1st Day of School 2018-2019

My sweet girl is starting 4th grade! She absolutely loves school! She is such a sweet student. I'm so thankful to be her teacher! She is doing Heart of Dakota Preparing Hearts for His Glory. She loves math. I love that she loves math and I hope that will continue!

Jonathan begins his first year of middle school! Jonathan will be the first to tell you that he doesn't like school. While this may be true, there are things that he actually does enjoy. He has always enjoyed science and history. He's always been quite good at math. He is absolutely loving have a desk in his own room. He sits at his desk is able to work without being disturbed.

This is Aaron's first year of high school. HIGH SCHOOL! I have two in high school this year. How did that happen? Aaron is taking World Geography, Earth Science, Algebra, Logic, Spanish, World Religion and Culture, and Literature/Grammar/Composition. This year should be quite a challenge for him. He says that his favorite course so far is Logic.

11th grade, people! What in the world? Martin is taking English 11, Geometry, US History, Bible, Spanish II, Chemistry, Economics, and Finance. He doesn't particularly love school, but he's an excellent student. He is meticulous and conscientious about his work. He is becoming more and more responsible every day. Rich and I both rely heavily on him and he never lets us down. He is learning to drive and is very close to getting his drivers license. I'm praying that all of my children will grow in knowledge and wisdom this school year.

The Lava Tubes

Living out west in the great state of Arizona brings with it lots of opportunity for adventure! Before Rich started at GCU and after we got mostly moved in and settled, we decided to take a daytrip to Flagstaff for a fun family fieldtrip! We left the Valley and headed north. We were amazed at how a short 2 1/2 hour drive north brought us to a completely different climate and ecosystem! We left the desert for the gorgeous northern Arizona mountains and forest! It was 35 degrees cooler in Flagstaff!

Our adventure for this day was to explore the lava cave!  The cave was completely dark. We had to have plenty of flashlights!

We had so much fun! The cave is about a mile long. We rested several times along the way. The path is fairly rocky and wet in some areas, so we had to be very careful. It was about 42 degrees inside the cave! That was a nice break from the 110 degree weather we had been experiencing in the desert!

Several times we rested, took pictures, and turned our flashlights off to experience darkness.

We had so much fun exploring the cave. None of us had ever done anything quite like this before. I'm so thankful for this family of mine. The children were thanked us repeatedly for bringing them on this little day trip. (I love a grateful heart!) And it was just fun to be together!

The views on the way and back from Flagstaff were incredible! The landscape of Arizona is so different than anything we've ever known. What a joy it is to experience a different area of God's creation!

Hillridge Farms

This was my 11th year in a row going to Hillridge Farms. The first year we came Martin was only 2! 

Fun at the duck races. Aaron won every time.

I insisted that Martin play like he's never played before. He's starting to pull back from playing because he's getting older. I understand it, but at the same time…I want him to still be a kid! He had a great day! (until he lost his leatherman tool…but that's another story - no worries, though - there is a happy ending)

What can be more fun than playing in a house of corn?

We had another fantastic day at Hillridge Farms! I am one blessed Mom!

Homeschooling Co-op

On this super rainy October day, our co-op painted pumpkins. 

We also had group piano time!

Our smallest member of co-op!!

Such creativity in our group!

Homeschooling Moments

We are 13 weeks into our homeschool year and I am very happy with our progress. I have been taking pictures here and there of the things that we are doing, so this post is a collection of moments that we've had over the last few weeks. Martin and Aaron do a lot of their work independently now, so I am spending a great deal of time with my younger two and giving them a good solid start. Rosalie is learning how to read. She loves handwriting and anything hands on. She loves the art projects that we do the best! 

Jonathan is doing very well in the 2nd grade. His reading has really taken off this year. He enjoys the hands on projects as well. His favorite part is doing the experiments that go with our science lessons.
I'm so thankful for these two!

Homeschool Co-op Fall Leaves

We started a homeschooling Co-op this year that we are absolutely loving!  The purpose of the group is scripture accountability, community, and worldview. We are working through a worldview book together, studying scriptures, memorizing scripture, and building friendships. We also do crafts, P.E., and fun field trips. This week we made a fun fall craft in addition to the scripture and worldview study.

It was fun to see how different each of the leaves turned out!

Some of them contained detailed patterns like the one above.

Some of them started out with a detailed pattern and then just threw a bunch of glue in the middle and dumped beans down on top of the glue. 

And there were some that finished really quickly. They glued a few beans on and saw how time consuming it was and then called theirs done! It was a lot of fun! And it certainly wouldn't have been fall unless we included a fun fall treat. We had pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

First Field Trip of the Year

We went to a local ranch at the end of August to learn about horses. We had such a fun time!

Jonathan LOVES horses, so it was amazing for him to be able to be so close that he could touch them!!

And this picture … it's just for fun and memories! While we were there Martin held sweet baby Joy. Precious!

Honors Recital

The picture is a bit blurry - but if you look closely you can see Martin playing his trumpet. He's the 4th trumpet player from the left.
We had an Honors Recital earlier this month. The Concert band(the band that Martin is in) played and several solo and ensembles played. The choir sang as well - but since I was directing the choir - I don't have a picture of that. (Martin sings in the choir)
The choir sang an italian madrigal,"Fa Una Canzona" by Orazio Vecchi - a composer of the late Renaissance.
We are still so thankful to be a part of this fantastic homeschool organization!