Bella and Issac will be joining us this year.

Sarah made an angel.

Meet Joseph's cousin. He will be part of our group from half way around the world.

Miss Teagan. Look how much Teagan has grown up. She is the last little princess in pink in the above photo.

We enjoyed our Welcome Back Picnic this Wednesday. A few families were not able to make it. My favorite reason for not coming came from Karen, Douglas and Thomas' mom. The bridge they were going to cross was washed out and they needed to wait another day for it to be rebuilt. I suggested that as homeschoolers, they should have quickly crafted a raft out of debris along the river and float Karen's new minivan across. She thought not. If you were not able to make it yesterday and you have a more adventurous excuse -- feel free to embelish, please post it in comments.

Nina and her mom Leta

Blake is joining our group this year.

Tiffany and Lisandrea

New friends, Annabelle and Kristi.

Joseph, Collin, Stephanie and their siblings enjoyed a day at the National Museum of the Navy!

Jack pulled the damper while Grace and Griffin tried to push. Collin had the right idea, supervisor in the cool shades!

Boaz finally got to try out his wetsuit in the ocean!

Jack wrote a message to Douglas and placed it in a bottle. Then he and Grace threw it into the waves. Be sure to look for Jack's bottle when you're at the beach!

What are Jack, Melissa, Boaz and Douglas doing? Practicing for their role in a MOB DANCE!!! We can't tell you where it is but we'll post a video link when they're done!

What are you doing this summer?

Jack, Boaz and Douglas learned an economics lesson by visiting a Friday garage sale. They bought wetsuits for $10 each. Why wait for water when you have a perfectly good wetsuit to wear? They also took turns "driving" my huge pickup.

Teagan and Logan's mom ROCKS!

Miss Katy hearing it on the grapevine? Someone will have to comment on this song so it makes more sense!

Meg and her mom joined us for our last two weeks! We are so glad she is coming back next year.

Grace and Caleb's mommy and daddy brought us through the last eight presidents this morning. Their presentation included dances from each era. We all loved it!

A sleepy Caleb with his daddy.
Congratulations Dr. Gary on earning your Ph.D.!

Sarah's big brothers and their daddy acted out Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

Anya of the Wild West.
Anya's family portrayed the western expansion and cowboys and indians in their family play.

Anya of Siberia.

Collin Washington

The battles of the Civil War were fierce.
None was more fearsome than the battle of Cedar Run.

Yep. it is what you think it is.

General Daniel was an excellent actor.

Mr. Lincoln brought his whole family. Thank you Daniel's family!

Laura danced with Miss Kate to Mozart this afternoon.

Elinor is a sunggle sweetie.

Caleb sporting his new do while wearing Collin-wear.

Michelle posted this on her blog and I loved it so much I decided to add it to ours.

Michelle posted this on her blog and I loved it so much I decided to add it to ours.

I copied it from http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com.

Check it out for more great blogs.

10 Days of Homeschooling Enrichment: Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the Homeschooling Enrichment series!

Before we move on, I’d like to take a minute to talk about Homeschooling as a Ministry to our family. In order to do that I think we need to reflect on who we are in Christ Jesus.

You are a minister to your family: If you can’t tell by now, our 10 days of enrichment journey starts with you! Many of us may think of a minister as a pastor. A minister is defined as “One who acts under the orders of another or who is employed by another to execute his purposes.” Who is our employer? Whose orders are we acting under? Really there are 2 choices here: 1: our own and 2. God’s. Once we recognize that God has blessed us with these children and has given us the tools needed to complete the task at hand, the whole prospect is not so overwhelming.

2 Timothy 3:15-17 “And how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

We are called as homeschoolers to minister to our children on 24/7 basis, if it helps we can consider them as disciples. As a homeschooler we can be challenged from all kinds of external and internal sources. We can doubt ourselves, compare ourselves and our children to others, get discouraged by daily trials, face criticism from family and friends. And we can pass that discouragement on to our children as well.

Think about Christ and His disciples. They were continually whining, complaining, and arguing over who was greater. Sound familiar? If your house is anything like mine, that describes it to a T! What was Jesus’ response to his disciples? Did He lose his temper and yell at them? No, He patiently explained, over and over and over again. He was training them, ministering to them, and encouraging them based on God’s Word.

God has placed these children in our care, not someone else’s. He has given them to us to train up in righteousness. No matter how many times we may fail, yell, be inconsistent in our discipline we can rest in the fact that God knows us! He did not make a mistake in giving these kids to us! He knows our strengths, weaknesses, and that we cannot homeschool without Him. We will fail if we are striving to complete this task in our flesh. We must have the Lord to lean on and to seek for guidance, support and strength. And sister, if you haven’t been dependent upon God before now, homeschooling will kick you right over to the other side where you will finally realize you can do nothing apart from Him!

As John 15:5 tells us “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

And the blessing for our abiding in Christ…”I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil 4:13

So…if we view our homeschool as a ministry to our family that will change our perspective. It’s not a daily burden, or a chore we need to complete before we can check our email. It is a ministry of love! Ladies (and gentlemen) we have the blessed honor of training up our children in righteousness 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

Their bad attitudes during math are actually a wonderful opportunity for us to teach them about perseverance!

But…before we can carry out God’s love and vision for our homeschool, I think it’s important to remember who we are in God’s eyes and what our real purpose is in homeschooling our children.

Today’s Challenge:

As a minister to your family, what is God’s plan for you as a homeschooler and parent? Take some time today to remind yourself who you are in Christ. (I realize this is geared towards mom’s, but really can be applied to any parent.)

Super Mom	Abiding Mom
Does	Is (Psalm 46:10)
Tries to impress others	Pleases the Lord (Eph. 5:10, Proverbs 29:25)
Is controlled by an agenda (curriculum, schedule, etc)	Is controlled by the Holy Spirit: (Gal. 5:22-26) (Uses curriculum & schedules as tools for orderliness so she's more free to follow the spirit)
Her self worth is found in her accomplishments (clean house, perfect kids, the perfect bulletin boards, etc.)	Her self worth is found in an accurate view of who she is in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:10)
Her peace is found in the “perfect” environment	Her peace is found in Jesus in the midst of any storm (Is 26:3)
She is discouraged by failure	Failure reminds her that God's strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
She expects perfection from herself and others	She practices grace with herself and others (Eph 4:32)
She teaches her kids to be good	She teaches her kids to be Godly (Proverbs 22:6)
She is frustrated with her lack of spiritual fruit	She abides in Christ and bears much fruit (John 15:5)
She does things with her children	She builds a relationship with her children (Deut 6:6-7)
Her perspective is based on what is seen	Her perspective is based on what is unseen (Col 3:2)
She chooses quantity of activities	She chooses the most excellent Way (I Cor 13)
Her kids may recall how busy she always is.	Her children rise and call her blessed. (Prov. 31:28)

Robert, Stephanie, Christopher and Amy helped with the ooooh awwwws in Justanian's family presentation.

Mike held up signs displaying the acts against colonies.

Justin and Jill, the English Parliment.

If ever I'm in a war I hope to have Jack, Travis, Joseph and Benjamin on my side. We'll all hide together and pray for peace.

Annabelle and her mom act out the First Great Awakening.