Vacation 2011 and BLOG HOP

Read here to see the Blog Hop that we (Olive Plants) and I are hosting on the week of June 6.

My favorite vacation pictures from yesterday included none of my children.  They were all quite droopy due to the heat, 92 degrees and exhaustion.  We just spent about 2 hours of yesterday at Williamsburg, and most of that time was in the William and Mary bookstore eating Strawberry-Lemonade Icees.  We actually divided and conquered, my 2 shoppers-girls 2 & 3 and I went shopping.  Wait until you see the cool gadgets I bought to make flower arrangements from candlesticks!!  But, that post may not come until Christmas.....

 

Kae-Kae, Joy-Bug and I went to the Governor's Palace for a Candlelit Chamber Music Concert. It included the violin, cello, harpsichord and soprano soloist.  Joy- Bug still recognized that the 'E' was out of tune, so it seems to me that this hiatus from the violin may just be for a short while.  Once her anxiety is dealt with, I think she will go back to it.


Heather

Vacation 2011 and BLOG HOP

Homeschool Dawn and I LOVE planning for our new school year and I know some of my readers do too!  


We decided to sponsor a "Great Reveal Blog Hop" where we can tell each other our plans for the fall.  We are going to do it on Monday, June 6.  Please tell others since we LOVE to read what other people are doing for the fall and steal a.k.a. adapt, others ideas.  So, pull your resources together, find your links, and HOP WITH US!  


 On June 6, write your post and come back to Kingdom Arrows and post your link.  To participate, write a post or create a page on your blog telling us all about your curricular plans for next year, 2011-2012.  You can add pictures and links to products if you want.  Then link in at Kingdom Arrows on Monday, June 6.

In return, we ask that you do three things:

• Display our picture header in your post or post the button in your side bar.  You can grab the picture from above or the button code over in my sidebar.

• Link to Kingdom Arrows.  If you display the button, that's already done for you!

• Link to Olive Plants somewhere in your post.  You can mention that I am the co-hostess if that helps.

Here are my favorite pics for the last 3 days.

This is the USS Wisconsin.  We took this for Poppie, Aunt Wyndy and Aunt Pat!

We are riding in the Governor's Carriage.  I will not admit to how much I paid for this 15 minute ride:)

Joy-Bug and Dad taking dancing lessons just like Felicity!

Only a tiny representative of all the weapons in the foyer for the Governor's Palace. Little Guy made sure I got his picture in front of several weapons.  It is fun having a boy!

Heather

Vacation 2011

Day 2 of Vacation 2011, Nags Head, NC

Favorite Pictures of the Day (there was more than one).



Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, Lots of sand dunes, lots of birds!




Cape Hatteras Lighthouse




Taken from the top of the lighthouse by Gracie-Girl




All the kids became Junior Rangers today at the Wright Museam and Cape Hatteras.

Heather

I want to remind you about May's Tweet and See!  Just over a week to work on your bird list for the meme.  Make sure if you travel this summer that you keep a special travel list!  All you do is write a post about all the birds you have seen or heard this month, and link over here at Kingdom Arrows.





My Country 'Tis of Thee...

Little Guy has developed  him a new little "school."

He likes me to photocopy a picture from a book and he colors it.

Gracie-Girl decided to get in on the action.

Yes, that is our stately national bird, colored by the Queen of Bling.
Brings new meaning to Tweet and See.

Heather

May God Be Praised

Can you tell what this is??

That is the Futon being carried away to Goodwill!!

Now, can you tell what this is??

Kae-Kae winning second place in both Flute and Piano in our local music competition.

Both of these sights will bring tears of joy to your eyes if you followed us through the journey the Lord ordained for us last year when my then 12 year old had a mental breakdown.  You can read some of our story here (also to see how Kae-Kae laid between the futon cushions for 12 hours a day), or search anxiety updates on this blog to follow the many steps of the journey. 

One year ago, she had been selectively mute for 2 weeks, little did we know that she had four more weeks of selective mutism coming before she began dissociating 12 hours a day, for 8 full weeks.  She did not hear, speak or see during that time.  She only ate food if I laid it by her head while under the futon.  She would swing in the rain and not know why she was wet.  At one point she asked how much her little brother had grown.  Our lives changed forever during that time.  But, it was the mercy of God.  He has grown all of our faith and chipped off alot of that legalism, cynicism, entitlement, selfishness, etc. and grown Kae-Kae into a beautiful, godly, faith-filled young woman. 

May God be praised!

Heather

I have waited 13 years for this....

I AM A SOCCER MOM!!!

I am not sure who had more fun, Little-Man or Coach Dan.

Remember the Giveaway for Your Backyard DVD by Crowes Nest Media.  Buy for $12 with code Tweet all this week.

Heather

March Musings

Well, I have not been posting about much except Drawing with Children and Nature blogs.  I wanted to give you a peep into my life to see what we have been up to.

I asked Dan to pick up Les Miserables for me at the used bookstore, since I finally finished David Copperfield.  It took me 6 weeks to plow through those 853 pages, so I thought I would try something new.

This is what he brought home...

However, NO ONE TOLD ME IT WAS 2.75 INCHES THICK.

Then, there is this....

That would be TWENTY PAGES I have printed off from The Handbook of Nature Study.  Barb must LOVE Spring.  She has made so many cool resources, many of them free, and I am wading through scheduling them.  I am trying to be really diligent to do the art and composer study.  I usually let that one slide.

I also was sick of having to find a new Mary Kay consultant all the time, so here ya go, I am now a consultant,
Mary Kay. 
There is a free Virtual Makeover.  Also, free shipping and gift with at least a $40 purchase.  I am assuming much of my business will be online, so I am offering some incentives!

I have also been lesson planning for next year and the summer.  We basically school year round, where we do something a little different in the summer.  Our summer this year will be 6 weeks long and we will start school the third week in July, Lord willing.  The oldest daughter has decided she wants to do Shakespeare in the Summer.  I made that up, so don't google it.  We are using the Ambleside list for Shakespeare so we will spend 2 weeks per the three Shakespeare works for 2011.  I am knee deep in Henrry V now.  I found the best book, No Fear Shakespeare!  It has his and modern translation side-by-side.  I also have on order Brightest Heaven of Invention, in order to help me figure this out.  I have not taught Shakespeare beyond the grammar level.  Keep tuned in for whatever comes of Shakespeare in the Summer.




The last do-dad I have decided is to start a 4-H club in the fall.  We are going to be "general" and have all ages kids from 4th grade and up.  It is going to be family integrated so all the other siblings can come.  I really want my kids to get practice on Public Speaking, Demonstrations, Fair Exhibits, etc.  This is a little more like "school" than we have done in the past, and I think they will grow alot.  I will keep you updated on what this looks like too!

What have you been doing in March?  Is yours running away with you?  Are you interested in Shakespeare in the Summer?  What about a blog hop for it?

Heather

Lent 2011

We are a Protestant, Evangelical family that observes Lent, to some degree for the last several years.  This has helped our family prepare mentally and spiritually for the most important day of the Church Calendar, Easter.

Usually we start off on Fat Tuesday with some special kind of pancakes.  This year it was BLUEBERRY!

On Ash Wednesday, we try to go to a lunchtime worship service.

Click here to see what our family has used the last few years for Lent study.  This works great for all aged children and is easy to use. Great for homeschooling families or families that want to begin family worship.  This year I have decided to skip the coloring the tree part and we made our own tree.  I got 40 sparkly eggs from the Dollar Tree that had ribbons tied on.  Everyday of Lent we will put an egg on our tree while we do our study.  Remember, Sundays don't count, since they are "Little Easters" anyway!

A few other things we do during the 40 days are make or buy yummy pretzels.  We usually have a little bowl that we collect a special offering in and after Easter we give it to a special ministry or mission. 

On Good Friday, we put a black tablecloth on the table and early Easter morning, I replace it with a white one. 

Kae-Kae is starting her third year of wearing a black bracelet to remind her of Christ's sacrifice during this time.

How do you celebrate Lent?

 

Heather

Welcome!

Welcome to Kingdom Arrows!  Several blogs have linked today in honor of the Great Backyard Bird Count!  We are home of Tweet and See, a monthly bird watching/recording meme and Drawing with Children-Nature Style.  The first Drawing with Children-Nature Style starts the first week of March and is a low-key come and go chance to work through that art book by combining Barb's Squidoo Lesson Plans for it and nature.

I also co-host another blog we would love for you to visit, Birders For Life.  We do all things birds there, which includes birdwatching, building bird habitats, and other bird fun like recipes and crafts.

Check back later this evening to see how Kingdom Arrows celebrated the GBBC 2011!


Heather

Anxiety Disorder- Update

Click here to read my journal of last year from March to August. 

In honor of Kae-Kae's Thirteenth Birthday Today, I thought I would send out an update. 

Kae-Kae in a hands-on session with our friend Ginger learning more photography skills.

I have been trying to decide when to send it, she has had so many breakthroughs.

Just in January, she added in piano lessons again, with daily practice.  She has finally begun to do chores, even though she knows she does not do them well.  She decided she wanted to start up Vision Therapy this past week.  If you remember, that is what actually made her begin dissociating.  She is realizing she is not seeing well and that her eyes are crossing often when she is reading.  I am taking her to the optometrist this week.

Kae-Kae has good Sunday afternoons now, and is able to figure out some things to help pass the time without getting anxious.  She has dug out her MP3 player and is relearning how to use it.  She is making some baby steps toward starting some of her own hobbies.  She has written a few more poems, and is wanting to compose music for them.  She has said she wants to learn to draw, so I am borrowing some Art DVDs for her to watch. 

In school, she is now doing SIXTH grade math!  This is the best she has ever done in Math.  She is learning Latin because she wants to, and is about three-quarters of the way through Lively Latin Book 1.  She is doing seventh grade language arts.  The last two weeks she started reading again.  What I mean by that is we go to the library, she picks out a ton of books, and they are completely read in one week.  She has not done that in about 8 months. 

In counseling, she has progressed so well that we are going to be ending very soon.  She is asking when it is going to be over!  Dan and I feel Kae-Kae is the best she has ever been in her life.  I still can't believe we had to go through so much just to find out what was "wrong" with her and work on helping her get well.  But, God was walking through it with us the whole time, even when I could not see Him for all the pain. 

I have to say she had the BEST Birthday ever.  She has never acted excited about Christmas or Birthdays before.  But, this year was radically different.  It shows the prison of anxiety she has been locked in for her whole life.  She responded to all her gifts and was so grateful and expressive. 

Thank you again for all the prayers, gifts and other things you did for our family this last year.  Kae-Kae began her "official" descent last March and was at her peak June through August.  I write this with a grateful heart.

Her grandparents had this quilted for her birthday after Kae-Kae and I had pieced it 3 years ago.

 Heather



The girls gave her Bluebird goodies.  That is her favorite bird.



 

Kingdom Arrows Wins!

I just found out that the second picture I have ever entered into a photo competition was just chosen as one of five for a photo meme.  Click over here and scroll down to see my entry, B is for Berries.  I am participating in a weekly meme of taking different pictures of alphabet items at The Homeschool Post.  You can also keep up with my weekly entries by checking Flickr. 

Leave a comment so they know Kingdom Arrows is proud to win!

Heather

Wilderness Wildlife Week 2011, Recap #3

Wilderness Wildlife Week is a great place for all ages to go to. I like it because it talks about a lot of history and culture of the Appalachian people. One of my favorite classes was the “Walker Sisters of Little Greenbrier Community.” I did not know anything about the Walker Sisters, so it was a great opportunity for me to learn. Greenbrier is in the Smoky Mountain National Park. There were 7 Walker sisters, but one died early in life and one got married. So there were only 5 left, they lived in the house of their parents and tended the farm until they died.

The lady who spoke was named Robin Goddard. She showed some pictures of their house and farm. Robin knew the Walker sisters from the age of 3 until they died.  I like learning about other people who live in other times than we do, because we learn they are people just like us.

Learning to play the spoons.

We also went on an Owl Prowl. This is when you go out in the woods in the middle of the night and you call and watch for owls and listen for them. It was bitterly cold and snowy. We saw one Barred Owl, but did not hear any. We were listening for the Barred Owl, Great Horned and Screech Owl, all which are in the Smoky Mountains.

 

Kae-Kae

age 12

Wilderness Wildlife Week 2011, Recap #3

To see our other Recaps of Wilderness Wildlife Week, click here.

This is Gracie-Girl's Narration of her favorite things at WWW.

My favorite thing at Wilderness Wildlife Week were the Bird Shows.  The bird talked in a microphone.  They flew over my head.  There were parrots, prey birds, owls and little birds.  They were fed peanuts and little mice. 

Here is the family at an art class.

Gracie-Girl
age 6

This is Joy- Bug's Narration of WWW.

My favorite class was the Safari Animal Show with Amazon John.  There was a 10 foot Burmese Python that I helped hold.  He weighed 25 pounds.  There was also a bunny and he said it was the scariest animal in the world because it steals carrots and thumps field mice on the head so he can eat them!

He also had a frog named Bubba and he at up all the other baby frogs in the puddle.  He was an African Rainforest frog.  He tried to feed it a mouse but it did not want it.  There was also an animal that looked like a monkey, but it was not.  It was a marsupial.  He also had a black vulture and a dog named Bear. 

Joy-Bug
age 7


Gracie- Girl and Joy-Bugs classes at WWW

• O! Possum!- live animal show
• Knoxville Bird show
• Silly Safari Show with Amazon John
• Do it yourself: Build a backyard bird habitat
• Hiking and Backpacking Play

Wilderness Wildlife Week 2011, Recap #1

This week Kingdom Arrows is going to be recapping our time at Wilderness Wildlife Week (WWW) in Pigeon Forge, TN.  Some of the reason I want to do this is to get the word out about this absolutely FREE, wonderful week.  I feel like it is teacher's in-service for me and my kids feel like it is one long, awesome field trip.  It is always the second week of January.

First, I want to tell you about the hotel, River Bend Inn.  For our family of 6, we paid $25 a night, with an indoor pool and breakfast.  It was in the parking lot of the Pigeon Forge Convention Center, where WWW was, which was great since there was still plenty of snow when we got there. 

Since this is MY post, and the guest posters will be writing the rest of this week, I wanted to list the classes I took (for FREE), so you can see the variety. 

• O! Possum! Live animal show
• Wild Wonders: Knoxville Zoo and Bird Show
• Owl Prowl, one mile hike after dark for 2 hours listening and looking for owls
• Bird Songs of the Smokys, class specifically about bird identifying
• Do it Yourself, Building a Backyard Habitat
• Coloring/ Drawing a Nature scene
• Learn to play the Washboard, Spoons and Fiddle Sticks
• Slow Jam with Sweetpea, my mountain dulcimer
• Interactive play teaching hiking and backpacking tips

As you can tell, I went to many classes that my littles went to, and if on my own, I would have chosen a little differently. 

My favorite "class" was the one mile Owl Prowl.  We left at 6pm, and went up behind Gatlinburg into the Park.  It was led my our new friend Stever Garr from Birds-I-View.  There was still about 5 inches of snow on the ground and the moon was full.  It was so bright the trees left shadows on the diamond sparkling snow.  Steve took us out and we stood still for about an hour in the 20 degree temperature looking for and listening for owls.  He would make the sound of the three owl that habitat around there- the Great Horned, Barred and Screech Owl.  We never heard an owl, but I saw a Barred that flew over head, just after we stopped walking and Steve started calling him. 

I learned that the expression chilled to the bone really exists.  It took me until 3am to get all the way warm!  Kae-Kae and Joy- Bug went with me and had such a good time that they went the next night and took Dad.  It was only 34 degrees that night and felt like a heat wave!

Since Dan is not going to be a guest poster this week, I wanted to share with you this painting he did in his class this week using some of the tips he learned from the drawing class he took at WWW.  Here is his most recent painting (thanks Mom and Dad for the class)!

Heather

Christmas I Spy Edition!

(scroll down for answers)

A) Can you spy what is missing from this Advent wreath?

B)  Can you spy the problem with our Christmas tree?

C)  You will have to spy closely to see what is wrong with this Jesse Tree that Kae-Kae and I made this year for her Hope Chest.

D) Can you spy what is wrong with this little boy?

Answers:

A) I could not get to Hobby Lobby until December 2 once all the purple and pink candles were sold out.

B)  The top section of lights went out two weeks ago and no parent was fearless enough to dive in.

C)  The Jesse Tree is supposed to have 25 ornaments, we only got 20 made.

D)  All four children had the flu with 101 degree fever for the four days leading up to Christmas.

This meant we gave up:

Christmas Caroling

Decorating Cookies

Making Gingerbread Houses

Annual Christmas dinner with the Jones'

Christmas Eve Worship Service

BUT, THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER, IS HERE:

  Kae-Kae out from the futon (see story here) and loving her new Narnia DVDs from her grandparents.

Everyone else's favorite thing this Christmas, besides this...

Merry Christmas!

Heather

Christmas Vacation!

Kingdom Arrows got to visit Olive Plants this past weekend.  Here we are introducing Olive Plants to our new Netflix automatic download favorite, Shaun the Sheep. 

It was great fun seeing where Homeschool Dawn makes her soap, teaches her kids and the special throne she sits on when her back is hurting.  For those who don't remember, Homeschool Dawn and Homeschool Heather were bridesmaids in each other's weddings, way back when big hair was in and even BIGGER glasses.  My scanner is not working, so I had to take a photo of a photo.

Of course, since we were with Olive Plants, we had to go birding.  They are the family that introduced us to birding.  We actually saw our first Belted Kingfisher live, and heard a live Killdeer!  We just learned Killdeer two weeks ago, so that was very gratifying.

Stay tuned for a new Mr. Linky that Dawn and I are cooking up.  I don't want to have a Meme and no one participate, so I enlisted her help.  I will give you a hint.... it involves keeping a Bird List for the birds your family observes for the whole month, starting in January!



Heather

Voyage of the Dawn Treader Party

 As predicted, Kae-Kae (a.k.a. Lucy) woke up at 4AM in anticipation of the movie. 

This cake was made by Dan.  This is our Dawn Treader Ship cake.  Remember, I only make 9x13's and don't take them out of the pan!

Here are some of our friends, a Daughter of Eve (Naomi) and a Soldier (Daniel).  You can see Naomi's blog if you click here.

Here is Reepicheep (red feather and tail), Lucy, Aslan the Lion and Gail.

Of course, as the party went on, I forgot to take pictures of all the normal people!  We had pizza and played Narnia Trivia.  The winners were Mary Clare and Daniel, who tied, missing only one!

Heather

Jip Ran Away with the Spoon

For those of you who don't know, we have a new addition to our family.

We named him Jip.  Ten points to the first person who leaves a comment as to what book our name, Jip the Dog, came from.

We have also found out he is a Corgi mix. 

His talent- Squeezing his body into the size of a hot dog and sneaking through any cracked door.  We are having to get creative just to keep him from running away after all the rabbits on our land.  He LOVES rabbits.

The other adventure.... he likes to mark his territory, that would be INSIDE the house.  And, he is really Passive Aggressive.  When the Alpha Dog (a.k.a. Dan) goes away, Jip hikes his leg and makes a mark... on the small Christmas tree, a present, the wall, a toy, ON THE BUNNY, etc.  We are trying to keep all things important off the floor.  Maybe we need to get the bunny off the floor.....Needless to say, he has added some drama to our boring home. 

Ha! Ha!

You should be laughing.  No one with four kids, a bunny a dog, and that homeschools has a boring home. 

Heather

Out with the Old

We have been married 15 years this year and everything has broken this year: lawn mower, weed eater, washing machine and vacuum cleaner.  That makes for an expensive year.

This is how we have resolved these issues.

Dan got a weed eater for his 40th birthday.  How exciting.

Since this is what my old washing machine did every time it washed, my parents bought me one for an early Christmas present.  Yes, that is a hole in my new floor.  Oh, here is the new laundry room that Daniel Fry built for us a few months ago.

We have borrowed our neighbor's John Deere lawnmower the last 3 times we mowed. I am guessing that some of our tax return this year will go toward a new riding mower.




And, the vacuum.  Everytime we use it, EVERYTIME, we have to add more duct tape.

:

 So, here is our solution:

Right now he is called "Little Dog." There is an equal split on the names Skippyjon or Kipper.

Skippyjon is one of our favorite story books.

Kipper is a mellow, jazz loving, British dog we watch on Netflix.

Somehow, I think our "Little Dog" is more like a spastic, fun-loving Skippyjon.  I will let you know what we decide. 

Heather