How American Homeschoolers Measure Up

Source: TopMastersInEducation.com

Random Acts of Kindness Club

YAY!!  We've  started a Random Acts of Kindness Club here in Austin.  But don't let our location stop you from joining!!  We had A & F facetime in from Boston and it was a great success.  So, if you're interested in joining we'd love to have you!  

I will share our monthly gathering notes...feel free to use these ideas to start your own Random Acts of Kindness Club!!!

The key is to work on Random Acts of Kindness or Filling Someone's Bucket without expecting anything in return other than knowing that YOUR bucket will fill when you fill others.

Here are our notes from today's gathering:

 We kept it to about 45 minutes, the kids were engaged, A & F face-timed with us from Boston, we read the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud, we all brainstormed ideas of ways to fill people's buckets, the kids came up with 5 random acts of kindness ideas that they want to work on until our next meeting,  we talked about ways share or report our kind acts to share with the group next time we gather.  

If you couldn't make it and want to skype or face time next time, we'll do that...it worked really well.

Here are the 5 things the kids decided as a group to work on this month:

1.  Holding the door for a stranger and letting them go in first

2.  Smiling at someones eyes

3.  Saying hello to an adult that addresses them or simply saying hello to a stranger

4.  Helping someone

5.  Completing a Chore without being asked.

Here are some of the ideas that they brainstormed as a group:

smiling, helping a handicapped person, carrying something, being helpful, holding the door, hugging, sharing, helping people in need, giving a compliment, cleaning up, saying Hi to a stranger, giving your mom a hug when she's stressed, helping a kid at school sound out a word or something that is hard for them, asking a new kid to play, holding a friends hand, putting your neighbors garbage can up, doing a chore without being asked, visit elderly neighbors...

As far as sharing our experiences with the group, that is wide open to how your family wants to do it right now.  Some mentioned keeping a journal, for some reason I like the idea of a short video for my family, others are going to have a badge or chart system.  

Much love to you all!!!

Love,Michelle

12th Night

Check this out to see just WHY this troupe of kiddos (ages 6-11) won First Place in their age group at the State Wide Competition at the Texas Renaissance Festival!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TaA-Hm8yUA

Tolerance

 

When I was a little girl, as my mom would tuck me into bed she would not only tell me how much she loved and liked me, she would tell me that I was good, and she would tell me that no matter who I loved and chose to be with if they were black, white, green, purple, a man or a woman, as long as we treated each other with love and respect she would LOVE THEM too. I was a lucky girl to grow up with so much tolerance in my life! My dads taught me that love, kindness, and respect know no race or gender! I love my MOM and my TWO DADS!!!!

 

Great Website

http://www.jumpintoabook.com/

Going Through Old Photos

Halloween 2006. My mom and dad made the best deer costume for our dear Annie... We just passed it down to our niece Reese!






Emerson painting. Summer 2006. He was about 15 months old...look at that smile.






Emerson helping my dad remove the popcorn ceiling from Uncle Jeremy's ceiling. Emerson was about 13 mos.





My Bonnie girl 2006. Age 8 or 9. Anyone who knows her now will be shocked how young and skinny she looks here.





My babies.    Annie almost 4 and Emerson about 9 mos.

Jeremy, my very sweet and considerate brother, smoked some turkey and put on a spread this weekend at my dad & Lu's!!!  Man, I love these people!




Not pictured here were the nine dogs that were there too!!

Greece Studies

With the Olympics starting in a few days our Geography Club decided to study Greece. 

Above is Emerson's beeswax sculpture of  Alexander The Great and a few of the men in his Army.  Alexander is the one with the star on his shield, of course.  The map is Alexander's Kingdom. 

Here is Emerson's presentation verbatim:

"Aristotle helped him to read and do all this really good stuff to be a great king.  He became king at 21.  He was a good planner at wars.  He was a good leader.  When his soldiers walked, he walked.  When they were hungry he was hungry.  He never left them in starvation.  He didn't eat any more or less than them.  Well, maybe a rice blade.  He became king of Macedonia, Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Asia.  Alexander The Great died by a mosquito bite that carried some disease called malaria.  He was 33 years old" - by Emerson

This is Annie's beeswax sculpture of a GIRL winning the Olympic Gold in Running and the Olympic flag. 
We've been reading Greek Mythology and Annie is planning on telling the story of Athena and Arachne as well as giving a brief history of the Olympic Torch. 

Vacation Poetry

After Santa,
we all awake to fluttery flakes
flying over John & Deb's lake
Nothing to rake!
Yummy things to bake
like anniversary carrot cake.
Sledding toward the lake,
after skiing, though we ache,
Snow vacations make
an awesome holiday break!

Ski Lessons

We were so excited to share skiing with our kiddos. 

It isn't Annie's favorite thing to do but she is so proud of herself and says, "I ROCK!  I skied down a mountain!  It was hard but I did it!"

Emerson is a natural for sure!!  That boy has no fear and tons of determination!!!  That's him skiing down low with his daddy.

Location:McCauley Mountain, NY

Snow!!!!

This is what we woke up to this morning!  Apparently our songs and letters to Santa worked!

The First Solstice

Here is the story I promised in the last post

Shared by my friend Piaf. It's a story from her childhood.

The First Winter Solstice

Long, long ago, when the sun and the moon were children, they had only one toy to play with. It was the earth. Because they both wanted it, they decided to take turns.

When it was the sun’s turn, the people and creatures on earth felt warm, the crops grew tall and it was day.

When it was the moon’s turn, it grew quiet and dark on earth and the people and creatures rested.

One day, the moon decided she didn’t want to give the earth back to the sun because she was having so much fun, so she kept it for a few minutes longer before giving it back to the sun. The next night, she kept it for a few minutes longer than the last time.

This continued until the nights were much longer than the days. The sun wanted his whole turn back, but he was very shy and not sure what he should do.

On earth, the people began to grow worried. It was getting colder and there wasn’t enough sun for the crops to grow. Looking up at the cold night sky, they were scared, afraid that the night might just keep getting longer and longer until there was no day left at all.

The people decided to make a giant bonfire to call the sun back to the earth. The youngest children gathered twigs and leaves, the older kids carried large branches, and the strongest men and women hoisted giant logs onto their shoulders.

They piled all these things into a big pile and began the blaze. It burned bright and hot, just like the sun.

Looking down on earth, the sun saw the fire and knew immediately that the people and creatures were missing him. The next morning, he took his turn back a few minutes earlier.

On earth, the people rejoiced, for they knew that the warmth and the light were returning.

Jam Session

We're still waiting for snow. Emerson wrote a very sweet note to Santa wishing for snow. Since its so close to Christmas and we didn't think the post office would deliver in time we sent it chimney mail.

We wrote this song last night. Sing to the tune of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland"

(you can even see my notes on the table)




We're Here in the Mountains
With all the frozen fountains
We're waiting for snow
We just won't say no
Hoping for a winter wonderland
In the adirondacks we played instruments
And pretended it was going to snow
In the morning we'll wake up to snowflakes
And then we'll get tossed out in the snow
We'll slide out into the frozen tundra
Will it snow don't ya wondera
In the front yard we can build a snow fort
Before we go to the airport
Walking in the adirondack snow

Happy Solstice

We celebrated the Winter Solstice this year with a traditional story from my friend Piaf (see the story at the end of post), a yummy dinner, simple winter memories outside and trimming the tree. We had a lovely evening.

Adirondack Mountains for Christmas!!

Here we are in Old Forge, NY in the Adirondack Mountains. We are wishing for snow but it's so pretty up here that it will be ok if it doesn't snow.



Thank you John and Deb for inviting us to stay in your amazingly awesome home.

Carolers at Great Gram D's

While we were visiting Grammy's mommy a group of Carole's came to the door. It was super exciting for all of us. It inspired us to carol at Georgia's house, Grammy and  Bompa's neighbor.

Emerson decided to go outside in the snow barefoot just to see how cold it was.

Great Gram & Logan

We had fun playing with cousin Logan at Great Gram Dorothy's house.

Gingerbread Fun

Grammy and Bompa are gingerbread experts! We are so lucky to have them as gingerbread making mentors.