Summer 2014 random pictures and thoughts

Summer is coming to a close with our normal special days.  How can a person put into words what our annual conventions mean to us?  Visiting with old friends, meeting new friends, hearing things that feed our souls... There really are no words to describe those days.

We were able to go to 2 of our Illinois conventions (the 3 oldest girls rode along with some friends to a 3rd) and to one in Knoxville, TN. Some good friends of ours moved there a few years ago, so it was really nice to see them and get a tour of their new home.  The girls also spent several days at the convention grounds helping get things ready.  I don't think any of them were really ready to end those days and get back to our "normal".

Now we are working on getting into our school year routine.  It always takes a few days to really get the feel of our new schedule.  This year we have added a little 6 month old boy to our days - the kids are babysitting for him.  It has been a few years since we had a baby to distract us - he is so cute and fun, it is hard for anyone to resist playing with him.

Ladd snuck in to enjoy the air conditioning on a hot summer day

Maybe she shouldn't have trusted her sister to comb her hair...

Fun times

A lot of fun times were enjoyed in the pool

Emily wrote a note for her sisters while they were away (I think she missed them)

Garrett and his new buddy

Exploring

Abigail enjoying our daytime little guy

Starting his day out right

I sent the boys out for the mail and they got sidetracked (they brought the mail in first).  

These shoes are normally yellow

All suited up to help clean out the freezer

Brrr...

Simply amazing!!

A science project.  Such an amazing process to watch.

From Caterpillar

To Butterfly

Summer Strings

The girls were in the Summer Strings orchestra again this summer.  They had 8 weeks of practice (one evening a week) and then ended with a picnic and concert in the park.  There were participants from age 3 to senior citizens, so it is a great mixture of levels of players. Here is a link to a recording of the concert.

A new project

A friend of ours collects and repairs violins and other stringed instruments.  Todd was visiting with him the other day and asked him if he ever found any cellos in his searching for violins.  He had an 1850s (or somewhere around that year) cello that is in pieces - which we are now owners of... It should be a fun winter project for Todd & some of the kids.

Flying

 Our town had some "Young Eagles" flights today.  They give kids a short class on airplane safety and then fly them around the area for about 20 minutes.  All of the kids except Garrett got to go up in the air today (it is only for ages 8-17) - it was a really great experience!

Grandma's 100th Birthday

I was trying to get a picture of Lincoln & his Great Aunt Hilda having a great conversation - but they caught me taking a picture and stopped visiting to pose 

Summer Weekends

We've had a few weekend trips this spring/summer, but I didn't do very well taking pictures - or blogging about them - so I'll just post a few for us to remember our time.

Kansas

Missouri

Wisconsin

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend

Rockford

Rockford

Michigan

Michigan

Violin Recital May 19, 2014

Laura's Violin Recital Piece

Abigail's Violin Recital Piece

Charlotte's Violin Recital Piece

Emily's Violin Recital Piece

The camera wasn't turned on for all of Heidi's piece so here is a snippet of it.  We'll try to video her playing it again so we can get all of it on here.

Part of  Heidi's Recital Piece

Happy 8th Birthday, Lincoln!!!

We love you!!

And we're (mostly) DONE!!

The 2013-2014 school year at Jordan Creek School was completed today. - 3 days earlier than scheduled.  Some of the kids have been done for a few days already, but the last pages were written, torn out and cut up today.

Except for Laura and Abigail, that is... they still have an online math class to work through until June 19... But that will only take an hour or so a day.  And of course there is piano and violin practicing to take up some time...

I'm never sure who is happier when this day gets here every year.  The kids or the Mom. :)

Warning... Feel free to skip the rest of this post.  I'm about to brag on them and give them a mini public report card :0) - Just a little summary of their year so I can look back on it with hope when we get into the annual February "School is not going well!" slump.  Since it is hard for homeschoolers to remember what grade they are in, because we just keep working through the books as we finish them I'll list the grade they would be finishing if they were "going to school"  (Note: We do have our struggles some days, but this is focusing on our successes this year!) - AND A NOTE FOR YOU KIDS IF YOU READ THIS.  Just because I mention a strength or a success for one of you doesn't mean it doesn't apply to others of you too! You are all doing a great job and we are extremely happy with all of you!!! :)

Garrett: Has a good start and is in the beginning stages of reading and is doing really well with math. He is ready to hit the road running next fall.  Most of his school was done in the form of play this year, but he did do some book work, online school and reading.  If he was "going to school", he would be starting kindergarten next year. I'm really happy with where he is with his learning. Hopefully he will really love school because his current ambition is to be a veterinarian (I've read that this requires 8 years of post high school education) and farmer.

Lincoln: Finishing 2nd grade. He'd rather do his learning by reading books and observing.  His brain is a little fact machine. Sitting down with a workbook is not his idea of fun... We do a lot of things orally and on the computer.  He is flying through math and science.  He finished the 1st semester 4th grade math book in one of the math programs we use, and has read the elementary books through the middle school books of another one of our math programs.  He was reading Abigail's "Advanced Algebra" books for fun the other evening.  He'd rather not bother with grammar, handwriting, or spelling, but gets along pretty well in those subjects, anyway.  His favorite thing to do in his free time is reading (science books and Boxcar Children books)  If you want to find him when he is outside, you might have to look up - he loves to climb trees.

Heidi: Finishing 3rd grade.  I think Heidi has grown the most academically this year. Things that were a struggle for her at the beginning of the year have became pretty easy for her by the end. Her favorite subjects tend to be in the language arts area. She really likes grammar and reading.   Math started clicking for her also this year.  We put away one of her math programs for a while because she just wasn't getting it.  When we pulled it out again, she took off with it.  She is really advancing in her piano - she enjoys violin, too, but really prefers piano. I'm really happy with her growth both in school and just in general.  She is quickly growing out of the "little girl" stage. (I'll admit that it is hard to see our youngest girl growing up so quickly, though.)

Emily: Finishing 5th grade. Emily had a strong finish to her school year and is ready to take on the more difficult school work that comes in middle school.  I'm happy to see her taking responsibility for her school work and getting it done without much prodding. She and Charlotte enjoyed working together on American History this year - they have the second American History book in that series to work on next year.  She is really enjoying violin lessons and is doing well with them.  She, also, is really growing in a lot of ways. (Besides in height... she's been doing plenty of that too!)  She's getting to be a great help around the house and is really learning her way around the kitchen.  I'm looking forward to her getting started in some new subjects next year and hoping she will enjoy them as much as I think she will!

Charlotte: Finishing 7th grade.  Charlotte has quietly and steadily worked through her school this year. I really haven't had to "encourage her" to do school - she just did it. She finished up some of her middle school level classes this year, and I think she will be ready for a several high school level classes next year.  She had a couple this year and did fine with them.  She is doing really well with her music.  I happened to walk in to her piano lesson one day recently without her or her teacher knowing I was there and overheard her teacher telling her that she was going to be giving her older sisters a run for their money.  Her violin music is sounding really nice, too. Like all of her siblings, I think reading is her favorite pastime.  We really keep the library busy.

Abigail: Finishing 8th grade. Abby is a very strong student.  She does well in all of her subjects. We give all of the kids a very rigorous schedule (as well as a crazy, busy life), and she keeps up with seemingly no problems.  She finished up a high school advanced algebra book and also a  college level beginning algebra online class.  She is most of the way through an intermediate algebra college online class which she will finish up by the middle of June. She is also doing well with piano and violin and I've noticed a lot of growth in her playing. She is just an all around great girl.

Laura: Finishing 10th grade. We're trying something new this year. (Laura is our guinea pig - in this as well as in many other things)  She is spending her high school years working towards her associates or (she hopes) bachelor's degree through online classes and testing.  If we have it all figured out right, she should be able to graduate from high school and get her associates degree at the same time.  It was almost 2nd semester this year before she got started so it may take her an extra semester or two after she is finished with high school to get her degree. She is working hard on it, though, so I will not be at all surprised if she gets it done.  She has taken a few CLEP (College Level Examination Program) tests and some online college courses which give college credit - she finished a class today that brought her up to 18 potential credits.  There are a few accredited colleges and universities that offer distance degrees and she is hoping to get her degree in general business management in one of them.  She has always been and continues to be a really good student, and I'm also very happy with the way she is growing into a young lady.

I'm always so thankful that we started out home schooling our kids.  It has been an amazing experience to be able to enter in to this part of their lives and I think about what I would have missed out on if we didn't home school.

Thanks kids (because I know you are reading this :) ) for doing such a great job with school and just for being such great kids!  We love you!

Need suspenders?

Garrett: Mommy do you know why I like to wear sweat shirts?

Me: No, why?

Garrett: Because I don't have to tuck them in and I can snap my pants as soon as I put them on and they don't fall down

Good night...

... sleep tight - Not much sleeping happened - pretty sure they needed a bigger bed.