Where it all began…..

Mike and I have been married 8 1/2 yrs. I am amazed at how God has worked through our marriage in thick and thin. We have been through some very tough storms and trials. We have had high and low points. We have sought God in every situation, but sometimes as a “last” resort. We are not proud of that decision, but we are human, and we do sin….okay pick your jaws up off the floor! I know that shocked you all! Yes, we admit it, we are not perfect!  But as each day goes by we love each other more than we did on November 2, 2002, when we said our vows in front of lots of people. I thank God that he has brought two people together to do what we have done. We may not be doing a huge extraordinary thing in this world, but we are doing something extraordinary in our own home and in the lives that surround us! Praise God for this!

 

Our engagement picture, 2002.

 

Some Fun pictures of our engagement year!

One of the wedding showers.

                         

And we are Mr. and Mrs. Creek!

Michael graduates from college, and we are expecting…4months along!

We become Mommy and Daddy!

Welcome Natalie Kirstin Creek, 5lbs4oz 18in long, February 14, 2004!

 

Welcome Adam Thomas Creek, 6lbs4oz and 19in long, November 30, 2005!

Welcome Travis Alexander Creek, 7lbs9oz, 19in long, September 23, 2009!

And that is how our story began!! God is blessing us daily!

Soaring Creek Academy- Workbox System

We are officially on Spring Break this week, so that has brought on a few changes in our homeschool and organization. I have been busy at work researching, "The Workbox" style of homeschooling and organization to implement.

The workbox system was started with Sue Patrick. Sue homeschooled her son that is autistic and used this system to help him in his learning process. I am not following her system completely. You know, as a homeschooler we like to change things up. Make them our own! Well at least I do! You can learn more about the workbox system and Sue Patrick at her website, www.workboxsystem.com.

A little about our homeschool, we are a Christian Homeschooling family. We want our children to know the Lord and serve him first! We want our children to be wonderful people and love what they do in life. We are using a Classical approach to teach our children with The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. We love to read and the kids love to be read to! Along with all of our books we are starting up with the workbox system to attempt to keep on track during the day and so the kids will know what to expect next instead of asking and whining about how much more we have to do!


I have made all of our cards, laminated and put them where we need them to be, so that on Monday when we start back to school the kids know what is happening! We are a little excited about this!

When we enter the classroom to start school we will put the cards on the side of check in for day. When school is over for the day we will put our cards over to the check out for day. This system is to reinforce that the kids can check in and out, and see that they have physically done this. Just like someone would clock in/out at a work place.

These are the actual workboxes that we purchased from Jo Ann's. They were 50% off. These are 10 drawer carts; I made cards with each child's name and a number for each drawer. I also made another card with the number of the drawer. I used Velcro to attach the cards to the drawers. The cards with names and numbers will stay on the carts; where as the cards with just the numbers will be put onto another holder when the child is done with the drawers. In each drawer we will place one activity for the child to complete. For example drawer #1 will have math. When you place the math in the drawer, make sure to have all the materials that are needed to complete the activity. Natalie would need to have her math workbook, manipulative blocks and a pencil. By having all the materials ready in the drawer, you save time by not having the child running around and looking for materials. You may also save your sanity!


The shelf with three shelves holds some of our workbooks and all of our binders and reader books. The tall shelf with cubbies holds our extra supplies, special books the kids are only allowed to use on "special occasion", games and dry erase board markers and erasers. The 3 bin rolling cart holds manipulative blocks, flash cards and lacing beads. On top of the rolling cart is our construction paper, handwriting paper, plain white paper and notebooks.



I haven't exactly figured out if we will use every box every day or not. I have put a jump rope in one box, math in one, art, spelling, handwriting paper and reading books in other boxes! We will continue to work together in our history with Story of the World and Science with our human body study. I have made other cards with activities listed on them, such as outside play time, Wii time, computer time, break, and work with mom, quiet reading, and build with legos. These are ways to give them a variety of different activities to do.



Here are our calendar area, easel and work space for the kids. On the workspace aka table we have two "pen holders". We use them to hold markers, crayons, pencils, scissors, and glue. There is also a box in the middle with stickers, papers and index cards for the kids to do crafts or free time art.



I hope you enjoyed a look into our classroom!! It has been so much fun to teach my little ones this year and try new things. We have said that this is our trial and error year. I have tried a couple of different things and am still trying to figure out what will exactly work for us! I am praying that the workbox system will work, because I think we will love it!

Blessings…Jackie

Outside

We have been playing outside alot in the afternoons around here! This nice weather is wonderful! This is the first time for Travis to see what its like to be outside and wonder around. Its as if he has discovered a whole new world. All the kids love to be outside! I have been asked if they can play outside at 7:00 AM...and then told them the rule is that they are not allowed to go out until at least 9:ooAM! These kids crack me up! They are so full of life!

Natalie and Adam have been practicing riding scooters! This task takes alot of large motor skills and they are doing so well. The coordination that riding a scooter is something that I don't have, but they do! I have tried riding their scooters and they get a good laugh about it! Natalie has also been perfecting her bike riding skills with her 2 wheeler! (We took her training wheels off at the end of last summer!) Adam on the other hand, poor guy, his chain keeps falling off of his bike? I'm not to sure on how to fix this problem?

On March 11, I went away for the day! I know, I can't believe it either! This was my first full day away in 7 years! Yes, since Natalie has been born! I mean I have been away with just the kids, with just Michael, but never away completely without husband or children! I went to a women's conference in Bloomington, IL. Hearts at Home is where I went. Its an awesome event for moms of all ages, to learn more go to www.heartsathome.org. I had a great time taking some much needed classes and learning some new things about being a wife and mommy at "mom school". I also got to meet up with a friend who I haven't seen in a long time! We got to chat over a wonderful dinner, you know a restaurant where we had no children with us and we didn't have to use a knife to cut up any ones food, take anyone to the bathroom, or answer any questions about when the food is coming, what is this food made from or can we go to McDonald's after this so we can play and get a toy? I enjoyed myself very much! I came back home refreshed and full of new ideas! Mike had the kids all day and did very well! (everyone was still breathing when I arrived home) I came home to Adam and a new haircut, which was well overdue and very cute on him! He can now spike his hair!

We are keeping busy with our homeschooling and all that we do at home! And well, that's another post with in itself! I will try to get a post up of our homeschooling shortly and show you all what we have been up to!

Natalie's 7th Birthday

Natalie celebrated her 7th Birthday on February 14, 2011. Mike and I can hardly believe our little girl is now 7. We are so not ready for this!! She just keeps growing and growing and getting so much smarter! This makes me sad to think she isn't so little anymore! Oh no, the tears are sweeling up...I can't see very clearly!

We had a Tea Party for Natalie at our house with a few of her friends. The little girls came dressed in their fancy dresses. They got to have punch in Tea cups and saucers, heart shaped cheese, animal crackers, and those heart shaped candies with sayings on them! The girls all had a wonderful time. I think their favorite were the heart shaped cheese and punch!

Natalie loved her cake and picked out some very pretty flowers to go on the table as the center piece. We had a great time!