Mapping the Dead Sea

I actually did a suggested project in our History book. The kids themselves asked me to post this!

We are using Mystery of History, Volume II. The Early Church and the Middle Ages. I love the book, I love the author!

This week in History we studied events happening around the Dead Sea. You can see our pin marks. Blue is Jerusalem.

1) White: Masada - A.D. 66-73. Herod the Great lived at Masada when he was a young boy. Later in life he remodeled it and turned it into an unbelievable stronghold. During the First Jewish revolt, a group of Zealots made their escape to Masada. Unfortunately, the Romans made their way up to Masada by building a dirt mound. After using battering rams to break down the walls the Romans entered and found very few Jews alive. The Zealots took their own lives in order to prevent Roman captivity.

2) Yellow: The Dead Sea Scrolls - written by a Jewish sect called the Essenes. These are the very words of our Old Testament Scriptures. They were discovered in Qumran in 1947 by a shepherd boy.

3) Red: Bar-Kokhba - A.D. 135. Bar-Kokhba was once thought to be a legend. But the leader of the Second Jewish Revolt was discovered to be a real person in 1961. Proof was found in a canyon named Nahal Hever. Letters written by Bar-Kokhba to his generals were found in remarkable condition (this attributed to the dry air near the Dead Sea).

Lilly and I made this map.

Bret did this one, and Garret made our flags!

Sad for me, Rachel missed out on this. She is in high school and is doing her own study of World History this year.

Bible Time in the Orchard

Most of our school mornings start off with a short Bible reading and prayer. It helps me focus on what is most important in our home school.

A couple of weeks ago, Garret had a great idea. We did our Bible time in the orchard. Wade was home that day so he to read to us. Then we worked on our memory work. I Corinthians 13.

I felt like we were camping and didn't really want it to end. But it was a school day for us and work day for Wade. So we wrapped up our special time in prayer, thanking God for His many blessings and Bible time in our orchard was at the top of the list!

Baptisms

Sunday was a very special day for us. Three of our four children publicly acknowledged their faith in Christ by way of baptism.

Wade was asked to perform this special duty.

Lilly

Bret

Garret

Matthew 28:18-20 - Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Please pray with us that God will continue the work he has begun in each of our children.

First Day of School

2010-2011 School Year

Lilly - 2nd Grade

This year - multiplication and division! She had fun with math blocks and multiples of 2 last week.

Garret - 4th Grade

Garret has been having a great time with a language study this past week. I can tell his imagination will take him far in his writing this year. I've assured him that his math book is easy.

Bret - 7th Grade

So, Bret is in real school now!! He's working on his second year grammar. He was thrilled (hee, hee) to learn all about Participle Phrases last week! But it's not all that bad. He gets to learn Physical Science with some outstanding young men. Writing class, Bible class - it's good to be in Junior High!

Rachel - 9th Grade

Highschool - wow! Rachel's looking forward to an online Spanish class. We've purchased a microscope, some slides and look forward to having two of Rachel's friends come to our house each week to study Biology together!

There are many other exciting things in store for us this year. Our Bible time is centered around the Acts of the Apostles. Every morning we listen to another story from the Your Story Hour collection. It's an exciting way to learn what happened in the Book of Acts.

I'm going to concentrate on learning large sections of scripture, beginning with I Corinthians 13. We're also finally beginning our Mystery of History II! I love history, love this Christ-centered book, and I'm so excited for the opportunity to share it with my three youngest children.

Just to let you know we're still real, and no every day didn't go as planned last week. The phone rang and I had to answer it. We cried over hand writing. I had to take a nap after I finished teaching Bret his grammar lesson, and Lilly had way too much free time!

Week 2 - here we come!

Ripon vs. Tracy and Modesto

Our first home meet was Saturday. Ripon's swimmers were full of energy and ready to take on the Tracy Tritans and Modesto Sharks.
My own swimmers were excited and nervous! The coaches did a great job building the energy level up, even my two quiet kids were raring to go!
The Medley Relay started the day. I've never heard so many people cheering for 7/8 year old C and D teams! My enthusiasm began watching Rachel's A team compete in their Medley Relay. What a group of hard working talented girls!
Rachel was up on Butterfly again! We love to watch her go!

It was a good day for the Crews. Rachel scored third place in the Fly, Breast and 100 Free. She earned two first place ribbons with her fabulous relay teams! Bret took 6th in the Breast Stroke. Lilly shaved all of her times this week. 2.90 seconds off her fly, 2.74 off her backstroke, and .29 off her 50 free.

On Monday's the kids get their ribbons out of the box. Lilly was thrilled to find a pink ribbon in her folder! The pink is for 4th place in her 100 Yard Freestyle Relay. Pink - I think she'd like to earn one of those each time, who needs blue, or red - when you can have pink!!

Well, more practices this week and then we are off to the Sea Dog Invitational this Saturday.

Oakdale Invitational

Oakdale Invitational - After a few days at the lake - playing hard and eating poorly - we pulled the trailer into Oakdale and set up camp. It was nice to wake up and already be at the meet. No unpacking and repacking for me. It was worth forgoing a shower. I had clean clothes and a baseball cap - so I felt pretty good.

The trailer was a luxury. After each event we kicked back, played cards, ipods, iphones etc. We also got to listen to Kids in Company. We've missed our Saturday morning radio show the past few weeks!

It was an ok day for the Crews' not great, but could have been worse. We were happy that Bret improved his 50 free by 2 seconds, and his Individual Medley by a smidge. The girls didn't improve times - but Rachel still wound up with a 4th in Butterfly and a 7th in her Individual Medley. We missed day 2 of the meet, went to church, rested and caught up on laundry and yard work. Thankful for all the Sea Lions who were there today and happy that Ripon once again took 1st place!

Ripon at Turlock

We're at it again...this year we've added Lilly to the Sea Lion family. She is thrilled to be a part of a winning team! With great ambition she gives her all in every practice. We are proud of her effort and thrilled with each improved time she earns!

Lilly getting ready for Backstroke

Rachel doing Butterfly for the Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay

Rachel blew us away last week in Tracy by taking 3rd in Butterfly. This was an Invitational so she had a lot of competition. All those tough afternoons of Butterfly have paid off for her. This week in Ripon vs. Turlock she received 2nd place for the Butterfly, 3rd for Breaststroke and 4th for the Individual Medley.

Bret (no picture this week) has improved all his times from last year. He didn't have a lot of competition this weekend, which was nice!! He earned a 2nd in his Breaststroke and 4th in his Backstroke. I think we will see a lot more improved times from Bret in the coming weeks!!!

Looking forward to Oakdale Invitational next weekend!