November - First Half

Daddy teaching Annabelle how to club throw. She's bound to be a pro. Notice the "bucket o' clubs"

We found this while playing in the backyard - a snakes skin. Which is now housed in the boys' bedroom.

Joe loves cursive!

I love watching them work together during free time.

But, I especially love walking in the room and "catching" them reading their bibles.

Sam off for his first ever intra-squad competition.

I think he just looks so handsome in his uniform.

Andy is hilarious. He bought a bunch of new clothes for his new job and wrote himself a gift card. I opened it after it was delivered and just chuckled. I love his quirky sense of humor. 

Lucy came to visit and we had such a wonderful week with her.

One of the Joys of Home Educating!

Getting to see this each and every day!

Mid October Happenings

The more I learn about photography the more appalled I am at some of my photos, but I am just too tired to edit a single one... so here they will go down in the books like they are. Hopefully they don't take away from the cuteness.

All of the kids earned their first "best behavior cards" from our new accountability program. Huge hit!

And in case anyone was wondering why in the world we have triangles as our new decor, it was for a math project. It took us so long to do, we wanted to keep them up for awhile. Our Cotters Ten Fractional.

A precious picture of our Pappy Lee Lau from the South.

Our Indian hiding in the tree.

Annabelle helped me completely put together the boys toy bin for me. She was incedible.

Early October Happenings

One last visit with Miss Rachie before she heads up to Canada for a few months.

Samuel is now addicted to climbing trees. Thankful we have a good one he can do this in:

After we do our math lesson for the day I let them play with any manipulatives they would like. So in light of his recent obsession, Samuel made this:

 

My very helpful bakers. I think Joseph is just about to the point where he could bake bread for us w/o help. Very exciting for me!

Green Eggs and Ham

For years I have dreamed of the boys being able to read to our younger children. Well, that day has come. They are finally to the point where they are excited about reading to others and confident enough in their reading where they enjoy it for the most part. Annabelle is thrilled. She picks up so much because she sits in on most of the teaching time with the boys. It's amazing what she knows at age 3. I find so much joy in seeing children of all ages learning side by side.

First Day of School

We typically start school the Wednesday after Labor Day but this year it was my birthday so I didn't want to do that to myself. And there was a good reason why we didn't start it the next day either (that of which I can't recall right now), and who starts school on a Friday?! So we started on the next Monday, the 9th.

Apparently I didn't even get any pictures of Annabelle with her "for people who are 3" basket (as Andy says). Bummer. Just imagine a huge Ebba smile holding a basket with lots of pinks, purples and princesses.

Oh how I love spending each and everyday with these children. It's such a blessing being able to experience all their highs and lows of learning with them. Nothing on earth could convince me that this sacrifice isn't worth it.

Sock Situation

Since we school year round we rarely take off long stretches of time from school. This summer I decided we would take about 2 straight weeks off to get some big projects around the house done.

One project was the miss matched socks. It was out of control. At the end of winter last year I decided to put all of our socks in a huge basket after they came out of the dryer and we would just keep them there and go through everyone's as a family, getting rid of old ones, pass down too small ones and finally seeing what we actually in the sock department.

Samuel and I decided to tackle this together because it was honestly too daunting for one of us to do it alone. When all was said and done we matched 152 pairs of socks for the entire family and still had 49 single pairs of socks remaining!!! Just insane.

We are now all ready for the cooler weather!

Indoor Campfire

When I need to do something with just one of the boys for school the other does something with Ebba. Their recent form of entertainment is creating an indoor fire pit and sitting and roasting things over it. Haha!

I was reading a book by a woman who has 10 or so children and homeschooled them all who was commenting about how she looked out the window to see her kids playing "thin air football". She never realized they didn't have a football. She went out and bought one the next day for them. They never played "thin air football" again and in fact never played real football either. The fun was in the creativity.

I wholeheartedly believe that my kids have more fun creating things out of other things than when they actually have the specific object. I find such joy in watching my children use their imaginations to create.

Weekend With Maddy

While Andy and I (and Rosemary) went to the homeschool conference in Richmond, our very sweet friend, Maddy, stayed with the big kids. She is such a blessing. She loves our kids so much and does such an amazing job with them. They adore her. She packed the weekend with fun activities - farmers market, splash park, bike riding, playground, tea party, you name it, they probably did it. She even took Samuel to his first awards ceremony for gymnastics where he got a trophy.

 

While they were home having a blast we were hanging out with 14,000 of our closest friends having our own kind of fun - filling our brains full of homeschooling information. We heard from so many speakers and browsed so much material my brain is still trying to process it all.

In most circles, I feel like the odd ball out, but I feel right at home among these families. Remarkably, it is the only place I've ever been where I use the words "only 4 children" as I'm describing our family. Homeschoolers sure do know how to raise large families. And most of them do it so beautifully.

It was such an encouraging weekend. It is sure to get us through another year until we go back for more!

The Westward Movement

We've been studying about the Westward Movement in history. They have always loved dressing up in their Cowboy and Indian costumes, but this study has taken their interest to a new level. Daddy jumped on their enthusiasm and built them a teepee, got out his bow and arrows set to teach them all about archery, and then made some bows for the boys. They now have targets set up in the backyard. It's a very big deal around here.

Eating dinner by the fire, because that's what the Indians did.

Reading Progress

Both boys are learning to read. Since they are wired very differently and I am continuing to figure out their learning styles, I seem to switch things up often. This particular day I gave Joseph a stack of words that he has learned and he had to make sentences out of his words. I just thought this one was particularly creative:

I love so much to see their skills improving each and every day.

Samuel's Library Card

Since the library lets the parents decide when it's appropriate for children to get their own library card, we decided that 1st grade would be a good age. So, at the beginning of our school year, we let Samuel get his. Look at how precious this big boy is:

Play Hard, Work Hard

My sweet kiddos cannot sit still to learn well if they have not had the chance to "get all their sillies out" as they call it. So, schooling at the park works really well for us. We play hard first, and then they are all calmed down and relaxed to learn.

Samuel has mastered the art of swinging and is in love. It seemed to take awhile, but now he's got it down. Look at that proud smile.

Belle is still hamming it up for the camera every chance she gets.

And, Joe, well here he is in all his glory! Silly faces win out 98% of the time. I'm okay with that. He's still adorable no matter what scary shape he tries to contort his face in.

One serious shot for a silly shot. I just adore this picture of them. Such best friends!

We've been doing a weather unit, and are studying clouds. These beautiful cirrus clouds were in the sky and noted that it means rain is on it's way. Sure enough, it rained the next day. I had no idea! I just love learning along side of my kiddos.

Sitting there by the water, watching the birds fly south, noting all the colors on the trees and overall just marveling at the glory of creation, I was reminded of Psalm 19. Particularly the first verse, but the rest is just too good to not include.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
⁵     It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.
⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right,
    giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
    giving light to the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.

¹⁰ They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the honeycomb.
¹¹ By them your servant is warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.
¹² But who can discern their own errors?
    Forgive my hidden faults.
¹³ Keep your servant also from willful sins;
    may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
    innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.