100th Day of School

We recently celebrated our 100th day of 1st Grade !! Wonder Boy had really been looking forward to it and since this was my first time dealing with it I was a little unsure of what to do. I over planned and probably won't have to prepare anything else until he starts High School now, but we had such a wonderful day that I wanted to share it.......

The day began with Opening Ceremonies - what kind of "Whiteboard Mom" would I be without a little opening whiteboard ceremony........Wonder Boy awoke to the annoucement bright and early that this was the 100th day of school !We started the day off with Science by putting 1oo ice cubes in a dish and "guesstimating" where the water line would be when they melted. It took until dinner to get that mystery solved but Wonder Boy was not too far off ;-)

The we moved on to Art with The Great Paper Chain Event - this was good fun - took a little longer than I had anticipated and it was certainly much longer than I had thought it would be - from the bottom of the stairs all the way up and halfway into one of the bedrooms!! What a chain it was - we liked it so much I have it hung up in the office until it gets too faded or dusty to continue to bring any pleasure ;-)

By this point in time we were a little peckish and decided it was time for Math with The 100 Day Trail Mix Extrodinaire Project - we built ourselves a bag of yummies with ten each of ten items - quite nice - all healthy too except for the chocolate chips and there were only 10 afterall!!
We geared down for the day with a History lesson about what was taking place in Alabama 100 years ago. Our final subject of the day was P.E. when we headed out of the house to see how far 100 steps took us from our home both by walking, running and just counting to 100 and walking.

And that was our day - great fun and a nice change of pace - I can't imagine not being able to homeschool - the Lord is blessing us so much in our efforts and we are continuing to celebrate wonderful successes as we journey with Him.

The Lord Bless You & Keep You,

Leisha

White Board Wisdom

In Wonder Boy's room is a white board which I write on every night after he falls asleep - I don't remember now exactly how this grew into what it has, but I think it started when we were teaching him to read and write and we ended our evenings with a game of hangman on his white board right before lights out and prayers. Many of you may have heard some of the white board stories - they are really gathering a following of sorts it would seem. A friend from church came by our home for the first time the other day to pick up her daughter and said "so this is the famous white board" when getting the tour of Wonder Boy's room. In any case, this has really become a fantastic Mommy tool as well. I use the white board to reward and acknowledge good behavior and jobs well done, to leave gentle loving Mommy reminders in areas where we are praying for success, to count down to big events, to announce surprises, to help encourage A's on spelling tests, to allow God to speak thru scripture and of course to let Wonder Boy know how much he is loved.

SO....the other night I was doing laundry and folding socks and Wonder Boy was asking me one of the many million questions that he typically asks in a day when we got on the topic of prayer - I am a little fuzzy on the starting point of the conversation to be honest as it was probably only at this point that I fully tuned in. In any case I was explaining to him that you did not have to pray only for the "usual things in the usual ways" that you could pray in the shower, when you are washing dishes and I started giving him some examples of some of the not so usual times and places that I pray. I told him that I pray over food when I am preparing it especially if it is for someone in need or ill. I told him that I pray for people in the grocery store when they look tired and in need of a lift. I told him that I pray over laundry all the time, when I am hanging shirts on a hanger, I will pray that the wearer will be blessed with energy to do God's work each day, I told him that I pray over his socks, that God will bless his comings and goings and that he will walk with God throughout his life. Well this just tickled him that I would pray over his socks....so that night when it came time to do the white board here is what I did.

God gives each of us many opportunities each day in the midst of the ordinary and mundane to make a difference in the lives of those we love through prayer. I have found a calling with a white board and a package of dry erase markers - I invite you to look at what you do each day and be encouraged that God has a white board for you to use. Wonder Boy got up the next morning and came running downstairs giggling and gave me the biggest hug and said "Mommy I LOVE my board today".

It doesn't get much better than that !

Leisha