October Week 4

We finished up our geography unit.

With this unit we studied the 

Mississippi River.  I wanted to broaden

things beyond our town and state.

We also studied about the states that 

touched the river.  We learned about

the river itself.  We used Minn of 

Mississippi for the general study.

Finished the unit up with a wonderful

book called Down the Mississippi

by Clyde Robert Bulla

He writes very interesting stories 

on many subjects.  

The books are perfect for the 

kids to read themselves.

 We spent our Tuesday co-op

field trip back in time.

A 1858 farm in fact.

We went to Oliver Kelly Farm.

This farm is still working in 

the manner in was originally.

They had big beautiful barns

 Lots of animals the kids got to touch

Here, you'll notice Matthew is being completely

devoured by a overly friendly cow!

They all had a great time.

Wednesday the boys had their 

art and writing classes.

Matthew had violin practice.

He also had a violin concert this week.

 The boys also LOVE climbing.

I took them to vertical endeavors

for some climbing time and exercise.

Matthew liked it so 

much I think he might 

join a home school 

climbing team.

We also started up our weekly skate 

training with uncle Chad and Bryce.

Bryce and the kids came this week.

It was really good for them.

If only I could get Taggert out there!

Until next week

~blessings

Accidents

This is a very strange post for 

me.  I use this blog to post

about our homeschooling.

In my state I need to keep 

records of what I do with 

homeschooling.  I create our 

own main lesson books to show 

the progression of education 

over the years.  I also keep this 

blog as a record.  Since this is 

HOMEschooling

posts will get blended with anecdotes of 

what we are up to or little stories of 

our HOME life.

Here is one of those stories...

A very near and dear family to us

had let their children come to 

our home and play.  

The kids love to be outside.

They play big.

From dress up to sword fights

hide n seek to climbing trees

and fort building.

One afternoon I had the 

eight kids outside playing.

The older boys were working 

on a new fort.  The oldest neighbor 

boy was climbing up a tree to 

toss a rope over a limb.

He fell on to a metal post.

The post impaled him.

It went up his thigh and into his 

abdomen.  It destroyed his main 

artery.  Matthew was standing 

with him and he immediately 

ran to the house to get me.

I have never experienced anything 

like this in my life.

I called 911 as fast as I could.

He had seconds left to survive.

The many doctors and surgeons 

were able to save his life.

He is expected to fully recover!

He is a miracle!

I really feel that he had so many 

prayers that it saved him.

People tell you about the power of 

prayer and how accidents can happen so 

fast.  Until all of this happens to 

you one really can not even believe it.

I am still a little rattled by the whole
experience.  We are recovering as well.
We take visits to see him.
He is doing so great that everyone
feels better with him. 

Please cherish every second.
Life can surprise you.

Psalms 116
:)

Until next time
~Blessings

Otober week 3

 Matthew 

turned 11 years old!

He had a great birthday.

He did have a pretty 

hard week though.

He works extremely hard at 

his favorite sport.

He spends nearly everyday

all year round playing 

hockey.

Hockey is the focus of 

most of our extra curriculars.

He is a very good player.

This year he was cut from the 

A team.

This was heart breaking for us.

 It did feel good that so many 

within the Stillwater 

association reached out to us.

Many families remember how hard 

it can be for a kid to be "cut".

Many families were upset about Matthew.

He is a very strong boy.

Despite his mother's plea to try 

a new sport :)

He practiced the very next day with the B team

on the ice with the A's.

Hard stuff...this growing up.

I'm proud.

For our homeschool co-op this week

it was one of our favorite times...

Stone Soup

It was such a beautiful day 

Picturesque.

Made even more so from

 Heidi's dad.

He brought all the kids on 

a horse drawn carriage ride!

This week for Tree of Life science club

we spent the day with Belwin conservency

We helped collect natural prairie seeds.

These seeds will be planted later 

to develop new prairie lands. 

Taggert is collecting Spotted Mint.

Belwin was a terrific experience.

I can not wait to explore more of 

what they have to offer.

We learned so much in just one morning 

with them.  It was great.

Thanks science club!

Matthew's Birthday celebrations 

continued into the weekend.

We went to a corn maze with 

friends and family.

We had more family over to our 

house the next day too.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Until Next week

~blessings

 

October week 2

I had been feeling a little 

uneasy with the amount of 

commitment I have put on our 

homeschooling this year.

It really has been a little more

challenging trying to find my 

balance. We currently have 

schedualed activity on 4 out of 5 

days a week.  I love that the kids 

are running around with good

friends more this year, but it

does make it harder for me to find the 

time...

My geography unit has really dragged on.

Not sure how much they love it anymore 

Matthew is doing his writing.

I have the boys write a bit about our

story and draw maps or other

appropriate information in regards 

to Mississippi river.

With this they are creating their main

lesson books.

For our field trip this week we 

spent the day at the 

Stone Arch Bridge.

Here they had an opportunity 

to see how wide the 

river gets, how it has changed through

history, and about locks and dams.

 I had the lucky chance to bring along my

Mom and my niece and nephew.

Matthew had violin,

his writing class at scope

and hockey tryouts this week too.

Until next time

~blessings

September/October

This week was the 

end of September and 

the start to October.

This means Tom and I 

had our birthdays during this 

week!  

Over the weekend we had 

Taggert's first skating lesson

that did NOT go well.

Tillie had her skating lesson that 

DID.  :)

We also stayed in a hotel near 

Eden prairie for Matthew's 

hockey tournament.  

The other kids and I did not 

go to his games.

We swam in the pool.

We went for a hike at my favorite 

watering hole.

Fredrick-miller spring!

After filling any container we 

had with fresh living water,

we lunched at the 

Lions Tap.

Monday brought us to 

our current curriculum.

of geography.

We also took a rugged 

hike around fairy falls.

A friend reminded me about this 

place.  This time we were inspired 

to really go far.  We had fun.

We also stayed up to watch the

Lunar eclipse.

Lunar eclipses are a trip. They’re basically a full moon times a million. Shadows cover light. The moon’s color shifts from pearly white to pinkish red. We find ourselves in a strange land and are challenged to face fears, hidden aspects of self and all the other parts of our experience that we normally try to rush through or distract ourselves from. Eclipses push us up against ourselves and into extreme situations that force us to bear witness to what normally lurks in the shadows. ~ Chani Nicholas  

​

Tuesday is homeschool co-op.

We went apple picking.

We went to a beautiful orchard in WI.

It is on the verge of miraculous 

how we ended up here.

The woman is so generous and 

offers certified organic apples for donations only.

We spent the whole day with our friends

picking apples, picnicking in the orchard,

and the boys loved playing football. 

We came home and made two apple 

pies for Tom's birthday.

Wednesday we had violin lesson 

and scope classes.

Grandma spike came for a visit.

With her she brought a book for us to read.

Thursday we had a science club

meeting at the library.

Prior to this we had breakfast at our 

Community kitchen.

Tillie had ballet.

Friday we spent the day in the 

Renaissance!

Molly, Izzy, Azalea, and Grandma Jude

all joined us for the fun!

The boys tried their hand at fencing one another.
Although, I think Tillie had the best time.
She saw the mermaids, princesses, and spent time in fairy
forest meeting all the fairies!

Until next week
~blessings

September week 4

Hi all!  Well this week

was jam packed!  

My dad called the other

day to see how we were 

doing and I told him our 

schedule. His response was,

"I think you need a little more to do"

:) 

Monday is my regrouping day.

After the weekend and sports 

mostly, it is important for us 

to regroup.  We finish all our business,

get things ready for the coming week.

And discuss the up coming schedule.

We do our main lesson and freshen up 

with reading and math.

Tuesday is homeschool co-op day.

This week we were invited to 

a friends private beach. 

It had a really nice sand beach,

a beach house, plenty of space and 

charm just right for our group of kids.

They had a lot of fun 

playing kick ball, swimming, 

and a rousing game called kubb.

My kids call it skulls and bones.

At any rate they had fun.

Wednesday we had a violin lesson and 

scope co-op.  All went well.

Matthew is learning a new piece 

by Robert Schumann.

At his teachers suggestion we are starting

an in depth look into the life of this composer.

Thursday was science club! 

Our experiment was about magnets.

The kids brought lots of different kinds 

for everyone to check out.

Our demonstration was how to make a 

compass.  We used a needle, a cork, water and 

of course a magnet.  The kids rubbed the needle on the 

magnet to magnetize it.  Put it in the cork and floated it

on the water and it pointed north :)

Other experiments were awesome.

One group showed us how dense different liquids were.

One demonstrated water pressure and force. 

And the last one showed how to engineer a 

bridge with carrots and paper.

The kids really love science club.

I love to flank my week!

I know that sounds weird, but 

I really crave having my Mondays

and my Fridays just us.

Friday we come back together

we clean the house and 

prepare for the weekend.

We finish up any loose ends from the week.

It gives us a day to reflect and discuss

what we may do differently next week.

Or what we loved and want to keep.

Like having the afternoon free to play 

golf with grandpa!

That's awesome!

Wesley and Tillie have been working 

on their art a lot lately and I really 

wanted to share what they have to offer.

They both love nature themes 

and they have very much been 

into birds lately.

Matthew has a hockey tournement 

this weekend.  The others 

have hockey practice and soccer.

Taggert starts his first learn to 

skate class on Saturday!!!

I am hoping for the best

not so sure though...

He loves hockey more than anything

in the world. The sticks, the puck,

watching it, but he will NOT skate.

He said he is better than anyone in our home

or anywhere really, but he will not skate.

Saturday is the big day.

 We'll see what happens...

until next week

~blessings

September week 3

The kids have been working 

on various things this week

besides our main lesson of 

the Mississippi.  

Matthew has started in his 

Saxon math book for 5th & 6th

grade.  I have tried other curriculum

and he prefers Saxon.  It is  

a very traditional approach to

mathematics. More what we 

all remember from school.

Matthew has been loving 

his writing course.  They have 

been also bringing in more 

than just writing. Things like 

note taking and public speaking. 

Wesley is working on his 

explode the code.  This 

is a phonics program.

It helps him write and hear

the sounds.   He is even 

coming around a

"teensy" bit regarding his 

art class :)

Here is our science clubs first experiment day.

It was a great success.
very entertaining to say the least.


For homeschool co-op this week we
decided to clean the garbage from the
boomsite.  We had a terrific day made
even better when the kids found a
rope swing.

The boys with their buddy from co-op.

We also took a huge hike and did some
cave exploration.

Tillie started taking homeschool
ballet lessons.  This is such  a
bonus for me because we can
do it in the afternoon.  It really
frees up time for us.


Until next week
~blessings