Magnificent Monday

We had a magnificent Monday!  The kids got their school work done early and since I love seeing my kids working on their assignments, I often take pics of them while they do.  Today, I snapped a lot of my middle child, who usually avoids my camera or makes goofy faces.

Here he is working on his Geography lesson.  He had to use various resources to fill in a worksheet from The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide from Bright Ideas Press.

We both found it rather interesting that in the 1999 Scholastic Almanac, it showed the US Corporation with the highest revenue was General Motors but looking up the same information online for 2011, GM was not even in the top 10. Things sure have changed in a few short years huh?

And this is him doing his Algebra.  He is doing SO well with the program we are using this year and I am very proud of all he has done so far.

As you can see, we do school all over…at desks, on ottomans, outside, at the kitchen table, in the car…wherever! Learning happens in a variety of places.

We recently read about Leif Erikson  in All American History and one of the suggested resources in Illuminations 4 is the video Vikings: Journey to the New Worlds.  I was disappointed that I couldn’t find it on Netflix BUT was happy to see that Hulu had it so we watched it today. I bet it would have been amazing to view this movie at the IMAX like it was made for but unfortunately, it isn’t one of the film options in my area right now.  Be sure to check out this film if you are studying Leif Erikson. I don’t have a picture of us watching it but I wanted to share the info anyway.

Thanks for reading about our magnificent Monday…hopefully we’ll have a terrific Tuesday tomorrow!

Courageous Movie

As you already know, I went to see Soul Surfer today. Before it started, I saw the preview for Courageous…WOW!  I decided that my family must see it when it comes out.  Here is the preview for you to see.

Soul Surfer

Today I took 4 teenage girls (my daughter, niece, and two girls from church) to see Soul Surfer.  It is the story of a young surfer named Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack and went on to pursue her dream of being a professional surfer.  We originally heard her story in 2005 when we read it in the Pentecostal Evangel magazine that we get at church each week. When my daughter saw the preview for the movie, she remembered the article (it must have made a big impact on her!) and wanted to see it.

I have to tell you, this movie was amazing.  From the time the shark attacked until the end, my tears were flowing.  Not all sad tears.  I went through many emotions actually.  It caused me to remember when my own child was viciously attacked by a dog when he was 23 months old and knowing what the parents were going through as they felt helpless.  I had empathy for Bethany when she poured out her feelings to her church youth leader (Carrie Underwood) about why God would allow something like that to happen to her.  I cried tears of sorrow as she struggled to adjust to her new life and tears of joy as she succeeded.

My daughter has talked non stop about this movie since we got home and told me that she MUST HAVE it when it comes out on DVD.  Isn’t it amazing how God can take a tragedy that happened in 2003 and use it to make a difference in the lives of people today?