Virginia State Capitol Field Trip

It was a wonderful day at the Virginia State Capitol with a great group of kids and parents. Our tour guide, Mrs. Snelling, was incredibly knowledgable and kept it interesting for the kids. When we were visiting the Old Hall of House of Delegates the Sargeant of Arms returned the mace to it's display case as the daily session had ending. It was pretty cool to be there for that. It is amazing to realize we walked the same halls and stood in the same rooms as as forefathers. We were surrounded by so much history and the capitol is absolutely beautiful!

God Is Awesome!

You can't really get mad at him for writing on the car when it's this ... God is awesome!

Walking The Tight Rope

He enjoys River City Youth Fitness very much. Today he walked the tight rope!

Photography - Grandma & Griffin

My mother-in-law was visting so I had the opportunity to take photographs of her with Griffin. I'm working on my photography skills and I always enjoy the opportunity to take photographs when I can. If you would like to see more photographs from this session, please visit my Missy Glave Shutterbug Facebook Page

Griffin's 11th Birthday Party - Terraria Theme!

Griffin celebrated his birthday with a Terraria themed party. He asked to have his friends over for an at home party. It was a day full of laughter, smiles, nerf gun wars, good food and fear factor games!

The amazing cake and cupcakes were made by Karen of The Cupcakery of Richmond. I made the party decorations (banner, confetti, favor tags, cupcake toppers and food cards).

It was so much fun celebrating our sweet guy!!

Griffin's 11th Birthday Party - Fear Factor Games

Griffin celebrated his 11th birthday with an at home party. We did a couple of fun 'Fear Factor' food games and the kids really had a good time!

Up first was the 'Fear Factor' Buffet. It included Dead Fish (sardines), Octopus Suction Cups (Spaghetti O's), Sea Weed (chopped spinach), Squishy Urchins (cherry pie filling), Fish Eggs (crushed pineapple), Cat Food (tuna fish), Slug Slime (strawberry preserves), Alligator Eyes (green olives), Toe Nailes (banana chips), Spicy Snake Eggs (sriracha peas) and Ear Wax (Marshmallows dipped in peanut butter).

The 2nd game was 'Digging For Worms'. This was fun and very MESSY!! We placed seven gummy worms on the tray and covered them with whipped topping. The participants had to remove them from the tray with only their mouths, and they had to eat at least three of them. This was a really, really fun game!

Why We Homeschool.

This has been on my heart for some time now and I feel it's the time to share. Mike and I are asked all the time, "Why did you start homeschooling Griffin'? Our answer is simple really. Because God led us to. We feel a parent driven education with God at it's core is the absolute best education we can provide our son. I will be honest in saying, I fought it every step of the way. Until, God would not allow me to fight any longer.

I was the mother that felt like I didn't have the patience to homeschool my child. I felt like I didn't have time to homeschool my child. And, quite honestly, I didn't think I would know how to homeschool my child. You know what happened? God showed me I do have the patience, I do have the time and He leads me in the how. Mike and I prayed about it constantly for months. It was a huge decision for our family and we wanted to make sure we were following God's plan. I remember the exact moment I knew it was God's plan. I was driving down 522, I had been praying about it while I was driving and suddenly I just knew it was the absolute right decision for our son. I knew it was His plan for our family. After our decision was already made, several situations at his former school occurred, and we were reassured by our decision.

I'm so grateful we are allowed this opportunity to educate our son at home. It's not always easy. Some days are hard. But, there are far more very good days then the few hard days in the mix. We use a wonderful Christian based curriculum and Griffin loves it. We enjoy hands on learning, we take field trips, we travel, we serve our community, we find ways to learn things outside the box and we have a lot of fun.

It brings us joy to know our son has time to not only receive a wonderful education, but he also has time to be a kid ~ he has time to play, to read, to spend time with family & friends and time to enjoy his own personal interests. I am so, so grateful God led our family to homeschool Griffin. It is one of the absolute BEST decisions we have ever made!

Homeschooling ~ Furry Friends

Furry friends are welcome at our school ~ they make fantastic reading buddies and foot rests!

Mad Science Class & Awana

Chillin' with the chinchillas during science class at Mad Science with his friend K. And tonight at Awana the theme was 'goofy glasses', so he chose to wear his sunglasses.

Dodgeball!

Dodgeball! I love hearing the positive encouragement from his coach ~ 'good job bro' goes a long way with a 10.9 year old.

Homeschooling - Hands On Learning

Yet another reason I love homeschooling ~ today's history lesson was about important inventions that helped the nation grow. The first one we read about was Cyrus McCormick's invention of the mechanical reaper in 1834 and the impact it had on farmers. A couple of months ago we stayed overnight with Mike when he was on site at the Hershey plant in Stuarts Draft. I was looking for a fun place to visit with Griffin and our friend Branden when we were there. We decided to visit the Cyrus McCormick Farm in Racine, and now I am especially glad we did. Honestly, if we were not a homeschool family, we more than likely would never have found this place!