Jamestown Fun!

Wow!  I looked at my last post and realized I hadn't posted anything in a few weeks.  So, I thought I would take a minute to share what we've been up to.  Earlier this year, I decided to do something radical and completely change our curriculum.  I have always been very eclectic and pieced together our curriculum using what I thought would be the best fit for my kids.  However, after reading (and lets face it...drooling) over a package curriculum for quite some time, I took a leap of faith and bought the first six week unit to give it a try.  Well, as it turns out, we LOVE it!  Its called Trail Guide to Learning.  So far we've completed the Columbus unit from Paths of Exploration, the Jamestown unit, and we're currently progressing very slowly through the Pilgrim unit since its now summer and daddy's home with us everyday for now.  I will put together a more in depth post about why we're enjoying this curriculum so much, but for now, I wanted to share what we've been up to.  So...without further ado, here are some super fun miniature Jamestown replicas my kids made.

This was a freebie that I received from Homeschool In the Woods.  I absolutely love their stuff!!!  I have to admit that I have so many freebies and other purchased items on my computer that its scary.  But, this one was perfect to go along with our Jamestown studies. 

Vacation Time!

Vacation you say?  Well, while I realize going on vacation might not be the smartest thing to do when you've recently lost your job, but we went anyway.  We always go with my parents, and this was planned earlier in the year.  If we cancelled our plans, we would have lost quite a bit of money.  So we went and enjoyed, not knowing when and if we'd be going again anytime soon.  Here are some of the highlights from our trip.

Stressful times...

As I sit here writing this post, my husband has now officially been out of work for a month.  Being unemployed was not something I ever expected to happen to us.  It was so completely and totally unexpected.  God obviously had a plan for all of this because unlike some times in our life together, we actually had extra money when it happened.  There have been times over the past 10 years since I quit working to be a stay at home mom, that we had barely enough money to scrape by until pay day.  Thankfully, this wasn't one of those times. 

When I first found out, I'll be honest, I freaked out.  There were major tears and lots of "what are we going to do?"  But, once I calmed down, I did the only thing I could.  I put my faith in God and took comfort from the fact that this wasn't a surprise to Him.  We're getting through this stressful time believing that God has a plan for us.  Until he reveals that plan to us, do me a favor and pray for my family.  Pray that He continues to bless us with what we need to get by each day.  

Photo editing...

I am currently helping the girls in my American Heritage Girls troop earn their photography badge.  This badge has helped me remember my love of photography and get back to doing something that I love.  I got my first SLR camera when I was about 24 or 25 and instantly fell in love with it.  This led to the purchase of my own black and white darkroom equipment and so much more.  I also took a college level photography course.  However, aside from using my camera, I've tucked all of my equipment away for about 20 years.  During that time, my SLR was replaced by a digital SLR.  My husband was kind enough to purchase it for me for Christmas, and then follow it up with an awesome zoom lens which I love.

I've always loved taking pictures, but recently I've been honing my skills and learning not just how to take great pictures using only manual settings on my camera, but also how to edit them.  I have owned and used Photoshop for years because of my business.  However, I am always amazed at just what this program can do.  I stumbled upon the website of a wonderful photographer located in Texas.  Her site has taught me more about taking pictures and also editing them than I ever hoped to know.  If you have any interest in taking better pictures, I highly recommend taking a look at Kristen Duke's blog.  Aside from the fact that she is so gracious about sharing tips on how to take better photos, she also has tons of awesome decorating ideas and so much more.

Based on one of her lessons on editing pictures, I messed around with a recent picture of my twin boys.  Here's a before and after of the photo.  Do you see what I mean?

Before editing...

and after.

Here's another one of my daughter that I edited.  Mainly I'm just enhancing the pictures, and sometimes cropping them a bit.  Fixing any blemishes, etc...

Before...

and after.

I am using the layers in Photoshop to add a soft light layer.  You can play around with the levels and get just the right amount.  The difference is amazing!  It makes the colors so much richer.  Another tip I've learned is to play with the eyes.  That's a bit more difficult, but really makes a difference too.  Here's one I did of my son.

Before...

and after.

This doesn't just work on people pictures.  You can enhance any photo using the soft light layer in Photoshop.  This is a picture of my daughter's pink dogwood tree in our back yard.

Before...

after.

Pretty cool stuff!  This could totally become addictive.  Now if I could just my kids to be enthusiastic about helping mom improve her photo taking skills.  Lately, if they see the camera in my hand, they run.

Spring is finally here!

Aside from the pollen aspect, I love Spring!  It comes as a close second to my all time favorite season, Fall.  Each year I enjoy watching the abundance of tulips, daffodils and crocus bulbs sprout up in my garden.  Here's a photo trip through some of the gorgeous Spring flowers and trees in my area.  Enjoy!

Where is Spring?.

I read in the paper over the weekend that Punxsatawney Phil has been criminally indicted based on his erroneous early spring prediction on Ground Hog Day.  Still more shocking was the fact that they were seeking the death penalty!  However, it is believed that Phil is less than 18 years of age, and therefore considered a juvenile.  His attorneys have filed a "cease and desist" notice and rumor has it that all charges are to be dropped against Phil.  

Seriously though...what is up with the weather?  My trees are budding, daffodils are blooming, and the birds are busy building nests.  All signs of spring, right?  Then what's up with the snow flurries and bone chilling wind temps we've had for the past two days?  I live in the South!  I demand an explanation!!  My daughter's American Heritage Girls troop has a mother/daughter campout scheduled the first weekend of April.  Please, please, please let it be warmer!  Who's with me?

Yeah for Election Day!

Can I say how glad I am that all the election hoopla will soon be a thing of the past? It seems that every time I turn on the television there's yet another political ad accusing someone or another of doing less than savory things. Here locally, my least favorite is one that talks about subjects such as abortions and mistresses. Not something I want to explain to my young children! I'm just glad it will soon be behind us.

My husband and I were lucky enough to have an afternoon off on October 31st. We took advantage of it to head downtown and do the early voting. We were able to walk right in and vote. No waiting required. How awesome is that? Because I live in such a small town and the fact that they weren't busy at all, I kept my kids with me. They were able to actually come into the booth with me and read the screens, follow the instructions, etc. We discussed how it all works and they even took turns touching the screen to vote for the various candidates. I really think that allowing my kids to see the process first hand, and teaching them the importance of voting is very important. I'm hoping that even though I really dislike politics in general, I've made it more approachable for my kids.

Tonight as the votes are tallied, we'll color the states either red or blue and follow along until our new president is announced. During our school day we'll be talking about elections and the presidency. Earlier this week we were able to watch a really interesting program called "Flipping the White House". It showed what goes on behind the scenes at the White House when a new first family is on the way. It was amazing! It was also filled with history and photos of presidents from the past. We all learned so much! Lastly, I purchased a unit study from CurrClick called All About the Presidential Election to help them understand the process.

Do you do anything special with your kids during an election year?