Wood Nymphs

Spurred on from a mystery book I read during school time,  we ate a picnic lunch we chatted of Greek and Roman mythology, of gods and goddesses. Natalie formed a wreath out of ivy vines and old man's beard, and placed it upon her head like the delicate treasure it was. I announced they would have an extra long recess and could roam about as wood nymphs, enjoying the splendor of the day. (Here my friends with more boys than girls snicker, but in our house, this lingo flows naturally. Perhaps you spend your free time as Neptune and Zeus?) A little while later I peered out the window to see Lindsey floating by holding a bouquet of tiny white flowers, her blond mane whisping behind her, the lace trim on her dress bouncing. Enchanted, I grabbed my camera.

DIY Duvets

Macy and Natalie moved into their own room and decided it was time for a decor change. They started by making their own confetti duvets. They drew circle on twin flat sheets and then painted in the circles. Once their room is complete I will take bedroom pictures. 

The girls needed a cute throw pillow to go along with their new duvets. We looked at pictures online, and they settled on a pillow from Pottery Barn Teen (their favorite!). I sketched a design and then painted it. They turned out pretty cute, and the girls were delighted.

Halloween 2013

Halloween was great. Since my husband was in class that night, my brother went out with us. The kids absolutely adore him and were thrilled that he was there, as was I. This was our second year with him- a tradition in the making? 

Natalie was a 80's girl. We had so much fun putting this outfit together! The earrings were classics from my mom's jewelry stash- straight from the 90's (eh, close enough!). The crimper we used? My Conair crimper from 3rd grade! I can't believe I still own it, let alone that it still works!

I snagged treat bags last year from Pottery Barn Kids, but Natalie's didn't work well with her outfit. After a quick Pinterest search I found boombox messenger bags! A quick run to the fabric store, a little clipping, pinning, and sewing, and viola! Boombox treat bag! Remember friendship bracelets? They have made a comeback, and Natalie made all these on her wrist.

When we were in Disneyland last year there were girls dressed up as pinatas in one of the parades. I fell in love, and knew one of the girls must be a pinata this year! Lindsey was more than happy to be my guinea pig. I took some old shirts from my dad that were destined to be rags, and used them as the base for the dress. We used what crepe paper we had left over from birthdays past, and this is the result! I was nervous that most people wouldn't know what she was, but she was the talk of all the people we met. As we were walking back to the car at the end of the night she asked, "Mommy? Am I going to be in a magazine?" "I don't think so, honey. Why do you ask?" "Because everyone we saw said how cute I am." Well said. 

Macy HAD to be a peacock, there were no other options. I love a girl who knows her mind! We made a simple tail and headpiece out of felt, and this came together well. She felt beautiful and regal without looking too little girlish (my first suggestion was to make a tu-tu, it was quickly turned down). 

I think Hudson was also a shark last year. The costume still fit and most importantly, it was WARM! He loved that it was scary, me that it wasn't too scary. :) It's hard to tell, but his treat bag was a shark head. 

And one full length for the full effect.

Princess Lily and Chief Bear

I am WAY behind on the blog updating scene, but came across some photos I wanted to share from last summer.

I was given oodles of fabric and in the piles was a brown faux suede. I immediately thought of Native American costumes, and got online for some inspiration pictures. I had a lot of fun making these, and the best part- the kids loved them! I wanted Hudson's costume to be able to swing from Indian to Cowboy and I think that was achieved.

How adorable are these paint stained fingers and arm?

 I saw the head-dresses on Pinterest and am such a sucker for a good craft. The kiddos had a blast painting their designs, and even got several wearings out of them, before the leaves were crushed. 

Poetry Fun

This week in school we have been reading through The Llama Who Had No Pajama by Mary Ann Hoberman. The book is filled with lively humorous poems and cute illustrations. This morning after reading two poems of similar style, which induced darling giggles from the kids, I decided we should write some in the same style. I give you Pig and Fox.

PIG 
Bacon
Yum
Pork chop
Delicious
Piggily
Squiggly
Jiggly
Make me giggly
Roll in mud
Squeak
Peak
Eat and beat
Good meal.

Natalie (dedicated to Gunkle, the chef and pork lover.)


FOX
Slyly
Wily
Tricky is he
Pounce on hens
Little turkeys
Slyly
Wily
Golden Eyes
Spot the pheasant
And the mice
Red Fur
White-tipped tail
Colors the murderer
Slyly
Wily
Is he,
Now asleep.

Macy

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

To anyone who gets snow on a regular basis during the winter, this won't seem like a big deal to them, but to us southern Oregonians who normally get a dusting to two inches, EIGHT inches of snow in one day is a big deal! My husband was unable to do his outside work, so he took the entire week off and boosted us into an early Christmas vacation. We had a blast tossing snowballs, making snow angels, and one gigantic snowman.

My brother came over and joined in the fun. Seriously, how did these two make this snowman without gloves? Brr!

Macy made Frosty a nose by rolling a ball of snow in the mud. The patches of green? That is where a creek formed from all the rain we have been getting. The downside of living at the base of a mountain!

Hudson slips and falls but still maintains his grip on Charlie, the cat. Webster, our pup, excitedly peeks on.

After Frosty was given his truffle nose and amazing beard and mustache, he looks much more like Gimli the Dwarf! 

Girl Time!

I had a blast last week when four of my girlfriends and I whisked away to the big city and left our kiddos with spouses (and brothers and grandparents and friends- thanks everyone!). Our purpose was to attend an all day lecture on the wonders of a classical education applied to listening, reading, writing, and speech in your home school. I know, I know, you are so insanely jealous of our awkward notes, numb rear ends, and just the utter joy of attending an all day lecture with two men who enjoy speaking in Latin and utterly baffling us simple housewives. Let me just say this, we are dedicated home educating mothers.

I ask you: What are five unchaperoned ladies who have numb rears and good will offerings from their husbands to do? Shop, of course! And shop we did. Anthro, C&B, Pottery Barn, Williams and Sonoma, Paper Source... and the list goes on. We also had some tasty food thrown in and to top it all off, over EIGHT HOURS OF GAB TIME! We might have all had to wake up at 3am to do it, but by golly, I'd do it again! So thank you thank you to my dear friends for the invite!

#6 Girls!!! Whoot Whoot!

One good photo? Please?

Today is sunny! I grab the kids, dress them, brush hair, wipe faces, and head to the back yard to take a few good photos. Okay... let's be realistic...to simply take photos! My kids are so amazing at so many things, but it is difficult to get good photos of them. I cut them some slack because I do not like having my picture taken. I had to share these adorable little 'out-takes' of my boy.

Wow, the grass has really started growing again. Slacking on lawn mowing duties, eh mom?

Is she "for reals"? Isn't a smirk close enough to a smile?

Honestly, Lady, are you STILL trying to take a photo of me?

Oh man, this is getting painful.

Okay, okay, I'll smile, but I won't look at you!

I try a different tactic and our dorky dog decides to stick out this tongue. Crouching down also shows the burn barrel. Boo. 

At this point we have literally been outside for about five minutes. Four smiles, check! Let's call it a day! :)

There you go, the four most wonderful kids in my universe. 

Oh Me Oh My Oh Mushrooms!

I love the idea of foraging for food and living off the land. I remember being a young girl gathering wild strawberries and eating wild lettuce. I have yet to eat any fiddlehead ferns or find truffles, but hey, I'm still young. My darling kids have gotten caught up in the simple beauty of eating treats from the wilds. They are every bit as excited as I am every spring for our annual morel hunt. Eating aside, mushrooms are just plain cool, and very abundant this time of year! I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I found myself outside this morning walking in the cool rain looking for fungi with my brother. We took several species inside and he showed me how to take a spore print. After he left I rounded up the kids and we went back into the woods.   I snapped pictures, Natalie sketched, and Macy thumbed through our mushroom book. I delighted at hearing my four year old holler, "Mom! I found a polypore! Come look at this fungus!" We were hoping to find some oyster or chanterelle mushrooms, or perhaps another Lions's Mane, but no luck today. We had a wonderful time, and were even blessed with a bit of sunshine. These photos are just a small look at all the amazing fungus' we found.

 Orange Witches' Butter, and Polypores

Bolete

We never touch LBM's. (Little Brown Mushrooms)

Birds Nest Fungus

Puff Mushroom (see the little slit on the top right side for letting out spores)

Polypore

Western Amethyst Laccaria 

Coral

Eh, Let Me Check My Schedule

We're back in school! I think anybody who has home educated their children for more than two years has often heard the question, "How do you do it all? What does your day look like?"

Sticking to a tight schedule is very difficult for me. First, I'm just not that type of gal. Second, so many things come up, and keeping it water-tight is restrictive and makes the household stiff (okay, makes me stressed which stresses the kids).

I use a daily schedule with times but it's more of a reminder of how much time to give to each subject. 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there, 5 minutes here. I totally dig putting a little 'done' dot on the side of each time slot! I also have a weekly schedule of everything that needs to be taught. Using a weekly (week 1, week 2, etc.) schedule works out wonderfully for us verses using a calendar week, as things come up and again, I don't stress that we learn about Columbus exactly on September 10th at 9:45 am. :)

My two oldest children also have a schedule in their school binder. There is never any need for debate about what is expected or what needs to get done. They also have a printed morning chore list in a plastic page protector, and know if they don't get those chores done, it cuts into their free time.

We are only at day three, but so far, we are loving our new curricula and days are going smoothly. The girls appreciate their brief lessons, and having the afternoon to play (um, I mean, P.E. and Home Economics and Animal Husbandry).

Our 4th & 5th grade subject list:

Bible:
The Holy Bible
Studying God's Word, Book E

Language Arts:
Sequential Spelling
Vocabulary Vine (Greek & Latin Root Words)
Poetry (misc. books)
Institute for Excellence in Writing

Arithmetic:
Calculadder (2-3 minute drill)
Singapore Math

History/Geography:
The Mystery of History Vol. 3
The World of Columbus & Sons by Genevieve Foster
The World of John Smith by Genevieve Foster
History Through the Ages (timeline)
WonderMaps

Science:
Lyrical Life Science Vol. 3 - The Human Body
Blood & Guts (experiments)
The Handbook of Nature Study

Fine Arts:
101 Hymn Stories
Living Biographies of Great Painters by Henry & D. L. Thomas
The Great Masters
Stories of the Great Composers

Typing Instructor for Kids.

This is what I would consider our "core" curriculum. I wanted to write a little note beside each book, but everything was the same- excellent! We LOVE it! I would say the girls' favorite subject is History, which feels like such a big win, since I hated history in school. I highly recommend Genevieve Foster's books, which makes history come alive, even for adults. For instance, today we read about Ferdinand and Isabella starting the Spanish Inquisition, which undoubtedly is an important piece of history. Then in the World of Columbus and Sons we learned about Isabella's childhood- being torn from her mother, whisked away at the start of a civil war, kidnapped by soldiers, and then taking refuge in a nunnery. Exciting!

Before we leave the subject of schedules, I have to add one little bit. Make it pretty. I found Fonts for Peas and downloaded a myriad of adorable fonts. There are a bunch of adorable calendars you can print for free (This watercolor one over at Etsy is adorable).

So here is our school schedule (Monday - Thursday). I wasn't sure how to upload the file from Excel, so it looks a little different here. I like having all the kids on one page so I can quickly see what everyone needs to be doing.

	Macy & Natalie	Lindsey & Hudson
8:00	Bible & Prayer	Quiet Puzzles & School Games & Playdoh
8:15	Spelling & Vocabulary Vine
8:30	Language Lessons
8:45	Calculadder & Poetry	Calculadder - Lindsey
9:00	Lyrical Life Science	Color at Table
9:20	Mystery of History
9:40	Snack	Snack
9:45	Singapore Math	Singapore Math - Lindsey
10:15	Fine Arts	Play time
10:40	IEW
11:00	Work Alone / Independent Study	Help Prepare Lunch
11:30	Lunch / Read- Alouds
12:30	Break
1:00	Independent Study	School time: Bible, Phonics, math, flash cards, history, reading, craft
1:30	Finish any school work
2:00	Play time
2:30		Play time
5:30	Clean up	Clean up
6:00	Dinner	Dinner
7:30	Get Ready for Bed	Get Ready for Bed
8:00	Lights Out	Lights Out

I'm going batty!

Sunday morning. Lounging in bed. Thankful that church doesn't start until 10:30. I look up at our window covering (a beach towel) and lift it up to let the sun shine down on us. Shock, horror. It's not the sun I focus on, it's the BAT hanging directly above my head. I dropped the towel down, quickly jump out of the covers and let out a wonderfully girly, "eek!" Hubby raises up, I point and say, "Bat, bat! There's a bat!" Quiver. He jumps up, and as we head out of the bedroom I grab my camera. The kids are all in a flurry, I'm still shivering thinking about it being there, directly over my head, and Jon grabs the kids' bug catching net. Trusty ole' bug catching nets! He goes to work, quickly gets the little guy, and we release him outside. And let me just interject: 1. He didn't seem so small as I remembered bats and 2. SO thankful he wasn't flying around! After the ordeal was over, I calmly told my hero that I had known having a bat in the house would be the natural next step in our life. He laughed, "The next natural step of life?" I explained that I had heard stories over the years from my dad (who grew up in the same house we're in) about running around the house with fish nets trying to capture bats, and our time had finally come. Happily we have reached that milestone and hopefully, will never face that obstacle again. :)

CPR

Jon - "cough, cough"

Krista- Are you okay honey? Do you need me to give you some CPR?

Lindsey- What's CPR? Is it some type of sickness?

Natalie- It's a love sickness. You catch it and you are always in love.

Shorts Upcycle

I love to sew. Love it. Today I had the urge to sew something up, and immediately thought of Hudson's need for shorts. Hudson has a tiny waist and everything falls off him. At his age a belt is more of a hindrance than help (think little boy running to the toilet). I knew there had to be something around the house that I could chop up and make into shorts and it hit me- one of Jon's button up shirts. I went to his closet and sure enough, I found one. A nice Old Navy shirt, and as I had paid only $1.50 for it at Goodwill, I wouldn't cringe if it turned out horribly. I haven't sewn much without a pattern, and by golly, it was time and this was an easy project! 

For a first attempt, I am pleased with how these turned out. After a little tweak, the fit is great and they don't slide down. I had several GAP buttons in my button collection and they worked perfectly with the colors of the shorts. The pockets were really fun to make, too. I will definitely try this again and perhaps become more adventurous and add zippers and side pockets. Jon's shirts, beware! And Hudson, well, he LOVES them! In fact, he won't take them off. Now that makes a Momma happy. :)