A place to share our story.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The Reasons Why

So, upon hearing that we've decided to homeschool our boys this year, the question I hear most often is "why?".
I will share some of our reasons this morning, and then I'll share some more of our pictures.

We chose homeschool because:

- We wanted more time with our kids.

- We wanted them to have a calm and relaxed schedule. Many days in the past were spent rushing kids to the bus, and then rushing them back inside to do homework, eat dinner, and head out to sports, church, etc.

- We want to know what they are learning each day and have control over the "sticky" areas.

- We wanted freedom from a 7 hour day away for school. School takes us roughly 3 to 3 1/2 hrs a day now, leaving us lots of time to learn away from books---at the park, at the library, in the kitchen, with each other.

- We wanted our boys to grow closer to each other, and after a long, tiring day at school, they had little "good" energy to give each other. It's SO much better now!

- We wanted to be able to give the boys the individual, one on one attention they need, especially with the areas of school that are a bigger challenge for each of them.

- We had to take a break from BSF, because the boys were getting too tired to be out that late. Also, they were struggling to have the desire to finish their bible homework and memorize their verses. This was not settling well with me. Now, we do our Bible class in the day, along with the other classes, and they are learning a lot together, and memorizing lots of verses.
I am hoping to bring them back to BSF next year, now that our days are more relaxed and less busy.

- I really like spending time with my boys, and I feel so fortunate to have them home with me every day.

- The boys really enjoy it! Just ask them, if you don't believe me ;).

- We decided it would be the best fit for our family at this time. We realize that homeschool is not right for every family, and we understand that it may not be the best fit for us down the road either, but for now it works, and we are having a blast!!

Here are the pictures to prove it.

Making a Rainbow in a Jar after school one day (from a library book we checked out).

Brady, reading to his brothers after school.

Working together on a puzzle and mapping out our route to FL.

A typical day in homeschool.

We get outside as often as possible for physical education. Last week we spent 3 days learning about tennis.

Learning how to make Enchilada Pie. They did great!

Riding scooters at the Farmington Art Park at 2:30pm.

Monday, September 8, 2014

The First Week of Homeschool

Last week was our first week of homeschool. It was fabulous and we all loved it SO much better than any other school.
We learned a lot of great information together.

Brady and Logan finished up with their math review books, and they'll begin learning new information today. They had some quizzes in Reading and Language Arts on Friday, which they did wonderful on, as expected, and we even did a few science experiments in our first week.
Brady and Logan are working through the Bible class fairly independently, and we all gather for Social Studies together.

Marshall reviewed his capital letters, worked on improving his cutting/pasting skills, puzzles, and so much more.

Here are some of the pictures I managed to take while we were working.

Oh, and our favorite part so far is that we are always done with school before lunch. Our typical day has been running from 9-12/12:15, which is working out great!!

Playing basketball for Phy. Ed. on Tuesday



Brady was taking a little break between classes.

Helping Mommy get dinner made up ahead of time.

Playing soccer in the backyard for Phy. Ed. on Thursday.

Practicing kicking the ball around the cones

Working hard

Brady was reading The Brick Bible for his free reading time on Friday.

Working on our science experiment. Seeing what passes through paper.

Proof of a great start :).


Thursday, September 4, 2014

Before Summer Is Over

Summer is my favorite for SO many reasons, and because of that, I don't often find the time to blog much during the summer months.
I realize that school has already started and that fall schedules are underway, but I really want to go back for a moment and share a few of my late summer favorite photos.

Family Trip to Duluth in July

The boys LOVE trains, especially this one in Two Harbors.

Playing catch with water balloons

Bug nets and bug catchers from the Dollar Store. The boys caught a lot of grasshoppers and few dragonflies.

Dakota County Fair

Swimming with Addy at Elm Creek Park

Warming up for a run around the track

Free face painting at the Como Relays

Playing in the tunnels that run under Pilot Knob Road by our house.

Swimming with Addy at the Como Pool

A visit to see Great Aunt Shirley at the nursing home.

Testing our their roller blades again


I also wanted to mention how much use we got out of our Valleyfair season passes this summer. Nine trips so far, and with the Halloween events coming up, we're sure to be there at least one more time!! On our most recent visit, a couple weeks ago, Marshall was finally tall enough, at 42 inches,  to ride 4 new rides.

Ok, now I am ready to embrace fall.
Both Brady and Logan are playing flag football this fall, so if you like football, you should come down and watch them play in a few weeks, once their games officially get started :).

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

1st Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school at our house. It was also our first day of homeschool. We kicked the morning off with cinnamon rolls for breakfast, as we always do.

We decided to begin on Labor Day, so that Peter could be there to see how it will all work out, and also so I could have some extra help on my first day as a teacher. He was very helpful and he really enjoyed helping the boys with their school work.

It went amazingly well and we even finished a bit earlier than expected.
This year, Brady is in 4th grade, Logan is in 2nd grade, and Marshall is in preschool. It's a lot for me to juggle, but I think it's going to be wonderful for everyone.

I am getting ready to start our 2nd day this morning, so I don't have time to share a lot more about our homeschool adventure. Hopefully soon, I can come back here to share about what classes we are taking and how it is going.

For now, here are our first day of school photos.

First day of school cinnamon rolls

Brady's first day of 4th grade

Logan's first day of 2nd grade

Marshall's first day of preschool

Brother and best friends starting homeschool together.

Marshall working on math

Logan during his Reading class

Daddy helping Brady with his Reading class

Stopping to smile :).


Just Like Auntie Laura

Over the weekend, Marshall got himself all "done up" and then said: "Look, Mommy, I look just like Auntie Laura now!"

He went on to say that he had a necklace, watches, glasses, an owl hat, and a flute, just like Auntie Laura.

8-31-14