* I have a correction to make to this post as my 9yr. old son pointed out.  That is not a frog.  It is the American Toad.  You can find out more about it here.

Today it actually hit 80 degrees!  It's the first time it has been so nice outside.  There was just a slight breeze.  Of course we had to take a nature walk.  I'm so glad we did.  We got to watch some things that were very cool.

Signs of spring abound!  Tree buds.

Flowers in bloom

Frogs

Frogs making mating calls

And the coolest thing of all - frogs mating and laying eggs

This was just too cool to watch especially because we had just studied frogs at the beginning of the year.  The boys were totally fascinated.  Ah the joys of homeschooling.

My little man turned 5 last week.  We had some family over to celebrate.  We did a candyland theme.  I thought I'd share a couple photos from the day.  His 2 favorite things: the cake and a power rangers costume. 

We eventually had to pry the costume off him at bedtime. LOL  He had fun.  I think he liked the cake because of all the candy on it. LOL  He keeps asking when I'm going to make another birthday cake for him.  The fact that you only get one birthday a year doesn't seem to be sinking in. LOL

Well here it is in all its glory.  Go ahead and chuckle.  I do everytime I look at it. LOL  But the kids really had fun creating all the decorations for it.

Here's some close ups of a few decorations.  They are very unique. 

Yesterday we went and got the Christmas tree.  Grandma and Grandpa tagged along.  It was a lot of fun even though it was raining.  I think this will be something the kids remember forever.  Here's some pics of our adventure.

Here's my dh trying to talk us into this little tree.

Here's the guys trying to cut down our choice.

And of course you have to have a snow ball fight while your waiting.  I mean what perfect surroundings plenty of cover and ammo.  The picture is bad because I took it quick before dunking back behind the tree.

With the tree finally cut down off we go. 

I'll post pictures of it all decorated when we get finished with it.  We had to wait for it to thaw and dry first.  All the tree were covered in ice because of the rain.

Today we did 3 crafts.  We made the festive paper pines, foamy frames, and something that wasn't on our list to hang on the tree.  This year the kids and I have decided not to use any store bought decorations for the tree or house.  We are going to just use homemade things.  They have dubbed it our old fashioned Christmas and have insisted that we cut down our own tree.  So this weekend we will not only visit the tree farm but also cut down our own tree.  This should be interesting.  The kids are all excited about this whole idea.  I think I'll pack some hot cocoa to take along.  Grandma and Grandpa are going to come with us too. 

Here's some photos of our crafts and them working hard.

 Now I need to get back to sewing.

Our week started with Princess' 3rd birthday.  She was so suprised.  Princess fell asleep on the way home from church so she slept the whole time we were setting up.  Everyone arrived while she was still sleeping.  She woke up to a birthday party!  It was great.  I couldn't have timed it any better.  Here are a couple of picks of the party.

Here she is opening presents.  I just love the face she's making.  Opening presents is serious business you know.

This was the one that got the best reaction.

She had a great time and as usually her aunts and uncles spoiled her rotten. LOL  They really need to have some kids so I can return the favor. LOL *evil laugh*

Today we did some crafts.  We started with the pinecone christmas tree.  Let's just say they turned out very unique.  Peanut worked real hard on his and really enjoyed adding the glitter.

Peewee worked really hard on making sure the glitter was just right.  Btw I found the pinecones at the Dollar Tree.  There was 5 in a bag.  I found the 3 packs of glitter there also.

Then we moved on to our shooting star ornaments.

Here is Princess holding up one.

Peanut takes his cutting very serious.

Peewee worked on making stars for the little guys.  Btw that's not me.  It is my little sister she loves to come over and join in the chaos.

If you notice the cereal box actually holds all our construction paper.  It's cut into the shape of a magazine holder.  It works well for storage and easy access.

We've also been listening to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  I have a few assignments to go along with the story that we are working on also.  I found some Christmas books on cd at the Dollar General.  They are actually really good. 

We got in last night.  We had a wonderful time visiting family!  We hadn't seen them in over a year.  Everyone's kids had grown so much.  It is so beautiful in PA.  How I wish we lived there! 

It was kind of strange for me not to have anything to do.  It just felt like I should be doing something.  You know at home there is always something to do, cleaning, laundry, lessons, something.  I did help with some food prep for dinner.  Though I don't think I did it to her liking, because I got the disapproval look.  Oh well, I tried.  No I'm not upset by it.  I learned long ago that is just the way she is.  I just let it slide right off my back.   Early in our marriage I use to get really bent out of shape over that stuff but now it's more like why waste the energy.  Though I did get a wonderful compliment from my mother-in-law.  She told me that she was impressed at the kids' vocabulary and how they seem to know a bit about everything.  That I'm doing a good job homeschooling them.  That the homeschool thing must be working.  Now this is huge!  My d-m-i-l was one of my biggest critics and hardly ever admits she's wrong.  I can tell you I was beaming!  I was definitely having one of those proud momma moments.  Hey it's only taken 5 or 6 years.  See your hard work does change people's mind.  No need to argue with them.  I use to just nod and smile when she would say anything negative and thank her for her concern.    That's my best advice - nod and smile, nod and smile.  There really isn't much you can say to people to change their mind.

We have a cousin in PA that homeschools her kids and I found out that another one is homeschooling hers.  It really is nice to be able to chat with like minded people.  Though I did notice that other relatives who chose to send their kids to ps or are sending them got a little defensive about their choice.   I thought it was kind of funny because I'm usually the one having to defend my choice.   Both of these cousins were pregnant too.   I'm so happy for them.   Children are such blessings.    Pumpkin and dc11 really enjoy each other's company.  It would be nice if we lived closer so they could spend more time together.   Can you tell I'd love to live there. LOL  The main thing holding us back is employment for dh.   He's looked but hasn't had much sucess.  Hopefully when he finishes his degree it will open a door.

Overall we had a great time!  We only got lost a few times.  Which is typical for us.  Well it probably would have helped if I had remembered the map. LOL  But what is a vacation with out a little adventure?

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Have you ever just sat back at the end of the day and thought about the things you've said to your children during the day.  Well that is what I was sitting here doing.  I just busted out laughing.  I say things now that I never pictured myself saying.  Here is some of the things I've said today that has left me shaking my head now.

Princess boogers are not for eating.

Peewee stop climbing the walls and get in the shower.

No, grandma does not have a peter.

Would you stop sticking stuff down your pants.

Get your underwear off your head and put them on your bottom.

Stop dancing while your trying to eat.

Could you take it easy on the deodorant?

Well this has been a busy week around here.  I have made a few changes to our schedule in order to destress it a little.  Peewee has dropped boy scouts.  I just decided that 4 activities a week was to much and he had to pick one to drop.  I'll admit I was kind of hoping it would be Boy Scouts.  I also decided that teaching "C" plus mine was getting to be too much, so I told his mom she would have to find other arrangements for him.  I did tell her I would give her till Oct. 30th.  I feel bad about it but I've got to put my kids first.  I feel I was spreading myself too thin and not giving them the attention they need.  Not only that there has been a lot of squabbling between him and my oldest son.  All in all I think it's for the best.

Now on to what we did in school this week.  On Monday we took the day off from school so we only had ball games and practices.  This is Peanut's first year playing soccer.  It's hilarious watching 4yr. olds playing soccer.  I didn't get any pictures because it was just a huge pool of kids following a ball around.  LOL   

Tuesday we had art class and then went on our nature walk.  We saw this really cool tree called the Paperbark Maple.  It had such a rich color and the bark felt just like paper.  Here's a pick of the trunk.

Of course we all had to touch it and found out that the bark will turn your hands brown.

We also so this guy.

And here's the kids checking it out.

Overnight the temp. dropped as you can see in this picture of Peewee working on his math. 

Thursday they worked on some science experiments.  They were getting quite a kick out of this one.

Today we worked on some grammar lessons together and this is what I got to look at the whole time.

Have I mentioned we have a relaxed dress code around here. LOL  It was busy but we still managed to get some learning and fun in.

Hope you all had a great week!

Ok, a few from a few weeks ago first.

Here is the kids taking a break.

A few weeks ago I bought the kids a couple of robot kits from Sam's club.  They had a really good deal on them and they came with a book about the animal the robot was modeled after.  They did a scorpion, bat, and t-rex.  Here they are putting them together.

Now on to this past week.  On Monday we worked on our history notebooks and corrected papers that had mistakes.  I didn't take any pictures of this.  I do want to get a few pictures of their notebooks up soon, hopefully.  The day went pretty well.  We had practices that evening so it was kind of a hurried day.  Tuesday we went to the art museum and made mosaics.  Um I forgot to get the camera out for that but the boys did some really good work.  After they finished their project we went into the other room and explored the different hands-on things they had.

Here's the younger ones checking out the sensory table.

Here's the older ones checking out the chalkboard and behind my sis their is Pumpkin checking out a really old typewriter.

Then we left and went on our nature walk.  We saw and poked a lot of things. LOL

Here's a picture of an animal burrow we found in a tree.  You can't really make it out but there was what looked like bedding.

This is a picture of a leaf.  I know real interesting.  LOL  But if you look there is one that is rolled into a tube shape.  If you unroll it you would find a tiny little catepillar.  I showed this to the boys and they were totally fascinated with it and pointed them out all along the trail.

This is a picture of a catepillar we found.  It's all curled up because the boys had to poke it with a stick.

Here's a snail they found along the path.  I guess they pay more attention than I thought to what's around them.  He was a small fellow and amongst some leaves.

Here they are checking out one of the signs along the path that tells what kind of trees are planted there.  It had pictures of the leaves to help you identify them.

Here's a picture of a butterfly sitting on some flowers.  We kept seeing these flowers and butterflies all along the path.

This is an interesting plant the guys wanted me to take a picture of.

Then rest of the week was just ordinary schoolwork.  We didn't really get to do any fun projects.  I had a few boys that were not being wise stewards of their time.  Therefore we didn't get to do the fun stuff because we had things to do every evening.  Saturday we did get to take a field trip to a historical village because Friday they decided to buckle down and get stuff done.

Here they are getting ready to do a hay maze.

This is an old one room schoolhouse that they had transported there.  It was pretty cool because all the buildings we visited were from the area and had been transported there to preserve.

Here they are checking out an old post office.  They had old newspapers framed and hanging on the walls.  The kids couldn't believe some of the dates.  One was from 1803.

This is a doctor's office.  They had it all set up. 

This was a display of a doctor's tools.  They even had stuff in the bottles.

And lastly we visited a barber's shop.

Today I decided I'd better sit down at look at the family planner for the coming week, we are going to have one of those weeks when you feel like pulling your hair out by the end of it.  Here's the schedule for this coming week.

Monday - Peanut soccer practice 6:15 to 7:00pm

Peewee soccer game 5:15 to 6:15pm

Pumpkin basketball practice 5:50 to 7:30pm

No school - Columbus Day

Tuesday:

Nature Walk

Art Class - my sis comes over and teaches the boys

school

Pumpkin basketball practice 5:50 - 7:30pm

Weds.

Weekly library trip

Peanut soccer practice 6:15 to 7:00pm

Master's Club 6:30pm to 8:00pm /church 7pm

Thursday

P.E. co-op class 1 to3pm

Cub Scouts 6pm to 7pm

Friday:

Nothing by school Yeah!

Saturday:

birthday party 2pm

Sunday:

Church 10am to 12:30pm

Birthday party 1pm

Is anybody else seeing some scheduling conflicts here?  I'm going to have to do some fancy foot work to get through this week.  And no, dh can't help he has school during the day and work in the afternoon.

Brilliant me decided to do a freezer session today and I'm in the process of making frying up 20lbs. of ground beef to be used for tacos, beef strognaff, sloppy joes, spagehitti sauce, easy noodle bake, and some left plain for whatever.  I'm also making freezer biscuits, flaky freezer biscuits, bread dough for the freezer.  Let's see I'm also making pumpkin muffins, zuchinni bread, rice mixes, pancakes mix, and oatmeal mixes.  Don't forget about mount laundry that has been neglected most of this week and all the house work.  I really think I need a clone.  All I have to say is I'm severly underpaid.  LOL  Somehow I always get it done by God's grace. 

I have some pictures I want to get posted from this last week.  Hopefully I'll get to that soon.  I better get back to work now.

Have a blessed week!

Well life is busy.  Today we did our weekly library trip, went to a soccer game, and basketball practice.  Somewhere in there we did manage to get some schooling done.  It was Peewee's first game of the season and they won.  Yeah!!  He did really great and he scored a goal.  Soccer has been a good fit for him.  It gives him somewhere he can use all that energy he has.  Let's just say that saying he is active is a major understatement, he NEVER sits still ever. 

Pumpkin had his first basketball practice and I warned him that the coach was tough.  This would be nothing like his rec. center leagues.  I think he thought I was exaggerating.   He was exhausted when he was done.  See I had the same coach when I was in school so I know how he likes to make you run.  Pumpkin found out and groaned when he said they were going to start practicing 3x's a week in a couple more weeks.  I told him look at it this way you'll be in really good shape by the end of season.  Which was met with thanks mom.  I'll admit I find humor in this because he begged to play on a highschool team so I went and found him one.  So maybe I'm a little evil but it reminds me of that saying be careful what you ask for.  LOL

Tomorrow we are off to the museum in the morning and our nature walk in the afternoon.  We also have practices again.  Somewhere in there I'd like to get some laundry and cleaning in.  I also have to find time to cook.  I sure wish they'd eat crockpot meals, but alas my family turns their nose up at them.  They say they taste funny.  I guess it will be grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner.  I really need to have another freezer cooking session.  I've kind of let that slip lately and I'm regretting it now.

Before I forget there is a contest going on over at Homeschool Helper.  You can win a $50 gift certificate to HomeschoolEStore. 

Now for a shameless plug of my own.  As you know I've started a Google group Homeschooling on a Budget.  Here are some files you can find there, all complete with templates and in pdf form for saving.

Halloween lapbook

St. Patrick's Day Lapbook

Veteran's Day Lapbook

Christopher Columbus Lapbook

Frog Lapbook

Plants Lapbook

Water Cycle Lapbook

Now I'm going to bed.

Well you may have noticed I've haven't been posting as much lately.  Life is picking up around here as sports season gets underway.  Pumpkin will be starting basketball at a local christian school here in a day or two.  Plus our church now has a youth pastor so there has been more opportunities for him there.  Peanut and Peewee have both started soccer.  Peanut is also in Boy Scouts and they meet weekly.  Then their is P.E. co-op classes that have started.  I've also been making it a point to go to the library once a week so the boys to work on our history and science notebooks.  I want them to get good at looking things up in books instead of just running to the internet all the time.  Oh and don't forget our weekly nature walks.  We've done pretty good with these so far.

If I recall someone asked me about the notebooks.   So here's a brief description of what we do.  I have them take their notebooks, colored pencils, and pens with us; just in case their is something they want to sit down and draw or write about.  Usually though we just go about exploring and enjoying the wonders of nature.  When we get home we'll look through the things we collected and write what we saw, collected, and did in the notebooks.  They tend to run around when we're out and because I don't want them to dread the walks I let them.  Their natural curiousity usually brings an abundance of questions and objects to show everyone.  It's not unusual for them to all be hovered around something checking it out and poking it.  Poking it seems to be a necessity when studying nature with them.  They really like doing rubbings of things also.  Our nature studies are a pretty laid back event and I don't get too picky about the notebooks.  My only requirement is that they have some sort of summary of what they saw and what it was doing.  Sometimes they go all out and look things up in the field guides, sometimes they don't.  I use to obsess about it but I've learned to relax.  I keep a notebook also and tend to be more detailed with mine.  I have noticed that this seems to help and direct them in theirs.  If nothing else they enjoy looking through mine, so they are getting the info one way or another.

I keep a history and science notebook right along with the boys.  I know it seems strange but it has made a difference in our school.  We all sit around the table diving into the books finding the information for our notebooks.  It has sparked some interesting conversations and they enjoy sharing interesting information when they come across it.  It just seems to make it more relaxed.  I won't say it's perfect.  There has been days I just want to strangle them.  I have a few attitudes that creep into our day and try to get out of doing things.  They like to write things like he was a patriot.  Yay I knew that but what did he do exactly.  I'm sorry but you do need to learn how to write and yes your mean mom is going to make you.  Why?  Because I SAID SO.  I'm sure someone can relate to this.

Tonight at dinner Peanut was squirming around in his chair.  I told him a couple of times to sit right or he was going to fall.  Well guess what he fell right into his brothers plate, face first.  LOL  I couldn't help but laugh he got up with a face full of nacho sauce.   We had nachos for dinner.  You think maybe next time he'll listen to mom. LOL  By the way I did help him clean his face off, eventually.

I have had great success with tomatoes this year.  In fact a little too much.  I'm about sick of canning tomatoes.  I'm just finishing up my 3rd canning session on tomatoes and from the looks of the garden it won't be the last.  On the bright side I will not have to buy tomatoes for soups or anything for a long time.  I also have 15 quarts of apples in the basement.  I have green peppers and zucchini in the freezer.  All my other squashes rotted from the continuous rain we had for awhile.  We did manage to get some cantaloupe and beans from the garden before the rot set in. 

Next year we are going to add 2 more square foot gardens to our space.  I'm feeling more confident with this method of gardening and you can get quite a bit of plants in a small space.  Though everyone that sees it tells us we are not gardening correctly.  Translation you are not gardening traditionally but I'm use to getting criticized for being nontraditional.  I mean after all aren't we going against the flow homeschooling.  I highly recommend using the square foot gardening method if you are short on space.  The only thing is plant tomatoes in a separate bed.  It is so much easier than traditional gardening!  I also recommend starting small at first until you get the hang of it.  I will never go back to doing it the old way.  I hate weeding and tilling.

That is what I did today can tomatoes and do schoolwork with the boys.  They did their grammar, math, and history notebooks today.  It was a pretty uneventful day, though something amazing happened to day.  I actually got Princess to keep her clothes on all day!    In case you didn't know she prefers running around in a diaper.  I dress her everyday, honest.  She just strips at the first opportunity.  Therefore I consider this a victory.

Today we went to a botanical garden about 40 minutes away.  We had never been there before and I had found out about it on the internet.  Best of all it was free!  It was a perfect day and the weather was beautiful.  Here are some pictures of what we saw.

Here's a canadian goose that we saw.  As you can see it was tagged which the kids thought was weird and gave me an opportunity to talk to them about why.

Here was a special treat!

Here's an unusual flower we saw.  We haven't identified it yet but we thought it was pretty in a weird sort of way.

I don't know if you can make out this bug amongst all the wood chips but it had the coolest wings.  Pumpkin tried really hard to get a good photo of it.  That bug sat there for a long time while he tried to photograph it.  It seemed like it was almost posing for him.

Here's one of the crew running around.

We thought it was really cool how they got those trees to grow around those post.

We saw this and of course we had to take a picture.

Today I decided to take the kids to the zoo.  They had some new exhibits they wanted to see.  So off we went.  Can I just say it was miserably hot!  I don't think I've ever sweat so much, I was completely soaked.  There was also a ton of bees.  We couldn't even enjoy our picnic lunch because as soon as we started unpacking it they started swarming.  I should mention that I'm highly allergic to bees so this totally freaked me out.  So despite the fact that mom was miserable the kids had a great time.  I tried not to whine too much. LOL 

Princess is totally fascinated with "buwwerflies" so she was in heaven when we visited the new butterfly house.  Here are some photos of the butterflies.

Then we went to the aquarium to see their newest attractions.  First we saw the starfish.

Then the jellyfish.  Aren't they totally cool.

and

Finally we went and saw the new baby cheetah.

So that was are day.  Pumpkin took the pictures.  I think he did a really good job.

Well we've been a busy bunch around here this week.  I thought I'd show you some photos of what we've been up to.

Weds.  we made potholders on the loom

and made rootbeer (we're not real formal on dress code around here)

Thursday we did an experiment on atoms and molecules.  It was for Pumpkin's science course but of course everyone had to take part.

Today we made chocolate suckers because Peanut is learning about circles.  Besides what is better than chocolate when learning about anything. LOL

Then we made candlestick holders.  Which was the messiest thing ever thanks to the guys.

Then we did more science experiments.  This is the drops of water on a penny.

Can you see the bubble of water on top of the penny?

Finally we did the pretzel prediction experiment.  They made some wild predictions and were stuffing their faces trying to prove themselves right. 

That pretty much sums it up.  Overall I'd say we had a pretty successful week.  We did have one grumpy pooh in the beginning but it was overcome.  He decided it was more fun to participate then sit in the other room and be grumpy.  So now you know I get bad attitudes around here.  We managed to get a fair share done even though it was the first week of school.  Not everything I would have liked but we'll get there in the end.  Besides I'm the only one that knows the last day of the books is scheduled for so if need be I'll just extend it into the summer learning.  *insert evil laugh*

Hello all!  I'm feeling a little better today.  Dh went out and got me some cold medicine last night after he got home from work.  Isn't he just the sweetest!  I always have stuff on hand for the kids but often forget about me.

Well anyway I thought I'd share some pictures of our day.  First though I have to share this picture I took of some of the kids and dad at the fair.

I promised Peanut I would post a picture of his apple he made yesterday.

The boys worked on some of their schoolwork while I did stuff with Peanut and Princess.  We are learning about apples this week and read Apple Farmer Annie this morning.  After the book Peanut asked if we could go to the apple orchard.  Why not?  So I rounded the crew up and off we went to the apple orchard to pick apples.

We stopped at the library on the way home.  We dropped off some books and picked up a couple I had on hold.  When we got home we decided to do our art project for the week.  They are learning about the different strokes and effects they can get from different paint brushes.  It was basically just getting the feel of what they could do.

Then we decided to work on our science lesson.  We did the m&m experiment from the scientific method unit. Of course after we talked about the scientific method and looked up a few vocabulary words.  It's amazing how m&ms will draw extra kids to the table.  I knew this would happen and had extra bags made up for them. 

Then they did some afternoon chores while I cooked dinner.  Now the guys are playing a football game and I'm playing on the computer.  Today went a little better than yesterday.  Peanut is still excited about doing school and all I hear all day is mom can I do more schoolwork.  He got upset with me when I said I didn't want to do anymore schoolwork after dinner.  I think its kind of funny, he is so opposite of his brothers.  They had zero attention span in their younger years and this kid can stay focused from the time he gets up until he goes to bed.  It's amazing how unique each child is in the same family.  God is so amazing, I just marvel at His creation.

Today was our first day back at the books.  I think it went fairly well.  I mixed up the language arts curriculum and they seemed rather confused by it.  I think they'll get the hang of it the more we do it.  I didn't like any one complete curriculum so I've pieced together several to make one.  I've also thrown in some games for good measure.  But they seemed to be overwhelmed with seeing all the different sources on the page.  They'll soon realize though that they only have to do 1 lesson from each per week and it is actually not that much work.

Peanut is devouring his lessons.  I thought for sure he'd only be interested for 30 minutes tops because he is still quite young.  I think though he has a longer attention span than his brothers had at this age.  He wanted to do schoolwork all day and actually did 2 days worth of work today.  Princess of course wanted to join in on his craft activities and was looking quite red by the end of the day.  Our color this week is red and we painted today.

The older guys did history, vocabulary, spelling, reading, typing, and Bible today.  No math today but we'll do that tomorrow.  You will not believe what I forgot to get.  Pumpkin's teacher's manual for his algebra text book.  Yes I forgot to get it because I bought the text book used and it didn't have the manual with it.  So it looks like I will be doing some algebra for a while until the manual comes.  I can not believe I forgot that!  I'm actually going to have to think for a couple of weeks or more.  I'm pretty pleased with today's progress.  Usually first days get very little done.

I ordered pizza for lunch a rare treat around here.  That is the only special thing we did.  I know not very rememberable.  I didn't get pictures either because I couldn't find my camera.  Oh well we had a 4 day weekend full of activites.  Oh I almost forgot everyone has a cold also expect for Peewee.  I woke up feeling like my head weighted a ton and everyone sounds like they are talking muffled.  So I won't be surprised if we don't meet our week's goals.  I'm not to worried about it though, I've scheduled extra days in there just incase.