As the cool weather moved in this week and we've been busy in the school room, all the "last swim of the season" pictures seem like they happened months ago and not just days! And they've already become sweet memories that I'm thankful we were able to make.
So here's just a post of swimming pics:)
Poolside Tea Party with Pey
Strutting to the end of the board.... but he never jumped off (he has at other pools... just not Pey's).
Nate shooting Pey.... and Pey shooting back:)
Chris and Anna battled it out too:) I loved Anna's return fire strategy.
On Labor Day we had friends from my parents church over. They were ladies I had known in my college group days.... fun that we could get together now with all our kids. All the kids had a blast!
Last week was fun with Nate's 2nd birthday, lots of visiting with friends and doing our reading and Grammar outside in the cool of the morning!!
I'm going to organize our last week by days... it's just easier!!
Monday - We completed our language arts and math assignments in the morning. As I prepared lunch Grammie called and said she was on her way to visit:) So after lunch we went outside to visit with Grammie and open the gifts she had brought for Nate (and Anna)!! Nate received some much needed clothing and Anna got a bike (she loves it... rides it every day, constantly!!!)
We did some reading aloud (Misty of Chincoteague) and working on history while Nate napped).
For history we studied about Catherine the Great of Russia! What a story:) We read the chapter while the kids colored the picture, did the study questions and the Chris, Anna and I played a little game to review:)
Then we went back outside for a few hours;) Neighbors came over with some gifts for Nate (and the older kids). They had chosen very educational gifts (she is a teacher!!)! We are soo blessed by great church members/neighbors we will miss having them soo close when we move!
Tuesday - Nate's 2nd Birthday:)
We had an extended time outside in the morning doing some reading;) And then headed in to complete math and Grammar:) I fed the kids a quick snack-y lunch and then we headed to the grocery store to pick up our weekly groceries and a couple of items for Nate's little playdate/party for his birthday:)
Our friends came over when we returned home.... and they played and played and played. We had a snack and sang happy birthday to Nate. He was shy about opening his presents, even trying to give one his friend:) But finally he was ready:)
The kids played outside for most of the late afternoon and evening;) When Brian came home from work, I fed the kids a quick meal and then went to a local Ladies Bible Study! It was soo nice to finally be able to attend.... it has been months since I was last able to attend either the home school mom's study or the local study !! And I even got to carpool with one of our sweet friends.... she is such an inspiration to me;)
Wednesday - We played and read outside, again... just too pretty to stay inside;) And then we came in to do math, spelling and finish chores.
Chris looking for 10-pairs as he adds strings of numbers together.
During our history time, we had a knock on the door. One of the little girls my kids play with had no one home when she got off the bus and needed to stay with us for a little while. Thankfully we had finished our maps and were just finishing our narrations for the chapter about Catherine the Great.
The kids played with our friend until we jumped into the car to pick up Brian and head to a park to meet up with friends visiting the area:) Sadly, we couldn't remember the last time we got to spend an evening together as a family with other young couples.... it was very enjoyable, not to mention getting so see and catch up with the other families;)
Thursday - We were back outside bright and early:) This time pulling out the chalk to do our Grammar copywork on the driveway.... why not;) They loved it;)
Again, we headed in after a while to get math and other tasks finished! I just couldn't fathom trying to lug math teacher's manuals outside;) Lydia learning what polygons are and learning to draw them:)
Anna had a busy week trying to "get" all of the 3,6, and 9 multiplication/division facts!! She is quite the trooper... pressing on until the end of the semester until we can devote more time to really memorizing these facts and increasing her speed:)
Sometime during the day I received an email with a link to a blog with boys' crafts! One "craft" caught Chris' attention! It was a Lego car with a balloon attached which when released would push the car making it "go"! Chris immediately headed to his Lego pile and began creating;)
Once we got Nate down for his nap (doing our Bible reading and reading Misty of Chincoteague), we gathered on the kitchen floor and started to build Lego cars. Once the kids built a car they thought would work, we placed the inflated balloon in it and let it go. I had fun recording some of their trials...
Chris' car....
Anna's car
Lydia built some cars, too, but never tried hers out;) And I HAD to see if I could build one;) Thankfully mine worked:) LOL!!
Even Nate did some building of his own;)
Friday -
Friday morning we set off early to pick strawberries;) In all honestly I would have rather gone in the afternoon so we could have had the morning to work on school work, but the afternoons last week were HOT and the mornings beautiful! We were thankful to meet up with friends at the strawberry patch and then later at a little park;)
When we returned home, the kids had a light lunch. They got baths;) And then we read as we got Nate down for his nap! Since I had a HUGE amount of strawberries to sort through the kids spent the HOT early afternoon watching Sound of Music! And we played outside the remainder of the evening;)
LOL... its almost time to write another Weekly Wrap-UP... this week's!! Thankfully I have a little more time on my hands with my college classes being completed this week and final grades for my students already handed in;) Yepppie;)
One of the biggest struggles and challenges I have gone through since living in a small, somewhat older town and home schooling my kids is loneliness. There have been YEARS that I have prayed for friends with young children who wanted a friendship to encourage, support and spend time together.
I have been blessed to see God answer those prayers through new families move into our area, new friendships made with people over unique circumstances, our home schooling group and a sweet young librarian who created little reading programs at our library where I connected with other young families.
Last week we were surrounded by friends on different days for different occasions.... and I saw just how blessed we were! And I was reminded of the effort that needs to be made to make these friends and hold onto their friendships.
On Tuesday we had our sweet neighbors over to celebrate Nate's birthday! It was a very small "party". Just one family over to play and have snacks. The snack theme was "Nate's Favorites" and his "cake" for this gathering was a Honey Bun since he wasn't eating his cupcakes :(
This family totally loved on us. Bringing us very thoughtful gifts, even helium balloons that we had NOT been able to purchase for the party and safe snacks!! We are so grateful to them for their willingness to celebrate Nate's birthday on a day that is dear to them as well!! They are such an inspiration!
And playtime on the Gator.... also Nate's favorite thing:) He's become quite the driver!
On Wednesday we met up with some friends who had recently moved away. It was fun seeing the kids happily playing again and being able to catch up with them while catching the little ones! Another family that will soon be "neighbors" was also there... I really look forward to being closer to them, they are a precious family.
Friday morning we set out to pick strawberries. Being reminded to make the effort to connect with others we invited some friends to meet up with us, we were very glad to have others join us... both at the patch and a little down time at a picnic area;)
we were amazed at the beautiful berries in Nate's bucket... how did he get such nice ones??
From Momma's container, of course;)
Angela's Titus covered in berries
And then we headed to the park for snack, playing and bubbles!
Thankful for our friends, both new and old:) And thankful for the reminder to make an effort to spend time with them:)
We did do school last week, too!! I'm sure after the post about being outside in the morning and now all these adventures you might be wondering;) LOL!! Our Weekly Wrap Up post is in the works:)
I feel this was a great homeschooling week for us:) Sure, there were some not-so-perfect moments:/ But when I look over the week I remember lots of fun projects, some beautiful weather and ways that I tried to enjoy my kids during school.
One change that we tried this week was having the older three miss their afternoon "rest". It was very nice only doing our "book work" in the morning (math, Grammar, spelling, reading) and then spending a few hours reading "living" books that fit our historical time period, reading our history lesson and doing "projects" while Nate napped.
I liked it because it made our mornings seem less "frantic" going from one lesson to the next to "get it all done before lunch". And when Nate was fussy I pulled him into my lap for a quick snuggle or two and then he was good and he'd go back to play:) I felt like our mornings were less stressful... I checked chores, we made lunch together... it was nice.
But I'm not totally convinced it's good for us. The kids were a little more fussy in the late afternoon. Or they tried to sneak in a late afternoon nap which messed with bedtime. And I had NO time to work on my classes which meant I had to stay up later in the evening!
So we'll see if we keep it? It might be that a couple of days they rest and a couple of days we school in the afternoons! And it's really hard not to have any "down time" during the afternoon.
Bible
We are continuing to read a story at a time in our Story Bible. Again, I just love the discussions that come from it and the beautiful examples of Jesus that we've been reading.
And the kids continue to work through their Awana verses:)
I've blogged before how the kids and I worked through and memorized most of 1 Corinthians 13;) And at the beginning of February I hung up some hearts we made some years back that have the characteristics of love sorted by things that show love and things that don't from I Corinthians! I have enjoyed having them still around ... I've noticed more and more the kids reading through the characteristics. How sweet to have those hidden in their hearts. Now it's all of us practicing them with each other;)
Language Arts
Here are some of the highlights of our week while we practiced reading, Grammar and spelling!
Lydia practiced the hard sounds and soft sounds of "g" and "c". I had made this little sort for Anna... funny that Chris and Lydia have also gotten to use it:)
Lydia found her like spelling words using finger paints this week... a little twist since she usually just circles them with marker.
Chris practiced his "oy" words this week... and we used foil to practice reading /oy/ words spelled "oi" !!
Yes, this was "school":)
Yes, this was "school". He was shooting letters taped to the window to spell his spelling words. He LOVED it and knew all his words by the end of the week... and even spelled them again for me at bedtime Sunday night:) My boy likes to be active;)
Math
Just some highlights of our math lessons this week;) All the kids completed 4 lessons:)
History
We started the week finishing off last week. We finished reading some chapters of Sign of the Beaver and a book about growing up in Colonial America. After finishing Sign of the Beaver one afternoon, the Chris wanted to make "bear claws" for a bear claw necklace.
This week we read about the Boston Tea Party. We completed our narration, colored a picture... and then one morning I told them we were going to make Indian "hats" and then they had to dress up to look like Indians using the clothing they had. It was what the colonists who boarded the ships to dump the tea did. So they had fun coming out in their colonist-want-to-look-like-Indian clothing.
Science
We attended a field trip this week at the library. The topic of the presentation was "Taking Care of Our Teeth". The kids heard about the different parts of their teeth and the ways to take care of them. The presenter also talked a little bit about visiting the dentist (something we still haven't done with the kids).
They had a little "experiment" that used a hard-boiled egg and a cup of soda. The point was that the sugar and acidity of the soda actually breaks down the shell of the egg. They said we could try it with juice, too!! That sounds like a great "experiment" for my reluctant brushers:)
Nate
Nate manages to keep himself pretty busy in the mornings while we school:) I thought it was sweet when he colored a picture one morning and wanted to hold it up so I could take a picture;) Love the drool marks... classic Nate!
Other
After our program at the library we went to the park! The weather was beyond gorgeous! It was nice to be there with some friends and to our surprise more friends showed up to eat lunch:) I really hope we all can make "park afternoon" a regular thing... it was soo refreshing for us all:)
When we returned home that afternoon, we had more friends come over to our house!! The kids had a good time playing with this sweet local family and a little friend they brought who instantly clicked with Anna;)
Chris and Anna battled it out too:) I loved Anna's return fire strategy.
