New Goals

This week I will document my days through photos. I found a group on flikr doing this and thought what a great idea. So I will be starting one day late, but better late than never. I also have decided to take the handmade pledge for Christmas this year. Maybe the kids and Craig will join me.

Birthday x 2

We did it. The long awaited birthday sleepover for two has happened. The kids had a blast. We had hotdogs by the fire, the worlds sweetest cake, race cars, lego master pieces, a movie, rock skipping, fossil digs by the ravine, and much celebration.


The kids spent loads of time in the ravine digging away. Who could blame them, it is beautiful down there. For all their efforts, they found numerous bones and not one but two skulls.


The famous four celebrated their great discoveries. They sang, ran, danced and jumped for joy, as all great discovers should do. I just tagged along taking photos. I have to say that it has been hard to pick only six.




Evan finally got a chance to climb Shale Mountain. He has been wanting to all year, but by the time we are leaving the lake, we were always too rushed.


So overloaded on sugar and excitement we headed home. But I must not forget what awaits us next summer. It is far to easy for me to get busy and miss the chance to build memories.

One More Day

Life just keeps getting better. Our friends have returned, giving us one more thing to be thankful for. I feel blessed to have such a great family to share life's adventures with.

So Much Has Happened

We were adopted by a kitten. Actually, our van was adopted, but we decided the engine of a van was no home for a kitten.

Here she is looking oh so adorable.

And here Aidan is looking oh so adorable.

We have read many great books, and had many great walks. In our adventures we have come across many interesting creatures.

The kids were very excited to spot this little guy. Evan spent the next twenty minutes collecting food and arranging it on a bed of leaves.

Mikayla enjoyed trying to identify the birds we found.

Evan learned to ride his bike. Congratulations Evan! He also learned to ride this tree.

Our friends are back from Europe where they spent the summer,WAHOO! They were missed, and it was wonderful to see them again. Aidan didn't think he could survive without his best friend for so long but he did it.

We were recently visited by a hungry rabbit; our overgrown grass has come in handy. We have also been the local hot spot for birds. I discovered if you use a tarp to reduce weeds, you create the perfect breeding ground for garden slugs. As I am sure anyone reading this will agree, this is very gross. It did cut down on the weeds though ; )

These last pictures are from a last minute camp trip we took with Cheryl, Emily and Maya. I have been meaning to post them. So here they are.


There was a field full of frogs at our camp site. It kept the kids busy most of the time we were there.
We aren't sure what this was. We thought beaver but the tail was bushy looking. If anyone knows, please share. And if this is a beaver, please don't judge my homeschooling competence. I do try. : )

Danielle My Hero!

So after a conversation with my niece a language arts pro : ) She told me she would be happy to help us. That night night she created an Elements of a Story breakdown for me.
So as of Monday we will start to make our way through the list, mapping and narrating as we go.
I just have to say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

A Day In The Life of Three Homeschoolers

It was too beautiful to spend the day indoors today. We live in a climate where winter comes early and stays long, so I feel the need to squeeze in outdoor time while we can. So off we went to learn outdoors. To our delight, someone found an egg!


Then we came back for a little history/science reading and crafting. Notice the three dimensional volcano. I'm still not sure how she managed to get it to fold down, and pop up like that.


Poor Aidan spotted a rogue asteroid and was almost hit. Who ever said homeschooling was too protective obviously wasn't aware of possible asteroid collisions.


I am happy to report that he survived and appears to be thriving.


In the last week Evan has gone from ripping up most of his art to proudly displaying this piece. It is the inside of a volcano. The yellow semicircle is the center of the earth. I wrote up his narration and he pasted it on the bottom. It is a very proud boy you see above.

Someone Had Their First Horseback Riding Lesson Last Night!

At long last Mikayla has had her first horseback riding lesson, and she had a blast. While timid at first she soon became comfortable with guiding and grooming her horse Jay. Now she can't wait for next week. I am having a little trouble uploading our video. But I will try again tomorrow.

The How To in Classical

I struggle with writing. I am far more comfortable with math, science, logic.... So I find the idea of narration, copy work, dictation tricky. I can not always see the structure or form they follow. I hope to overcome this in 2008. Here are site links for me to reference as I figure it all out.

Copy Work

I have figured out copy work. The kids copy a sentence or paragraph depending on their ability. When they are done they look back to the original and find and correct any errors.

Teaching Dictation

http://mtpleasant.homeschooljournal.net/how-to-do-dictation/

Teaching Narration

http://mtpleasant.homeschooljournal.net/narration-starters/

Grammar

http://mtpleasant.homeschooljournal.net/grammars-order-of-operation/

I realize the process may seem obvious to some, but I need to know what is trying to be accomplished. Copy work done neatly but not corrected by them will not achieve its purpose as efficiently (if at all). And as I said before this way of seeing does not come easily to me.

Still day 2 and 1/2

While not directly related to homeschooling my children knitting is my stress reliever. And lets face it some days I need all the stress relieving I can get. This is my first pair of socks made with sock weight yarn. The yarn was hand dyed by Evan and they look beautiful. I think I have a new addiction.





















You can never be too late for International Rock-Flipping Day (September 2).

"Today is the day," we cried! We will venture forth to flip rocks! Even though today is not technically the day, off we went. We discovered numerous bugs to our delight and their dismay. We even found a worm for our wormery. Feeling like true adventurers we returned home to revel in our plunder. But now I must get off the internet because unfortunately supper will not make itself.

Day 2 and 1/2

Yesterday was non stop appointments. Today we had time to read, learn and explore. For anyone who hasn't read "The House at Pooh Corner" it is hilarious. It was a perfect start to our day. Then naturally we moved on to worms. We learned more about worms today then I have in my entire life up until now. While I am no worm connoisseur I still find this impressive.



















Daily reading was a nice break for the kids and allowed me to get somethings done. Evan's working his way through his Hooked on Phonics books. He is so adorable.




















Aidan is working through Sonlight's reading list for his age. He is reading Water Sky right now. This is not the type of book he would usually pick but he is enjoying it.




















Mikayla my avid reader finished her assigned reading in one sitting. She said it was beautiful. She started to tear up when she was telling me about it. But she insist that it is not a sad book. I think I will have to read this one as well.

Confounded By Gravity

This video is posted by request for Craig ; )
Enjoy!

First Day Back

So we started the day off with a bang. The kids couldn't wait to decorate and organize there homeschool supplies.



After two hours they were proud but a little loopy .



We had lunch, then they went outside to burn off some energy and came back in to play. It is amazing how much kids can fit in a lunch hour.




We ended the day we fairy tales, tea, and chocolate wafers. It was wonderful. Aidan kindly refilled the sugar bowl for us (apparently one bowl of sugar was not enough). So the first day is done and the kids and I are excited for the year to come.

What Was I Thinking

For some reason I cannot fathom I went shopping for homeschooling supplies, groceries, and clothes the day before school starts. What was I thinking.