Boys Will Be Boys

I got up this morning and walked into the family room. Guess what the boys were doing? They were all huddled around Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy reading about the planets. This is either a very well-written science book or a very interesting topic... or, quite possibly, three intelligent little boys. I'm going to go with that last theory. It reflects well on their mother. ;)

It's been raining off and on all week. We still have a tree laying in our backyard but the boys think it's a new jungle gym. Jeff is looking forward to a break in the rain so he can play with power tools. I tried to convince him to replant it but I think he's too excited about the chain saw. At least this tree is already on the ground. Last time he used that chain saw, he dropped a tree on MIL's power line and swing set. Stay far away from my house tomorrow! LOL

Big Storm Last Night

My Adorable Egghead

Ryan's New Glasses

Doesn't he look intelligent? Of course, it helps that I snapped the picture during spelling, not while he's attacking his brother in a mock Sith War (Bless your heart if you know what a Sith War is). But then, the glasses are just to be worn while he's reading or watching tv.... you know, when you actually need to see stuff. I guess sight is not all that important when battling the forces of The Dark Side.

Catching Up

I've decided that I don't care if we ever finish the school year. If we have something fun to do, we'll do it. If we don't have anything else planned, we'll do some book work. It keeps everyone busy.

Now for some catching up....

Tadpoles:
I'm not sure what happened to the tadpoles. We had them forever and they never changed at all. I never saw any hint of legs growing or tails disappearing. Eventually, they just disappeared. I don't know what happened. They didn't just die b/c there weren't any little tadpole bodies in the water. Your guess is as good as mine!

Caterpillars:
Again, I don't know what happened here. They disappeared... most likely eaten by a (an?) opossum while in their cocoons. We never saw a moth. Just keep the tadpoles and caterpillars in mind when you ask me to watch your children. ;)

Testing:
We got Adam and Ryan's test results. The state requires a yearly assessment and we chose standardized tests. Both boys did really well. I don't have the results in front of me so I can't give a lot of details. I remember Ryan scored high mastery in all the math sections (no surprise there!) and Adam did exceptionally well in Science and Social Studies. I've already mailed off a copy to the Board of Education along with out notice of intent to home school for next year.

Curriculum:
I still haven't decided on Language but I did decide on a new History curriculum. We're going to use Mystery of History and throw in a few Sonlight readers.

Laundry Day:
I still hate doing laundry and laundry day isn't as much fun since dh read this post.

Happy Birthday, West Virginia!

Maria asked me about the lush greenness in my pictures. We live in West Virginia, right across the rivers from Ohio and Kentucky. Our town is in the foothills of The Appalachian Mountains, in the Ohio River Valley. On June 20th, 1863, during the height of The Civil War, West Virginia became a state.

Being a state employee has it's advantages.... Dh had a holiday yesterday to celebrate the inception of our great state. And what better way to celebrate WV's birthday than to, um... drive to Kentucky. I tried to talk dh into a West Virginia state park (hoping for a birthday celebration and maybe some free cake ;)). But he was in a spelunking mood so we drove about an hour to Carter Caves State Park. But Kentucky is lush and green too! LOL

Here's my five favorite guys. Click pics to make them bigger.

Matthew actually fell asleep while riding on my shoulders! Ryan and Evan inside a cave.

Exploring caves is dirty works. Check out the seats of their pants!

It's Not Too Far Away....

I've almost finished choosing our curriculum for next year. I'm wavering on History and I'm at a loss for Language. I did find a wonderful review site. I've spent the last hour reading reviews and it's really helped narrow my choices. For Language, I'm now considering either Winston Grammar or Growing with Grammar. I really really like Growing with Grammar but it only goes up to 5th grade and Adam will need 6th. If we use Winston, Adam and Ryan can do Language together (ages 9-13). Whatever I decide, I'm also going to supplement with English from the Roots Up. Ah, decisions...

The rest of our curriculum will look like this:

• A Beka Math for everyone
• Sequential Spelling for Adam/Ryan
• Sonlight History/Reading for Adam/Ryan (or maybe A Beka 5)
• Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy for everyone
• Apologia Exploring Creation with Botany for everyone
• A Beka phonics/language for Evan
• Handwriting Without Tears for Evan
• Postive Action Bible for everyone

I think that's everything. What'd I forget?

My Newest Book Worm

We didn't get much school done again today. We were on the road for 100 miles .... just to visit friends from co-op! The church where we meet for co-op is somewhere between our houses. That is one of the disadvantages of homeschooling. Public school friends all live in the same school district, but home school friends come from all over the place. Hmmm, maybe that's not a disadvantage! We did get to visit a place we'd never been before.


Even though we didn't do any official school work today, I did stumble across my newest reader huddled in a corner with Henry and Mudge. He's sitting on the backpack full of our library books and, yes, that is marker on the wall behind him (Matthew owes us a new coat of paint). Evan barely glanced up when I snapped the picture. He really loves those books. :)

Summer Fun

Even though we are quite behind in our schoolwork and despair of ever finishing History/Reading and Spelling, we decided to take a day off yesterday. Our church planned a day at a local camping resort so we packed up and away we went. The boys had a great time swimming and sliding. Adam was even nice to Evan. He took him down the water slide all afternoon while I relaxed with Matthew at the baby pool.

I'm not boring... just selective

Hi Tam!! Welcome. I'm so glad you stop lurking.. but your first comment could have been a little nicer. LOL And now, thanks to my oldest sister calling me boring, I will share the details of why I need to invest in a carpet cleaner.

My other sister (the nice one! JK!!) was visiting last week. She brought with her three adorable children and some type of killer stomach bug. My poor sickly niece puked all down the hallway. My own children are generally so neat and tidy that I didn't have a speck of Resolve or a scrub brush in the house. I scrubbed the carpet with dishwashing liquid and a washcloth.

This morning, as I was reading the supportive comments from my darling sister, Matthew approached me with something on his hands.... and the same something smeared down the back of his legs. Oh, and he wasn't wearing a diaper. I leave that open to interpretation. But, still... I didn't have anything resembling carpet cleaner. I cleaned that one with Lysol Antibacterial Kitchen Spray and a washcloth.... and a touch of Febreeze! LOL

And so, when there is not a new post for a week, you should just be thankful and say a little prayer for my carpet. For the record, kitchen spray works better than dishwashing liquid.

Why I Love Laundry Day

There is a lot of laundry to do in my house. I usually try to devote one day of the week to get most of it done. I'll have to do a couple more loads later in the week, but on Monday, the washing machine runs non-stop. I don't mind doing laundry (except for the socks) but it's not the most entertaining past time. So why do I love it, you ask... Because when dh calls home from work on laundry day, and he casually asks, "What 'cha doin'?," I do not have to admit that I'm sitting on my butt, admist the clutter of four boys, surfing the web.

I can just say, "I'm doing laundry."