Field Trip: Old Salem

We had a fantastic visit to Old Salem on Museum Day! 

Grace and Beth planned where to go using the map. The girls had a scavenger hunt and had fun searching for the answers!  

 Daddy tried out a colonial method of sawing! HARD work! 

Each of the girl shad a turn helping turn a table leg. The interactive nature of our visit was a superb experience for them!

 I loved seeing some of the fall decorations! 

The girls adored getting to try their hand at quilting! They would have stayed here for hours I think. I will have to get some hand-sewing projects up and going around here for them! 

The old well pump is beautiful!  They had fun pumping the water and even trying a taste! 

The pottery house was so beautiful! The craftsman there was so kind and involved the kids in his teaching! 

The replica microscopes were so neat! The girls had fun exploring at the doctor's house. 

 The upstairs of the boys' schoolhouse provided a fantastic learning opportunity for music! My girls have seen the insides of our grand piano at church, but this model helped them see a little more closely how it worked. Oh how I would love to have this for my piano students!

I told my family I couldn't leave without seeing the giant coffee pot! I adore funny unique things and giant tin coffee pots certainly make the list! 

2 Weeks in Review: October 3-14

This year I am following a very strict 6 weeks of school, 1 week off schedule unless we have vacation week sooner than 6 weeks for some reason. Our week off was October 3-7 which coincided with Grace's 7th birthday. My baby is 7...wow...

We have had fun doing "light school" with Life of Fred and books of the girls' choosing. We also have been taking some fun field trips.We had a lighter week this week as well because we tagged along with my husband for District Conference with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. It was fun to get away!

The reason for this is because I noticed after about 6 weeks we all just need a break. The refreshing is so good! Little did I know that this is actually a "thing" already called Sabbath Schooling. I was explaining what we were doing to a friend and she told me they had thought about Sabbath Schooling too. My facial expression made it clear I really didn't know what she was talking about! So I googled and found out this is a practice others follow as well with the mindset of 6 weeks of work and one of rest is a biblical practice. This isn't why I picked the numbers. Honestly I don't know why I picked 6 weeks and then off a week. Either way, it's working for us! 

Here are some pictures of some fun field trips...

 

SC Zoo and Acquarium

 

Above: A field organ from the SC Military Museum

Below: Trying out different uniforms at the SC Law Enforcement Hall of Fame

Above: The world's largest fire hydrant!

Below: SC Fire Museum

It was a really fun couple of weeks off from our regular routine filled with may learning opportunities. Next week we are back to whatever normal the week brings. At the very least we will be schooling more normally. 

Why We Teach: Heart of Dakota and Field Trips

 One of the wonderful things about Heart of Dakota is it has given my girls a love of history. Throughout our studies we have opportunity to discuss the hard things of our nation's past, like slavery. This week we had the opportunity to visit a historical plantation. The tour of the house was interesting, but I found the slave quarters more important. Both Bigger Hearts for His Glory and Preparing Hearts for His Glory address events which are sometimes difficult to approach except to explain that with sin in our world, there are many horrible things that happen. Slavery is one of those things and so we learn.. As I tell my girls each time they ask, we study history to know where we came from and to remember that which we do not wish to repeat. 

I think what surprised all of us the most was when our guide told us that these slave quarters were some of the most advanced and upscale of the time. This is hard to believe as we observe the sparse and still quite small rooms for the number of people living in them. It is a time in history we should always remember for several reasons. One is because many once defended slavery by twisting and contorting Scripture to mean something it didn't. We see this happening in many churches today, defending that which God condemns.

Secondly, this was a time in history when those who were vulnerable were criminalized for self-preservation. As slavery ended many more atrocities in our nations history began. Even now we are battling against the evil of racism that led to the founding and promotion of abortion clinics around the country. We observe the fallout of racial tensions around us daily. We can see where history has led...we can see the hand of the evil one upon our nation.

And this...this...is why we teach. 

There are many benefits and wonderful things which homeschooling affords us, but you can do this same teaching whether you traditional school or homeschool.  We feel the incredible burden to raise our daughters to see everything in the light of our Creator, that they would begin to realize and discern the battles of spiritual warfare, and that they would know how to fall to their knees to engaged in battle. The battles before us will not be won in an election or through legislation. We must pray as we never have before, always keeping at the forefront of our minds His sovereignty. 

No matter how your children are schooled, make this your big-picture priority.

Field Trip: Greensboro Science Center

It's been a while since I posted about a field trip we took. Honestly, it's sort of been a while since we took an intentional field trip. Life gets busy and these things don't really happen unless they are planned in advance. Monday was our 13th wedding anniversary and since we spent the weekend away to celebrate we chose to spend Memorial day with the girls at the Greensboro Science Center which consists of a sciquarium, zoo, and museum. This was a really fun experience for the girls and we completed our visit in a little under 4 hours.

The girls enjoyed seeing the Maned
Wolves as well as many other animals in the Animal Discovery Zoo. There were many, many animals housed here in quite spacious facilities. They seemed very healthy and well cared for which is always encouraging at a zoo. We've been to zoos where the animals and their habitats were less than stellar to put it nicely. I can say in all honesty this was one of the nicest zoos we have been to as a family.

I really liked the beehives. They were right out in the open and my girls were a little nervous about the hives, but it has opened up some interesting discussions about bees and why they sting and what happens to them after they use their stingers. My grandfather used to keep bees and these hives reminded me a lot of him. 

Yes, this is a snake...and yes they are touching it! They enjoyed checking out this little snake named Pebbles and I enjoyed taking the pictures, not touching it. Yeah, I'm not that brave but I'm glad my girls are! 

 There were also some really cool viewing spots for the kids to enjoy.

The highlight of our visit was definitely the Sciquarium. We went through this area twice! This was a small aquarium compared to others we have been to, but the girls had more fun here than at the other really large aquarium we visited a couple of years ago. The interactive experience was priceless. 

The stingray petting area was amazing! Beautiful, clear pools with stingray gliding all around intrigued my girls. I think they would have stayed there all day if we let them! We did visit this area for a very long time both times we were in this area. 

This adorable little guy followed my girls as they stood and seemed to enjoy watching them as much as they enjoyed watching him! 

Our visit was spectacular. We had so much fun celebrating our anniversary with our three darlings. Did you love their matching dresses? My mom took the girls shopping and they loved the idea of getting the same dress. Then they insisted on wearing them for our field trip! I love my girls! 

2 Weeks in Review: May 12-23

Two weeks is better than four, right? This time I had a little better reason...we were on vacation! We left after church on Mother's Day for Florida and had a wonderful time on vacation. Here are some of our highlights...including an awesome field trip!

Disney!!!! No, this is not the field trip I mentioned, although it was awesome. We saved up for a one-day trip to the Magic Kingdom. The girls had a great time and had amazing attitudes considering our crazy our day was. We arrived before the park opened and left just 30 minutes before it closed. We managed only one melt-down which occurred just a little while before we left and didn't last long at all. They were patient and kind with one another and thanked us frequently throughout the day for bringing them. All of the stuff we did was fun, but for me the best part was having everyone get along so well!

Then we headed further south to my husband's parent's house. The girls had a great time in their pool.

It is a tradition to always get Dairy Queen when we visit with Grampy! It is his favorite. This is the first of two different DQ visits.

Here is our field trip to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. It was sooooo much fun! Make sure to follow the link to see more pictures from this visit.

There was a lot of playing and just plain fun! I spent a lot of time reading and working on my scrapbooks. No pictures of that to show though!










We're back home now and life is settling back down. Next week will be another week off from regular lessons as we work through standardized testing. I've got some field trip plans in the works for the summer and hopefully some of those will pan out soon.

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center: Field Trip

This is the first field trip I've blogged about in a while. We've been on a few, but some of the ones I had planned fell through at the last minute. We'll hopefully get a few more in now that things have calmed down a bit with other things in our life!

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center was recommended to us by a good friend for when we visited family in Florida the next time. I'm so glad we gave it a chance! This beautiful nature preserve is tucked away in Boca Raton, FL and worth the drive no matter where you are in the South Florida area.

I have a strong desire to instill in my girls how important it is for us to be good stewards of the earth given to us by our Creator. I love how Gumbo Limbo is more than just an aquarium. They work in coordination with Florida Atlantic University and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to rehabilitate and help injured sea turtles along 5 miles of the east coast of Florida. Admission is free to the public and the volunteers are extremely knowledgeable.

In the main building there are lots of aquariums housing all sorts of reptiles in addition to the large salt-water aquarium pictured above. These were some really fun things to see.

Rose enjoyed the bird guessing wall. It may have a different name, but this is what she called it! Birds which are native to Florida are pictured along with their names on the bottom along with a button. When you push the button the correct bird lights up on the board! She really enjoyed guessing these.

We were incredibly blessed to arrive about 10 minutes before feeding time! We didn't realize it when we got there but the nice lady at the front desk let us know we'd want to hang around for that.

Can you see the eel? There are three eels in the tank and they have to use a special contraction in order to let them eat. Otherwise the other fish will devour the little shrimp!

Next we got to see the seahorse feeding! The girls thought this was really cool because they dump a bunch of food in and the sear horses look like they vacuum up each piece with their noses!

Next came the sea turtle tanks! In these tanks are injured and baby sea turtles who are waiting to be released back into the ocean. This was probably my favorite part!

Here is one of the little babies waving to us...reminds me of Squirt from Finding Nemo!

We also very much enjoyed the butterfly trail. 

I wouldn't begin to call myself even an amateur, but I do enjoy dallying in nature photography every once in a while. The trail and garden provide many opportunities for this. We saw many beauties fluttering around as well, but they never stayed still long enough for me to capture them. It may have had something to do with my own three little beauties flitting and dancing their way through the garden rather boisterously. 

Just outside the main building is a fun little play area with sea turtle statues. My daughters loved this part. These beautiful sculptures are available for climbing, sliding, and overall enormous amounts of fun! The girls hopped from one to the other singing, laughing, and playing. 

This was an excellent field trip for us. If you are going to be in South Florida make plans to travel up to Boca Raton for a few hours and check out this truly amazing facility with genuine, pleasant, and knowledgeable staff. You won't be disappointed!