Week in Review

We have settled into somewhat of a school time routine around here with Classical Conversations and American Heritage Girls in full swing.

Two Tenderhearts this year!

My first meeting with my "official" polo uniform, representing as the Vice- Coordinator

Our troop is meeting along with Trail Life USA, a Christian scouting troop for boys

Life is pretty normal, sort of.  Except for the craziness that is also taking place as well, but alas that is for another time.

Flag Ceremony for AHG.  Nicole is a flag guard on the left.

We were simply thrilled to begin our monthly sciences out at Crystal Springs Preserve.

Beautiful!

It is the most beautiful classroom I have ever had the pleasure of attending.

The children love Ms. Sonya whose sheer love for all things nature and animals is easily passed on to the children.

Touching the top of an aquifer

She looks for creepy crawly things, like this grasshopper for instance, and tells the children that legend says "If you kiss a grasshopper, you will have good luck for a year".  Who wants to pucker up?

Our friend, kissing a grasshopper

As the complete opposite of me, she loves snakes and has a desire to share that love with others.

Mimicry- one is a (fake) poisonous Coral Snake, the other is a Honduran milk snake

I, on the other hand, hate snakes and will kill them (well, I will call on someone else to kill them for me), particularly when I find them crawling down my stairs in the middle of night.

This poor little red rat snake would have been just fine outside....he made a bad decision.

For the most part though, this is what our school day looks like.

We spend a lot of time around a table together.

Sometimes it is the kitchen table, other times it is the school room table.

We do memory work, copy work, math, reading, Bible, etc.

Our friend, Claire, did memory work with us one day this week

I was crazy impressed with the beginnings of this map drawing by Nicole.  This is why we trace maps so much, so that one day she can draw them free hand.  Her proportions were off, and she got discouraged.

The children are always looking for opportunities to do something besides school work.  So, when they found out that the chocolate chip cookie originated in Massachusetts, we had to celebrate.  Nicole was 100% in charge of this baking frenzie.

Ha!  all three of them have a great expression!

She divided jobs amongst her siblings, watched over them, handed out safety warnings, and completely a delicious batch of cookies.

I think she has lost control!

I found this squishy human body at The Learning Express Store and thought it might be a nice addition to our human body studies.  Apparently, the kids thought it was a good idea too.

We haven't even gone in depth yet, but they really enjoyed taking him apart and putting him back together.

They named him "Patient", since he is patient with them...and he is also a patient.

Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks

Last weekend, we spent part of the day visiting the famous Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks.  This was a "must see" that everyone talks about.  However, most of the time people talk about it, they say how fun it is to "just wander up and down the street, looking in the little shops" and then eating some Greek food for dinner.  That should have been my first red flag.

Did I not learn that our family does not enjoy just "walking up and down the streets looking in little shops" from our recent Disney visit.  We don't.  It's just not our thing.

I have a hard time enjoying a day, when I know everyone else is miserable.

See...they look like they are having fun, right? hahaha

In their defense, it was hot...really, really hot.  There were lots of people, the shops were tiny, crowded, old, and well...just not our thing.  We did it though...because that is what people tell us to do (rolling my eyes right now)  We walked in and out of shops.  Touched over prices sponges, melted in the sweltering heat, and listened to whiny voices and for the sake of fun and the experience.

Ok, it wasn't all THAT bad....but parts of it seemed to be.

So, we started our little trip at "Sponge-O-Rama", with a free viewing of a film made in the 60s or 70s in a run down room (literally with holes in the walls), and a TV that desperately needs to be replaced.  Then, we walked through a not so great little museum with some creepy displays (including one with a dead lizard in it.  I bet it died 3 years ago).

We ended in their little Sponge Factory store, where I am pretty sure I was lied to.  I know for a fact all of those sponges didn't come from the Gulf, even though they told me it did.

However...there were some really cool, HUGE sponges that were over $100!!!

Eventually we found our way into the Sponge Diver's Supply store, which is a legit store with a real family of Sponge divers.  They were even on Dirty Jobs (it was a pretty pathetic episode, that clearly almost didn't even make it into the rotation...funny, a little informative, and then more humor).  However, we recognized the guy in the shop when we saw him in the store.  I wish I would have bought a sponge from him.

This is their boat, hanging their sponges out to dry.

We decided to splurge and go on a 2 hour "Dolphin Watching and Island" cruise because someone gave Jeremy a "Thank you" gift card for installing a TV.  We were not able to all sit together on the boat.

A boat filled with sponges

Do they look thrilled?

As expected, Nathan started to fall asleep almost as soon as the boat started to move.  Poor guy, he just can't help himself :)

So, I grabbed him and let him take a little nap before we reached the Island.

The island was not impressive, however the kids had fun trying to find shells, and hoped to find a Sand Dollar.  I think Red Tide was moving in because I saw some dead fish, which made me want to just get back on the boat and go.

Clearly, I was having attitude problems.
But, the kids, really did have fun.  We didn't see any dolphins though.

We ended the day, not by eating Greek food, but by ordering pizza and picking it up on the way home.

I don't know.  The Sponge Docks were kind of a bust for us.  Maybe we missed something.  Maybe we went at the wrong time (summer is not suggested, it was SO hot!).  Or maybe, we are just not the type of people who like to wander in and out of shops.

Joan of Arc- Lego Movie Style

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that my children love learning.  I realize they could possibly love learning even if they went to a public or private school, but I really think that our mentality of "you are always learning" helps.  Last year, one of our CC history sentences mentioned Joan of Arc and the Hundred Years War.  We read a few books about her and the time period, and I moved on.  

Nicole, however, didn't.  

Apparently, she had been thinking of Joan for quite some time.  Early this summer, she decided to put together a Lego movie about lady of France.  She spent hours weeding through her legos looking for ways to design a battle, a palace, and even Joan being burned at the stake.  

She then spent time thinking about a script, hand writing it, then typing it on the computer.  She spent hours building and re-building her set.  Finally, she had to wait until her friend Katrina could come over and make the movie with her.  

Nicole wanted her friend there, and Katrina had some great humor to add to the story.

 They spent 6 hours last Saturday taking almost 400 pictures of their lego set, each with pieces moving just a tiny bit at a time.

 Little sister, Hannah, wanted to be helpful, so she made a really yummy, and healthy snack.

If you know anything about Nicole or Katrina, you know that they also love being outside, exploring, and bugs.  So, of course, there were a few "5 minute Lizard Breaks" in there as well :)

I am so proud of these girls, and especially Nicole.  This was all on her own initiative.  She poured her time, energy, and mind into this, and I think it turned out wonderfully!

Horsemanship 101

A horse is a horse of course of course....

I really should try to find and old Mr. Ed TV show to let the kids watch.  I bet they would get a kick out of it!

Several weeks ago, a homeschool mom put together a Horsemanship class for homeschool students.  We chose the every other week option as a way to introduce our girls to horses.

Hannah has been asking, almost daily, for several months when she can take horse riding lessons.  Um....I'm not sure if anyone has told you, but....horse riding lessons are expensive!  Like, really, really expensive!

Hannah was upset that she had to wear pants.  She hoped that tights would be ok, but I made her wear jeans.  However, she still wore her dress :)

This horsemanship class is wonderful.  You get a pretty big Bang for your buck.  So much so, that we could swing it for both girls to take a class two times a month.

Their first lesson was yesterday.

Introducing herself to "Pockets"

It was 2 1/2 hours of learning and riding.

Hannah got to ride too.  I just wasn't there to snap the pictures this time.

On the first day, they got to learn about the stable, meet many of the 55 horses, learn about horse markings and colors, and even got their first trail ride in.

It was wonderful!

It made me happy to see how happy they were at the class.

Wait...wrong way!

Nathan enjoyed 2 hours with me all to himself :)

"Their" horse, Pockets

PS...I'm scared of horses.

Me? A Director?

After a few interviews, some paper work, and even a mandatory essay, my support manager hired me in late May to be a director and to start a new CC Community.

However, I was NOT the obvious choice.  I was still new to area, only had a handful of friends, I had no network or connections anywhere.  From the very beginning, I knew that the only way a community would form would be if the Lord formed it himself.  Let's be honest...that is the Best way for a community to form :)

I spent the summer of 2013 in prayer.  A lot of prayer.  I visited around 15 churches, trying to find a facility that was willing to host a community AND was big enough.  Most people say this is the hardest part.  It was hard to be sure, but it was also quite encouraging.  Most of the pastors I met were very kind (a few weren't).  Several offered to show me around their campus, prayed with me, and offered encouragement.  I had my eye on one specific church that seemed to be the "perfect" fit, however God had different plans.  After 6-8 weeks, I finally received confirmation from a different church that we were approved to meet at their facility.  It was quite exciting!

I had a church....now I needed some people :)

The first family to agree to join the group was an acquaintance from my other CC group.  That group was now full and could not accept any more registrations, so this family was "stuck" with me.  Thankfully, we because friends quickly and she became my support through the summer.  I held lots, and lots...and LOTS of information meetings.  I put flyers all around town. I joined Facebook groups.  I did everything I could.  However, by the time Practicum rolled around in late July, It was still just me and my friend.

We decided that if no one signed up within a week after Practicum, we would part ways and try to join another community for that school year.  I felt like we had done our best, and I was ok with joining another group if that was where God wanted me.

However, God had other plans.  That three day Practicum brought 3 families into our community.  We had a large enough Essential enrollment to have a class, and one of the moms agreed to be a Foundations substitute (I knew she would end up being a tutor, but I agreed to the "sub" title for now ;)

It was exciting how the Lord brought these families into our community.
The first family had come to an info meeting and had a family member in another CC Community, however they were not 'sold' on the model and just didn't know what they would do (She became my tutor :)
The second family I met while re-stocking the snack bar (that was my 'job' at Practicum).  We stood and chatted for a while, and she signed up then and there.  Since that moment, she has been the greatest source of human encouragement and support a director could ever wish for.
The third family signed up because we were much closer than one they were going to originally attend.

In the next 2 weeks, I had more families sign up.  One I met on a Craigslist sale site.  I bought a couple books from her, noticed she homeschooled and struck up a conversation.  The "God thing" is that her husband had seen my flyer at the library, and brought home the contact info.  They just had not contacted me yet.  Another family had a neighbor who did CC in another community and wanted to join one as well,  and one was in my Foundations class at our previous community and felt led to join us. Finally, the last family for that year couldn't get into their old group because it was full.

God had provided 17 students, 2 Foundations tutors, and 1 Essentials tutor.  It was "go" time.  I had less than 5 weeks before CC started to get all of my work done.  But I was so excited I could hardly sleep!

Watching Him work that first year, and even writing down when I saw Him move helped me through some rough moments when it would have been easy to doubt what I was doing.

Our first few weeks had a bumpy start and it became clear that we would need to go from 3 classes of 5 or 6 to 2 classes of 8 or 9 students.  God is so good and faithful, and the transition was basically painless.

Imitating Monet and painting outside

We enjoyed beautiful fellowship and sweet relationships during our first year.  Our little community, where everyone was new, really came together and encouraged everyone along.  We had a Rocket picnic on our last day of the first semester, a fun Family picnic during Christmas break which included the dads and flag football, field trips, memory masters, mom's night outs, and a sweet evening at our End of Year Ceremony.

A few dads made it to our "Rocket" Party to help is launch

It was beautiful.  Truly.  It was a blessing to be part of the community and see how the Lord used it to grow and encourage each family on this journey.

Flag Football at the family picnic

This past summer marked the beginning of our second year.  We had tremendous increase and quickly filled up to our facility max of 40 children (with 10 in the nursery) and 21 families.  This summer came with it's own challenges.  How would our families blend?  Would those seasoned homeschool moms reach out to the new moms?  Could I juggled and schedule 5 classes and 40 children?  Would I continue to lean upon the Lord and trust Him that this is His community and not "mine"?  Was I becoming prideful and reliant upon myself?
These were all questions that I wrestled with over the summer.

We had some fun events like a "Mom's Night Out [In]" at my house where we cooked together, a planning meeting in late July, and practicum in May.  However, by far, the greatest encouragement for ME was hearing about our families reaching out to each other (already) and hosting play dates, chatting on our Facebook page, and working to get to know one another before class even began.  It was amazing to watch these sweet moms begin to love on one another even before they "had" to.

This year we have several families from other communities (for location/drive time sake), lots of new homeschool families, a few who came out of public or private school, several whose oldest is only 4, a grandma, and veteran homeschool and CCers.

Minute to Win it games

We have only had one week so far, but Day 1 was wonderful!  It was full and busy, but it was beautiful.  The children did a good job in class, the moms were interactive and participated well, and the tutors did a wonderful job.

Moms shared information about the different instrument families at the end of the year.

I know there will be challenges this year, but I trust God to be in control of those, just as He was in control of our challenges last year.  My greatest prayer is that THIS community would be one that brings glory and honor to Him.

Classical Conversations is a wonderful homeschool support group, utilizing curriculum that teaches parents to educate classically with a Biblical worldview.  I love being a director, it is quite fun and exciting to see God working in people's lives.  I hope that since our community is full, that it will split off next year and form at least one, maybe even two more communities so that CC can grow in the North Tampa area.  I am so thankful that the Lord has given me this opportunity.  It has strengthened my relationship with Him, allowed me to grow, and forced me to pray :)  May He be glorified!