Here we are - the wonderful ladies of Zone 13 for MOPS International. We had our annual MOPS Convention this year in Nashville. It was so awesome to get to spend time with all of them. We never get to do that since we are all spread out across Virginia. You can tell by our faces that this was taken the first night. The bags under our eyes didn't pop up until the next day.

I cannot begin to tell you how great it is to have this time with the over 3000 MOPS moms to talk, worship and learn. Matt Redman, Christy Nockuls, Matthew West and Natalie Grant all sang with voices of angels. It was like having my very own live version of KLOVE.

Science Museum

Today, we met our Dear Onofrys at the science museum. I had not been there since we joined. The kids loved it - ran around like crazy people not knowing what to go to first. Who can blame them? There's space stuff and electricity stuff and ocean stuff, and more.

Heaven On Wheels

We took our vacation home to Myrtle Beach this week for our first camping trip with it. It was actually my first time ever camping at the beach. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was!

We stayed at Pirateland Campground. Our campsite was directly on the other side of the sand dunes, so we could hear the waves crashing 24/7. It doesn't get any better than that. Grandma and Granddad were there, too, in their new fancy-schmancy camper. It was nice being able to go visit them - they even babysat one night so we could go on a date.

Of course, we still had to do school while we were there, so every morning we got up, ate, took our morning walk (or ride - we rented a golf cart for a few days), and then The Soldier and Wonderful Husband would leave the camper while The Gals and I did our work. As you can see from the pictures, Scarlett watched over us to make sure we stayed on task.

The Dancer's request for the week was to play mini golf, so we did that. And, The Soccer Player and The Soldier wanted to do go-carts, so we went to the Nascar place to do that.

The camper was great - even with sand everywhere. And my pink flamingo party lights absolutely added to the goofy white-trash trailer-park feel I was going for!

We are already planning our next trip. We made some wonderful memories this week. And, there will be many more to come.

First Day of Classical Conversations

Today was our first day of our Classical Conversations group. Let me tell you, after 3 weeks of getting up when we wanted and doing school on our own schedule, 7:00 came very early this morning. The Gals have 9 kids in their class - including another set of twins. I sat in the class with them and watched as the teacher (they are called "tutors") taught them their memory work, played games, did a science experiment, some artwork and other stuff. They are learning about Africa, and Latin and some math (skip counting). They also had a Show and Tell time during snack where each kid did a presentation (CC is big on oral presentations). I had brought a book with me to read, but I only got through about 5 pages because I needed to see how she went about doing it so I could follow up at home next week. Then, next Friday, we go back in, they go back over the Week I stuff and move on to Week II.

After class ended, we all went outside and ate lunch, and then they got to play. I got to talk to some of the other moms which was really nice. I had been concerned that the other people in our group were mainly from another church that is not near us so no one would live nearby, but as it turns out there are quite a few who live not too far away. One even has two teenage boys (nice for us to be able to commiserate together). So, my prayers were answered. Definitely lets me know we are on the right path.

P.S.

I realized I forgot to add that I have also signed The Gals up for a homeschool PE class which meets once a week starting Sept. 17, as well as an art class and Spanish. So, we will be busy.

And, to answer your question, yes, of course I keep thinking - Man! In a few days I could have been sending them off to school and having my days alone again. I just keep reminding myself that that would be selfish, and this is more important to me than that.

Another Week Down

Well, we have successfully made it through another week of homeschooling. Tomorrow is our first Classical Conversations group day, but I don't really have to do anything but sit there, so I am done for the week.

After 3 weeks, I have to say I think it has gone pretty well. Don't get me wrong - there have been a few tears. And a few bad attitudes. But, for the most part they have seemed to be listening. Are they learning? No idea yet. Our schedule has been:

* Prayer Requests
* Pledge of Allegiance
* Opening Prayer (The Gals switch off between leading Pledge and praying)
* Math
* Language Arts
* More Vocabulary Stuff
* More Language Arts (can you guess what my favorite subject is?)

We have done crafts and special worksheets. And, they did a presentation of a poem they had to memorize for their dad. Once these CC classes start up, we will be adding that memory work.

Since The Soldier hasn't left for Basic yet, I have sent him and The Gals on field trips once a week. Yesterday was the Science Museum, which we joined (FYI - they have a reciprocal agreement w/science museum in Baltimore - you can find out who else on their site). They got to see an IMAX movie on the coral reef and see a dissected shark.

The biggest surprise has been this - I assumed that, after spending the entire day together, The Gals would be sick of me and all over Wonderful Husband when he got home from work. I had been looking forward to the evening when they would all be together, and I could hide out and watch some HGTV and not talk to anyone for a while. Has this happened? No! In fact, if anything, they have started to cling to me more. And, it isn't like WH hasn't tried. But, after about 5 minutes of me lying down watching Property Virgins, The Dancer usually slinks down the stairs and joins me. A few minutes after that, The Soccer Player comes along. So, the 3 of us are crammed - "snuggling" - on the couch while WH is getting some alone time to himself upstairs. I am still trying to decide if this is a blessed byproduct or a curse.