School Days

It's that time of year again and the kids and I have been bitten by the back-to-school bug. So I've been organizing the schoolroom, planning curriculum, and shopping for school supplies. M(9) asked me if we could pleeease start school tomorrow? Well we're not quite ready yet, but we're getting there. I'm looking at the middle of August for our start date so she's just gonna have to wait a couple of more weeks.

But in that back to school spirit, here's a tour of our schoolroom. It is also our dining room, but nobody really calls it that anymore. Even the 3 yr old calls it "the school room" and the "school table." I have a feeling if I asked her where the dining room was she'd have no idea what I was talking about.


Our workspace (aka dining room table.) You can see M's Multiplication Wheel on the wall:

This is the small bookcase where the kids keep some of their free reading material.

Another bookcase where most of the kids texts and workbooks are kept. There are 3 bookcases with a total of 12 shelves in this small room (not counting the ones in the rest of the house.) Of course as any homeschooler or lover of books knows that's still not enough. The reading corner:

The music corner:

The craft cabinet (actually in the kitchen)

This is the sofa where we usually end up for Read Alouds since it's more comfy:

These are new and the kids are really excited about them. (Thanks Rebecca for the great idea.)Each kid has a "locker" for their stuff. There's even one for me. :-)

Thanks for visiting our Schoolroom!

Summer's not over yet though. Have a great one!

Well my computer has made a miraculous recovery from whatever ailment it was suffering for the last two months and I am finally back online! Here are some highlights of our summer so far:

It started off rough when M broke her arm after falling off the monkey bars in the backyard. A hospital trip two hours away, a scary surgery, and a few weeks in a cast was not the summer vacation she expected. But she is healing now and hoping she won't need physical therapy to get the full use of her arm back.

Even with her arm in a pretty pink cast, she did manage to ride a pony at a friends birthday party.

Here's one of my other cowgirls. Don't mess with this one.

Speaking of birthdays, the youngest of our girls turned 3! We celebrated with a trip to the castle park, an ice cream cake, and a new potty! She loved the park and the cake, but is not too interested in using that potty.

The boys are getting big too. E has definitely hit a growth spurt this summer and is growing out of his clothes and shoes faster than he can wear them. Any day now he will be taller than me. And baby bird is learning to stand and cruise along the furniture and will probably be walking much sooner than I'll be ready for.

Well, that about covers it. I'm so glad I can blog again and that my computer is back up and running. Checking emails at the library just wasn't cutting it. And I'm sure there'll be lots more summer pictures to post!

A few projects the kids finished recently:

M (9) made this Multiplication Wheel to help her learn her times table facts. She loves art, but not math, so this was a great way to blend the two subjects. We got this great Waldorf-inspired idea from this site: http://robinsunne.com/robinsunnes_multiplication_clock





We've been focusing on spiders this week, so the kids did some research and made this spider identification poster this afternoon.



M worked on this quilt all semester during her sewing class at the co-op. I think she did a great job! It was really impressive to watch her work that sewing machine all by herself.


It's hard to believe we're almost at the end of another school year. I'm very proud of all the things my kids have accomplished this year! They worked hard and learned alot!

Fairies Everywhere!

Yesterday we went to the Fairy Festival! We had a magical time searching out fairy homes and footprints in the woods. The girls made fairy wands and G received a blessing from a beautiful old fairy. We had a great time with our friends, both fairy and of the human kind.

"She ate the grass, she drank the dew,

The faerie brew of rainbow hue.

She danced all night with the elven crew

And didn't sleep at all."

~from one of our favorite books by J.Yolen

Butterfly Update

Two nights ago, M ran upstairs to let me know that the butterflies had all emerged from their chrysalides. I grabbed the container to check and sure enough they had, but it was a sad looking sight. A mess of butterflies lying in a crumpled heap with splatters of what looked like blood everywhere. (We have since learned that it was actually meconium.) We didn't know how long it had been since they "hatched" and it looked like they were all dead. My heart sank. I felt so bad. I couldn't let the kids see what had happened. But then I saw a little butterfly leg twitch and then the attenae. Soon they all started to move and even pump their wings a little. Whew! What a relief! We moved them to an even larger container and fed them some sugar water. The kids all found it fascinating to watch them drink up that sweet stuff. Then they moved and pumped their wings some more so we could see their pretty colors. Since it was a cold and rainy night, it didn't feel right to let them go so we let them stay in the box overnight. They didn't seem too eager to leave anyway. This morning we fed them again and misted their wings so they wouldn't dry out and tried to let them go. One took off flying, but the others still don't want to leave their cozy box. So we have left it open in the backyard so that Twitchy, Eileen, and Ripper (of course they had to name them!) can fly away whenever their ready.

Strong and sure

Bright and pure

Sparkles with a joyful glow

Laughter brims and overflows

Happy 5th Birthday to our little girl who brings us so much joy.

Birthday Party in the Garden

She really wanted her very own tree for her birthday. How could I say no to that?

Ah, Spring...

Finally, it's here! We've spent most of the week outside enjoying the beautiful weather that has finally made it's way here. This morning after breakfast, it was a trip to our favorite woods for a good long hike.

Soon after we got there we spotted this friendly family stopping for a cool drink...

The girls enjoyed making fairy boats out of leaves and acorn caps, then floating them down the river in case a fairy should need a ride across...

Then we had fun searching for shells along the river bank. There were some cool finds.

The only bad part of the hike was when I heard this conversation: "Hey look at this!" and then... "Put that down- it's dog poop!" Yuck. Luckily, there was a place nearby to wash our hands.

Otherwise, a perfect spring day!

In other news, our caterpillars have been getting big and fat and yesterday we noticed they were all hanging from the top of the jar. By this morning, they had all spun cocoons. So it's time to move them to a bigger place before they emerge as beautiful butterflies. Can't wait...

The Mind of a 2 yr old ( an "a-ha" moment for me.)

When I left the kitchen, she was sitting at the table quietly enjoying her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When I returned, the sandwich was shredded into bits, strewn about the table and covered with milk, a big goopy mess. "Look at the mess you made!" I said. The 2yr old looked at the table with a smile and said "Yes, it's beautiful."

I love eye-opening moments like those.

Namaste! Today started out with some morning yoga. I love starting our school day out this way - it's a great way to get our brains and bodies ready for the day. All of my kids have been doing yoga since before they could walk. Really even before they were born since I've done yoga on a regular basis for the last 20 years and always continue it throughout each pregnancy. Maybe that is why they were all born with such peaceful spirits. :-) I'm also looking forward to the chance to teach a yoga class next year at our homeschooling co-op. That should be alot of fun!

After lunch this afternoon, we had an exciting visitor. The mail carrier rang the bell to deliver our bugs! We're studying insects this month so we are planning to observe some caterpillars as they undergo metamorphosis and transform into painted lady butterflies. We also have a praying mantis egg that will be hatching in a few weeks. E spent time outside looking for the perfect stick to attach the egg to and set up the habitat. I'm a bit worried though because the book says that more than a hundred praying mantis babies can be hatched from that egg! I'm not sure what we've gotten ourselves into here.

It's really hard to believe it's been 12 years. 12 years since you came into our lives and changed them forever. 12 years since I became a mother. Wow. Twelve is such a magical age. You are standing with one foot still rooted in your childhood and one stepping into the future. I am so proud of the boy you are and the young man you are becoming. Happy 12th Birthday kiddo! We love you!

Countdown til bedtime:

10 pieces of chalk in the brand new box that got left in the driveway and run over by Dad's truck
9 minutes is how long the baby's nap lasted before the 2 yr old woke him up
8 dominoes that somehow went missing after lunch
7 diapers changed (5 wet, 1 poopy,1 total blowout)
6 cookies stolen and half eaten/half smooshed into the carpet behind the living room chair
5 days since the 9 yr old got a new bottle of bubbles, which the 2 yr old poured on the carpet to clean up the smooshed cookies
4 times I got spit up on by the baby
3 cups of water/milk spilled on the kitchen floor
2 drums- used to be one set of bongos until they were pried apart by the 2 yr old
1 rubber duck lodged inside the digeridoo. ha.

Goodnight!

Today was the first official day of Spring! So we celebrated by having an Equinox Homeschooling Day with some friends.

Our friends brought a deer skull for us to look at.

And the entire skeleton of an opossum. It was really cool!

Weaving a bird's nest

Eggsperiments

Off to hunt for eggs (the plastic kind with treats inside)...

Found One!

Happy Spring!

What a peaceful day we had today. It was one of those days that makes me glad that we made the decision to homeschool.

We woke up to a beautiful spring-like morning (2 days in a row now!) and opened the windows to let in fresh air while we ate breakfast. While I nursed and dressed baby Adam, the older kids got to work on their Math lessons and the little ones got out the paint and brushes for some art time.












After that the big kids and I went over a science lesson together and then they got on the computer to do some research for their reports. I grabbed a few books that we picked up at the library yesterday and read to the little ones . G really enjoyed the book about the 5 senses and had fun learning about sight and looking at optical illusions.
















After lunch and a couple of quick chores, we just had to get outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.





















We came back in for a quick snack and some quiet reading and journaling time (and naps for the littlest ones.) We read some poetry out loud for one another and had a nice discussion about the poets we're studying.



Then back outside for some fishing and skipping stones.























I suppose we could have gotten up early, rushed around to get to the school bus in time, spent the day in separate places doing different things, hurried through dinner so we could get those hours of homework done, then baths and bed. We used to do that, but not anymore. And days like today remind me just how happy I am about that.