Epic

They worked on it every night for months.

Hours and hours of father and son sifting through thousands of tiny pieces, finding just the right one for just the right fit. Concepts and ideas flew as they built.

Plans were sketched for additions, hidden doorways stashed behind vines growing up the side, horses were placed carefully in their stalls.

Before they were even close to being finished, battles were fought between the Lion Knights and the Dragon Knights, a working trebuchet was constructed, then a seige tower.

Armies lined up in front of the moat with kings perched on thrones to watch.

It was epic.

A full size sheet of plywood sat on barrels in his room, with walking room all the way around so he could build on every side of it.

And it stayed there for about a year.

"Joshua, did you know the Bible talks about Lion Knights and Dragon Knights?"

His eyes grew big.

"In Revelation the Bible calls Jesus the Lion - 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered...' and calls Satan the Dragon? - 'Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended." (Rev. 5:5, 20:1)

So their minds were sparked with the study of history and nations, medieval battlefields and spiritual battles.

I couldn't help but feel nostalgic as the castle began to be surrounded with scattered lego pieces and airplanes lined a small path snaking across the floor of his room from doorway to bed.

It was time.

Time marches on, doesn't it?

The Castle came down today, demolished to make room for an epic aircraft carrier and a flying field. 

But at least we're still in the LEGO phase. I just hope it lasts a little while longer. 

There will be real battles to fight, son, soon enough.

365 Project: Week 9

3.4.13
Last morning in the hotel. She had snuggled up by Daddy after playing contortionist for the past few nights. This happens to be the only picture I took all day, but I wouldn't change a thing. Sometimes this is just going to be about capturing the fleeting moments before they're lost.




3.3.13
Looking out over some of the modern aircraft from the balcony behind the Missile Silo.




3.2.13
There it is! The entrance to the enormous National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The size of the airplanes housed inside the hangars is overwhelming. Covering everything from early flight to modern military aircraft, including a 140 ft. tall "silo" that houses full size missiles used to maintain peace during the Cold War, it's impossible to see everything in one day. Evelyn thought she'd seen it all in the first half hour. Joshua could have spent at least a week exploring it and rereading every bit of information available.




3.1.13
Colby has never really enjoyed swimming or being in the water. But every single night at the hotel he was in the water with his kids! They had a blast and enjoyed every minute of it. And truth be told, I think we made far more progress in swimming skills during that time than in a year of lessons at the pool.




2.28.13


"Out came the children running, all the little boys and girls, with rosy cheeks and flaxen curls..." ~Robert Browning.





2.27.13

I really have no explanation for this. I went outside to grab some pictures of Joshua and Emmy playing Cowboys and came in to find this little monster sitting on the table using the lampshade as a hat. What'cha going to do but...take more pictures, of course!

**Favorite Things: I tried to convert these to black and white and stuff them into the "right" 365 format that I've done for the last 2 months. But these just wouldn't go, they refused to cooperate, and eventually won the argument. So here they are, in full color, my little time capsule for February 26, 2013.

2.26.13
Favorite Things | Evelyn ~ {almost 30 mo.}



2.26.13
Favorite Things | Elayna ~ {5 years 9 mo.}




2.26.13
Favorite Things | Emmy ~ {age 7}



2.26.13

Favorite Things | Joshua ~ { age 9}

The Blue Ribbon Awards!

How exciting to come to the end of the year and be able to present to you ~ 

the 2011-2012 TOS Homeschool Crew Blue Ribbon Award Winners!

As the 2011-2012 Crew year comes to a close, we are once again presenting awards to our vendors. The awards are known as the TOS Homeschool Crew Blue Ribbon Awards. The following vendors are the recipients of the award this year. Click on their name to check out the Crew reviews!

Favorite Reading Instruction Product: Reading Eggs / My Review
Favorite Writing Product: Write Shop
Favorite Language Arts Product: Progeny Press
Favorite Social Studies Product: TruthQuest History / My Review
Favorite Science Product: Amazing Science / My Review
Favorite Math Product: Math Mammoth
Favorite Online Math Product: Math Rider
Favorite Foreign Language Product: Visual Latin
Favorite Fine Arts Product: Artistic Pursuits
Favorite Christian Education Product: Apologia: Who Am I? / My Review

~~~ 

Favorite Preschool Product: Before Five in a Row
Favorite Elementary Product: All About Reading
Favorite Middle School Product: Write with WORLD
Favorite High School Product: Excellence in Literature
Favorite College or College-Prep Product: Excellence in Literature

~~~ 

Best Online Resource: Reading Eggs / My Review
Best e-Product: Heritage History
Best Homeschool Resource: Apologia: Educating the Wholehearted Child
Best Book, Novel, or Magazine: Apologia: How to Have a HEART for Your Kids / My Review
Best Children's Book: Amazing Animals by Design
Best Game or Toy: Northstar Games: Wits and Wagers and Say Anything
Best Hands-On Resource: Pitsco Education

~~~ 

Best Resource I Didn't Know I Needed: eMeals
Best Customer Service: K5 Learning
Most Adaptable Resource: Creek Edge Press
Most Family-Oriented Resource: Northstar Games: Wits and Wagers and Say Anything

 ~~~ 

Kids' Choice (favorite of CHILDREN ages 0-12): Reading Eggs / My Review
Teens' Choice (favorite per the TEENAGERS): Pitsco Education
All Around Crew Favorite: Visual Latin    

Each winning vendor has received this wonderful award to display with pride:

  Congratulations to our winning vendors! We hope you will sail with us again!  

Many Crew Members are blogging about these awards as well. Click below to see what they have to say! Powered by Linky Tools Click here to see the Crew Blog Posts...

TOS Crew Review: TruthQuest History

Looking for an alternative to the standard public school history textbook? TruthQuest History is a series of guides focused on sharing REAL stories of history with your children!

As printed on their guides, their philosophy is this:
"God initiates...
People respond...
History happens."

It's a radically different way to think about, study, and teach history. Rather than the human-centered perspective on history given with dry facts in order to pass multiple-choice tests, these guides, through stories that bring those facts to life, help us see how God has led the paths of people throughout history.

Let me be clear, here, though. Yes, these guides are to encourage a Christian Worldview foundation, but the books compiled in these guides are available at your local library, bookstore, or at book swaps, etc. No, these recommended books are NOT used to teach doctrine in any way, nor do you have to go to such-and-such a church to find these books in a particular sect's library.

We were provided with a pdf version of American History for Young Students II (1800-1865), a guide for students grades 1-5.



Leading out each topic is a short synopsis to read together, followed by a list of suggested reading, with "ThinkWrite" activities sprinkled in to get the feedback flowing.

The list of suggested reading is daunting, but don't let it overwhelm you! These are options - not requirements! Use the resources you have available, get picky about what you want to read, or let your child's interest sway you in a particular direction.

We decided to focus on The Civil War, in particular, The Battle of Shiloh, since we are "field tripping it" down to Tennessee for the 150th Anniversary memorials taking place the first weekend of April.

First order of business: go to the library and see how many of the reading list books I could find! I carefully printed out the wrong pages (oops!) of the pdf file and off we went. Of course, since I'd already driven the 30 miles to the library and had no intention of making a second trip unless it was absolutely necessary, I found myself taking to heart the directive: "You are always free to choose whatever is preferred or readily available." So I searched through the available resources at the library and came home with a stack of books, a few music CDs, and a huge question mark over my head. I couldn't help but wonder if I was "doing it right" or what the end goal really was.

I prefer to use all-encompassing text books. Really. Having a lesson clearly outlined, with objectives stated and comprehension questions at the end is much less stress for me! But as I plugged away at the reading and listened to the questions my kids were asking, I found that they were enjoying this way of learning and gaining a great deal from it!

Joshua (8) particularly enjoyed this subject and the way it was taught. Emmy, however, just barely put up with it. Perhaps that was because by the end of it, Joshua was marching around with his homemade drum singing, "Glory, glory, hallelujah!" over and over and over...

Three of the books I (randomly) brought home from the library were on our list and I focused on those during our reading time. I also brought home songs of the Civil War CDs and a book on crafts for kids to do. Combining these resources made a deep impression on all of us.

It was good to be pushed to think outside the box, to rely less on things that spoon-feed and a little more on real, vivid, story-telling to get history to come to life! I did not focus on any of the biographies that are integral to the timeline of the TruthQuest History Guides. But just looking through them makes me excited to think of the fun my kids will have as we read about Davy Crocket, John Deere, and Clara Barton. I was also pleased to see that one of the recommended resources for some of these stories is Your Story Hour, one of our family's favorite history resources!

The TruthQuest History Guide: American History for Young Students II (1800-1865) is available for purchase here in printed form for $24.95 or in pdf format for $19.95.

Companion resources and additional guides for all grade levels are also available.

You can go here to read more about how to use these guides and see the FAQs.

Go here to read more TOS Crew reviews on this products and others from TruthQuest History!


As always, I was provided with this product free of charge in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own.