Rachel

Big girl at the big table. This only lasted one time, as she is really too small to reach her plate well at this point. It was a very messy experiment!



Couch potato bookworm.

Homeschool Projects- Salt Dough Pyramids and Paddle Dolls

Here are some other projects to go with our Tapestry of Grace curriculum. I thought making small pyramids would be a little easier than a huge map. Stephen also made an "Egyptian gingerbread man" (hmmm) and they helped roll dough into balls so mama could make beads.

The paddle dolls are supposedly what Moses (or any child in ancient Egyptian times) would have played with. I doubt they were made out of cardboard back then, though! :) The one with green eyes is wearing glasses, according to Matthew.

Homeschool Projects-Edible Egypt

We're doing Year 1 Tapestry of Grace homeschool curriculum (along with pk 4/5 Sonlight!), and they learned all about ancient Egypt. One of the crafts was to make a salt dough map of Egypt. I thought that was an awful lot of salt and mess to go through for something that we can't bring with us when we move. So, I decided to make edible Egypt "maps" that the kids could "paint" the Nile and cities on with frosting. Chocolate chips were the pyramids. Mmmm... Everyone liked that idea, even Rachel!





The boys busily building the Nile, the desert and the cities...




Rachel approves!




The boys busy decorating their sugar cookie maps of Egypt.




Rachel enjoying a few "pyramids".




The finished project and the happy builders!

Homeschool Projects-Botany

This is Matthew's seed collection for his homeschool co-op botany class. He is to collect 18 different seeds to go in each egg carton hole. This photo is a bit old, as we only have two more holes to fill. We have kiwi seeds (ridiculously small!), tomato, squash, popcorn, fennel, apple, pear, peach, etc. The most interesting one so far is a persimmon seed. Someone brought those to our church for the last fellowship meal, so we snagged a couple to use the seeds.




These are some pinto beans that we started up at home after Matthew learned all about the different parts of bean plants at co-op. This photo is a bit old, too, by only a few weeks! If anyone knows how beans grow, a couple weeks make a huge difference! It looks like a jungle near our side window. We're anxiously awaiting the first bean to grow on it...

Wewahitchka Bee Farm Trip

We set out early this morning for Wewahitchka, FL to visit a bee farm called Smiley Apiaries. I just love the name of the town! Wewahitchka, Wewahitchka... It must be Indian. It took about 45minutes for us to arrive there. We had to wait a bit while the owner Donald Smiley was conducting another tour for the first group of homeschool students. The kids started getting pretty itchy waiting around and then Stephen and Matthew started the "pee dance", so we had to sneak off behind a bush and take care of that! Never a dull moment.

The talk Donald gave was very interesting. He said, "Everyone has heard of Tupelo honey before!" I sure hadn't, but am very glad I got introduced to it. It isn't cheap, but it is SO good. When Dave had some tonight, he described it as having almost a kick to it, as if there was some spice. It comes from Tupelo trees, which only grow in that area.

As Donald opened the door to the first room of our tour, I struggled to get the double stroller in. Someone shut the door right as I looked up at a window and saw the biggest "ball" of bees I had ever seen! What is it southerners say? "Well, I just about lay me down and die!" It was all I could do to take a photo for documentation that I survived. I am not a big bee fan, you can see! I am, however, starting to appreciate honeybees a lot more. I never realized just how many crops they pollinate. They are very important to our survival, although I think I will let other people tend the hives!

We went into another room where we could see the process of extraction. The boys loved to see the pool of honey in a large tray underneath. A layer of honeycomb covered the top (it rises to the top as the honey cools), but the owner brushed it away so we could see the thick honey underneath. The honey they sell is 100% raw, which means it isn't heated above 86F, in order to not kill the pollen.

We finished off the tour in another section of the warehouse, where they handed out free honeysticks and another man showed large photos of the bees while he gave more information on the whole process. We had a good time there, even though I think if the kids were just a bit older they would've appreciated it even more.


Part of the beehive, where the honeycomb is.




Mr. Smiley, showing the honeycomb to us.



One of the kids showing off a "tulle hat".



Now this is more like it! Full body armor!



Tell me you wouldn't want to run, too??



How can they just stand still?!



Inside honey extracting room.



Man loading honeycomb to be pushed through extractor.



They recycle the beeswax here to sell for candles, etc.



Honeycomb being pushed through machine.



Extractor. It reminded me of a huge barbeque grill.




Pool of honey under extractor. Can you see it coming out a tube on each end?




Liquid gold!

Sweet!

In preparation for a bee farm fieldtrip (mom and Gary, you will be surprised I even entertained the thought!), a woman at co-op who keeps bees allowed us to have some chunks of honeycomb. We examined it first, marvelling at the fact that bees can make such perfect little hexagons-no rulers or anything! :)

We then cut off small pieces and chewed on them, letting the honey gush out into our mouths. Matthew didn't like the honeycomb, but loved the honey. Both Stephen and Timothy swallowed the whole kit and caboodle after munching on it for awhile. Rachel got a few licks of straight honey. It felt to me like chewing on those wax lips, so I sympathized with Matthew! The honey was tasty, though...

Sunrise

I got up with Dave a few days ago and was greeted with this about 6 a.m. Beautiful, isn't it?

Schooling

Sometimes, when Matthew is doing a project of particular interest, all the boys crowd around him at the table to see and/or "help out". I sure don't expect any of the younger ones to do schooling and Matthew is still quite young to be really pushed. I am attempting to find the right balance between pushing enough and too much. I think we're doing alright so far! I have been playing around with different types of schooling to fit what Matthew needs best. After all, it isn't so much how I learn best or how DAVE learns best, but what is going to get through to Matthew. Right now, Sonlight appeals to me a lot, because we are great lovers of books and SL requires quite a bit of reading. We could sit on the couch half the day reading! We are already going through SL's p4/5 curriculum and I think I am going to order the kindergarten curriculum very soon, as well as their science curriculum as the kids all love science. The best part of Sonlight is that you don't really need to go by "grade" as it is made up of really great books that appeal to a wide age range. I can get the K curriculum and teach both Stephen and Matthew at the same time.

Part of me really, really likes classical education and Tapestry of Grace. I do own year 1 of that, and we have been doing it, but I sort of feel bogged down, teaching one area of history for such a long stretch (at least at this point!). I mean, if I myself am getting itchy learning about ancient Egypt for the second or third week, how do my kids feel? I don't have energy to make an Egyptian feast or clothing at this point! Maybe it will change later, so I am definitely keeping that option open.

I just realize I probably lost half of my relatives with that diatribe! ;) For my friends, how is it going with your homeschooling?

Rachel and Daddy

Rachel is the cuddliest baby we have had so far. She gives the best, tightest little baby squeezes, and she loves her daddy.

Kids Bein' Kids

Here are some random shots around the house of our little monkeys. :)


Big Girl!



Cookin' up some trouble!



Playing nicely together. I needed documentation of this!



This photo is too cute. In the not to distant future, their legs will (hopefully!) be much longer than mine and I won't see this anymore. I better capture it now... :)


I just love the sticker...and the cheesy grin!



Timothy had to join in on the sticker fun.

Helpful Helpers

It must be an inborn thing for males to like things with a touch of danger to them, you know, electricity, scorpions, those sorts of things. We are always pleased when our kiddos ask to help out all by themselves and then follow through. Matthew and Stephen spent a good 30 minutes shredding old papers for us. Stephen would neatly fold them so they'd fit into the shredder and Matthew would seriously operate it, every once in awhile sternly warning Stephen and Timothy not to touch it AT ALL.