Portrait

 Kate is really enjoying drawing people right now. I love that the eye circles always start at the bottom so the people seem as though they are always looking down. This is one she made of Dave and I this morning. I had no idea I was looking so good these days! All the running with the dogs is paying off!

Duckling Rescue Operation

The girls are very excited to have a new batch of orphaned baby mallards at our house. A neighbor called that found them in her backyard.  Leah and Kate were more than happy to take over the role as their mother until they can fly away and be on their own.

Shearing.....almost

Saturday was supposed to be shearing day for the boys. I guess the shearing team had quite a time at the farm before ours and were just not able to get to us that day. We are first on the list next Saturday. While we wait here are some shots of our fluffy boys. Stanley is just like a giant teddy bear

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Broccoli and Cauliflower

We had so much cauliflower and broccoli this year. The broccoli I made into soup last week using this recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/vegan-cream-of-broccoli-soup.html. It is so very good and we have about 15 freezer meals from it now in the deep freeze. Today I made this recipe with the cauliflower http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/creamy-garlic-cauliflower-sauce/. WOW!!! I just had some over pasta and it is fantastic! It should make  about 15 more meals worth of sauce. Just getting started with the preserving for the year and off to a good one!

The Mini Hives Have Bees!

The mini hives are all full of bees and queen cells. They are very busy and I know will be very happy in their new apiary. Dave made this wonderful pergola and apiary set up for our anniversary gift. What a guy! I did the painting, my gift to him as he HATES painting.

Fall School Schedule 2015!

  It's been a rocky road but I was finally able to get Leah into the school we all REALLY wanted her to attend! She is as last eligible for public school this year and after hoop jumping she is at the grade level we hope will be the perfect fit.  Leah is enrolled in DaVinci Academy through their distance learning program. What does this mean? Well it means that Leah will attend a full day of school every Wednesday(1st grade), have her electives on Thursday and homeschool for the rest of the week(2nd grade). It also means that the state will pay for our homeschool curriculum and I still get to choose what curriculum is best for our family.
    This will be the programs second year and it gets rave reviews from everyone I have talked to that was enrolled this year past. They are making a few adjustments this year including covering all common core standards for science/history/social studies/art/music during their Wednesday school day. This really takes the pressure off me at home. Everything we do for history, art  and science will be extra! If I get really bogged down, the only subjects I must cover at home are Math and Language Arts. I know this would never happen as we LOVE our history, art, and science curriculums but it's nice to know it's just for fun!
    They will also be offering some great electives on Thursday for those wishing to attend. Things like group piano, voice, guitar, dance, etc.
   For her Wednesday group classes she will be in the K-2 class. This means that all Kindergarden, 1st, and 2nd graders are in the same class. They also group all the 3-6 graders together. It makes a wonderfully diverse age group with the older being able to help the younger with some good social skill modeling and behavior as well as helping to motivate learning. Each topic is taught so that many levels can be learning at the same time. I love this as each child can choose the level that fits them! Here is the schedule for fall semester, school is Wednesday's from 8:30 to 3:30.

Epic Adventure
Medieval & Renaissance (2 hrs.)

Science (1hr)

PE (30 min)

Writing with Fairytales,
Fables, and Folklore  (45 min)

Music (45 min)

World Cultures (45 min)

Arts and Crafts (45 min)

In the second semester the first three classes remain the same and the second four change to:

Animal Encounters (45 min)

Ooey gooey explosive science (45 min)

Math Games (45 min)

Drama (45 min)



We still need to choose the electives that Leah is interested in taking on Thursday's!
Electives Update.
For her top three choices Leah picked French, Violin, and Super Scientist Lab. Her back up choices are Pottery and Permaculture. She can take up to 6 classes depending on scheduling and availability. 

She is so very excited and is already counting down the days to Aug. 26th!

Still working on a preschool for Kate. Details to come!



Update:

Kate says she wants to stay home next year and have me for her teacher. Great! That makes thing so much more simple. Fall is a ways off so lets just hope she enjoys school at home this summer and wants to continue for fall! I love lazy mornings reading together in our P.J's.


As far as Leah's curriculum for home this fall we are continuing with the classical education model. It really has fit so well for us! I can't believe how much $$$$ we will save not having to buy all this curriculum! It's also quite surprising how much Kate learns from it all as well. For Second grade we will be using.....

Language Art

-All About Spelling Level 2(the rest) and Level 3(if we get there). This seems to be one of Leah's least favorite subjects. We stopped working through level 2 back in November and have not started up again yet. No rush. She is still far above grade level so I will wait until she WANTS to do it again. I assume this will be sometime this summer when other kids are here learning and she is more motivated.
-First Language Lessons  level 2
-Writing With Ease level 2
-For reading Leah still likes the McGuffey Readers so we may finish the 3rd. She seems to be more interested in non-fiction for independent reading at the moment. She enjoys reading and learning everything she can about ducks, chickens, etc.
-I will continue Five In A Row with both kids. This is by far our favorite time of day!
-Kate is working her way through Bob books and Challenger readers.

Math

- Leah hopes to finish Right Start Math Level B by fall and start C in August. Her friend Lily also wants to do math with us all summer so I know they will both stay motivated!
-We are also enjoying Life of Fred and will continue through the elementary series.

Science

Sassafras Science has been a hit! The lap books are a ton of fun and we will cover Earth science and Astronomy next year if they can write the books in time! Fingers crossed! Otherwise we will be searching for another Earth Science/Astronomy curriculum.

History

Story of the World volume 2: The Middle Ages.
We enjoyed Volume 1:Ancient Times so much this year I can't imagine trying anything else! Volume 2 will also fit really well with history being taught at school on Wednesdays.

Art

Artistic Pursuits book 2

It should be a VERY fun year!!!!!!

Silly