Fall makes me think of

Football, Allergies, and Apple Picking!

Trey said he didn't need a bag to put his apples in. . .who needs a bag when you can just eat them fresh off the tree ? ;)

waiting for the tractor ride back. . .

Grammy joined us on our field trip to the orchard too!

 

Love that we can do some schoolwork, head to the orchard for some apple picking, haybale jumping, and animal watching, and then come home and finish up school!   Well, minus the fact that the kids all got hay stuck in their shoes and I was sneezing nonstop by the end ;)

Also, shortly after this photo, Ryker started writing on Ainsley's schoolwork and then they were no longer smiling sweetly at each other. . just so you know it's real life :)

 

 

Ryker also wanted to show you his new airplane bedding :) 

 

Happy Fall!  Football, Allergies, Apples and all!

Lifelight 2012

We love having this free Christian music festival so close to home!  It is a weekend filled with great worship music, dancing with friends, and lots of late nights. . .

 beautiful sunsets,

 encouraging and lifting one another up,

Sweatin in the afternoon heat while dancing to GoFish with mommy,

 

 

 and daddy. . .

 Praising God for the tractor ride to our minivan,

 lifting our hands up to our Heavenly Father,

 Extreme trampoline jumping, and flipping,

sk8 park demo,

growing relationships with friends,

 
and growing relationships with family,

 and did I mention late nights?

My favorite part of LifeLight this year was looking over at Ainsley, as Matt Hammitt from Sanctus Real was praying after he spoke.  As things of this world were going on around her, she sat with her head bowed and her hands folded in prayer.  My eyes immediately filled with tears of thankfulness to our Heavenly Father, because of the relationship she has with Him.  That is our desire, that our children will have their own personal relationships with Him.  It is one thing to pray at dinner time, and do devotions together before bed.  But I was awestruck at seeing our daughter choose to pray to Him, admist the things going on around her.  All praise and honor go to Him. . thank you Jesus. 

Plunging In

As much as I love summer,

                                                                   it has to come to an end,

                     and I must admit, I get excited about the new school supplies and all things fall!
I had the opportunity to attend MOPS Convention in TX this summer, and I came back refreshed and renewed.  Our theme this year for MOPS is "Plunging in" and that is what we are doing with homeschooling this year.  We are plunging in. . not neatly, perfectly diving in, but rather, plunging in headfirst homeschooling all 3 older children, as we feel God has led us to do this year. 
                                           Ainsley is in 3rd grade. . seriously?  did I just type that?          

                   Porter is in 1st grade                         and                       Trey is in preK

                                       and me. . .the teacher of our lil "kichen classroom"

I am a pretty flexible homeschooling mama, but I did want my students to know what schoolwork/housework I expect them to get done each day, so here is our lil system.  Each white card has something on it, like Math or Make your bed.  When they finish that task, they move the white card to the other side of the fridge.  They are color coded by child.  Some white cards have a little stick person mommy on them, so they know that task is something they will need help from the teacher with.  That way, if I'm doing something with one child that requires my attention, they can choose to do something that they can do on their own.  Also, some of the cards have 4 stick people on them and that means we do them together, like Bible Stories, Science, etc.  I get lots of questions about how we do things, so that's that :)

After our annual first morning of school walk around the block, we got right to work!  Ainsley loves baking, cursive, and writing in her planner. . .

As you can see, Ryker got right to work too. . morning table Art. . .

and morning stretches. . .

One great thing about homeschool is that if stretching helps you think, you can stretch while doing math :)

I also get a lot of questions about curriculum,
and I think there are so many great curriculum options out there!  It's really about finding what works best for your family.   I use curriculum for each subject area, but I use a variety.  For science this year, we are trying Apologia. . .this is our solar system :)

As important as "reading, writing, and arithmetic" are, we like to take a lot of breaks from seatwork to play. . .or mom just likes to send the mess and noise outside :)

And more important than anything else in our kitchen classroom is learning about the love of Jesus!

A few memories from our 1st week of school this year. . the first one is Trey and his excitement for schoolwork.  The Saturday after week one, he came up dressed, bed made, backpack on, ready to "do school."  His teacher neglected to teach him about wknds :)  He will be moving on to Kindergarten real soon and getting that bike he wants in 1st grade :)

Second was Porter and the night he ate 3 helpings of manicotti and then cleared all the dishes from the table and wiped it clean without being asked to!

And just for fun, Ryker honking his nose. . he does this whenever he hears a honking noise :)

So, there we are, plunging into homeschooling this year!  It is sometimes messy and we make mistakes, but it is crazy fun too. . .just like a plunge should be.  We are so thankful for God's help and the support of our family and friends!