Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up November 2

Not only has another week gone by, but it is now November.  Wow.

Last weekend was our church's family retreat.  You can see more photos here.  It was an extraordinary and uplifting time for all of the families involved.

Monday was back to the grind, with Kiddos 1 and 2 having their online classes and Kiddo #4 finished two more Christmas gifts in sewing class.  But, we did find time in the afternoon to paint our pumpkins.  I posted more photos of the kiddos and their pumpkins here.

Tuesday was more schoolwork, of course, and we also went outdoors and identified every tree on the street by its leaves.  I found a free printable that had all kinds of leaves on it.  The kiddos really enjoyed trying to figure out each and every tree.  There were so many different varieties just on this one street!

On Wednesday, Kiddos 3 and 4 learned long division!  Phew!  I survived, lol!  :-)  Seriously, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and they really have caught on!  :-)  On Wednesday evening, as we were watching the final game of the World Series, Kiddos 1 and 4 made us all a chocolate chip cookie "cake."  Kiddo #1 frosted it and it was cut up so quickly that I didn't get a photo of all of his decorations on it.  It was delicious.  :-)

Thursday was Halloween, of course.  It was a bit difficult getting the kiddos to concentrate on their work during the day, but Algebra and long division were worked on diligently after a bit of coaxing from mom.  ;-)

We do celebrate Halloween, but explain to our children the origin of the holiday and that it was called All Hallows' Eve, meaning the night before All Saints' Day.  I read an excellent article here that explained about children in pre-Reformation England going door to door for Soul Cakes and how many believe that began the tradition of going door to door.  It is a really good piece that explains a lot about the origins of the holiday. 

Our children dress up in wholesome, modest costumes and enjoy walking the same streets that their dad delivers mail to each day. (they tired out LONG before the end of daddy's route, lol)  Hubby and I walked with them and we enjoy the time together.

Kiddo #1 did not join us again this year. He helped his grandfather give out candy at the house.  We missed him, but understand that he feels he is getting too "old" for the custom.  :-)

Our Princess Belle

Eagles Player, LeSean McCoy

and our green crayon (no, we didn't turn him upside and try to color, lol!)

Lots of smiles all around

My posts this week:

Try a New Recipe Tuesday (linkup your favorite recipe(s)!)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Surprise

TOS Review- Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns

Wordless Wednesday- scenes from family retreat

Thankful Thursday- pumpking painting, leaf identifying and more...

Bow of Bronze Review- My Beloved and My Friend

Field Trip Friday (come share your outings with us!)

What we are looking forward to in the next week:

Lots of 4H activities on Saturday: monthly meeting, toy making and cooking!  :-)

Field Trip the the historic Peter Wentz Farmstead

Reading some new books

Enjoying this beautiful fall weather

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  God bless!

Linking up today with:  Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, NOBH, Show-Off Friday, Learn and Link and It's a Wrap, Friendship Friday and Friday Connection and Family Fun Friday and T.G.I.F. Linky Party and Let's Homeschool High School and This Week

Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Home to 4 Kiddos by Email and get our posts sent right to your inbox!

Make Life Meaningful Monday- November 5

I do feel guilty posting happy posts and photos while so many around us are suffering having lost their homes or without power and heat.  But, my family is what is meaningful to me and I am enormously grateful for them.  Tragedies such as last week's, just make me all the more grateful for the blessings I do have.  So, yes, I will post what made my life meaningful this weekend, and that is indeed my children.

The local townships all recommended that trick or treating be postponed until Saturday because there was still so much debris in the streets and power crews, etc.  They even asked that the children go out during the daylight hours.  So, that we did.

I did take the opportunity to explain to my children the real meaning of All Hallow's Eve and how the tradition of "trick or treating" came about.  Many years ago in England and Germany, children would go out praying (in chant and song) for the souls of those who had died.  The local townspeople would give the children "Soul Cakes." "Soul papers," with solicitations of prayers for the deceased, accompanied the cakes which were given to the parish poor. Householders, as well as churches, bestowed soul cakes as a charity in behalf of the departed.   We didn't get a chance to bake any, but are thinking about doing it soon.  I'll let everyone know how they turn out.  :-)

Kiddo #4 was delighted to finally get to dress in the Hershey Kiss costume that she made with her grandfather.  She got many compliments and comments.  :-)

P.S.  I also just found out that my blog was nominated in 2 categories in the 2012 Homeschool blog awards.  I would much appreciate your vote and support.  Here are the links:

For best homeschool mom blog and best photos.  Thank you!  :-)


Linking up with On, in and around Mondays in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom and Crazy Mama

Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up- November 2

Here it is Friday again and what a week this has been.  We are very blessed, as we remained unscathed from the horrible storm.  All around us is devastation and many are still without power.  The New Jersey coastline is no longer as we all remember it.  Our prayers and thoughts are with all of them who have lost their homes.

Monday while the storm was raging, we didn't do much schoolwork.  We watched, waited, prayed and just were thankful for being safe.

I did publish my "Make Life Meaningful Monday" post about our amazing family retreat last weekend.  It was an extraordinary experience.

On Tuesday, the kiddos and I did some baking for Halloween.  We made Kiddo #1's Cocoa Fudge Cake and some sugar cookies.  The Cocoa cake was also my recipe that I shared in Tuesday's post.  You can see it here.

You can see more pics of our cookies and cake baking here, in my Wordless Wednesday/Thankful Thursday post.  I also reflect upon the devastation that is all around us and how grateful I am to be safe with my family.

Wednesday was Halloween, but with the storm damage of much of the neighborhood without power, the townships all requested that trick or treating be postponed until Saturday.  My husband had the wonderful idea to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese.  We were all able to eat and play together.  It was a fun night.

Thursday had us back at our work and classes at Church.  There was no Civil Air Patrol for Kiddo #1 due to power outages.

On Friday, we worked on our various lessons, Kiddo #4 continued on her Colonial tradesmen project and Kiddo #2 started on his state studies.  This is definitely my favorite resource this week.  I was lucky to be able to get it for free from the Notebooking Nook.  There are numerous sheets for every state and include geography, state symbols, state quarters, history and so much more.  He started with the first state alphabetically, Alabama, and will work his way to Wyoming.  :-)

What I'm reading: I purchased "Whispers from the Cross: Reclaiming the Church through Personal Holiness" on retreat and am looking forward to starting it this weekend.

What I'm praying for: all of those who lost their homes during the storm, our military, our nation, those who are unemployed, ill, or suffering....

A quote or photo to share:

Here is Kiddo #4 with candy legos that were in a gift basket from her aunt and uncle for Halloween.  She got a real kick out of the fact that she could actually build with them!  :-)

Thank you to everyone who has already entered my little giveaway.  I am so excited to have been given an autographed copy of a work of Christian fiction to be read with your families for Advent.  If you still haven't entered, there are a few more days left.  You can see the post here.  Thanks!  :-)

Hope everyone had a good week and for those of you with us on the East Coast, keeping you in my thoughts and prayers!  God bless!

Linking up today with:  Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, NOBH, Show-Off Friday, Learn and Link and It's a Wrap and Friendship Friday. Favorite Resource and Look What We Did

Wordless Wednesday- October 31/Thankful Thursday- November 1

Seems difficult to do a happy Wordless post when all around us is incredible devastation.  The towns where we were during the summer (Ocean City, NJ) and in September (Bethany Beach, DE) have had unspeakable damage.  All around us are power outages and bad flooding.  I hear generators humming as we speak.  Thank God, we are all ok.  Except for a screen door, we have no damage at all and our power remained on.

But, it is a happy post.  A grateful post, thanking God for our safety.  So, this now becomes my Thankful Thursday post, as well.  On Tuesday, we played hookie from school (since all other schools were closed, I figured why not? :-)) and baked Halloween cookies and cake.

On Wednesday (Halloween), we played some fun math card games and the kids had fun with logic and their new tanagrams.  And I am thankful.

Linking up with: Judy H-J's Thoughts, Mama to 4 Blessings, Create with Joy, NOBH, Musings from a Stay at Home Mom, Tina's Wordless Wednesday,Judy @ CoffeeJitters and Wordless Wednesday at Wordless ,Lisa at The Army Chap's Wife, NOBH , A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings, Spilled Milkshake, Miscellany Monday, Women Living Well Wednesday and Raising Homemakers.

P.S. If you haven't entered already, I would love for you to check out my Advent giveaway.  An author was gracious enough to give me an autographed copy of her Christian fiction book entitled "Destination: Bethlehem, An Advent Family Adventure."  It is a wonderful journey through the Holy Land to be read with your children each day leading up to Christmas Eve.  I know you would love it!  Thanks!  :-)

Thankful Thursday- October 25

Another Thursday has come and it is time to focus again on the many things for which I have to be thankful.

The world seems to be getting worse everyday.  Just in the past few days, in the county where my husband grew up, 2 teenagers were just arrested for beating and strangling a 12 year old girl to death.  She was on her way to her friend's house.  My prayers are with her family.  I cannot imagine.  I also am praying for the mom of the boys arrested.  It was she who had the courage to turn her own sons over to the authorities.  I cannot imagine that, either.

So, again my Thankful Thursday post is about a local tragedy resulting in the death of a child and just how grateful I am for my children.  I have made a real concerted effort to cherish every single moment I have with them.  They truly go by in an instant.  God gave us our children as precious gifts, whom we are to nurture, protect, teach and guide.  I pray everyday for the grace to do that to the best of my ability.

So, when the opportunity presented itself yesterday (Wednesday), we spent the afternoon picking out and painting pumpkins.  Well, I watched and took pictures.  :-)  The kids said it was the best "art class" they had had in a long time.  Mission accomplished.

Smokey the cat is checking out his likeness on Kiddo #1's pumpkin.  :-)

 This shirt gets pulled out twice a year-- once for pumpkins and once on Halloween.  I just love Snoopy!  :-)

Kiddo #4's masterpiece.

What are you thankful for today?

Linking up with Lisa at The Army Chap's Wife, NOBH , A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings, Spilled Milkshake, Miscellany Monday, Women Living Well Wednesday and Raising Homemakers.

P.S.  I am hosting a giveaway for an amazing book to be read with your children during Advent.  It is called "Destination: Bethlehem A Family Advent Adventure."  Please click here to see the post and to enter!  :-)  Thanks!

Make Life Meaningful Monday- October 15

It was indeed a meaningful weekend with much to be thankful for.  I got to see my daughter working with my dad in making her Hershey Kiss Halloween costume.

We celebrated my uncle's 70th birthday with a lovely dinner.  I made pizzelles for the occasion.

(with a spectator other than my kids, lol!)

Kiddo #1 got to work flight line security at an air show with his Civil Air Patrol unit.  He really enjoyed it.  What a thrill for those kids!  :-)

Church being meaningful goes without saying, of course.

And then there are moments like this, that as a homeschooling mom, make me want to dance for joy.

Kiddo #2 was not only reading, which I love, but was playing a "Magic Tree House" game with his younger siblings.  They were "going back in time" and reenacting different historical events from the books!  How cool is that?  :-)

I hope your weekend was wonderful!  Don't forget to come back and visit tomorrow for my recipe linkup party.  :-)


Linking up with On, in and around Mondays and Inspire Me Monday in addition to Wisdom Wednesday, Living Well Wednesday, Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Modest Mom and Crazy Mama