So Much To Courage

the kids plus a friend at the Arboreteum

beautiful Cactus starting to bloom

not sure why the blue tint, but the kids garden at farm co op

the fruit of his labor :)

march around " Jericho"

Well I am going to try and recap these past two days. Wow, is all I can say. Homeschooling is so busy and so fun and so tiring! I am so exhausted sitting here right now; yet, writing makes my brain unwind, so here I am :) We read the story in the Bible about Joshua. I love this story so much as it really teaches the kids and exemplifies a man who trusted in God. What is so cool, is that God was extremely specific on what they should do. Walk around the wall 1x per day until the 7th day. Then, blow your trumpets and yell. I can just imagine in the spiritual world that might and power of God breaking and crushing down the walls. I am in awe of God! If God is for us, who can be against us?!

We listened to men blowing shofar horns. This was such a strong and beautiful sound. We talked about how the priests blew the horns and how the army men yelled. The boys then, dressed in armor ( Jayden) and with a "shofar horn",aka: stick ( Austen), marched around our entire block 7 times and each time blowing the horn once until the very end where Austen blew the horn as loud as he could, Jayden yelling and them understanding the courage it took for the men to trust God regardless of how others would view or question their reasoning.

We have a tall order of books to read this unit. Our courage unit will take us until the end of December and on our to read list is , " Call It Courage, The Courage of Sarah Noble, and the Matchlock Gun". I, honestly, have never read any of these books so I am really hoping we make it through them .

Finally, we read Anatole by Eve Titus. This book is about a mouse who displays courage in the face of adversity and against an animal that could likely gobble him up. We enjoyed reading this classic book and discussing who had courage and why.


The kids had a field trip to a beautiful arboretum today where we learned about plant life in the desert, the 5 C's of Arizona, and tasted some desert plants and agave nectar. It was cool, windy and relaxing despite Hannah refusing to sit in her stroller or be held. The problem was, the girl had no other options, I could not let her wander her sweet little self into a barrel cactus because she deemed it necessary to walk. So, there were a few tantrums and screeches and screams but overall, she did fine and we left, drove 35 minutes home, at lunch and left for a fun filled afternoon at art co op with another great group of homeschoolers.

Did I mention, that the kids picked vegetables in their gardens that have sprouted since the beginning of a farm co op they are apart of where they have baked pies, milked goats, brought home chicken eggs, learned how to subsist on the land and enjoyed the great outdoors. Why do I love homeschooling, because it brings the kids constantly out of the "classroom" and into real life with real life experiences. Wow, God- thank you!