Happy 1st Birthday

Posted by My Heart Song

6/29/2018

Happy 1st Birthday to my littlest man!


This first year has flown by!

This boy is very mobile.

He crawls, he toddles, he walks along the furniture. 


 He talks, using words like mama, dada, ba (for ball) and mo (for more) and eeee (for peek when playing peek a boo).

Peek a boo is a favorite game.


First time swinging - loved it!

Here he is enjoying some new birthday toys. 

 This boy sleeps all night, from 6 pm to 6 am. 
He eats like a champ, often times out-eating his 2-year-old brother. He likes all kinds of baby foods and wants to try bites of anything that others are eating.

 He remains a rather relaxed baby. He is happy to play on his own. He rarely cries. He goes with the flow - in our busy household with many other needs, this is good! He crawls up to Mama when he's either hungry or needs a diaper change. Otherwise, he's happy to just explore the house and toys and kitchen cabinets!

 Happy 1st birthday, buddy!

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Homeschooling 10th Grade - Goals

Posted by My Heart Song

6/18/2018


10th Grade! Sophomore year!


Some people start homeschooling with the intention to go all the way through high school while others take a year-by-year approach. We're pretty solid in our conviction to homeschool and our oldest daughter has no desire whatsoever to change things up at this point. 

So we find ourselves gearing up to start 10th grade! I find this a bit daunting. Homeschooling high school carries a pressure that is much heavier than the younger grades. Transcripts loom. College-prep or dual-credit classes become options. Questions abound as to whether our student will be ready for whatever step they'll take after high school. The material itself is complicated and much of it is over my head as "the teacher."


This is where I am thankful for the curriculum we've used for many years now... Sonlight! Sonlight reassures me that they've chosen excellent books to teach what my student needs at this stage of her schooling. We'll be studying 20th Century history and literature this year. I'm excited about this, as more recent history is far easier for me to understand and enjoy than ancient times. Sonlight includes dozens of great books (NOT TEXTBOOKS) that make studying history fun, bringing the people and events to life.

For math this year, my daughter will be using Teaching Textbooks for Geometry. For science, she will be taking a laid-back approach while helping teach science to her younger siblings. Nothing heavy this year for science. Science for the last 2 years has been intense and she's not a science-brained kid so I'm cool with the choice to take a little break in this area. Instead she's going to focus more on Language Arts where we "coasted" last year. There will be more research papers and creative writing this year. I delight in the freedom I have as a homeschooler to adjust our lessons to life, to what works best for our family or for this girl specifically.


We will also be having an ongoing dialogue about her future plans so we can start taking steps in whatever direction she chooses. We will also continue to discuss technology and her use of computers, smartphones, tablets, etc. as it relates to responsibility and growing in trust in these areas. 

And in the far back of my mind... I will start researching options for Driver's Ed! 

But for now, we are enjoying organizing our books and lesson plans. We'll put together a loose calendar for the school year. 


This girl has already found a book or two to start reading immediately. I love that about Sonlight! The books draw you in. The stories "sneak up on you" so you don't even realizing you're learning history while reading a great book!

Here's to another year of loving Jesus by being intentional about spending time with these children learning about this world God created and finding our places in it. We're growing as disciples so we can go make disciples! 

Thank you, Sonlight, for putting together excellent material that helps us meet our goals! 

And thank you, God, for Your faithfulness to us on this homeschooling journey!

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Summertime

Posted by My Heart Song

6/13/2018 

Our family has been outside a lot, as the weather has been inviting us out of the house and into the yard or to the park. 


Many evenings I go for a walk while my little girl rides her tricycle alongside. Here we're in front of our house and you can see our pretty flowers too.


"Daddy-Daughter Date Night" at the local riverwalk.


When our friend Sarah came over with her dog, Chewy, my 2-year-old rolled in the grass and played. Such childish delight in his play and his laughter.



We've had lovely summer weather lately and enjoyed a morning at a nearby park with friends. The older kids loved to roam about the big playground equipment. 


Here's my 4-year-old girl climbing around.


Here's my oldest boy on the slide.


This is my littlest boy's first ride in a swing. 
Of course, he loved it!


This girly is getting quite tan from spending so much time outside in our yard, with her friend Jolene. 


And some of the others swinging too.


This little guy pulled himself up to this stance and just watched, taking in all there was happening at the park. The cottonwood trees were shedding like crazy so it almost looked like snow when the wind blew. You can see the piles of cotton on the ground here. No surprise that this guy crawled around and had to taste some of it. :-)


Fun in the sun, with more to come!

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Baby Boy Turns 11 Months

Posted by My Heart Song

5/31/2018


This little boy is growing quickly. He's 11 months old now! He has some curl in his hair. He is the only one of our children so far that has the curl that is characteristic of my husband's side of the family.


To celebrate, he climbed up 3 stairs all by himself! Aaahh!


He has gotten his 8th tooth now. He chews on everything. And he wears an amber necklace that is supposed to help with the pain associated with teething.


He loves to wave at people. And he loves his daddy!

Happy 11 months, Little Mister! 

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Trip to Wisconsin

Posted by My Heart Song

5/30/2018

We recently took a trip to Wisconsin. Here are a few snaphots from the time with family.


Our whole crew squished into our van... along with our pet bird Skittles who journeyed with us!


Littlest man in a laundry basket. So sweet.





We paid a visit to Grandma June, who is now in a nursing home. We had a lovely visit with her. She, of course, enjoyed seeing the children.



It was very hot during our stay. The little kids spent time playing outside in Grandma's pool.


And some took a walk to the nearby park.


We visited my dad on the farm. 
Little guy found a guitar that was right at his level.

 

We took a ride in the four-wheeled Can Am, letting our 14-year-old daughter drive us!


Two of the kids playing around.


Just two camouflage lovebirds.


Back at my mom's place, my 4-year-old was helping quite a bit in the kitchen.


And eating leftover sprinkles.


And working alongside Grandma and big sister.


Here's my brother Brett, his wife Natasha, daughter Trinity and my two daughters together on the couch. 


And my littlest guy with Uncle Brian. 


My oldest daughter always enjoys Grandma time, whether baking together or doing nails or just tickling toes!


Grandma is a great storyteller and book-reader. 

Another fun visit with family in Wisconsin!

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Field Trip: Air Zoo

Posted by My Heart Song

5/11/2018


Recently our entire family traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan to the Air Zoo. This was part of a field trip coordinated by our homeschool co-op, so we enjoyed the day's attractions with many other friends.


After the front desk to pay, you walk "through the clouds" into the museum.



My oldest daughter loved the painted mural that surrounds the main room. 


Beautiful and so detailed!


And imaginative!


My little girl loved the rides. 
These were like carnival/fair rides, but inside. 


This was an individual ride. Still fun. 


My oldest daughter rode too. Silly!


My son liked the military planes and paraphernalia.


There was an exhibit on NASA and space exploration too.


Daddy showing the little boys the big planes.


There were models of hundreds of planes and real-sized replicas of a few dozen. You could spend hours looking at each one and studying the details.


One of the big planes painted so fancy. 


I was glad that the museum was kid-friendly. They had an activity area for the little ones to get some energy out. More beautiful sky-themed murals throughout that area also.


My baby boy sat with me at the gate of the rides, watching the older kids enjoying it all.


And everyone was exhausted at the end of the day.

Thumbs up for the Air Zoo!

 PS: Our family visited the Air Zoo 7 years ago. It's fun to look back at the pictures of the kids. Here is my blog post about that visit.

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