Finishing up...

Last week, we met with our homeschool group for Stanford Achievement testing. After 3 days of testing, we celebrated with a pizza party. Well, I say celebrated... I think to everyone else in the homeschool group it was just lunch? Anyhow, we have to wait 4-6 weeks for the test results. We only have a few more things to complete before we will be officially done with school for the year. With that said, I think this will be my last blog for this school year. I wanted to be able to blog more about what we were doing, but there just wasn't enough time.

Our first year at homeschool was quite an experience! A good one, but even better... one we'll never forget. Imagen's favorite subject this year was science, while Addie's favorite was Math. The biggest accomplishments this year: Addie can read, write, & count! & Imagen learned how to multiply & divide! All the other stuff we learned was just icing on the cake! They have successfully survived a year at home with me, oh wait... I can't believe I survived a year at home with them! *laughs* They told me quote, "Momma, we love homeschool... Can we do it again next year?" I hope that we will be able to homeschool next year, but we will have to see where the summer takes us.

Where did the time go?

I think I feel asleep on Halloween, and then woke up on Thanksgiving??? Seriously, the days came & went so quickly. Imagen learned how to multiply & divide, while Addie began learning to add small numbers like 1+2. I was amazed at how quickly they caught on!!! The next thing I know, the girls were making homemade Christmas ornaments & singing christmas carols. We've started a new hobby called geocaching. It's been a really fun thing to do, and it gets us outdoors more often. To learn more about it visit geocaching.com! With each new place we go, we definitely get our fair share of exercise. Well, as always... I have tons of pictures to share!!! Please enjoy!!! Imagen with a dwarf palmetto, Addie's one hardcore tree hugger, and Reagan loves kissing on the wildlife. And of course, the christmas ornaments!!!

Busy October

Let's recap October... It was the busiest month we've had yet!!! Addie can now officially read about 50 words. She is reading simple sentences & can count up to 50 by 1's and 10's. Imagen got her feet wet in typing. She is typing with 90% accuracy, but still only typing about 14WPM. We also carved a pumpkin, and the girls learned that the inside of a pumpkin nothing to be afraid of. We did spend one whole day making halloween arts & crafts. While I'm short on words, I could literally type 10+ paragraphs about everything we covered this month. However, I'm just going to let the pictures show everyone how much fun we had!!!

Francis Beidler Forest / Four Holes Swamp Field Trip

Today we visited Francis Beidler Forest located in Harleyville, SC. Inside the forest is Four Holes Swamp, which is the same swamp we named our homeschool after. It's the largest remaining strand of virgin baldcypress-tupelo gum swamp forest in the world, and it's one of the only two cypress/tupelo swamps in the world. There are tress in this swamp that are over a thousand years old. We first learned that a swamp isn't always wet, and that the amount of rainfall has an effect on the water levels. There wasn't much water for us to see on our visit, perhaps we will go back in the spring when there is more water. Our guide pointed out the dwarf palmetto, and said that when you see them it's an indicator that water was nearby. She said they are often found growing on the dry side of the swamp. On our adventure through the swamp we leaned how to identify a cypress tree vs. a tupelo tree. If you look at the trunk of a tupelo tree it twists upward, while the cypress climbs straight up into the air. We also cracked open a cypress cone to see the seeds inside of it. It's amazing that such giant tress were once such tiny seeds. The cypress trees have projections out of the ground commonly called "knees", and these are a part of the tree's root system. We were surprised to learn that it takes certain conditions for a cypress tree to survive. Too much water can be detrimental to the cypress growth, therefore they are most likely to survive during a dry spring. Cypress seedlings usually cannot withstand more than a month of total submergence. Did you know after cypress trees age they begin to undergo a chemical process that makes the tree resistant to insects & rot? The water in the swamp is actually quite clean, but from looking at it you wouldn't think so. The swamp acts as a natural filter, and filters out sediments and pollution. We took a sample of the water to see just how clear it was. Swamps are most valuable because they help in reduced flooding by acting as a sponge to absorb water. They also provide protection from damage that could be cause by hurricanes by acting as a buffer against storm surge. In other words, swamps slow the water down & act as a holding tank until the water disperses. With all that said, trees & water aren't the only things you'll see in a swamp. Swamps are a unique habitat for all kinds of swamp critters. Snakes, alligators, turtles, and owls... Oh my!!! The swamp is home to a wide variety of wildlife, however during our visit only a few of them showed themselves. We saw only one alligator, a butterfly, a lizard, several turtles, a few caterpillars, a couple of spiders, and we were even lucky enough to catch a quick glimpse of a deer. We didn't see any birds, but we could certainly hear them!!! We were able to see where wild hogs had been rooting around in the ground. We were also very happy that there were not many mosquitos around to bite us. Our trip to the swamp was very educational, and one of the best field trips I've ever been on. Hope you enjoyed the blog, and take a look at the pictures by clicking on them to make the larger!!! To view a slide show of all the photos click the following link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=904nksa.5nl643ru&x=0&y=lzz659&localeid=en_US

Waiting for everyone to get there...

Making friends...

Off we go...

Cypress Tree

Cypress cone broken open to see the seeds...

The Swamp

Imagen, Addie, & Reagan

Reflection of the tree in the water...

Laughing it up...

Isn't nature pretty?

Cypress Knees - part of the root system...

Yours Truly... Me

Imagen shows us how clear the water is underneath the green film...

The girls again...

The Lake

Field Trip to the SCSU Planetarium & James Brown Exhibit

Today we took a field trip to South Carolina State University. After everyone arrived, we rounded up all the kids for a group picture. Our first stop was the planetarium, where we watched two presentations. The first show was called "Field Trip to the Moon", where we virtually left the earth & went up into outer space. On our trip to the moon, we saw meteors & stars. Upon landing on the moon, we looked around to find that there is no water, no plant life, or other life forms on the moon. We also learned that the moon has a side that never faces the earth, and it's called "the far side of the moon". Did you know that there are mountains on the moon, but they are much larger than the ones on earth??? The next presentation was called "Cosmic Collisions". It explained what happens when things like meteors & planets collide in outer space. We learned about galaxies, solar wind, magnetic fields, and even what causes the aurora borealis. Finally, we watched a music video that showed James Brown singing his song titled "Gravity"!!! Did you know James Brown loved astronomy??? We were then led on a tour of the James Brown Exhibit, which also included a telescope that belonged to the Godfather of Soul. During our tour, we were able to learn about James Brown, and see many pictures of his travels, family, and of course the man himself. On display were several of the clothing/outfits/shoes that he wore. Shocking, but true... Some of the things that were found in his home such as hygienic & hair care items were put on display!!! Shampoo bottles, etc, etc... Yep, it's amazing what will end up on display after your death if you're famous!!! But with that being said, I think that it helped to show that James Brown was a person just like everyone else. One of my personal favorites was the hand written sheet music that was found in a trunk of his after his death. It's now framed & is hanging on the wall above the drums & keyboard that were items of his. Another item I thought was quite interesting was the vase with cotton in it... Most people would display flowers in a vase inside their home, but not James Brown... He had a vase filled with stalks of real cotton!!! I thought it was rather creative, and I think I'm gonna go pick me some cotton to put on my table for a fall decoration now!!! Other items, a kerosene heater, a robe that was ripped when he was wrestled to the ground by police when they were called to his home for a dispute between him & his wife, and even the outfit he wore for his last concert/performance??? Don't hold me to that, but that's what the tour guide told us!!! Well, that's a recap of our field trip to South Carolina State University. Interesting & Fun!!! I think I will list this as a Science & Arts field trip. Enjoy the pictures from today!!! I wish I could have taken more pictures, but they had signs requesting no photography or videography. The pics I got, didn't come out so great...

*correction, i don't know if the vase with cotton was actually in his home or if it was supposed to be symbolic of something???*

Imagen working hard to combine those subjects & predicates, while Addie learns to recognize & complete the patterns.

Click on it to make it bigger...