The Daniel Academy

October 9, 2008

I'm really late on this post

I have been meaning to post these pics, but for some reason, I forgot. My mom and I teach the New Members Sunday School Class. We teach a course that goes through the entire Bible in a year. Well, we got to the Tabernacle and it was laid on my heart to make our own. I told my mom and we went to work on it. The presentation for Sunday School was great! God blessed! Well, then my pastor asked us to present in Bible Class that following Tuesday. My dad dressed up as the High Priest and once again, God blessed! We put a fog machine under the Ark of the Covenant so when the we got to that part of the lesson, we turned it on and had the "Shekinah Glory"  while the church members walked through it. Here are some pictures:

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September 29, 2008

Western Fun

We have FINALLY finished this chapter of our studies. It seems like every time I thought we were finished with it, something else would pop up and we would go right back into it! Did I mind? Yes and no. The grand finale was more than what I expected. God is so faithful and good! We were studying a chapter on early American History and the first 15 US presidents. I was blessed to already have everything I needed. I thought that was enough, until I began to read some more and realized I really wanted the children to learn about The Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe Trail-two things I never learned about in school. (I am a army brat and by the time we were ready to cover the topic, we moved and when I got to the new school, they had just finished it). A friend of ours from church loaned us the game Oregon Trail- too much fun! I would advise it for older children who like computer games. Amazingly, I was able to make it to Oregon City the second time I played. The first time, I died from scurvy and starvation because I didn't hunt and pick berries properly. I couldn't hunt because I didn't buy enough ammunition at the last trading post we passed. So sad. The other wagon trainers buried me so nicely and then I got the big, "GAME OVER" Geez, they could have broke it to me gently. lol (BTW, Thanks Brianna) Anyway, I wanted the children to make covered wagons- once again, because I never did. They turned out better than I expected. We just some shoe boxes and hot glued the paper across the opening and added a few pipe cleaners to give the paper some stability. The children made items that would be needed in a real trip west. It was fun! Oh and we made weels from the lids of the shoe boxes. We learned about the California Gold Rush. Then, I wished there was a way to have my children to pan for gold so they could really understand the books we were reading from that time period. Little did I know my prayer would soon be answered. While looking at a website of our local Indian and Western museum for someone else, I stumbled across an offer they had to get a membership free! Not only that, but within the week they were having something called a West Fest. So, I got the info and we went. It was waaaaayyyyyy more than I expected! It solidified everything we had been learning in this chapter of Weaver- my children even got to pan for gold!!! I had fun, my children had fun!!!! Of course I took pictures and I even got a little video or two. First are the pics, second is a video of a guy who was really funny and loved yodeling, and the third is a video of a woman doing rope tricks and such. Enjoy- we did! The Yoddler (sp?)

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September 17, 2008

Once Again...

Please be patient while I give my blog an extreme make-over : )

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September 11, 2008

NEVER FORGET!

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September 10, 2008

Unexpected Blessing

"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (Matthew 21:22) Well, God is good! I have had a busy and wonderful month! I had a desire for my children to have a wooden play set for years now. When we lived in our first house and only had two or three children, we were blessed with a metal play set. The kids loved it! Then we moved, and the took it with us, but it soon rusted and was basically thrown away. We were with my parents for 4 years and they had a play set for the children in their backyard. It was nice and the children were content. Then, God blessed us with this house. We were happy and knew we wanted yet another one- but wooden. They can get expensive, so we decided to get settled in the house first, then conscentrate on buying a good, sturdy playset. Well, my mom calls me one day and tells me she is coming over. At first I didn't think too much about it, then it dawned on me that she would have to drive pretty far to get to my house, so something must be going on. Finally, she told me- she was bringing over the children's New Wooden Playset! I was so surprised and happy! She had been talking about one she saw and really wanted the kids to have and God blessed her financially, so she went and bought it!!!! God is so good. We were happy just to be in our own house, but now to have something for the kids to play on in the backyard was more than I expected. Here are some pictures- Thank You, MOM!!!

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August 28, 2008

Had to post this!

I am so thrilled over a few pictures I have taken recently. These are from this morning and across the street from where live: I have been trying different things with my Olympus 550 just to get the hang of how things work and to see if I am ready to jump into a dslr- I AM!!! I like the Olympus for landscape pictures and still pictures, but I to get the look I want when taking pics of my kids, I need to invest in a Nikon D60 kit or D40 kit. I've seen Canon vs Nikon, blah, blah, blah- I want a Nikon! I find it interesting what a difference it makes adding a frame to a picture. Why didn't somebody tell me???

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August 20, 2008

US President's Notebook

We officially began our New School Year about 8 days ago and picked up where we left off in Weaver, which happen to be Volume 3, Chapter 7- US History and the first 15 Presidents. I thought to make lapbooks, but decided against it and did a Notebook instead with lapbook booklets. I didn't plan to post pictures until they were completely finished, but someone on the Yahoo Notebook Group asked if anyone had done a notebook on US Presidents, I thought I should go ahead and post a few pictures. Not only that, but I also would like to document the resources we used, so when we go back through the Volumes, I will have something to remind me. When looking at the pictures, please keep in mind, these are NOT finished. I will post pics of the finished product as soon as we finish with this chapter. My two older children are now in the 8th & 6/7th grades (HUH? where did the time go?!?!?!) Their Notebooks are more detailed than my younger two children in 2nd & Kindergarten (another HUH????) Okay- got that out of my system. The first place I went for coloring pages of the Presidents was: www.whitehouse.gov/kids/presidentsday/color/ There are two options: #1- you can click on each presidents name and his coloring page will come up OR #2 You can choose to download all the presidents in a PDF. The difference between the two is that if you choose door #1 then the images will come out smaller than if they were downloaded in the PDF format (#2)- We used option #2. For my older kids, I included a Leader Survey. I have no idea where I got it from! I did download it from off the internet about two years ago and came across it for this chapter. They may have come from here, but been removed: highland.hitcho.com.au/Forms.htm It wouldn't be hard to make in a Word Document. Let me know if you need help and I'll try my best! Just in case you can't see them in the pictures below, questions asked on the survey are: Name Date of Birth Place of Birth Country represented Leader during what time period Famous for Other important work Significance of work Resources for learning more about this leader Then for the Presidents with a lot of information, we either made a lapbook or glued booklets to card stock paper. For the President booklets- I printed most of the material from: www.homeschoolshare.com/presidents_lapbook.php and for the Lewis & Clark booklets: www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/lewis_clark.htm

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July 23, 2008

More on the Double Notebook

Well, I purchased another Double Notebook tonight- this time it's in green and blue. I plan to use this one for my lesson plans. I want to put the older children's lessons in the front section and the younger children's lessons in the other section or something like that. I will take pics when I get it completed. Here's a few pics and one of the upc code.

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July 22, 2008

Camp 08- "Jesus, The Last God Standing!"

God met with us once again this year at camp! God is so faithful! I attended the same camp for the first time when I was 16. God met me there, now 20 years later, my husband and I had the privilege of taking our two older children and the same God who moved in our lives 20 years ago, moved in our children's! He didn't change! Oh, yes He did! He got better!!!! People want to leave legacies to their children-money, popularity, businesses- but there is none greater than salvation & truth! I thank God for having second generation campers. Here is a short video of the reaction of the Rapture Drill we had while there- there is no sound because it was recorded on my picture camera and I just figured out how to turn the sound on last night-ugh! We had three scriptures to memorize- Isaiah 43:10-11; Psalms 95:6; Deuteronomy 11:16, then attend a showdown class -the theme was centered around Elijah and the prophets of Baal and last, we had class presentations.  When everything was completed, we received our "Holy Ghost Badge" to get to "heaven" when the sound was heard. We had 60 seconds to make it to the sanctuary (heaven) if not, then you were closed outside. If you didn't have all your requirements done and a Holy Ghost badge, then you were left outside, too. My son had a unique experience. Because of urgency to make it to heaven, my son fell down. The kids didn't trample him or leave him. A group of them picked him up and carried him into heaven and then put him down once they all made it in! How much more should we do for our brothers and sisters in Christ. When they fall, instead of talking about them and putting them down, we should uphold one another in prayer and fasting, so we can all make it in-okay here's the video:

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July 4, 2008

Something New

I went into our local Walmart the other day and was shocked to see school supplies. Not the normal school supplies- the BACK TO SCHOOL supplies and it was only the end of June! Anyway, I just HAD to turn down the aisle to take a look. My daughter was giving me the look and my eyes began to glaze over...I love the smell of a new box of crayons! They smell extra good when they are only $0.20 Okay, okay. The something new I came across was a "Double Notebook". It's pretty neat. I looked for pictures on the web and couldn't find any. Bummer, considering I wanted to share with other mom's that use notebooking and lapbooking to teach their children. To my surprise, my husband got me one tonight! After I showed it to my children, the first thing I did was to take pictures of it! Now I can finally share! Any ideas of how it can be used? It costs about $5 and is supposedly only found at Walmart according to the cover. Right now, we are in a chapter covering early American history and for Bible, we are studying the book of Joshua. I think we will put or history stuff on one side and our Bible lessons on the other. Or I could do Bible and History on one side and lapbooks on the other. Or Bible and history on side one and on side two we could put our timelines, copy work and lapbooks. Or....

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April 29, 2008

Home

WOW- I am so excited about our new surroundings! Since we first saw the community in October, we were not able to see all of the greenery, but now that everything is coming to full bloom AND I have a new camera I have been wanting to get outdoor pics with- this is so much fun!!!! I have no idea what this is, but it was pretty so I took a pic of it. I have no clue what this is- my daughter thought they looked like little roses- we know that's not what it is, but we like them still the same. This one is of one of the lakes in our community during sunset: This one is of some flags that were put up and down the street of our main street. There was a man who lived here and lost his life while serving our country in Iraq. As a memorial, our subdivision purchased flags for us to put in our yards and the common areas. It was very touching and beautiful to see the flags all around:

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April 22, 2008

Okay- I think I'm back now

Wow, what a whirlwind of a month it's been! I am enjoying every bit of it, too. Well, we closed on our new March 27th!!!! God is so good. Due to my husband being laid off 4 years ago, we were living with my parents. We have not had our own place to live for that long! I am thankful for my parents and their love and support while we were trying to get back on our feet. It was during these four years, I have found who my real and true friends are and those who really love us. Yes, we had some hard times, but I don't regret any of it. It is during the hard times that you find strength through Jesus and His amazing grace. The song says: Never would have made it, never could have made it without you. I would have lost all, but now I see how You were there for me. I'm stronger, I'm wiser, I'm better, much better. When I look back over all You've brought me through, I can see, You were the One I held on to... I am so grateful and thankful, that I can't say it enough! We actually have enough space in the house to have a school room!!! I've never had one before-not that it's needed, but it's nice to have a place to put all of our school related stuff. While living with my parents, my bedroom was- a bedroom, a living room, a schoolroom and little library. I don't ever want to hear anyone use the excuse that they can't homeschool because they don't have enough room!!! I am a witness, it can be done. BTW, if anyone has any pictures of their school rooms or schooling space, it would be greatly appreciated if you shared them with me. I am in need of a few ideas. Here's a picture of our blessing! Try not to be jealous of our yard! They are coming to sod & seed it any day now... Once we finish unpacking and getting settled a little more, I'll be back to blogging.

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