Eight

We spent the long holiday weekend celebrating Peter. 

Eight years old... such a fun age!

His big birthday treat: Saturday morning at an indoor climbing center. 

We were all thrilled with his birthday pick. 

He LOVED every minute.

I could really get into this kind of exercise... we all could!

Monday morning birthday breakfast... all his favorites were requested. 

 Afternoon fun at Beauvoir's Outdoor Playground. 

 A beautifully mild and sunny mid-winter day. The perfect birthday for this outdoor loving kid.

Hard to believe that 2 days later I sit here looking at 5 inches of snow on the ground
and 6 degrees on the thermometer! 

Then home again for dinner and birthday cake with the Flemings.
Happy 8th Birthday to my sweet and spunky Peter! 

Happy New Year!

January, how I love thee. So cozy and uncomplicated.

I mean December was oh-so-fun, but I need to catch my breath a bit... and a big inhale of chimney-smoke scented, crisp, mid-winter air. 

But before we set sail into this new year, a few moments to share from the end of our 2013....

cutting down the tree... timber!






my cute husband serving at the women's Christmas luncheon at church


and some catch-up time with Susan (our speaker)


this sweet boy turned TEN!


first snow of the season... oh, how I hope we have more this year!


Christmas dress-up day at Classical Conversations. And the last day of tin whistle! ; )

my CRAZY class of eight 8/9 year-old boys. oh. my. 

an afternoon of gingerbread house decorating with good friends

a day at the holiday market and the National Portrait Gallery

my wonderful parents were here for a week and this is the ONLY photo I have of one of them... 

after-Christmas ice skating

Tap, Tap... Um, Hello?

This fall has been zany. Period.

I only have a few minutes before I literally collapse into bed - oh, but it's a what-a-full-and-amazing-day kind of collapse. The best kind.

A few glimpses into our fall...

Will enjoyed his first season of kid-pitch as a pitcher for his team.

Farm fun with our Classical Conversations group. 

Peter decided to be a farmer-cowboy for the day.

He always seems to incorporate some sort of costume drama into our days. Love his spunk!

  

The big 4-0 for my husband!

And Hannah celebrated her 12th! She requested homemade apple pie for her 'birthday cake.' 

Love this laugh. 

And, of course, there has been a lot of soccer going on around here. 

Back to School

We began our fifth year of homeschooling yesterday
and our eighth first day with 'The Sign' I made way back when Hannah was four.
That feels so very long ago.

Sixth grade. Crazy. And wonderful. 

The fourth grader who declared yesterday the best first day of school ever. 

Second grade for this cutie! I love second grade.  

I'm working on a post with our curriculum line-up for the year. We are thrilled to be joining a Classical Conversations community this year. All three will be a part of the Foundations program; and Will and Hannah will be in the Essentials class. I will be jumping right in also and tutoring a Foundations class. The summer practicum, tutor training sessions, and parent meetings have been exactly the boost I have needed in this classical homeschooling journey! More to come...

A Wall Timeline

For months I tried to think of a creative way to have a wall timeline in our homeschool room that wouldn't be too paper-taped-to-the-wall-looking and that the kids could build themselves. This was the solution for us. I love it because (a) the kids made it, (b) it's adjustable - I can move dates and events around making more space for the time period we are studying, (c) it looks great in the school room.

We started with four 24" x 36" budget canvases from Michael's (when they were 50% off - which is often) and craft paint. Green was their pick. I thought an stylized earth with blues and greens would be fun, but my idea went nowhere... and it probably was a bit much. When it was dry, I attached the back of the 4 canvases with brackets, making a giant canvas. Bigger canvases would work, but they cost much more. I cut the pre-painted white molding board (from Lowes - very inexpensive and already white) and the kids spaced and nailed the boards to the frame of the canvas.

Then we printed timeline figures on heavy white card stock. I LOVE these timeline figures from Homeschool In The Woods. We only printed the people and events we had studied this past year, we will be adding to this for years. And I'm sure we will have some of our own black and white drawings to add in months to come, but the cd of figures we have is pretty exhaustive. I also printed dates to cut out and stick to clothespins (adjustable). After coloring and cutting, we just stuck them on with a little masking tape (easy to move). 

I thought about moving the dog crate, but that's where it lives (sigh)... and Henry was sleeping. 

He's totally into that timeline. 

We're looking forward to adding many more dates and figures this year! 

I'm very excited about what we will be studying this year... posting that soon.