Smith Family News

High In the Sky

2011-10-28T08:16:00.000-06:00

Our studies on World War I are coming to a close this week or next. Last week we read about the United States joining the Allies in 1917 for the final year of the war. Jacob's reading assignments focused on the home front, on the war effort in the States, the changes war brought, and on propaganda and recruiting posters. I gave him the assignment to come up with a motto and make up his own recruiting poster.

I wasn't surprised when Jacob chose an airplane theme for his poster. His motto is "Flying High in the Sky is Better than Down on the Ground." I was so pleased with the results of his finished poster.

Below: Jacob's notebooking pages of recruiting/propaganda posters and his own poster.

The Red Baron

2011-10-27T15:46:00.001-06:00

Our studies of World War I continue. Jacob was fascinated with the "Red Baron," Manfred von Richthofen and his red tri-plane. Actually, he enjoyed reading about all the Flying Aces and their dogfights in the air.

Over the past few weeks we have watched numerous WWI movies, fiction and documentary, depicting the battles in the air and in the trenches. Ellen's comment about all the movies we watched was that they were depressing because the heroes always died in the end. The trench warfare of World War I seemed so senseless to me....thousands of soldiers were literally massacred when they "went over the top" of the trenches. I have such a greater appreciation for soldiers who fight for their countries, but I also am horrified by the brutality of it all.

Pictured here are Jacob's notebook pages about the planes of World War I.

Best Breakfast Ever

2011-10-25T07:49:00.000-06:00

Homemade Granola

Homemade Yogurt

Black Coffee

The BEST Breakfast Ever

Heather, when you come,

I'll make you granola.

(Yogurt, too, if you like).

This Is What Awesome Looks Like

2011-10-16T12:03:00.002-06:00

Jacob had a birthday this past week--11 years old. My youngest son is growing up. I love this guy! (But boy, does he ever need a haircut)!!!

Missing: Katie (taking the picture), Michael (at work), Jessica, Justin, and their littles (other plans), Heather and David and baby (in Switzerland, wah, I miss them). Extras: Becca (Matt's g.f.), Zach (Michael's brother).

I love my family. (And the extras, too).

World War I Continues

2011-10-03T11:53:00.000-06:00

Our study of World War I continues. Slowly. Each Tapestry of Grace week is meant to be completed in just that--a week. But we are taking 2, and sometimes 3 study weeks for each Tapestry week. I'm okay with it, though. The kids are learning, and we are all enjoying the topic of WWI. At this pace we will be spending 2 years for Year 4 of TOG. :/

Jacob has been making more notebooking pages. He loves looking through his notebook at the pages he's created. I love that he is learning and that he is recording what he is learning. And...I love that that he is writing, even if just short paragraphs. He is writing-- a big accomplishment for a 10 year old boy who did not want to write anything previously. :)

Christmas Truce 1914

Jacob's Pen Drawing of The Trenches

Trench Warfare

President Pages: Woodrow Willson

Did you know that Woodrow Wilson's picture

was printed on the 100,000 dollar bill?!!

Howizter Fun

2011-09-28T18:26:00.004-06:00

Yes, we are studying World War I. No, this is not a World War I tank. If you know anything about this machine, please do tell.

This afternoon we were in town with some time to spare while Ellen was at her trumpet lesson, so Jacob, Emily, and I decided to find a few geocaches. The first geocache at Cracker Barrel was an easy find, but the one on this Howitzer was so cleverly hidden that we just about gave up. I think we spent at least 20 minutes checking this massive monster out, but to no avail. We even took Ellen back after her lesson to help search, but she also gave up. Mark met us in town (had to take a car to the shop for tires) and so we took him to the Howitzer, and what do you know, after about 10 minutes of searching, he found it! I was excited, because out of the 18 caches we've searched, we have only not found two. (It bothers me to not find a cache when I know it's there!). Fun day, fun memories.

TOG, Y4, U1 :: World War I

2011-09-27T20:09:00.000-06:00

We started our study of WWI last week. This poster came in one of the books I bought, and so I hung it on the wall. Emily finds it fascinating. She and Jacob think the gas mask uniform looks like E.T. and they say it's "creepy." :D

Homemade Granola

2011-09-26T14:47:00.003-06:00

Granola! Yummy Granola!

Too bad this will only last 2 or 3 days before it's all eaten.

Titanic Wooden Ship Model

2011-09-15T08:12:00.002-06:00

In my post about Jacob's Titanic lapbook yesterday, I forgot to include a picture of Jacob with his model ship that he glued together and painted. He didn't want me to take a picture of his ship because the masts had already been broken off. At least he did smile for the photo.

By the way, the kit for the model ship is made by Darice like the one here on Amazon.

Titanic Lapbook

2011-09-14T17:01:00.006-06:00

Today Jacob finished his Titanic lapbook. This boy of mine gets so excited about the Titanic, and he never minded working on his lapbook except for when it came to the writing parts. For me, I'm ready to move on--World War I, here we come!

the front

Jacob's drawing

three file folders

The above picture shows the booklets closed,
and the picture below shows the booklets opened up.

The photo is in a clear pocket that
flips out to reveal what's underneath.

More pictures can be found on my Flickr.

Flanders Fields::WWI

2011-09-12T10:57:00.006-06:00

Today we read this book, In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae, by Linda Granfield, and I could not make it through without choking up. (My 10 year old must surely think I'm crazy). In light of the 10 year anniversary (yesterday) of 9-11, this story about the fallen soldiers of WWI was quite timely.

I memorized this poem by John McCrae when I was in elementary school, and surprisingly, I still can remember it. I think I'm going to have Jacob and Emily memorize it as well over the next 4 weeks as we study World War I.

After our study today, we each drew our own renditions of Flanders Fields, using the stirring illustrations by Janet Wilson as our inspiration.

Notebooking::Vocabulary Words::Landforms

2011-09-09T21:30:00.000-06:00

My son's vocabulary words last week were all pertaining to land formations and bodies of water. Ah, the perfect setup for more notebooking pages!

I instructed my son to look up the definitions of his vocabulary words and copy them down on the paper I gave him. Afterwards, I let him look up images on the internet (under careful supervision, I might add...internet searching can yield some inappropriate images) for the specific water and land forms. We then resized the images to fit on his vocabulary pages and he next printed, cut, and pasted the pictures down. Now when we review the definitions, he has a visual picture in front of him.

I can certainly see using this format for subject-related vocabulary words in the future.

Notebooking with TOG

2011-09-08T21:13:00.003-06:00

I have rediscovered "notebooking". Notebook pages, to be more descriptive, something I used to do eons ago when I was homeschooling my older (now graduated) children.

I like to think of notebook pages as mini posters--small posters that slide into sheet protectors and then into a notebook. A record of what we studied. A nice collection that makes a book of sorts on any given topic or a variety of topics.

Right now we are learning about the 1900s in our TOG studies. These pictures below represent some of the topics we're covering. One day, as my son's notebook gets fuller, I can envision moving all the president pages to their own notebook, and similarly grouping other pages together and moving them to create separate notebooks. Or perhaps we'll just keep everything in one gigantic notebook titled "The 1900s". Oh, the possibilities....

Lapbook::Wright Brothers

2011-09-07T21:03:00.003-06:00

We studied about Wilbur and Orville Wright during our TOG studies a few weeks ago, and Jacob made his first lapbook.. I let Jacob choose the topics to include in the lapbook and I let him choose which pictures from the internet to use. Eventually I hope to see more writing included, but believe me, this much is great for a 10 year old boy who is reluctant to write anything.

Now we are studying the Titanic, and Jacob has begged and pleaded (okay, he asked) to make a lapbook for the Titanic. Yes, he asked. So now the Titanic lapbook is in progress.... :)

Meet Rosie

2011-09-05T14:41:00.002-06:00

We got a new puppy! Her name is Rosie, she's 10 weeks old, she's a German shepherd, and she's going to get B.I.G.!!!!
:)

TOG, Y4, U1 :: Wright Brothers

2011-09-04T18:51:00.009-06:00

It's been years since I've posted on this blog site! Well, I've decided to use it to post about some of our homeschool activities. This year we started using Tapestry of Grace, Year 4, which starts in the early 1900s and goes through current day history. I'm excited about studying this time period of history. It seems that all too often we teach history starting at the pilgrims and ending at the Civil War.

Last week Jacob and Emily learned about the Wright brothers and their airplane. We made model planes from instructions we found here and here. Jacob also made a lapbook of the Wright brothers, and I'll post a picture of it when I put new batteries in my camera and take a picture.

Katie had a birthday!

2007-12-21T23:33:00.000-06:00

Katie Marie is 18 years old! I remember when Katie was born early that morning in December. Her due date was Christmas day, but she decided to come early. I had a hard labor and delivery, and after Katie was born she cried for about 2 hours straight. I think she finally fell asleep from exhaustion. When she woke up several hours later, Katie was as sweet as could be.

18 years later, Katie is still sweet. She is such a blessing to our family with her servant's heart, gentle spirit, and joyful countenance. Katie is a peacemaker in our home, friendly outside the home, and a lovely young lady who desires to serve God with her life.

Happy birthday, Katie. We love you!

Katie at 2 and 1/2 years old

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T20:21:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving
from the Smiths!

Emily Nov. 2007 ~ 2 years old

Jacob Nov. 2007 ~ 7 years old

Ellen Nov. 2002 (5 years ago when Ellen was 6!)

Heather had a Birthday!

2007-11-03T22:41:00.000-06:00

Heather Joy had a birthday and turned 21 years old! My, how time has so quickly passed since my little curly-headed baby was born! Heather is now a senior in college and is blessed with so many talents. She is an amazing woman, and I am so proud of her.

2 years old

21 years

Today is Jacob's Birthday!

2007-10-14T19:02:00.000-06:00

7 Years ago Jacob was born into our family, and what a blessing that was! Jacob is such a sweet and good-natured boy, and we are so thankful for the treasure we have in him. This week Jacob learned to ride his bike without training wheels! He is growing up so quickly and learning many new skills each day.

Jessica, Justin, and Elliot came over today for the birthday celebration. It was wonderful to have the whole family back home at the same time. The children are all growing up, and it seems that our family dynamics are always changing. I treasure the times we have together and the memories we share. God is so good!

Jacob's Birthday Cake!

No More Training Wheels!

Victory Hill Critters

2007-06-19T14:25:00.000-06:00

Okay, so maybe they're not exclusive to Victory Hill, Oklahoma, but we definitely have enjoyed the abundance of friendly critters on our property this spring and summer.

The big eyed froggie up there used to come up on our back porch every evening to catch all the insects that were attracted to the porch light. Our lovely little tarantula was found on the road just a bit from our house; we actually have two of them, and we think they're awesome. Mr. Green Caterpillar was just parading around our garden one day, so he had the privilege of his own personal photo shoot. And lastly, the grumpy turtle is just one of many that we see daily around here.

I should note that the welcoming attitude toward the critters expressed in this post is not embraced by all of those here at Victory Hill. The lady of the house (I love you, Mom!) has been known to go into near hysterics on more than one occasion from exposure to these critters, either live or in picture. A note of warning: Do not put a close up picture of a hairy tarantula on the family computer desktop background unless you want to be fined $10 and severely reprimanded.

Oddly enough though, it was Mom herself that commissioned me to write this post. Maybe she secretly likes them... :-)

-Katie Marie

Cherries!

2007-05-21T20:53:00.000-06:00

Cherries!
We picked almost 4 gallons from our one and only little cherry tree!
Anybody hungry for some cherry pie?

Today is Emmy's Birthday!

2007-04-30T06:35:00.000-06:00

Emily, the sunshine in our lives, is two years old today!
Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!
We love you!

Today is Dad's Birthday!

2007-04-24T09:18:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

way back then:

now:

We all love you, Daddy, and thank you for the wonderful father you are!
You know we couldn't function without you!

Katie Marie
for all of us Smiths

Today is Mom's Birthday

2007-04-02T12:11:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday, Mother dear!

many years ago

(wasn't she cute?)

February 2007
(isn't she pretty?)

Thank you, Mom, for being the wonderful mother you are! I don't know what I would ever do without you. Thanks for always being there--and for being my mother and my friend.
You're amazing!
Love you!

-Katie Marie for all the Smith Kids.

Beautiful Oklahoma

2007-03-28T08:18:00.000-06:00

photos taken in Oklahoma by Katie Marie

Today is Jessica's Birthday

2007-03-15T10:37:00.000-06:00

It seems like just yesterday Jessica was a baby, and now she is a mother with a newborn baby of her own. Where have the years gone?!

I can't begin to express how happy I am to see the woman that Jessica has become. She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. I enjoy watching her as she manages her own home, taking care of her husband and baby. It's good to see all those early years of teaching and training come to fruition in Jessica's life as she strives to be a godly wife and mother.

Happy Birthday, Jessica! We love you!

Today Is Matthew's Birthday...

2007-03-05T15:28:00.000-06:00

How did he go from this

to this

in just 15 short years?

Matthew is a wonderful son, and I couldn't ask for one better. Matthew is a nice, obedient and respectful young man with a desire to follow God's leading in his life. I am so pleased with the work that the Lord has done in Matthew's life over the past 15 years, and I'm excited to see what will be in his future.

Happy Birthday, Matthew! We love you!

Baby Feet

2007-02-22T22:54:00.000-06:00

For more pictures, check out Elliot's flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jusandjess

Our New Grandson is Here!

2007-02-13T21:39:00.000-06:00

We are praising the Lord for the safe arrival of
Jackson Elliot, our first grandchild!

Elliot was born on February 12th
at 8:41 AM
weighing 9 lbs., 2 oz.
and measuring 21 inches long.

little Elliot

Jessica, the joyful mother

Justin, the happy father

Ruth and Mark, the proud grandparents

Ellen Kristine

2007-01-20T14:33:00.000-06:00

Ellen at 4.5 months old

Today is Ellen's 11th birthday. This little girl of mine is growing up right before my eyes. Ellie is such a blessing. She brings such joy to our family with her laughter and sense of humor. She is a diligent worker around the house and willingly helps take care of Emily. Ellen is growing up into a lovely young lady, and she has a heart for God. I am thankful that the Lord has given us this special daughter.

Ellen at 11 years

Christmas 2006

2006-12-22T22:00:00.000-06:00

December 22, 2006

Dear family and friends,

We thought we would do something different this year and create this blog update instead of the newsletter we usually send out. If all goes as planned, we will try to update it regularly with pictures and news of the comings and goings of our family. At first I thought I would try to give a month-by-month review of this past year, but my memory is too short to go back that far. I have a hard enough time keeping track of each week, let alone to try to remember the past year. A review of the highlights of 2006 will suffice.

This year in Oklahoma started off with a blaze of fire and ended with a snowstorm. One evening in January we were surprised to look out the window to see the fields across the road ablaze with flames. From our front porch we watched the flames come closer and closer and even carried a few things out to the van just in case we needed to evacuate (we didn't). A few weeks later the pasture 1/4 mile to the south of us was flaming with fire. Although many homes and buildings across the state were damaged during the dry spell, nothing was damaged in either of the fires near us.

How thankful we are to God for protecting our family this year and for His abundant blessing on our lives. We have had good health and many happy times together. This has been a year of change as the children are growing up, but through it all the Lord has remained faithful and merciful. We stand amazed at His goodness toward us.

The biggest change to our family this year was the addition of a new member. We gained a son! On March 18th, 2006, Jessica (22) married our wonderful son-in-law, Justin Cockroft. As the saying goes, we did not lose a daughter, but we gained a son. Justin comes from a loving Christian family of 10, and we could not ask for a better husband for our daughter. It was remarkable to see how the Lord brought the two together and how He remained the center of their courtship and engagement and is now the center of their marriage.

Another change will take place in mid-February when Mark and I will become grandparents for the first time! Yes, you may call us Grandpa and Grandma. Jessica and Justin are expecting their firstborn son on Valentine's Day and we couldn't be more thrilled and excited! At first I wasn't sure that I was old enough to become a grandma, but now I can hardly wait! Jessica has been blessed with a great pregnancy thus far and is as cute as can be. We pray that she will have a safe delivery and a healthy baby come February.

Keeping busy helped make the adjustment of Jessica being gone a little easier. By order of age I will write a bit about each of us. This past summer Mark, with Matthew's help, framed and roofed a house about 1 hour away. Mark also built several sets of adjustable bookshelves in two rooms of our house. It's great to have a place for all the books we've collected over the years. Along with the never-ending home projects, Mark continues to teach special education classes at a nearby elementary school.

For me, this year has flown by in a whirl of activity. Planning Jessica's wedding with her provided a wonderful time for us to spend many precious hours together. Jessica sewed her own wedding dress and we chronicled the dress progress on our joint-effort sewing blog. Since the wedding, the normal jobs of being a mother along with homeschooling consume most of my days. I do manage to find snatches of time to sew, knit, crochet, read, or practice my oboe. Playing in our church orchestra and in the homeschool band with Katie, Matthew, and Ellen has also been quite enjoyable for me.

For her 20th birthday this year, Heather received a kitten. His name is Poe; he's black; he's cute; and he meows. After a stressful and often-overwhelming semester, Heather has just finished the first half of her junior year of college. She claims that Poe was a great stress reliever. Heather took 19 credit hours this semester, 21 if you count the extra classes she took for no credit. Hopefully next semester will be a bit easier on her since she has enrolled for only 18 credit hours. Heather is working on a music degree with a minor in English and enjoys her studies tremendously. As part of the Honors Program requirement at her school, Heather will be going to Vienna, Austria for the month of January. Pray for Heather's safety and my peace of mind.

In addition to getting her driver's license, one highlight of the past year for Katie (17) was getting to travel with a Generation Joshua political action team to help campaign at a key senate race in Iowa. Katie thoroughly enjoyed her time in Iowa where she and her team members were kept busy from morning till night. Along with politicking, playing her clarinet, and trying to keep up with her high school studies, Katie has developed an interest in computer web design. On her own she learned a lot about web design using HTML and CSS and also took some classes at a local technology school. Her next goal is to teach herself PHP. Don't worry if those acronyms are foreign to you. They're a foreign language to me as well. Katie is the web designer of the Central Oklahoma Homeschool Band website.

At 14, Matthew has spent the most of this past year growing taller. He has passed everyone except for Mark in height, and it doesn't look like he's going to stop anytime soon. Matthew is in 9th grade and continues to do well in his schoolwork, especially in biology and algebra. Matthew also continues to excel at his trumpet playing. He placed 1st chair in two different honor bands and is also the lead trumpet player in the homeschool band.

Ellen (10) is in 5th grade and has been such a blessing to me this past year by being extra helpful with taking care of Emily and doing things that need done around the house. I tend to think of Ellen as my little girl still, but she is growing up into such a sweet young lady. Some of her interests include playing her trumpet in band, playing outside, baking desserts, writing letters, and being creative with various crafts. Ellen brings much joy to our family with her infectious smiles and happy giggles.

Jacob (6) lost his first tooth this year! He is in kindergarten and is slowly learning to read. His favorite part of school is coloring, pasting, and creating notebook pages. Jacob also loves to spend time outside in the sandbox with his cars and trucks. He works intensely at everything he does and asks a hundred questions a day. I so enjoy having this little boy in our home!

My baby Emily is already 20 months old and is quickly becoming a toddler. Emily is a delightful little girl, and we have all fallen in love with her. Her specialties include seeing how quickly she can make a mess of a clean room and how fast she can run while being chased. Emily has a mischievous smile and a sparkle in her eyes that make her irresistible. She is attached to her orange stuffed cat which joins her in her many adventures.

A few weeks ago we were blessed with a winter snow. Snow does not come very often in Oklahoma and I doubt that we will have a white Christmas this year.

When I was a child in Colorado I always thought that Christmas was synonymous with snow. I don't really miss the snow, but every once in awhile I think that it would be rather lovely to have a snow-white Christmas this year, even a blizzard like the one happening now in Colorado. Even without the snow, I love the Christmas season. I love the decorations, the lights, the excitement of the children, the opportunity to gather with family and friends, and most importantly, the special day to celebrate the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. As the New Year will soon dawn upon us, my prayer is that the Lord will find us faithful to Him. With the flurry of activity that is almost unavoidable in a large family, my desire is that we keep our focus on the One who is our Savior, the One who was born to give us life that we might live for Him.

Merry Christmas from the Smiths!
Mark, Ruth, Heather, Katie, Matthew, Ellen, Jacob, and Emily

Victory Hill Farm

2006-12-21T22:00:00.000-06:00

The graphic above was sketched by Katie on the computer when she was ten years old.
It was the prototype for a potential logo for our family.

Six and one-half years ago when we moved to Oklahoma we found out that our property had once been home to a one-room schoolhouse called Victory Hill School. The old original hand-pump from the school is still in our backyard. Because of it's history and also because of the victory we have as Christians in Jesus, we thought it fitting to name our home Victory Hill Farm.

Over the past years we have also found that we are not farmers. Yes, we have owned many varieties of farm animals and even milked a Jersey cow for several years. We currently have about 20 chickens, 2 goats, 3 dogs, countless cats, and 5 beef cows. But we really are not true country people but rather city folks living in the country. We jokingly say that we should rename our home Victory Hill Farmette.

The Lord had blessed our lives on our little farm, and we are happy here. We miss all our family and friends back in Colorado, but we are content knowing that we are where God wants us to be. If any of you are ever out this way, please stop in for a visit and stay awhile! We'd love to see you.

Mark and Ruth

two of our beef cows

the old well pump