Second Grade Science

Science this year was a mixed bag. We began with every intention - even excitement - to tackle Apologia's Botany book. We loved Exploring God's Creation Through Astronomy the year before; we did most of the experiments and faithfully made illustrated notebooks. I'm amazed at what the girls still remember from our studies of the stars and planets. I'm a big fan of these books - not to mention the author's website and general homeschooling helps.

When we began the Botany book, though, we had a no-longer-immobile baby who enjoyed crawling all over our work. We were also preparing to move. We weren't getting to it consistently, so we boxed it up in hopes of starting again in our new home. That never happened.

But we did do a ton of nature notebooking right in our backyard, we've taken plenty of trips to the zoo, spent lots of time at a great hands on science museusm, and had quite a bit of fun with the flower fairies. (Which, by the way, is a great way to learn flower identification).

My plan for Bobo's second grade science is to use the Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers. She can do this independently, reading a selection and then making notes and drawings in her nature notebook. We will come back to the remaining three Apologia elementary books in a year or two.

The younger ones will surely get quite a bit of science through Bobo's reading - she tends to be quite effusive when it comes to her studies. I'm finding that to be one of the great benefits of home education: so much is "caught" by the little ears hanging around the school room.

Face Painting 101

Every summer, without exception, my children have set up a face painting stand. They honestly believe that people will come and subject themselves to being decorated with watercolors. Until this year, they've been disappointed.

Yesterday, three of the neighborhood children stepped up to the plate! The results were mixed. Some pleased as punch with the results; others not so much.

Can you guess which camp my middle two were in?

Helpers

They were trying to help. Really. (And yes, they're actually in the toilet.)

The result of their labors.

Summer Reading

We haven't been keeping up with Bobo's pleasure reading narrations - primarily because when she was into the fairy books (the Disney Fairy books and the Flower Fairy series) - I couldn't keep up with her! But now that her pace has slackened a bit, I hope to continue on.

Here's her take on an old favorite:

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is another fantastic and wonderful book. I like it because it is strange, but fun to read. There are oompa lumps and golden tickets. Charlie's just a poor boy that found a golden ticket in a chocolate bar. It turns out that he gets all of the chocolate that he's ever wanted and he's the new owner of the chocolate factory. It's a funny and silly book. I think you'll really like it."

The Sweetness of Summer

So many good things to share, but time only allows for a few:

A great week of Vacation Bible School ended last night.

We thoroughly enjoyed it, but we're happy to have

our evenings and bedtimes back in place...

...especially because we're on the last of the Caroline books

and we can't wait to see if Charlotte and Mr. Holbrook get married.

(Reading in the tree house is a favorite around here).

Bobo's most recent prayer card

(translated: "let not jealousy come upon me! But let love overflow)

Happy first day of summer!

You Know It's VBS Week When...

1. The house is quiet until 9:00 AM because the children have been up so late the night before.

2. Parents at the park are staring at you strangely because your children are singing Romans 6:23 with actions, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life."

3. Everyone's wearing their new VBS t-shirts nonstop, including in their sleep.

This is our first year at this particular VBS. Wow, they know what they're doing. There's a 35 minute musical drama that ends each session. It's completely written and choreographed by people from the church. The set and costumes are amazing. Even the music is original. It's truly captivating for all of us. Crockett, who is hours beyond his bedtime when the drama begins, is enraptured. We can't wait to see what happens in the story tonight!

Happy Father's Day...

To my dear Dad...

...and to theirs too

(He's reading the "why I love my dad" quotes at our Father's Day dinner)

Saving Your Blog

I started blogging because it was a fun way to record our days at home and keep me accountable to our learning goals. There's certainly nothing profound here, just a humble offering of these small hours that make up our family's life. And yet I'd hate for it to just disappear one day (especially before I get to show it to my grandchildren, much to the horror delight of their parents of course).

Enter the Blurb Book.

It was so easy to make my first year of this blog into a little paperback book, ready to be preserved for posterity. With the click of the mouse (and after entering your url and password), Blurb "slurps" every last detail right up and plops it into book format. Actually, there are quite a few formats you can choose, but I went for the standard 7 x 7. Blurb lists all your posts, and you can decide which ones you'd like to include. Comments, sidebars, and advertising are left out, so the pages contain just the images and text. If you've linked to other sites in your post, Blurb offers the option of including them as footnotes.




The price was close to $30 for a paperback book of 190 pages with color photos.

If I continue blogging, I plan on putting one of these together each year and keeping them with my scrapbooks.

All Things New

We're navigating the waters of new neighborliness and summer vacation in an enclave where I seem to be the only mom at home during the week. It hasn't been pretty. But after much venting conversing with a dear Fargo friend last night - and a surprisingly hushed day around here - things seem to be calmed down. In my frustration, I've failed to see just how many great conversations all this has led to with my own children; not to mention how many amazing opportunities to share our Father's love come my way every single day. I need to do better.

The unexpected quiet afternoon provided the perfect backdrop for an impromptu production of the Wizard of Oz. As all four children got busy with pre-show make-up (Crockett loved helping Elbow paint his big brother with a toothbrush and watercolors) and costume gathering, I thanked God for opening my eyes and reminding me that He's all about doing something new right here.

Toddzilla's Toad

Toddzilla spent all day yesterday befriending "Mr. Toad." He made a habitat for him, let him crawl all over him, and chased the little guy around all over our yard. Crockett managed to enjoy the toad too, without attempting to eat him. Huge improvement.

As is becoming the custom, the children get about 24 hours to observe and play with their new found nature friends - then it's back to the woods they go. So long, Mr Toad.

Side note: I was - once again - the only family member who refused to touch this lovely part of God's creation. Toddzilla is definitely his father's son, having no qualms whatsoever about letting Mr. Slimy Guy perch on his head!

Vintage Sewing

My mom sent these cute shirts that my grandma made for me when I was little. I remember the red and white one from a picture of me on my first day of school. The girls immediately fell in love with the "old fashioned shirts" and have been taking turns wearing them ever since. They barely fit Bobo, but that doesn't seem to bother her.

I decided it was high time to try my hand at sewing clothes. I've been wanting to learn the whole art of elastic for some time. That was the easy part! I had no idea how hard sleeves are. The seam ripper came in very handy on this project.

The pattern was no help whatsoever in terms of the sleeves. I ended up using the ones my grandma sewed as a guide. I added a bow for "extra beauty," Fancy Nancy style. Now it's on to a matching pair of capris. Anything without sleeves!

godsisters

Elbow was overjoyed to have her god-family in town for a visit. She loved playing the big sister role to sweet Caroline.

Caroline's mom introduced me to Hubby, way back in the day at Dear Old Dartmouth. We also share amazing memories of a semester in Europe, and quite a few crazy college roommate stories. But I digress...

The dads were quite pleased to learn that they're equally enamored with the 21 volume Aubrey-Maturin series. Much discussion ensued -followed by Hubby bringing down the whole set, as well as the accompanying lexicons, maps, etc.

Fare thee well on the rest of your journey, dear friends!

Recital Season - Done!

Three long, but very good, recital weekends are behind us. The girls got through their pieces just fine; Hubby and I took turns going in and out of the recital hall with our boisterous boys. This was our first experience with young children performing on string instruments. Those of you who have been there, already know what I'm talking about. Ouch. I hate to admit that some of the two hour recital was excruciating painful. The busyness of May is happily over!