And our study of US History begins…

Our tepee…

Our pueblo…

Our amazon.com order (though not the fireman…he just wanted to join in)…

Just a happy homeschool classroom!

(The outfits were purchased for our three day trek to Williamsburg and Jamestown…post to come soon!)

Garage Classroom

Turning the garage into a classroom has been GREAT for a ton of reasons.

Not only is it a GREAT classsroom on Fridays, but it works really well for the kids and I during the week.

I often find myself at the table doing schoolwork with the girls while the boys play outside.

And it is a perfect place to get into messy projects with the kids.

Loving our garage classroom!

Wordless Wednesday: One day I’ll have landscaping. For now…I have boys.

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Tiny Talk Tuesday helps parents focus on one of the many joys of parenting - the funny things that our little ones (and sometimes big ones) have to say.

Join in the fun and record the Tiny Talk overheard in your house! Publish a post on your blog and link us to the laughs. Then be sure to link to the blog carnival on this post so more bloggers can join in the fun.

The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
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Today, I present the Tiny Talk of my C (age 2). He was drawing on the white board in the kitchen today and for the FIRST time, he began to name the scribbles as actual objects.

He kept telling me he was drawing "squils" (squirrels) and screwdrivers. Of course, his lovely sister gives him some prompting during the third attempt at a video...the camera was quite distracting.

But here is my Tiniest Talker...



Your Turn:

Our first year of 4H

My girls participated in 4H this year for the first time.  I never participated in 4H, so we had no clue what to expect.

And what to expect is a post for another time.  This post is about the “highlight” of the 4H year – the local County Fair – a chance to display your hard work and compete for awards.

We headed to the fair with family for the day.

My very excited 4H’ers couldn’t wait for the building to open so they could see their work on display find out if they had won anything.

K (age 8) entered several of her craft projects.  The maraca she made in her art class co-op this year took first place!  (purple – center of the back row on the table)

Several other crafts took ribbons, leaving her quite ecstatic!

She also carried the Food and Nutrition category this year and entered four baked good categories, all took ribbons.  Two of her cookies took first place!

Her chocolate chip cookies…

Her refrigerator slice and bake cookies…

Now…a funny story about her refrigerator slice and bake cookies, as embarrassing as it is, it will surely reveal the lack of 4H material I am… 

I am NOT a cook, baker or chef.  I picked the slice and bake category for her because I thought it would be EASY.  When I got to the fair, I asked how on earth we should list the ingredients…

Should we just write the brand?  (quizzical stare in my direction)

I mean, do we just write Pillsbury and the type?  Do we write the brand?  How do we list ingredients?

AH…then the high school 4He'r understood me…

“I think,” she said politely, “that you make the refrigerated cookie dough from scratch and then you slice and bake the cookies.”

OH.  DUH.  I didn’t think that would be much of a competition.  *sigh

We needed a plan B…and thankfully our Plan B won first prize!

My little clover displayed 8 of her projects too!  She enjoyed her green clover participation ribbons!

Then we enjoyed the many other aspects of the fair together.

It was a wonderful day, and the rest of the week was just as enjoyable.  Yes, it was a FULL FAIR WEEK!  We spent 4 days there enjoying 4H competitions, duties, and family fun!

The craziness that is our homeschooling journey

Homeschoolers often join co-ops or tutorial programs for their children so that teaching duties can be shared.  These groups basically involved paid tutors/teachers or cooperative groups of moms who sharing in the teaching of certain subjects.

Our first year of homeschooling we were involved in Classical Conversations and I was a paid tutor.  We met once a week for a half day and it was great fun with an amazing group of women.

For various reasons we joined another group the following year and for two years remained with this co-op.  My kids attended grade level classes for art, music, science, language arts, and PE.  I worked in the nursery, taught 2nd grade language arts, helped with middle school research paper and drama, and taught 2nd grade science at various intervals during the two years there.  This was another great group, but I began to think we needed something else.

Not knowing what to do because there wasn’t a co-op in existence that was everything I wanted, I began talking to some friends.  Slowly, an idea began to form.

What if the 6 of us (6 families) with our 21 total children made a group that was EXACTLY what we wanted? 

Conversations began and  our small little group was born:  King’s Table. 

It isn’t a formal co-op that will grow and involve more moms.  And it isn’t a tutorial because sadly, none of us are getting paid!  But it is a group of 6 moms, invested in a creative, energetic education for their kids based on many of the principles laid out by Charlotte Mason.

Every Friday we meet for three 45 minute session, including art, music and science/nature study.

And where did we decide to meet?

My House.

This decision was exciting and overwhelming all at the same time.  And it involved a few house projects this summer to get ready.  This was good because it was about time to finish unpacking the boxes in the basement!

So the garage became the classroom for our 10 students in 3rd-7th grade.  Shower tile makes a great white board and portable tables work well!

The basement “gymnastics” room was cleared out to transform into a music room for the K-2 class.

And an area in the basement, formerly filled with boxes, unused furniture, and a closet that needed to be knocked down, was transformed into a classroom for 6 eager K-2nd grade students to have science and art classes.

(No, we don’t have them all sit in a row like that…there are two tables in the room, but when I came down on the first day, this is how they had situated themselves and it was so darn cute)

So how is it working out after three weeks?

GREAT!  AMAZING!  Better than I could have hoped!  It is EXACTLY what I wanted for my kids and the house situation is working out beautifully!

The 10 older students stay in the garage for all of their classes.  Yes, the wall décor isn’t your typical set of “classroom motivational posters”, but racks of tools and bikes will have to do.

Four boys.  Six girls.

Five third graders.  1 fourth grader.  2 fifth graders.  1 sixth grader.  1 seventh grader.

Eager to learn.  Excited about education.  And just plain fun kids!

Whether it is science topics, like meteorology…

Or Nature Walks outside…

or music class…

This group of students is wonderful!  I love their enthusiasm  for learning, the friendships they are developing, and their love for the outdoors!

Then there are our energetic students in the K-2 group who are down in the basement classroom.  What a fun crew!

Six of them if D joins, five of them if he runs off to play.  (non-kindergarteners have the choice).  Three girls.  Two or three boys.

Working on art projects…

Creating parts of their family weather station…

And not blinking an eye when we have to use the utility sink in the laundry room!  Yep, they are a flexible and fun crew!

And what about the babies? 

There are six little ones (when D joins this crew).  One hasn’t attended our school yet, but has been able to nap at home for his AM nap while his daddy works.  The other five are here and kickin’!

First they romp and roam in the former gymnastics room till the K-2 class kicks them out for music.

(Yes, excuse the ceiling.  I could have cropped it out, but why.  Houses don’t have to be perfect for GREAT things to happen in them!)

Then they move upstairs to the playroom for some fun.

Their final destination is a snack and a little show while the moms who are watching them can do some clean up.  It is such fun watching how much they interact and enjoy each other.  This little crew  is heavy on girls, so the Barbie time is a BIG HIT!

Overall, my house is a delightful, energetic, organized group of potential chaos every Friday and we love it. 

Wordless Wednesday: Out of HER garden

 

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Tiny Talk Tuesday helps parents focus on one of the many joys of parenting - the funny things that our little ones (and sometimes big ones) have to say.

Join in the fun and record the Tiny Talk overheard in your house! Publish a post on your blog and link us to the laughs. Then be sure to link to the blog carnival on this post so more bloggers can join in the fun.

The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
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C's word: Squil.
Real word: Squirrel.

And he LOVES the squils! He spots them before anyone and he gets so excited as he yells, "Squil. Squil."
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We were in Williamsburg for 3 days with our girls and the boys were with their Grandparents. The day we returned home...

D announced to me, "I am a bottomless pit."

(I believe his Grandmom had that opinion)
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K (age 8), T (age 7) and the neighbor (age 9) were walking into the kitchen to find Eric and he heard K tell the other girls, "I can be very convincing," and then add, "Let me handle this" right before entering the room.

What was she trying to handle? They wanted to obtain a pear to try to feed a deer. Unfortunately for Little Miss Convincing, there were no pears in the house.
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Your Turn:

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Tiny Talk Tuesday helps parents focus on one of the many joys of parenting - the funny things that our little ones (and sometimes big ones) have to say.

Join in the fun and record the Tiny Talk overheard in your house! Publish a post on your blog and link us to the laughs. Then be sure to link to the blog carnival on this post so more bloggers can join in the fun.

The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
_____________________________________________________

C (age 2): I hear funner.
Real Words: I hear thunder.
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Mom: OK guys. D did so well in the pool in the last few minutes that I will give you all 10 more minutes so he can keep practicing.

D (climbs out of the pool...age 4): I ROCK! (punching one fist into the air) Yeah! I rock!
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Your turn: