Took all 4 kids on a field trip to the Parthenon...all by myself

I just love when we actually get out and enjoy a field trip. We should do more of these. The kids have a great time, hopefully they learn something, and they get to spend time with their school friends.

This was the first time I took all the kids by myself. And we did pretty well. We have been cocooning and working so hard at the bonding with family, but I couldn't pass this trip up. We have been studying Story of the World (book 1) and we have studied ancient times. Hope the girls could remember some of what we had studied.

Athena inside the Parthenon.

We wear our matching t-shirts when we are out and about. The kids love it.

This was a beautiful day. Wish we didn't have other errands to run on our way home. I bet there is a letterbox at this park, we just didn't have the time to look. We had to head to the children's hospital to pick up some medicine that had to be special ordered. Then it was off to pick up some tables and chairs for the school room. Now that we have 4 kiddos, we need more room to work. It was a busy day, but we still made it home in time for naps.

Is it summer yet?

Because I don't have the energy to finish our last 2 official days to make it to 180 days of school. The weather is sunny and warm and beautiful. The play set if finally up and they girls want to play on it instead of do school. The neighborhood pool is open and it is only open through the summer, so I think we should swim instead of do math facts. And we are having fun letterboxing in our new area (it is more fun than phonics and language arts).

I feel like throwing responsibility out the window and just have a little fun instead. See ya later...we are off to the park.

longing for the country

There is something inside of me that longs for the country. I do believe I have created this image in my head that living in the country is peaceful and beautiful and simple living. I think I might forget about the hard work and the sore muscles and fighting the weather and elements. But alas...I still long for the country.

Since I can't have that kind of country life right now, I found a way to live it out through someone else. I found a farm share produce co-op where along with your financial investment, we will also go and work on the farm to keep the costs down. We will go and work as a family to pack the produce and also take our turn in handing it out when others come to pick it up at our designated location.

Just a few weekends ago, we were invited to come to the crop share open house and meet the family that owns the farm, see where our food will be grown and enjoy some good old fashion fellowship.

I often find myself taking a chance on these kinds of situations, not going on someones known suggestions, just hoping for the best. We drove about 45 min. away and finally found this quaint family farm and were greeted by such tender people. These are amazing people and the farm is only the beginning of all that they do. They also host a tutorial style school on Wednesdays in an out building where the kids get to explore the world of hands on learning that focuses on art and writing and nature. They also host some summer camps where young ladies and men can learn life skills of homemaking and carpentry. Not to mention the Pioneer and Harvest Days that take place in the fall.

I am trying to find money in our budget to take advantage of much of their opportunities. I was incredible impressed with this sweet christian family and look forward to getting to know them better and living our country dream through them for now.

SCOOTIN'

Sunday was the perfect day for a scoot. We all took a turn on Chuck's scooter. I hadn't been on it in years and felt a bit rusty, but it was easy enough to remember how to do it (though I think I made Chuck a bit nervous).


We all felt a little restricted having to wear helmets. Our current state has a helmet law. I don't go much faster than 12 miles an hour, but you got to follow the rules. There is something super fun about riding around the neighborhood on a scooter. You feel a bit like a novelty. Everyone waves to you and smiles. As Chuck says..."everyone loves scooter guy."

The Symphony

We had the opportunity to join a homeschool group here to go to the "local" symphony this morning. It turned out to be a fantastic event. The girls had never been to something like this before and I wasn't sure how much they would actually enjoy it. The concert was Lemony Snicket's "The Composer is Dead". Even from the name, I thought that Tissy would be scared or nervous. The idea of it is to "introduce" the different instruments (kind of like going to see Peter and the Wolf when we were kids).

Music is something that we haven't ventured into all that much and I do feel a little convicted about that. Maybe our time today will catapult us into that arena. We had studied the science part of instruments this year and learned all about sound and movement (HERE). And then to refresh their minds we filled in a few sheets that I downloaded from Enchanted Learning (HERE) that categorized the instruments in groups.

The concert was FANTASTIC. It was funny and interesting and extremely entertaining. I am so glad we took the chance to check it out. To top it all off, it was FREE. Note to self, take advantage of the opportunities around and widen our world.

Only bummer was...I ran out of battery on my camera and you can't take pictures in the concert hall. So I had to borrow some online.
The girls were really impressed with how fancy the concert hall is. Oh...I am so glad we live here!!!!