Fall is Here

Fall is not officially here for our family until we take a trip to the Oil Ranch. That place is so much fun! They have pony rides, train rides, putt putt golf, indian swings, hay rides... I could go on and on. We went with our homeschool friends. There were over 60 of us! And, only 5 moms because we all have so many kids - kidding! There were at least 8 moms.

My favorite feature is that it is wide open fields. The kids can run all around and I don't have to keep them right by my side the entire time, fearing I will lose one.

One of my least favorite features is the petting zoo. The idea of willingly offering my children's hands up for farm animals to slobber on is pretty gross. But - they love it. That's why we own stock in Purell. (Actually - Tony is the Purell addict, but that would be another post.)

This goat was posing nicely with Car, but then noticed the food on the ground behind him. After I took the picture, Car said - Hey, you just took a picture of me with the goat's rear!

Now, the milking station just makes me sad. I do like teaching my kids about animals, and I think hands on is great. But, that poor cow! She gets trapped in the stall and has multitudes of random, untrained hands grabbing her to squeeze out the milk. The untrained hands part has to be the worst. She seemed to be pretty content with her hay, though.

This picture of Car pretty much sums up our day. Look how dirty he is! And, how tired his eyes look.

That also explains this picture:

Everyone was so tired, this was the closest I got to a pumpkin patch photo of the kids. And, I was so tired I didn't even care to keep trying.

The BEST part of the whole day was...

Our Kickapoo Indian lady officially made it educational - so it was a FIELD TRIP!

A is for Apple

Apple Pie, that is.

I thought it would be fun to do an alphabet book for Bear as she started Kindergarten this week. She knows her alphabet already, but I have not really spent the time with her doing the fun activities the other kids did. The fourth child can really get ripped off if we're not careful. I am going to try to be purposeful in not skipping activities with her just because I have already done it with three other kids, or I am just plain tired.

The other kids are excited about these fun activities, too. This week, we have written our letters in shaving cream, learned about Adam and Eve and Abraham in our Pray and Play Bible, read stories about ants (Magic School Bus ROCKS!), and today we made an apple pie from scratch. Fun times!!!

Hard at Work

It's been a great first day of school. The kids all had positive attitudes and we finished everything on our list.

What more could I ask?

I'll share a few pictures of the kids working diligently. We did not have any experiments or exciting assignments today. It takes a while for all of us to get back on a schedule. It's been pretty free around here for a while now, but we are all welcoming the routine. I think it's just natural to like boundaries and knowing what is coming next. I can definitely see that in my kids.

Tate and Ellie do really well with seatwork -

Car tends to do better in any position that is not at his desk. I'm not sure why I even put a desk in here for him. How would he do in a traditional school setting? I'm sure it would depend on how understanding his teacher would be.

And - a girl can only handle so much excitement in one day.

(Notice she was studying her Presidents - kidding!)

Overall, I give this day two thumbs up!

I am looking forward to sharing some of the fun stuff we will be doing this year. I love homeschooling my kids - even though it is a lot of work - pfew!

First Day of School 2008-2009

We are ready to tackle another school year at home. The kids have been begging me to get started. I love the enthusiasm that comes at the beginning of the year.

Can we bottle some of it up and save for April?


Tate's starting his 5th grade year. I guess it's always hardest watching your first born get bigger. But, it's also exciting watching him grow and do new things. I am very proud of the young man he is becoming. No more elementary school for him!






Ellie is growing up fast, too. She's ready for 3rd grade. She is a huge help around the house and with the others. I am very impressed with how responsible she is and how well organized she likes to be.

Car is heading into 2nd grade. One of the benefits of homeschooling for Car is that he can wear his favorite jersey on the first day of school, even when it has a mark from a sticker that got washed on it. (Free tip of the day: remove all stickers from clothing before washing.)

Judging from this picture of Bear - I think she is excited about the idea of starting her first day of Kindergarten. She did calm down and worked very hard today. One thing we have to work on is her telling me what she already knows how to do and why she doesn't want to do what I give her.

Where did she get that?

Homeschool Room - Again

It's coming along. We have furniture in the room, and I don't feel like passing out from the fumes everytime I go in here.

What do you think?





I think I need a new rug. And, curtains. Oh, and a white board.

But, like I said - it's coming along.

I have stopped decorating so I can plan the actual schoolwork for this year.

That might be important. :)

So far, Bear is quite content playing with the pencils on her desk.

That's fine with me. We'll work on Trigonometry later.

The kids all picked out their reading pillows (on the floor, there behind my desk). They have good taste - soft, feather pillows. Ahh... hopefully, they won't fall asleep during our reading time.

I'll post the Grand Finale when I get something on the walls.

Homeschool Room Update #2

To be more accurate - it's not the homeschool room.

Just the closet.

It's amazing to see all of our stuff all lined up.

And, I know where everything is!

Take a look around the corner -

I know.

I will have to take another picture after school starts to see how long this lasts.

Homeschool Room Update

The homeschool room is coming along nicely. I finished painting it and I luuuuuvv the color!

As much as I try to avoid all things Martha, I have to admit ...

the woman knows her colors!

I was looking for something both cheerful, yet peaceful. Nothing too bright, but I couldn't have the kids falling asleep in school.

I think it is beautiful. This room just makes me happy - and that's a good thing (pun intended :)) when I am schooling 4 precious little ones.

We are still working on the layout of the room, so I am only posting the color of the wall. I included a few cute kids because I didn't want to just post a picture of my wall.

I will post again soon with more updates!

Finally - Proof I've Gone Insane

The start of school is nearing. Time to plan a year's worth of studies for 4 children. What does that mean?

Paint the school room and completely re-arrange everything!

Yes, we had all summer to tackle projects like this, but - that's just how I work.

Fortunately, I was smart and hired some helpers.

Wait.

I think the paint fumes are affecting my brain.

Those aren't hired help.

They're my kids!!!

By the way - that's not the paint color. It's the super-primer I needed to try and cover the Aggie maroon.

Happy Fourth of July!

We hope you all have a safe and fun 4th of July! We'll be having lots of fun swimming and going to see fireworks, but I will also be making sure the kids remember why we are celebrating our independence. This is a fun site to go to for some Independence Day games and information.

Molecule Explosion

Some crazy molecules have formed at my kitchen table this morning. The kids have been hard at work making new scientific discoveries. Some molecules even resemble robots!

We are going through Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry. I really like the way they use big, colorful pictures and easy explanations without dumbing it down. They had to make random molecules first. Then they had to remember that different atoms cannot form as many bonds as they want, so they had to count the bonds to make real molecules. All while playing with (and eating) marshmallows. How could that not be fun for kids?

When I asked Moses what he wanted me to teach him while he was living with us, he immediately answered - Chemistry! Really. That just happened to be my minor in college - thank you, God! How did He know a little boy from Africa would want me to teach him chemistry one day and I wouldn't be intimidated by it? Oh, that's right - He's God! He was probably laughing at the image of the marshmallow explosion on my table that I had waiting for me in my future while I was staying up late, struggling over Organic Chem. Now, all those classes were worth it.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. After my last post, one might think I would not be planting anything for a while, but one does not know me very well if one thinks that. I am not a quitter. heh!

Actually, Ellie has a new project going and her first task is gardening. Also, for school I wanted to incorporate a butterfly garden into our birds and insects study, since the last chapter is on butterflies. Therefore, she and I worked very hard all day on her new butterfly and hummingbird garden.

First, we had to get all of the weeds out of the neglected flowerbed along our garage. It is really strange how neglected this particular flowerbed was, since it is a focal point of our backyard and we see it right outside the window from our kitchen and living room. It helped that a big rose bush blocked the view of the rest of the bed when I saw it from the kitchen. I could focus on all of those pretty knock-out roses and pretend the rest looked just as good. But the truth is, I couldn't seem to figure out what to do with it, so it sat. And got weedy. And it was a long, weedy dirt bed with one beautiful rose bush on one end.

Pretty.




As Ellie was working, she kept commenting about how it was like going into a jungle. A jungle that came up to her ankles - but a jungle nonetheless. At least it made the weeding more exciting for her. It gave her a great sense of accomplishment to finish that task (with my help, of course). She felt good about how many times she filled up her weed bucket and had to empty it. The better she felt about her hard work, the worse I felt about how bad I let the weeds get. It's okay - that's why we were out there. Gettin' stuff done and checking it off my to-do list. Oh, and teaching my kids about butterflies. I love school projects that involve marking things off my to-do list!

Then, it was off to Arbor Gate to buy plants. Did we measure the flowerbed and carefully plan what plants to buy and where we were going to plant them? No. We picked the ones we thought were pretty and stopped when our little red wagon was full. I think that's the best way to do it. Are you surprised my last garden was a flop? When we got home, we moved them around and decided where they would look best. Then, we planted them before our dog ate them. We'll get a few more plants to fill in the gaps, and then we just need to lay down some mulch.

What butterfly garden would be complete without Butterfly Bush?

Here are some plants that I don't remember the name of. We wrote them in the garden journal, though. Yes, we now have a garden journal. grin.





Here's the whole flowerbed. I can't wait until the plants start growing and filling the whole place up. See the pretty rose bush at the end?

Ellie is so proud of all of her hard work today. I love watching my kids work hard for something and feel good about it. She should feel good. It was stinkin' hot today!

Don't Try this at Home!

What do you do with the kids when you are studying the Dead Sea Scrolls?

You set paper on fire! Of course. At least that seems to be the lesson my kids remember.

It seemed so innocent. After we studied about the discovery of the scrolls, we were supposed to write some Old Testament verses on regular paper, soak it in tea, and when it dried, burn the edges. What we are left with is a piece of ancient scroll that was written on parchment that looks so real it would probably fool any museum we took it to. Not really.

Hold on - Did you catch the flaw in that assignment?

Setting the paper on fire? Car was amazed at this new discovery. His enthusiasm for this step scared me. The poor little guy then had to sit through a lecture on the dangers of fire and how quickly it spreads, and that it can hurt you, and that we live in the middle of a forest and it can burn the whole area down once it starts.

I think I have him back where I want him. Now he wants to keep his distance. That's a good place for a 6 year old boy when it comes to fire. Very distant!