Weekend Wednesdays

With the romance of ice skating in Rockefeller Center in mind, we have our own smaller version right here in downtown Greenville. For a romantic rendevous, or fun outing with the kids, this nostalgic ice skating adventure is sure to delight people of all ages. So take a stroll down memory lane with a pair of ice skates on. Greenville Tech is sponsoring the event in the Marriott courtyard off Main Street downtown. Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $8 for kids. To learn more information, go to their website at:  http://www.iceonmain.com/

Moms Minute Mondays

We all have times when it feels like we haven't talked to another adult for weeks. Every stay at home mom goes through this whether she is a fellow home schooler, or just staying home for a few months with her newborn baby before re-acculating to the work force. Those days can be lonely and scary. Imagine, you may not have showered for two days, and you're making your wardrobe choices by what things you think you can afford to have spit up on.  Even with older kids, you start to feel invisible, and you don't think you can ask them one more time to take out the trash....

But there is one thing you can do to feel better, and that is to take time out for yourself. Sure, a devotional is great for the soul, but I mean something a bit beyond that. Take time to connect with other home schooling moms. A great place to start is to find a local support group with similar values to your own. This is easily found using Google or a Yahoo groups search page. In the Upstate of SC, I found a Christian principled support group called FCHome on Yahoo Groups. Go ahead, be bold. All you have to lose is a few minutes in front of the computer, and you have the potential of gaining some new friends.

To access FCHome click the following link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FCHome/

Weekend Wednesdays

Since the middle of the week we are looking for relief from the mundane and every day stresses, I am launching this new column to focus on what is happening this weekend in the Upstate of SC, or in the surrounding areas. I hope you will join me for some ideas of things to do with your family this weekend.

Usage of this picture has the expressed consent of the Carolina Ballet Theatre

This weekend the Carolina Ballet Theatre will recreate the holiday tradition of the Nutcracker at the Peace Center in downtown Greenville, SC. The company is celebrating it's fortieth season, and this production is appropriate for all ages. Tickets sell for $40 per person and are available at the Peace Center Box Office.

You may buy tickets by calling the Peace Center Box Office at (864) 467-3000 or by logging into their website at:

http://www.peacecenter.org/shows/2013/nutc

Showtimes are as follows:

Friday, November 30, 2012 at 7:30 PM

Saturday, December , 2012

Shows at 2:00 PM & at 7:30 PM

Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 2:00 PM

We hope you will bring your family to enjoy this rich holiday tradition. Please bear in mind if you are planning on going to the Saturday performances the Poinsett Christmas Parade will begin at 6:00 PM just outside the venue doors to make your holidays kick off in grand style.

Photo Compliments of Carolina Ballet Theatre

Field Trip Fridays

Anderson Arts Center, Anderson, SC

The Anderson Arts Center offers a homeschool school class to area residents. If you are wanting to do a field trip, they can create a make and take program for you and your students. It is a two hour program that allows kids of all ages come to the Arts Center and work with one of ourwonderful teachers to make a project and be able to take it home at the endof the two hours.  You would have to be able to provide your owntransportation here to the Arts Center.  The cost is $10.00 a kid.  Thatcovers supplies and the teacher fee. 

To arrange your own private homeschool event contact: 

Brittany Poore at brittanyp@andersonarts.org 

Or call: (864) 222-2787

For more information you can also visit their website at:

http://www.andersonarts.org/

The Anderson Arts Center was gracious enough to let us use their space for our Degasesque themed portraits of my daughter.

Moral Compass

The thing that is lacking in our society is a moral compass. Kids don't know right from wrong, and they look to television and their technology for answers. Biblically we know the only true authority of right from wrong is God, and to not acknowledge that would lead to eternal damnation. As homeschoolers we have chosen a different and more non-secular path for our youth. We know that we know and love our children more than anyone else possibly could. Our faith in God will guide our footsteps and we will intrinsically know what our children need. So I just want to say, keep up the good work! Don't grow discouraged while doing well.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
~ Proverbs 22:6

A Walk Back in Time for Field Trip Fridays

In a recent trip to the Walnut Lane Inn, we embarked on a walk back in history. This historical home is nestled in the little town of Lyman, SC. Whether just visiting for lunch at the Cookie Jar Cafe, or if you'd like to bring a homeschool group for a tour, the pristine grounds are great for pictures. To understand where we are, and where we are going, we must first understand where we've been. A visit to the Walnut Lane Inn will both tantalize the senses and give your kids a sense of time past.

To schedule a tour, or make reservations call David Ades at (864) 949-7230.

http://www.walnutlaneinn.com/

Mystery at Walnut Lane Inn

            Imagine this old majestic house sitting proudly on a hill waiting like an eternal hostess ready to greet you.  The lawn is perfectly manicured with topiaries, and bushes surround the house that are original too the grounds.  The yard has been leveled off to accommodate large parties or a wedding on the lawn.  As you ascend into the house by the wrap around porch, a guest will walk into the parlor, which still has a seam in the middle of it showing where it was once divided. When your host or hostess greets you, you look around this pristine home that looks like a painting of Victorian Tea Party You are seated at one of the round tables, and it is a feast for your eyes, and a delight of your senses. The rooms are filled with classic china patterns, and the pattern that catches my eye is the Royal Albert, Old Country Roses.
            When sitting at the round tables covered in linen, you order your lunch of overstuffed sandwiches or chicken salad with fruit. In the background piano music plays, and you definitely get a sense of history of another time.  The proprietors are both delightful and accommodating. They will answer any question you might have without any pause; welcome you to tour the grounds, and to invite you to take pictures. Whether you are here for lunch at the Cookie Jar, staying at the Bed and Breakfast, or having your wedding here you can count on serene surroundings and southern hospitality. 

            Being such an old home, you can’t help but wonder and marvel at the sense of history that is all around you. It is like another hostess that welcomes you to the property. If you can tour the home, and I recommend that you do, you will find a hallway full of pictures of the prior residents, and pictures of the house throughout the years. In a way, the whole town of Lyman, South Carolina sprang up around this one home.

            Augustus Belton Groce was born in Greenville, South Carolina back in 1852. He married into money in 1878. Because of his union with her he was able to build you are here for lunch at the Cookie Jar, staying at the Bed and Breakfast, or having your wedding here you can count on serene surroundings and southern hospitality. 

            Being such an old home, you can’t help but wonder and marvel at the sense of history that is all around you. It is like another hostess that welcomes you to the property. If you can tour the home, and I recommend that you do, you will find a hallway full of pictures of the prior residents, and pictures of the house throughout the years. In a way, the whole town of Lyman, South Carolina sprang up around this one home.

            Augustus Belton Groce was born in Greenville, South Carolina back in 1852. He married into money in 1878. Because of his union with her he was able to build even the electric company. They used to flicker the lights in town at ten minutes before ten to let the town know it was going to go to bed for the night. Together, the Groce’s had five children: three boys, and two girls.[i]             As conscience parents, the Groce’s set up their children very well when it came to their inheritance. All three of the Groce sons were set up with their own residences that were ever bit as big as the house that A.B. Groce resided in and were on the same block.  His daughters inherited the main house, but neither one was willing to sell their half of the house to the other, so the house was divided by a wall. The sisters agreed to “accommodate each other” with each sister resided in her half the house. Along with the wall an extra staircase was put in place, so there are two staircases on every floor. Tragically, one of the sisters died just one year after the renovations were completed. That explains the seam on the floor in the front parlor. The inhabitant that followed the two sisters was the granddaughter of A.B. Groce and her husband that lived in the home till 1995.[i] Mary Ella Hammond Machen and her husband only left this gracious inn because they decided to move into a retirement home.[ii]

            There are many who would speculate that the Groce’s never left. Ades has felt like someone is watching him, and his partner Hoyt Dottry thinks he saw A.B. Groce out of the corner of his eye one night in the kitchen. The outfit he is wearing in the photo matches the one in the hall. Most of the time Ades doesn’t want to talk about the unpaid guests. But the paid guests still tell their stories, and one stated that there is an old maid in the kitchen. No matter how much denial we can give, the stories don’t stop. Many of the guests report two ladies gossiping in the front parlor. Guests speculate that they could be Groce’s two daughters, still chatting the evenings away.[iii]

            Paranormal investigators have been out to the site, and done investigations out there. Their findings suggest that the attic, the kitchen, the Mallard Room, the Orchard Room, and the basement all show signs of activity. However, the activity doesn’t seem to bother the current owners one bit.  They feel that the spirits are happy there, and that they definitely enjoy the music in the house. When they were asked if they wanted the house cleaned of the spirits, Ades said no. But even as our skeptic, he has had his moment of belief too. 

            Ades had been working up in the attic doing some electrical work, and there was nothing up there. Even the bed they found when they moved in already was in a new location. The attic was empty, and had recently been cleaned. The paranormal crew came through and all seemed quiet and well. They came back to find a strip of picture film, a photo, and a really old spinning top on a beam in the attic. The top even had carved grooves in it that you could tell were recently made, and you could also tell the top itself was very old. The room was vacant and clean. Question is, who or what put them there?

These are the clues left during a paranormal investigation

Works Cited

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[i] Ades, David. An Abbreviated brief history that is available to guests at the Walnut

 Lane Inn. A special thanks to David Ades for opening his Inn, his notes, and

sharing the afternoon with me.

[ii] Sondov, Lori. Historic Lyman Home Will Become an Inn, the Greer Citizen,

 Wednesday, January 4, 1995. Print.

[iii] Boyanoski, John. Ghosts of Upstate South Carolina. Print.

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[i] History of Lyman, South Carolina Notes from the Public Library at 170 Groce Road,

Lyman, SC 29365. Special thanks to the Spartanburg County Library System.

Why I Homeschool

I still remember one of my first days of homeschooling. My daughter was in the beginnings of the fourth grade. We were studying Science together. So I asked her, "What do you think it means?"

My daughter was silent for a very long time. Then I stopped and looked up at her. Her dark eyes were wide open like she was a dear in the headlines. In a panic, "What's wrong dear?"

 Thoughtfully, my daughter glanced at her hands and she replied, " No one has ever asked me what I thought before...." And that, my friends, is why I homeschool. I want to have a kid who thinks for herself.