The Art Barn - 9/12/12

Another great field trip with our home school group! The Art Barn! The kids had a blast petting and feeding animals, making art and enjoying a hayride. I didn't get a picture of it but one of the kids favorite things was the goats that lived on TOP of their home!

Jayden took this while on the hay ride.

This is a friend of the cows.... 

Farmer Sue taught all the kids how to get the turkey to gobble.

Jayden brushing a goat.

Juli is always quick to make friends with animals!

Farmer Sue is very cool! The kids had a great experience with her as our guide.

Putting the kids to work feeding the animals.

My strong girl determined to do it on her own.

They took the hay to the barn and delivered it to a very happy horse!

Georgia Cyber Academy and why we love it

We attended a Meet-n-Greet the first week of school for Julianna to meet her teacher Mrs. Powell.

Georgia Cyber Academy is a state run charter school. I know way to many people that are against charter schools for various reasons. For us it is a great option for our children's education.

When it comes to education it's important to have options. If we sent Julianna to our local public school they would need to hire an aid for her (that's what the school told us). She would not be able to attend school during the worst of cold and flu season which can be months! Not to mention all the days she'd miss for doctors appointments and therapy sessions. By choosing GCA for Julianna we are saving tax payers tons of money by not having them hire an aid, a teacher to visit the home during the winter months and all the physical changes they would have to make (by law) to accommodate her height.

Georgia Cyber Academy is a title 1 school and  funded by tax papers but it costs less than sending a child to a physical public school. Both of my children have teachers that they can call up or log on and ask questions. They can attend online classes where they get to participate and ask questions as well as school sponsored field trips. Cyber schools are not for every child, just as public school is not for every child. Every parent should have the right to choose what is best for their children.

Jayden struggles with sitting for long periods of time. By choosing GCA for him he can take frequent breaks and learn while bouncing on a ball or running laps through the house while I ask math facts! With time, I know he will be able to control himself better and sit longer but for now this is a great option for him. He is doing so well with his lessons that he is a full year ahead in math and about 3/4of the year a head in Language Arts. All approved by the school through evaluations that they have him take regularly.

Please consider supporting charter schools!

Fernbank History Museum - 9/10/12

We love the Fernbank History Museum! We've been members there for a few years now and the kids love to visit. All these pictures are of Nature Quest with their friends.

Atlanta Sky Zone 8/29/12

Atlanta Sky Zone was very cool! There were sooo many trampolines! On the wall, below your feet....

Jayden loved the dodge ball arena best and Juli loved running and jumping into the foam pit.

They also had strips of  trampoline to practice slam dunking a basketball! We look forward to going back in the spring.

Jayden running from trampoline to trampoline.

Jayden playing Dodge ball with some friends in our home school group. 

I got Juli to stop running along enough to take a picture! We are very protective of her at places like this. The workers were great with making sure she had a few trampolines to her self. She does great on her own, it's just when someone else bounces her........

Julianna loved running, stopping and then sliding into the foam pit! She's to scared to jump and I am thankful for that! It was a great workout for her body!

1st Day of School 2012

I attempted to get pictures of the kids on the first official day of school. They were a little to silly though. 

This is Jayden's 3rd year in Georgia Cyber Academy. He is in 3rd grade math and 3/4 of the way done with 2nd grade Language Arts. They don't allow them to move ahead in science, history and social studies.

Julianna started Kindergarten this week and so far seems happy about it. She gets a lot more computer time than I even allowed before so that makes her want to do school work. 

As always on the 1st day of school the system crashed! So we packed up and headed to the pool for awhile. We LOVE having the pool to ourselves! I don't have to worry about Jayden squirting other people, other kids knocking Julianna around and rude people that thing it's acceptable to sit at the edge of the kiddie pool and smoke a cigarette! We keep Juli away from smoke as much as possible, we just don't know what kind of damage it could do to her already compromised lungs!

Center for Puppetry Arts 7/31/12

We love visting the Center for Puppetry Arts! Our most recent visit was for: The Tortoise, The Hare and other Aesop's fables. They used to ban camera use in the museum but finally removed it! Happy to finally have some pictures of the cool stuff there. Jim Henson made some amazing puppets!

Juli creating her own puppet.

Always have to touch the different puppet materials. ;)

The kids in front of cool window of Bert and Ernie. They are both holding the puppets that they made in the make a puppet workshop. Julianna loves making the puppets best and Jayden loves watching the show best.

Safety Village 7/25/12

Our county has this wonderful place called Safety Village. 

It's a free program put out by the county. The kids LOVED it and learned so much about safety. They even had them exit a house filled with smoke and then call 911 to practice with what they would ask/say on the call. Our group was small so we didn't get to experience it all but for larger groups they even get out goat carts for the kids to drive the streets of Safety Village and learn about the rules of the road!

Jayden learning how to Stop! Drop! Roll!

A fireman put on all of his gear to let the kids see what a firefighter looks like in case they ever have one come in their home to rescue them! 

Greeting each kid to show them there is nothing to fear.

Learning about chemicals and how it's easy to confuse some kitchen cleaners for drinks! 

As soon as the fire alarm went off the kids had to crawl to the front door and get out! They also learned about touching the door and knob to check if it was hot before exiting through the door.

This is what the living room looked like just before the alarm went off. It's amazing what a great job they do of showing kids what it might look and sound like. 

Then they started it all over again but in the bedroom. The kids were taught to find a wall and then crawl along it till they got to the window. Then one by one they got to climb out of the window.

Juli's turn to escape the burning bedroom.

Jayden's ready to jump!

Once the kids were out of the house they all had to wait at the family meeting place, a large tree. Once they were all out they called 911 using the speaker phone so all the kids could hear the call. 

This was our small group when our day was done, minus Jayden because he was pouting that his best friend got to call 911 and not him.

Outside in the Village they had a number of different buildings sponsored by services throughout the Atlanta area. Cobb EMC had a neat truck for pictures and then a fun room where they learned a bit about electricity.

Aiden driving and Jayden in the back.

Julianna and Alannah

Watching how power gets from a plant to your home. Plus the cool race track was fun to watch.

Julianna's favorite room was the CDC! They had music going and the floor and wall was interactive. They were washing their hands in the top picture, followed by stomping out the germs. Finally they got the kids moving with some popular music.

If you have the opportunity to visit Safety Village with your kids, definitely go! It was so neat and I enjoyed it as much as the kids did. I am hoping that Jayden's 2nd grade class goes this year and gets to do everything. Our shortened visit was great but I want to see it all! 

They also had a train, working lights, water department, gas department, fire engine, ambulance, gun safety demonstration, The Strand movie theater..... The list would take to long to tell you all that they offer! They also offer Senior Citizen and special needs education!

For those in need they can make an appointment to have their car seats checked for proper installation with an appointment right next to Safety Village!