Springtime on the Farm

It's the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!  I know they sing it at Christmas time but I think I should be able to sing it at other times of the year.  Like Fall because I LOVE Autumn, or SPRINGTIME because it's one of the BEST!  The ground is thawing the calves are being born and things start coming to life again.  I absolutely LOVE this time of year! This year we have had a good abundance of healthy calves.  In years past we've had times when it seems there were more that didn't make it than did.  Sometimes we've had sick ones and mothers that wouldn't cooperate.  This year however has been one of the BEST!  Thank Heavens!  Sick cows and one's that don't make it are just part of the circle of life on farms, but it's never fun.  I prefer healthy years like this one, myself. 

Feeding the cows

Ear Tagging calves

Can't forget Uncle CJ's Piggies

Cute Calves!

Doctoring Calves

I don't know that I ever really thought about being a farmer (or being married to one) when I "grew up" but it just so happens that the man I married got the farming itch about 3 years after we were married.  We knew we wanted wide open spaces, no neighborhoods, we wanted to listen to cows moo and wake up to the sound of sprinklers hitting the fence or the creek running in the back. Now those are just part of what we call life.  We work all summer and feed cows all winter.  We don't vacation much......okay maybe not really at all, but do we need to?  Who says that's what life is about?  It may be for some, but for us - this is what we do and what we love!  I have never been disappointed with the choice we made! (It also is a fabulous way for the kiddos to learn.  We've learned TONS through working together, doctoring cows, branding, spending time together, and being out in nature).  There's no better life!  "Farm livin' is the life for me!"  Stay tuned for the next debut of the famous annual "Cattle branding weekend". Famous as is in we do it every year, it makes me happy and is another one of the MOST WONDERFUL TIMES OF THE YEAR!  I saw a cute quote on Pinterest (duh, where else would I see it haha!) it said

  "Live your life like someone left the gate open!"  

So true!  The joy is in the journey.  Find something you love and live for it!  I LOVE THIS LIFE WE CHOOSE TO LIVE!!!

Do you love your life?  Tell me about it! I'd love to hear what makes your life FABULOUS!

Thanks for reading,

Paleontologists in the making!

These cute little munchkins love to discover things.  When we registered with Harmony this year we got COOL things in the mail...Like CHRISTMAS!  In one box was this Dinosaur Dig kit....and what better day to break it out then a MARCH day.  March tends to be warm one day and miserable the next...okay who am I kidding it's like that ALL SPRING where we live.  No guarantees it'll be nice til, oh I'd say late June then it's just too freakin' hot to do anything.  So you gotta enjoy the nice days and live up the yucky ones.  And that is just what we did.  These three are ALWAYS on me about SCIENCE! So we pulled this bad boy out and they all got cracking on it.  They even let their friends in on it, everyone taking a whack trying to see what bones they could discover.  Really Cool! and kept them mesmerized for hours!!!!

It's all in the preparation :)

Paleontologist's look out!

Oh SHE'S CUTE!

My THREE MUSKETEERS

Homeschooling Schedule

All of our homeschool curriculum finally made it's way to our abode this week.  We have been so blessed to find amazing resources and be able to associate with some pretty awesome people as well.  As mentioned before we are using "The Family School" for History, Science, Literature, Music, Art and Geography.  These lessons we teach as a group.  And for the rest: Math, Language Arts and Spanish we are working with Hormony Educational Services. I am AMAZED at what we have been given and the things we will be able to do with it.  Along with the Math and Language Arts (which we are using a program called Odyssey, and we are loving it!) the kids got to choose some electives, Jo chose American Indian's, Sketching and Drawing, and Typing.  Buckwheat chose Rosetta Stone Spanish (Ok, Mom may have chose this for him so we all can use it :)), Dinosaurs, and Chemistry kit.  Peanut chose a Cooking kit (which came today and it has AWESOME contents) and a phonics kit.  The boxes arrived via Amazon and we have been on a "Christmas" High this week!  Rolling pins and cook books, cool color matching bowls with measuring spoons and cups, american Indian books and figures, colored pencils and chemistry kits......maybe we could skip Christmas......? Ha!  We started the week off with a bang!  Here is a breakdown of how our days typically go. We've been waking up around 7, but I need to adjust this a little......we are all NIGHT OWLS!

Yoga
Breakfast
Morning Routine
Copy Work
Reading
Chores
Educational Games
Free Play
Lunch
Family School ~ We focus on one subject a week and rotate.  For example this week we are doing History                             M-TH then next week we will do Literature, then Science then Geography.  We do Music                           and Art on rotating Fridays.
Recess ~ Basically they just need to get their wiggles out
Math/Language Arts
Spanish
Practice Times
Afternoon duties

We usually do actual School work for about 2-3 hours a day which is more than sufficient for our needs.  We can get so much done in that amount of time.  Our school day runs from about Noon til 2 or 3.  Mornings are more dedicated to independent learning and Mom does the things she needs to accomplish.

I am not a scheduled time slot person.  Okay, that's a lie!  I am such a scheduled time slot person, but unfortunately my KIDS ARE NOT!  And if this Mom is going to be HAPPY and HOMESCHOOLING she can't be scheduled to the minute.  I had to let some things go in order to be sane and let the kids be kids!  It has actually turned out well and I am enjoying the "relaxed" feel that we have when we school this way. No more stress about "It's 12:30 and why haven't we started MATH yet?!!?"  those days are over.  In fact the more homeschooling I do the more I envy those who Unschool.  I NEVER thought I could do that, but it may be in our future.......(enter evil laughter here)!

That's our day in a nutshell.  It's working! It's glorious! And the kids are enjoying this year even more than they did the last.

How's school settling in for you?  Are you a scheduled person?

Learning Styles

In my current college class, we are learning about different types of learning styles.  How student's learn and how to address each learning style so that a larger group of student's can benefit from each lesson.  I have often been intrigued with learning styles, as well as love languages(but that's for another post sometime).  Learning styles are so important, especially being a homeschooling mother I find myself drawn to what I would think is the easier and more exciting way to learn, yet it isn't that way for most of my kiddos.  You see Buckwheat has more energy than TIGGER!  

Yes TIGGER the "bouncy trouncy....full of fun fun fun!" Tigger! And I was pretty certain I was more of a visual learner.  Therefore the constant need for movement from my son, (oh and my husband and my oldest daughter) was about enough to make me  NUTSO question my sanity!  I like still, quiet and calm, and they like bouncy,wiggly, and LOUD!  (Well most of the time anyway) So in my class we took a little quiz to see what our learning styles really are, I was right visual was up there at 75% tied with linguistic, but a step above that was intrapersonal at 88%.  Here is what it says about an intrapersonal learning style:

You Are an Intrapersonal Learner

Your mantra: To thy own self be true.

Intrapersonal intelligence has been said to be the road to achievement, learning, and personal satisfaction. You are connected to who you are and how you feel, and you know your own limits and abilities. You often set goals for yourself, self-manage, and reflect on results.

Those with intrapersonal intelligence do well in careers where self-management is important, such as being a writer, a teacher, a counselor, a police officer, or a pilot.

Tips for the way you learn:

• Study alone in a comfortable yet quiet environment. Yes I STUDY ALONE! :)
• Set goals for yourself, and monitor your progress regularly. Yep always monitoring progress and I have oodles of goals everywhere lol!
• Reflect on what you have learned, and think through new material. I think I should stop reflecting it takes up so much time. 
• Create a connection between new material and subjects you already know, and gain understanding by finding their similarities. I think this explains why I take information and put it in a rhyme or to a familiar song.  I am constantly connecting stuff (but I didn't know it). 

Yeah that's like me in a nutshell :)!  I was pretty impressed with the results. And guess what? I was not even 1% a kinesthetic learner. The visual-spacial said:

You Are a Visual-Spatial Learner

Your mantra: What you see is what you get. Very much me!  I don't sugar coat....stuff! 

Visual-spatial intelligence allows you to see and modify things in your mind. With an understanding of the visual world and its relation to physical items, you are good at solving spatial problems, designing, and doing crafts. Interior designers have remarkable spatial abilities, as do painters.

Tips for the way you learn:

• Use art projects to create representations of the content you are learning.
• Draw related images next to your notes (along with arrows between ideas) to create connection and reference points.
• Organize with color. Use different-colored highlighters, paper, index cards, folders, or tabs to create a visual system for finding things and grouping topics. Love this! I do this a lot!
• Visualize your topic. When you are learning something new, imagine what it looks like. And this would explain why I pass out when people talk about surgery or anything medically related! I VISUALIZE EVERYTHING! 

And the linguistics is why I write a blog, or write to my kids, or my husband LOL! It explains why I read directions, why I like to express myself through words and why I have notebooks filled with lists, ideas, and things I just have to get out in writing.  If I write it down I generally remember it longer (not even having to look at it ever again I just remember it).  Some part of my brain works better if I take the time to write it down, it just clarifies it for me, I can see it and then Waaalaaa it's stuck in my brain.  

You Are a Verbal-Linguistic Learner

Your mantra: Tell me in words -- written or spoken -- and I will understand. I prefer written because sometimes spoken (from my own mouth) get's all jumbled, I can re-write what's been written, but I can't re-speak what's been spoken. 

Verbal-linguistic intelligence (along with logical-mathematical intelligence) is often associated with doing well in school. You have the ability to use words effectively for reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The poet has been described as the epitome of verbal-linguistic intelligence.

Tips for the way you learn:

• Use words to explain complicated subjects.
• Ask questions. Sometimes too many!
• Engage in the Socratic method, digesting information through a question-and-answer exchange.
• Hone your native ability to tell a story.

I plan on doing this with my little ones just to get a better idea of what will work when I plan my lessons or help them with their studying practices and such.  I think this is vital information to have as a parent!!! Our kids need our help to know how they learn best!  Not only will this help them, it can help us as parent's.  We can learn to recognize what our kids need from us, and what we need for ourselves to be better people, learn the most we can and develop talents and Strengthen our selves to be better! 

The test is really cool!  You should check it out! What are your learning styles?  Were you surprised?  

Happy Learning!

all descriptions of learning styles came directly from edutopia.org learning styles test

Homeschool Mama's

A View from our neck of the woods!

This past week I had the privilege of attending a home school mom's (parent's) get together at a friend's home.  I met a few of these gals last year at a home school retreat that I was invited to (why I didn't blog about that is beyond me!).  There seem's to be a home school heat wave going on, I don't know if it has to do with the new common core standards coming into play, which I know a lot of people are really against. I personally don't know THAT much about it to give my two cents, but from what I have heard it's not all great!  There were probably 15 people there.  A few of them veterans in homeschooling, some were newer like myself, some were new this year and others were still waffling the idea around.  The part that I loved most about the whole thing was that no one judged, we all took a turn to tell who we were, what our reasons for homeschooling were, and what curriculum we were using or planning to use to home school.  Homeschooling is so unique and it is meant to tailor your children's education for just that, YOUR CHILDREN!  Some people pour over the best curriculum's out there and spend good money for great curriculum, some make their own up, some use free stuff and only free stuff, some use a purchased curriculum that is organized and spelled out and allows less planning on the parental part.  The point to all of this is, none of it is wrong, it's all right, it's all beautiful!  Each woman that was there that night was there with a purpose; to help her children become the best they can be.  It was fabulous to have so many like minded people in one room.  At times as a homeschooling mom you feel isolated because not everyone deals with the things you do as you teach on top of mother, lead, direct, cook, clean, work, study, etc. I know for me personally I sometimes question if what I am doing is worth it if it's really what I need to be doing. Is it truly what's best for our family?  Each time I get to my rope's end, each time I am ready to re-evaluate and make a change I get a little ray of sunshine, something that tells me YES! This IS SO RIGHT!  And............it's right for me, for us!  It might not be right for others but it is for  our family and it is for most of the women I had the privilege of meeting that night.  The feeling was warm, my mind and spirit were filled as stories were shared, ideas traded and paths crossed!  I am grateful for small and simple things, and the freedoms I have to make decisions for myself and my family!


                                       

Pen Pals and Plans

I promise that I will be better at blogging!  

What summer means to me!  Farmin', Hayin', Waterin'! Lovin' LIFE!

Between CRAZY SUMMER life, our "jobs" and my schooling it's been hectic around here.  We are planning to start school on August 12th at our abode, now I doubt we will be in the full swing of it but I want to give ourselves a few weeks to adjust before it hits full throttle.  I have hooked up with a bunch of home school groups lately, on Facebook and through The Family School  and I am loving the support they give, the ideas we get to bounce off of one another and the plans we get to make for the upcoming school year.  Thanks to these groups and some awesomely prepared ladies, we will be involved in an ART group this year, which will meet twice a month (we will probably attend at least once a month), A Genius school (which I am still a little unsure about what exactly it is) once a month or so, and some field tips and play dates (for mom's and kids, cause mom's need some chatting time too!) mixed in there as well. Last year I could only focus on my three little people, I really didn't have time to incorporate other kids, or group activities because we were trying to get this homeschooling thing down (little did I know it's really not about getting it down, it's more about enjoying the journey!), but this year I can see that we need to branch out, to open up and explore a little more. Making time for others and allowing ourselves to grow, experience and take a little time to "smell the roses" is just what we need!

CRAZY FUN SUMMER LIFE!

Work boxes ~One of the groups on Facebook I joined deals with work boxes which I am trying to incorporate into our school days.  If you want to know more about the work box idea by Sue Patrick  check it out. I haven't read the book but I have done a lot of research on this type of a system. More on this later!   

Sometime's penmanship seems like a lost art!

Pen Pals ~Last year I went on a search to find pen pals for my little kiddos.  I read a post about teaching kids to write, and teaching correct letter formatting, and cultural differences through pen pals.  (Not that I remember where the post was :( sorry!) I thought it was a great idea so the hunt began!  I searched high and low, trying to find a legit pen pal distributor or group or club or something!!!  I didn't want to bring some stranger into our lives to later find out they were ax murderer's or something! (joking! but you know it can get creepy out there in cyber world!!!) So I decided to put up a post in one of the groups I am in (I also contacted my cousin who home-schools and lives in a different state, her kids are about the same age and our kids don't really know each other because, well, she lives in a different state and that's just what happens right?!) I had two really cool gals reply to my request for pen pals.  One is from Kentucky and one from Mexico! Two places I have NEVER been (well this particular part of Mexico anyway).  So we will start the year with three pen pal families!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! I may even have one of them be a guest blogger on here, WOULDN'T THAT BE COOL!?! Now we will get our much needed writing in (this typing technology is heck on the writers world that I use to come from) and be able to learn a lot of cool things about places we've never been and people we've never met (well except my cousin's).  We will get to know why they do what they do, how they home school, what they are learning about and perhaps we could even through in a Skype or something to meet face to face, or learn something together!  OH the beauty of homeschooling never ceases to amaze me!

What's new in your world's? What things would you like to see here on Chaos Creek? When do your kids start school, or when do you start homeschooling?  How's your Summer?

WE LOVE COMMENTS!! Thanks for reading! :)

Homeschooling Curriculum

As mentioned before my grandmother sold her home which was just across the street and up a ways from me.  It was a lot harder on us than I had anticipated, all the memories and the great times we shared in that house.  The fact that my little peeps won't be able to just walk over to grandma's anymore is sad!  It was the one thing left that was filled with the memories of my grandpa, I miss that MAN! The new people are very kind but it's so weird to not have that be her house.  I guess we will get use to it as time goes by.  We moved her out (did I mention that 78 year old women have a lot of stuff?!) the weekend of the homeschool convention so we didn't get to go this year!  I was super bummed, but I know what we did was much more important and necessary.  My mom and I and the kids did get to go down to the curriculum part of the convention for a few hours though.  And I purchased my FIRST EVER curriculum!  Hallelujah!!!! I am ELATED to start using this curriculum next year.

WHOA, let me back track for a moment.  We were enrolled in Washington Online's school last year and it was great, the staff was fabulous!! However I wasn't in love with the curriculum (well parts of it) I loved the sign language stuff and I loved the math.  So we decided to enroll in Harmony this year, I have a few friends that used it and liked it a lot.  They offer an options day program where you go to the actual school once a week for classes, but with the changes they made to the program and my busy schedule we decided to just do the independent study.  Check them out! They offer the independent study student's an educational allowance each year so that is why we bought curriculum this year.  FABULOUS PERK! But the besides that perk the curriculum they offer seems outstanding!  We will be able to use Rosetta Stone, and other top notch learning tools.  I am so excited for this year!!

Okay, back to the curriculum that we purchased!  There is a private school (of our same faith) that is relatively close to us that put together a homeschool curriculum.  It's called The Family School,

the concept is to teach like they did long ago, in a one room school house, where all ages learn the same material and each student helped one another.  Last year I struggled with how I was to teach all these differing ages at the same time, in fact it was one of my MAJOR complaints of the whole homeschooling process.  But after running across this and trying a lesson or two I fell in love with what they had to offer.  Of course we will still do our Language Arts and Math and those things that are leveled separately, but we will be able to incorporate a lot more "Family" learning which makes my heart SING la la la!!! We will be using journals and using their system of 4R's research, reason, relate and record. For more about this curriculum you can visit their link above or my Pinterest board.  

So that is our plan for this upcoming school year!  We will use Harmony's math and language arts courses and their Rosetta Stone Spanish course.  We will use Family School for most everything else.  The educational allowance will not only be used for the Family School curriculum but perhaps we will buy an I-Pad or some really neat educational toys, a nice globe, or some of the fabulous books I've wanted to read to them.  The possibilities are endless and the educational allowance is a pretty nice chunk of change so I am thrilled to be getting to use it towards my kids education! 

All you homeschoolers out there, what are you doing differently this year?  What curriculum's are you using? What are you LOVING what are you NOT loving?  

The good, the bad and the Ugly ~ of Homeschooling

Since we began this homeschooling adventure we haven't had a great balance, we have been finding out who we are, how we learn, what works for us (or maybe more what DOES NOT work for us), what we want to learn, what we do well at and what our weaknesses are.  I get very focused on what is NOT happening that sometimes I fail to see what IS happening.  It's a silly little trait I seem to have picked up from two awesome people I call Mom and Dad!  Slightly critical, HUGE expectations, and a pinch of perfectionism....mix that up and WOW I'm a boiling blunder of WHY ISN'T THIS HOMESCHOOLING A WELL OILED MACHINE YET?  I've read blogs and posts and pins about what to do, how to do, why, when, where.  I think it is overwhelming but I need to read things so I remember that it's OK!  Everyone readjusts, even re-readjusts.  It's life, it's gonna happen and It. Is. OK!  So I thought about what GOOD things have come from this adventure and what I like about HS-ing.  Also what Bad things have happened or what I don't really care for. And the Ugly things, or habits that perhaps we've picked up! HA!

The GOOD!

The good is hard to focus on because like I said I am constantly thinking I could be doing more and should be doing better so I forget to think about this stuff.  The good about this year has been the relationship that my and Jo have been able to foster.  She and I have always been the head butting type, I remember MANY days driving her to school so frustrated at each other, she cried a lot back then.  I know she's a girl but she really cried a lot now that I think about it, and she doesn't now :).  We still have our head butting moments but we've learned it's because we are so much alike!  The good is that she likes me!  I think this has been great for our relationship and she is truly an amazing young lady I love her to pieces and I feel like I KNOW her now and that we can deal with our differences better than ever before.  

Adventures

A little DAD time

Fun hair do's and a cute girl!

Bonding

More good, I don't have to chase a teacher down to find out what Buckwheat learned today, or ever! HA!  That's a great feeling!  I know what he learned cause I taught it!!!

Best buddies

Family Time

Togetherness

It's calving season around here and Jo and her Dad have been inseparable!  She get's up every morning earlier than I do and get's ready so she can go with Hank to check the cows and feed, run errands and check the sheep too.  This is a GREAT good!  Having their relationships strengthened with their dad is so important to me!  They are also great friends with each other and that makes me happy!

We have discovered that we like a little freedom in our curriculum, so we might switch it up next year to decide what works a little better for us.

I've learned to..... breathe...!  It's a fabulous thing, I don't need it to go perfectly I can let things just play out.  I'm still learning but it's been good!

We can go places when other people are in school.  It's so fun to be able to go to the zoo, or to the dentist or anywhere for that matter, because most people are in school so we kind of have a little more freedom to roam and do as we please.  That's such a perk that I don't think about too often.

Yep she's all over this!

My little organizing team

Cleaning up the room

If she leaves....he will resort to playing.... better stay JO!

We can count our vacations as field trips~ YEP!  It's awesome!  We went to Southern Utah this past weekend and we left a day early (which is totally feasible when you HS).  We explored and lounged and rode bikes and soaked up the 70 degree weather.  We found lizards and rocks that had erosion lines on them.  It was a great lesson to introduce erosion and now the topic has tangible evidence behind it because we SAW it!

We clean together and they learn great life skills.  My Jo can organize with the best of them!  She's a PRO! And little Peanut isn't far behind. Buckwheat, well he's a boy and he'll help and he loves to move furniture but he'd rather play with the toys than organize them!

We love to play with the doll house

Peanut playin' away

Building stuff

Imaginations running

We actually have time to play!  We can get out toys and play and play all day if we want and those days are truly my favorite!

I love this guy so much!

Cougar!

Beauty of the mountains I get to enjoy!

Hank and I can do date's at any moment. Like we went snow shoeing one afternoon because we could! We can take the kids with us too, but we didn't on this particular day.

The BAD!
Yep there are bad days, terrible days and very very discouraging days!   But I had the same feelings (although probably more often) when we didn't HS.  There are days I threaten I won't teach them at home anymore, days I just want to send them back and not have to deal with life for a few days, days when the grocery store by myself sounds like a slice of heaven.  There are days we literally get NOTHING done, days when we have been sick (this year has been a germ fest!) and we just read.  Days when  I feel like we aren't learning a dang thing!

Some days I wonder if this is really what I should be doing or if I'm just screwing this whole thing up!

Our bad hair days have been quadrupled since we really don't need to do our hair to go anywhere. Oh dear that sounds bad!  It's true though, Peanut's hair was always done in preschool.....now....well let's just say it's a little different these days!

You constantly have to find what is working and what isn't.  Especially this first year.  We have a plan and it works for a moment, then we are back to the drawing board.

The UGLY
There's not too much UGLY abut it, well maybe our hair some days! LOL!  Maybe our attitudes on other days.

But the I think the Ugliest for me is not giving ourselves credit.  We aren't perfect at this yet, nor will we probably ever be; but we are trying and that's what counts.  Also the comparison of what others are doing is UGLY for me because I think "are my kids getting enough socialism, are my kids getting to do what Johnny does?" Comparison is UGLY isn't it?  My kids are not Johnny  my kids are mine, my kids are home, my kids need what I can give them and that should be what I focus on.

SO, with all the good, the bad and the ugly ~ HS-ing is everything I dreamed of, everything I feared and everything I needed!  Today as we talked about our plans for next year we all discussed that we wanted this HS-ing thing to be our way of life, not just a fad.  We want to do this!  That's not to say that we won't ever embark on a different journey, but we aren't planning on that happening.  We are planning to do this through high school and if the chaos of life creates a new turn we will face it when it comes.

~WE ARE HOMESCHOOLERS~

Science~or lack of

I am working on getting my blog world a little more in tune.  We do so much and I want you all to read about it, but then the reality that my SUPERWOMAN POWERS aren't as SUPER as I think hits, and  squelches my longing for having this ROCKING blog that everyone reads!  sigh...Someday, someday I will get it in balance!

We have been doing some more experimental things lately which is super cool, but so out of my realm.  I don't do science, I don't like science, yeah it's cool and stuff but as far as how you break it down and understand how it does what it does, See I'm lost even with those words.  So with Buckwheat's curiosity and Jo's persistence we are attempting to do some Science ~ or at least do some cool experiments whether we know how they happened is a different subject.  (Always learning right?!)

Where would I go to find science stuff? DUH! Went to my fallback site, yep anything you want to find is discovered and kept safe for your viewing pleasure when you PIN it.  For more cool ideas on schooling at home or just cool projects follow me on Pinterest!
We found this milk painting on several sites and thought we'd give it a whirl.  You just add a little milk to a glass plate (yes we tired paper plates, didn't do anything!!!)  Add some food coloring and then a few drops of dish soap right in the middle and the soap creates a reaction in the food coloring and causes it to mix by itself into cool shapes and designs!  It was really fascinating to watch!

Jo and Buckwheat!  Loving life!

Swirling colors

Lil Peanut

See? So pretty!

Yep we even dipped coffee filters in the milky swirling colors
and made pipe cleaner flowers once they dried

The kids had a blast!  We even took it a step further and decided to capture the mixing colors on paper, so we quickly laid pieces of paper on top of the milk paint and the paper was then colored just like the milky creations! It was so fun and the kids had a blast.  Maybe experimenting is what Science is all about, not that we need to understand it all right now but that we try new things and learn as we go.  Science might be our new favorite subject! :)

Homeschooling? Yes we are!

So I know this post is LONG overdue.  I have had some, interesting weeks, along with my phone sd card going KAPUT! Yep, I lost all those glorious pictures, all the ones I was going to Blog about and show all the cool things we are doing in our HomeSchool. Oh bother!  Needless to say I was a little upset and saddened by the whole mishap.  So we had to kind of start over and get new pics and hopefully it won't make too much difference.  Thanks to my brother (and his upgrade to an Iphone) I got an sd  card and I can take pics now! 

SO It is official SWEAT ACADEMY started schooling in August about the 10th of August nothing official but somewhere around there is when it all began.  To say we LOVE IT would be an understatement!  I have enjoyed so many things about this and have only threatened the Cheese Wagon a few times.  (Little joke my mom use to tell my youngest bro if it was a... Hard homeschooling day, hehehehehe!).  The thing I like BEST about it is the time we have together.  I get to see my kids play with each other, play with toys, legos, furniture moving (which they are into now for some reason), computer games, movies, outside things.  We get to BE together and it is AMAZING!  The other day we were writing letters at the kitchen table and Hank came home for lunch.  He stood over them and helped Peanut write a few letters, I about cried right there at the table.  If I wasn't doing this they wouldn't get to have their Dad help them form letters or go on hikes.  Our family is suppose to BE together not BE apart.  On Sunday night we all took a drive up to Hanks families ground, we hiked and talked and picked sticks and tired to make a fire with two sticks.  We saw some Bull Elk and we saw the beautiful leaves.  We were late coming home but it didn't matter because no one had to get up for School the next morning.  That's not to say we don't have a schedule, we do, because I like to be ME for a moment at night.  But we have the FREEDOM to do more things with our new adventure! Homeschooling isn't for everyone, but is absolutely for US!

SWEAT ACADEMY 2012-2013 and it's dedicated students :)

Water beads!  One of our first little experiments.

So tiny!  But man did they grow.  They are fun, squishy and cool!