Friday, August 29, 2014

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real {August 29, 2014}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother Like Daughter

{Pretty}
 
I shared this photo in my Mid-August Nature Study post. This is my new favorite nature picture. I love the water and all the different plants and the vivid color in the picture. 


{ Happy }
 
Today was mostly a good day of school. Students seemed pretty happy too.
 


I have "geography games" down to do on Fridays and it has been unplanned. Yet the boys always pick areas that they need to work on or worked on during map work earlier in the week. That makes a teacher mom happy!

 
{Funny}
 
Caleb walked into his bedroom after lunch and found a cat ball. We couldn't stop giggling and took a few pictures and the cat slept through it all. 
 

 
I also found some random pictures on my camera again. I told the boys to be careful doing that or they may see them on the blog. I don't know what is up with the bed picture or who is under the cover.
 
 




 
{Real}
 
One school distraction that is allowed is a weather stop. We love to go outside and watch a weather front pass through. It's more than staring at the radar. This one was from this afternoon.
 


 

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Our First Month of School {2014-2015}



We have completed our first month of school and it has gone well. Of course, there were changes.

The biggest changes are always my doing. Usually something in me needs to change, an attitude or a habit. There is a lot of growth to be done as mom and teacher. Those must be done first before we expect our children and students to change.

I'm loving Pam's post at Everyday Snapshots, It's 3:16. How's Your Homeschool Plan Holding Up? Part 1 and Part 2. She gets it and has some wise words.

Our first set back was starting back to school at the end of July. It's always tough and I did expect it. Nothing makes you feel more like a weird homeschooler when you are back at school and everyone else is still on summer break.

Another issue that arose was that I had more planned for Caleb than could actually fit into our schooling hours. I had to cut out and rearrange. It was difficult. We are still working on this. This week I have everything fit into the schedule but our margin is very small. The question is whether we are disciplined enough to handle that. The answer is no at the moment and we are working on that.



I also had to rework our Morning Basket Plans. It was taking too much time and other subjects had greater priority. I also thinking I need to loop it. We are trying that this week. I'm not a looper . . . . I tend to think things are optional when I try to loop them. I'll reevaluate at the end of the week.


I'm happy with almost all of our original plans. I wasn't too impressed with Our Mother Tongue just because I think it needs a workbook with it. Caleb wasn't impressed with Memoria Press's Botany study (Book of Trees). Tyler enjoys all his book.

I'm still working on fitting in all of Caleb's Language Art subjects and I still see myself playing around with the schedule on this. I did or will be changing out some books. Memoria Press Classical Compositions has been replaced with Writing With Skill Level 1.I decided I needed to be less involved in his writing. WWS seems to be the perfect amount of involvement for me. Of course, we have only completed a week of the program (in a week's time I should add) which is far better than one day of lesson one in the MPCC over three weeks.  


 
Tyler, on the other hand, is getting done with school too early. It looks like we do have time for Latin this year.  ; )  Tyler disagrees! Actually I do too. I don't have time to teach it. Right now I'm trying to decided if I should increase Tyler's per subject time or throw in some extra books. 

I do have one BIG change for Tyler and I really hate to talk about it so I'll just whisper it. That would be math. His current program just isn't working for him. I have something different coming our way. That's another post though.

Zebra sleeping through Morning Basket.
 

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Our Trip to Kansas

We decided to make a day trip to visit my brother and his family and meet their new baby girl. They live just over the border in Kansas. We went to Kansas to see Dorothy. I just had to say it and I promise I won't say it again (sorry Deanna)!

I had promised the boys a trip to Legoland Discovery Center in Kansas City since it opened a few years ago and we finally turned that promise in on this trip too. We also visited Sea Life since it was in the same building and the ticket prices were cheaper to purchase them together.

Tyler loved Legoland and Caleb was too old for it. I think he enjoyed the 4D movies though and one of the rides. Sea Life was nice, but it was really set up for the preschool age kids. As an adult, I had to do a lot of looking down. We also did lunch at Fritz's (your lunch is delivered by train).

We ended the day visiting with my sister-in-law and passing the baby around for a couple of hours. After my brother got home from work and my nephew (age 3) from school, we went out to dinner at Spin Pizza (Gelato may be my new favorite). We headed back home after that and arrived in the driveway at 10 pm (left the house at 7:30 am).

Here is a ton of pictures from the day. The ones from Sea Life are a little blurry because it was dark and flash wasn't allowed. I also go no pictures of my brother, sister-in-law, and my nephew. Only of the baby! My nephew was really happy to see the boys and I wish I had gotten some pictures of his excitement.  We can't wait to see her again! Oh, and of course the rest of the family!


















Friday, August 22, 2014

7 Quick Takes Friday {August 22, 2014}

1) I know I haven't been blogging much lately, things have been overwhelming busy around here. Late summer/early fall is always our busiest time of the year. Scouts is getting ready to pick up again and the thought of it just overwhelming. The boys have a new activity (cross country) and our first month of school makes more busyness.

2) If you are wondering, Zebra is still claiming us as his "pets". This cat loves baskets! We like to pull baskets out and see how long it take "Zeebs" to find it. He always claims them (see picture below). One exception was a new laundry basket. It took two weeks before Zebra decided it was good enough. I was starting to think I needed to take it back to the store; surely something was wrong with it!  ; )


3)We hit a garage sale last Friday and found Tyler some waders for $5. He will find out this weekend if it was a good buy or not when he checks them for leaks in spring water. Too bad they aren't insulated!




4) Tyler is studying weather this year and keeping a weather notebook. I decided to take a picture of the sky to put into his weather reports. I'm hoping he will be able to describe the weather in writing by the end of the year.
 

5)I consider myself an above average organizer. My time management could use some work. I feel like organizing the house could be better too. I'm thinking about devoting my weekend to this. We don't have a ton of stuff, unless you count books and I don't. I still feel like we have more than we need in this little house. My walls are bare though and I would like to find some good thrift shop finds or rearrange some existing items.

6)Allergies are flaring up around here. Tyler and I are fighting them. I also have a rash on my neck that is very itchy! I'm praying it's not Poison Ivy. I just took a Benedryl to see what that does so I may be taking a morning nap.

7)On Monday we made a day trip to Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas. We went to Lego Land Discovery Center, Sea Life, and got to meet our new niece. It was a good trip even though we spent many hours in the car. I'll have a blog post about it this weekend. I have a lot of pictures to sort through. 






 
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Pretty, Funny, Happy, Real {August 21, 2014}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

{Pretty}

My handsome boys!


Tyler is my eye squinter for pictures. We some how got him to open his eyes for this one. Now you know what colors his eyes are!

 

{Funny}

Hammy was very curious to what I was doing the other night. I let her out to explore and all she did was chew on the cords. Naughty Ham!


I tried hard to get a picture of us the other day . . . . didn't work!





{Happy}

We got to meet our new niece on Monday. She is four weeks old today. Such a cutie! She was awake to greet us and then slept the rest of our visit.







{Real}


Boys back after a three mile run. Cross Country is taking a lot of time. The boys have team practice twice a week and then run on their own three more days. It has been tough getting this fit into the schedule.


My to-do list from last Saturday. I got most of it done. This weekend is looking about the same. Busy times!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Mid-August Nature Study

I know it's been quiet here! Things have just been a little overwhelming busy around here. Hoping to have have some free time late next week to work on the blog.

We did some very informal nature study at our usual spot this past Tuesday. We really just needed a few hours out of the house and some fresh country air. It was hard leaving the house because of everything else shouting calling our name. Yet, nature study is a priority to be enjoyed while ignoring all other stuff for the moment. Seriously! Don't let other activities or household chores keep you from nature study!

We took a short walk half way around the lake. The other side was not mowed and I was too afraid of ticks and chiggers to venture off the path that day. We mostly noticed an abundance of insects. They were flying, jumping, and buzzing all around us on our walk. The boys also took a swim in the lake. The lake was a nice temperature but a little muddy.



















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