Merry Christmas from us!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

School is....

Going pretty well. I am really loving K12 (in case I haven't mentioned that enough times!) We've been able to stay on track with the core subjects and are just a bit behind in art and science (which is fine, we'll catch up). My biggest challenge is working with Little D on learning his numbers and letters. I am determined not to push and misunderstand like I did with Big D, but at the same time we do need to work on it.....so I'm trying to maintain a healthy balance. The older two have taught me that no matter what, it WILL come. Just being patient and not giving in to peer pressure (doesn't help that Little D is also quite big for his age, and so I think often people simply expect more of him....thankfully he's such a joyful, loving guy, that people soon see that and nothing else seems to matter much). He is such a blessing to me....he sees life like I do, and I love it! It amazes me how each of these children are so very different in their personalities, and I know that God has carefully crafted each one of them for His great purpose. I'm just looking forward to seeing what that is in their lives.

Okay, just rambling. I noticed I hadn't posted in a while and wanted to add something!

Bird gullet

Bird gullet
Originally uploaded by jjlrdomom

Yep, Pink Princess had to simulate a bird gullet. Ugh! So here it is, mid process. Inside there is: bread, popcorn, rice, dry oatmeal, 2 tootsie rolls (to simulate worms, we didn't have gummy worms, so I just rolled the tootsie rolls out a bit), pebbles, grapes. Yeah, pretty gross! (and my darling daughter then ATE the tootsie-roll-worms!!!!! Gack!!!!!!)

Little D's poem

Okay, guess you can't read the words, so here they are:

Theme in Green

I like to crawl around and catch bugs in my mouth.

I am called Lizard!

I get wet with sprinklers and kids like to roll and play on me.

I am called Grass!

I can be climbed by monkey-kids and they can reach the sky.

I am called Tree!

Big D's Science Project

Make a Smilebox postcard

Big D did a great job with this project. I was there to lend support, but he basically did the whole thing himself. We had to change a few things (we didn't have pea gravel and coarse gravel, but figured chunked up concrete could work for both....same thing with coarse and fine sand). But it worked! We were all very impressed!!

Self Portrait

Artist at work 2
Originally uploaded by jjlrdomom

Today Little D learned about portraits and self-portraits. Then he got to make a self portrait. He was VERY eager to try out his new paints (that came free in our K12 stuff!). Note that he did the curly hair first.....priorities man! :) Click on the link to see more pictures of the artist at work, as well as his finished painting.

Science Project

Science Project
Originally uploaded by jjlrdomom

This lovely "contraption" is supposed to measure the humidity. The "scientist" is quite proud of her work, but we can't seem to get it to actually work. The paper squares on the right side are supposed to absorb moisture and weigh the end of the straw down so that the pointer on the other end will rise up our scale (the green triangle on the left) So far, no luck, but this is VERY old paper and it's rather brittle, so we'll try it again and Mom won't try to be so thrifty with the paper. Pink Princess was still rather proud of it though!

K12 is here!

K12 is here!
Originally uploaded by jjlrdomom

And this is less than half of the stuff! You'd think it was Christmas though!! Hee hee hee!!

Big D & his K12 stuff

Big D & his K12 stuff
Originally uploaded by jjlrdomom

He's excited now, and let's just hope that continues. He got two boxes and should also be getting a bit more.

Little D & 1 box of K12 goodies

Little D & 1 box of K12 goodies
Originally uploaded by jjlrdomom

Poor Little D only got one box today. But there's PLENTY more coming!! This box had his workbooks in it, with some pages he had already done online!

Pink Princess & some of her K12

Pink Princess & some of her K12
Originally uploaded by jjlrdomom

She got two of her boxes of stuff. One box had reading books in it, and she's already read about 7 of them!!!!!

Here we go!!

We're currently doing about 1/2 days of school (started last week) just to get us back into the habit (hopefully by the time the books get here, the grumbling will have tamed a little bit!) Anyway, I just had to share today's "fun". Big D is reading A Wrinkle in Time for literature (and I can do it now without the k12 books). Well, if you've read it, you know it talks about tesseracts. Big D had a printed off glossary of words for this book, so he, at least, had a better idea than I did when I first read it. He asked me if a tesseract was a real thing, so we were excited when we found a link in our online stuff for it. Well, I just have to say it was VERY cool!! We started just trying to figure out a 2D drawing of one, then Big D found a tesseract pendant, which, when we looked at it, reminded us an awful lot of some of M.C. Escher's stuff (you know, where some people are walking down stairs and then suddenly those stairs are going the other way,....look here. We had fun trying to figure it out (I don't know if you actually, truly can). But it was nice to see the eagerness in learning!! (okay, I was getting into it too!)

Joyful Jajliardos' Christian Academy

August 2008

---

News Flash! Another school year has begun! All 3 children are enrolled in an online school (K12) which they will do at home although it is considered a public school. The best part....all the materials are FREE! Prayers & Praises This Portion of the newsletter will be dedicated to brief prayer requests and praises. Prayers for: getting into a school schedule getting all of our materials and getting set up wisdom for Glenn as he is "finance guy" for the chapel on base VBS (July 4-8, in the evenings). This is our church's first one! Praising God for: Glenn's involvment in our school decision this year friends who will be attending VBS with us.....their first VBS too! Daniel's mission trip!

School News We have begun the process of signing the kids up for K12. As I mentioned in the sidebar, this is a public school online. We will actually be participating in a school several hours from here that has open registration for anybody living in Utah. We have heard really good reports about this school and the principle. She used to homeschool her own children! She was actually the principle in our county for a while, but was moved as Davis County didn't like the flexibility she allows. So, for the first time ever, I had to get copies of shot records (and update any shots the kids needed, send out copies of their birth certificates, and have them take placement tests. Quite an eyeopener for me as the only thing we've ever had to do for homeschooling was to file a "letter of intent" with the school board. There are several huge "pluses" that I see in using this curriculum. For one thing, it is all provided free! Including any extra manipulatives and such that you might need. The only thing I'll need to provide is paper, writing utensils, scissors, glue.....that kind of stuff. Another great thing is that it is all planned out ahead of time and you simply have to keep up with it. I am going to set up a bulletin board with their weekly assignments on it, so that they can see what they need to do and even go on ahead a bit if they want to. We will have a teacher checking in with us frequently, answering questions, keeping us on track and such. This had been a concern to me in previous years, but I really see it as a help to keep us on track, especially as Daniel gets older......I need to know what he needs to be learning. Glenn is excited about that as well, that there will be someone there to help us "maintain course". A new thing for us will be the testing at the end of each year. We haven't done that before. As a matter of fact, the placement tests were their first taste of testing. 2 of the kids did pretty well with that and one of them was rather distracted and unfocused.....but, it's a learning thing, and I will talk to the teacher about that and what we can do to improve that. So.....I have filed all the things that I need to in order to be enrolled, and now I'm waiting on a call from the teacher/consultant to discuss where we're at, how this all will work, and such. Then our order will be placed and we'll wait for the boxes to arrive. We've already been warned by several people that it is a LOT of boxes!!! It'll be like Christmas!! Stay tuned, we'll keep you informed as we learn more about it! Books We're Reading Mom: One Anothering by Simon Schrock; Power of a Praying Parent by Stormy Omartian; Under the Lilacs by Louisa M. Alcott Daniel: just finished The Golden Cord by Paul Genessee; has been reading The Red Rock Mysteries , a Christian mystery series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry Alycia: Pride and Prejudice (a Children's Illustrated Classic) by Jane Austen; Archie comics David: no current reads, but his latest favorite (another Children's Illustrated Classic.....he loves the pictures) is 20000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. David isn't reading yet, but is a very gifted story teller, so he looks at the pictures and then spins some wonderful tales! Around the Jajliardo "Ranch" Our vegetable garden is doing fairly well; next year we are planning a bigger garden space. Our sunflower house, in a corner of the vegetable garden, is amazing! Lots of different kinds of sunflowers that the children enjoy examining and measuring. Suzi is doing well and keeping busy chasing balls and playing with the kids. And we're happy to report there's been no dog fights lately! Hee hee! The weather has been rather hot, but playing in the sprinklers in the yard helps a lot. The kids and Dad have made up several fun games that can be played in the sprinklers!

Why I love homeschooling

The boys were bothering the girl, and I was trying to work on Mom's birthday present (yes, *hanging head in shame* it was on her birthday), so I told Girl to come be with me. Our laundry room is kind of small when you have the ironing board out, so I told her she could sit on the dryer. She decided to get even more comfy. I love this!!!

Super Heroes!

This morning our neighbors' son came over....in his Superman pajamas and cape......and he was greeted at the door by Little D in his Batman pajamas (and later a cape). They had a great time saving the world! Hee hee!!

Fun at the Zoo

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

A wonderful poem

I was perusing some blogs and came across a BEAUTIFUL poem about children. I am going to permanently post it in the sidebar, so please be sure to check it out!!

They think they don't do school!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Tax Rebate Warning

My friend K's husband is an accountant. He has posted some important information about a tax rebate being given this year for people with children. Please go to their blog, Matschstick Adventures to read about it, and then spread the word. Most people do not realize that this is kind of like a "loan" on next year's taxes!!

I am a WIFE and I am a MOM!!!

To find out why I feel the need to shout that (and yes, it's a school issue), go to my other blog at Heart of a Handmaiden

Blessings!
A wife and a Mom and loving every minute of it!!

Overheard here at home.....

"PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE RUDE TO SUPERHEROES!!!!!!!!!"

Is that a life lesson, or what??

What we do in our spare time

Flowers are Red

This is why we homeschool!!
It makes me so disheartened when people live life in a box. Our children need to be challenged to look around them, to make decisions and opinions on their own, to see all the blessings God richly lavishes on us. I'm not pounding public school people, I'm simply saying that we need to be able to "see all the colors of the rainbow".

Snowman-a-Mania Contest!!

Make a postcard - it's easy!

Well, we got snowed in again and couldn't go to church. To help cheer disappointed children, we hosted our first annual Snowman-a-Mania Contest!!

Comments more than welcome!!!

Snowy Sunday

Well, we haven't made it to church for 2 Sundays (one week we were out of town and last week miserably sick) so we were really looking forward to going this morning.....and then we awoke to 8 inches of snow and it is still falling heavily!! Hubby went out and shoveled and cleared off the car, but 10 minutes later it was covered again! So he decided we'd have to skip church again (it's not the driving in the snow that concerns us, it's the other people driving that concerns us). Of course we were all pretty disappointed, but I believe I cheered spirits up a bit by declaring a snowman contest of our own. Winner will get a HUGE cookie and all contestants will get cookies. So, stay tuned, I will try to get pictures to send, as they are all busy beavers out there building their snowmen! Can't wait!!!

Found some old homeschool pictures

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Another contest to enter

Win an Insignia Bluetooth MP3 Player. Another contest from 5 Minutes for Moms. I don't know a whole lot about MP3 players (and am beginning to think I'm the only one left who doesn't!) but this is being donated by Best Buy.

So go check it out already!! :)

Pedal Car giveaway!!!!!

5 Minutes for Mom is always holding great contests so be sure to check in there regularly for many more great contests!

Right now you can enter to win a Red ‘65 Mustang Pedal Car from their shop www.PedalCarsandRetro.com. Sound good? Well then hop on over their site: Click here to read more about it and enter the contest.

Snow Fun!!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Awesome guy!!

Is there some silly, quirky thing about your guy that just doesn't seem to fit him? My hubby has this thing about building luges.....so I decide to tell you about it, thinking it such an odd thing. Well, I googled "luge" to give you links to see what I'm talking about, and I happened to find another family's blog about homemade luges! Wow!!

The first time my hubby ever did this, our now 5yo son was only 3 months old (no, he didn't get to try it out). We were visiting our parents in CT and happily, they had snow. We had been living in Louisiana for 5 years by then and were feeling very snow-deprived! My parents have a small farm and the pasture is mostly one big hill, wonderful for sledding (providing you miss the frozen horse plops!) Well, that hill was not enough for my beloved, so he spent 2 or 3 days out there shaping, shoveling, piling.....making this incredible sled run (luge!). After about 3 days of building and trying and building, my Dad finally had pity on him and drove out the tractor and plowed the snow up to the luge! There was hardly snow left at the top of the pasture, it was all incorporated in the luge. We have an awesome movie of it. It was awesome. My two sisters and their families were there from out of town too, and of course, hubby's family lives very close to my parents. So everybody showed up at some point to try out this thing. Yes, even my parents and Mother-in-Law braved it. It was amazing!!

Well, last year, we were blessed to move to Utah. And last winter, after the first good snow storm, there was hubby, out there building a smaller version of his luge in our back yard. There is a small slope in the middle of our yard, so he had to build up a starting ramp for them, but it worked! And the cool thing is, if you pack them good enough, they last for quite a while! (I always wondered how long that one lasted in my parents' pasture!). Well, we had a fairly decent snow a week or so ago and all the snow in the back yard got shaped into a luge (my only request is that they not touch the snow in the front yard as I love the look of it!). Since then, it's melted a bit and then earlier today it was RAINING and the luge was really looking beat. However, we are now having a wonderful snow storm. Currently it is 9:55pm and dh and my oldest son are still out there digging and shaping. Boy o boy is it gonna be fun!! And what the kiddos don't know (and never read this blog anyway) is that they are getting a bunch of cool snow stuff for Christmas: an inflatable snow fort, inflatable shields for snowball fights, and some inflatable sled things!! Woohoo!! And we're supposed to be getting even more snow before Christmas!!

For your viewing pleasure, a picture of the luge in use a week ago, and a darker picture taken at 9:15pm this evening of further construction.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!