No Theme! So – I will do an introduction –

My given name is Angela Ruth– People call me Angie, Ang, Ann

Of how we got our name – Petra School –

When we first started homeschooling – we did quite a bit of “public school style at home” and part of that was wanting a school name. A school name also helped when answering questions in town, like – where do you go to school? We don’t go to school – wasn’t really an answer.  I was crazy on the preschool blogs, give aways, forums.  Many of these 12 years ago were more for day care centers, and to get the freebie – you needed a school name. So we sat as a family – and asked about names.  Mind you the boys were 3 and 6 or 2 and 4, not sure. We have been rock hounds since the beginning – and my oldest son suggested Rock School – out of jest – but I looked up Rock and Said Yes! Rock School it is!

Petra is the Rock, the Firm Foundation, The Immovable. The Cornerstone. He is Christ.

Petros is pieces of that rock, Pebbles so to speak – of Peter in the bible.  It is fun to hear songs, read psalms, read texts that talk about the Rock, and Pieces of the rock. We have quite a list going.

As time has gone on – we have become fascinated with Geological Record. Of what it tells us – of how it contradicts the thinking of man, and points towards the intelligent design spoken of in the Bible. I love finding fossils  – outcroppings – the shape of rocks, the placement of types of rocks, Its an obsession of our entire family.

So way back when Google came on the scene, I gave myself the pebblekeeper@gmail name – and started signing in as pebblekeeper, instead of being Angie#347.  Or Angie_in_Oregon – which I used a bit way back when.

Where are we now? – Why the other blogs?

We recently moved to a small tourist coastal town, the only people in the town are the ones working at the service jobs or here vacationing. 🙂 My hubby works in the only retail department store besides the 2 hardware stores.  We started taking so many pictures of the beach and of the lake, that I made a few blogspots to separate our “morning walk” photos from our homeschool posts.

From the Windows.live.spaces Family Blog – the PetraSchool WordPress Blog

Last year, as we were entering the Middle School area – I was saddened to see the lack of homeschool blogs focused on middle school age kids, or junior high kids.  It would seem that these are the years that  people start to go back to the public school arena.

I wanted to post our struggles, frustrations, triumphs, and what we’ve figured out works for us.  This year has been a bit more relaxed in the seat work area  – as we have enjoyed an intense 6 months of marine life, shore life, geology, botany and learning to do Nature Studies, and Nature Sketch Journals. Seems to be more like a unit study of the Central Oregon Coast aided by the Hatfield Marine Science Center and the Oregon Aquarium and the Depot Bay Whale Watching Center. 🙂 A bit of help from the Sitka Center of Arts, Leslie Walker for Sketching and Barbara McCoy for Handbook of Nature Study Outdoor Hour Challenges.

What are we doing for school?

Our writing has been mostly in the notebook keeping area, our spelling has been non stop as they write more, chat more, txt more.  Our math has remained steadfast in Miquon and Saxon. I get alot of hits on the page for Miquon – if you are a struggling mom with it, I have enjoyed all 6 books for 2 children with 2 learning styles, I’d not mind answering personal email questions about a page or section. 🙂

See how much I can type without a topic?  🙂

I am enjoying the blog hops – Please comment to say Hi! I love meeting new bloggers. 🙂 Questions are always welcome.

Oh – and look over at the right hand side of my screen, at the top, are the list of my Beach Schooling, Lake Schooling and my Ponderings. 🙂