Saturday, July 30, 2011

summer highlights...



so far--

*  frequent trips to nearby pools and aquatic center's
*  relaxing while kye jumps off diving board for hours with his arm floaties on

*  sofie loves the high-dive
*  lia has gained so much confidence in the water

*  all of our curriculum has arrived and been put away.  we are all so anxious to get started in 3 weeks
*  had a really fun 6-day visit from my sister and her 3 kids.  we are excited to make the trip to wisconsin in 2 weeks to visit them
*  as of today, the kids and i have picked 54 cups of blackberries.  so far we have given them all away

*  kye and i made the most delicious zucchini bread with zucchini from our garden

*  eating fresh salsa everyday
*  as of today, i have canned 23 pints of dill pickles and 18 pints of bread and butter pickles.  and i don't even like them...

*  we bought a pop-up camper

*  lia is still loving riding lessons once a week

*  the kids finished 2 summer reading programs.  at one point we had 50 books checked out at once--that's just nuts.  they definitely don't get their love for reading from their mom

*  sofie and i had our annual shopping trip for her birthday--it's always one of my favorite days.  it's a good thing i like claire's


i wonder what august will bring?

ready for school



the girls and i are so excited for school to start!

i started researching curriculum back in early spring. 

and i finally finished in mid-june.

i am confident that i have found curriculum that will fit our family perfectly!

if i didn't feel strongly that summer break is so important--we would have 

started already.

that's how excited i am!!



so, this year sofie will be using the following:

math-- math-u-see
i used it last year and we loved it!  this year she will be finishing up the second half of gamma and probably start their next book around christmas

reading-- drawn into the heart of reading
i am super excited about this!  this was an easy pick for me--the curriculum will allow her to read from several genre's and really break down the books in different ways.  i am confident this will be a really good fit for her.

english--  learning language through literature-the yellow book
we used this last year as well--just a different grade level.

art--  rod and staff's artpac
last year i didn't use a formal art curriculum.  i just kinda made up my own seasonal art's and craft's projects.  this will be a fun change!



and, lia will be using:

math--  math-u-see
again, we used this last year and it was a wonderful hands-on curriculum.  lia will be starting the beta book.

reading--  rod and staff's we learn more about God
this was probably my hardest decision to make.  reading is very challenging to lia so i really wanted to find a curriculum that would fit her learning style as well as be interesting for her.  

english--  rod and staff's building christian english
last year i used learning language through literature but i didn't feel it was a good "fit" for lia.  i hope this will be.

art--  rod and staff's artpac
just like with sofie, this will be our first year doing a formal curriculum


and we will be doing the rest together:


science--  apologia's exploring creation with zoology 1--flying creatures of the fifth day
i am super, super excited about this!  we didn't do a formal curriculum last year--just a few experiments here and there. 

history--  the story of the world
this is our first year doing history as well.  since we travel twice a week to kye's speech therapy , the cd's that came with this was very attractive to me.  i have been wanting to incorporate some kind of school into our drive-time and now i can!

geography--  our father's world
we did some general map work last year but a formal curriculum will be new to us this year.  

bible--  character building for families
we worked through devotionals last year and it was really fun.  however, this will be something our whole family will do together.



i really wanted to keep our first year simple.  and it was!  it was perfect!  i wouldn't change a thing about it.
so adding in science, history and geography will be a change for us.  will probably add a good hour to our school-time if not more.  but, the beauty of homeschooling is that we can go at our own pace.
we will still spend our mornings schooling, being done by lunch.  and our afternoon's will be spent baking, doing simple chores, playing outside and getting together with friends or really whatever we feel like that day.

school starts in 3 weeks!!!





Saturday, July 23, 2011

happy birthday sofie


we celebrated sofie's birthday with a slumber party


and a trip to grandpa roger's for a swim and some 4-wheeling


she invited 5 friends and 2 cousins




it was a beach theme


and it turned out to be a perfect 97 degree day for a pool party



aunt sara, clara, simon and ruthie were here visiting



was fun to have them celebrate with us




sofie baked and decorated her own cake



white cake with green food coloring in it and blueish/green frosting


and umbrella's of course




they were the hit of the party


a big thanks to grandpa roger and grandma kay for letting us use their pool


we got home just in time to open presents and watch a movie before beginning the process of going to bed


which took longer than i expected--it usually does


by 1 everyone was asleep--except me



but they all slept in til 8.
that was a fun surprise


can't believe she is 9
 



happy birthday to my beautiful sofie!!

 

july 4th


we celebrated the 4th of july at my dad and step-mom's






this was our home for the weekend





we've been spending the 4th with grandpa roger for as long as i can remember







sure is fun to hang out with cousins and have some help getting
a better view of the fireworks




thank you cousin bryan and cousin adam



another fun weekend at the farm!


 


special day


lia made the decision to be baptized a few weeks ago


cousin esther came down from cedar rapids to be part of it



we are so proud of the young lady she is becoming




compassionate, caring, loving, thoughtful of others,



always looking for a way to serve



and has such a gift for turning a frown into a smile



she loves Jesus and enjoys reading the bible to learn more about him



her prayers are personal and tender


i am so excited to see what God has in store for this precious child of His



thank you God for this incredible girl!



a little t-ball


















this is how we spent june!

2 games per week!!
sofie didn't want to play.

lia loved playing this year!

and kye would have given his right arm to have played!

either way, it was a fun month!