Welcome to Sack Fine Art Galley

Pinterest Inspired Me! I saw this pin and I knew I wanted this for our home! We have a stairway leading to our bonus room/learning room that would be great for it! I found a great company on Facebook called Live It Up Vinyl

She created a custom piece for our space!

We added a curtain rod and clips. we can't wait to fill the wall with more of our creations!

All About Fireworks (4th of July Fun) with Brandenburg Studies Review

With the 4th of July quickly approaching we wanted to learn a little more about fireworks! This inexpensive study was a perfect fit. It includes information about the history of fireworks, activity pages to print, crafts and recipes to make, and even links to online games and videos. When we watch the fireworks this year will think about all of the neat things that we learned from this unit. Lots of work goes into making fireworks and it's a little sad they they only last a short time. The crafts and food items that we make from this unit will last long after the bang and the brilliant light show that fireworks produce.

This unit is completely download and go! Perfect resource for busy homeschool moms!

When he headed out to watch the local fireworks in a near by field we had a better understanding of how they worked!

Mini-Bulletin Board - Owls Review

We are still working our way through all of the great items in our Currclick.com account. The new school is upon us so we have been doing a little updating and reorganizing. When I saw this cute freebie I had the perfect place to try it out! We have a school rules poster that I printed for free from eighteen2525

To update it for this year I printed off some of the owls and other cute graphics from this free download:

Owls are very popular in school room decor these days! This cute set will bring color and encouragement to any space. It has colorful owls,flowers, umbrellas and clouds to print out and use any way that you chose. Kathy includes tips and a sample layout with this download but if your space is small you can print the pages that you need and place them around the room to give a little visual interest where needed. Also included is the bible verse "He Restores My Soul" Great for homeschool, churches or daycare centers!

We laminated the pieces and love it way it turned out!

Get your freebie today!

Be sure to check out all the other great products from Kathy Hutto. We have used many of her products in the past and have enjoyed them all!

Are you taking the Currclclick challenge? What products have you used this week?

Digital Frog Field Trips

Every homeschool family dreams of going on awesome field trips. Time and money often prohibit these dreams. Digital Frog Field Trips can help!

They offer field trips virtually to The Desert, The Rain Forest and to the Wetlands. The whole unit offers a multi - media approach which appeals to children with a variety of learning styles. After visiting each place parents and teachers can download a workbook to accompany lesson. It includes tips, suggestions, quizzes and crossword puzzles to enhance the learning.

What I enjoyed most about this was how easy it is to use. It truly is download and go! The whole family can benifit from this awesome resource. It does seem geared towards junior high or high age children based on the vocabulary but all of my children (ages 8-18) learned a lot from it!

Right now these product are on sale at Educents. Check them out today and head off on your very on field trip with out packing a thing!

Take A Trip Tuesday! Virtual Style

Each Tuesday this summer out theme will be "Take A Trip Tuesday" This week we are taking a virtual trip using a great product from www.currclick.com by Kathy Hutto. This is very cost effecting! The entire trip costs just $2.00!

We have been to the Georgia Aquarium before and really enjoyed our visit. It has been several years and I wasn't sure just what the girls would remember about it. They surprised me though with lots of memories of the field trip. We didn't want to make the trip again right now, it's a 4 hours drive, so we did the next best thing, we took a virtual trip!

We started out by reading the introduction. This gave us some background information that prepared us for our "trip"

Next we visited the websites that are listed. These were a collection of YouTube links, websites, and blog posts with pictures. This gave us a inside look at the Georgia Aquarium. What an amazing place! We all learned so much, mom included!

After the virtual tours we went over some fun facts. Then we completed our lapbook that will showcase all that we have learned on our trip!

If you are more into notebooking there are notebooking pages as well!

Also included are ideas from lunch and snacks. We plan to give some of these a try.

To wrap up our tour you need a souvenir to take home. Ideas for craft projects are included.

Kathy has several other field trips in this series! We can't wait to do more!

Make It Monday! Cake/Cookie Stand

Each day of our summer is going to have a theme! Monday's theme will be "Make It Monday"!

We took this idea from pinterest! We made cake/cookie stands for William's graduation party from dollar tree plates and candle sticks!

You will need plates, candle sticks and e6000 glue.

Apply glue to your candle stick base and put the plate on top!

Let it dry and then load it up with goodies!

End of a Journey

Cap, Gown, Tassel, Diploma, announcements and party invites for William's graduation are in! This has really made things final. On June 8th he will graduate from our homeschool. WHAT A RIDE! When we started this journey 12 years ago we said we would take it year by year. Looking back, with in a month or two I knew that there would be no turning back. This experience has been life changing! Homeschooling William for the past 12 years has taught me more than anyone will ever know. Not only on a educational level but a personal level as well. I have learned things about my self and not all of those things were good things! Being with William day in and day out I would see things in his character that bugged me. After much thought and reflection I realized that he was learning those things from me! YIKES! What a big responsibility! On the other hand I would see him do great things with his life and see great qualities in him as well. That was a treat. I knew that the things that I had taught him were sinking in and those little moments made it all worth it. As I think back over the years I was suppose to be the one teaching William, yet he was really teaching me! Here are a few of the things that he taught me. Patience- Ok so I am still working on that some days (Emma is in the 2nd grade, so I have 10 more years to perfect that LOL) I am sure that William will say I need lots of work on that one, especially after our 9th grade physical science course and ANY TIME he saw a fraction or decimal in math! Debate- This guy can argue with a stop sign, AND WIN! He never backs down and is always ready to prove his point. I hope that this skill will serve him well in the future. We wants go in to the political field so I am sure that it will.

Computers- I know how to do most of things that I want to do on the computer but if I ever had a problem I knew where to turn. William was always ready to help me out but he would never just do the things I needed. He would tell me, and make me work on it step by step until I got it right! Such a great teacher, right. Guess he learned from the best. What "school" is- As a child I really did not enjoy school. School was a chunk of my day where I was forced to learn what others thought I should learn and graded me on those things. I did not always do well so that cause much stress. William has taught me that school is not something that you can put in a box and just "do". We truly are learning all the time. I have learned to love "school" and I now love to learn new things! Music Appreciation- William listens to a wide variety of music. Some good and some not so good :) He has taught me to be tolerant of his music choices and I have taught him to tolerate mine. We each have found that we agree on some of those selections and noting beats a good 80's music jam session in the car, especially when he uses his cell phone as his mic! Music class on my watch has to include a little of my favorite group of all times, New Kids on the Block. William has learned that his mama has mad skills when it come to rapping and he just LOVES to hear me rap and sing all of my favorite childhood song. (NOT) Yes, music class is always fun! Character- William has taught me not to judge others. He has the biggest heart.

To be believe in my self- When I had no idea if I could continue this journey, he would tell me that I was the best mother ever! He praised me and let me know that homeschooling was the right choice and that we could do this TOGETHER!

"Experts" and well meaning people in society DO NOT KNOW IT ALL- Through out this journey we have been hit with much negativity and advise for EVERY WHERE! William has taught me that at the end of the day NONE of that matters! You must look inside your self and do what is right for YOU! You can not live your life for anyone else. You must make choices that will make you happy and the rest will fall in line.

Just do it- William has taught me to plan less and do more. If you spend all your time planning you never have time to do the things that you want. He has taught me to jump right in and just go for it!

Be a team player- There is a big age gap between William and his sisters, 8 and 10 years, to be exact. Some of the field trips and activities that have taken part in over the years have often been below his level, he never once complained and joined in with a happy heart. This meant a lot to me as his teacher and his sisters will have so many memories of the good times they had learning side by side with him.

Make you own happy- You can not count on others to make you happy, you create your own happiness! Run with that!

As we come to the end of this journey I hope that I have been able to impact William's life in a positive manner. I pray that he will look back on our times together with fond memories and much love. Gone are the days that we would head to the library, curl up on the corner couch and read together all day. We still frequent the library, he just heads for political books and I am often searching for our next unit study topic. I am thankful that he still enjoys being with me and I think that is a great testament of the time that I have invested in his life. Has this been an easy road? By NO MEANS!!! But I can say that it has been worth it all!

Congratulations William. I love you and I am proud of you and your many accomplishments.