Wooden Boat

Larry and I wanted to find some kind of summer job for Joshua to keep his hands moving, build some self esteem, and learn some skills of a trade. We asked Alan Tomle of Boat Works if he would mind having Joshua come help him two days a week during the summer. Alan said he would love that, and we are thrilled. Joshua has been working hard, and learning a lot about boats, and how to work on them. Here are some pictures of a boat that Alan built from scratch. It is not quite finished in the pictures. He still had to put the metal trim on the edges and a metal handle on the front. The craftsmanship of this boat is amazing, and Joshua was so excited to take pictures of it. He helped with some sanding and varnishing on this boat.

Planning for next falls homeschool days

I sat down with the family last weekend and discussed with them what they would like to study in the fall. I had a huge list of areas that we could amerce ourselves in this year. When we study something I like to dig in real deep and find out as much as I can about that thing...so Unit Studies work very well for us.
After talking with the boys they both showed great interest in Military History. So we are planning on studying American wars, starting with the Revolutionary war and working all the way through to the present. For Science we will be learning about military machines, and ballistics. We will be making some of our own backyard ballistics like catapults, potato launchers, mini cannons...that sort of thing. Don't worry this will be all supervised by Dad. LOL! For physical education we will be doing a mini boot camp.
So I am trying to find as much material as I can about Military life,Branches of military, wars, battles, weapons, famous generals or soldiers who did extraordinary things...so if you have any books, movies, audio CD's that you would be willing to lend to us for anywhere from six months to a year, we would be so blessed. This is one thing about homeschooling that can be overwhelming...the cost of materials...If you lent us anything we would treat it with utmost care. I love that the Library has resources, but I have also noticed that their is a great amount of censoring that goes on. It seems like if their is anything about God in a book or film they do not carry it. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have a list of books that I need, and am not able to find them in our local library...but there are more than enough books about sorcery, witchcraft, and everything else...my pet peeve...
Also if you have any great, creative ideas that you would like to share...I am all ears!