Just 18 Summers

I just finished reading a fantastic book. A novel by the name of Just 18 Summers. A little snippet from the book says "When your child is born, eighteen years seems like they'll last forever. But it goes by in a blink. You have just 18 summers to make memories together. you can't go back and rewind those days."

 So the question is: how will you use that time? 

The book takes you through some ups and downs. I laughed at times and there were also moments I wanted to cry. One time, I was having a hard day with my daughter and I was having a little time to myself to cool down - so I picked up the book to read and just ended up bursting into tears. The idea of the girls growing up SO fast and time just passing too quickly was too much to handle at that moment. 

But overall, I loved the book. This summer we have been through some tough things with our girls. Mostly because they are both growing up so fast and starting to test us in different ways. Many days my heart is all over the place as I love them so fiercely, get angered or hurt so easily and cry way too much. I just wish they could go back to being 6 and 8 years old and just STAY that age forever. But alas, that won't happen, so we continue to roll with the punches as they come. 

This book helped me realize two key things. One is how quickly time is fleeing and how important it is to INVEST time into our kids lives. One set of parents in the book quickly came to regret the fact that they had invested so much time and attention into giving their kids the best of everything and focusing so much on a good education, that they missed the fact that all their kids really wanted was their time and attention. 

The other major thing I learned {and have been learning a LOT this summer} is about trusting God more with my kids. It's kinda funny because 2 years ago we decided to send our kids back into public school after we had homeschooled for 5 years. At that time, I was being challenged mightily by the Lord to fully TRUST Him and put my girl's lives in HIS hands. That year I felt such freedom in loosening my tight grip on the reins and learning to trust Him more. However ... as hard things have come this summer ... mostly in the form of peer pressure and the influence of the world on my daughter, I have been grasping at those reins again and literally clinging to them with all my might. I have mistakenly thought that I somehow could control how my kids turn out, what they do, how they choose to live, etc... by trying to control it all. I had stopped trusting God as much and was trying to rely on my own strengths. 

There were several things in the book that helped me realize these truths but here is a small example of one. I don't want to spoil too much for anyone who might read it, but one of the couples has a college aged daughter who very suddenly announces that she is getting married - to a pizza delivery boy. They are not happy about the wedding and the Mom spends SO much time worrying, crying and praying over the impending doom that is sure to come from this marriage. On the wedding day she finally comes to terms with it saying "I realized all these years I've prayed and I've prayed and I've prayed, but I never really trusted. I never trusted God because sometimes - most of the time - it felt like I didn't have to. I had full control. They were under our roof. They were dependent on our money. The things that were hard in their lives, I could make easier by doing something special for them. And I think at the end of the day I trusted in ... me. And God's called me on it, you know? I'm spinning out of control because I trust in me: to be a good Mom, to keep them safe and fed, to raise them as productive human beings. But you know what? It wasn't me. It wasn't ever me. They're the people they are because of God's grace in their lives. God's mercy in my life, to be the parent I was to them. If I did anything good at all, it was because of Him." 

Oh my heart people, can I just tell you that that moment in this book was written for ME! I feel like I could have written that whole thing word for word myself. It made me weep. Like just utterly, completely in awe that the Lord would bring me to this book and show me so clearly where I've been struggling and how I needed to let those reins go again ... I needed to give them back to God. 

That doesn't mean I stop parenting and just give up! NO WAY! In fact, the job of being a parent never ends and I feel like this summer I have spent more time talking with and sharing with my girls than I have in recent months. But I'm no longer stressing over every little thing and freaking out crying at night all the time because I'm so worried about them making wrong decisions and not growing up 'right'. 

Another quick snippet from the book, as one of the women gave birth to her first baby she makes this important realization: "As she clung to Butch for support, Daphne realized she would need to cling to Jesus just as tightly. There would be days of pain and sorrow and fear, just like now. She had no more control over this child's life than she had over this day."

So as I finished this book I was challenged and also encouraged to cling to Jesus, let go of all that fear and worry and choose to trust Him more. Oh, and also to enjoy all the moments I get to spend with my girls.

 This summer we have made some wonderful memories together but one of my favorites happened just the other night. We had grilled dinner outside and sat on the deck for dinner. After dinner we lit a campfire and sat around it chatting and making s'mores. Then one of us happened to look up and notice how many stars were out that night and suddenly one of us saw a shooting star. The girls then quickly ran to get some blankets and pillows which we spread out over the grass and we all laid there watching the stars for over an hour. We saw a couple more shooting stars, watched the blinking lights of the planes overhead while we guessed at where they were going, and marvelled at the majesty of the stars. We laughed and talked and just had the best time, just the four of us. It will remain one of my favorite memories of this summer. We have just over 3 more weeks until we go back to school ... I plan to soak up every last minute I can get because I only have 5 more summers with Haley and 7 more summers with Jilly {after this year} and quite frankly I can't afford to waste any of them! 

2011 Booklist

In case you're curious, here is a list of the books I read in 2011 ... if you could care less, well then I guess it's just a good reminder to myself! haha!

The Thorn by Beverly Lewis
A Merry Heart by Wanda Brunstetter
The Traveler's Gift by Andy Andrews
The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews
The Judgement by Beverly Lewis
The Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Looking for a Miracle by Wanda Brunstetter
Plain & Fancy by Wanda Brunstetter
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
Kaleidoscope by Patsy Clairmont
Bertie's War by Barbara Blakey
Leaving by Karen Kingsbury
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
A Sister's Secret by Wanda Brunstetter
The Mercy by Beverly Lewis
The 5 People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

18 in all! There were times when it felt like it took me FOREVER to finish a book so I'm sort of surprised that I ended with a decent number. That's more than one per month! Which for this sleepy Mom who can't keep my eyes open for very long at night I thought I did pretty good!

As you can see when I like an author I tend to read their stuff A LOT. I thought all the books this year were good, I especially loved The Heart Mender, the Plain Truth and The Help.

The 5 People you Meet in Heaven was OK, not my fave but I managed to get through it.

This year I already have a long list of books I want to read. Most of which I would call 'self help' or books that encourage my spiritual growth. Unfortunately those are the ones that take me awhile to get through because I want to take it all in and chew on the knowledge to be gained, so I won't read them at night when I'm sleepy. And during the day it's tougher to make time to read. But I hope to! I plan to! We shall see!

How 'bout you? Read anything great in the past year?

Two Book Rec's

Back in November I went to Women of Faith and heard a speaker named Andy Andrews. He was hilarious to listen to, he seemed to be all over the place when he spoke. However I learned that he was also a NY times bestselling author and decided to check out one of his books.

I am happy to say I was blown away by the book! After the first book I ended up borrowing another of Andy's books from my Mom and loved that one too. I'd love to tell you more about the books but wouldn't want to spoil things for you in case you should decide to read them. Below are the two titles I read {and LOVED!}

1,000 Gifts Video

I just wanted to share the video that goes with the One Thousand Gifts book I was talking about. It looks amazing and from all the reviews I'm reading I believe this will be a life changing book. Like I mentioned before, the book is only $10, really affordable if you ask me. Please consider joining me in reading it and following the book club! {I get no credit for saying this, I simply think it's going to be soooo worth it.}

Let me know if you need any other information. The actual discussion won't start for another 2 weeks so there is still plenty of time to get yourself a copy!

Made to Crave, Bloom and MckMama

OK friends, bear with me as I might be all over the place today! I have 3 things I really want to talk about/share about.

First, have any of you heard of Made to Crave by Lisa TerKeurst? It's a new book and Bible study she has out. She's been doing a LIVE webcast about it every Monday night. The book teaches you how we were made to crave God, not food. It's not a diet book per se ... but helps teach you how to re-direct your thinking. I have NOT bought the book yet, but have watched the first two webcasts and they were really good. And if you miss the webcast on Monday nights you can catch it again on Tuesdays. If you want to watch on Monday night it's on at 8pm EST and just go to madetocrave.org to view it. I was thinking about buying the whole study and doing it with some friends. Just wondering if any of you were following it too? I'd love to post about it and chat about it if anyone else is interested.

OK, next up - do any of you follow any of the following blogs; Ann Voskamp's Holy Experience, The Mom Creative, Bring the Rain or {in}Courage?? If you DO - maybe you've heard all about the Bloom book club and the fact that they are using Ann's book for their newest book choice! Her book about One Thousand Gifts has been getting rave reviews and has been moving up the top ten list at Amazon.com. Her blog is the reason I started counting my own list of 1,000 Gifts. I ordered the book and am sooooo excited to take part in this online book club community! My question is ... are any of you planning to do it too? The book is really affordable at only 10 bucks! Please comment here if you plan to participate!

Lastly, I have to bring up something I really don't like to talk about. I really like MckMama's blog, love reading about her gorgeous kids, seeing her beautiful photography and seeing her passion for Jesus. But lately I'm feeling like I really want to stop following her blog. The really sad thing to me is that it has absolutely nothing to do with her or her blog. It's the readers and the comments! It's not often that I actually read her comments but when I do I'm so saddened by how cruel and mean people are. And sometimes she responds to people's questions, like she did on this recent post - and you can see by many of the questions that people are being just downright mean and cruel and trying to call her a liar and accuse her of being something she's not. The whole thing just makes me really sad. I know I can't control all the mean people of the world and I know it's not really a valid reason to 'leave' her blog over - but I find it makes me angry and becomes a real stumbling block for me. Thoughts?

OK, I know I've given you a lot to think about and comment on so let's hear it!

Who do I lean on?

I'm sorry I haven't been a very good blogger lately .... I feel like we have been so super busy since we started school again. I want to blog, I have things to say and share but it's just a matter of time and tiredness! Anywhooooo ... moving on ...


I just finished reading another excellent book and wanted to share. Most of you who have been following me for any length of time know how much I love and adore the Yada Yada Prayer Group books by Neta Jackson. It's seriously my favorite series that I've ever put my hands on. There are 7 books in the series and I promise that the more you read the faster you will get through all 7 because each one is better than the last.


Well Neta has also written a spin off series called the House of Hope series. Currently there are 3 books in the series and her 4th should be coming out sometime this winter. I just finished book number 3 called 'Who do I lean on?'.

It was just as excellent as the previous books!! I love that I always find myself growing and learning more and more in my faith through reading these books.

Oh and just in case 7 books, plus 3 spin off books isn't enough for you .... Neta's husband Dave Jackson has also written companion books that show you the story from another angle! It's actually really cool - Dave takes one of the male characters and tells his story - so it's sort of like a spin off but just different. The first was called 'Harry Bentley's Second Chance' and I hear that Dave also has another Harry Bentley novel on the way. Looks like I'll have plenty to read this winter!

Anyway, just wanted to once again recommend this series and also pop in to say I'm still here! I plan {hope} to get back to more regular blogging soon .... it always feels like it takes us a couple weeks to get into 'normal' routines again!

Library!

I don't know what it is about books, but they cast this spell over me for some reason! I LOVE reading, love walking through book stores, love spending time at the library. The girls and I went last Friday on a rainy morning ... there's just something about rain and books that go perfectly together, don't you think?!

These are Joy's picks:
These are MY picks - yes pretty much all children's books except for The Dog Whisperer DVD {more on that below!}:

And these are Hope's picks:

Have you seen this yet? It's called Playaway and you simply bring it home and plug in some headphones and listen! It's like a book on tape, only easier! I let the girls each pick one at the library and so far they really like it. On the back are a series of buttons to control it like play, stop, pause, volume, etc ... it's really simple and really cool. And they are about the size of a deck of cards. Great for taking in the car! PS. Forgive me if this is nothing new ... it was our first time seeing it at our local library.

So, you may wonder why I choose all children's books ... well for the most part I let the girls choose what they want to read for fun. They've gone through all kinds of Junie B Jones, Magic Tree House and Fairies books. But I want to make sure that they are also reading GOOD, quality, stories. Stories that have some backbone to them and not just silly fluff. I looked up a list of great books in my Sonlight catalog and wrote a bunch down so when we went to the library I just searched for the ones on my list and found most of the ones I wanted. These make great choices for when we read aloud together. {Which we need to do more often I might add!}

I DO have books of my own, remember, I LOVE to read?! But most of mine are either borrowed from my Mom, Mother in Law or a friend, or borrowed from our church library. I always seem to have many going at once and rarely have to search for what to read next. It's a nice problem to have!

As far as the DVD goes ... well it seems we have a naughty little puppy 'round here and we need to work on some training! Case in point ...

Um yeah, that was fun to clean up!

OK, I've delayed enough, I'm off to watch that DVD and put some dog training into practice! =)

My Favorite Books

As most of you know, I'm a total book nerd. I love to read, love books and just can't get enough of them. A friend recently asked me for some of my favorite reads ... and books I'd recommend for growth. Oh boy do I have a lot! There are two main areas of reading that I enjoy most. First is Christian fiction. I have loved Christian fiction since I was a young girl. As a young teen I began reading Janette Oke's 'Love Comes Softly' series and fell in love with that type of book. Since then I have gone on to read hundreds more Christian fiction books.



My second area of interest is non-fiction - something that I guess I would label as 'self-help' ... though I admit I don't love that title. I basically like books that help me learn and grow as a person, Mom, wife, Christian, friend, etc..



So, here is my list:

For Christian fiction books I have read most {thought not all} books by the following authors ~
Janette Oke
Beverly Lewis
Karen Kingsbury
Neta Jackson
Lori Wick


Although these books are fiction, I have still learned through them and experienced real life growth. Just because a book is fiction does not mean the story lines won't affect you. Through many of these books the characters face suffering, death and difficult times and their faith and perseverance have encouraged me through many of my own tough situations in life.


My three all time favorite Christian fiction series are:
#1 The Yada Yada Prayer group by Neta Jackson. She also has a spin off series which currently has 2 books and another on the way this June. I have truly grown and learned so much about my own faith and prayer life through these fiction books!

#2 The Love Comes Softly Series by Janette Oke. As I said, one of the first sets I began reading as a young teen - made a big impact on me at that time and some day when I get the chance I hope to re-read them!
#3 The Redemption series by Karen Kingsbury - which also has 2 spin off series from it making it a total of 14 books altogether!



On the topic of parenting I have read many, many good books. Books that enforce Biblical standards and have really helped me as a Mom as I seek to train and teach my young ones in God's ways. I believe this is going to be an ongoing journey throughout my life as a Mom, and believe that I will always have to learn and grow. I can never get comfortable and say that I have done enough or that because they are obeying more that my job is done. There will always be new challenges and ways for me to grow.



Some of my fave parenting books so far have been:


Taking Care of the Me In Mommy by Lisa Welchel ~ this is one we are currently doing with our MOMS group at church. I can't stress enough how important it is as a Mom to take care of yourself! Your spirit, soul, physical needs, etc ... all these things will help you be the best Mom God has intended you to be. Lisa's book offers great suggestions and in her typical funny, real-life style she will make you feel at ease right away.

Creative Correction by Lisa Welchel ~ a great resource book that I refer to time and time again. She offers scripture to back up each correction for each behavior which I love!

Don't Make me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman ~ it's been awhile since I read this one but I remember it being very easy to read and very applicable to raising Godly kids.

Dare to Discipline by Dr. James Dobson ~ one of the first books I read on parenting - a classic. Dr. Dobson is right on the money.



Making Children Mind without Losing Yours by Dr. Kevin Leman ~ another great man of God who has wonderful parenting advice. He has several other books on parenting and all are worth a look.
Becoming the Parent God wants you to be by Dr. Kevin Leman ~ this one is a study guide - I love that you can work through it by answering the questions. I think I need to pick this one up again and read more about the middle years stuff!

The Power of a Positive Mom by Karol Ladd ~ the title says it all ~ our kids deserve a Mom who is positive and encouraging. This is one of my all time faves and I know I will read it again and again.

Mom and Loving It by Sharon Lovejoy Autry and Laurie Lovejoy Hilliard ~ another fave of mine. Helps you see the joy even in the little things and tough moments of Mom-hood.



On the topic of marriage or being a Godly wife my faves are:



A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George ~ this is one of the single most influential books I've ever read. She also writes about A Wife after God's own heart - but most of the concepts are the same in this book. I have learned SO much about being a Godly woman, wife and Mom from this book.

Created to be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl ~ I know some have thought this book a bit extreme and I will admit some of her thoughts are a bit far out for me. However the general concept that we were created to be our husband's helpmeet and that no matter what he does, or doesn't do - we are obligated to GOD to be the wife we were called to be is something that I will never forget. I used to be a wife that thought 'well if he won't romance me, I won't give him sex ... or if he won't bring me flowers, why should I help do his laundry' ... I now think - God has called me to obey HIM and do all for HIS glory. I am Bob's wife and I need to honor God by being the proper wife I was called to be - regardless of what I gain in return from Bob. Definitely a big change in my thinking - but totally wish I had read this book when I first got married - might have saved me from making so many silly mistakes!

The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian~ this is something I'm currently reading. I admit that I haven't been a faithful prayer warrior for my hubby for years. I'm trying to change that now. I think this is something I will read a little of every morning and try to read over and over again and just keep on praying and praying and praying for my hubby.



For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn~ this book will truly open your eyes to the way men think and why they are so different from us. For example - did you know that your love is not enough for him? However respect means the world to him. Respect means more to him than even your affection does! That's the way God wired men to be! To quote the book, "men would rather feel alone and unloved, than inadequate and disrespected." There are so many good things to learn from this little, easy to read book.



On the topic of homeschooling:



Help for the Harried Homeschooler by Christine Field ~ don't let the title fool you, it's not about being 'harried' ... it's more just a really encouraging book about homeschooling. I loved it.



50 Veteran Homeschoolers Share ~ Things we Wish We'd Known ~ another very helpful resource - lots of great wisdom here from parents who have homeschooled for years.



So You're Thinking about Homeschooling? by Lisa Welchel ~ I read this when I was considering homeschooling and found it to be immensely helpful in making our decision. And once again, I love Lisa Welchel and anything she's written.


For personal quiet times I really enjoy using some type of guided prayer journal. I also usually keep a blank journal for adding other prayer requests, thoughts, etc ... But two of my fave guided prayer journals have been:
The Yada Yada Prayer journal by Neta Jackson


And The Busy Mom's Guide to Prayer by Lisa Welchel
A couple random final book faves of mine are:

The Duggars, 20 and Counting. Say what you wish about this very large family - but I for one admire their faith and Godly example even more after reading their book. I choose not to have that many children, but I do not in any way judge them for their choice. This book helps illustrate even more how their faith in God has carried them through all the ups and downs of life. They truly live out their faith in every way. I was skeptical about things like how they could possibly spend time with each of those kids - but reading this book made me see even more what an amazing family they are.

And a final fave is The Invisible Woman by Nicole Johnson - sorry I thought I uploaded the image of it but guess I was mistaken. There are SO many times I feel invisible. Like just going through the motions of being a wife and Mom is so mundane and that no one would even notice if I was gone. This book is amazing and will encourage you to keep going, keep pressing on. Just like the helpmeet book it helps you see that it's for HIS glory, not my own. That's something I needed to be reminded of DAILY! It's a very small book and you could probably read it in a day or two at most - so worth it!

One final note. I will be the first to admit that I'm not faithful with my quiet time with the Lord. I'm a lowly sinner who messes up constantly! I make poor choices and I fail - A LOT! But when I am faithful to include quiet time in my day I do find so much more strength and peace in my life. SO let me encourage you {and myself} that it's totally worth it to make time for quiet time with the Lord. If you can't manage it in the morning - do it in the afternoon. Some days I do it while my girls are having their quiet reading time. They have to read on their beds for an hour - so I take that opportunity to sit and quiet my heart before the Lord too. Besides praying and reading my Bible - this is the time when I read many of these books for growth. Even spending 15-20 min reading something each day will help you learn and grow so much! You can use some of these books as a Bible study - many of them include scripture - just take the time to jot down the scriptures in a notebook, then make time to look them up, write them out, ponder them, pray them, etc.. This is a great way to grow in your knowledge and in the Lord.

And that's all I can think of for now! I would love to hear what your fave books are too - if you write a post about it please comment here so I can come check it out!

Have a lovely weekend friends!




I'm linking this post to Kelly's Show Us Your Life - Favorite Books ... click on the button to go to Kelly's blog and see more SUYL posts!

History

This year in History we are using a product called 'History Pockets' by Evan Moor. Basically the book is broken down into 8 small units and you use the printables and activities to make lapbooks for each unit. I bought 3 of these books and we're still using the first one - so I anticipate that they will last me another school year. And then I can decide on whether we want to order more topics for the following years. I wanted the girls to start by learning a lot about American history, before we went on to study world history.

The 3 books I bought were:
Life in Plymouth Colony
Native Americans
Colonial America

In the first book, these are the units we've done so far ... I bought the colored folders for about 2 cents a piece back when school supplies were super cheap - so I have a TON of them. So we just use a new one for each unit and each child gets one.
Each unit has a section of vocab words called "words to know" and they cut & paste the pics to match the words, then write out the description. And color if they wish ...

Then there are various activities that go along with each topic - some are coloring, some are cutting and pasting, some are acting something out ... you can make it as simple or as complex as you want ... here are a few of the things they've done ...

We keep all of our lapbooks and folders in one large bin. It's neat to go back and see what we've worked on over the last couple of years!

In our last unit which was called 'home sweet home', the girls learned all about what the pilgrims homes were like. Back around Thanksgiving time we had gone to visit an old village where they could see what a real home would have looked like - I think they are very grateful to live in this day and age with all our modern comforts! With this unit we made dioramas of the pilgrim houses ... we used an old box and they colored and decorated the pieces to go in the house. I thought it was very cute and creative that they decided on their own to make furniture out of cardboard! They made tables and beds to go in their houses ...

So that's about it. History has been a lot of fun. I am learning so much right along with the girls! I had also bought The Story of the World for history, after hearing so many good things about it from other homeschoolers - but after getting started with it last year I felt it was a bit much for my girls at the time. And again, I decided to start with American history .... so, I HAVE all the material for the Story of the World, and one day, when we're ready, we'll get going on that. I figure I still have about 2-3 yrs worth of history resources! Gotta love that!

Science

Above is pictured the science curriculum we are currently using. Last year we were blessed to be a part of a wonderful co-op for science class ... there the girls learned SO much more than I would have ever taught them on my own. This year it didn't work out for us to be a part of that group so we are 'going it alone'. But the problem with that is that I move through the topics at such a slow pace with the girls! We had planned to tackle one unit per month - but instead we've only just finished our second unit for the year! This is one area that I am trying to step it up a little. Science has NEVER been my thing - although it does fascinate me. But the girls absolutely LOVE it. And so I'm working on making it more of a priority. I will say though, that even though we've only tackled two units - the girls read tons of great books about all kinds of animals, insects, sea creatures, shells, etc ... We are blessed to have a large amount of resource books in our home and they love looking through them, writing up little reports, etc. I love that they do this without me even asking, to me that shows how much they love learning about the world around them and the things God has created!

So, anyway, this book is wonderful, it has enough information that we will probably use it for 2-3 years. We ordered the student book - which has worksheets that you are able to make copies of for multiple students - and the teacher's guide which gives the step by step directions for what to teach. Both books together cost me $30 - not too bad! It's done in a way that you can easily adapt it to many grade levels. The topics covered in the book are:
1. Creation
2. The Universe, Stars and Planets
3. The Earth
4. Non-living things: Rocks and Minerals
5. Weather
6. The Plant Kingdom
7. The Animal Kingdom
8. Animal Anatomy & Physiology
9. Man: Made in God's image

Some of these topics were covered last year in our co-op - but I'm sure we could go over them again and learn even more. So far this year we've covered insects and weather. Our insect study was actually found in another book of curriculum that a friend gave me for free! It's called 'Christian Kids Explore Biology' by Stephanie L. Redmond. In this book the following units are covered:
1. Biology Basics: Creation, cells, taxonomy, the biosphere, food webs
2. Plant's in God's world: photosynthesis, plant reproduction, fruits & veggies, trees
3. Birds of the earth: taxonomy, bird diets, bird structure
4. Mammals in the wild: monotremes & marsupials, canids, felines & bears, monkeys & apes, aquatic mammals
5. The Human Factor: the human body, our five senses, human reproduction
6. Reptiles all around: snakes & lizards, alligators & crocs, turtles, tortoises & terrapins
7. Insects high and low: butterflies & moths, bees & wasps
8. Water creatures: mollusks, sharks, crustaceans, freshwater life, amphibians

SO, between these two amazing books, we have a wealth of information that will last us a couple years. We usually tend to get a lot of books from the library as well when we're working on a unit. And since I'm a big fan of lapbooks, we put all our materials, worksheets, ideas, etc into a file folder or 'lapbook' for each unit.

Now, as I said - I don't do enough with the girls as far as science goes. I'm trying to be better about that. So in the last couple of weeks we've done a couple of 'hands on' projects. They were actually very fun and the girls loved them. I know I need to incorporate more of this kind of stuff into our teaching time.

Here we made windmills as we've been talking about weather and wind lately ...

Another day we experimented with creating water vapor and 'rain'. We started with some ice cubes in a pan - then heated them up ...

The more the ice melted, the more vapor was created ...

It's very hard to tell, but that is vapor rising ...

Then, by holding another pan above the vapor - the steam begins to collect just like it would when a cloud is formed ... after enough vapor has gathered on the pan above, it began to get heavy, and eventually fell back down like rain!

So that's about it for science. We haven't done much yet this year, but I'm working on doing more.