He would just get off in his own world floating in his life jacket. He reminds me a lot of Troy when he was younger.

Troy spent most of his weekend playing with Ryan. They canoed all over the lake and swam all the way across a couple of times. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but my camera wasn't cooperating.

Stephen had a good time swimming and fishing in the lake. (Adam is canoeing with Troy in the background)

Emily fishing. She said she had a good time even though she didn't catch anything this trip.

Terry caught his first fish, then he caught a snapping turtle and then another fish. All right in a row - every time he threw his line in the water. The other children were all screaming!! It's amazing any fish stayed nearby. Stephen and Bobby also caught their first fish - but my camera didn't want to take any more pictures~~ 10 children kept the dock pretty active all weekend. I'm sure the fish were ready for a break after we left!!

Artie and Emily, Terry fishing, Troy and Adam coming in from canoeing.


Cassie, Brenda and Emily always have a good time together!!!

High Blood Pressure

Boulder, Colorado
Originally uploaded by Barrybar

I spent the day in bed yesterday - checking my blood pressure. It is way up and is messing me up. My head is swimmy, I'm dizzy. Anyone have any good tips? I think I am going to have to end up going back to the doctor and having my prescription updated.

Beacon Drive-In

Beacon Drive-In
Originally uploaded by CozCoz

Yeah, Friday we got to go to the Beacon. It's one of the things I miss about living in Spartanburg.

When my mama and daddy were dating - they use to go to the Beacon on Friday or Saturday nights. It was the place to be. My daddy lived within walking distance in Park Hills.

It's such a fun place and they have the best food. We all got chili cheeseburgers and french fries. Troy told the little boys they were fixing to eat the best hamburgers in the world - I don't think they were disappointed!!

I miss seeing Mr. White there, but the man that served us was very kind. He was inviting a little boy in front of us to Bible school the following week.

Today at the Quinn's

Fresh Corn
Originally uploaded by disneymike

Today was Emily's first day at Girl Scout Camp!! She will go all week. I have such good memories of GS camp. She is at Camp Mary Elizabeth - me and my mama spent many camping trips there!! :-)

Troy took Stephen and Terry swimming with the church. Stephen can swim under water now.

Bobby wasn't able to go, he still has stitches in his pinkie toe (sliced it last weekend on Troy's truck's windshield wipers - 5 stitches). He is going to see if they will take them out tomorrow morning.

Brenda spent the day getting ready for a beach trip to Charleston tomorrow. She is going with a friend from church. They are gonna stay a week. She has washed her clothes and has almost everything laid out to go. If I could just get her to clean her room before she leaves.

(For those keeping up - we still haven't heard from Brian. Gaffney High School called today about Brian's registration and I had to tell them he wouldn't be there in the fall.)

I spent the day packing lunches, taxing everyone around to their different activities, sweeping, washing dishes, stopping by the store (twice - got some good deals at an Eckerd's that has been bought out by Rite Aid), cooking a little supper (Artie grilled), and cleaning out a desk drawer.


Tonight's Dinner

Grilled chicken with smokehouse BBQ sauce
Corn on the Cob
Caesar Pasta Salad

Artie and I are fixing to watch Freedom Writers - I hope it's good. Gwyn recommended it. I don't like Hillary Swank (she has a problem with gender roles I think - acting like a boy, boxing, just not my cup of tea) - so it's already got one strike against it.