Vacation!

So far while in Branson we have been.....

Swimming








To the Butterfly Palace


And a quick jaunt through Silver Dollar City, but it poured most of the time :O(

A New Handicraft for Allie

Allie went to Grandma and Grandpa's house over the weekend and she came home with a brand new skill. She had an intensive "Beginning Sewing" workshop with Grandma and created a lovely nightgown for Ashlyn. I am very impressed with her work and thrilled to have been able to pass those first few lessons off to someone else.

So cute!

Allan's sister and her husband came for a visit and they brought along our precious nephew. He sure livened up our house in a hurry. He had so much fun playing with the kids. Here he is peeking out of the clothesline fort.

Spelling Bliss

I am a phonics geek and I'm not afraid to admit it. I firmly believe that learning to read and spell well involves good old fashioned phonics. I recently
learned about All About Spelling and am using it with my 3rd grade son. I LOVE IT!!! Wish I had found it sooner. Download some sample lessons at the website.

Rethinking

We used Tapestry of Grace at the beginning of our homeschooling journey and felt quite overwhelmed, but I have just recently been rethinking. I received a link to the new Tapestry of Grace DE (digital edition) and I felt a renewed excitement.
The first time around, I tried to read and do EVERYTHING. I was so worried the kids would "miss something" if I skipped a reading. Now that I am more relaxed and confident in my teaching abilities, I think it may be a good fit for us.

Things I like about TOG are:
- Very organized lessons and readings - I don't have to plan this :O)
- Assignments that correlate perfectly if you choose to use them
- Covers all aspects of the Humanities
- GREAT thinking and accountability questions for older students
- Amazing teacher notes and student discussion guide

We are going to be trying out Y3U2 beginning September 21st.

I still plan on using many CM methods with the material, especially narrations, but I want a little more "rigor" for my oldest and I feel this will fit the bill.

Joining the 21st Century

Today I am finally among the technologically savvy. I got a cell phone and a laptop over the weekend and signed up for high speed internet (which comes through the cell phone). We are actually going to drop our land line and be all wireless. I had survived with dial-up, but it was getting really hard. Uploading pictures was a BEAR and I couldn't even take advantage of great sites like Librivox from home. This is going to change everything!
I am loving the speed. No more folding laundry between uploads for me :O)

Writing her name

Ashlyn has been working so hard on writing her name "perfectly". I thought it would be fun to practice a bit with sidewalk chalk. While I was embellishing my version (just a bit), she seemed inspired.

our "work"

A Saturday on the farm

Just after breakfast, our cow Posie had her calf. She was a few days overdue and we were beginning to wonder if we had imagined the whole pregnancy. But clearly she knew what she was doing, as the weather was much more pleasant today than it has been. We were able to be a part of the whole experience. Here are a few pictures from the birth.

the bag of water emerging


two hooves


meeting mom


Posie's healthy baby boy. His name is Willie.





After lunch, Caleb had a tractor driving lesson with Dad. It looks like he is doing a fine job of raking the hay.

Our very own Charlotte

The last few nights we have watched an amazing spider spin her web just outside of our laundry room door. Eager hands would turn on the porch light and view the wonders of web making only inches from our eyes. It has been a true testament to the awesome creativity of our God to watch the spider meticulously create a web, catch unsuspecting insects through the night, and then take her whole glorious creation down at sunrise, only to repeat it all again. This display went on for several days.

Last night however, something was different. Our spider was not making a beautiful web. She seemed slow and uncoordinated. Her web never appeared and this morning she was not resting in her usual spot above the door. In her place was an egg sack. Her life had come full circle. Goodbye Charlotte.

One Week Old

It is hard to believe that our baby calf Jonah is already one week old. He has grown so much in just seven short days. We are expecting another calf any day now from our other cow Posey.