Thursday's Speech Class

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Abigail snapped a couple of picture during speech today. He is doing Impromptu and Interprative speech. I think there is a huge learning curve from when you start until you go to competition. Hopefully, doing speech in his eighth grade year will have him better prepared for competition going into the high school years. There is an Apologetics division that I think he will navigate to, but for now we are still feeling our way thru all the materials presented!

Tour of the Library

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After school today we headed to one of the Plano Libraries to meet up with some friends and take a tour. The volunteers gave us a basic tour around the library educating the kids on the various sections of the library. Next we split up and the elementary age children checked out the Children’s section. They were shown how to search for books on the computers, and how to place them on hold, etc. The Jr. High age kids were shown how to access various reference materials and the Library of Congress’s database.

The coolest part was we got to go behind the scenes and see where the books go when you drop them off at the drive thru! We ended the tour with a scavenger hunt, upon finding all items on their list the kids were rewarded with a goodie bag of items.

Elders & Ministers Dinner

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This quarter the 3rd thru 6th grade girls at church are doing the Tabitha class. They learn lots of great areas women in the church can serve and minister to others. Last night the girls served dinner the the ministers, elders and their spouses. Looks like they had some fun!

Vetro Glass Blowing Studio & Gallery

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Today's adventures took us to Vetro Glass Blowing Studio and Gallery. Vetro is a fully-functioning and operational glassblowing studio. The artists offer an educational experience by allowing the public to view their regular production. We took 80+ homeschooling friends with us from Plano to Vetro's studio in Grapevine. Today we watched as the artist completed three commissioned roundels for a private collection. As a teenager I was blessed to be able to visit the island of Murano in Italy with my parents. Ever since that adventure I have been fascinated by the whole process.

Shoes for Orphans Souls

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Shoes for Orphans Souls was one of our first service field trips when we came to Texas. It amazes me that Abigail is now sorting shoes and old enough to help with the whole process. Shoes for Orphans Souls is a ministry of Buckner International, that provides new shoes and socks to orphans and at-risk children in the United States and throughout the world. Since 1999, 2 million pairs of new shoes and socks have been distributed to children in 68 countries. Volunteers sort through donated shoes, match up pairs, verify matching sizes and rubber band them so they pack easy and then sort by gender and size. One of the neat parts is that every pair of shoes gets a little personal note from the child that packed them. Something hand written, or drawn, tucked down in one of the shoes.

Piano Lessons

OK, so this isn't the best picture but I was trying not to distract Abigail! I knew my mom would want to see Abigail's first piano lesson! I have taught Abigail thus far and she can play a couple of songs and knows how to read music, but this is the first 'someone besides Mom' piano lesson! She is doing the Simply Music program.

Greedy, Selfish, & Honor

This is Abigail's Language Arts reading adapted from E. Frere's Greedy, Selfish and Honor. It is one of those stories different cultures and nations have told to explain why the world is the way it is. Some stories present virtues and vices as people try to explain why good actions are good and bad actions are bad.

This story explains why Greedy is never satisfied, why Selfish is disagreeable, and why Honor is well-loved!

Disclaimer: My older babies would have acted honorably too! -Mommy loves you!

Better Luck, Next Time!

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Abigail's Blue Crush had a game this morning. They weren't as successful as they had been on last week's game, but they did their best. Abigail played catcher through out the game and I think she only got one at bat. Good news is we're always only a few days away from the next game!

Chapel & Fun

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One Friday afternoon per month we have Chapel and an Extension activity with our home school friends. During Chapel the kids can quote a memorized scripture or poem, or play or sing a song. Various local pastors take turns leading our devotional time. .

Following Chapel is our Extension , today Garry Seith, meterologist from Ch. 21-KTXA, presented a weather workshop. The kids participated in fun demonstrations amout air preassure and all things weather. We re-created the ping pong ball and hair dryer experiment at home!

Constitution Day

In celebration of Constitution Day, we met up with other homeschool friends to learn more about the signers. Each family selected a lesser known signer and prepared 10 interesting facts about that signer. Following the presentations we shared in a sampling of foods that would have been common in that era. After our afternoon filled with great information, I took the kids to Target's Portrait Studios to preserve this moment in time. Caleb dressed as Benjamin Franklin, complete with a leg wrapped, due to gout! Abigail resembled Abigail Adams and Frankie dressed as Dolly Madison! So fun.

Chemistry Experiment

The slime you might find in a real Mad Scientist's lab would probably be the result of some horrible genetic mutation. But the slime made by the nine year old girl at our house is hot pink and has purple glitter in it! We mixed school glue, water and boric acid with food coloring (plus glitter) to make a fun goo!

Fall Ball in the Cages

School has started back and with it Fall ball. Abigail plays softball year round and has been with the same team for four years. With all the recent storms the fields were too wet so their first practice was at the batting cages. Her first game is next week!

The End of Summer

Labor Day generally marks the end of summer, it means back to school and no more pool! Hawaiian Falls closes for the season on Larbor Day, so we took in one more day of fun for this summer. The lines weren't too bad, the weather was perfect and the water, just a little chilly! What's not to enjoy about a place where you can have nachos for lunch and the fly down the Torpedo! It was a wonderful way to wrap up the summer with the family! We ended the day with a sno-cone in honor of Pawpa!

A Case for Smiles

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.Friday afternoon, we got together with our local homeschool group to sew pillowcases! Each of the kids each made two pillowcases, one to keep and one to give to ConKerr Cancer's Miles of Pillowcases Smiles.

“ConKerr Cancer: A Case for Smiles” was started when Ryan Kerr was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer at the age of twelve. Despite his illness - and many, many trips to the hospital - Ryan lived a full life of school, sports and friends. To make his hospital room cheerier, his mom Cindy began making fun, whimsical pillowcases to brighten up his day and put a smile on his face. Ryan liked them so much that Cindy started making pillowcases for the other children in the Oncology Unit. In a short time, the pillowcase project grew in amazing ways and has provided more than 210,000 pillowcases to sick children.


We learned how to use Hot Dog Pillowcase Tutorial with a French seam to make the pillowcases, and they all looked great! The goal in keeping the second pillowcase is that it will remind them to pray for the sick child who receives the matching one.