Just 2 days ago Marsha sent this video to me. I know little Christian is playing sweet music in Heaven with Jesus.

It is with a deeply saddened heart that I write this post. One of my bestest friends, Marsha, lost her 3 year old son, Christian, last night. My heart is breaking for her and I desperately want to fly to Texas to hold her and comfort her. I cannot fathom how much it must hurt.

Please pray for my dear Marsha, her husband David, and their 2 boys.

Gorgeous sunflowers that smell like cinnamon, premium Ghiradelli chocolate, luscious bath and body products, and a book about friendship with elephant butts on the cover. Isn't my friend Alana the greatest!!

Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 33. I am excited about turning my favorite number. Not.

This little girl, Ava Rose, is the cutest little girl ever, and the daughter of my dear friend Karin. Today Ava Rose said something that completely melted my heart:

"What happens when God gets food all over him?"

Her mommy said, "Food?"

Ava Rose replied, "Yes, because he's inside me and I eat food."

Today's Heart of the Matter Online meme is What are you using this year?

Latin
Song School Latin by Classical Academic Press
Oh my do we love this book!! I had the pleasure of reviewing it for free for Heart of the Matter and cannot recommend it more highly for the early elementary student. Here is the link to my review.

Geography
We are not using a packaged curriculum or book for geography. Instead we are continuing with the Flat Stanley project and starting what is called Country Treasure Boxes. You can visit Melissa's article on Squidoo to learn more about this hands-on way of learning about a country or continent. We are starting with Korea and then doing Great Britain. After we move through about 15 countries, we will begin using A Child's Geography: Exploring His Earth, which I also had the pleasure of reviewing for HOTM.

Mathematics
We are half-way through Math U See: Gamma level. So I can definitely see us moving onto Delta level this year.

Bible
We are about mid-way through reading the entire Children's Illustrated Bible and the guys also read The Little Boy's Bible Storybook for Fathers and Sons. We also started something new last week with a "Bible Journal." I selected some child-friendly verses and printed them out on blank paper. The verse is at the top and there is plenty of room below for drawing. After I explain the verse to the Superhero, I ask him to close his eyes and imagine something as I read it again outloud. He then draws what came to mind. The first 2 verses we have used are Luke 10:27, for which he drew himself bowing down to God and handing God some jewels; and 1 Corinthians 16:13, for which he drew the best example of courage, strength and love...his daddy. When we are done with the Life of Jesus book (see reading below) we are going to do the New Testament Activity Pak created by Amy Pak.

History
History has become our favorite subject and spend lots of time delving into it, using hands-on activities and lapbooks. Our spine is Story of the World 2: the Middle Ages by Susan Wise Bauer. We supplement with the following:

Science
Apologia: Exploring Creation with Astronomy by my dear friend Jeannie Fulbright. If you have never used any of Jeannie's books, you are missing out! To supplement, we are using the lapbook activities by Knowledge Box Central.

Grammar
This is the one area that we have actually struggled with finding something that we are both happy with. We are finishing First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind and I am on the hunt for something thats fits us better.

Reading
My superhero loves to read and devours books. At age 6, he is on a 4th grade reading level! Here is our plan for the next couple of weeks:

The HSBA Team is looking for new ways to bring the homeschooling community together in every area of homeschooling. Blogging is a wonderful way to document your daily happenings in both your homeschool and everyday life, though for a lot the two are joined. Each week over at HSBA they post, on a daily basis, about many topics with great information involving homeschooling. Now, they want to help all of us keep track of the different parts of our homeschool this year with Homeschool Memoirs 2008-09.

Today marks the beginning of this new series and the topic is All About You, the Homeschooling Mom.

My name is Amy, and I live in Ohio. First and foremost, I love our Creator. I've been a Christian for about 13 years and God has blessed me beyond measure. My absolutely amazing husband and I have been married for 10 years and we have a 6 year old son, who is known on my blog as the Superhero. I adore my husband and son and cannot imagine a more perfect life than being a wife and mommy.

We've been homeschooling since birth for many reasons that are posted here. We are classically educating but with a Charlotte Mason focus.

I am the co-founder of Heart of the Matter, along with my dear friend Amy Bayliss. I have a passion for genealogy, history, and tracing roots. I would love to become a "professional genealogist" someday.

"Look Mom! I built the Colosseum..."