Worldview Historical Ball 2020

 Welcome to the Worldview Historical Ball 2020

Nicholas has been enjoying his homeschool Worldview Class.  The class meets once a week for 3 hours and then the students have a heavy workload at home.  The program teaches core History, English (literature & composition), Bible, Speech, and Debate. 

They also meet for an additional hour and a half each week to learn ballroom dancing.  The highlight of the year is the annual Worldview Historical Ball which takes place at a ballroom at a local hotel and includes a formal dinner.  This year's theme was a Victorian Masquerade Ball taking place in London at Buckingham Palace between the years 1860 and 1899.  Each student was required to research and recreate a historical character that actually lived during this time period and could have possibly attended the Ball. The character had to be between the ages of 15 and 90 at the time of the Ball. All students had to research a character and write a one-page biography of their character that included an explanation as to why they chose the character.

Nicholas has been enjoying learning about electrical engineering so he chose Michael Faraday, the father of electricity, as his character. 

We rented his costume but he created his mask.  He painted it and added LED lights to it.  He has a controller that let him turn the light feature on or off.  He really enjoyed working on it and I think it turned out great.

The following pictures are not my own.  I'm sorry I do not know the name of the photographer to give them credit.  

The kids just love their Worldview teacher, Mr. Tillman, and his wife who assists with grading and administrative aspects of the class.  The Tillmans are very passionate about teaching and although their class is very challenging they still make it fun and exciting for the students. They put their hearts into the class and especially the ball.

Over the year, the students have been learning basic ballroom dances like Waltz, Foxtrot, East Coast and West Coast Swing.  They have also learned some Basic Latin dances like the Cha Cha, American Tango, and Rumba as well as English Country, Folk, and Period Dances, and a little Texas Two Step. 

At the ball, the students receive a dance card which assigns them to particular partners for certain dances.  

After they completed their dance card they were able to choose their own partners to dance with.

Nicholas was not particularly excited about learning ballroom dancing but after just a few lessons he was hooked and he really enjoys it now.

It helps that he has a lot of friends taking ballroom dancing lessons too.

The seniors in the class always do some kind of prank at the ball.  This year there were a few seniors who disappeared for a while then reappeared in dinosaur costumes.  It's funny watching a T-Rex try to dance.

Here are some of the posed pictures. Again, these are not my pictures.

Next year's ball theme will be Greco-Roman.  Nicholas loves ancient mythology so I know he will have fun working on a costume for that one.

Hiking Northshore Trail

Some of our homeschool friends got together today for a hike on Northshore Trail.  It was a little cold but it was nice getting out in nature while getting some good exercise on the trail.

The ground was a little soft in areas and we found some neat animal tracks.

Although most of the bushes and trees had either brown leaves or no leaves, this beautiful holly stood out with its bright red berries which are a special winter treat for the birds.

The trail is really interesting in that it constantly changes elevation and there are interesting features like creeks and bridges.

Nicholas said it would be fun to ride this trail on his mountain bike.

Nicholas is loving his new camera that he got for Christmas.  He enjoys taking nature pictures.

He takes some really great pictures and I love how he slows down from his usual high speed pace to really slow down and zoom in on some good shots.  I think photography is really good for him.

A friend of mine always takes pictures of where she stands. It is an unusual perspective of the places she has traveled.  Here is mine for the day.  Exploring in my hiking boots.

I know this tree look barren and boring.  However, I still like looking at it.  With all of its crazy branches it just seems to be busy and active even though it looks rather dead.

I'm not sure which type of tree this is below.  It is likely a cypress or cedar tree.  I enjoyed it's colorful blooms.

The teens managed to mingle together and avoid the parents and siblings.  Nicholas has a great group of friends and we are blessed to be "doing life" together with them.

I love this picture.  It was still and quiet here but you can actually "see" the wind as it creates ripples on the water.

An idyllic little scene.  I'd like to paint this picture when I have some time.

Although we were staying warm walking, I was glad to have my coat and hat, especially when we were in open areas that were breezy.  I do not like being cold, even when exercising.

Ahh!  Wood sorrel!  Rachel's favorite edible plant.  It is all edible but if you find it early in the season these little yellow bulbs taste a little bit like pickles.  It grows all over here and is really easy to recognize in this stage.

I just love pictures of trails in the woods.  It just invites me to explore a little more down its path.

Although there doesn't seem to be a lot to look at in the woods in January, you can see from the pictures that there are still pretty colors and interesting plants to study.

This has been a fun trail to explore.  It is really long with lots of different entrance points.  We only covered a small part of it today but I plan to come back and hike other areas of the trail soon.

Painting with a Twist {Mom's Night Out}

Moms need time to refresh and renew.  My dear group of friends understand that so we try to schedule Mom's Night Out about once a month.  I dream of painting like Bob Ross so I always love it when we go on painting outings.  

For December we went to Painting with a Twist to paint a cute Christmas truck. Painting with a Twist is a cool place to spend a few hours with friends.  We had a private party so our group chose the picture we wanted to paint and scheduled the day and time that worked best for us.  You can bring your own snacks and drinks (yes, wine is fine!).  The instructor is at the front of the room and he walks you through step-by-step as he teaches you how to paint the selected picture.

It was so much fun painting with all of my sweet friends!  We talked as we painted and may have even cut up a little, perhaps encouraged by the wine.

And we all went home with a cute Christmas painting to hang on the wall.

This was my second class at Painting with a Twist and I just love it.  It is perfect for a Mom's Night Out or even a birthday party.

Register to Ring for the Salvation Army

It just wouldn't be Christmas without hearing that iconic jingle of the Salvation Army bell ringer outside of your neighborhood store.  Did you know that just a one day of bell ringing at one location can generate enough donations for your local Salvation Army to provide a homeless person with one night of shelter and hot meals for an entire day?  

Rachel and I volunteered last year as Salvation Army bell ringers.  It was a lot of fun and it was a blessing in so many ways.  It was wonderful to help raise donations for such a great organization but it also warmed our hearts to see the smiles on people's faces as they donated and to hear their stories of how the Salvation Army has personally touched their lives during difficult times.  

This year, I mentioned to some of the other moms in Rachel's American Heritage Girls troop that we could get a group of girls to volunteer together as bell ringers.  One of the moms seemed surprised that just anyone could volunteer for this.  She thought the bell ringers were all employees of the Salvation Army.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Bell ringers are regular people from your community, just like you and me!  And the Salvation Army NEEDS volunteers right now.  If bell ringers aren't out there then all of those potential donations are missed.  

I hope you are asking yourself now, "How can I sign up?"

Just go to the Register to Ring website!  When I go to the site, we have several store locations right around our home to choose from.  We personally always like to go to Hobby Lobby because Rachel and I just love that store.  There are shifts available throughout the day to choose from.  You can sign up for hourly shifts but the Salvation Army requests that you at least sign up for a minimum of a 2 hour shift.  Shifts are available to serve from now until Christmas Eve.

What does a Salvation Army bell ringer have to do?

You arrive at your designated location and time about 10 minutes early.  You might be relieving another volunteer who already has the red kettle and sign set up or you may have to do a little set up on your own.  I imagine each store has different policies and different Salvation Army locations might each do things a little differently.  For our location, if the kettle and sign isn't already in place we have specific instructions on where to find the sign and tripod to hold the sign inside our Hobby Lobby store.  Rachel and I simply carried that out of the store and set it up and the designated side of the store.  If the red kettle isn't already out from a previous volunteer's shift then a Salvation Army person will show up at the start of your shift to deliver the kettle to you.  They also provide a bag with two bells and two red aprons.  At the end of the shift, if another volunteer is signed up after you, they will just show up and take over your spot.  If no one else is signed up after you then a Salvation Army person will arrive to pick up the red kettle, bells, and aprons and you will return the sign and tripod to the designated place inside the store.

We usually try to wear something a little Christmas-y like red and green clothes, a Santa hat, etc.  The Salvation Army encourages bell ringers to greet the store customers with a smile or by saying, "Merry Christmas!".  You can even sing Christmas carols or play an instrument to bring some extra holiday cheer.  You don't ask for donations.  Just let the customers know that you are there and they will come.

I signed Rachel's AHG Explorer troop up for two shifts of two hours each and we had a total of six ringers.  It was so much fun watching the girls greet customers and sing Christmas carols together.  I know they attracted more donations because of their cuteness.  But it was also a great experience for them and taught them how they can do even small things to serve those in their community.

Fall 2018 Family Campout

We go on a family campout with our American Heritage Girls and Trail Life USA friends every fall and spring.  We have usually done tent camping with sleeping bags and all.  However, when they moved the campout location from Bonham State Park to Possum Kingdom State Park and we discovered that there are cabins for rent at this location we had to try it out.

Call it "Glamping" if you must but we like it!  No more worries about wind blowing over our tent in the middle of the night.

There is a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and an extra bed with trundle in the living area.  There is a lot of space which is great when the kids have friends come over and hang out with them.

Or sometimes they just hang out on the porch!

But usually they are too busy running around playing games or going hiking to hang out at our site.

I love our campouts because it lets me spend the weekend with my family without the need to do laundry, school planning, etc.  I get to hang out in nature which is just good for my spirit and my soul.  This was the view of the lake by our cabin.

Stuart and I went on a short hike along the trails. What beautiful weather we had!

I love going on adventures with this man!  We wandered off the trail a little way and found some huge boulders and some interesting plant life under the canopy of the trees that was very different from what we saw out on the open trails.

Back at the cabin, this beautiful monarch butterfly enjoyed hanging out on our window screen for a while.

Rachel and her Explorer troop found this mama wolf spider with an egg sac.

They also found a fish skeleton!

This interesting guy was found on the outer wall of our cabin.  He was beautiful but we didn't know what it was so we researched it.  He is a plume moth.  They roll up their wings while they are resting during the day.  I would have loved to have seen his wings spread out.

Of course, there are always creepy crawlies to be found at a campout!

Nicholas has been studying fungi in his biology class so we got excited to find this fungus growing on the side of an old tree stump....

And this crazy looking puffball fungi that had already burst open to release its spores into the air.

This weekend was Rachel's birthday so she asked to have shrimp for dinner.  She got a big bowl all for herself.  She loves all kinds of seafood.

The rest of us had a more traditional camping meal of burgers cooked on the outdoor grill.

There is always a dutch oven dessert contest after dinner.  Everyone gets a sample of each dessert and then we get to vote on the best one!  

We always look forward to nightfall at campouts because the moms and dads gather around the campfire to listen to music and visit with each other while they kids run around like banshees in the dark.