School Days Are Here and Oh What Fun!

Well this has been a great two weeks so far. I was a bit nervous in the beginning but the kids have done great and have worked very hard on their work. They really love our science and history curriculum because it is very hands on. We have already started our time line for History and the children all got to make their own pictures for it. We also did our very first Science project which dad helped with and they were so excited that he could help.Finally we took our first field trip and that was a blast. We would like to say a special thank you to Mr. Keith Bates for all of his help and giving us the tour of the CFD. We learned so many things about a fireman that I didn't even know myself. They have to go to school for ten weeks and only come home on the weekends to see their family and that is only part of their training. Some of the other parts of training involve a timed obstacle course. This used to be just running, sit ups, and push ups, but now it is more geared to what they may face on the job.  He also showed us all the equipment inside the trucks and what each one is used for. One of the pieces of equipment we got to see were the jaws of life. We always have heard about it but never had we seen it in person. There were three different hoses and each one was used for a specific size and kind of fire. There was just so many items it was hard to believe it all fit in those trucks. I think the coolest thing of all to us was he took us into a room and turned the lights off to make it completely dark. He used this hand held thermal imaging gun and we could see everyone in the room in total darkness. Then he put his hand on the wall and removed it and we could see the image of  his handprint still on the wall it was so amazing. This could be used if a place was completely filled with smoke and you couldn’t see anything you could still see people and where to find them. Then as a surprise the kids got to sit in the truck and turn the lights on. Then when we were leaving he gave each child a book, coloring page, stickers and a fireman hat which they love. So again thank you Mr. Bates for all you done that day.

Above is their classroom they use for training. Kids got to see that even they have to go to school.Above is their kitchen. It is pretty large because they all stay there for 24 hours on their shift so they all have to eat together.

Above is a picture of the bed they have to sleep in overnight on their shift.Above is how they line up their clothes to put them on very quickly.Here is their fire truck.Here is a picture from the front. Here Tristin is trying on their oxygen tank to feel how heavy it is.

From the other side

Here the kids got to hold the actual hose.

Here are some of the tools they have stored on the truck. These panels slide out and they have tools on both sides.

More tools

Here are the “Jaws of Life”

 

Here is a generator.

Here is 900 feet of hose that they use to attach to a fire Hydrant. It isn’t thought about until needed but take a good look at how far a fire Hydrant is from your house. You need one within 1000 feet so they can hook to it. Otherwise they will run out of water.

The hose is all the way to the other side of the fire/Rescue writing

Here are multiple Ladders

Here is another truck they usually would take with them.

A view of the inside

Another look at the inside.

Look at all those gauges

In the bottom left corner are the different hose sizes

In the upper right are airbags they use to lift cars or other objects. He said they could lift the fire truck if need be.

 

This truck has 1200 feet of hose.

 

More Equipment

Here is the vehicle they use for football games and sporting events in case of injury.

Here all the kids got to sit in the truck

Jaden Above

Emilee

KayLeigh

Jonathan

Tristin

 

kenslei

Here is Tristin running the lights

  

Another view of all the controls these vehicles have. The panel that runs the water is a 40 hour class of instruction alone.

Thank you Mr. Bates for showing us so many aspects of the life of a fireman.

Here is the whole family

    

Here are all the kids with their Fireman hats on. This was a pretty awesome time and the information alone that we were told was so beneficial to us and to the kids.

We look very forward to the many different places we plan on going for school trips and all the things that we will be learning.

School Is Just Around The Corner

Well I know its been a while since I have written on my blog. Time seems to go by so fast, especially when you are trying to raise six children. I'm not even sure where to start since so much has been happening and we have been extremely busy. With school right around the corner we have been getting things ordered and setting up the school room. The children are very happy and excited that they are homeschooling this year. I'm a bit nervous its been a long time since i did this as Tanner was my last child that I home-schooled and he is now twenty so this will be all new again. I have prayed about this for some time now and do feel like this is what God wants me to do. As I was praying and reading the word of God I realized that if there is a time that parents need to teach their children its now. I want my children to be surrounded by christian values and learn the benefits of the one true God every day of their lives. My thought is if they are in that environment all day long and learning the word of God by the time they go into this world they will know who they are and what they believe and why they believe it. So please keep us in your prayers as we venture into this new part of our life. Below are some pictures of our school room and a list of the curriculum that we will be using this year.God Bless

Tristin 4th grade:

Math- Math-u-See

English-Rod and Staff

History-Mystery History

Science-Land Animals of the Sixth day

Spelling-Rod and Staff

Bible-IBLP Wisdom Booklets


KayLeigh 1st grade

Math- Rod and Staff

English-Rod and Staff

Phonics- Rod and Staff

Spelling- Spelling with Success

History-Mystery History

Science- Land Animals of the Sixth Day

Bible-IBLP Wisdom Booklets

Pool Project 2012

Well much has happened since our last post and the main thing I guess would be a used pool that we bought. We wanted to do something special for our kids and we were thinking about a swing set type system that you see at Lowes but along came this pool and we considered it and made an offer we could afford and it was accepted….so here we go. We have never took on a project quite like this and without our friend Tony we probably would have had to pass this one by as well. So thank you Jesus for this wonderful blessing and thank you Jesus for a great friend. We would take the friend over the pool any day of the week, but since Tony was willing to help guide us through this project we were very grateful and ready to give it a try.

Here are the pictures of the pool prior to taking it down where it was.

the first thing that had to happen was the pool needed to be drained out and the deck removed at the same time.

Once the deck was removed we were ready to start taking it apart and bring it to our house.

meanwhile at the Koehoorn’s back yard this nice grassy knoll was about to be changed.

By a Bobcat! So long grass and hello mess.

Here Tony is helping to guide the Bobcat operator as to what we needed.

Here is the flat spot as a result.

Here are all the pool parts all over the driveway.

Once Tony got the ground completely level we started putting the pool back together.

Here we are dumping the sand into the center so we could finish putting the pool together.

Once the sand was spread out and leveled then the liner could be put in.

We stretched it all out and installed it over the lip and we are ready for water.

Here is a side view before we backfilled.

Here we are backfilling around the pool.

It is a work in process but the ground is leveling out after some tiller work and a rake.

Here are the kids having a ball in the new pool. We can’t believe how much fun this can be for them.

This pool sure was a blessing and we thank God for allowing us to find it and be able to put this in. We look forward to many days of swimming with the kids. We have already had all the kids over and had a ball. We sure do appreciate all the help from Tony and some of the kids because without them none of this would have been possible.