Geting going....

This is our second week of school and things are getting off to a good start.  I wanted to get going early because I like to have the freedom to travel in the fall without getting behind!  I am loving teaching little Charlie.  Yes, I have taught three other kindergarteners, but now that I'm at my last one I am savoring it much more.  I wish I'd taken more pictures of the others learning. 

I brought my little school desk (that my grandmother painted for me when I was four) downstairs,  and he and Tucker are both using it.  So cute.  :)

I know I baby Tucker and Charlie, but in my mind I see them like this-

Our artist in residence is keeping himself busy.  He woke up yesterday and said, "I need a cucumber!  I need a cucumber right now- I want to make a cactus!"  And he did.

We are cleaning out the Lego fiasco downstairs.   All these years the Lego area has been at the landing at the bottom of the basement stairs.  That meant that when they got strewn all over the floor you couldn't even walk to the rest of the basement without stepping all over everything.  We are moving them into a corner of one of the guest rooms.  We got some shelves at Walmart to help contain the chaos, and Marky put them together all by himself. 

Meanwhile Tucker didn't realize the shelf was being put together, and when he found out he missed the fun of building he fell apart.  We quickly let him help hang some pictures to raise his spirits. 

We are all enjoying Marky's science experiments.  :)

Meanwhile, can I just say how happy I am that we got a Smart TV?   I really don't know how I homeschooled without it.  Now that I can get YouTube and internet streaming on the TV we can watch all kinds of things.  For instance, yesterday was the Feast day of St. Dominic de Guzman, founder of the Dominican Order.  We read about him and made some cookies in his honor, but it was so easy to pull up a quick YouTube on his life- there were tons to choose from.  And it's much easier than huddling around the Ipad or computer.

Also- we are all covering ancient history this year using the Tan homeschool Story of Civilization.  It's very similar to Story of the Word, but it's from a Catholic viewpoint and has videos as well as CDs.  I love it!  We listen to the chapters on the CD in the car (and they are well done with background noises and music), watch the weekly lecture on the TV (that has pictures of maps and famous people as well as a quiz at the end- so helpful), do an activity and take the test. 

Speaking of Story of the World, or any four-year history cycle- there is this great website that has supplemental video links for each topic.  I highly recommend watching some!

And finally, some pictures from Sunday. 

Hymn

"Take up thy Cross," the Savior said, 
"if thou wouldst my disciple be; 
deny thyself, the world forsake, 
and humbly follow after me." 

Take up thy cross, let not its weight 
fill thy weak spirit with alarm; 
his strength shall bear thy spirit up, 
and brace thy heart and nerve thine arm. 


Take up thy cross, nor heed the shame, 
nor let thy foolish pride rebel; 
thy Lord for thee the cross endured, 
to save thy soul from death and hell. 

Take up thy cross and follow Christ, 
nor think till death to lay it down; 
for only those who bear the cross 
may hope to wear the glorious crown. 

This and that

I walked into the kitchen and was shocked to see this little elf on the shelf. :)   I said, "Tell me what I'm looking at here."  He said, "Oh nothing, I just thought I'd make myself a bit of peanut butter toast."  And he did.  :)

Speaking of shocking things in the kitchen, it seems my kitchen is now a science lab.  Marc is doing Apologia General Science this year and he has chosen to do every single experiment in the book.  I walked into water boiling yesterday and said, "What are you doing?!!!" and he said, "learning about atomic movement."  And there's a lot of "Mommy, I need a red cabbage and a beaker- do we have that?"  I can tell this is going to keep me busy.

This week the children had their well-child check ups.  Everyone did well.  Julia and Charlie went on one day.  They are both in the 90-97% for height. 

Charlie hardly cried when he got his shots. However, Julia needed to give a little blood sample, and I'm not even going to put on here how horribly that went.  Suffice it to say, she did not give blood, and we are going to have to go back with Daddy sometime to get the sample and apologize to the lab techs. 

Marc and Tucker did well.  Marc is 5'8 and 138 lbs at age 12- way off the chart.  Tuck Tuck was in the 75% for height- in our family he's the little guy. 

Thursday evening they had the most beautiful Mass to pray for vocations to the priesthood.  There were many priests, deacons and seminarians on the altar. 

Thy Will Be Done

Many people close to me are suffering greatly right now.  I feel like every day I hear of some other terrible struggle someone is in.  A local homeschooling friend is in hospice dying from cancer leaving behind her seven children, the youngest only 3.  I heard this song today by Hillary Scott, from Lady Antebellum, and I have played it all day and love it.  I heard the song was written after a miscarriage, so of course that makes it dear to me. 

Summer days drifting away....

Well we are getting near the end of our summer break.  We've already started some of our subjects for school.  We have enjoyed the lazy summer days- even if the heat is oppressive.  The children love to go hiking with Daddy in the woods behind our home.   They go all the time. 

 

 

We've been having Beckon Landing (BB and Poppy's farm) watermelon for dessert at night.  Charlie said, "You know, when I was at BB and Poppy's I saw wittle baby watermewons in the garwden."  I said, "these are those watermelons all grown up!" and he smiled his squinty-eyed smile that melts my heart.  We have reading and prayer time on the porch almost every night after supper.  The other night it poured down rain and we felt so cozy reading together.  We've started the Bantry Bay series.  We're currently almost done with The Cottage at Bantry Bay.

Speaking of books we like- Marc just finished his 3rd Horatio Hornblower book and loved it.  It's set during the Napoleonic Wars and full of adventure. 

By the way I chose those books because of this post on one of my favorite blogs.  I have found her book recommendations to always be spot on!  And speaking of learning- we are sort of back in the saddle here at Ayers Academy.  :)  Marc is in 7th grade- what?!  He's in Prealgebra this year- it's getting real people!  The good news is I still have my little kindergartener- I just love teaching the little guys. 

Last night we had a family chess tournament.  The children loved it!   While shaking hands, Tucker said, "Best of luck to you, Sir."  :)

And for the record- Daddy is still reigning champion.  It will take some time for someone to beat him, but it will be a real accomplishment when they do!