Fall Happenings

Well, fall is upon us in full swing. Our basil plants are dropping their leaves, we haven't gotten to enjoy mowing in a couple weeks since the grass growth has slowed down, and we are fattening up the chickens with corn for the cold winter months.

On the upside, we are enjoying things like chamomile tea and Scottish scones with lemon and ginger ...

*recipe from A Homemade Life, thanks Mom!

fires in the fire pit, and smelling like a camp fire till we get around to showering, sorry friends..

gloomy, rainy days at the Omniplex (I refuse to call it "Science Museum Okahoma") teaching the kids physics on the sly (with our friends Clayton and Evan who came with us so their mom could have a baby)...


We have green onions, broccoli, lettuce, and carrots growing since they like cooler weather, and used some slivers of green onion on this yummy cast iron skillet pizza...

Fall 2009 is also the season where we said goodbye to Grandpa John.
He was Nick's great-grandpa and the kids great-great-grandpa. John was 97 years old and he was just simply ready to see his wife again. Sharp as a tack and incredibly sweet till his last days. It was a blessing to have him around as long as we did.

He is missed by many people.

It's been a while since I've posted, so below is lots of stuff that we have been up to regarding our "learning encounters". I'd be flattered if you actually read it, but understand if your eyes glaze over.

First, we finished our unit study on Grandfather's Journey. In addition to what we already studied, Savannah learned some new art concepts like contrast and reflection, and we did some artwork together that exhibited these techniques. We did lots of math and did some work on the concept of weeks in a month and multiplication with numbers of weeks and days. The kids learned some new vocabulary. We discussed more about Japanese culture, the differing landscapes from Japan versus America, talked about pollution and taking good care of the world around us, and how big companies are supposed to be respectful of the world we live in. We also noted and discussed the different types of transportation that was available during the time periods in the book.

The next book we explored was How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. I suggest every parent get this book and explore it with their kids. I have talked about it before in a post below. It is just one of those books that you and your child fall in love with together.

First, we explored Italy, France, England, Sri Lanka, Jamaica by doing lots (daily discussions) of talking about their geographies, cultures, native animals, vegetation, and landscapes. For example, semolina wheat (we even bought some) from Italy and the Italian language, jaguars, Indian elephants and kurundu trees in Sri Lanka, the Indian and Atlantic oceans, bananas and sugar cane from Jamaica, apple orchards in Vermont, a review of France and much more. We did a science experiment of making seawater ourselves and waiting for the sun to evaporate it and collect the salt- just like the girl from the book did with water from the Caribbean sea.

We did this on the only sunny day we've had in forever and it proceeded to rain the same afternoon, so we'll be repeating this experiment, but the kids get the idea.

We did lots of new vocabulary, pantomimed, subtraction, fractions (with baking measurements) which led to the making of this...

Nick and the kids made it (since I do all of the cooking around here, it was a special treat to cook with dad!)

We started it after Felicity was in bed for the night and did not eat it till 11:15 p.m., on a picnic blanket, in our room. It takes a long time to make an apple pie from scratch.

Look at all the places in the world we have "explored"!

In addition to our book studies, Savannah has been doing lots of kindergarten worksheets, and Liam has been working on learning, drawing and gluing shapes (since it's fun and he loves it). Savannah has also learned the concept of seconds and minutes.

The kids have also been learning lots and having lots of fun at our homeschool co-op.

I have to end this post on a "only a homeschooled kid can...." phrase

Only a homeschooled kid can wear an outfit like this to "school" and not get made fun of, which makes my heart smile. Savannah can wear her 60's wallpaper print blue dress, pink sweater, red leggings, white socks and glitter shoes all she wants around here (till we go somewhere). ; )