More Homeschooling activities

   OK, so the postings are few and far between as Uncle Joey reports, so in an attempt to get to modern day (may never happen) here comes another post…from fall!  Matt keeps asking me to just skip fall/winter and get updated already, but my OCD won’t let me do it…haha!

A Day at Fernbank:  Thanks Grammy

Is this real Mommy?

The little professor…

Couldn’t ask for a more handsome teacher…

 

Dinosaur thigh…

Just like the wild boars from “Little House in the Big Woods.”  The boys thought they wouldn’t eat this…I say they would if they lived back then.  The tail was Laura and Mary’s favorite to crackle over the fire and eat, yum, talk about a treat.  We’ll pass!  They also took the bladder in the book, blew it up, and tied it to make a ball.  Talk about a fun toy.  Times have changed, imagine your children being elated with a pig bladder…as gross as it sounds, it is a lesson in gratefulness and our own contentment.  Life may have been harder in some ways back then, but it was so much simpler too!

The DNA helix,

The pet boar again…good thing he’s stuffed.  Those things are MEAN!

Water, water, everywhere!

With a final stop at the snack pavilion, we were ready to go with our newly educated minds.

 

I am thinking this last picture is appropriate for Daddy’s funny face gallery…he even added some claw action!

                       

          

               COUSIN SIGHTING…

The whole crew…a little fuzzy…I am sure my photographer friends are screaming at their computer screen right now!  Uncle Joey, Michael, Aunt Amy, Me, Matt, Madeline, Andrew, and Ryan.  Two families that will always be together…at least once a month!

 

Matt and I were talking the other day about how blessed we are to have the boys cousins and our brothers/sisters – in – laws close enough.  Matt really didn’t have that relationship with his cousins because of distance and we want to give that to our boys as a gift.  It doesn’t hurt that we love Joey and Amy so much!  Just waiting for a cousin from Billy and Megan and we’ll have it made! 

There may be difficult things that happen in each person’s life, but our Heavenly Father truly makes all things work together for our good!  Our generation is mending the wounds from the last and without a doubt, these little bits will mend the ones we create!  We must always thank the Lord for continuing his work throughout families and generations!

Homeschooling Fun: Fall Semester

I thought we’d show off some of the fun things we did for homeschooling that weren’t necessarily at home when it was warm.  These things were done throughout the fall semester.  We really have a great time when we get to take school outside!

     We took a nature hike at a nearby mountain biking trail and gathered lots of God’s Creation to study.  It reminded Matt and me so much of our childhood backyard woods it was great!  For the record, I do not know how people stay on those trails, they were right on the edge of the hillside and as you will see, the hills were steep!

The foilage was just so dense, we had lots of things to collect!

This would make a mean game of hide and go seek!

There was a great river/creek and the water was much cleaner than Joplin Creek behind my house which consisted of sewer runoff from broken clay pipes.  We will swim in the summer!

They really wanted to get in…

spreading seeds was a favorite…

This place was absolutely gorgeous!  None of this happened by chance!  Just imagining that this is what our whole country looked like just 200+ years ago.  God has provided us with everything we have always needed 

And then came the competition of manhood. Daddy was king of the mountain, but only for a little bit…we all had to prove ourselves.

I had to bite my lip and let them go…

 

What a great place… and we learned and collected many things.  Ryan’s favorite was climbing up the mountain.  Daddy’s favorite was skipping stones.  Andrew’s favorite was standing on the big rock beside the water with Ryan and Daddy.  My favorite was seeing Matt with the boys doing boy stuff and me getting to take part since I was a tomboy when I was little!  It is just so amazing to see all of the living things big and small that are right under our noses that we fail to notice in our daily activities.  What’s even more amazing is that God knows and cares for every single one!  

Oh yeah, and we did do some teaching….

October 2010": a very abbreviated blog

     So, in an effort to expedite the blogging to catch up to present day and stop living in the past, I am trying to do some collages and quick little explanation.  Feels like we’re living too much in the past…haha!

     In October, we had great plans to attend the Dobbins Air Force Base air show.  We all got ready with ample time for the base to close @ 1:30, got in the car and travelled the short trip to Marietta.  To our dismay, the base was already at capacity and had closed earlier and we were turned away…so we opted for watching at a golf course nearby.

 

     It was a fantastic view, and we didn’t have to worry about the crowds…

      The best part of all…when we got tired of watching airplanes, we went home, changed clothes and headed to the driving range all together.  Usually this is Daddy’s escape, but he was up for allowing us into his haven.  The boys had so much fun.  I think Matt enjoyed watching the boys skills and laughing at mine!  As we tell the boys, who were bummed about not getting into the base, be patient and God will bless you with something greater.  These boys had been asking to tag along with Daddy to the golf course all summer and on this day they were blessed!

     It has now been proven, flip flops can go anywhere!  Hey, my shirt had a collar!

     And because Matt erased all the pictures I took of his professional golfing, I inserted another picture for the “Matt’s Funny Face” gallery!  

     What a crew…the love for golf has surely been passed down…Thanks Grandpa Ireland!

 

And, he’s done!