First day of School

Today has been a great first day of school. We are using the My Fathers World curriculum and focusing on learning about key figures in our United states history and about all 50 states. We are also working on all the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic. For some added extra fun we will be learning art and working on foreign languages and several science experiments.

We are starting a new co-op at our church with a few other homeschool families. This is going to be fun learning about geography,science and doing an art project. We are looking forward to spending time learning together.

Ant update: They are continuing to tunnel and make a home for themselves.

We found a caterpillar over the weekend and have set up a nice home for him in a jar with fresh leaves. Just watching and observing to see if he becomes a moth or butterfly.

Also we found a really neat big moth in the house the other night and have that in a jar as well.

Jeepers Creepers we have a lot of bugs in the house. Thankfully they are all contained.

Most recent pics of the kids and ANTS

As our first day of school approaches in just a few days we are enjoying our last few lazy days. :)


Wanted to share our ant hill school project we just started 2 days ago. Very fascinating creatures that the Lord created. They are such hard workers. At first they were a bit confused and learned the layout of their new home and after a few hours they all seemed to be hard at work doing their jobs tunneling the sand. We can learn a lot from ants how they multi task and work together.

The Helpful Binder

Just thought I would share how we are working on keeping our home tidy and working together as a team. Over the years I have read many blogs about quick and easy ways to clean your home. We always start out strong and then seem to loose track somewhere along the way. After reading a few blogs recently about binders set up to show specific tasks for example: cleaning, school, cooking......or what ever your family needs. I thought we would give it a try.

I thought out our daily schedule and really tried to simplify and give each kid tasks that were at their age and skill level. Each day they have daily bedroom chores and they both help unload the dishwasher. Then we have a family chore that we all work on together. For example, Monday is Laundry day the kids help bring laundry to me after it is washed we work on folding and putting away together. On bathroom day I work on the shower, toilet and mopping and the kids work on the sink, baseboards and mirror. We have noticed that we all get done quickly and can have fun working together. Saturday is a fun day because that is help daddy day! I think that might be the kids favorite. :D

The kids get stickers in their binder for a job well done!!!! I get the reward of a picked up house!!!!!! As a mom that is a great joy. I love that the kids are being trained in many areas of helping mom and dad.

How I set up the binder:

A Look at our typical day written out and also shown with clip art

Daily bedroom chores with clip art

A page for each day of the week with a clip art of their task

I covered each page with a plastic protector

The kids are really enjoying helping and know exactly what they need to do before school and playtime. :)

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the Glory of God.

School room disaster

I am actually embarrassed to show this photo.......but it is just the beginning of a clean school room. Sometimes it just has to get worse before it gets better. :) I gave my desk and file cabinet to Keller so we are left with a small table. We have much more organizing to go. I have been going through the old stuff and throwing a bunch away and then boxing up stuff until Ashten is ready to use them. Organizing is going to be the key to success for the school year. We just recently started using a helpful binder that has the kids daily chores and then a special big chore to help mommy with daily. It is really helping us stay on track and keep the house picked up. I am hoping that we can easily transition into school time and still get our chores done. :) Next photo should be of a very clean and organized school/craft room. :)

Summer What have we been doing?

It seems summer is a time that everyone looks forward to. It drives half of the school year with anticipation of rest, relaxing and getting things done that have sat all year unfinished. But the reality is when summer comes I think we are so busy trying to get all the loose ends mended that we forget to relax. So far this summer has been full of remodeling our bathroom, yard work, planting and getting ready for Vacation Bible school. Hopefully July and August will be full of fun times with friends and maybe a little tiny weekend getaway to relax and unwind and not think about any house projects. :) So in a funny sort of way I am looking forward to getting back to school and having a routine. Ahhhh check with me in November and see if I still feel that way. ;) This school year was so much fun and a real accomplishment. Gracie finished first grade and Ashten prepping for Kindergarten. I look forward to more learning and discoveries and enjoying watching my children grow. The Lord has blessed us and I am so thankful for his guiding hand each step of the way. Can not do it with out HIM!!!!!

Summer

Summer is finally here!!! We are 9 days away from Gracie graduating 1st grade!!! Wow what an amazing feeling. We are so proud of her and what she has learned this year. Gracie reads all the time and loves her American Girl books and is currently reading Charlot's Web. It is one of my favorite things to see her reading all the time. :)

Ashten is done with preschool and will be moving on to pre-k/kindergarten in the fall. He loves letters! Sounding them out, writing them and tracing them. He walks around tracing letters everywhere we go. I think I see a little engineer in the making. :D He is a smart guy and loves to learn.

So on to summer and new adventures and field trips and enjoying being kids!!!!!!

Plants

These are our little seedlings.....since it has stayed winterish through the end of may we are not able to plant outside yet. We planted flowers of all kinds in little plastic cups for the front planter box that will be going in front of the deck. :) Can't wait for them to grow bigger so we can plant and enjoy them. The kids get to see first hand how to plant and grow. In a few you can see the roots on the side of the cup.