The Cahill's

Garrison recently celebrated 2 birthdays on the same day! Let me explain.

This summer he saw his cousin follow Jesus through baptism and had a lot of questions. We had multiple conversations on sin and the choice to either reject or accept Jesus’ death as payment for that sin. During one of these conversations, I could tell he was under conviction of his sin but not sure how to proceed. I asked if he wanted to repent and ask Jesus for forgiveness and follow Him. Garrison said yes and I had the privilege to lead him in a prayer of faith. The change was immediate! He went from squirming discomfort to radiant joy! He went to tell his Dad and then the rest of his siblings.

We talked about baptism, and he thought it would be neat to wait until his cousin visited and be baptized then – so that put the date as the day after Thanksgiving! Then as we discussed his upcoming birthday (Dec 18) he thought it would be fun to celebrate that with his cousin as well, so we put both events on the same day!

Garrison wanted a lego party, so we borrowed a big tub of legos from a neighbor, spread them out on the floor and let them have at it!

Easiest party ever!

The Uncles had more fun than the kids I think 🙂 My two brothers would toss each other a random piece and challenge the other to work it in to their ship design.

That afternoon family and some friends gathered for the baptism.

We sang some Hymns, including Garrison’s “theme” song “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” and Garrison gave testimony and was then baptized by his father.

Garrison with his cousin – may these two be the friend that sticks closer than a brother, the iron that sharpens each other and spurs the other to love and good works!

We celebrated with birthday cake that symbolizes both the lego interest of a 6 year old boy and the start of a new life in Christ.

Garrison – you are my strong tower, a defender of the weak and fatherless. May you follow the Lord with all of your heart, for all of your life and may you courageously fight the kingdom of darkness as a warrior of God’s kingdom here on earth.

This week, as everyone was posting their first day of school pictures, we were actually celebrating the last day of our co-op semester! So here we are posed, not as starting out on a learning adventure, but in the final stages of knowledge application. I give you, Ancient Egyptians:     Since I was photographing all the kids in the co-op, somehow Ryder got missed in the shuffle – but he dressed up too. We had all kinds of fun learning about different aspects of Egypt over an 8 week period. The following pictures are just a sample:    Pre-school made the crook and flail carried by Pharaoh. They painted the chariots of the conquering Hyksos warriors. Ace enjoyed acting out mummification.  The middle group made costume pieces,  Painted Tut masks,  And enjoyed an archeological dig.  Girls of the older group created dioramas…  while the boys made weapons and shields. Tomb paintings were a big hit with everyone. Our final day finished with a potluck feast of Egyptian food and a museum showcasing what we had done!  The kids wrote articles and Ivy put them together into a newspaper.  Artifacts from the dig. Canopic jars and the coffin/burial layers of a Pharoah. Dazzling treasures from the tomb! All in all, we had a great time with this unit, learning about another time and people.

Hi there! Been a while since posting – I had trouble with photo uploads, but that has now been fixed, thanks to my brother-in-law. Hopefully that means I can blog a little more often.

Anyhow, new things are happening here, as always, and one of those things is a homeschool co-op. I’ve hosted a co-op in my home in the past, but the last few years I farmed our family efforts out to other locations. With that experience under my belt, and at the hopeful request of a few friends, I once again find myself spear-heading a group of learners!

PACE stands for our core values of:

Peers – because it takes a village, right?

Accountability – so often we moms have good intentions, but the day slips away and those intentions didn’t happen.

Commitment – If you’re in, you’re in.

Engage – This is not a lecture and take notes class, we get our hands dirty and delight in the process.

A unique aspect of this co-op is the non-traditional schedule. I’m of the opinion that the school year was designed for the northern states – where summer might actually be the best time to enjoy the weather. But this is Texas – it’s hot y’all. No one wants to go outside except to swim. So we’re putting those inside days to good use with the intention of taking our breaks when we actually want to go outside. With that thoughts, we are already in full swing for our summer session. We have a cooking class and a math games class, preschool and history.

My part is teaching history and we’re doing Ancient civilizations, starting with Egypt.

Mummy wrapping and sarcophagus

More mummy wrapping!

Canopic jars

Making papyrus

Guest visit from an Egyptian woman who told us about her country and wrote our names in Arabic

Reed boats

Learning hieroglyphics

Our pre-school enjoyed Egyptian themed projects as well:

Dress like an Egyptian

Making Papyrus

Learning about the Nile

When classes are over we have free time. Currently that mostly centers around water play while the moms supervise and visit

So there you have it – the beginning of our adventures in learning!!