Great at Eight

                                           

Crockett turned eight today. His current loves are Pokemon cards, Skylanders Trap Force figures, art sets, and Legos. 

We had family fun today with breakfast in bed, presents, all sorts of games the bigger kids put on in the playroom, and a "private" showing of Alexander and the No Good Very Bad Horrible Day (it's good to be home schoolers and have many things all to yourselves during the day). 

Party to come this weekend. 

Second Semester

All good things must come to an end and it's time for this break to be over. I'm getting us all ready for second semester this weekend. After a late night New Year's Eve, followed by another later night for the Sugar Bowl (way to go Buckeyes!), I'm feeling behind but there's still tomorrow.

Girls: Not much changes for them at home or at Veritas. Bobo switches from Government to Economics, but other than that they'll continue on in Latin, History, and Science there (and Math for Elbow). Both girls will carry on with Literature at home; Bobo and I will continue to slog through Saxon's Algebra 2 as well. Bobo did a study of Twain in the Fall for our American Lit class, reading some of his short stories and Huckleberry Finn.  We're moving on to Steinbeck after break. I'd assumed we'd start with Of Mice and Men, but after reading it again this weekend I'm switching to The Red Pony.  After that she'll tackle The Grapes of Wrath.

Boys: We've ditched our library days for the time being. It was great to get our year started, but Right Hand Man grew a little weary of wandering aimlessly between the bookshelves while we tried to work. Toddzilla also prefers the comforts of home (which include things like wearing pajamas, playing Legos as a break, listening to music on his iPod during math... it's a pretty hard gig to give up).  Happily he likes division. Reading, not so much (unless it's the sports page). He tolerated Sounder before break. His current reading of Hatchet seems to actually interest him. Crockett likes the Frog and Toad books as well as his reader, Busy Times. The Patriot is coming along in the Kindergarten Hooked on Phonics "books." Our "I did it!" chart is literally tearing apart as we've peeled off the previous user's achievement stickers four times by now.  We're supplementing My Father's World history (Creation to the Greeks) with Story of the World: Ancients. 

Fall Highlights

The holidays are already upon us and I'm still feeling like the school year has just begun. Here are some of the highlights of the year so far:

Halloween!

The kids managed to collect 40 pounds of candy. Ugh. Most has been hidden/given away (Shhh!)

Football!

Toddzilla had a great season as QB, leading his team to the championship game and making the All Star Team. Go #75!

Breaking free from the pack...

Touchdown!

Ready to cheer for the Bears in the Championship!

The biggest and littlest of the boys cheering for the Buckeyes.

Soccer!

The Patriot loved his first season of soccer.

Cross Country!

Bobo also loved her first year running cross country. She made some great friends and is already excited to run track with them in the Spring.

Science!

Our science group is having fun studying swimming creatures. Most recently we studied primeval reptiles and had fun with fossils:

A fun field trip with Dad to the natural history museum in Cleveland. More fossils!

Gymnastics!

After six months of training, the competitive season has begun. Elbow had a good meet near Cleveland last weekend. First on beam!

 Music!

 Hubby is attempting to teach the girls to sing 3 part harmony. This may take awhile :)

Just moved up to the full size violin this Fall

 Baking!

Some friends from church taught the girls how to make cheesecake this week: chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter cup. Calories anyone?

 Next up: Thanksgiving Prep!

Five Weeks In

Here it is, the end of September and I've posted nothing about the beginning of our school year or all the goings-on at Living Waters.  This has been a particularly busy - and productive - Fall with lots of changes to the normal routine at home.

The girls are each taking four classes at Veritas Academy. This Classical, Christian private school has been a great addition to our homeschool program and has given me the time needed to focus more on my four busy boys. Bobo is taking Latin, History, Government, and Science at Veritas and continues to do Math and Literature at home. Elbow is taking Math, Science, Latin, and History at Veritas and is doing Language Arts at home. They're in class all day Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and home with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's been a big adjustment in many ways and I'm very proud of how well they're doing with all of it. (I can't say they love studying on the weekends, something they have happily avoided until now, but  they're enjoying their classmates, teachers, and the ability to be in a learning environment without all the interruptions of little brothers a busy household).

The boys and I have been getting our work done at the library on the mornings we have to take the girls to school. This has greatly helped the amount of distractions that seem ever present: their toys, gadgets, outdoor escapades - all of the things that I've found lure boys away from the books much more easily than girls. Currently, Toddzilla is in 4th grade, Crockett in 2nd, and The Patriot is a kindergartener. Right Hand Man is playing his role as the Dismantler-of-All-Things-Academic just as well as his predecessors did. 

We're still involved in our science co-op; this year we're studying Exploring Creation with Zoology 2 (Swimming Creatures). We had a great time on a field trip to the Newport Aquarium last week:

And it's always fun to add an element of danger when you've got boys around. Here we are tempting fate with hairdryers and water in an effort to learn about ocean currents:

Without the girls around three days a week, our afternoons are free for all sorts of explorations. We've found two new stomping grounds, both are quickly becoming favorites: an off road bike path and the local skate park. Danger seems to be the operative principle. (And yes, we've had quite a few scrapes and bruises). Who takes a two year old to these places? We do.

We've also had time to launch rockets and explore Indian Village: 

Finally, we've been busy with all sorts of sporting events. Bobo is running cross country for the first time and Toddzilla is loving life as QB of his football team.

Elbow continues to train hard for her upcoming competition season in gymnastics (pics to come after her first meet this year). She's been excited to see Gabby Douglas in action since Gabby started training at her gym this summer. 

The Patriot is on his first team ever - a little wild man on the soccer field. He spends more time on the field than on his feet; he seems to love diving and sliding.

Hubby and I are teaching a six week class on my new book, Faith@Home, at our church. Whew... I'm ready for a break after all this.

Five Days With My Five Boys

No, I don't have five boys, but I do have one Hubby who's included in all the boy-related happenings around here.

It's been me and the boys for the last five days; the girls are at Young Life camp in Michigan. They sent us a final picture from the bus before the mandatory phone-confiscation at camp:

The boys have gotten to have a few added adventures in their absense. I took them go-carting and bumper boating one day:

Hubby upped the ante and headed to Kentucky to re-visit the Creation Museum yesterday. In case you didn't know, kids are FREE this summer!

Toddzilla has been working on a home-made sluice machine (I'll never understand the things he comes up with...)

And Right Hand Man is trying his hand at all sorts of new things.  Speaking excluded, however. He still prefers to allow all five siblings to carry the heavy burden of communication for him.

It's wedding season so there's been a few more dates for the parents of this clan. 

This weekend we actually had to hire a babysitter.  Girls, come home!

I'm almost done with this fall's school preparations. Having taken a much needed break from all school work and all music lessons all summer long, I'm actually excited for the new year.

Midsummer Musings

I'm not entirely sure how summer seems busier than the school year right now, but that appears to be the case. Great stuff going on, but with all the comings and goings and children staying up later than usual my writing time here is next to nothing.

My new book, Faith@Home, is coming out within a week or two. I'm incredibly pleased with the cover design by the great people at CSS.

The Patriot had a wonderful week at soccer camp and is very excited for his first soccer season this fall:

Crockett and Toddzilla loved Indian Village camp and were completely exhausted after a week of canoeing, archery, rock climbing, caving, fort building, and everything else boys love.

The little boys and I spent lots of time at the pool while their brothers were at day camp.  The Patriot passed his swim test and is now a proud rider of the slides!

I'm attempting to get our school year in order. The girls have interviews today at Veritas Academy, where we're hoping to take a few classes this fall. A new venture for all of us!