Back to School 2016

      Its hot outside, like really HOT! I'm not a fan, so we started our school year on July 11. Mornings spent at the kitchen table in the air conditioning are what mama likes! Once it cools down we'll take some more time off for wandering the woods, but for now its all about the books. We're continuing this year to follow Charlotte Mason's ideas on education and I feel like we are closer now to her real vision than ever and we're enjoying our school time more than ever as well! I'm so happy to be back in third grade....lol.....its amazing how much fun school is as an adult. I must have forgotten a lot about  the ancient world because as we read about Archimedes, Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, the Battle of Actium....I'm just fascinated. The way our history book ties the typical ancient events to the Biblical events of the same time period is another reminder of why we homeschool. Did you realize that the children of Israel were fighting for the promised land about the same time the Phoenicians were discovering the Atlantic Ocean? Oh, and Greek music on the pentatonic scale is not our favorite....its just annoying! Its not all ancients either, in US. History we have already read a biography on Daniel Boone and we're making our way through Amos Fortune: Free Man now. Science is all water screws, levers, pulleys, water displacement.....its a bit heavy, but Rebecca seems to enjoy it and if she understands even half of it then I'd call it a 'win'.  Of course we added more grammar this year along with poetry, storytelling, dictation and narration....then there is math and artist study, handicrafts and nature journaling. Its sounds like a lot, but I've been amazed how just a few pages from each book a day, a couple hours of work is all.....it adds up, even in just 3 weeks, to a real 'feast' of learning. The boys, I admit, have much less going on. Usually some morning TV shows while I read with Rebecca and then playtime, favorite picture books, a speech lesson or two, and some crafts mixed into the week. I am really looking forward to cooler days when they can get back outside with their shovels and tonka trucks! Here are some highlights from our first three weeks!

First day of school picture...they are growing up so fast!

Unloading groceries, laminating and playing logic games all at the same time.....its a bit nutty!

Logic games for younger brains.

Cow Appreciation day happened on our second day of school....yay for free kids meals and no dishes to wash!

Blueberry art to go with 'Blueberries for Sal' our book of the week the first week.

Salt dough map of the ancient world.

Blueberry picking....still tying into our book that week.

Painting her map...the finished product is really pretty. We'll add landmarks throughout the year.

Tea with friends.....we got to have 4 teas this summer each one with a different special family friend.

Examining a bunch of cicada shells they collected from the yard,

We've graduated to the larger 10" potholder loom. To all the women of the family, hope you like homemade potholders!

Experimenting with our own water screw. 

Weekend adventure while daddy was home sick.

Brain freeze face....possibly my favorite photo of him EVER.

Playing in the fountains last Saturday to cool off! Isaiah was about to lose his drawers. ;)

April in Colorado

One morning I decided we were going to take our school books with us into the woods, and make it a picnic, ohhh or we could do a hotdog roast... and stay out until Aaron got off work and then spend all evening in the woods......yeah I get carried away with ideas sometimes. We did get some time in the woods, but school never got done that day and it was a lot of trouble. I've got to master the KISS system....keep it simple stupid. This shelter is really cool though, and we built a fire in the stone fireplace and the smell of the fire and the pines and the sound of the creek, it was an idyllic setting. 

I want to live in this shelter, or at least camp here a few nights. It feel so "Little house on the prairie"

If you are driving by and not watching you will miss it because it blends so perfectly into the hillside.

Cooking their hot dogs on sticks I whittled sharp with my new pocket knife.....they think I'm so cool. LOL

Isaiah's favorite thing to do is chuck rocks into the creek.

His shirt says "Major Hunk"....'nuff said.

Rocks, water, dirt, digger toy....its a little boys dream day.

Levi eventually lost this little boat in the current, but it was fun while it lasted. Next time we'll get some kite string so we don't lose out boat.

This was the end of the afternoon and the reason we never got to the books. Rock verses baby skin. ;( We patched him up with our new first aid kit (so thankful Aaron picked one up over the weekend) and drove back to the hotel. He got a nap and all was well again and we still hauled Aaron back out for another hot dog roast that night.

Little Moments

Random pictures, no big event, just the little in between bits of our hotel life.

Celestial Seasonings inspired us to institute a weekly tea time, a habit that's really starting to stick.

They all love tea time and scones with "wupped keem"

Rebecca needed a spring haircut. 

Our hiking backpack...prepared for just about anything.

This girl is getting so grown up on me and I'm seeing a sense of style pop up that is uber cute!

Spring does make its way to Colorado, just a lot later than in North Carolina. This is the first blooms we say and its from April 7th!

The boys were fighting some upper respiratory stuff so our first trip to Garden of the gods was just for the trading post. We wanted them to get another slow day before we did more hiking. 

We all took turns with the vintage pinball machines while Isaiah got in a nap.

This playground had a Peter Pan theme! That's London Bridge, and in the background you can just see the mast of the Jolly Roger.

'Lost Boys' area was all trees to crawl through and hang on.

This was a rock formation and in the summer water runs through the park to make mermaid lagoon.

As cool as all the equipment was, it was the view that made it feel truly like something from a fairytale.