Back to the Co-op

Today was our first day back to our homeschool co-op classes. Doodles was feeling a bit shy and apprehensive this morning before heading into classes. She is such an outgoing kid, most of the time but she still has a shy side to her personality. To anyone that knows her, it is so hard to believe but she has standoffish moments. 

We lightened the moment this morning before going inside, by examining all of the spiderwebs on the playground fence. I had forgotten how this time of the year, you can find spider webs covering acres of grassy fields and almost any structure, when the morning dew is heavy. Taking a few minutes to just stop and look, talk about the webs and look for the spiders that made them, seem to take the edge off her apprehensiveness.


Our co-op group is being held at a local church. This church has been so generous to open up their classrooms and buildings to a group of over 400 young people for classes. Our group is so blessed by such an amazing gift of generosity. The hosting church is amazing. There is a gym, an indoor walking track above the gym, a library and play areas for the little ones inside and out. There are quiet study rooms but, I have yet to discover where those are. The gym is open for little ones to play and folks to socialize and to get reacquainted after the summer break. Our family feels so blessed to be a part of this network of home school families. The kids that participate in this group are outstanding and so bright. They are also some of the most polite and well behaved children that I have come in contact with in such a long time. 


I do believe Doodlebug is really going to enjoy Monday Fun. This semester she is taking, Character Education, American History, Hands on Shakespeare and a science class called, “Let's Investigate”. I am looking forward to hearing about each of her classes, during our 30 minute lunch break and then, catch rest of the details on our 20 minute ride home.

 11:30 …It is lunch time. We put our name on the pizza list for a share in a pizza but, the pizza guy is running a bit late. We didn’t get our pizza until about 11:45. No big deal though, we were very hungry so, we gobbled it down and still made it to the next class with a few minutes to spare. Doodles really enjoyed getting to have pizza with her friends.


(This paragraph was started at 10:30 and finished at 12:16) I have concluded, that trying to use the 4 hours and 30 minutes here on Monday's, to write may not work out. The atmosphere is so busy and energetic, that my time may be better spent in a pair of walking shoes, listening to my mp3 player and walking on the track. God knows, I sure could use the exercise.

 It is 12:32 and I am sitting outside of the Hands on Shakespeare class. From the sounds coming from inside the classroom, these kids and the teacher are having so much fun. The teacher has these kids so engaged.  From the sounds of laughter, calling out answers, responses and lines, I would say, she must have everyone’s attention. Who knew Shakespeare could be so much fun to second graders? They are learning and reading Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. We had read it at home last week. Doodles listened to the play as I read it to her and she drew in her sketch book. She seemed to enjoy it but nothing like this. I do believe this may be her favorite class, we shall see.

It is now 1:00  I am on my door post for my service hour. I didn't know my service hour would be right outside the nursery. There are so many little ones in there today that are not happy. This is our last hour here. Doodlebug is in the “Let's Investigate” class now. She is having so much fun. I know she is not going to want to go home.

All I can say today is, Wow, what a day! It has been such a fun and blessed day. When we get home, Doodles still has to do two lessons in math, has to do a reading assignment and practice her piano for the day. I know, she and I both are going to welcome our pillows this evening.

Back at home this afternoon, we still finished up two lessons in math and Doodles wanted to continue exploring what she had learned in the "Let's Investigate" class. She collected up a number of items to see if they would float or not. She made her predictions and then tested her items to see. After she finished, she took off the the gym with Papaw. 


When she came home, she ate, practiced her piano lessons, read the play, "Henny Penny" with Papaw and I. She then, brushed her teeth and jumped into bed. I am headed that way myself, as soon as I finish up this blog and answer a couple of emails.

Tomorrow is “Field Trip Tuesday.” We are going to “Down on the Farm Day” at the fair, for half of the day. Then on “Wonder Works” for the second half of the day. It should be a fun but tiring day too.


Wednesday we will have a busy day with book work and getting ready for a couple of tests. Next week may be a bit more relaxed, we shall see.

I will try to do a weekend wrap up on Sunday and post a few more photos. We are going to attend the “Homestead Day” at Oconaluftee visitor’s center on Saturday. We have been looking forward to the homestead cay for weeks.
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Hope you all have a wonderful week. 

              Many blessings!

Fall, Football and Pretzels...

Our Little Vols Cheerleader from 2004

With the upcoming first game of the football season Saturday, I started thinking about fall, weekends wearing, orange and white, Go Vols! and all the things that make fall so special.  So, I decided to try out a homemade pretzel recipe. I have always wanted to learn to make pretzels and ran across a simple recipe and decided to give it a go this evening.

They turned out wonderful. I have 14 enormously large pretzels in individual bags in the freezer. Papaw and I each had to try one. The recipe made 16 but, if I had rolled them out much thinner than it called for, we would have had many more. Don't they look delicious? Well trust me, they are. Will be keeping those tucked away in that freezer until our son brings over a few buddies for an afternoon of hanging out cause, the Lord knows, we don't need them.

I topped a couple off with sea salt. Papaw suggested trying a sweet glaze topping, like that pretzel place in the mall has on some of theirs. I may try making a bit of a sweet glaze for him next month, when we thaw one out to share. I think we may need to wait a month before indulging and having another.

If you want to try making your own, here's a great recipe on the food network <--click there for their website. This is the recipe that I used.

Here's a warning, do not make these unless you have some serious company coming over, a big tailgate party your heading out to, or room in the freezer to put a few away for later. Next time I make them, I think I am going to try using a bit of whole wheat flour. It will be interesting to see how those would make up.

Until next time, blessing to you all and have a wonderful holiday weekend...    GO VOLS!!!

Search For The Missing Book

I had thought Doodlebug may be trying to tell me something without having to come right out with it.  I have been searching all evening for our book that Doodlebug and I started reading, “Witch of Blackbird Pond.” I couldn't seem to find the book anywhere. I had looked on both night stands, hers and mine and it wasn't there. Usually, that is where it would be because, we had been reading it at night before bed. I pulled out the activities book to work something new from the story into tomorrow’s lessons and it prompted me to grab the book. That is when I discovered, it wasn't anywhere to be found.  The first clue that she maybe wasn’t enjoying the story should have been, when she asked me, “Mamaw, why do the Puritans have to talk like that? Why can’t they just talk normal so that we can understand them?” 

I am not saying that she hid the book but, the smile on her face when I told her I could not find it, well. That said a lot. I did find it. It had slid down behind the night stand. We read another chapter just a bit ago. I told her that I really thought it was important that we finish it. I told her that it was alright if she didn’t like the story but, I thought we should finish what we start. She seemed to agree with that too. We have already read 2/3's of it so far.

We will do a few more of the activities along with it but, I will not dig deeper with it. I do not want to bore her. I think it may not be as age appropriate as I had hoped.  I want our reading time to be exciting.

One of the activities from the companion book of "Witch from Blackbird Pond", was to make a “Gratitude from A to Z” list.  We also talked about Puritans’ beliefs and how strongly they believe that work and religion were the most important things in life. We read about how they were grateful for the little things in everyday life and we talked about those things.  Doodles has to think every day of something starting with the corresponding letter, that she is grateful for. Here is her list so far.

We will be starting Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn next. I do hope she will enjoy that. I always loved all of Twain’s books.  I hope she will love them too.

She also started her creative writing assignments that we are following along with from “The Small World’s Wordsmithery” blog. You can find the link on the right side of my blog. Doodlebug was ask to come up with adjectives to describe her parents and herself. We had a very good laugh. These were indeed her words.

The lesson suggests or reminds the teacher/parent, not to criticize a word choice in order to keep the child reaching for their own creative words and not words they feel would be more accepted by the teacher or parent.  It was a fun exercise and she really enjoyed the different activities today. It was a truly blessed day. 

Hope your week will be a blessed week too!

Signs of a Fading Summer

There are signs of fall quickly approaching all around. We noticed a few days ago, the ivy in the woods already turning red. Leaves on the Birch are fading quickly to yellow and some already brown. There are small but, very fresh autumn squash popping up at the produce market. Summer will be gone before we know it. I am looking forward to the cozy energy that fall brings. Also, I am looking forward to some steamy mugs of hot tea and butternut squash soup.

   "Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire."

            ~William Butler Yeats 

Today was the start of our homeschool year. Though it was a very long day, we accomplished so much and Doodlebug seemed very excited. She easily moved back into her lessons. I was so proud of her effort. I am in great hopes her enthusiasm will continue; although, I know every day will not be like this. There will be those days, I am sure we will both long for the energy and excitement of day one but, we will look forward to the days that new doors will be opened and unexplored topics arise to capture our interests. It was truly uplifting to hear her ask this evening if it would be alright if she were to do another math lesson in her Teaching Textbooks.

I am very excited and feel blessed to have this time to spend with her exploring and learning. I am learning so much myself. I am grateful each day for our time together. She is such a sweet child and getting to be a part of her education is such a gift. I know I will forever be grateful to God for this stage in my life and this time with Doodles.

I would love to take a few minutes to share with you, photos from history day in our town but, I am exhausted. Our day starts early and I do think my blogging will slow since the start of our lessons. I will try and post a new blog this weekend and share a bit about our week and also photos from history day. 

Many blessings to you all!