Classroom Reveal & First Week of School

Okay, so it's now our 16th week into this school year, and I'm finally posting my classroom reveal and our 1st week of school (blushing).

 

First of all, the classroom reveal....



The Before Picture

This has pretty much been the look of our classroom/computer/etc. room for many years.  For more pictures you can click HERE.  (note: the fluff at the bottom the picture is part of Elsa, our dog -- I guess I should have cropped that, haha).  I sold one daughter's school desk and Jeff had to dismantle the big old desk to get it out of the room.  The room was always nice, but it's time to turn the page to a new chapter in our lives. 

 

The After Pictures

(don't worry, the room is small; this will be a short tour)

The view as you enter our classroom.
   

I had a lot of wishful-uses for this room (office/computer room, school room, craft room, and a guest bedroom, but since the room is only about 8'x10', I had to be realistic with my expectations and just do what I could.  Jeff had only two requirements: (1) that there were at least 2 desks so that on occasion, when he works from home, he has his own desk, and (2) that I didn't make it too girly. :)  He knows me, I love pastels and I love girly, but for his sake, I toned down my wish list.

 

The wallpaper did put up a bit of a fight to remove, but the girls helped and we had it off in a few days.  Next, I chose Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue for the walls (a Pinterest find that changes color as the light changes), getting in my pastel, yet telling Jeff it was blue for boys :).  Actually, most of our house is in warm & woodsy dark Craftsman colors, so this room is a refreshing change.

All the lower desks/cabinets are IKEA.  I love that the printer can now be tucked under and pulled out when needed.  The decorative shelf, now painted antique white, if you will recall use to be sage green and above my coach in the familyroom about 3 years ago; and everything on the shelf, except for the inexpensive Walmart plants, are just things I already had around the house.   

 

 

  The shelf tower is three "Store In Style" cubes stacked (These cubes are hard to come by (aka Crop In Style), I  purchased mine through Oriental Trading, but I don't think they have anymore of the individual cubes left).  I specifically wanted this brand of cubes as they are a good, sturdy cube and they were the only ones that were wide enough to fit the baskets I already had.

 

 

On the opposite wall we brought up my sewing machine cabinet as nobody ever enjoyed sewing in our somewhat chilly, isolated-from-the-family basement.  Yes, I know, the walls are rather bare yet.

And well, the room has a deep & very narrow closet with a file cabinet stuffed full of papers that are mostly important only to me -- mostly school & Bible related.  I did a lot of purging -- it's time to let go of my denial that I just bought way more curriculum than is humanly possible to teach in X-number of years.  Jeff was a sweetie & installed a top shelf to store more stuff, Yea!

 

I still need to recover the chair (I have a blue brushed-denim fabric waiting) and find a curtain or make one.

~~~~
 

And, our first week of school

 

We usually go to our favorite waterpark either just before school starts or shortly after (One of the beauties of homeschooling).  The wave pool is my favorite, but Jeff & I agreed that by the end of 3 days of constantly being jostled around by waves, we were ready to go home (can't be we are getting old, can it???)

 

and we ate at a neat restaurant where our food was served by train.  The ambiance and novelty of the train were wonderful, the food was just average, and the prices were steep, but it was a fun one-time visit.

 

 The morning after our return, we celebrated a new school year by going to our favorite coffee shop (Caribou) since daddy still had one more day off.

 

I always fix a special breakfast or take the girls out for breakfast before we get started.  This year it was Perkins.

 

Even though Amber is graduated, she still enjoys joining us for Hebrew (pictured) and History.

 

 Anna watching a Vision Forum History dvd.  (We are sad of the events that have transpired over the last couple of months with VF, but still appreciate the dvds & cds).

 

Anna practicing piano is very much a part of our school day.

 

 

 MUS Stewardship

 

 Anna doing vocabulary while Amber was working on her business card design.

 

Dorie is always such a good helper when doing school work.  She swishes her tail non-stop and it's always over what we are reading or... in the face. :)

 

 

 Art Class in session.

 

That about wraps up Week One.  If interested, you can find more information on our curriculum choices for each subject by clicking on the "Curriculum" page above. 

 

~~~~

 

Don't worry, I still haven't forgotten, posts on

 

Tour de Chicken Palace

 

and

 

Inductive Bible Study (my way)

 

coming soon. ♥ 



Happy Thanksgiv-Birth-ukkah!

This has truly been a once-in-a-lifetime week for us -- as if the usual stuffing ourselves silly with a tableful of comfort food on Thanksgiving isn't fun enough, festivities in our home have been in high gear with the convergence of Hanukkah and my husband's birthday, thus
Thanksgivbirthukkah!
 

 

Our Thanksgiving



We usually prepare and pack up half the feast and head to my mother's house on Thanksgiving Day, but being she was just starting to recover from the flu and didn't feel like feasting yet, we postponed that until Saturday and instead had Thanksgiving at home and invited Jeff's parents to join us, thus a table for 6.  Sorry, I was too busy in my element (the kitchen) and didn't take any pictures, but we had all our normal feast...

Turkey Breast
Double Smoked Ham*
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Sweet Potato Casserole
Dressing
Jello
Tuna Noodle Salad
Green Beans
Rolls & Butter
Pickle Assortment
Pumpkin Pie & Real Whipped Cream
Pumpkin Bars (MIL's) 
Brownies

*Half of us don't eat pork, but I still bake a half a ham to make the men folk (and dog) happy.  And I didn't do cranberries this year as my mom is the only one that really insists on them.

It was nice being able to stay home this year and we had a nice time.  It's always been our tradition to watch the parades & dog show too.  Thankfully I missed it, but I've read about Macy's intentional and shameful Broadway/transvestite performance propaganda.  Personally, I've never liked their Broadway inclusions as they are often immodest (thanks to a  cold snap, I think there was less of that this year) and often sooo worldly, and really don't reflect the mindset of most Midwesterners.  I'd much prefer if they would skip the show biz and just stick with a family-friendly PARADE, you know... bands, balloons, floats, and horses.  I was also disappointed in seeing how much more air time NBC celebs received as opposed to non (like the Duck Dynasty float) -- I blinked and practically missed it.  Thankfully the dog show is always good.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto Elohim. ~ Philippians 4:6

Our Hanukkah

As many of you know, we celebrate the Feasts of the Lord as described in Leviticus 23 (and elsewhere in our Bibles) and have been turning from secular and pagan-rooted holidays over the last several years (since about 2005).  I have to confess, the transition has been a longer process than I'd like as ties to tradition run deep, but I do my best.

Hanukkah/Chanukah (Hebrew for Dedication) is not one of the 7 Feasts of the Lord (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles), however, we do find it in the Bible.
In John 10:22-23 we read,

"And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.  And Yehshua walked in Solomon's porch."

So, even though the Word does not state that we should celebrate Hanukkah, neither is it condemned.  I won't go into a long explanation of what Hanukkah is all about, but if you are interested, a couple of my favorite posts on it are found here:

The Chanukah Story by Norm Franz
and
The Festival of Chanukah by Hebrew for Christians

      Since we stand with Israel and as believers can see all the deep Biblical meaning, history, and prophesy wrapped up in this feast we have chosen to celebrate it as well.  Our family doesn't get too wrapped up in the unbiblical traditions of any of the feasts -- some of it's fun, but rather we focus on looking back to what God has done and looking forward to what is yet to come.  With Hanukkah, we focus on:

1) The miracle of God's deliverance of the Jewish people that were living under the oppression of a pagan/tyrannical king through the Maccabees.  (There's nothings too hard for God!)  Btw, the Temple was desecrated for 3½ years and then there was a rededication; hum, sounds like something else we know will take place in the future.

 2) The cleansing/rededication of the Temple (Shall we rededicate our temples (bodies) for His use.?!)  Jesus did not condemn this festival, but as we read in John 10, He was directing the people to the Good Shepherd -- a right focus!

3) The oil & lighting of the Temple menorah.  The miracle of just enough oil for one day lasting 8 days may just be tradition, a legend by a rabbi, we don't know for sure, but we can still celebrate the True Light of the World.  And as being lights of the World because of Him, we desire to use these 8 days in ways to spread His light -- giving to missions & ministries, packing Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, etc.

4) When one knows the math and takes our clues from Biblical and historical events, it is strongly believed that Jesus was conceived on Hanukkah.  I don't think it a coincidence that the Light of the world was conceived during the festival of lights (and He who Tabernacled with us was born during the Feast of Tabernacles; NOT December 25th).

5) Comparable with end times described in Revelation & Daniel, Antiochus is a type of the antichrist who desecrated the Temple for 3½ years.  The end-times prophesy of Daniel 9:27 parallels events similar to Hanukkah -- not unlike pagan Antiochus, we see our world spiraling downhill at breakneck speed.  Worldwide immorality and idolatry are the norm.  We must be modern day Maccabees!!!

"And what agreement hath the temple of Elohim with idols? for ye are the temple of the living Elohim; as Elohim hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people.  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith Yahweh, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith Yahweh Almighty.  II Corinthians 6:16-18.

Our Hanukkah table.
Being the 8 days included Thanksgiving and a birthday, the menu took on various forms -- BBQ Bison Brisket the first night, Roasted Chicken the last, Perkins Restaurant one night (we did candles & played dreidel later), Turkey birthday brats, and Thanksgiving leftovers.

I made Potato Latkes two nights.  I had never tried them before and thought they were good, but didn't understand why some make such a big deal about them.  I like hash browns and these are basically...hash browns.

 

Festival of Lights

I saw the cute floating wick menorah (left) idea in a BH&G magazine and I had to try; and then bought a pretty little ice cube candle holder menorah on eBay.  We also lit the oil lamp (you can see a bit of it bottom left) that David, a Jewish friend bought for us in Israel.  And we played dreidel with chocolate coins and exchanged gifts in lieu of the usual Christmas exchange.  The Shalom Hanukkah table square is a Michael Miller designed fabric that I bought from someone on Etsy that we just love.  I bought 1 yd. and Amber squared it up & sewed the edges for us.   

 

 



  Anna completed the Hanukkah lapbook from Heart of Wisdom which I thought turned out really pretty. 

       Happy Hanukkah!

Birth-a-day

I always like to say Birth-a-day because that is what my German grandma called it.  Anywho, Jeff's birthday (another year younger) was Sunday and that didn't quite go as intended.  We drove a while to our nearest good shopping and I was able to get him some new clothes as planned; I also wanted to buy him a new Bible, but knowing the old Christian bookstore was open Sundays, I forgot to check if the new store was open -- they weren't.  Also, Jeff wanted to go to the new Chick-fil-a, and of course, we forgot that they are closed on Sundays also (Saturday Sabbath does mess one up sometimes).  So then we decided to try the Buffalo Wild Wings next door (never been there before) and haha, oh my.  First off, we didn't realize it was more or less a sports bar, and add to that it was a Sunday and the Vikings were playing.  We certainly were a minority in a sea of purple jerseys.  Let's just say it was an experience.  The wings were good though.

We will shop for the Bible & do Chick-fil-a another day.  But for now, we are in a winter storm and it's snowing to say the least -- expecting perhaps 6 - 10" today.  Awana has been cancelled for tonight.  My dear hubby will be leaving work early (yea!)

Time to go put the Hanukkah decor away, ttfn.

(although the calender says Hanukkah goes through Thursday, we went by the 119 Ministries calender, so we started/end early)

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying,

I am the light of the world:

he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness,

but shall have the light of life. ~ John 8:12