early september 2016

time warp, up to the start of our 2016-2017 school year!  I told the girls in mid-August that we were going to start the week before Labor Day, so we could have a few days to recover from the weekend's trip.  they started to groan and my heart sank, and then they said, 'but couldn't we start now?'  =)  a little over 2 months into our school year, I can say that this year has been much smoother than last year, with fewer meltdowns and more 'yes, this is why we're doing this' moments.  not sure whether it's because they're simply a year older or whether I have a better idea of what we can accomplish in a given day.  I still find myself in the perpetual homeschooler conundrum - are we doing enough, are doing we doing too much, or somehow both at the same time?! ;-)

breakfast on day 1

learning the bookworm ways early

3rd grade pancakes

acting out Josiah discovering the book of the law



nothing wrong with a little bribery, right =p an m&m for each word they could think of starting with 'beh' (first Taiwanese phonetic)

 

 

(bath necessitating) recess in the cul-de-sac after lots of rain

 

'these are ferries to mackinac island' (the shoes)

 

getting the bees in our railroad ties exterminated after one stung me

 

like father like daughter

trying out our neighbor's tractor, which we bought

we did school as much as possible outside

we all loved the cherry tomatoes

 

first horse class!  grooming but no riding

 

the instructor kindly let si have a turn

 

we are always trying to figure out what to do during horse class, since it's too far to go home.  riverfront park in niles was a good choice =)

 

 

first ride in the (very dusty) indoor arena

 

UPS man



 

out in front this time

popcorn in a bucket is apparently the best thing ever

such a ham

sandy the penny horse at meijer

hanging out with daddy while he assembled accessories for the new tractor

there she is

the lure of the sprinkler

 

after daddy de-thatched, the girls decided to make hay bales

 

 

actually worked better than I thought it would

 

family time is at the top of my 'why we homeschool' list

 

i'm fwee, like this

wasn't my idea ;)

hayride with their church youth group

friends from CC and gymnastics over for lunch.  the overlap in friends between activities this year has been an answered prayer, providing more friendship opportunities

our little eskimo in c's new coat

sometimes a kid's gotta clean