Skip to main content

homeschooling plans changing just bit..

Written by Joy
10 Comments

I am sure you are all just about tired of hearing about us moving to Colorado.  I know I am!  I am so ready to be there!  So I thought I would talk a little about how our homeschooling will look for us when we first get to Golden, CO.  You see, we will be living in a vacation rental for a month, or until we can find us a more permanent place to live.  That means that the majority of our school books are boxed up and in a storage unit until then.  So what will we be doing for school until then? Well, I am so glad you asked!  {grin}

Thanks to an awesome homeschooling blogging buddy of mine, we will be approaching the first 4-6 weeks slightly different.  To begin with, we will be covering the state history of Colorado and the town history of Golden, CO.  It will be good to learn all about the place that we will be calling home.  We will be taking field trips to local historical places in town, as well as finding the library, police and fire stations and any science or history museums in the area.  We will also be covering geography and science by learning all we can about the Rocky Mountains.

I have packed a couple of small boxes with our math, spelling and bible study books.  For math, my oldest daughter will finish up her Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, while the younger two kids will finish up their Bob Jones math books.

We will be using a new spelling book this year for the younger two kids.  The Natural Speller is recommended with the Illuminations program that I will be using by Bright Ideas Press.

As for the bible study, we will finish up the Esther book we started last year.  We got side-tracked and I never finished it with the kids.  They loved doing this study, so I am excited to begin it once again.

I also packed up the See The Light art curriculum DVD’s.  My youngest son just asked me the other day when we could begin this again.  I am so happy that we have found an art curriculum they love!

So as you can tell, we do have some great ideas to get us started.  While it isn’t everything that we will eventually be using, I am happy that we will be able to do something not long after we arrive.  My kids thrive on a routine and we have been out of one for far too long.

I was so excited when Honey mentioned those ideas to me about studying the state and local history with the kids once we arrived.  It will help us get acquainted with the area, as well as get one some sort of routine with our schooling.  A win-win for all of us!

We will also be meeting up with a new homeschool group that I have been in contact with.  They will have their first park day on August 9th.  We will also be checking into the extra-curricular activities that the kids want to be involved with.  This includes finding a new dance studio, musical theater company and a recreation league for sports.  I don’t know why I was so worried about jumping right into school, we will have plenty to keep us busy the first couple of weeks!

Once we get settled next week in our temporary rental, I plan on sharing with you all the rest of the curriculum we will be using.  I am truly excited about it this year as I am stepping away from a lot of the traditional textbooks and workbooks.  This is truly going to be an interesting year with all the new adventures that we will have!

Do you have any special studies planned to begin your new school year with?

2012, homeschooling, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Birds of Prey program at our library

Written by Joy
11 Comments
Birds of Prey program at our library



As we continue on with our activities from our Summer Bucket List, I have to mention about our awesome library that we have. When we move, our library will be one thing that we will miss a lot. Our library, just celebrated its first anniversary at its new building. Along with the new building has come more books and also more programs being offered for the kids by the library. We missed the programs on the Wolves and Snakes, and it was by chance that we happened to stop by and noticed the Birds of Prey program about to begin. The kids were so excited when they found out that they didn’t miss this show! Even better that their grandparents could be there with them!

The local Nature Center had my kids’ attention from the start.   They had several different owls, a Red Tail Hawk, a Harris Hawk and a Bald Eagle named Freedom.  I love how they explained to the kids why these animals were called birds of prey and how they ended up in captivity and why they can never be out back out into the wild.

The bald eagle’s name is Freedom.  He talked about how the bald eagles used to be considered endangered species many years ago.  There are now over 10,000 pairs of bald eagles in the U.S.  Freedom is a bald eagle that is visiting the Nature Center from Dollywood.

My oldest daughter has been to this Nature Center several times and has fallen in love with the birds that they take care of.  I am very thankful that we were able to be at the program, so that I could get a picture of her holding the Harris Hawk.

We are blessed to have a library that is able to have programs that are so fun and educational.  Does your library have  any programs during the summertime?

Be sure to stop by the others who are participating in the Summer Bucket List series to see what fun they have been up to!

Honey @ Sunflower Schoolhouse

Tonya @ The Traveling Praters

Jeniffer & Melissa @ Sisters ‘N Cloth

Lisa @ Creativlei

Nancy @ Proverbs 31 Jewels

Jennifer @ Teaching Boys

Kelli @ Adventurez In Child’rearing

2012, family, homeschooling, , , , ,

a little trip..(part 2)

Written by Joy
a little trip..(part 2)

As I said in the post before, my husband and I went on a little trip to Golden, CO.  We visited a couple of different museums and visitors centers.  However, one of the best parts of the trip to me (besides being with my husband), was the drive up to Mt. Evans.  Mt. Evans has the highest paved road in North America.  From where you turn off the major Interstate 70 you will drive until you are 14, 240 feet at the summit.  The drive up to the top and back down to the bottom is truly amazing.  The views are gorgeous and the wildlife you see is just beautiful.

As we were driving to the top, we first pulled off at the Mt. Goliath Natural area.  It’s a little building were they talk and show the landscaping of the mountains.  It shows the 3 different levels of the mountains.  It also showcases the vegetation of the land.  The plants, flowers and trees are different at each level due to the climate.  This area is actually a boundary between the sub-alpine forests and the tundra.   This area also contains most of the Bristlecone pines.  They have dated some of the pines to be older than 1600 years.

We continued the drive to the top and then came to Summit Lake pull-off.  At the time we were there, Summit Lake was still frozen.  I had never seen a frozen lake before!  However, we were unable to walk to the lake due to safety concerns.  The Wildlife Rangers were accessing the situation at the time.

The first day we went to Mt. Evans, Summit Lake was as far as we could drive.  It had snowed the previous day/night and they had the road closed to the top. We were determined to go to the top of the mountain, so we came back the following day.  We wanted to tell our kids that we had been 14,000+ feet on top of a mountain!  {grin}  So the next day, we made the journey back to Mt. Evans and were told we could drive all the way to the top.  I never tire of the beautiful views that God has created.  The views did not disappoint as we passed Summit Lake.  Around every curve there was another gorgeous view.  What surprised us was seeing people riding their bicycles and even a man walking up so high.  We know the air gets thinner as you go higher and was told to be careful and to drink plenty of fluids.  Yet, these men were out enjoying a ride and stroll at such a high altitude!

We then came around the corner to the very top.  There was this huge stone building that I later found out was once called The Crest House – “The Castle in the Sky”.  However, a propane tank exploded and blew the roof and part of the building up.  They then changed it into a visitor’s platform.   The views from the different levels were amazing. There is also an Observatory on top of the mountain as well.  We didn’t make it around to see this.  The wind was blowing so hard that it was very hard to stand up and was freezing cold!

What surprised me the most up on top of this mountain?  Seeing mountain goats and sheep!  I had never seen a mountain goat or sheep before.  I could not believe how docile and calm these animals were.  They continued grazing, breaking through the little bit of snow and ice that hadn’t melted yet.

I was unable to get close enough to the mountain sheep to get any pictures of them.  However, take my word for it when I say that they are beautiful creations of God.

The views from the top were so beautiful and I am glad we had decided to come back on that second day.

 

I am so glad that I was able to go on this trip with my husband.  It was definitely a once in a lifetime trip with just the two of us, until our children are all on their own.  As much as we enjoyed being with one another, we both said the next time we took off again on a trip like this, our children will definitely be with us.

Have you ever been on a trip and wished you had your children with you?

2012, family, homeschooling, , ,

a little trip (part 1)…

Written by Joy
4 Comments
a little trip (part 1)…

The last week of May, my husband and I were blessed to have been able to go on a little trip.  Just the 2 of us.  In the 20 years (Oct.3rd), that we have been married, we have never taken a trip with just the two of us.  We have always had the kids with us.  Our youngest two have never even stayed away with others, without one of us always being their with them.  So when this opportunity arrived, we took it and said this would be our anniversary trip.  It was also the first time that I had ever flown.  I have always been afraid of heights, but I truly loved flying in a plane and look forward to doing it again.   We were blessed to have been able to take a trip west to Golden, CO.  This is a beautiful little town at the foot of the Rockies.  We stayed in a beautiful hotel called The Golden Hotel.  The view from the room was amazing.  I couldn’t wait to get to exploring around the area. One of the first places we went was to the Buffalo Bill’s Museum and Grave.  I love history, especially that of the Old West.  So to be able to go see where Buffalo Bill and his family were buried and to see a place dedicated to his life, was awesome!

Once we left Buffalo Bill’s Museum, we just rode around looking at the different views.  It is so amazing how the Rocky mountains are so different than the Appalachian Mountains. We rode to the Red Rocks Amphitheater.   While we didn’t get to go into the amphitheater seating area (they were having a graduation), we did get to see the visitor center and walk around the outside of it.  It is gorgeous there!  I would LOVE to go back and walk the trails around the area, as well as see a concert in the amphitheater.  The pictures I took with my phone does not do this place any justice.

Another cool place that my husband and I went to was The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.  It is one of the largest urban refuges in the United States.  It has over 330 different species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and amphibians.  The story about how this refuge came about is truly amazing.  The U.S. Army had built this area as a chemical weapons manufacturing facility after japan bombed Pearl Harbor, to support the war effort.  After the war was over, the land was then leased to the Shell Chemical Company for agricultural chemicals. Then the Arsenal was then used for Cold War weapons production and demilitarization.  For the rest of the story of who started cleaning up and how they did it, go to the Arsenal’s site.

While we were at the visitor center at the Arsenal Wildlife Refuge, we saw prairie dogs!  I had never seen one before and we saw close to 100 or more running across the plains.  God’s creations are amazing!  I wish we could have gotten a good picture of live ones close up, but they were too quick for us.

This picture was taken at their museum they have set up.  One day, I am hoping to go back so I can take my kids.  They have tours of the who area and you can see the mule deer and bison roaming on the prairie.  I know they will love seeing this!

I thought I had better split this up into two posts.  It was like we were on a field trip.  I took around 700 pictures and can’t wait to tell you about the trip to Mt. Evans and show you the views from 14,000 ft.

Until then… 🙂

 

2012, family, homeschooling, , ,