Kerr Christian Homeschool Academy

We are finally getting settled into a schedule.  We've had to rearrange things several times because of changing music teachers and changing schedules of current music teachers.  We've also had to rearrange and plan around annual well check ups for both kids and parents.  The highlights of this years' schedule?  We are home most days of the week, only going to "big" town once a week and going to "little" town once a week.  We also have an afternoon dedicated to learning home economics.  This year, we are focusing on cross-stitch for everyone, learning to sew with a machine for the olders, and crochet for the youngers.  It's also a great time to catch up on laundry or to work on presents for family and friends. With 5 children in school this year, scheduling is becoming more difficult.  We only have one computer that can run the math programs and is setup properly for learning to type (proper typing is not learned from holding the keyboard in o...

Today has been quiet a day already! We've been reading Apologia's Zoology 3 book and are in the part about snakes, crocodiles, and other such "scary" animals.  We also have been talking about keeping the kittens and little dogs in the house because of coyotes.  Well, yesterday, before dark, I heard a pack of coyotes across the road and told the kids to make sure Cleo stayed inside.  At that point, N heard me and decided that it was time to bring the little dogs in too. This morning at 3:00am, he woke up screaming about coyotes getting the cats and dogs.  He finally drifted off just in time for the girls alarm to go off for them to watch the eclipse.  Because I was upstairs with N, I stayed up with the girls and finally woke Z  up so he could look too. (My intention was the sleep while they observed from their windows) Yes, there were some clouds.  However, the clouds gave us time to work on making breakfast - cinnamon rolls!  The kids were a...

It's the 3rd week of school and we are already on our 3rd holiday!  No, we don't normally have a holiday a week, just in September.  This week, we started off with A's birthday.  We had the kids adopted grandparents over for lunch on Sunday and then a "playing" day on Monday.  We watched the *long* Pride and Prejudice and everyone worked on their own handicraft.  A's choice was cross stitch.  They are all learning how.  Also during the day, I made the 3rd birthday cake.  The 1st one had icing on it and was in the process of being decorated when the cat decided to sample the icing.  The 2nd cake was actually cup cakes that we were going to decorate with cross stitch letters to say Happy Birthday.  Between the making of the new batch of icing and the cup cakes finishing cooling, the cat decided the towel covering the stove top was just too tempting to leave alone and the goodies underneath were apparently worth the punishment because...

What better way to start a new school year than with a holiday? We always take birthday's off and S had her birthday this week.  This year, we invited a few friends over and had a spa afternoon.  We started with lasagna for lunch and then soaked our feet in epson salt mixed with essential oils (it smelled wonderful on the porch) while the girls let their mask set.  Then, we painted nails and enjoyed strawberries in chocolate.  After everyone had their nails painted, we enjoyed birthday cake and ice cream.  Afterwards, the girls played with make-up.  Overall a fun and relaxing afternoon.   And, in the end, our new little kitten Cleopatra had the most fun of the day pouncing on and hiding in or behind the boxes and tissue paper.

This summer has flown by for us.  We continued guitar, violin, and piano lessons.  We again participated in the youth orchestra.  This year though, we had 2 participants - a violin and a bell player (playing piano opens so many doors).  There was also VBS and Camp Doughboy at the American Cotton Museum.  There were many days of playing at the children's museum and some days of just staying at home.  We didn't do much travelling this summer, even though it was a "cool" TX summer.  Unfortunately, the one weekend we did have a trip planned, it was the first 100 degree weekend in North TX.  Just our luck!  Fortunately, my mom had a water bounce house setup and there are lots and lots of shade trees around the house. We just finished our 2013/2014 school year.  Yes, we are a little behind others in our ending/starting of the school year.  However, it's always so much more fun to start the year off with a holiday than to start school an...

Chihuahuan Desert Center We visited the Chihuahuan Desert Center on Saturday.  The main attraction?  The prickly pear syrup and the jelly from the store.  It was a hot afternoon so we didn't spent very long (the disadvantages of being up all night, you slept all morning).  Due to the rains the week before, many of the cactus' were blooming - the pretties I've been the gardens. We also visited the new bird watching area at the Davis Mountains State Park.  We came away with ideas for how to improve our bird watching areas and catch some great photos of hummingbirds.

This trip, we also made time for a visit to the McDonald Observatory.  Since we had been on our last trip, we thought about skipping the tour this time until I overheard A telling one of her friends that she couldn't wait until she was able to turn the telescope.  Views from the top of Mount Locke - looking out over the mountains and looking back behind us at the "small" telescope. Watching the tour guide move the floor from the "middle" telescope. A was allowed to move the telescope.....  Both of the bottom pictures were from the same angle, taken consecutively. Z was chosen to move the dome around so that the telescope and the dome opening lined up. The 2nd part of the tour was of the newest telescope - 109", made up of at least 70 individual mirrors that work together in union to create an image.

The Davis Mountains were named for Jefferson Davis.  Before the Civil War, when people were headed out west for "fortune and glory" (think California Gold Rush) and the often chosen route led them from San Antonio to El. Paso.  Since it was such a popular route, the US established forts along the trail to aid in protection from the Indians for her citizens.  In the Davis mountains, there is a beautiful river called Limpia that offered travelers a welcome reprieve from their travels.  It's a natural place to establish a fort.  Thus Fort Davis was born. Today, Limpia river is just a dry river bed.  However, it is still tree lined with huge, 100 year old trees that are very drought tolerant.  With very little imagination, you can see the river winding through the mountains. What is now known as the historic Fort Davis, is part of the national parks system and is partially restored.  The restoration process is still ongoing at the fort.  Ev...

This year, we again were in RV 6, which means the kids didn't have to walk across the roads to get to the lower observing field.  We do setup on the lower field because of the kids and their tendencies to come in and out.  At 2:00am, the upper field is a little far and the roads are a little dark for walking by yourself back to the RV.  So, we setup on the lower field and S plays shuttle director between everyone who wants to come in. The average night goes something like this: Listen to guest speakers from 7:30 to about 9:00. 9:00pm - uncover telescopes and make sure all observing equipment is in good working order and at the observing site.  (Also a good time to go visit fellow astronomers and see what kind of goodies they have and that you "need" to get) 10:30pm - everything is finally dark 12:30am - everyone comes in for a late night snack and the youngest one outside generally stays in. 2:30am - C finally has enough fun and goes to bed 3:30am - Dad's r...