Callie's Murder Mystery

For Callie's birthday this year, she wanted our family to do a murder mystery party.  She had been given a boxed kit that had all the character sketches and parts lined up.  So, we decided to go for it!

Most everyone was a part of the Mafia and had Italian heritage.  We were in New York in a fancy restaurant.  It was so fun having everyone really get into their character!

Even Asa had a cute moustache!

Josh looked like a dashing Mob Boss. :o)

At random times people would have to say weird things or break out in song.  It was a crazy night!

We were together and had so much fun!

In the end Micah was the murderer.  My Micah?  Yup, it was him!!

 My Callie Grace enjoyed her family night.  We all did!

We are done and summer is here!!

 We are officially done with our 2022-2023 Schoolyear!  It has been amazing!! I love schooling my children.  I posted in September about several changes we were making and how we were moving away from A Beka.  It's been a big adjustment for all of us, but it has been a great decision for our family!

During our change up, I've learned several things that I thought I would share here:

~Hands on learning is awesome.  Getting in the kitchen or backyard and putting what you've learned into action seals the knowledge they've been taught.  

~I love doing family subjects together.  I like Unit Studies.  I hadn't originally planned to do any of our schooling this way, but then December came around and I heard a lot of Mommas talking about Christmas School.  That was new to me!  I did some research and found Campfire Curriculum.  They have a Christmas Unit called "Caroling Noel."  Let me tell you... it was a hit!  We put away all schooling for December except Math and went into pure Christmas mode.  I love how many things they learned during this Unit Study.  They were learning Science, History, Spelling and English and had no idea!  

 

~I love our Genesis Moment.  This is where we met together and started our day.  We prayed, we sang, we read missionary stories together, we memorized Scripture.  We loved it!

~I love Fix it Grammar!  This became a favorite of ours too and I'm looking forward to using it again next year!

~M & M's and Andes Mints make learning more competitive and motivate my kids.   They are just like their Momma. :o)

We ended the year with another Campfire Unit called Car Maintenance.  I am amazed at how much WE (that includes me!!) learned through this unit.  We learned the basics of keeping a car running and how to diagnose when there is a problem.  They even threw in some info on the Industrial Revolution and we had many deep discussions on that subject.

All in all it was a GREAT year!  I am so glad the Lord led us to do school this way this year.

I've already been researching and buying curriculum for next year.  It will be another "A Little of This and A Little of That" year.  I like it that way.  :o)

But for now we are enjoying our summer.....camps, kayaking, swimming...so many fun things to do!  I've never  been a year round schooler.  I need the break just as much as they do!

Summer fun here we come!

Prison Ministry

Last year missionary Jonathan Washer came through and invited our church to help him in prison ministry. I wasn't able to go at the time, but Josh went to the men's prison and Beth and Brenna helped at the woman's prison.  They were all greatly impacted by going in and ministering to the inmates.  They loved it!  They said the prisoners were so receptive and hungry to hear from the Lord.

So when this year's time came around to go back in, I knew I wanted to join in.  I'm so thankful I did!  I was able to present the gospel to 4 women.  Even though none accepted Christ, I was able to plant seeds and give assurance of salvation. I was so blessed to be able to go.

 I was so proud of my girls, too.  They were bold in their witness for Christ and Beth was able to lead a lady to the Lord! There really is no greater joy!!

Mini Vacation

As we've slightly changed directions with our little farm, we took a mini vacation to go pick up our new goat.  When the goat we picked out was a little over 4 hours away, we decided to go on a little adventure together.  It was so fun!  I love to see new places.  And I really love time spent with my precious family!

We stayed in Albany, Georgia.  We took the kids to the Flint River Aquarium.  That was so fun!!

I think we were just about the only ones there!  We loved looking at all the fish and turtles and alligators.

Then, we visited the Visitors Center.  The kids were excited to see posters from some of their favorite movies:  Fireproof, Facing the Giants, Flywheel and Courageous.

When we got back in the car Patrick had a surprise for us.  He took us to the spot where some of the filming was done for Sherwood Pictures.  And sure enough, we stopped at Jay Austin Motors!! Although technically it's not called that in real life.  We were so excited to stop by!

Then we drove by Sherwood Baptist Church, too.  It was a neat little tour of the town.

Then, we checked into our hotel and had the pool to ourselves too!  

Micah was excited to use his new snorkel and mask that AJ and Brenna had gotten for him for his birthday.  Although he said it's pretty gross to use in a pool because you realize how dirty it is.  Eww.

We ended the night by taking the kids to Golden Corral.  They had never been there before!  We've sort of taken for granted all the things we experienced on deputation with our older 3.  Sometimes we forget that our younger 3 weren't born yet and didn't see all they did.  They were amazed at the buffet and ate plenty!!

 We ended the trip by picking up Crusoe.  It was so much fun to spend time together.  I love my family!!

Wrapping up our Schoolyear

We are wrapping things up as far as our Schoolyear 22-23!  If you have followed along you know that we made some major changes to our schooling.  Some things didn't work too well.  But for the most part the changes have been amazing for our family!!! I plan on doing a little series on schooling coming up soon.   

But as we are wrapping things up, we've enjoyed some hands on taste testing from Micah's history class.

We were able to make and try Arabic Coffee.

The verdict??  

 Most of us were not fans.  It was very strong and spicy.  But it was fun trying!! For the one that said he liked it?  Well...let's just say he hasn't even asked for me to make it again, so I am doubting his judgement. :o)