Fall begins

I'm so happy fall is here. But unhappy that I didn't find time today to put up my decorations. Hopefully I can do that this weekend. I did buy some pretty flowers for the table and picked up some fall-related books from the library to read with the kids.

This was an interesting week, and I'm glad it's over. Scott had to report for jury duty on Monday morning and ended up being picked to serve. So he was there all week long, but found out today that he was the alternate. He was bummed that after all that, he didn't get to be part of the deliberation. By the end of the day, the jury still hadn't reached a decision, so the judge said he'd call him next week to tell him the verdict. I thought that was pretty neat of him.

Conner was at a leader's retreat for our church last weekend and came home with a cold. He felt pretty crummy all week. Thankfully, he was only scheduled for one day at Chick-fil-A so he was able to rest more than usual. Declan was sick with a stomach bug last week, and now Zane seems to have it. We have been really healthy around here for awhile now, so I guess we were due.

In our preschool studies , we continued with Five in a Row. This week's book was Lentil. We talked about our senses, so we did a taste test and sampled things salty, sweet, sour and bitter. In the book, Lentil learns to play the harmonica so I found some at the dollar store for the three younger boys. They were surprised to find out that it's harder to play one than they thought.

For some reason Aiden talked me into buying a coconut while we were out shopping so Chase spent a long time opening it and then they used all parts of it. They drank the water, made coconut milk, ate the meat and even reused the shell as a cup for smoothies.

Liam is turning 4 months next week and I can hardly believe it. The newborn stage seems to disappear faster with each child. He really prefers being upright, so we brought in his activity jumper. He seems to really like it.

He must have worn himself out playing, because when Brenna took him in her room to play with him, he fell fast asleep on her bed. Right in the middle of her schoolwork, stuffed animals and the cat. Haha

I entered a giveaway on a blog a few weeks back and actually won. Today I received in the mail a "busy mom's gift basket" for the car. It's from bp and had a travel mug, insulated tumbler, first aid kit, air freshener, tire gauge, umbrella, and several other items. There were also 2 gas gift cards that I gave to Conner. It was a nice way to end the week.

New school year

Last week was our first full week of school. The week before we had a slow, rolling start -- it was busy with Labor Day, my birthday, Scott's birthday and the start of Options. So we mainly worked on getting everyone back on a good wake-up schedule and I introduced the new curriculum and morning board. I had seen the idea on several blogs, and loved the idea for my preschool boys. I will try to post a pic of ours later.

I have decided to use Five in a Row for Zane and Declan and I'm also adding in some of the lessons from a site called ABCJesuslovesme. This week the book we "rowed" was The Story About Ping. The idea is to read the same story for five days in a row and take elements out of the story that are related to history, geography, math, science, art, music, etc. and teach them to your child.

We put up a big world map and marked China, where Ping lives. We talked about buoyancy and put various items into the filled bathtub to see which would float and which would sink. We counted all of Ping's many family members, and then we wrapped up the week by feeding ducks at a park.

Liam enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine.

Zane is doing a lot of work on his letters and numbers and is moving right along. He loves learning and is always asking me what's next or reminding me if I forget a step in our daily routine. :) He just started AWANA this year and is enjoying being a Cubbie.

Declan loves to listen to the books, but I usually lose him after that. :) He prefers being active to sitting and drawing or coloring. So I'm just meeting him where's he at right now, knowing he will learn more when he's ready. He also goes to a music class once a week with Zane.

Aiden is taking several classes at Options -- P.E, Hands-on History, Math Games, Art, cCreative Drama and Kitchen Classroom. He also does karate and a boys club one day a week at another homeschool program. So at home, we are expanding on the math and history from Options and doing lots of reading and writing. He does science and geography along with the younger boys.

For extracurricular activites, he is in Cub Scouts and AWANA and will be taking swim lessons again next month.

Brenna is in 7th grade this year. At Options, she is taking P.E., advanced art, drama, nutrition, international towne(world geography) and a mountain lab science class. She is doing mostly fun, creative classes there, but also science and geography. So at home, we are focusing on math, writing and literature. She just got a babysitting job for a homeschool co-op at a nearby church, so she does that once a week. It's really good for her, since she loves babies and she is able to earn her own spending money. She also attends our church's jr. high youth group once a week and loves it.

Chase is beginning high school this year. At Options, he has Biology, P.E., Advanced Art, Spanish, and another art class. He has one off period where he's a teacher's aide. At home, he is doing math, American Government, writing and a literature study. He goes to our church's high school youth group and also does archery every other week.

Conner is in his final year of high school. Just typing that makes me proud, sad, excited and anxious all at once. He is still taking a heavy load at Options -- 2 periods of physics, 2 periods of pre-calculus and a literature class. He is working, still doing competitive bowling and is a leader for the jr. high youth group at church, so he is pretty busy this year. At least he can drive himself to things now!

That's how the year looks so far. Subject to change at any time. :)