Fall Photos

This girl LOVES her pink boots!

Claire's "cute face."

First day of class at Classical Conversations.

Grant - 3rd grade

Bryce - 1st grade

Carter - Junior Kindergarten

Davis - age 3

Claire - age 20 months

Grant's first year of tackle football.

Grant has thoroughly enjoyed football this year. We have been impressed by his enthusiasm, sportsmanship, effort and abilities. We have all enjoyed cheering him on. Go Wildcats!

A New Way of Learning

This year our family has embarked on a new adventure in home education! After much research, reading, discussing, and prayer Brian and I felt certain that God was redirecting us to home school this year. We have successfully completed seven weeks of homeschooling and I am feeling encouraged, excited, and blessed by this new way of learning.

After making the decision to homeschool, a lot of time and energy was spent selecting curriculum. This was both fun and overwhelming at the same time because there are just so many neat options available. I was able to get personal recommendations from several homeschoolers that I know and I also spent a lot of time researching curriculum and reading reviews online. One night while reading a review, I felt God directing me to a particular curriculum (this was something I had been fervently praying about and probably stressing over way too much). It was so clear it was as if God was saying, "This is the one!" I had wanted to be sure about this big decision and from that point on I was. God was so gracious to take that burden from me and to give me the confidence that it wasn't just me picking and choosing, but that He was leading me through it all.

Just in case you are curious, here is a list of curriculum that I am using for the boys. Grant is in the third grade and Bryce is in the first grade. Math, writing, reading, grammar, handwriting, and spelling are grade level specific. Science, history and Bible are taught together.

History, Geography, Spelling, Science, Art and Music: Heart of Dakota: Bigger Hearts for His Glory

Math: Horizons

Grammar: First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind

Writing: The Complete Writer: Writing With Ease

Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting

Reading: SonLight Readers

Bible: Heart of Dakota along with Word of Life

Carter is in Junior Kindergarten. I am using Early Education at Home, Heart of Dakota: Little Hearts for His Glory, Horizons Math, A Reason for Handwriting along with many great ideas from the internet and of course our local library for his curriculum.

We are also supplementing with Classical Conversations (you can find out more at ClassicalConversations.com). We meet with this group on Tuesdays to learn history, geography, math, Bible, Latin and science by the classical approach. The boys each go to their own class where their tutors instruct them on the weeks lesson and review memory work. They are also required to present to the class each week (a 2-3 min. presentation). Tuesdays have become the favorite day of the week at our house!

To get ready for the school year we set up a school room in our house. Each boy has his own work space. These photos were taken right before we started school. After seven weeks of school, the walls are now covered with artwork!

Grant and Carter's desks. We are learning about American history this year, hence the flag.

Bryce's desk along with a table for Davis.

I made this calendar that I found on a homeschool blog (MamaJenn.com).

Our more traditional calendar, along with our flag for the pledge.

We are also using the workbox system. This was highly recommended to me and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering homeschooling. Basically, each child has their own set of workboxes. In each workbox is an assignment (handwriting sheet, math worksheet, map activity). On each box there is a number attached with velcro. As the child completes each assignment he moves the number from the workbox to the chart over his desk. Some workboxes can be done independently and others require mom's help. This allows for more efficiency and keeps the boys on task. If mom is working with someone else they can just move on to the next workbox until mom is available. The boys have really enjoyed this system and it has helped us get through all of our schoolwork every day!

I keep my lesson plans taped on the wall at the student's desk so that I can refer to them throughout the day. Grant, Bryce and Carter each have their own workboxes and their own lesson plans.

Each of the boys got a certificate after completing our first day of school.

I can't wait to share more about our adventures in home education. It has been a big undertaking and I can't say that it's been easy, but so far the results have been worth the investment. My mom and Brian's parents have been such a blessing by helping with Davis and Claire several mornings a week, allowing me to spend the needed quiet time with the older boys doing school.

As I said earlier, Brian and I both feel certain that God directed us to homeschool this year. I can see the benefits of this new way of learning starting to emerge and I am encouraged. But mostly, I am at peace knowing that I am in His will. There have been some challenging days. This new job of teacher/mom is very fun but also humbling and at times overwhelming and exhausting. But even in those times of difficulty or self-doubt, God keeps assuring me that He is faithful. If He has called me to do this, He WILL provide me with the ability to do it. I feel now more than ever a continual reliance on Him. Simply because I can't do it on my own. But He can. And that makes all the difference.

Funny Stuff

Life with children is oftentimes amusing (if you can see the humor through the chaos!). These are just a couple of funny little stories from this past week.

During lunch one day I left the table for a moment and came back into the room to hear one boy telling another, "Mix that in there too!"

The boy with the icky food concoction then questioned his brother in a most excited tone, "How much will you pay me to eat it?"

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Brian had the younger three at the grocery store this weekend. He was able to experience the joy that is three preschoolers at Wal-mart.

By the time they got to the check-out line Brian was relieved as the exit was within reach. As he loaded the groceries up onto the check-out counter he intermittently took off items that Carter and Davis had put onto the counter (i.e. candy and other kiddie food). After unloading all of the groceries out of the cart he started putting the bagged groceries back into the cart. When he picked up the very last bag a very, very excited Carter exclaimed, "Davis we got the chips! Davis we got the chips!"

Brian peeked into the bag to see a small bag of Doritos laying on top. Those bags that align the check-out aisle. Being a cool dad and all, he just placed the bag in the cart and paid for the groceries.

Victory for Carter.

Our New Addition...

Introducing our new addition.....

drumroll please....

meet...

Pancake!

Yes, he is a rodent.

But he is fluffy and very cute (at least as cute as is possible for a rodent!). The kids have all thoroughly enjoyed our new pet hamster. And (so far) being the owners of a hamster has been a very good experience. I grew up with hamsters and this little critter brings back many fun childhood memories for me--I think I am smitten with our little furry friend almost as much as our five kids are! Pancake has proved to be a very friendly hamster and has dealt patiently with eager little hands grabbing for him and petting him not so gently. I have to remind the little ones often that the hamster is very, very small and that he is ALIVE-- he is not a stuffed animal.

I am hoping that his name, given to him on account of his color, is not bad luck for the little guy!

Carter is especially fond of Pancake. The hamster seems to find his way into Carter's backpack, into Carter's pockets, in Carter's pencil case, or going down the ramp made for matchbox cars in Carter's room. Yes, you could say these two are buddies.

Yes, we are very grateful for our newest "Little" guy!

CoverGirl Claire

I just finished scrubbing lipstick out of the carpet because my little mischievous (and a little bit prissy) daughter had fun getting into mommy's purse.

Experiencing all this girliness feels strange and good all at the same time.

And yes, I was smiling while I was cleaning...

Celebrating Carter

On August 24th Carter turned five years old and we celebrated his birthday the following weekend with a Cars themed birthday party at our house. Carter has been a big Lightning McQueen fan for quite a while and out of all of our boys, Carter is by far the most passionate race car fan. He loves anything with tires and is perfectly content to sit on the sofa and watch a Nascar race. And he can make a mean engine sound effect! Yes, that boy loves racing and a Cars party was right up his ally.

We invited several of Carter's buddies and they all had a fun time coloring Cars themed posters, racing toy cars on the "track" in our hallway, stacking "tires" (miniature chocolate donuts), "towing" cars, racing for a place in the pit stop, and eating cake of course. It was all out boy fun!

Carter brings so much joy to our family with his big smile and dimples, his silly games of "find Carter" where he pretends to hide but really wants to be found so that he can receive lots of tickles, the sweet way he dotes on his little sister, and even his insatiable sweet tooth. We are so blessed to have him in our family and praise the Lord for our Carter Bradley. We love you Carter!

Wrapping up the Summer

The summer is officially coming to a close, and while the transition from summer to fall seems to be such a momentous event with little ones and the beginning of a new school year, we can move forward knowing that we have truly enjoyed this season to the fullest. We have taken advantage of the more relaxed summer schedule, spent as much time as possible outdoors, and shared many fun times with family and friends.

We went blueberry picking two times this summer. There is a blueberry patch just a few minutes down the road from us, making it an easy morning activity. We met up with friends, making the picking all the more fun. The kids had a blast and I still have about two pies worth of blueberries in my freezer.

We were also able to join Brian's parents for a day of fun at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. Definitely a super fun day!

On the train.

Riding the boat.

Bryce lost his first tooth on his favorite ride, Escape from Pompeii. He let Brian yank it out! I guess he really is brave!

Enjoying a trip to the park with Gramma.

Grant finished up the golf season with a couple of tournaments.

Bryce saved up for several months to purchase this magnetic mosaic set. Way to go Bryce!

Visiting the animals at Maymont Park.

Our friends the Myers joined us at Maymont. Lots of kids and lots of fun!

Dinner out with friends--kid free!

All the kids love the pool. The boys had some really fun water gun fights this year.

Claire was mesmerized by the animals at the zoo. And she is brave enough to try to climb into the rhinocerous' cage and try to stick her finger in the mouth of a giraffe. The boys love the bat exhibit. I, however, do not.

Grammy met us for a second day of Busch Gardens.

Davis and Grammy on the train.

Yes, it was a fun summer! I'm taking a deep breathe as I gear up for fall, but joyfully anticipating all that God has in store for us we follow His leading.