Six for the Road

Have you seen this TLC show? We happened to catch it last night on accident but it was interesting to say the least (at least to us). This family, who homeschools, actually sold their house and bought an RV and they are traveling to all fifty states (not sure how they will make it to Hawaii) and truly educating their children on the wonders of God's glories He has bestowed upon the US. They have two teenage daughters and two very active boys. Last night the show was on dissecting a frog and how their daughters didn't want to and the boys did. They had also stopped somewhere to run a fireworks stand for 12 days and the hardships on this effort were tremendous. I'm not sure how they survive, but somehow they are doing it and adjusting with all of it.

I'm fairly sure I couldn't do this but it intrigued me. We want to take a trip to Washington DC next fall and I've been planning that road trip. However that will be a 2 week adventure at the most and not a whole years worth of planning to go to. The adventure they will experience is so much more than a classroom could ever teach them. The mom is still doing their core subjects and such but going above and beyond the call of duty by giving them a hands on experience of so many things families just don't get to explore. Just thought I would let some of you know what you could watch on TV if you really had some time in the evening to just watch (doesn't happen very often in this household).

Calm before the Storm

Robotics is over and my huge ladies event is done, Upwards has one more week and we are in a calm period of time. That doesn't necessarily mean we don't have a lot to do, we just have less work outside the house and less meeting in the evenings. What it does mean is that we have to buckle down with our school work, get to cleaning our house (it really has been left to itself these past 6 weeks!), and get ready to start thinking about the holidays.

However this week, although I will clean and we will get some school done, I'm going to rest. I'm going to maybe read a book, take a nap, go shopping because I want to, and more. Today, well enrichment continues, and then we will head home to clean up what looks to be a Tornado that hit the inside of my house. We have a few weeks before Upwards Basketball starts up along with Isabella's birthday, Thanksgiving, going to Granny's 90th Birthday party, Zech's Birthday, and then Christmas. All that coupled with parties, shopping, and school, well lets just say the storm will hit again and I will be busy continuously from here on out.

My Lord sustains me and keeps reminding me to focus on Him and what really matters and that is what I am continually doing! He matters and showing the world His glory!

We Won Third in NT Best Award!

I cannot tell you how proud we as home educator parents are for our children! They have worked so very hard the last six weeks in preparing for this competition. There are two sets of awards given out for this competition. One is for the actual Robots and its driving and although in the Semi finals our drivers actually got us into first place (Sarah and Caleb!) our finals round didn't go very well and we placed fourth! However 4th from 14 teams is awesome still and therefore we are still very proud. Although as the judges announced those, they come to a point where they say, the robotics challenge is great and all that is not why they do this competition. They do it because they want to see schools come together in an effort for teamwork, best sportmanship, and spirit. Therefore they place the NT BEST Award higher than the actual Robotic award and we were given 3rd place in that award and Wow how spectacular that is! I am so very proud of my three! They did their work seriously on top of all the schoolwork they had! Mom didn't slack off very much during this six weeks and so we are still ahead of the game and doing our BEST! Go Home Educators Around Texoma (HEAT!), you all did a wonderful job!

You Tube Video of our MARS Team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8cH6uFsza4


Click on the above post and it will take you to our video for our MARS Team. The kids did such an awesome job!

Friday Fotos!

Pray for the MARS Team and Sarah our driver (all the drivers & mechanics & rack transporter (Zech is one!), competition is Tomorrow (October 25th, starting at 9:00) We have to be there at 7:30 am which means we leave here at 5:00 am! Woohoo! Go, Mars, Go!!!!!

I'm off to see the Wizard!

In all the discussions we have had of late, one strikes me as particularly amusing. RADAR our robot at the mall day was erratic in his movements at points of the competition. The judges even saw it and started checking it out. They inspected the batteries, the parts, and all the other pieces that make up RADAR. In doing so they finally suspected and finalized that they believe RADAR's brain maybe had a malfunction in its hard wiring and therefore they gave us a new brain to reprogram and attach to RADAR before Game day. Now as I was thinking about this, I started pondering how many of us has a hard wiring defect in our brain and would love to trade up! I know I would. My children, as sweet as they are, often tell me that my brain must be leaking or malfunctioning. I forget to do things like go down an alternative road to get to my house because they have my main road blocked off. I've forgotten a half dozen times and every time they seem to be with me and say, "Mom, where are you going?" I want to tell them something smart you know, but usually it is just, "Yes, mom forgot AGAIN!" I forget other things as well like to pick up milk when we are out, to sign them up for this or that, or get something copied for school. These are all simple in their nature however to children when Mom forgets something to them is wrong. They also love to point out when Mom doesn't do everything right! Kids truly help you become humble. Well at any point of this discussion I realize that I would love to have someone give me a new brain, an upgrade, and reprogram my design. While we are at it, maybe they can reprogram all those quirks I seem to have and those eradicable movements I get every now and then. I would love to have a brain for math and science because I still don't like those subject. My brain would function to a more outdoorsy kind of view of life than a stuck in the mud and in the house kind of person I am. Maybe I would even be a genius! Who knows, but because I am in the midst of the wildest kind of chaos that ensues my days here lately, I truly feel like the scarecrow without his brain. He and his friends simply followed the yellow brick road and set off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, all to receive parts of themselves they needed. So today I'm off to see the Wizard to get a new brain. Hmmm. . . isn't that a lot like going to see the God every morning in our quiet times. Oh Lord, truly I need a new brain or at least someone to reprogram it. He says to me, "Go to my Word!" His Word is all we need! It will reprogram all of us!

Toilets (to clean or not to clean!)

Interesting enough we are having such a funny little discussion in my house in the midst of the robot mess, stress, chaos, we are in. You see all my three darling children have chores to complete in the mornings and one of those is the bathroom. They scrub the sink, the mirror, the counter, pick up things from the floor and so on. Also they are to wipe down the toilet every morning (because too many little people who don't care too much about toilets reside in this house and use this bathroom a lot!). Also until about a month ago they scrubbed the inside of the toilet every morning. Well mom found a neat invention, but costly and therefore has changed this routine to scrubbing once a week. This neat invention is just a handle that you attached a scrubber that already has bleach, cleaners, and scrubbers in it. You simply attach it to the handle, dunk it in the water, and voila the cleaners are released and off you go.

So the reason for my post is this: All my little people are getting mad at the others because they haven't had a turn to clean the toilet! LOL! Isabella's turn is on Mondays and even though she has been told she isn't to clean the toilet, she does so anyhow and there ensues the arguement. Zech and Sarah haven't had the pleasure (too funny I know) of cleaning the toilet with Mom's new invention (or purchase). So I have to tell her, yesterday once again, DO NOT clean the toilet because your brother and sister want too. Now you can't punish her for this, I mean seriously who punishes their child when they WANT to clean the toilet. Not this momma, however these new cleaning scrubbers are $4.00 (w/tax) for 6 of them and that categorizes them expensive and I don't want to have to buy them every week for the enthusiam of my children wanting to clean the toilet.

Maybe in the wake of all this robotics event they will figure out a robot to do their chores for them! Happy scrubbing!