Sunday, July 25, 2010

Ezra, 2 months old



This has been a month of smiles and the beginnings of coos. He is interacting with us. His eyes are so expressive. When awake he likes to lay under his mobile or floor gym. He is really stimulated by the black and white toys/images hanging there. He wiggles and kicks and "punches" with his little fists so much. He will put his feet down in my lap and straighten out his body putting his weight down on his legs. I am amazed at how strong he seems. Below is a little video of his activities:

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Recent Homeschool Adventures

I have to say that Olivia is doing fabulous with her reading skills. She is enjoying reading books to Ezra whenever she gets a chance and we often find her in her bedroom, sitting in her little rocking chair reading books. I love hearing her read. Often if the book is a bit above her level, we will read it together. She reads all the words she can and I just pitch in with the words she doesn't know.


She has a early readers NIV Bible that she is able to read from each day too. If I didn't plan for her to read from the Bible on a given day, she will now ask. :) Isn't it amazing when God uses your kids to help keep you accountable. We are continuing to memorize scripture. I am amazed at how easily she can memorize as well as how good it is for me to teach her cause I am finally able to put more scripture to memory. When its set in our minds and hearts through memory, we can bring it up easily and apply it to situations throughout our day.


In addition to reading and math, I am using My Father's World for our curriculum. I love it! We are using the Adventures level. It is an exploration/overview of American history and patriotic symbols from a Christian perspective. It includes bible and science. The curriculum is very bible centered. We talked about Jesus being the Light of the World and our science involved space and stars. We have also done some really fun experiments involving air. Just like air, we can't see God but there is evidence that he is all around us. There are a handful of scripture passages for her to read herself out of her Bible and for us to discuss. Of course there are tons of fun crafts. I am having Olivia draw the experiments we do and label some of the words she knows how to write. We keep those in a notebook along with the bible verses she copies.


Our history study so far has us looking at the founding of America. We have studied the Vikings, Christopher Columbus, Jamestown, Indians, and the Pilgrims so far. We are creating a timeline and notebook. We study these through several texts. One is the style of a straight textbook, we include lots of library books, and many are stories told through the eyes of children. I read her Squanto and now we are reading Sarah's New World. It is a great book for character discussions in addition to learning about history. We have also learned some about the American flag and listen to some patriotic music. Here are some pictures of our fun adventures.

Sailing the Niña, the Pinta, Santa Maria


Indian wigwam and teepees


Indian Costume


Pilgrim Costume and poppet (a doll played with by British children in the 1600s made from scraps; ours is made from an old sock with stuffing and wrapped in a piece of felt)


making a compass

Monday, July 12, 2010

Grandpa's look-a-like

Chick-fil-a Cow Appreciation Day

Yes, we went out in public looking kind of silly but we got free lunch at Chick-fil-a so it was worth it. :) Olivia was also wearing a cow bell but had taken it off when we got this picture.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Our New Name

Hey all,

You may have noticed that our blog name has changed. We decided that just having our names and continuing to add children's names to it might become somewhat long-winded and really wasn't very imaginative. As we debated changing it, Rebecca asked a friend of her for some ideas and her friend suggested the "thoroughly" part. So then it was "Thoroughly" What? We went through "Thoroughly Sarine" and "Throughly Family" and maybe one or two others, but nothing really described us in terms that everyone can relate to. I kept thinking back to what the blog is about, which is our children and how much we are blessed by them and it came to me: Thoroughly Blessed. It's as complete a name as there every can be for us. We are blessed with wonderful children, loving families and great friends.

We hope that by sharing our blessings, all who read about them will be blessed as well.