CCH Literature Fair

In November, our homeschool group hosted its first Literature Fair. We modeled ours after this one, based in Georgia, that I had read about it a few years ago on Homegrown Learners. It looked like something our kids would really enjoy doing, so over the summer a few friends and I adapted it to work for CCH and we saw the fair come to life one cold November night.

For the Literature Fair, students choose a book to read, a topic to research, then prepare a display. The night of the fair, they are interviewed about their book and research by a judge.

Rosemary chose to read Dolphin Tale, the Junior Novel and research prosthetics. Benjamin wanted to make a display about the Great Smoky Mountains, so he chose to read When I Was Young in the Mountains. Although that’s not technically set in the Smokies, he figured that the Appalachians in West Virginia were close enough.

Sixteen very enthusiastic Literature Fair participants

Our exceptional judges, and some of my very favorite people

A few of the families. We hosted the fair at night to allow families to attend all together. It was great that so many dads were able to be there.

And a few of the displays by the kids:

Ben was very proud of his display. He painted the entire background of his board on his own and helped to make the cornbread. He also carefully built his log cabin out of his Lincoln Logs.

Rosemary worked very hard on her project, too. While she didn’t receive a ribbon, it was still a really great learning experience (for her and for me). As a result of this experience, Rosemary got to meet Kevin Carroll, one of the prosthetists who worked with Winter to create her tail. That was one of the highlights of our entire year, let alone this project.

Kevin Carroll, Rosemary and Ben (thanks, Kyra, for making this happen!)

Denise did such an amazing job with the refreshments. They were delicious and such a nice touch. I just wish I had a better picture!

To wrap up the night, the kids were presented with certificates and the top three in each age level (except K-1st) received ribbons.

K-1st graders

2nd-3rd graders

4th-5th graders

6th-9th graders

It was a lot of work to make this happen this first year, but we are so excited about doing in again in 2015. It really provided us with an opportunity to dig deeper into a book and learn something new.

Kika Silva Pla Planetarium Visit

Our co-op took its first field trip to the Santa Fe Planetarium in September. We snapped this shot after several family had already left, but it was still a good sized group. And it was a fun field trip.

First CCH Co-op of the 2013-2014 Year

We kicked off our co-op year in September. This year we’re learning about Astronomy and music and art.

Ben was very excited to officially be a part of co-op this year.

Bag is packed and super ready!

I had the older kids for art first. We learned about Michaelangelo.

Ben didn’t like painting on his back so much, but he did a bit of his background.

Rosemary really got into it.

It was a fun first day. We are so thankful for the families that are in our group.

UFCCH Girls Night Out

I got to go out with the girls of Campus House to BJ's a couple weeks ago. It was great getting to know these girls better and can't wait to hang out with them again.

And thanks, Kelly, for sharing the Pizookie with me!

College Day

This past Sunday was College Sunday at Harvest. Janey even came up from Orlando. I completely forgot I had our camera with us so I only got a few photos, but here's one of me, Bob, and Janey. It was a good day. Good to catch up with old friends and celebrate what God is doing and has done at CCH.

Where We've Been

During the month of February, we have spent almost as many days away as we have at home.

First, Jonathan and I headed to Virginia. Jonathan had a conference in Williamsburg and I went along. Rosemary stayed with Grandma and Grandpa W. while we were away.

We ate lunch the first day at a local college restaurant called Retros, near the College of William and Mary, with Jonathan's coworker Dee (on the left), her husband Leo, Toby (another coworker) and his wife Christy. Christy and I used to share a very small office when we worked for Housing.

When we got back to Florida, we headed down to Longwood for a few days to visit with my brother and his family. On Saturday, they went canoeing at Wekiva Springs. Jonathan shared a canoe with Schuyler and Charles. Jason and Nikki paddled along with Emma.


After canoeing, Charles, Schuyler, and Emma went swimming in the springs. It was nice that day, but I think the water still was pretty cold.
That night, we saw just how many people the hot tub could hold.

And we celebrated everyone's birthday.

This weekend we traveled to Tallahassee for the Tri-state Christian Convention. We had some free time on Friday morning so we drove around the FSU campus, found Jonathan's parent's first home, and toured the state capital. We went all the way to the top of the building. The weather was foggy and wet, so we couldn't see very far, but it was still pretty fun to do.