Summer update

Here are some of our summertime 

highlights...

We captured caterpillars,

raised them on milkweed.

Actually watched

as they changed into chrysalis

then butterfly.

Always amazing!

The boys finished up this years baseball.

We made our annual trip to wild mountain

waterpark

 

Of course it's berry season!

We went to Sam Kedem's for strawberries

and on nature hikes for

Black raspberries.

I think it is their favorite fruit :)

last, but not least
this has been the summer of the
BOG!!!!!

So, the water was really high this year.
In fact it is the highest anyone can remember.
40 years of neighbors can not believe it.
The water destroyed the newly expanded garden :(
But, it brought the kids a bounty of good times.

They "raft" in the kiddie pool.
Capture (and release) a multitude of wild life...

bullfrog, painter turtles, snapping turtles,

 

dragon flies,  toads, and spring peepers
are just a few.

Until next time
~blessings

Last day of school/ tillie's birthday

We had our last day of "school" celebration

this year at a beautiful park by our house.

Our home schooling friends joined us.

we enjoyed ice cream cones, swimming in the river

 exploring and capturing wildlife.

Pretty good way out if I do say so myself

Tillie turned 5!!!!

She wanted to go to the MOA 

shop, play, and stay at the hotel there.

We granted her wishes and it 

turned out to be a really great time.

She really loved her birthday and I 

CANNOT believe she is FIVE!

on the rides at the mall of America

 We have even managed a trip to my dad's 

trailer and a trip to nelson's so far....

It looks like its going to be a  superb summer!

until next time

~blessings

Gardening

 We have turned our homeschool focus toward the garden.

Matthew is starting a mini farming theme.

I had him doing most of the planning and measuring.

We hope to take field trips to a couple of 

working farms to really see how its done.

 

 We also had our first year of use able compost!

I love the lesson here and it never ceases to amaze me.

We put our actual garbage in a pile on the ground and 

now look at this beautiful soil!!

 We have also read a number of books this year.

Most of which the children have loved.

Just in time for Easter I finished 

The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe

By C.S. Lewis

It was perfect. 

The timing unbelievable.

We also read 

Rascal

by Sterling North

The kids really loved this story too.

Wesley, the most loved all the adventures

with a boy and his raccoon.

Everyone agreed that our latest 

book of Caddie Woodlawn

by Carol Brink

Was one of the best.

It is the true story of a pioneer girl.

A girl settled in Wisconsin a few years 

before the Ingalls.  It was just marvelous.

When I  found out her home was still standing 

on the actual property... we drove to 

Menominee, WI and had an adventure!

Wesley said it beat out all of our vacations so far!

Here are the kids on her back porch.

right in the very spot she churned butter for her mother,

Here is her house from the front

here is some of the actual history and events 

chronicled on the wall inside the home.

Here is where I read the last chapter of the book.

Right where it happened...

in Caddie Woodlawn's parlor.

Matthew is looking at what I think 

maybe the grave site of Caddie's sister.

after our tremendous tour 

I took the kids to this little hiking spot

near there.

It was neat and a short hike.

They really loved the adventure.

Now we are still working on the farming unit.

I will have Matthew read Farmer Boy

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

to us for a change :)

Until next time

~blessings

Springtime

My last post it was a NEW YEAR.

Now, it's a NEW SEASON.

This is a little post on what we have been 

up to over the last couple of months.

Trying to celebrate this time of year.

We had a great Easter with all the usual fair...

The kids coloring their Easter eggs

They really are excited to catch some big ones...

I took them over to the lake behind our house to 

try out our luck.

Not much luck, but it was fun.  We can't 

wait for boating season!

As soon as the snow melted we had 

to hit the golf course.

They big boys have already been to the 

range a couple of times and played a round.

It is by far Wesley's favorite sport.

I think he may have a competitor soon.

Taggert loves to golf too.

We have been taking our daily walks looking for all the signs 

of spring.  We have noticed a lot of new things this year.

It is really wet.  Our bog is full of water this year. 

Now we get a first hand account of the 

mallards, wood ducks and 

cute little muskrats!

Tom tilled up the garden and increased the size quite a bit.

I am feeling excited and little apprehensive about this.

(more on the gardening in another post)

 We've gotten in one good picnic so far!

Here we made our own kite.

We called it "big daddy"

Wesley drew "daddy" on our kite :)

No surprises with this adventure...

I can not get a kite to fly :(

This is how we have been celebrating our springtime so far.

Along with spring hockey and baseball.

We finished our spring testing.

The results were good over all.

I now know a few areas 

academically we need to work on.

So, I guess we are going to spend the summer

SPELLING :)

Happy Springtime everyone

until next time

~blessings

 

2014 ~ New year

I have been sort of lost when it comes to our 

schooling right now. 

I have been planning, contemplating, and 

analyzing.

Then,

I thought about an old movie line

Tom is always spouting...

"If you don't know where to start,  go back to the beginning"

Here we are...

The Old testament

This is part of the third grade curriculum 

I feel strongly that there is value in these 

pages of stories for all of the kids, now.

I have been bringing it to everyone equally.


Our days pretty much play out as such...

8-10    breakfast, dress, and morning chores

10-12  bible study, paint or draw from the story and recall

12-1    lunch and play outside

1-4      writing practice through a poem everyday (Matthew)

            Wesley does his Teach Your Child How to read in 100 easy lessons

            Matthew will read alone during this time.  Currently he is reading  The Boxcar Children

            we do a group geography lesson and math practice during this time as well.

4-5       clean and prepare dinner

of course there is a lot of horsing around during this time too.

The days are also broken up by home school co-op, violin lessons,

and private hockey lesson with uncle chad.

I try and keep a pretty steady rhythm as I do find it very comforting 

for the kids and myself.

 

Painting creation

Taggert's painting

Wesley's painting "The Chair"

It has been very cold and snowy this year 

so we have been able to...

climb snow "Mt. Elbert"

Create Window art

and conduct science experiments.

of course we still play a lot of hockey!

Matthew's hockey team after finishing third in
their second tournament of the year.

I am slowly trying to find my home school niche
lately, I have been changing it all up. 

I love everything about Waldorf and Steiner is a genius.
Although I am feeling a little defeated.  I am unable to
properly bring this education to them purely.  It is difficult for me
to implement all of his ideas in my home setting.  I do feel that I have
a pretty good grasp on his fundamentals enough to try other ideals and
make them more "Waldorf".  I am very drawn to Charlotte Mason
Lately, I have been researching more from her and tweaking what we have
currently.  Hopefully I'm not messing with them too much.
and hopefully they can make it out of this unscathed :) (unlikely)

until next time...(with more ramblings)

~blessings

Holidays

We celebrated our Christmas this year 

with COUSINS!!!

It was awesome!

I have been waiting for cousins 

and we finally got them.

Of course our holiday was packed with fun

and tons of excitement.

First, we had Christmas eve with my side of the family.

aka...the hockey side

of course they got to play hockey on Christmas.

We also got to hang out with cousin Campbell

After celebrating Christmas day at our house 

with just Tom and me and the kids.

(relaxing)

 

We were on to Brainerd.

This year we stayed in a hotel 

with a water park.

So, that was really fun for everyone.

Grandma Judy with all her grandkids

Great- grandma with Thomas

We had a great time and it is always wonderful

for the kids to see their GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

They are so blessed to know them.

When we returned from our mini vacation we 

hosted Christmas with Tom's dad side.

We had fun with our cousins Izzy and Thomas

The kids had a wonderful Christmas and we were all 

healthy.  They received WAY too many gifts and 

we stayed up WAY too late.

But, I think they know that they are WAY 

LOVED.

until next time

~blessings