Our Week in School

Since I haven't blogged about our school for awhile I thought I would do that today.  I have time to do that as we weren't able to get to church this morning.  The wind blew all day yesterday and plugged the roads in all four directions. 

In CtG Daniel is getting further along in the timeline.  We finished Exodus and Judges.  Yesterday he started in Ruth and read the first two chapters.  In memory work he has learned II Timothy 3:16-17 ("All scripture is inspired by God..."), the old testament books of the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and the 23rd Psalms.  He is having an easier time memorizing as his vision improves.

In history we study what is happening in other parts of the world parallel to the time period we are studying in the Bible.  I think we are finished studying Egypt for awhile.  This week we began to study ancient Greece.  By the end of this school year we will have studied up to the time of the Romans.

Daniel is able to do more work in English now.  Before we were doing most of his work orally.  As we are further along in his vision therapy he is able to do more reading and writing.  On Friday he had his semester review.  I was happy he remembered everything on the summary.

A few weeks ago Daniel started Singapore 4B.  So far he is working with decimals and continuing fractions which is good as he needs more practice in fractions.

In Genesis For Kids Daniel is up to Day 5 in creation.  He will be studying sea creatures and birds.  I really like the book.  It is just right for his level.

Daniel still struggles learning to write.  We are using Writing Strands 3.  I try to simplify and help where I can.  I hope this will get easier for him.

In music we have been listening to Bach.  Daniel is getting better at drawing.  In art he has been learning how to use shading.

We finished Treasures in the Snow by Patricia St. John for read aloud.  Both children really liked it.  We will be reading The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum for the next few weeks as well as The Trojan Horse by Emily Little.

In Kindergarten Leah will start week 19 R-r-rock.  We continue to love the work in MFW especially the science portion.  It is just right for a child her age.  We supplement with a bunch of library books mostly fiction on the topic we are studying.  The curriculum has some fun activities we can choose to do.

When we were studying Z-z zebra last week I drew a zebra on paper.  Leah painted the stripes on the zebra.  She usually loves to paint so I appreciate when there are ideas for her to practice that skill.

MFW will have a booth and some workshops at our annual home school convention in March.  I'm hoping I will be able to pick up my curriculum for next year there.  I have what I need for 1st grade but will need to purchase Rome to Reformation for Daniel.  I would like to get a foreign language from them as well.  They sell Rosetta Stone.

I was contacted by MFW as they want me to work at their booth during the convention.  I am really looking forward to that.  I will only be able to do that on Friday as we don't work on Sabbath but they were okay with that.  The convention is only a month away now.  It is always so nice to meet and visit with other home schoolers, look at all the different curriculum, attend workshops, and get a much needed boost in enthusiasm this time of the year.

My spaghetti sauce is smelling pretty good right now.  Leah is really looking forward to it as spaghetti is one of her favorite meals.  For me it is such a Sabbath smell as my mother almost always made it each Sabbath.  Since the meat and sauce could be made on Friday it requires little preparation on Sabbath.  We will enjoy it, I'm sure.   

 

Weekly Wrap Up

It's funny to me that it is the end of our school and work week already.  Time certainly flies whether we are having fun or not.  All in all it has been a good week.

On Tuesday we went to Fargo for Daniel's vision therapy appointment with his optometrist.  He goes every other week now and does a "double" session which means instead of an hour he is there for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.  It is hard work for him but the doctor has activities that are more fun and varied than the ones we do at home each day. 

On Wednesday I had to go to town for my monthly tune up at the chiropractor.  I was supposed to go last week.  Because of the storm I stayed home and rescheduled for this week.  I was able to do a few errands in town, too.

Tim goes in to work later on Wednesdays so the children were able to spend time with him.  He had planned to pick up a load of wood at a neighbor's north of here and they rode along with him.  I was home before they and was able to see the big load he brought. 

The farmer is cutting down all his dead trees and Tim is welcome to any he wants before the farmer will burn them all this winter.  I'm hoping he will be able to get there every week as part of the work is done.  Tim still has to cut them into manageable lengths, lift them onto the trailer, unload them, cut them into logs, split the logs, and stack them in the quonset.  It's a lot of work for a man who works 60 hours a week at a night job.

When Tim had two strong sons at home he had some help in the lifting and work.  Now he has a young son who is strong and a very willing worker but is too young to be helping with much of the heavy work.  Daniel is great at splitting the wood, he loves using the wood splitter, and helping to stack it.

I haven't really accomplished much other than school this week.  I did get some of my house cleaning done.  I picked up replacement rugs for our living room.  Every few years I buy a new one at Menard's.  They sell 6'X9' carpet remnants that have finished edges for $29.99.  The one I bought isn't as nice as the former one.  When Sunny was sick she peed on it.  When younger, Elly did, too.  So we needed a new one.  I moved all the furniture and scrubbed the hard wood floor before I put down the new rug.  I don't like the looks and feel of this rug as well as the other but I know it is clean.

In Kindergarten Leah is finishing D-d-dinosaur.  I found some great fictions stories about dinosaurs at the library.  I read one a day and also read the book What Really Happened to The Dinosaurs that came with the kindergarten deluxe package from MFW.  She did some fun dinosaur projects.  We started All About Spelling Level One this week, too, since Leah was wanting to do more school. 

In Creation to the Greeks Daniel studied through the time of Joseph.  We found a good video at the library that had the stories of both Jacob and Joseph and watched that on two different nights.  It helped Daniel to "see" as he is a visual learner.  When he read the account in the Bible we were able to see any discrepancies that might have been in the video and discussed that the Bible is true so we believe what it says over what the video showed.

Daniel continues to study ancient Egypt and is up to the Middle Kingdom now.  He, too, did some fun projects relating to that.

In science Daniel did a few neat experiments (that worked) relating to gasses in the air.  Those were fun.

He is still studying fractions in math.  Now he is doing written problems and can see how fractions relate to real life.

I can see that I had best get busy.  We have today's school to do which is a light day (yay:)!  I have food to make for Sabbath and the rest of my house to clean.

Blessings to you all.

Weekly Wrap Up

I like the term "weekly wrap up" that others use on their blogs.  Writing about one's week does tend to "wrap" it up.  So I thought I would use it, too. 

The snow storm you already know about.  I am happy to report that the weather is much calmer now.  I was just outside taking this picture of the gorgeous sunrise.  The picture didn't capture it very well.  The colors are just beautiful.  There is no wind.  I love the sound of the crunchy frozen ground.  As I walk in the snow it goes, "crunch, crunch."  The sound of the vehicle traveling east on the gravel road had a good crunchy sound as well.  Those are two things about winter that I like.

I also noticed the half waning moon high up in the middle of the sky.  There were a few wispy clouds floating past it which made it look a little mysterious.

I really am a morning person.  I so appreciate being the only person awake at this time.  I like having my dog, Ellyana, sitting on my feet keeping them warm and keeping me company.  And I love my nice hot coffee.

I am running late this morning.  Tim was just home when I got up so we sat and visited for awhile.  He went to bed and won't be up until late afternoon so it was nice to have some alone time with him. 

I was happy that I was able to find Tim some of the lined jeans he likes to wear for work.  Each year we get him a couple new pair.  He likes the brand from WalMart.  I have been checking each time I go to WalMart but hadn't been there for a few weeks.  Instead of looking all around I asked a clerk working in that section if they had any while I was in the store yesterday.  She said they didn't.  As I was walking out of that area I saw a rack of them!  I should have gone back to show her where they were, but didn't.  I was especially glad they still had two pair left in his size.  That should get him through the winter.

The produce warehouse where he works is kept cool year round.  Tim feels the cold and has a hard time in the winter.  He is in and out of the warehouse as he is the one that has to deal with the semis and their trailers.  He can get pretty cold working outside hooking up trailers and getting the trucks running before he backs them into the garage where the loading docks are.  Wearing the lined pants helps a little with that.

We had a good day in town yesterday.  I'm so glad I didn't attempt to drive up on Wednesday.  We got to the library and got the books and videos that will fill our school book basket for the next three weeks.  It was nice to finish our shopping and errands and get home before dark.

Daniel wanted some coveralls.  He had noticed last year that they had some at WalMart.  Since he has a good pair of snow pants I wasn't about to buy him any coveralls.  He was quite willing to use his own money to get them.  I would rather see him spend his money on that than a new toy.  The reason he wanted coveralls had to do with he fact that his dad and his older brother both wear them and he likes that they have zippers down the outside of both legs making it easier to get on and off.

This post was supposed to be a "weekly wrap up" about our activities in school.  So I had best get to that.

Leah studied "U-u-us" in Kindergarten.  Not only did she do activities enforcing the "u" sound in "us" she got to do some fun things in science learning about the 5 senses.  Each day we briefly studied each sense.  For the sense of touch I put some items in a bag and she tried to guess what they were by touching them.  I think she got them all right.  I made sounds for the sense of hearing that she was good at guessing, too.  I had her smell some things while blindfolded.  Yesterday I put 10 items on her desk.  We went over what each one was.  Then I had her leave the room while I took one of them away.  When she came back in she tried to remember what wasn't there.  She thought it would be so easy but she couldn't remember every time what was missing.  We kept doing this until she was down to one item.  I loved her expressions as she realized she didn't know and when she did.  Today we will do a blindfolded taste test.

In Bible she learned the words "God made us wonderful."  We read some verses detailing how wonderful we are made and verses about our eyes and ears.

Daniel has been doing so well in his reading!  Yesterday he read his whole Bible portion which was 40 verses.  As his reading improves so does his comprehension.  One big thing in the Charlotte Mason style of learning is narration.  After he or I read he summarizes what has been read.  This helps with retention.  Lately I notice this is easier for him, too.

In ancient history he is up to the time of Jacob.  Yesterday he read about how Jacob deceived his brother, Esau.  Today he will read about Jacob fleeing to Haran.  After he reads I read from the Victor Journey Through The Bible book which goes over the geography of the area, what the area looks like, and any other interesting facts that deal with that particular reading.  It reinforces what was read in the Bible.

Daniel is still working on fractions in math.  He had a review this week as well.  In division skills he is awesome.

In science we did some fun experiments with air and water.  For one of the experiments he made about 10 holes in a drinking straw.  Then he challenged his dad to a race to see who could drink their water the fastest.  Since the straw with the holes in it couldn't create a good vacuum Tim had a hard time getting any water to come up in his straw.  We all laughed about this.

In art he studied some more about Egyptian art and tried his hand at a few projects.  In music we listened to Vivaldi's "Autumn" after listening to the explanation of what was being portrayed. 

Oh, my, it is getting late and I must get ready for the day.  I'm glad that Friday is a "light" day in school as I have all my house work to do.  Since we are invited out to dinner to my cousin's after church I don't have to get a meal ready for tomorrow.  I've got some stew meat thawed and plan to make a hearty beef stew for supper tonight.

Have a good weekend.

End of the Week

After taking Thursday and Friday off from school last week and not keeping up on my work around here I thought about not starting school until Wednesday.  My schedule is messed up anyway.  I hate it when my schedule gets messed up!  But I'm glad that I went ahead with school as the children do better when they keep to their routine and I do, too.

School has been great.  Leah is on T-t-turtle.  Her words to remember are "I don't quit;  I persevere."  After an explanation on what persevere meant she has loved using the word.  It's so big, you know.  We have read several Bible verses on perseverance.  Today we will read about "Mike Mulligan" or "Katy the Steamshovel", which ever one Leah picks.  We could read about "The Little Engine That Could."  But I am kind of tired of reading that story.  On Friday we will read about the "Tortoise and the Hare" and act it out using stuffed animals.

Leah painted the bottoms of two paper plates.  I made a head, legs, and tail out of green construction paper.  Then we stapled them all together.  Now she has a turtle.  Each week I make a badge for her with her words to remember on it.  This week I made a turtle.  She asked if I would not punch a hole in it or put a string for her to wear as she wanted to use it as a baby for her bigger turtle.

One day out of each 6 day lesson we use these cards.  Leah puts the vowels in order.  Then she puts the pictures above the vowel that matches the short vowel sound for that picture.  After she has finished that, which takes her only a few seconds to do, we sing the short vowel song.  It is to the tune of "Mary had a little lamb"  and goes like this:  "I hear a in cat and man, cat and man, cat and man.  I hear a in cat and man - a - a - a, " using the pronunciation of short a when we say "a".  We do this for all the vowels.  She loves the songs we sing and likes the repetition of them even though I am getting tired of the same ones.

Her hair is really messy as I had just washed it and wait until it is almost dry before I brush it.

Daniel has been studying in Genesis.  We are still reading about Abraham.  I got a couple movies through inter library loan on Abraham.  We had watched one last week.  Then I forgot about them.  Yesterday when I was dusting in my living room I found the DVDs.  So we watched part of the other one last night and plan to watch more tonight.  I think it is really interesting though they include things that could have happened but aren't mentioned in the Genesis account.  Since Daniel is a visual learner it helps him to understand better life in that time period.

Daniel learned the second commandment this week.  Yesterday we used the verse in his cursive handwriting practice.  As his vision gets better so is his handwriting. 

In math Daniel is still working on fractions and will be for the next couple weeks.  He is getting quite good about knowing when he needs to "simplify" his fractions but still gets a little stuck sometimes remembering how to do that.  Yesterday he started learning about "improper fractions."  He thought it "easy."

In Genesis for Kids we read about air and water.  Then we did an experiment demonstrating how air has mass.  We filled a big glass bowl with 8 inches of water and got two small clear glasses.  One glass we put straight down upside down into the water trapping the air inside.  The other glass we let fill with water and watched the air bubbles come out.  Then we did it again and filled the glass that had no air in it but had filled with water with the air bubbles from the other glass.  That was neat.  Finally we stuck a dry paper towel into one dried glass, put it straight down upside down into the water, left it there for a few seconds, and then brought it back up again.  It was still dry.

Yesterday the children listened to "Summer" by Vivaldi while they painted a summer scene.  They really like doing this and do well on it.

Tim finished replacing the front steps.  The old ones had so many rotted boards we were afraid someone would get hurt on them.  We want to replace the steps and sidewalk with new cement but will probably wait for a couple years to do that as we want to make a cement patio by the south window which needs to be replaced with a sliding glass door.  The door needs to be put in first as we will need some steps there as well.  In the meantime the wooden steps were cheap to make and will do fine until we can get the other work done.

The children and I picked all the apples from my little tree and got about 8 gallons.  I will need to store some of them in my downstairs fridge as they are just as good eating as a Fuji apple and have no pesticides or wax on them.

Earlier this week we were happy to see this hawk over by my garden.  We got out our binoculars so we could observe it better.  It wasn't afraid of us if we were outside.  It was hunting those pesky pocket gophers that are digging up our yard.  I hope it got them!

I intended to write a short little post but it has grown again.  I best go.

Surprise!

I got a nice surprise this week.  But I will tell you about that a bit later.

We have had a good week in school and out.  On Sunday I worked at making more tomato sauce out of my ripe tomatoes.  I'm happy to say I only have about 6 gallons of tomatoes left to process.

On Monday we took a break in Daniel's school to go up to town for the home school swim at the YMCA.  The children really enjoyed that.  I had fun watching them have fun.  We had brought Ellyana, our puppy, up to the vet's to have her sutures removed and picked her up after we finished swimming and getting groceries at WalMart.

Tuesday evening we went to a presentation Lisa's brother-in-law, Brad gave at the Rieland Arts Center at JC.  He has been working in Uganda as a missionary.  What an amazing story he shared.  It was pretty convicting. 

It was nice to visit with Lisa a bit and meet her two oldest girls.  I had first met her several years ago when her oldest son and Daniel were taking swimming lessons.  Except for seeing her once at a mutual friend's house for a birthday party I hadn't talked to her in awhile.  But I have been getting to know her and she me through blogging.

Then last (Wednesday) night I got a surprise.  But I will briefly tell you about our home school week. 

In Daniel's school we have been studying about Abraham and his journeys.  Daniel is getting the geography down now and can remember most of the major landmarks.  He finished learning the books of the old testament last week (we review them still as he has trouble with the last 5) and started learning the 10 commandments.  He will learn one commandment a week and learned the first one well.  I'm so glad learning is getting easier for him.  When you link the left and right sides of the brain it works better.

We have had a full week in all his subjects.  In math he has moved on to fractions.  Last week he was having trouble changing the denominators before adding and subtracting and simplifying the answer.  I'm happy to say this week it is much easier.  Yes!  He is getting it!

Leah finished her lesson on N-n-nest yesterday.  Her school is so stress free and fun.  I love doing it.  Along with her regular phonics and math learning we studied different animals and people and their homes.  Mostly we studied birds.  She did several projects related to this.  One project idea was to make a nest.  I knew she wouldn't want to make a mud nest as she doesn't like to get dirty.  I found a neat idea to make an edible nest on the MFW forum under Kindergarten Ideas that I thought she would like better.  Here is a picture of one of her nests.

I guess we won't finish out our school week because of the surprise.  I am totally okay with that.

On Monday Tim told me he was taking the whole family out for supper at Applebee's Wednesday night.  I was a bit suspicious as it seemed it was for something more than he was telling me.  But I didn't press him. 

On Wednesday afternoon I talked with middle son, Brandon on the phone.  He told me he found another good deal.  This time it was on a 1990 Jeep.  He has been wanting to get a 4-wheel drive vehicle before winter.  I told him I was coming up to town early and would stop by and see it.  He made up some lame excuse that he might not be home.

After the children and I went to the library we had a few minutes before the time we had set to meet for supper.  I thought I would stop at Brandon's if he was home.  I noticed all his vehicles were in the driveway and also saw that Tim's pickup was there so I stopped.  We went into the backyard first as I could see the Jeep was back there.  Brandon came out as we all admired his "new" Jeep.

When we went into the house Brandon was really nervous.  Tim came in, too, and seemed "funny."  It was time to leave so we did.  Brandon said he would drive his own car there.  

While we waited for our table to be cleaned and set up Leah and I went back to the restroom.  When we came back to the waiting area the sun was shining in my eyes and I couldn't see very well.  When I got close to where my family was sitting I noticed an extra person.  First I thought Brandon had brought a friend along.  A look of slight displeasure must have crossed my face (I must work on that!) as they told me I got a "funny" look on my face.  Then I realized the extra person was my first born, Dustin, who moved to Arizona in May!

They all had fun seeing the different looks that passed on my face.  The one look must have seemed like I wasn't happy to see Dustin.  But I explained that and they all had a good laugh.  Dustin is here until Sunday so I am going to be enjoying myself greatly.

I think I might have enjoyed knowing about it and looking forward to Dustin's coming more.  But they had fun keeping it from me.  That's why Brandon didn't want me stopping.  He said he pushed Dustin's shoes under the table while I was standing there looking at his parakeet, Hunny.  Everything makes sense now.  And I'm not complaining about being surprised especially when the surprise was one of the best I could ever get!

Here's a picture of Dustin taken a few years ago at the 50th Anniversary party we kids put on for Tim's parents.  I will try to remember to take some pictures while Dustin is here and post them later.

  

I'm planning to make some good food while Dustin is here.  I think I will make knipfle today as it is one of his favorites and I don't think he can get that down in Arizona.

I'm going to go now and get busy on my day.

My Beautiful October Morning

It is such another beautiful day outside.  I'm so glad I thought to take my camera with me when I did chores this morning.  So I will tell you about the pictures.  Then if you want to read about our week you can later on down the post.


This picture isn't from this morning but I included it anyway.  I have been enjoying driving my car this summer.  It is a '78 Trans Am (Big Red as I affectionately call her) I have had since 1980.  It was a graduation gift from my father.  It had been in storage for many years and only has 60,000 actual miles on it.  Brandon worked many hours getting it running good again.  We all enjoy driving it.  Good old muscle cars!!


 

I wish we didn't have 2 miles of gravel to get to the pavement.  By the time I get there my vehicle is all dusty.  And I have noticed new chips on the sides.  But I am going to drive it anyway as it is so fun.

Every morning I go out to give Misty, Whitney's horse, her treat of grain.  She is quite used to me now, and I to her, to where we aren't scared of each other anymore.  I have started brushing her.  She just loves it.

Look at those eyes.

The sunrise was glorious!

Then I head over and let the ladies out of their stinky home.

Misty is always on the lookout.

Ellyana is getting so obedient.  She really loves to chase the chickens but is being good.

My poor little tree is so loaded with apples.  I will go out later and relieve it a bit as I need some apples for my pies I want to bake.

Still being good.

Hennies are heading out for free range.

 

Since it is so nice out there I am letting the children play a bit before we start our school.  We have a light day today so that will be nice.  Tim wants to take Daniel fishing on the boat when he gets up.  We actually got to see each other as he didn't get home from work until 6 a.m. when I was just getting up for my day.

We have had a great week of learning.  In Daniel's history we are chronologically up to the time period of Ancient Egypt.  We studied a lot about the pyramids and tombs.  As interesting as it is we are ready to move on now.  This little book has been great for science this week.

The Bible portion has been focused on learning the books of the Old Testament.  Daniel knows them all pretty well now.  Each day he would make a little card with the name of each book he learned written on it and put all the cards in order.  I think that helped him learn them better.  He has been looking up verses from the books he learned, too.  Then he would read them to me.

In math he was working on division and has moved on to fractions.  His brain really accepted the division this week and now it is so easy for him.  One day he was laying on the floor under the table crying because he couldn't get it.  The next he was whizzing through those problems.  Great!!

We have been using God and the History of Art for our art curriculum.  He does two assignments a week in that.  For one assignment he drew a maze inside of a pyramid tomb.  He really liked doing that and did a good job at it.  In music we have been listening to and studying Vivaldi.  On Tuesday we listened to "Spring" from The Four Seasons while painting a spring scene.  Fun!  Leah did this too.  Their paintings turned out really nice.

Leah finished her 6 day lesson on A-a-apple and started on N-n-nest.  We enjoyed studying about apples.  Her words to remember were "If I stay in Jesus I will have much fruit."  I made a tree and some red apples with the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) printed on them.  When she demonstrated that fruit she would get to glue that apple on her tree.  It was good practice for me to be noticing and encouraging good behavior.

One day she made a tree.  We used her hand and arm to trace the trunk and branches on some brown construction paper.  I cut out a green oval for the leaves.  Then she took some red paint and used the tip of her finger to make some apples on it.  I made a little yellow bird that she glued to the tree.  While she did this I read this poem to her. (All these ideas come from her My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum.)

There's a little birdie in the apple tree,

Chirping out his little song for you and me.

He's a happy birdie, and I think he knows

That God is watching over him wherever he goes.

But that little birdie isn't half so dear

As every little boy and girl that God put here.

So as I watch the birdie in the apple tree,

I know that God is watching over me.

(author unknown)

We also read "A New House" in  "Grasshopper on the Road" by Arnold Lobel.  Then Leah drew a large outline of an apple.  She drew and colored what she thought the inside of the worm's new house would look like.    She liked that as she likes to draw and color.

For the N-n-nest lesson her words to remember are "God takes good care of me."  She will be studying animals, their homes, and how God takes care of them and us.  Along with her regular phonics and math activities we will get to do some other fun activities focused on birds and animals.  One day we will make a nest.  I haven't decided if it will be a mud nest or an edible nest.

The day is going on and I have almost used the time I allotted for posting and the children's recess.  So I had best get going on our school. 

Growing crystals

Yesterday while getting the paints for Leah so she could paint a sun as part of her school work I found a bag I had hidden away for Daniel.  When we were at the Science Museum in Bemidji last June I bought him a couple things and thought I would just save them for his birthday.  One was a submarine that you put baking powder inside and it is supposed to dive and come to the surface repeatedly.  That did not work.  We will have to try again as we might have put too much baking powder in it.  Another gift was this "Mystical Garden."  It was kind of hard to set up as the grass, trees, and mountain kept wanting to tip over.  But we finally got it.  Then we poured some solution in the tray.  Day 1 looks like this.

It started growing right away.  This morning it looked like this.

Someone must have knocked some of the pink blossoms off the tree.  I think it is so pretty.

Today has been busy.  Remind me to not try to do salsa on a school day.  I started early, by 7:00, on my tomatoes.  But it took me 3 hours to get the tomatoes ready, cut up all the vegetables, and clean up the kitchen.  That put me 2 hours behind schedule. 

While the salsa cooked down we did Leah's school.  Then we did vision therapy.  The children had already eaten so they played outside while I got the first jars into the canner.  In between times we worked at Daniel's school.  That is not how I like to do school!  But it worked and it didn't bother anyone but me.

Now I am glad that I have the salsa all processed and my kitchen clean.  School is finished, too.  And none of us are worse for the wear.  I did pray that God would "quiet my soul" before we started school.  I didn't want to be impatient with my children.  And we had a good day of learning.  I am pleased to report I am finished making salsa for the year.  The tomato sauce will be much easier to do.

One thing we did in kindergarten today is make a sundial.  I had never done this before.  We took a piece of cardboard, stuck a pencil in some clay, and took it all outside.  We weighted down the cardboard and put the pencil and clay in the middle.  We noted the starting position of the shadow and were to go out every hour and mark where the pencil's shadow was.  Of course today wasn't the best day to do that as it started to storm shortly after we did this.  We even saw some snowflakes!  But we did get some times recorded.  The shadows are in the same positions as the corresponding times on a clock for some of the times.  Neat!

Daniel has been going through the days of creation this week.  I was happy to see that Leah remembered what was created on each day.  She studied creation two weeks ago.  I have noticed that Daniel is reading better.  He reads his Bible portion so well each day.  He is also reading out loud from another book later in the day.  He said that the words don't move around as much as they used to.  That is good news.

This year in Creation to the Greeks, Daniel's curriculum, we will be studying and celebrating the Feasts of the LORD.  The first feast we will have will be Shabbat which happens every week.  The children each made a covering for the Challah bread that we will bake tomorrow.  We have the candles and the wine (sparkling grape juice) and plan to set the table with our best dishes and glasses.  We already appreciate the Sabbath each week but it will be even more special to celebrate it each Friday night.

We had best go out and check that sundial again. 

Lots of pictures

It has been a full week and I have not had time to post.  But I have all these pictures I can share.

This is Daniel on the 80.  He wanted a helmet for his birthday so he could learn to ride this bike.  On Sabbath he did just that and did a good job of it, too.

Tim went fishing one night/morning after work (fishin' in the dark) and caught this huge bass.  That is a big level and the fish is almost as long as it is.

He also caught this 17 inch walleye that looks small beside the bass.

After church on Sabbath we had a birthday party for Daniel.  Here are some of the guests eating.

Brandon is being funny.

It was nice to have so many people that they filled three rooms.

This is the overflow section.

It was such a fun time.

Daniel's ice cream cake had a dirt bike on it.  It even was the right color.

At church I received this beautiful teapot from Vangie for my birthday.  I had been wanting to get one so the children and I could have tea parties.

On Sunday it was back to work.  I have been making salsa with my ripe tomatoes.  So far I have made 4 batches.  I think I will make 2 more batches and have enough.  Then I will start making tomato sauce which will be a little easier.

On Monday we started Daniel's curriculum, Creation to the Greeks.  So it has been full days of school.  I have been getting the children up at 7:00.  They are required to be ready by 8:00 to start school.  First we do Leah's kindergarten.  Then we come down to eat breakfast.  After breakfast we do Daniel's vision therapy.  When we finish that they take a short break and we go back upstairs for Daniel's school.  It has gone well but we've only done two days so far.  Already today has thrown a loop in my schedule.  But that's life.

Two more days have gone by...

...since we have started our official school year.  I think the children have enjoyed getting back into a routine.  Since we are easing into the work it hasn't been too laborious for them.

In Leah's school she has learned about the creation days 2 and 3.  She is very good at cutting out her numbers.

I like seeing what Daniel comes up with to do while Leah is working.  And I like that he is hearing the Bible portion each day.  We will go over it again when he starts Creation to the Greeks , the first year of our four year history study, in a few weeks.

While we do some of these activities we listen to classical music. 

One day each child put this puzzle together while the other was working. 

Leah is taking care as she colors her number 3.

It is helping to reinforce what God created on each day.

We have also been doing some simple oral math problems using the number each day.

Then she glues the number on her poster that is behind Daniel.

While we were in town yesterday we went to the library.  I had my lists printed out from the library's website organized according to the call numbers.  It makes my trip so much easier.  The children enjoy the library and usually are not ready to leave when I am.  So they find things to do while I am looking for the books.  I used my new rolling cart.  It was stuffed.  Daniel and Leah ended up carrying a few books.  I hope the cart holds up as it is much nicer than carrying all those books.

Once we are finished studying creation we will begin a study of each letter of the alphabet.  The first letter will be Ss.  When we study each letter and the sound it makes we will study something in science that begins with that letter.  For Ss it will be the sun.  So I found lots of fiction stories about the sun as well as a couple informative books.  These will all go into the book basket.  When Leah has book basket time she will look at these books and I will read some to her that she picks out. 

When Daniel starts his first week of CtG he will be studying light in science.  So I found some books with experiments in them.  I didn't find many fiction story books.  But many of Leah's will pertain to his study as well.  He can look at them and do some experiments if he wants to.  That is how book basket works.  It is a voluntary thing.  They don't have to read them but they do have to spend time looking through them.  We have Genesis For Kids that we will be using this year as one of Daniel's science books.  It is full of fun experiments that we will do.

While we were shopping in WalMart someone came up behind us in the frozen aisle and started to carry Daniel away.  It was Brandon, my older son, who lives and works in town.  He had just got off work and was looking for some new work boots.  He had seen my car in the parking lot and decided to surprise us.  It was good to see him and we enjoyed visiting with him for awhile.

It is always so nice to get home.  Once we got everything put away we were able to relax, eat supper, and play with Ellyana, our puppy,  before it was time for bed.  She has so much energy.  I love watching the children playing with her.  It's nice as they all get rid of their energy.  We have been enjoying some evening walks, too, before bedtime.

Life is good.