A Fun Writing Assignment

Amos provided a great opportunity to give Bryce something different to write about. Bryce is in love with his cousin and wants to learn how to care for him and help babysit.  So, when he stayed with us last week, Bryce had a lesson in changing a diaper. Then he had to write a paragraph about the process of changing Amos.

Bryce starting to change his first diaper.

Changing Amos is hard. I was only able to undo the diaper. That's when he broke into crying chaos! He and his diaper were poopifried. Matthew calmed him down with the song on his bib when you gave him to us.

Amos was a good sport and was only upset because he was having his diaper changed. Bryce did a good job trying but didn't think the full load was fair on his first diaper change.

Matthew also had fun with the camera and snapped this picture of Amos.

We all love Amos's smiles

First Day of Kindergarten, Second and Fourth Grade

Today, we began our new school year.

Three boys all school aged, it should prove to be a fun and interesting year.

Matthew - Kindergarten

Micah - Second Grade

Bryce - Fourth Grade

All the boys working on their copy work. It is fun to see how their writing changes through the year and over the years. 

At the end of our day, I asked each boy to pick out the book they would be most upset about not being able to complete this year. (I tried asking what they were excited for and received the answer of free time:)

Matthew picked his math book because now he is doing math like his big brothers.

Micah picked Beast Academy because it is fun math and the book is a comic book.

Bryce picked Creative Writer because for him the entire day should be about creative writing.

I am excited to see how the boys grow through their school work this year. 

Slowly goes the Sloth

Continuing on in our study of the rain forest.  We spent a day learning about the slow moving sloth. 


How slow does a sloth move?  Well much slower then the boys do. We read that it can take a sloth up to one hour to move 15 feet. To give the boys a visual, I taped off 15 feet and asked them to walk it as slowly as they could. Bryce managed to last about 60 seconds, Derek had to work really hard to last 2 mins. 

Slow, Slow, Slowly goes the sloth but not the boys.

Then we spent time making Sloth Notebook pages. All the boys drew and colored their own sloth. Next, they wrote about what we had read. I am amazed at how different the details can be and how well they are able to draw when drawing from an example. 

South America

Earlier this year, I realized that geography was not happening during our school day. The boys were learning about many different cultures through out our studies but not where these cultures were in the world. They had an idea of what a continent and country were but struggled with the difference between the two. I knew it was time for a change. So, as I re-worked our schedule after Christmas, I decided to start Bryce and Micah in A Trail Guide to World Geography. This went wonderful. The boys loved being able to label maps and quickly were picking up different geography terms and learning how to read maps. Then, Matthew started wanting more school and wanted to participate with his brothers. 


The answer combining A Trail Guide to World Geography and Galloping the Globe. Bryce and Micah were about to start learning about South America. This lead me to starting a huge cooperative art project. Creating a rain forest in our front hall way.


To start off, we read a few different books and discussed the various levels of the rain forest. It was decided that Matthew would paint the river. Bryce would work on the forest floor and the under-story. Micah would work on the canopy and then help with the under-story.  A morning spent painting the rain forest in the kitchen was enjoyed by all. The boys worked hard and were anxious to start creating the animals that live in the forest. 

In the following weeks, we will study the culture and countries of South America. Each week, we will read about and create animals to add to our rain forest.

School Happenings

The start of our school year has been really good.  The boys are adjusting to do school everyday again.  They are loving the weekly assignment sheets with time allotments for each subject.  I am loving how they are learning to be independent when I am working with one of their brothers.

Playing with Cuisenaire Rods

Taking a break - well not really - just enjoying freshly baked cookies, while continuing to work hard.

Excited to have completed Hooked on Phonics CD Game.

A friendly game of 7 Ate 9







First Day of Our School Year

On August 15,2011 we started our new school year. Although, we do some school year round I try to make a point of doing something different on the first day of a new year. Now, the boys are "officially" in their new grades.  It is also a time for us to get back into a full day of school, as during the summer we typically drop down to one or two subjects a day to allow us more time to be outside.

This year, we ate lunch outside and took pictures after doing our work.  The boys have also asked for a weekly assignment sheet, so they know what is expected of them each day. This will take some more organization on my part but if it cuts down on the arguements about what needs to be done each day it will be worth it.

Bryce our new third grader.

Micah our new first grader.

Matthew our new Preschooler.

Interesting Article - Raising Boys That Read

How to Raise Boys That Read

I found this article to be very true to my thinking. I have worked hard at researching what books are truely good literature for our boys to read. Do they read "twaddle"? At times, YES, books they think would be interesting. Are these the types of books they keep going back to? NO.  I have found that assigning a wide variety of great literature for school has really helped especially Bryce at this point, to pick good books for his free reading time. In my mind, choosing to read good books is just as important as the ability to read good books.

Currently, Bryce is still loving to read all things science related and the Harry Potter series. He loves his Magic School Bus books, but he also loves to go into the non-fiction section and pick books out on different science topics. Micah is currently working  his way through the Magic Tree House series. Is this great literature maybe not, but he is reading chapter books that are at his level and learning so much history.

The boys have read many good books in the last few years. Here are some of the earlier readers they have really enjoyed. (Series) Amelia Bedilia, Nate the Great, Frog and Toad, (Individual Books) The Great Balloon Race, Buffalo Bill, Praire School, First Flight, and so many more that I can not remember them all.

Over the summer, I started to explore the world of audio books. Due to weekly appointments, we are spending more time in the car and I am just not great at doing Read Alouds during the day. We still read aloud to our boys but the discovery of audio books has been wonderful. We are currently listening to Peter Pan, I love that even Matthew will ask for the audio books. I feel better knowing that we can listen to great literature while we are in the car and it takes some of presure I have put on myself for not doing more read alouds.

My boys love books and I hope that will be a life long love for all three.

Co-op

Today was our first day attending Aces Homeschool Co-op. Wonderful, simply wonderful.  All three boys were able to be in class for 4 hours with peers. All came home telling me of the things they learned. Soon they will all have freinds and be asking to go on playdates.  The Aces communty is very welcoming and focused on raising families, allowing fathers to be the leaders and praying for each other. I am excited to see what God has in store for our family this year.

School by the River

The flexibility of homeschooling is amazing - school any where at any time.  Today, we attempted to do school at Fort Snelling State Park, however, mom didn't look at the map closely enough. Instead, we drove around being able to see the tops of the trees but not the river. We saw the park but couldn't figure out how to get there. Tried to hike in - took the wrong trail and found out it would have been 2 miles.  Finally, I found a river park in St. Paul along the Mississippi.  The boys didn't care what park we were at, they just wanted to go on the hike mommy had promised them.  After walking a short distance, we found a path of the main trial, time for a "rabbit trail." The boys thought this path was great once they saw where it lead.

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park

After throwing rocks for awhile, we headed back up the trail to start our school work for the day. Currently, the boys are working on earning ther Jr. Naturalist Hardwood Patches through the MN State Parks.  This has been a fun book to work on throughout the summer and has really helped the boys open their eyes to all that is in the woods.

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park

Once we were done with one section, we moved back towards the van to an open area. Each boy picked a tree, examined it, discribed it and created drawings of their trees. The boys worked hard and took this very seriously.  As they finished, I took the opportunity to take some individual pictures of boys. I am working hard to make sure that I get pictures of each of the boys on a regular basis. I find that as they get older I don't take as many pictures and I want to. By taking pictures now, I am able to start capturing parts of thier personalities.

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park

Philistine Warriors

We are currently studing Ancient Israel. Bryce is absulutly loving learning Old Testament history.

Yesterday, the boys made Philistine Warrior Helmets.


Brcye listening to Derek read.

From Philistine Warriors

Matthew as Goliath

From Philistine Warriors

From Philistine Warriors

First Day of School

On July 26, 2010  the boys started thier school year.

Bryce is now a second grader.

From 2010-07-26 First Day of the School Year

Micah is a Kindergartner.

From 2010-07-26 First Day of the School Year

Matthew is a Pre-schooler.

From 2010-07-26 First Day of the School Year

Our first day of school was all done outside. The boys thought it was great to be able to work at their own train table. The highlight of the day was Art. (Guess I need to make sure to do art more often.)  Matthew was so excited to use glue. The boys really enjoyed making picures out of construction paper and then having thier pictures taken. I loved how they were willing to work hard even with the distratiions of being outside.

Egyptian Murals

The boys have been learning about Ancient Egypt for a few weeks. Today, they made murals telling about thier everyday activies and favorite activities. They learned that Egyptians would draw on the walls of pyramids so they were able to draw on our walls, well paper taped to the walls. The boys worked very hard on their drawings making sure to include all of their favorite daily activies. Bryce drew himself reading Balto, eating spagetti, playing with his stuffed dogs, watching Zaboomafoo, and painting. Micah drew Blankie having a birthday party, himself eating spagetti and of course being Bowser while playing Mario Cart. Matthew drew monkeys.