Learning about blood......

Learning anatomy this year with the boys has been a joy.  We have had some set backs in completing our note booking journals the end of May but will continue learning through the summer (when we are not traveling, swimming, biking, etc.).  This week have learned about "Life in the Blood" (we use Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology by Jeannie Fulbright).  

I was particularly excited when the lesson began with our sins being forgiven by the shedding of Jesus' blood on the cross!!  We are so blessed to be able to teach at home and include what God intended each of us to know in EVERY aspect of learning.

I (as always) learned just as much as my boys as we learned how the blood is so very important to our bodies and what it does keep us living.  Below is picture of a blood model that we completed as a review of the 4 components of blood (Plasma, Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells and Platelets).  Each of my boys were able to tell me exactly what each component does and they saw it come to life.

Best of all.....we got to review why blood is so important!  Without blood our sins would not be forgiven and we would not have the choice to live forever with God in heaven.  Since the beginning of time, God has required the shedding of blood for forgiveness of our sins (Leviticus 17:11, through a sacrificial, healthy animal) and then by sending his son Jesus to die for our sins (Colossians 1:20).  I hope you find God in what you are teaching your children today!

Light Corn Syrup (Plasma), Red Hots (Red Blood Cells, White Candy Robin Egg (White Blood Cells) and Sprinkles (Platelets)

 

 
 Blessed to Teach,
Aundrea
 

Mummified Apple Findings.....

**CAUTION**
This may be disturbing to some. :0 )

Well, one week ago today (8-29-2011) we mummified an apple!
1 1/3 c. of baking soda
2/3 c. of salt
The above was mixed together and poured on top of one peeled apple.
The other apple (our control apple) was left untouched.

Hypothesis:
Apple uncovered will rot and control apple will stay white.

(Above) Control Apple left out in container alone.

(Above) Apple covered in baking soda and salt.

Were we right?

Notice in the picture above --
Our mummified apple had shrunk inside the salt and baking soda.
It had also decayed quicker than the control apple.

Our hypothesis was INCORRECT!
YUCK! I would hate to see a mummy!

Have fun Learning!

Aundrea

It's School Time!

Mummifying an Apple!

What will happen?
Our control apple is sitting in a container unpeeled.
Our other apple was covered with 1 1/3 cup of baking soda and 2/3 cups of salt.

Hypothesis:
The boys think the covered apple will stay white and the control apple is going to rot.

We will tell you in a week!

This fun project is brought to you from
Apologia's "Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology"
https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_65

Happy Learning!!

Brennan's Baptism

We are so proud of Brennan!
At age 5 Brennan accepted Jesus as his Savior. He had always been afraid to walk down the church isle to make an appointment for Baptism. For 4 years we prayed for his strength in Christ. On Sunday, August 7th, Brennan looked at Brian and I and said I want to walk down and get baptized. I was thrilled, overjoyed and extremely proud of him.

God worked in his heart and He continues to work in Brennan. It is awesome to see God strengthen your children and you all at the same time.

Pastor Mike Kahn, Brian and I's Bible Fellowship teacher, baptized Brennan on Sunday, August 22, 2011. What a precious birthday present Brennan gave himself!!

"Jesus answered, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
No one gets to the Father except through Me." John 14:6

"If you love Me, you will obey my commands"
John 14:15

Christmas Fun......

It has been a long time since I posted anything on our blog. I have been inspired lately by other blogs that I frequent though. I thought I would share an idea I got from a blog that I visit almost daily to get fun ideas. ~Confessionsofahomeschooler.com ~

We made these hand print snowman ornaments today and they turned out so cute. The supplies are all on sale at Joann's Craft Store and very inexpensive. (I already had some paint pens and a sharpie). These are great for last minute gifts or keep them for yourself. 8>)

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy celebrating our Savior's birth.

Aundrea

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/12/handprint-snowman-ornament.html

My Man and His Truck

Now some of you reading this will not understand this at all and then others will be able to relate and feel my pain laugh with me at the same time. Today was a beautiful spring day so we, of course, decided to drive our ’72 Bronco to the baseball fields. It was the perfect day to ride with the wind in your hair.

We were just about home and all of the sudden which is not abnormal for anything ‘all of the sudden’ to happen the cable to the gas pedal breaks in half. Yes! The gas pedal was flat on the floorboard. It was perfect timing, if there is such a thing when your gas pedal wire suddenly breaks in half, we cruised right in to a parking lot under some beautiful shade trees.

Being married to my wonderful husband for 13 years (14 years in May), I have learned to stay quiet. As opposed to getting irritated when he doesn’t call AAA right away! I really do stay quiet and find it only encourages my hubby and our relationship. ; ) My job? Helping when asked and keeping the boys busy with reviewing skip counting, history songs and praise songs. Oh, did I mention it was 12:15pm (Yea, we hadn’t eaten yet).

Well, for 45 minutes Brian worked on the pedal and worked on the pedal……

I am always very impressed with Brian and his ability to continue trying to figure things out when he doesn’t know exactly what to do. I am sure I could do the same. (I do not have that character trait and am still working on it.) I admire him greatly for that trait.

After 45 minutes Brian tells me to call AAA so I do. While I am on the phone with them I notice him working a tad faster. I get off the phone with them and 2 minutes later he tells me to call them back and cancel. He fixed it! Mind you the gas pedal is still on the floorboard!!

Again, I have learned to say O.K. So what did he do? He improvised his own hand throttle. What!?! Yeah, again, quiet mouth and encouraging wife. (That me!) I canceled AAA and off we went. LOL! My husband drove us home in our ’72 Bronco.

The best part about this story!?! Our boys witnessed their dad figure out how to fix the Bronco with a calm spirit and best of all how do keep trying when it doesn’t work the first time. What an awesome family experience! Love you honey! Oh, and here is a picture of our drive home. ; )

Thank you Walmart lady...

Last week our family took a trip to Walmart to gather our supplies for camping. (Yes! It was a fabulous trip!) -- Not so much the Walmart trip but the camping trip was fantastic. : )

I believe that particular trip to Walmart will forever be engraved in my four and half year old's head. As we were walking down the canned soup isle, Aaron stopped to watch what the ladies were doing. If you know Aaron at all you know he is VERY curious and could very well be Curious George's first cousin. (LOL!)

The kind Walmart lady noticed him and turned to Aaron. She said in a very serious voice, "This is what happens when you don't go to college." Since that time Aaron has told multiple people that he will for sure be going to college because he does not intend on putting cans on a shelf and counting them. : )

Thank you Walmart lady for being an inspiration to my child -- because you know sometimes it just doesn't matter what Mom and Dad say. ; }

Paper Mache, Baking Soda and Vinegar! Oh My!

We are learning about volcanoes!!

Brennan and Aaron had a great time making their paper mache volcano!

Today they painted it -- getting it ready for the explosion!!

I love watching my children learn!

The Exploding Volcano!!

Snow in Tampa?

Steve Spangler Science is the best! Our boys would LOVE to see snow. At our geographical location that is near impossible (although I might argue that point this week). Santa was good enough bring snow in the boy's stockings and they made their own!

This is as close as they may get this winter but they played in the "snow" in the back yard and had a blast.

That evening we had a family smore party. We love building bonfires in the backyard and roasting marshmallows. Who can resisit adding chocolate to them? I know one person -- my hubby! He doesn't particularly enjoy roasted marshmallows but he does like to play with fire - LOL! And the rest of us benefit --- He still roasts the marshmallows but we get to eat them!

Trapped in my computer!!

Digital photography is such a great invention! NOT! Don't get me wrong, I love not buying film every month in bulk. What I don't love is all my pictures being forever trapped in my computer.

I take a plethora of pictures each month not to miss one event in my children's lives. Only to come to the realization that I am missing enjoying the pictures and memories because they are not printed out. I remember in the "old days" going to Walgreens, Target or Walmart and printing my pictures each month. Placing them in their albums and framing the special pictures.

When digital first came up I would rush to Walgreens and print the pictures off my memory card. Then Snapfish and Shutterfly appeared. Why rush anywhere? I can just upload my pictures and print them whenever I want. Right? Wrong! I forget to print!

I have all these cute pictures in iPhoto just waiting to be enjoyed. Only a few get uploaded to our blog or on FaceBook and I can't enjoy them on those fabulous online applications. Let's face it -- I need to be more diligent on uploading and printing. At the rate I am going now I will have to print three years of pictures off of Shutterfly to catch up. That's not intimidating at all!! - HA!

Can you guess what I have been trying to do for the past week? You got it -- upload all of this year's pictures so I can make a calendar for 2010. So others may enjoy just a few of our precious memories.
Have fun sorting your pictures from 2009. I hope you are better at it than I.

Oh--- and these pictures are (you guessed it) just a few of our fun memories from 2009 or past.

Last Minute Craftiness

I have to admit that being crafty is one of those love/hate relationships I have. Having two VERY active boys, homeschooling and cleaning up after two VERY active boys keeps me busy. My friend, Kim, posted some adorable little pumpkins she made and I decided to go for it.

Another reason I don't always get crafty is because I don't have all the materials I need to complete a project and that drives me absolutely crazy!! But for this cute little project I did not have to buy a thing. Big plus!

We are fortunate enough to have two families coming over to spend Thanksgiving Dinner with us this year and I wanted to make it special but simple. With 6 adults and 7 children their is only so much you can do before it is all destroyed. - LOL!

As you can see in the pictures. I made my cute little Pumpkin Place Settings and cannot wait to get my table set tonight, ready for tomorrow.

~Enjoy your Thanksgiving~

May God Bless your Family!

Fun Eats for Kids

Edible Indian Corn

This year we are having some friends over for Thanksgiving dinner after Festival de Gracious.
I thought it would be fun to make these edible Indian Corn treats. They turned our really cute and so easy to make.

Here is the link for the instructions: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/edible-indian-corn-688364/

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enough Said

Aaron is definitely my comedian. He thinks it is hilarious to put his clothes on backyards and on different body parts. Does anyone feel my pain? He does provide comic relief quite often though. He is a blessing. :p

Two Handsome Boys

So the boys were in yet another wedding. Of course I believe they are the best ring bearers a bride could ask for. This was Brennan's third wedding and Aaron's second wedding. At one time I heard Brennan telling someone, "Don't worry. I have done this before I will help them." - LOL!

The boys walked down with Emma Kindle behind them. Aaron and Emma really took to one another and were the cutest things. I have my hands full with both my boys. They are little flirts for sure. : )
Notice Aaron's hand around Emma. What was really funny to me was Emma's brother pulling her away from him at rehersal dinner. He didn't like Aaron giving his sister a hug. LOL!

Congrats Cheryl and Ben! What a beautiful couple.

The Classroom -- Learning Made Fun!

As most all of you know, we home school! We absolutely love teaching our boys and learning along with them. No, I don't love it all the time but I don't love cooking dinner all the time either. : ) We do things because we know it is what God wants us to do and that is the beginning of our home school journey.

I won't bore you with our story but some of my NEW to Home School friends have been wanting to see our classroom. Yes, you can still come over. I just thought I would post on our blog so you can get a glimpse.

Enjoy teaching your precious children!