Doll School

My girls want to be teachers already. Before they sat down for school, they set their babies up with file folders so their babies could get started with their morning work.

Physical Fitness

 This morning was very successful. My guess is that a really early bedtime helped for very happy motivated kids the next day. They finished all their independent work before 10am. This allowed time for some group activities. I decided to start our physical fitness program. On Friday, we will be getting together with our friends for group games and fitness tests. During the rest of the week, I want to be preparing the girls for Fridays.

 We started with some sprints.

 Then jumping jacks followed by some more running.

 Then moved onto sit-ups.

We ended with planks because the girls haven't quite mastered the correct posture for push-ups and then stretched out. It was a good first day. I am hoping to improve the girls' endurance and strength this year.

Air Pressure

Today, in science class, we discussed lift, drag, thrust and air pressure. Specifically, we discussed how these factors affect the flying creatures in God's creation.

 To demonstrate how air pressure works on lifting a bird into flight, we used this experiment.
1. Fill a cup to the top with water.
2. Cut a straw in two. One section of the straw needs to be just slightly higher than the cup.
3. Use the other section of straw to blow air over the top of the other straw without blowing on the water in the cup.
4. When you blow on the straw just right, water will come squirting out of the straw.

Picnic at the Pool

We ended a great first week with gym class at the pool. We met another homeschooling family while there. It was so awesome to have just three families at the pool. The kids took a break in their 5 hours of swimming to have a picnic poolside. We are absolutely loving hanging out with our friends again.

A New School Year Begins

I am more excited about this school year than I think I have been in awhile. I love homeschooling but this year is even better because our best friends are living down the street again. For the past three years we have been separated by the entire country...each living on separate coasts. Just last week we both moved to our new homes in Huntsville, AL. So this school year starts with alot of "new stuff" going on. We are still getting settled into our new home, unpacking and trying to learn our way around town but this also makes for a fun homeschooling adventure.

 For months, Tracy and I have had August 6th marked down as our first day of school and we wanted to make sure we spent the day together and of course made sure to get some pictures. The last time we got a group shot on the first day of school was 2007 when I was pregnant with Dragonfly. This time around, I am pregnant again. Our class is getting bigger!

 Our goofy bunch excited for their first day of school.

Princess Flower is in the 7th grade. She weighs in at 89.5lbs and is 58 inches tall. She loves art and being creative.

.Butterfly is 3rd grade. She weighs in at 59lbs and is 49inches tall. She loves to read and has the most beautiful handwriting.

Ladybug is in 2nd grade. She weighs in at 49.5lbs and is 46.25 inches tall. She has her own style and loves to do her own hair. She does very well with all of her subjects.

Dragonfly is in Kindergarten! She weighs in at 45lbs and is 43 inches tall. She is a budding reader and surprises me every day with what she already knows.

This year will be meeting together Monday and Wednesday to do math and science together. We will also be meeting together on Friday for P.E. and Keepers Club. I will be planning out and teaching science. We will be working through Zoology 1 by Apologia. I absolutely love this curriculum. I learned so much last year and I expect to learn so much more this year. It amazes me that I enjoy science so much and there was so much that I have never heard of and especially didn't learn in school. Tracy is taking care of math and incorporating songs, movement, and manipulatives to review math concepts. I know we will all be having a lot of fun this year!

Preschool Fun

 Since I will no longer have any in preschool come this fall and I still have some random preschool stuff left, I wanted to take advantage of having my niece over for the morning to use some of it up. I also thought it would be a great way to keep everyone in one place and out of the play closet and Grammy's house.

 The girls started off the morning by making blue collages.

 Then went hunting for red, blue, and yellow pom poms.

 Followed by a game off toss.

 The two younger girls were having so much fun with the pom poms that they were not interested in decorating tea pots.

It has been a peaceful morning with the 5 girls and everyone has stayed in the kitchen! Why is this so important....because Zoe is potty training and we want to keep her close to the potty and off the carpet.