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10 Things #2to1 Conf Attendees Should Know About Me

Written by Joy
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It never fails, I am always a day late!  The link-up for this was posted yesterday and I am just now getting around to it.  I am truly excited to be going to the 2:1 Conference.  This will be  my first ever blogging or homeschooling conference and I am so glad that it is this one.  I love what 2:1 stands for and is trying to do for the homeschooling blogging moms out there.

Now on to the 10 things #2to1 Conference Attendees Should Know About Me!

1. I married my high school sweetheart and this year we will celebrate 20 years of marriage. We have 4 kids and have been homeschooling almost 10 years.  We have graduated one from homeschooling, who is now attending the local Community College.  I will have a 9th grader, 3rd grade and 2nd grader this next school year.

2. While I started a blog 4 years ago, I have only been serious about it the last couple of years.  I have learned so much from others, but looking to learn so much more from the 2:1 Conference.

3. When we started homeschooling, we didn’t have much encouragement from others.  No one understood why we wanted to homeschool and I was even told there was no way I could stay at home with my kids and teach them.  So from that, I have always wanted to be an encouragement to others who want to start or who have just started their homeschooling journey.

4. I read a lot of blogs.  I read a lot of homeschooling blogs.  I love to pass on posts that have touched my heart or have spoken to me in some way, hoping that they will help someone else in need of encouragement.

5. I love to laugh and I have been told that I laugh really loud! Oh, I also love to talk!!

6. I love caffiene!  Especially in the form of Coca Cola!!  Chocolate is also a very good friend of mine!

7. My camera will be with me, so be ready to have your picture taken.  I love to take lots of pictures on trips!

8. Even though I love to talk, I love taking a step back and watch people interact with one another.

9. This should have been first, but I love Jesus with all my heart and soul. I love talking about Jesus and what he has done for my family and I.

10. The 2:1 Conference will be my very first conference that I have gone to of any kind.  This one is special to me because it involves several things that mean a lot to me.  Homeschooling, blogging and “moms with hearts for God“.  My whole goal for coming to this conference is to learning more about the backbone of blogging so that I might better help others in the future.  I want to help encourage others to follow God and what He would have them do for their family.  So a BIG THANK YOU goes out to See The Light in helping to sponsor my way to the 2:1 Conference!

If you have any other questions you want to ask me, just leave me a comment!

 

See The Light

field trip to Judaculla Rock

Written by Joy
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field trip to Judaculla Rock

The same day we went to the archaeological dig, we also stopped by a place called Judaculla Rock.  Judaculla Rock is a petroglyph.  What is a petroglyph? Petroglyph are pictures or images created by removing rock with different types of tools.

Judaculla Rock was made by the Cherokee Indians.  Even though the markings are faint, you can still tell what some of the shapes are.  You can see animals, people and even a sun.  To me, it also looks like they have carvings of either sugar cane or corn.  There are also other shapes and images that are hard to recognize.  Scientist are not for sure what its purpose was for.

While the carvings are slowly fading away due to the weather and sometimes vandals, it is a beautiful work of art.  I can only imagine the many hours it took for the Indians to carve the pictures.

If you are ever in this area, I encourage you to take time to drive the back roads to see this.

We had never seen a petroglyph until we saw this one.  I would love to visit more that have been found in the United States!  Have you ever seen a petroglyph?  Please share with us if you have!

field trips, homeschooling

field trip to an archaeological dig

Written by Joy
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field trip to an archaeological dig

*Warning, picture heavy post because I couldn’t just choose a few!*

To me, when I have thought of an archaeological dig, I have always pictured a group of people out in the desert near Egypt surrounded by partially uncovered pyramids.  Or out in the plains surrounded by wheat fields with dinosaur bones being uncovered.  Never has it dawned on me that even in our local area we could have an archaeological dig!  Apparently they are more common around this area than what I thought!  We came to know about this dig from a homeschooling grandma in our group.  It is happening right on their property!  She asked me if I thought our group would be interested in taking a field trip to see what all they were doing.   I don’t know who was more excited, the kids or the mom’s!  It turned out to be a beautiful day for the field trip.

The reason for this dig was the state decided they needed to put in a new bridge in this area.  Before they could do that, they had to have a team of archaeologist come to do a little research to see if any Indian artifacts was found.  This area is known to have been a place where some Cherokee Indians lived.  Sure enough, when they started digging, they found areas where outbuildings had been built, broken shards of pottery and arrowheads.  One of the biggest finds they came across was an area where they would dump their food and broken pottery vessels, like a garbage hole.  They have been able to date most of the pieces from the early 1700’s.

This is Bruce Idol.  He is heading up this archaeological dig.  Bruce was gracious enough to host our group at the site and answer the questions we all had.

He is showing the kids an arrowhead that they had just found that morning!

I thought this was a cool looking area that they had searched.  Loved it being in the shape of a cross.

One person is shoveling a thin layer of dirt and tossing it into the sieve box where the guy will shake it to see if he can find any shards of pottery or arrowheads.

These two workers were making sketches on paper and mapping out the rocks they had uncovered.  Once they finished with that, they removed the rocks and then went down another layer.

The guy that was working the sieve box was showing the kids what all he had found.  The workers were very nice to the kids, answered all their questions and even let them hold a few pieces of the broken pottery.

I loved how all of the kids were attentive.  They were so well behaved and respectful of the history the guys were uncovering.

I think this was the “garbage hole” that they had discovered.  She was carefully scooping up the dirt in a dust pan.  She was taking out the larger pieces and putting them in the bucket next to her.  Then she would take the dirt and sift it through a sieve box to find smaller pieces.

This field trip has been one of the most memorable ones we have taken in a while.  I love history and to see it unearthed and come back to life was truly amazing.  That is one of the reason I love living where we do.  The Great Smoky Mountains and surrounding area is so filled with history that you just never know what you will come across or learn next.

Have you had any fun, interesting or unusual field trips lately?  I would love to hear about them!

field trips, homeschooling, Uncategorized

11 Things

Written by Joy
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11 Things

Jenilee, over at Our Goodwin Journey, tagged me in a blog post titled 11 Things. This looked like fun, so I thought I would play along!

The Rules:
1. Post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random facts about you.
3. Answer the questions given to you in the tagger’s post.
4. Create 11 new questions and tag new people to answer them.
5. Go to their blog/twitter and let them know they have been tagged.

Here is a picture of me. I really need to get an updated picture!


Other than having a different haircut, I still look the same!

11 Random facts about me:

1. I am scared to death of heights.

2. Reading is a passion of mine.  I can really get into a good book by laughing or crying out loud!

3. I love riding in the mountains, looking at the gorgeous views.

4. I love taking pictures of anything I can.  We have 15k+ on our computer!

5. I love most all musicals and the older Disney movies.

6. When I was in High School, I played the cornet, mellophone and French horn.

7. My 2 best friends and I watched Sweet Home Alabama almost once a week for a year or so.  We LOVED that movie.  I still do. 😉

8. I am the leader of a homeschool group.

9. My favorite food is chocolate and I am addicted to coca cola!

10. I failed at reading the bible in 90 Days, but I am still reading and NOT giving up!

11. I was asking my kids to help me with 11 random facts because I said I was boring.  My oldest daughter said I was NOT boring and my youngest son said I was smart!  I do believe I have the best kids on the earth!

Now on to Jenilee’s questions!

1. What is your dream vacation? I am in my dream vacation.  I am living in the mountains!

2. Where did you go on your honeymoon? We honeymooned in St. Augustine, Florida.  It was beautiful to walk along the beach with my husband.

3. If you could meet one famous person, who would it be? Wow.  If I could meet one famous person, who would it be?  I think I would have to choose Tim Tebow.  I am a huge fan because of how he lives his life.  He is a walking professing Christian in an environment that isn’t know to be pretty.  He is such a great roll model for everyone to look up to.

4. What is your favorite Bible verse?

5. Iced or Hot coffee? Neither.  I am a coca cola or a hot tea person.

6. If you could renovate one room in your house, which one would it be? Definitely my bedroom/bathroom.  I would love to make it a tranquil place for my husband and I.

7. How old were you when you got married? I was 17.

8. Do you journal on paper or just on a blog? I have a prayer journal and this blog.

9. Have you ever met a blog friend in real life?  Yes, I have!  Lena from Lovin’ My crazy Life.

10. Do you say pop or soda? I say coke!

11. Are you a morning person or a night owl? When I can get up early in the morning, definitely a morning person.  I am usually one of the first ones in bed!

Since Lynnea @ The Mueller Family also tagged me in her 11 Things post, here are the answers to her questions:

1. When you were little how did you answer the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”?  I wanted to work in the medical field. Still do and am considering going back to school for radiology or something like that.

2. Do you set aside one day for cleaning and/or laundry or do you do a little bit each day? I do a little each day.  I have four kids!

3. How far away does your closest family member live? Florida, about 8 hours.

4. If funds were unlimited, how often would you go out to eat?  Once a week, after church on Sunday’s.

5. What was your least favorite (or hardest) subject in school? Math.

6. Did you go to college? If so, what did you study? I took music classes while in high school that counted for college.

7. Do you have any siblings? How many? Older? Younger? I have three siblings. All Brothers.  I am the 3rd child in the family.

8. What kind of car do you drive? I drive a Doge grand Caravan.

9. Do you use a laptop, desktop, and/or tablet? I use a laptop.

10. What kinds of pets have you had or do you have? We have one dog, her name is Trixie.

11. In what ways are you surprised by where life has taken you so far? The only surprise so far is that we chose to homeschool.  However, after homeschooling for 9 years, I couldn’t imagine life any different.

Now, I need to choose some people to share 11 Things with…

Lynnea @ The Mueller Family 

Jennifer @ Jennifer A. Janes

Lena @ Lovin’ My Crazy Life

Kayla @ The Arrowood Zoo

Dana @ The Adams Family Apple Tree

 

Now for my 11 questions for those that I chose:

1. What is your favorite thing about where you live?

2. If you could choose a country to go to, what would it be?

3. What is your favorite color and why?

4. What character in a book do you feel you are most like and why?

5. What is your favorite type of music that you listen to?

6. If you could you live in any time period, which would it be?

7. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

8. Of the 4 seasons, which is your favorite?

9. What is your favorite book of the bible and why?

10. Since I tagged all homeschool moms, what is your least favorite subject to teach and most favorite subject to teach?

11. What are you scared of the most?

 

I hope you all play along!  I can’t wait to see all of your answers and who you choose to play along next!

Uncategorized