Check out this "I Do--Wedding Dance"

Online Homeschool Classes--GREAT! (don't have to be a homeschooler to take them)

I have a great friend who is a teacher, but is now homeschooling all of her children. She is a great teacher and teaches at the Co-op that we attend in Tullahoma. She's started teaching some classes online through a site called Curr-Click. It's a great opportunity for your kids. Check out the link below. Hannah took 2 of her online classes this summer and loved them.

Hello Everyone!
Here is the link to my class listings on CurrClick.com, a homeschool curriculum website that is now offering live classes in a virtual classroom. I am one of the teachers and have a fall line of classes that I am offering, mainly on Thursdays from Sept 10th - Dec 10th. Please check them out!

CurrClick.com

Thanks!
Loretta Rhodes
rhodeslovejesus@yahoo.com

Organization Station

Molly over at Econobusters is offering a special right now on some of her organizational products. They are awesome, even for those of us with OCD (or rather, CDO as I like to call it--compulsive disorder for the obssessed!)

Camp Creation--Day 1

Hannah took an online Science Camp for 2 days called "Camp Creation". She learned all about Ecosystems and Biomes on the first day.

She made a Terrarium and a Biome Mobile on Day 1.

There are 6 biomes:
Tundra
Deciduous Forest
Rainforest
Evergreen Forest
Desert
Grasslands

Then she had to find an animal and plant/tree that would grow and survive in each.

Hannah's Click Clack Moo Project

Last week in Hannah's Book Club they read the book Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin. It's a great book about cows that give their farmer an ultimatum--really cute!



One of Mrs. Loretta's project ideas was to draw a picture of your pet and write a "bubble" of what your pet is saying to you.....

Here's Hannah's project:

She drew 2 of her hermit crabs--Sebastian and Ellie. They are saying to her: "give us mango dessert or we'll pinch you really hard. We're tired of plain old hermit crab food!"

Click on the picture for a larger image where you can read her writing....yes, I know handwriting will be a priority this year in school--LOL!

Hannah at her Diabetes Checkup

We went to see Mrs. Ann at Vanderbilt for Hannah's 3 month check up yesterday. Hannah is doing well and they are pleased overall at her height and weight. She's staying consistent in the 50th percentile. As she's growing she will continually need more insulin to keep her blood sugars in the healthy range.

Hannah's A1C was down to 9.1. That is an ok A1C. Not great and not bad, either. They'd really like to see her at about 7.5. What this means is that at 9.1 her blood sugar average over the 3 month period has been 213. That's a high blood sugar average. We'd really like to see her average at about 140. We have a lot of fluctuations in her sugars and sometimes it's hard to know. We are constantly monitoring and managing her sugars and changing her insulin amounts and ratios. It's a daily thing. Ann always gives us some good ideas and shows us how to figure her ratios as we keep making the changes based on what we see with her sugars. Yesterday's appointment was great and we got some pictures of Hannah and one of her with Ann.

Please pray with us as we strive to keep Hannah's sugars in the range they need to be.

Caleb is Going on the Big-Boy Potty!!!!

Well, my little guy is modeling his new underpants for you because he is sooooo proud of them. He even told the greeter at Wal-Mart to look at his underpants (I might need to work on being a little more private....LOL!)

We just started last Friday and he's doing remarkably well.

By the way, if you'll notice the shirt he's wearing.....it came from Nanny Boo Boo. It says, "I take the joy out of shopping!!" It's hilarious, but oh so true!

Hannah's Summer Reading Club

Hannah's been taking an online class this summer called "Beach Bag Book Club." She takes the class on Thursdays and they read a book together and talk about it and discuss project ideas for the week.

Last week's book was Giraffe's Can't Dance. They also learned a song...

Katalina Matalina

CHORUS:
Katalina Matalina
Upastina Walkadina
Hoca Loca Poka was her name.

She had two hairs in her head,
One was alive and the other was dead!
(Chorus)

She had two eyes on her head,
One was blue and the other was red!
(Chorus)

Her neck was as long as a ten-foot pole,
And right in the middle was a big black bow!
(Chorus)

Her feet were as flat as a bathroom mat,
Now, how did they ever get like that?
(Chorus)

This was a fun song for the kids to sing and Hannah and I have also been singing it some through this week!

The lesson was all about rhyming words and silly rhymes as you can see from the silly song above. So, one of the options was to write a poem and illustrate it.

Hannah and her daddy wrote a poem called "Me and My Dad".

I've attached a picture of it for you all to see it. But, I think I'll type it out for you to really be able to read it.

Me & My Dad
Me and my dad like to play
We play at night, we play all day

But we have a problem
It makes us sad
Work is our problem
Cuz work is bad

Playing is fun and it makes us glad
But when daddy has to work,
Sometimes I get mad.

Be sure to click on the pictures so that they will zoom in for you to be able to see them well. The picture she drew is her and Daddy "playing" and then the one under it is Daddy leaving for work.

Summer At It's Finest--A Tea Party

What could be more fun for 2 young girls than to don their dress-up clothes and have a tea party!! And aren't they cute? I love their set-up. The red cup in the middle of the table is their teapot and the white thing in the middle is a funnel. Um....go figure!

And who better to horn in on the fun, than that pesky little brother!!

Hermit Crabs--Our New Pets

A. DeDe brought back Hermit Crabs for Hannah and Caleb from Panama City where she and Avery attended "Beach Camp".

She brought us 2. We've since added some more to our 'crabitat'. We've lost 2 so far. But, we're learning how to care for them. It's been an adventure for us. We moved the crabs from their little 'crabitat' to our 10 gallon aquarium and they have lots more room and we were able to add some climbing logs and larger food and water bowls and a little 'Hermie Hut' which is a half coconut shell. We also keep extra shells in the 'crabitat' so that they can swap their shell out for a bigger one.

We currently have 4 Hermit Crabs. We intend to add more to our little crabitat a little at a time.














We have:

Caleb's
Josh--little white shell
Summer--small pinkish tan shell

Hannah's
Sebastian--small black striped shell
Corkscrew--corkscrew shell

Today we bought some applesauce and Mango Fruit Dessert baby food and we learned how to feed them this "treat" with a large feeder spoon. Most of them really liked it.

They are fascinating creatures.

TEACH Day--Making Thank You Cards for Veterans

We met at FWC on Friday, June 26th and made some thank you cards to take to some veterans at the VA Hospital.

They turned out great!!


We discussed all of the freedoms that we are thankful for and placed them on the white stripes in our United States of America Flag.

David at Work

Up on the roof. This is the job they are doing in Wartrace.