By amy on October 27, 2013
Here’s a little of what we have been up to lately:
Brian tried his hand at building a few shelves. After much planning on paper he cut the pieces, I sanded and painted, then we put it all together. I gained a whole new respect for planning ahead when every piece fit just right!
His side
Her side (note, this is before I moved most of the clothes in)
Ivy helps me organize the hangers.
Another weekend Brian wires an energy efficient contraption onto our dryer…
…while Lance helps me prep for another project.
And here is the finished project – salvaged fence boards turned into a decorative wall in our guest bath. I love how it turned out!
And then the big project – school room shelves. Brian spent a Saturday cutting all the pieces. I spent the week sanding and painting everything. Friday morning a friend watched our kids while we got started.
Smoothing the edges near the end. Thanks to Amy’s Dad for setting us up with the router and saving us lots of time!
By the end of Saturday we had finished most of the building – now Amy just has to caulk and paint. I think we’ll be able to store a few books.
And some of these pictures are thanks to Brian who fixed my camera this weekend!!
Progress is always exciting! More to come.
Posted in Family News
By amy on October 22, 2013
We had a little time yesterday after an activity in town so we decided on a picnic at the pumpkin patch to find some fun.
And boy did we find some fun! A few farm animals made up a ‘viewing zoo’ – including an escaped rabbit that roused much discussion. The little goats were entertaining until one tried to eat Eden’s cookie (seen in foreground) which made her cry.
There were several posing boards – can you guess which character is Eden?
The biggest hit was a hay maze – not too complicated and loads of fun to run around inside – especially if ‘mommy monster’ was chasing you!
Fantastic sale on decorative items 🙂
Lance found a snail shell and carried it around until it surprised and unnerved him by coming out! After getting over his first shock (and watching Ivy hold it safely) he once again took ownership and it is now in an empty peanut butter jar in our house.
My Lance man – always ready for running, fighting imaginary monsters and telling mom “I love you.”
Ivy girl – full of fun, curiosity and grand ideas. Beautiful smile and full of life, capable, helpful and good with the little ones.
Princess Flora – cutie pie and exhorter. Experimenting with the big kid world but still a wee one wanting to be tickled as I say good night and playing by herself almost as much as playing with the others.
Baby Eden – but growing older every day! Cute, sweet, full of laughs and smiles. Showing great awareness of how things should be and lending her two small hands to help the family.
A fun time was had by all and the whole car was sacked out by the time we got home. I think we’ll be going again!
Posted in Family News
By amy on October 13, 2013
We started a little co-op with our cousins and a family from down the street. We have two age categories – young and younger. I got the idea when talking to another mom who had the opposite schooling strengths as myself and I thought we could benefit from each other. I then persuaded my sisters to come and do a music class to round out the morning.
First I do a letters class with the pre- and extra pre-school. The older ones do music at this time. Here we use our wooden pieces to make the letter “O.” I use several ideas and pre-writing techniques from the “Handwriting Without Tears” curriculum.
Next we practice the circle motion of writing by stirring. This proved extremely popular and even caught the interest of some of the younger ones who had been less than participatory up to this point. As you can see, we also practiced wearing bowls like hats. This concept proved highly contagious among the class.
Last of all we glues cheerios onto an octopus as we talked about the sound a short “o” makes. Only a few pictures were completed, the rest just enjoyed a snack. The younger class then went to music.
For art, I’m using ideas from the book “Drawing with Children” – since that describes what we’re doing, plus my mom had the book. Here we start with a warm up where they try to copy symbols I’ve drawn using the “5 elements of art” as described in the book.
Next, having a hands on type learner, I try and have objects to manipulate that reinforce the idea we are learning.
We are still internalizing the five elements of art so I found food items that were each “shape” and had them create an abstract picture – first following instructions and then one on their own. The above three pictures were done following instructions.
This one started out with the directions and somewhere along the way gained a picture in her mind and continued on until she had made an easel.
At the end we all have lunch together and then free play while the moms visit. Then everyone goes home at naptime. It’s been fun figuring out how to teach larger groups and forge ahead into new subjects.
Posted in Family News
By amy on October 7, 2013
We just finished our third week of school.
We learned the letter ‘I’ and Ivy demonstrates how to make one with the wood pieces Daddy and Papa Doc made for us.
Flora just wanted to make a stripped “zebra” paper. Her other favorite thing to make is “F” (wonder why?) and somehow in review, all her letters become an ‘F’.
Eden just wanted to show off her balancing skills.
The phonics lesson is that short “I” says “i for image” – part of the Christ centered curriculum someone gave to us. On Sunday Brian helped them act out the whole story of the golden calf. Here the kids are dancing around an image just like the children of Israel did with the golden calf.
As punishment for their disobedience Moses ground up the calf and made them drink it. We used some wheat grass powder to make yucky water – Lance lets us know how it tastes.
To enhance phonics drills, I decided to have the kids make “icky, sticky goo” out of cornstarch and water. This project was quite a hit!
Lance with green slime. He was by far the cleanest but also very intrigued by the action of the goo – it can be hard or drippy soft just depending on how you play with it.
Ivy has blue goo – this activity was right up her alley! Don’t you just love the curls though!
Flora chose pink – of course – and played by dripping all over herself and everything else for about ten minute. She was then distressed at being messy and spent the rest of the time playing with the hose to wash off.
And Eden? Well, lets just say she had a grand time and kept it up longer than anyone. I think she is going to like school.
Posted in Family News
By amy on September 7, 2013
…And always happening! Here’s a little look into some of our recent doings.
On the work side: Amy found a great deal on some peach trees which meant they had to be planted…and watered…and Brian decided dragging a hose is for the birds. Thus an ambitious project ensued – putting in a watering system.
First we dug holes for the trees – making little foxholes for the kids to jump in. Then Brian trenched….
And trenched…..
And pick-axed his way through the rock and clay. Pipe was laid, tested and early one morning before the sun or the kids were up, Amy covered all the ditches.
Next fun project was digging holes for the rose bushes that were also a “good deal.” Due to the clay it took us (Brian) two hours early one Sat. morning to dig the seven holes. Those bushes will be a constant reminder of how much this man loves his woman. If I never get roses for valentines – I’ll just know I have bushes instead!
On the fun side:
Cousins enjoying a summer time treat at Grammy’s house.
Peter taking one last stab at organizing Grammy’s cabinets before he and his parents make their move to Colorado. We’ll miss this smiling face!
A weekend surprise – A free trampoline from an older lady down the road whose granddaughter had outgrown it.
Potty training with cousin Greg – spent the morning playing in the garage to spare our floor the accidents.
Eden was excited to have all the juice she wanted!
Evening playtime in the sandbox – such joy to watch all four play so happily, each busy with their own fun.
Birthday party for Amy’s dad; a big 42 tournament. Scoring methods got confused so no one could claim victory but the real fun was watching my Dad enjoy the evening playing his favorite game.
Posted in Family News
