"Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."
Hello, welcome to my homeschool blog. There is a lot of information in the margins. I have looked at one or more of the products or did some time on the sites. There is alot of information and sites to set up an awesome homeschool for your children. So, grab a cup of tea and make yourself comfortable. I hope you find what you need. God bless you from the Ross Family.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

We The People

This is a group of girls that my daughter and I are involved with. The girls put on a play about the colonies and the set up of the new government. They went to the local nursing home, Good Samaritan. The residents just love the girls and the girls really love the residents.




This is Melanie, is she not beautiful. I love that stain glass window behind her. It is so awesome.












Here is another mom working on the costumes for the girls. We had little colonial women, Indians and gentlemen. Very creative with their costumes. They looks so good.







We were so blessed this time with some grandma's and grandpa's helping with the play. They did an awesome job and it was awesome to see family input to the play.







And here are the two mascots for the play. They had a wonderful time waving their flags and rolling in the wagon. They are so cute.







Here are the girls singing songs. They sang some awesome songs, "Yankee Doodle", God bless America, America the Beautiful, and She is a Grand Old Flag. The residents had a wonderful time with the kids and vice a versa. It is so awesome to see how they have all grown in the couple of years that we have done this. They are all wonderful little ladies. What are you doing this summer, please let me know. God bless all of you and Have a wonderful "Fourth Of July."

Friday, June 05, 2009

Why I became a Home school Mom

Jeff came to me about seven years ago and asked me if I would consider home schooling the kids. I was not really sure that I would be able to do that. But with some time of prayer and some time picking the brains of other home school mothers, Jeff and I pulled Luke out of public school and never looked back. Oh, I would not be honest if sometimes I might wonder if I am doing a benefit to the kids by keeping them home and not in public school. But then I see how close Luke and Melanie are, and that we as a family are so close. I think that we would not be as close if we had let the kids stay in Public school. I am also blessed because I was able to teach Melanie to read and watch Luke actually do Multiplication. We were told that Luke may not get that far in Public School. And now he is doing multiplication and division. I have been so bless to watch the growth of both kids.
Now, Melanie and Luke do Nursing Home visits. They are taught about God and what we want them to know about the history of our great America. I really love teaching them, I seem to walk away knowing more than I did. Recently, we started looking at the history of our country. We bought the book, "5000 Year leap" and we are reading it as a family. It is so interesting, I am learning clearly more about our forefathers than I did in high school. We are learning about Jamestown and the free enterprise. Why Jamestown was such a success in growth, then in other countries or tribes that fell so quickly after rapid growth. It is a great book and one that should be in your library. We are also learning about the faith of these forefathers. It is awesome to be able to share this with the kids.

We are also so blessed to be able to teach the kids other things that maybe the public school could not. More music, more cooking, more life skills. I just learned the other day that the public school does not teach the kids how to address envelopes or write thank you notes or business letters. I have been able to share this with the kids, even in the age of the computer, the kids still need to know this. I am so glad that I listened to the Lord and Jeff and I brought the kids home. I love the kids and I am blessed.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo

Yesterday, Jeff and I took the kids to the zoo. Jeff's job gave all of us the opportunity to go. It was a blast. The day was wonderful also, there was a light breeze and it was not that hot.



During the year, Melanie and I love to watch the "Meerkat Manner"on Animal Planet. We fell in love with these little guys. It was so cool to get to see them up close. The one on the rock actually came down for me to take its picture. It was so cute.
These pictures are from the dessert dome. It was three deserts from the world, Africa, Australia and American deserts. It was so cool to see all the wild life that live there.



Jeff, Luke and Melanie in front of a cactus.

This year during school, I taught the kids the different structures of the caves. We were so excited to see that the desert dome also showed the structures of caves and all the bats that go with it. Here are Luke and Melanie in a cave.

The Polar Bear was really cool in the water, he looked pretty big.

Oh, the butterfly house was so awesome. The butterflies and hummingbirds were all over the house. The attendants had to check you when you left the house to make sure there were no stow aways. The even had a bee hive that we could watch.



Lunch anyone?

Speaking of Lunch, Jeff's job gave us free lunch and entertainment. This is Foster, she lives in Australia. She talked for us and screamed. She was a beautiful bird.

Jelly fish, this was from the Aquarium. There is so much to see in the zoo. We did not see all of it and we were talking about going another time in the year to see more.





After Lunch we rode the train around the park. We had such a wonderful time. We even seen animals that we would not see from the walking. The only complaint about the train is that it can be noisy.



Here is Melanie and her new friend. She loved the turtles. I think I see a pet turtle in our future?

This is the new Madagascar exhibit. It will be open in the Spring of 2010. Jeff and I were really talking about making another trip next year to see it. It looks like it will be cool.



Here is the Train station and across from it is the carousel and the feeding zoo. We did not get to it, because we went to an Imax Movie. By time the movie was over, we were all tired and ready to go home. We had a wonderful day at the zoo. If you are close to Omaha or making a stop in Omaha, the zoo is well worth your time and money. Get there early though, there is a lot to see.