Pushing My Luck

I think I am pushing my luck, changing my blog's name again. How many different names can someone get away with in the first month of "publishing"? I am afraid I may start losing large numbers of my readership...(haha). But my kids think the other name was too serious and sweet- sounding for us. Hullabaloo is really more accurately descriptive, plus it uses one of those literary devices...help me Laura Beth...onomontopaeia? Something like that. Anyways, I promise not to change it again. : )

Our Winter Break

This week all of the schools are out on winter break, so I decided that we needed a break, too. So, we have been pretty much just goofing off this week. Abbie spent a LOT of time chopping up zucchini with a butter knife. (The butter knife accounts for the large amount of time with little results!) Matthew had his buddy Noah spend the night, here they are getting ready for Smackdown... (pause: another case of a mom getting soft and lacadaisical over the years. If anyone had ever told me that I would have a child that liked professional wrestling (I am not talking about real wrestling here, I am talking about the kind where grown men parade around in teeny underwear looking really angry and sweaty, and throwing chairs around) I would have NEVER believed it. I would have said that no child of mine would ever watch that garbage. Yet, here I am. With an 11 year old boy who LOVES wrestling. Really? How did this happen? God broke the mold after that boy. And I guess it just doesn't seem important anymore. Now I just smile and say "Don't throw each other off the top bunk bed, boys" Yep, I've gone soft.) Irene and Rachel have been around too, just hangin' out! So, that's our winter break. Some folks like Disney World, but us Hollinheads, we just hang around and wrestle!!!!

SNOW DAY ! !

This Friday, we had more snow fall in Georgia than I ever remember in my twelve years of living here!And it was just the right kind, the heavy kind, perfect for making snowballs that give a satisfying "thunk" when you hit your target!
Matthew & Irene were the hardiest, they played in the snow all day, all evening until dark, and then got up and went back at it again in the morning. Abbie was not as crazy about the cold...that could be due to the fact that we were completely unprepared for snowy weather...her little hands were bright red after making 2 or 3 snowballs!
Overnight the temperatures went low enough that everything on the driveway turned to ice. Since our driveway is a steep hill, it made a perfect slope for a boy to fly down in a laundry basket!!

Remembering Who Made the Ocean

I don't have much to say here, except the thought that is running through my mind right at this moment...when life rocks my boat, (and I know it will, many times over!) I can trust my loving Father, who made the crashing waves.

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Romans 11:36

In the big picture, He uses every situation for our good and His glory. Since everything (everything!) is from Him, and through Him and to Him...that's really all I need to know! As a good friend told me recently, "Nothing takes God by surprise". My Father knows exactly where my boat is... because His hands are underneath it!

Plans for next school year...

I don't know if this is the case with most home schoolers, or if I am just really peculiar. One of my favorite things about homeschooling is daydreaming about what we might do next! As I think about and evaluate what is going on this year, I feel very happy and blessed. Rachel is thriving at Veritas, Matthew is catching up on much needed skills in areas where he had fallen behind (a grateful shout-out to Mrs Harman!) , and Irene & Abbie are happily learning mostly through our everyday activities and "living books". Irene is coming slow and steady on her reading, and getting through her math just fine. I am happy this year, which allows me to daydream all the more about next year! I had already decided that it will look different from this year, because unless the Lord directs me differently, I do not think Matthew will be at Veritas next year. It has been such a wonderful year of progress for him so far, but I am really am feeling the "calling" so to speak to cut back and simplify, for reasons like finances, time, and emotional energy. I would like to refocus our direction toward home again, and put my greatest efforts in there. I have decided on doing a year of "traveling" around the world via an extended unit study on geography. Irene is unusually interested in the Holy Land (for a six year old!) so we will incorporate that into the mix, along with studies of a few countries on each continent. I will springboard as many subjects as I can off of that...I hope to read many missionary biographies, folktales and the like. I will incorporate our science into the geography by studying earth science, weather and habitats along with the corresponding lands. It isn't all firm in my mind yet, but we are getting there. Now, whether or not my aspirations will come to fruition is another matter. Usually my daydreams look so much prettier than real life in the trenches! But these are books I hope to use next year. I was able to get them for a song in a scratch & dent sale, yippee!