I just had to share this graphic that shows some interesting stats....
We love homeschooling...It for sure is not for everyone...but it is FANTASTIC for us!!  :0)
(and apparently lots of others too...)

Created by: College At Home

Christmas Vacation (Part Two) in Kentucky

The next half of our Christmas travels were in Kentucky.  We flew from ND to KY on December 31st and made it to the family New Year Eve's get together at my sister's house.  We had fun playing games and watching movies.  ...I guess we were having such a good time we lost track of time and forgot to ring in the new year at midnight.  :0)

The next day we were able to take Rose and Timothy to the Creation Museum.

Then we headed to TN for a couple of days to visit Lilly Kate, Auntie Samantha and Uncle Josh....

Rose and Lilly

Back in KY we always enjoy Grandma's Christmas Tree...

A couple days later we went to the Creation Museum again.....

Fun at the Creation Museum petting zoo

 

At the museum we met Buddy Davis.....we did his Dinosaur sculpting workshop and attended his musical performance...

It was super fun and super educational!!  We get to do different things each time we are there and we always have a good time.

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My family waited to do the Christmas get together until we were there (instead of on Christmas Day).  Aren't they so sweet?

I wasn't planning on posting pictures of us opening up gifts, but apparently it is the only time I took any photos of my family the entire trip!  Oh my, I need to get better about that.  

Grandma and Grandpa (my parents)

Kristie (my sister) and Jerry

Kyle

Jordan 

Jennifer (my sister) and Brandon

Tyler

Tori

Tim 

And since I am "in" this photo and not Chad...I guess I didn't even take these photos!  Chad did. I am thankful we at least got these photos :0)

Rose

 A few days later we were able to meet our good friends for supper in Georgetown.

 

I babysat Clara when Rose and Clara were 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years old!

Christmas Vacation (part one) in North Dakota

We spent about 10 days in North Dakota (with Chad's family) and then about 10 days in Kentucky (with Angela's family) over the Christmas/New Year's Holidays.
We enjoyed family and friends.  This post is about our visit to ND....

We spent the first night with Chad's sister and family in Gilby.  Here Rose is playing with her cousins cats...

We had a couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson before the rest of the family came in.  Rose had a precious time playing and playing with Grandma....

Chad helped Grandpa with some technology stuff...

More family came in and on Christmas Eve we went caroling at the Nursing Home and Assisted Living Center....

Movie time with cousin.......

Rose....

At Grandpa and Grandma's church on Christmas morning.....
Rose got to sing with the girls (she also did her signing of Silent Night).......

Chad's parents are very musically talented so we all go up and sing a special as a family (those that know me well, don't laugh!..I think the others make up for MY lack of talent...at least that is what I hope) :).....

Family photo after the Christmas service....

More family came in and Rose had a blast playing with cousins....

Actually everyone enjoys playing games....

A nice thing about having musically talented grandparents is singing Christmas Carols before sharing the Christmas story and opening presents....

Our nephew (the one in black standing behind Rose) was able to recite from memory Luke chapter 2  (the Christmas story) to us.......

Grandpa and Grandma Anderson and the Grandkids

The day before we left it finally snowed....

Up coming Reviews.....

There are two online programs that I have been wanting try in our homeschool ....and I finally received the opportunity to try them out for free if I agree to give them my opinion through a review.


The first one is Time4Learning....
I've been invited to try Time4Learning for a month in exchange for a candid review. Their online program can be used for homeschool, as an after school tutorial and for summer learning. My opinion will be my own, so come back and read about my experience. You can write your own curriculum review, too!


The second is ReadingEggs....
This one was arranged through The Homeschool Lounge.  Again it will be my honest review of the program.  

We have already started using one of these.....and I can't wait to write my review and share with you!

My very insightful 16 year old nephew started blogging...
You should go check it out  http://ty-fyter.blogspot.com/

Home Between Thanksgiving and Christmas travels (surgery, finish week 15 of MFW, sing, and sign)

We had about two weeks from the time we got back from Kentucky from being over there for an extended Thanksgiving visit until we left again for North Dakota.  This post is our 2 weeks at home between our travels.

Rose had surgery to remove an extra tooth.  They gave her laughing gas then sedated her through an IV.  I was a little concerned about the anesthesia because I have had complications.  But she did just fine.

They cut the roof of her mouth behind her front teeth.  She had stitches between each tooth up front.

before surgery

with gas, getting ready for the IV

in the recovery room

She had two days on liquids and about a week on soft foods.  We are thankful that everything went so well and she healed up so fast.

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Daddy and Rose...

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Visiting a local farm where we can get raw milk.   Rose petting one of the cows.

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We went to a cute showing of the Nutcracker called "The Peanutcracker" with our homeschool group.  It was a narrated version to make it easier for kids to follow the story line.  Since we studied Tchaikovsky this semester, this was a nice tie-in to our studies.

Rose and the Sugarplum Fairy

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We finished up our Week 15 of My Father's World in school.  Rose completed Abeka 2nd Grade Math and started her 3rd Grade Math.  We are using Teaching Textbooks for 3rd grade math.  Rose feels so accomplished finishing her 2nd grade math so early and she loved doing her first few lessons of 3rd grade math on the computer.
Yay, Rose!

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Rose in her 'Children In Action' vest.  CIA is her Wednesday night Missions class.

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Our little elf.

She made a little outfit when Chad and I mention she was our little elf helper.

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We did our family Christmas early.

She was surprised to wake up and see so many presents. (I only had a few out in the living room all week)

a happy girl and her gifts....

Our day of "family Christmas" was gifts, daddy reading the Bible to us, singing carols, watching movies, and just enjoying being together.  That evening Rose and Chad went caroling with our church on a hayride.  We enjoyed our special day together.

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The Childrens Choir singing in church Sunday morning.

Rose signed Silent Night at church Sunday night.  This year she learned the second and third verses.

Here is a clip of her signing.  This is not a clear video and it is too far away...but I may get a better video soon, as she is going on what we call a 'cross country tour'...she may get to sign at grandparents churches in North Dakota and Kentucky in addition to here in Nevada.
This is verse two of the song.

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Rose wanted to make her cousins and a couple of dear friends a winter pillow.

Here she is listening to audiobooks on the IPad while she is sewing.

Her finished pillows! (She did a great job...she wanted me to mention that mommy helped with some of the closing seams)

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This is Rose at our Realtor's office. 

 We closed on our house the day before we left for Christmas travels.

 A house for Christmas....my wonderful husband sure does give great gifts!