Cross country running

This is Margaret, Anna and Martha before the Sherman 5K race on Sept. 12

Here is a group picture of all the Spartans that ran in Sherman! Several Spartans received medals for their fast times!

We are in a busy season right now in Cross Country. The Spartans ran in the Sherman 5K last Saturday, Sept. 12 and this past Saturday, the Junior Varsity and Varsity runners (grades 7-12) ran in the Saltillo XC invitational.

Here Anna is finishing the Sherman 5K (3.1 miles). She beat her time from her first race by 5 minutes! Good job Anna!

Some of the Spartans before the Sherman 5K.

This is our Varsity Boys team who competed at the Saltillo XC meet. They all did a great job!


The Varsity girls did an outstanding job at the meet. Since we are homeschoolers, our girls can't compete as a team, but if they had been able to, they would have won 1st place overall at the Saltillo XC meet - way to go girls!!! Can you tell by their legs how muddy the race was?

It rained off and on all day and the course was a pure mud bog in places and the runners had to slosh through and on one of the hills they had to pull themselves up by their hands!!

Here is a shot of some of the runners before the race at the Saltillo XC meet, BEFORE the mud!

These are some of the teams ready to race. I am not sure which group this is.

A typical homeschool day

This year things are running a bit differently than in years past. We are definitely doing a more "schooly" schedule than ever before. We do enjoy coops on Friday in Credo and my favorite part of the school day, other than Bible time, is reading through history with Ben and Claire. I am learning so much!
We are doing some read aloud books as a family and those are always lots of fun.
We just finished Augustine, Farmer Boy of Tagaste, and we are about to start a book on Robin Hood. I am reading a book about a Russian martyr outloud to all, as well, since we just finished learning about the great persecution of the Christians in the early church under the Romans, especially Diocletian. Scott has started reading Rolf and the Viking Bow at night to all. But now, back to our schedule.
We still try to start the day off in family worship as often as possible with Scott leading our Bible time around 7 am. After Scott leaves for work, the children do independent Bible reading and start on chores. We then eat breakfast and then start our school schedule.

Mondays Rachelle, Laura, Margaret, Micheal and Hannah come over about 8:45 and Rachelle teaches writing using The Lost Tools of Writing for about an hour. Then I teach Algebra to the older ones. While Rachelle is teaching, I do history and usually science with Ben and Claire and get them started on their independent work.
After Algebra, we have lunch and then Anna finishes her independent work and I go over it with her and Ben and Claire get their work checked and gone over.
We have to leave at 3:30 to go to XC practice.

Tuesdays We usually start our school day on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a Bible lesson from the Bible Study Guide and then do read alouds with everyone and then I teach Ben and Claire History, Math and Science together and leave them to do their independent work while I read to John or work with Anna.
After lunch, Christa comes over for Algebra tutoring. Then, we finish up school and then at 3:30 head off to XC practice again.

I have learned to put things in the crock pot on XC days, or we eat sandwiches for supper!

Wednesdays The school schedule is pretty much the same as Mondays except no XC and we try to go to church on Wednesday nights.

Thursdays This is a crammed in morning of school. We do Bible Study Guide, read aloud and then set off on independent work. I do Math and History with Ben and Claire together and try to get lunch ready to eat at precisely 12 noon. From 1-3, I have 2 College Algebra students come over for tutoring and then we make another mad dash to XC practice.

Fridays We have CREDO coop in the mornings and usually on Friday afternoons, I come home and collapse for an hour or two!

A new idea that I tried out this week (thanks Yonea) was to give my children assigned zones of the house that they are responsible for keeping tidy all day. Scott actually commented on how well the house looked when he got home. I am not sure how this will work long term, but for now it is going pretty well.
Our school days are full, but I do enjoy the time together and I hope my children will have some fond memories of busy days of laughter and learning!

Ben's pictures

He loves animals of any kind - even insects.

Here's a pic he took of one of my favorite things in nature :)

Ben declared today that he would like to be a nature photographer. He has been clicking pics left and right. Above are some of his latest ones.

Happy Birthday Mom!

We had Mom a birthday dinner on Monday. Cathy and Bailey came down and we had stuffed shells, salad and garlic bread. Mom had requested strawberry shortcake and so we had that for dessert. I am thankful for a special Mom who is also a wonderful friend!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Claire's birthday!

This is Brianna (Bree) Blassingame. This was Claire's big present!

Claire soars through the air!

Last Friday, a week ago, we had a small gathering for Claire's 8th birthday. We just had a few girls come over and swim and then had cookie cake and ice cream!

Then on Sunday night, Scott set up the tent and we all gathered around the campfire for supper and fun. Scott, John, Ben and Claire camped out! It was a rather chilly night, but they had a great time.

Then on Monday, her real birthday, Scott took her out to breakfast and we had school and then after XC practice, we all went to Cracker Barrel for supper.

Happy Birthday My Kiki! I love you!!!!

She had already received her big present, Brianna the sheltie, but with some of her other birthday money she picked out a Baby Alive doll. It talks, cries and does other realistic baby things!?!?! So now I have 4 children, 2 dogs(who are not housebroken) and a realistic baby doll who has to have her diaper changed......... Ah.. life:)

Last week my internet was down. It was a rather hectic week, but we enjoyed Credo on Friday and on Friday night, some of the Credo moms went out to a movie and to Barnes and Noble for coffee. It was an encouraging evening as we shared about the Lord and prayed together.

Saturday was spent shopping and Sunday was wonderful in worship and hearing the Gospel preached.