14 Years

The Melting Pot seems to be our tradition now. This is where Ben took me the night he proposed, and we both enjoy the fondue (especially the Wisconsin Trio!).

It is hard to believe 14 years has already passed! Whew, I guess time really does fly when you are having fun!

The Great Wheel Party School!

Last week we finished both "The Wheel On the School" and "The Great Wheel." One is about storks, the other about the Ferris Wheel.

In my attempt to try and relax with our home school, I thought it would be fun to have some fun with them.

This morning I said, "I want to do a craft to celebrate!" Somehow this got translated to "Let's have a PARTY!"

The girls spent all of their spare time in between their core work getting ready. It was amazing. They came up with games, a menu, Claire came up with a second craft. They really went all out. They baked muffins and bread sticks.

It reminded me that school doesn't have to be boring! You can do really, really fun things- all kid directed! This game combined Home Ec, Creative Writing, Handwriting, Literature Discussion, Art, Engineering, Math, and more- and they LOVED it! They had no idea they were learning so many things.

It makes me excited for next year when I fully commit to a more "relaxed" home school with more activities like this incorporated into our weekly routine. It almost makes me want to start now. Maybe I will;)

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They used pictures based on the books to make special treats that you could use tokens to get.

 My basic, original idea was to build a Ferris Wheel. It was way harder than we thought it would be!

Sacred Day

Today we took Audra to the temple for the first time. It was a very special and sacred experience.

I asked Audra what she thought, and she said, "It was wonderful!"

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. With Him, all things truly are possible. He is my comfort and peace, my strength and my joy. I love Him, and I am grateful to pass that on to my daughters. It really was a very special day!

No, We Did NOT Get A Dog

But, the girls sure are in dog heaven!

A family from church just got a puppy. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they are gone from the house from 7 AM until around 5 PM, so they asked if my girls would come walk Phoebe on those days so she wasn't stuck in her crate for so long.

The girls LOVE LOVE LOVE this job! They are so cute as they work with Phoebe to make sure she eats, drinks, and runs around. Of course, my girls fight over every little thing- even cleaning up the poop!

Bonus: They get paid! I told them they should start a business. There has to be a lot of people in the neighborhood who would pay my girls to let their dogs out during the day. But, it would be a major time commitment, and I don't necessarily want that. Since this is only 2 days a week, it is very doable. At least for now.

Hopefully this gets the wanting of a pet out of their system.

That Dam Place!

Last week, when the temperatures reached a high of 13 or something absurd, Camille got the wonderful idea to "draw pictures of leaves, then go into the mountains and look at leaves."

Then, while driving around town, Audra said,"We want to go to that dam place!" While Ben and I laughed at her innocence, we knew exactly where she meant- the Carson Nature Center. They have an indoor area where you build a city with houses and dams and such to show how a flood might affect what you built. It is pretty cool.

With the cold temps, it wasn't until today that we were finally able to go. Our idea was to go for a hike/walk then go to the nature center.

About 30 seconds into the hike we found this area where a ton of trees had been chopped down. It was basically a huge field with fallen trees everywhere. Nature play paradise! They immediately went to work building forts. They truly could have stayed there the entire day.

Camille got in her  nature drawing.

After letting them play for a bit, we walked over to the nature center at 4:29. Sadly, the nature center closes at 4:30.

Apparently we will be going back to that dam place very soon.

First Semester Complete

Even though "Everybody in the whole world has this week off", I made the kids do school this week. We are planning a trip later on, so we need to get our days in while we can.

So, on Friday, we officially reached our halfway point of Homeschooling Year #5.

Which meant today I had to organize our next semester.

We have had a pretty good, but also way too busy, year thus far. Next semester, I somehow want to try and scale back and leave more time for nature studies, art, playing at the swimming pool, etc. I am not sure yet how I will be able to do that.

Some insights thus far:

-Claire has decided she wants to no longer do math as the first subject of the day. Normally, because it is our hardest subject, we do that first to get it done with. She told me a few weeks she doesn't want to do that. She wants to start with easier subjects and work her way up. I was leery of this idea, but it actually seems to be working really, really well.

-Thank goodness for our weekly recess! We have a great group of homeschool kids in our area, and we get together every Tuesday for recess, and it is so much fun for the kids. They climb trees, make up games, have teddy bear picnics, and all sorts of great things. It is really fun to watch, and the girls really, really look forward to it every week.

-Spelling is getting very tedious. I can't decide if I think it is important enough to stress over any more or not. I know it is important, but so are a million other things. And, at some point, you have to make choices of what to let go of. You can't do everything.

-I am thinking of making major changes for next year (as in, when we start our new school year in the summer). I absolutely LOVE our curriculum- especially the part where I do zero lesson planning. But, it is intense. Especially our writing. Audra and Claire are writing 3 paragraph essays using prepositional starters, who/which clauses, -ly adverbs, etc. every week. It makes for great writing, but also sometimes reluctant writers. With Audra entering 7th grade next year, I know my opportunities for having a relaxed, fun curriculum are growing slimmer and slimmer. I am thinking next year we may take a much more relaxed approach to our homeschool. Still learning, of course, but not with as much intensity. Of course, just thinking of it makes me start to hyperventilate. That's why we can't possibly start this until next year so I have time to think about and process the idea.

-Camille is really coming along with her reading. She really likes the hour of one-on-one time each day that we work together on reading, writing, and grammar without her sisters. I also enjoy being able to have individual time with her each day. Thankfully, Claire and Audra do a great job of working independently on certain subjects while we do this.

-Audra is definitely ready for some more advanced work- especially with reading. I am thinking of signing her up for some on-line classes that have group discussions and such for her. She does get some of that at Cloverleaf which is great. Her teachers at Cloverleaf absolutely adore her. She is in the middle school program now and really seems to enjoy it.

There are  never enough hours in the day to get everything that we want done, BUT- we are generally done by 3 every day. With no homework, that does leave them the afternoon and evening to play and/or do whatever nightly activities we have. I have a bit of stress over getting everything done each day, as we do have a very full curriculum. But, at least we aren't drilling into the night and ruining our family time. Fall typically is our busiest season, by far, so I'm hoping things slow down this semester.

Either way, I truly am grateful for this life we have. We are truly very, very blessed.

2019 Predictions

I wasn't very creative last year, so I'm going to be more bold this year with my predictions:

1. Bronocs will have another losing season with a head coach who is perfectly incompetent. Seahawks will get a Wild Card spot again.

2. I'll be released from my church calling. While I still love Public Affairs, I have an inkling that my time might be coming. We will see.

3. 45 will resign or be indicted.

4. Audra will choose not to do soccer but to do drama instead. I found out that once again her team has dissolved, so I'm thinking maybe she will choose a different activity other than soccer.

5. Our church will announce home based seminary and the youth only meeting twice a month instead of every week. Why not? They are announcing all kinds of crazy things lately.

6. We will be in another recession.

7. We will get a pet. The girls are really starting to wear on us in regards to a pet. Blah.

8.Ben will get a promotion. He doesn't want one, or is looking for one, but there is suddenly a lot of dramatic changes happening at his work, and Ben is pretty brilliant so I have a feeling they will ask him to step up and he will be compelled to do so.

9. Audra will finally get her own room while Claire and Camille start sharing.

10. No flares for me! Fingers crossed, here is hoping. After lots of meds (and 2 years of HELL), I am finally in remission. There is no cure for Ulcerative Colitis, so the goal is to stay in remission as long as possible before another flare comes. Right now, I am feeling great. I predict I will feel great for the year. Here's hoping!