{Project365} Day 25: Classes and Clothing

 Our history studies are so much fun this year!  We're using Project Passport: The Middle Ages by Homeschool in the Woods.  I love the variety of activities and audio tours.  It's a little strange for me to read our "text" straight from the screen rather than having a printed copy even though printing is an option.  I'm trying to save a little paper, ink, and time by not printing more than necessary. 

 

Elijah and Luke cover some of the material in their history class at our weekly co-op.  The rest of the week, with Isaac joining in, I add on to what they've all ready completed in class - living books and the more time consuming projects.  Below are "puppets" depicting the different classes of people and the clothing they would have worn.

 

 

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo (or so) every day for one year

{Project365} Day14: A Tale of Two Talking Cats

...a fairy tale of talking cats, spies, and intrigue for his writing class at homeschool co-op

 

 

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo (or so) every day for one year

{Project 365} Day 11: I, Me, My, or Mine

 

{Project365}: capturing this life - one photo (or so) every day for one year

The Fab Five

I've been wanting to take photos of my five on our bed for some time now.  This morning brought sunny skies to brighten our room, caught up laundry for bright colored shirts, and no agenda other than living life at home today.  Perfect elements for an amateur photo shoot!

 

Honestly, I can't decide which is my favorite shot...

 

I'd love to purchase one of these photos as a large print or a wrapped canvas print to hang in our family room or living room.  In large part, that's why I chose the bright colors for their shirts...love me some color!!!

 

Love these faces even more...can't imagine life without them!!!  

Creationary

Lego lovers love Creationary.  At least mine do.

 

The boy who generally doesn't like board games likes this game...he loves Legos and he has a great imagination for building.

Jedi Warrior

Elijah has been asking me for months to make him a Jedi cape.  The other two boys seemed a bit indifferent to whether I made them each one as well or not, but since I was going to be making one they answered..."Sure, I'll take one if you're going to be making them!" 

 

I've had the material for at least a month...and have been asked every time the whir of the sewing machine could be heard whether I was working on capes or not.  Pretty much not...ever.

 

Finally, this past weekend, I took the time to make not one, not two, but three Jedi capes for my Star Wars loving boys.  They love them!  I'm pleased with how they turned out...just kinda figured it out as I went!  Ahh...serendipity!!!

 

Yup, he has been wearing his without much of a break. 

 



 

I feel quite safe in our home now, too, with three Jedi warriors protecting us!  He, he!

First Day of School?!

Today was our first day of school.  I wanted to get a head start on the year in order to take a few weeks off when the baby arrives.  I knew going to bed last night that our first day might not go as I had planned due to sniffles and coughs bothering all the kids.  Despite a rough night for Sadie and Luke, and consequently, myself, we plunged in to the day...

I actually hesitate to call this our first day but since we did accomplish a few things, I say it totally counts!!!  Oh my, were there bumps...schooling and otherwise, but I'm ending the day feeling good overall!  I spent much of the day just smiling and chuckling over how "imperfect" it truly was.  I kept thanking the Lord that I have the privilege of teaching our children at home and the ability to be flexible throughout.

At morning wake up, the kids enjoyed scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, and strawberries.  Each one found small buckets of supplies at their seats...pencils, colored pencils, scissors, erasers, glue sticks, writing paper, personal wipe boards,  Kit Kats, and a special note from Mama.  I forgot to buy chalk to write their names on the buckets, however, Luke remembered that we had sidewalk chalk in the garage!

Sadie received a few different items than the boys - Dora Band-Aids, markers, and purple Play dough but no writing paper, pencils, or colored pencils.  She was quite thrilled with her school stuff!

 Luke is starting 3rd grade!

Isaac is tackling Kindergarten/1st grade! 

Elijah is in 5th grade! 

Target's dollar section had these cute 24pk. note cards for lunch boxes.  One side is printed with encouraging words while the opposite side has space for a hand written note. 

I have been thinking I would send along a note in the boys' lunch boxes on Tuesdays when they go to co-op for the day.  We are all excited for the opportunity they have to take part in a school day each week at The Home School Academy.  Isaac will be participating in the Kindergarten/1st Grade class combining science, children’s literature, geography, history, music, and art using fun interactive unit studies.  Both Elijah and Luke will be take part in history, science, writing/literature, gym, and art/performing arts classes.  I couldn't resist using one of the note cards for each of their buckets this morning! 

Sadie loves the ABC's!  Her favorite letter is...can you guess???  It's "S."  She still isn't quite sure if she's right or left handed - she kept switching back and forth to color in these letters - however she has great fine motor skills with both hands.  I am hoping to keep her busy with some preschool activities this year as well as with a whole bunch of hands-on play. 

Isaac, my not-so-willing-student, did a wonderful job matching, naming, and coloring shapes.  I'm always thankful for the first few weeks of review to help us ease back into school mode.

Elijah often finds quiet space in the boy's room to help him concentrate.  Who doesn't love to do schoolwork lounging in bed, right?!

"Look, Mama!  I colored it!"

Our Luke had his first sick day of the school year.  Nothing much accomplished except sleep and 15 minutes of piano practice.  Poor guy!  In the afternoon, I implemented "rest time" for everyone...oh, yummy!  Mama got a nap!!!  If you would, pray that we all sleep better tonight!

Finally, on our agenda tonight, with bellies full of homemade chicken noodle soup...

The boys always plead with me to read "just one more chapter" of our read-alouds during the day.  With daddy gone all week, it will be easy to meet their request in the evenings to help settle everyone in for the night.

I'm so glad I took pictures of our first day...we did, indeed, accomplish some things!  It really makes the rest of the "bumps" of the day seem not so big a deal...

If You Make a Bowl of Popcorn...

Are you familiar with the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff? It's a humorous story about how a mouse keeps getting distracted and moving onto other projects/thoughts because the current project/thought makes him think of something new...

I've written my own personal version of this cute story...one I think is very worth telling.

If You Make a Bowl of Popcorn...

If you make a bowl of popcorn, your kids will want to sit with you to hear a story...

If your kids want to hear a story, you'll tell them about how you learned to make such delicious homemade popcorn at the beach with Aunt Margo...

Thinking about the beach will remind you of that summer when you realized renting a house on the beach was the vacation of all awesome vacations and how mama and the other two aunties were hoping to get pregnant at the same time...our longed-for beach babies...

Thinking about beach babies will remind you how excited you were to find out you were expecting your fourth baby due in July 2009...a girl...

If you tell the story of Sadie Kathryn's arrival, you'll have to tell about how excited you were to have a son join your family in August 2006...and how you "laughed" about having your third boy...

If you tell about Isaac Joel, then you'll have to tell about how shocked you were to find out Luke Daniel was going to arrive in May 2004...just eighteen months after his older brother was born...

If you think about your oldest son, Elijah Michael, arriving in November 2002, you be reminded how nervous and excited you were about having your first child...

Since you've taken so long telling the beautiful life stories of Sadie, Isaac, Luke, and Elijah, you'll be asked to make just one more bowl of popcorn...

When you are making the second bowl of popcorn, you'll be reminded that now is probably a good time to tell about one more beautiful life...the precious one that will arrive in October 2012...

When you are telling about the new baby coming, you'll be reminded that life is to be celebrated, that all good gifts come from the Lord - the Giver of Life, and that this baby is dearly loved and wanted...no surprises, no regrets...just love, excitement, and anticipation...

And when you share how excited you are about your fifth baby, you'll pray that others will share in your joy and excitement, too...

Baby and Mama looking all springy and bright...11.4 weeks.

Isaac's prayer journal from church...March 18. 2012

Sweetness

Oh, the sweetness...

Defending

We're the first house on our cul-de-sac street. By default, that makes us the defenders of the street...a responsibility we take very seriously.

The only downside is deciding in a split second who is a neighbor and who is an invader...I fear we may have fired upon several allies since we have only lived here for six months...

*In truth...the boys are allowed to aim and fire when there aren't any cars pulling into our street...when a car does turn in, they are supposed to cease fire and aim elsewhere...*

Snowman

This has been the most unusual winter...barely any snow, fairly mild temperatures, and the kids being "trapped" inside because it's usually too mucky, rainy, and wet to play outside.

But not this day...

He's so cute (Elijah, I mean...).

That's really why I posted this picture.

Wanted

Spotted some cowboys with rifles pokin' 'round the ranch. They posted these here things on my corral...

...now I'm afeared for my life.

SnapShop Online Photography Course - Day One

Since purchasing my camera (Canon Rebel T3) at the end of the summer, I've been fiddling around with it, taking lots of photos in automatic mode and capturing a few accidentally decent shots in manual mode. But things are gonna change, I tell you! I am participating in an online photography course offered by one of my favorite bloggers, Ashley. I think I comment a lot on her blog (maybe in comparison to others but then again maybe not...). She's wildly popular so I'm hoping she doesn't really notice and wonder if I'm actually stalking her.

Because I'm not.

I just like her...

...and what she stands for in regard to her faith, her family, and the loveliness she creates through her photography and other goods/materials. We have the same mix of kids at similar ages, too, until their newest little one comes home...how fun is that?!

So, back to the course...it started last night. I was counting down the minutes until 5pm when the class went "live." And then, counting down the minutes until our guests left (no offense...it truly was a wonderful time of fellowship and I'd miss the 5pm start time just to have you here again!) And then, my hubby and I needed to spend time reading to and snuggling our little ones. Ahhh...finally about 9:30pm, I logged in for my first peek at the course!

The instruction was all about composition. Some things I'd read or heard before, other things were new. And they have names, like "mergers" and "movement." Oops...I "merge" all. the. time. And I don't like the pictures because someone usually has another appendage of some sort. Got it...no merging!

Our first assignment is to take shots focusing on composition and capturing the story we want to tell. No worrying about technical stuff. I'm planning to document my practice shots and assignments for comparison purposes over the next few weeks.

Please comment and leave your feedback so I can improve!!!

Here are some inside shots for today - no editing just straight out of the camera (isn't that SOOC or something?!) Let's see if I understand this composition stuff!

Photo 1: I like the angles and lines

Photo 2: Hmm...merging my son's head with the rug

Photo 3: Twinge of merging on the back of Eli's head, otherwise like the angles, rule of thirds



Photo 4: Something isn't right, but I like the idea this photo...Is the leg of the piano messing up this shot? Part of the letters missing from the chart? Piano merging with the chair?

Photo 5: Oh man...Elijah's mouth merging...now that's all I can see!

Photo 6: I like this one though maybe I should have cropped closer to his back?

ALRIGHT...now you tell me what you think!