Saturday, April 24, 2010

Silent Saturday

Silent Saturday.....except this was our Thursday homeschool group.

















Happy Homeschooling Everyone!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Springtime

The weather has been wonderful.
Springtime is everywhere.

Moonlight (the cat) stretches in the sun.

The kids made pinecone birdfeeders.

Our old Willow Tree has beautiful bark.

The deer ate much bark off the lilac bushes this winter.

This is where all the homeschool kids play.
They call it the village.

Our fruit trees are doing well.

The chickens are laying some nice eggs.
Yes, a few golf balls too.

The girls are enjoying the green grass of freeranging again. Some are still barebacked from the mean Roosters we had. Their feathers are slowly growing back.

My garlic is coming up nicely.

The husband tilled the garden.
Look how great the soil looks from the
chicken manure from last year.
My Japonica is blooming.
The buds remind me of strawberries with their little caps.

Pink Phlox.

The pond is a lovely shade of green.
It helps to hide the fish from the heron until the lilly pads cover the pond.
The frogs rather like the greenness of the water too.
The violets are in full bloom.
I will pick these this weekend to make Violet jelly.

The Clematis is getting big heavy heads and ready to bloom.

We gutted this garden. It was filled with over grown ragweed and Baptisia that spread like wildfire. Sometimes you just gotta start fresh. I need to find something to dress up the septic cover. I used to have a chair sitting on it with a watering pail.
I wonder if I could stencil it.
Kidding!
And the lilacs. How I love lilacs.
They are surrounding my deck and under my windows so that when the wind blows I get the scent of fresh lilac in the house.
It's better than Febreze.
Yes-Lilacs are my favorite I think.
Happy Springtime!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Homeschool Book Club

Our homeschool group's bookclub for kids met this Wednesday.
There are three book clubs that meet at the same time at Barnes and Noble.
It's a great way to get the kids reading although I've never really heard of a homeschooler that didn't like to read. They all have their favorites and right now
the adventure magical books seem to be a favorite.
The eight to eleven year olds just finished reading
The Lightning Thief.
Analicia and Kayrn discussed the book and gave
the kids a little quiz.
Some of the kids made dioramas or drawings of their favorite
God or Goddess from the book.
They chose "Dragon Rider" for their next book.
After the book discussion they made really cool shields
out of foamboard and paint.
Eye love this one.

Gorgeous!

Spectacular!

The kids looked over different shield designs and
made their choices carefully.

So many colors to choose from.

We had a full house.

Most everyone loved the book.

The five to seven year olds listened to many stories.

Jan Brett is always a favorite.
The teens just finished reading Leviathan and loved it.
Barnes and Noble has been wonderful to us and we are told they are creating a Resource corner in the store just for Educators. It will be for public school teachers as well as homeschoolers. We just gave Barnes and Noble a list of our favorite homeschool books.
We can't wait until next month!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

The Days Go By Much Too Fast

So my six year old baby started Soccer this week.
He had practice on Monday and his
first game today.

That's him on the far right.
He was so excited.
I love this age when even the smallest of
clothes are too big.
Big boy in even bigger clothing.

Swarm soccer.
The kids at this age basically move up and down the field.
A swarm.
Snacks from the concession stand make for a nice treat.

Even if it is granola bars.
"Mommy, I ran and ran but then I lost my breath."
Tae bossing the girls around.

Morgan won both playoff games today.

And practiced a little on our piano.

Our homeschool group met on Thursday.
Cooper ate some dirt and leaves.

All the moms were able to sit outside under our favorite willow tree.
The Forsythia were blooming and the grass
was nice and green from all the flooding.
Cooper played shy.

I made some delicious homemade macaroni and cheese
with the left over ham from Easter.
Total comfort food.

The Tooth Fairy visited my baby this week
and left him $2 for his first tooth.
We explained that only the first tooth gets a lot of money.
"Mommy-I think it's kinda gross that the Tooth Fairy collects everyones teeth."
So do I, Tae.
So do I.