A New Year

We are headed into a new school year. Much is staying the same. I'll be using the same combination of Charlotte Mason and Robinson in my schooling.

I'm adding a grammar program - Daily Grams. And I've discovered two fonts on Donna Young's website, which you can use in Word to make your own handwriting worksheets. I have one girl that desperately needs work on her handwriting beyond copywork. Then I have another that needs to solidify her knowledge of cursive. I think cursive is becoming more passe in general in this day, but I think it still a good skill to have down.

I've driven myself CRAZY trying to figure out what activities we are going to do this year (out of the house). Our state tightened it's funding, so what they were helping to pay for last year, they aren't this year. We were paying the full expense for dance and also for my oldest daughter's private violin lesson. Orchestra and art were mostly paid for by our homeschooling program. And, my younger (middle) daughter is moving up in dance (makes her dance more expensive) and my youngest daughter has been wanting to start dance. Obviously, it wasn't doable to pay for Orchestra, Private Violin, Art Class, and Dance.

My oldest thrives at art and I really wanted to keep that. Somehow I wanted to keep my kids playing an instrument. But, in the end, for this year, I sided with dance. The girls all love it and the youngest hasn't gotten a chance to do it. I also signed up for a few local classes for homeschoolers that are close to our home and that are free through our homeschooling program (and we retain our homeschooling status). So the two older girls are taking Drama and my oldest is taking Choir and all three girls are taking Dance. We'll see about an instrument. If Grandma can pay for lessons, we might do that too (just the lessons, not the Orchestra class). But, honestly, I think that may be stretching us too thin this year. Yet, I'd like to see them stay with an instrument.

Pray for me to just settle into what the Lord has directed me to do this year. I'm going to have a chance to work at our business too, a little too with the activities I picked for the girls. My husband can take the littles home and I can work while they take their classes, since work is very close to their classes. I'm also praying for my heart to be stirred for the lost and the hurting. Always, I guess. But, sometimes, as a homeschooling Mom, I think it becomes easy to be focused only on your kids and not on the needs of this world. I pray that this year I'd learn to pray, even in my busy-ness.

Right now, this weekend, my husband is gone with my 10 year old and 8 year old girls and my step-daughter on a camping trip. They are hiking and picking huckleberries. It's a great experience for them. I'm home with the 3 year old and the 1 year old. The one year old seems a little sick, but I'm thinking it's possible it could be a bad case of teething. He has a fever and no appetite. It's also VERY hot outside here (hot for us anyhow). It's September 10 and it was 91 degrees here today and tomorrow is supposed to be just as hot. Then, it is supposed to cool down. As far as I'm concerned heat like this is meant for spending time by the water.

It was never that hot here in the Summer part of Summer, so I suppose it's right that it's hot now. At least our corn is growing. We gave up on a lot of vegetables around here because when we planted them, the seeds rotted in the ground from the wet and the cold, and we planted our plants late. Everything I did in my 8' x 6' greenhouse did great. I really want a great big greenhouse. Nothing fancy, but I really think it could pay for itself as we could extend our seasons and even grow some things year round. That's a big project for my husband though. ;)

Olympic Peninsula Vacation #4 - Hoh Rainforest

Here is the last installment of our vacation. That vacation wore me out! So, here it is 3 weeks later and I'm just now putting up the last of the photos. I hope to do some other type of outing this year (like going to the beach), but doing outings with a new one year old is hard. He just wants to eat rocks and not always big ones either.

We've had a mild summer here and enjoyed a time at the fair. We also got a new calf which we are bottle feeding. I hope to have a tame steer out of the deal. I'm in charge of feeding him! My little baby also turned one. It's all going by so fast, as it's been really hectic, but I hope to put up what pictures I have of that soon. Yesterday, it finally turned hot. It was 95 degrees here yesterday and we went to the river. The girls wades and arranged rocks, but we should have brought our swimming suits. I actually enjoy that kind of weather, as long as I have a cool house to come home to. I hope all of you are having a good summer.

Olympic Peninsula Vacation #3 - Kalaloch Beach & Beach 4

Here is the next leg of our vacation. After visiting Hurricane Hill, Sol Duc Falls, Lake Crescent, and Salt Creek, we headed around the Olympic Peninsula to the Ocean. We stayed at Kalaloch Campground, which I highly recommend. The beach is wonderful and the campground is good too. There are numerous other highly beautiful beaches surrounding Kalaloch. This trip we went to Beach 4. Isn't that a funny name for a beach? This beach is known for its tide pools. But, this year, the low tide during the day was positive 3, so there wasn't much to see even at low tide. We went there several years ago and saw tons of tide pool life. This is highly recommended. But, check your tide schedule. Even without a low tide, this beach is beautiful. And probably because of the lack of low tide, it was totally isolated. We had a great day.

My middle girl. At our campground.

About to go down to the beach by our campground. Kalaloch Beach.

The water is cold on the Olympic Peninsula.

Someone fell in the water.

Beach 4 - Olympic Peninsula

Sand Castle Building was in order.

The 3 year old's sand castle. (Her Daddy actually made it.)

Watching and waiting.

Incoming Tide - Beach 4 - Olympic Peninsula

Waves - Beach 4 - Olympic Peninsula

The demise of the sand castles

Vacation & Doing A Little School

We went on vacation to the Olympic Peninsula. On one hand, with five kids total including a three year old, an 11 month old, and a seven year old with a few extra challenges when it comes to not being home, it didn't feel much like a vacation. I mean it was hard, yet rewarding. And we got to explore and see new things. Which was awesome.

Since getting back, I've been organizing the house and even doing a little school. The last couple of days I've been doing Daily Grams by Wanda C. Phillips with the kids. They really love them. They are short and sweet...to the point.

I've also been trying to get more organized for my three year old. She has been a regular Princess Tyrant lately. Oh, I am pretty much as consistent as can be and she is still that way. One factor, I think, is just her coming to the age of testing, of course. Also, she REALLY needs a nap every day. Some days I'm just too busy, or I'm out and a about, and I end up paying for it. Thirdly, I think, she is bored. Yet, she has a short little attention span. So, I'm trying to come up with more ideas regarding what to do with her. I think I'm going to have her watch the Leap Frog Letter Factory movie most days. She enjoys the break and I think if I get her recognizing her letters, there are a world of activities that will open up to her. Normally, I don't believe in videos, but this video teaches the sounds of letters so well, and it frees up a little of my time. I'm also trying to get her something to trace everyday...letters or numbers, and get her setup with short little activities everyday, similar to Activity Bags, so she feels like she's doing something.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from vacation.

My little three year old (with the cast on her arm) and her three year old friend.

And, here is a picture from two days after our vacation, on a hike on Silverstar Mountain. We had three families and 17 children represented at the top of the mountain.

Olympic Peninsula Vacation #2 - Hurricane Ridge & Sol Duc Falls

We recently went on a vacation to the Olympics. I started the vacation struggling some with asthma and allergies due to grass allergies and by the end of the trip my allergies were mostly better. YAY.

While visiting the Olympics we also visited with some friends. That was nice. Here is my first set of photos from our trip. These are from Hurricane Ridge and Sol Duc Falls, both close to Port Angeles, WA. Later in the trip, we ventured around the coast and then to the rain forest. The Olympics are so diverse, it's amazing.

Mt. Olympus