Congratulations, Jennifer!

There is a place that we can go

to gain instruction for our mind and soul,

where we strive to live by the Golden Rule;

it’s none other than our dear homeschool.

Abundant Life Academy,

we’re part of it and glad to be.

It’s the school we like, the school we love,

and it’s blessed by God above

Abundant Life Academy!

I’ve always liked the idea of a school song, so about 12 years ago when I “officially” started homeschooling(it actually began the day I first gave birth)I wrote this song.  Yesterday, our daughter Jennifer graduated from Abundant Life Academy and had a little party afterwards. My husband and I are very proud of her and are believing God for wonderful things for her future. We love you, Jen! Continue to walk with God and stay close to Him, because the greatest graduation of all will come when you are promoted from this life to Heaven, and Jesus will say “well done, thou good and faithful servant!” 

 

Carol Connell and the terrible, horrible,no good, very bad homeschool day

Years ago as a kid, I remember reading Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. As an adult, I read this book to my kids when they were younger. Today was kind of one of those “Alexander” days for us. We had a very busy weekend, and it seemed like everyone was moving in slow motion today.  As far as getting school work done, only one word comes to my mind.  Unproductive.  Sometimes on days like this, I wonder why I am even homeschooling, but I have to remind myself that life is not always full speed ahead. Public school teachers experience bad days too. (probably more than I do)There will be times when we have little setbacks, and every day is not going to run smoothly.  Even though we didn’t accomplish all the things on our lists, we still found some humor in our day, which the Bible says makes for good medicine. (Pro. 17:22)  So, I am not stressing but just believing that tomorrow is going to be a better day. 

 

Rocket Car Ready To Roll!

To go along with Paul’s unit study on Alan Shepard, we spent a little bit of time each day this week assembling this cool rocket car.  This was a birthday gift received from Uncle Bob last month.  We made a few mistakes puting it together and had to redo some parts, but we were able to finish it today.  We’re looking forward to loading this baby up with some baking soda and vinegar and launching it again and again next week. I like when we can do fun projects like this one.

 

Science Fair 2008

On Friday, April 25th, our homeschool support group held its’ 2nd annual science fair.  This year, my children participated along with about 33 other kids.  Each child had prepared a display board which told about their experiment, hypothesis, data, procedure and their conclusion.  First, second and third place awards were given for the various grade categories and each child received a special medal for their participation.  The special speaker this year was my husband whom I volunteered(okay, I asked him first if he wanted to do it before volunteering him)for the job.  In addition to being a pastor, he has his own business doing industrial hygiene consulting.  Most of what he does deals with infection control in hospitals.  He spoke for about 15 minutes on how science can be fun and shared some personal examples of how some of his work made a difference in people’s lives. (actually saving lives through some of his investigating).  It was a good time, and now that it’s all over, we’ll be working on converting our science lab back into a garage.  Here are just a few pictures from the science fair.

 

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Prelude To The Science Fair

This coming Friday, my kids, along with some other homeschooling families are going to be participating in a science fair. They still have a way to go on their projects, but I’m confident that they will be ready in time. I’m glad we’re all working on it together, because it’s actually kind of fun, and I am learning a few things myself in the process. As I was thinking about this upcoming event, I wrote this silly poem. After it’s all over, I’ll be more specific about their projects, and hopefully I’ll have some pictures to share too.

There’s Something Scientific Goin’ On

Oh my daughter she’s a spraying at our little pooch a bottle of perfume,
and that dog of ours is sniffing hard and rolling on the carpet in the room.
And I can’t be more specific
but there’s something scientific
Goin’ on.

My son sits at the table, to a mother’s heart this is all well and good
Quickly he’s assembling some gliders that are made with balsa wood.
And I can’t be more specific
but there’s something scientific
Goin’ on.

The metal tube that Papa built so capably, I’m sure it is the best
To ever be constructed for a child to perform the tunnel test.
And I can’t be more specific
but there’s something scientific
Goin’ on.

And Mama’s got the digital, it’s pointed at each canine volunteer
As they sniff of pheromonal scents that to their sensing sniffers linger near
And I can’t be more specific
but there’s something scientific
Goin’ on.