A week at the lake...

everyone enjoyed the pool table

we all took plenty to read and enjoyed sitting in the warm sun every day

the water level was way down so Thomas and Abby had a great time wading across the narrow end of the lake to explore and bring back treasures

I read The Lonesome Gods aloud every night and we had good discussions

blue sky, pear trees just starting to bloom.....

vacation!

This week, we played around with some art - not so much Arts Week, because we had to finish up some writing and math, but we had an art lesson every day.  I used to subscribe to Homeschooling Today and had pulled out all the art lessons by Barry Stebbing.  I chose 3 artists: Italian artist, Correggio, and American artists, Winslow Homer and Norman Rockwell.

We read about Correggio first and studied a painting of Christ.  Then using colored pencils, Abby and Thomas copied the painting.  

We also studied Winslow Homer's paintings of one-room schoolhouses and drew our own.

Thomas' favorite artist is Norman Rockwell, so he loved reading about him! Thomas and Abby practiced drawing three faces: one from memory, one from a photo, and one from a model, and had to decide which was hardest (they decided that drawing a live person is tough!).  

We are not serious artists, nor serious art students, but reading about various artists and practicing art has definitely helped us look at God's world with different eyes.

Carrie is leading nature study using this blog, Handbook of Nature Study.  It's easy for Carrie and fun for the kids.  On this day, they were studying winter trees, doing bark rubbings, drawing branches, and looking for buds and leaves.

Thought I'd catch you up on what we've been up to for school lately.

A couple of weeks ago, we had Beyond Five in a Row Camp!  We read Homer Price and learned all kinds of things and did a few activities, too.  I simply took the manual and picked out the topics we were most interested in, gathered my materials and we started off on our adventure.

I have a pretty good collection of Reminisce magazines, so I was able to find a few articles about early radio, television, and telephones.  Since Thomas likes to listen to old radio shows, he heard a lot of names in the old stories that he recognized.  He spent the week writing a melodrama, which he, Abby, and Katie performed as a finale to our study.  Thomas and Abby made sandwich boards one day and proudly marched around the yard, he read Whatever Happened to Penny Candy (I thought it might be over his head, but he really enjoyed it and seemed to get the gist of it), we read "Rip Van Winkle", and made some pretty yummy donuts.

We've had our noses to the grindstone ever since the first of January and have made great progress, and this week we're being rewarded for our hard work with some interesting read alouds.  If you've never read The Great Turkey Walk, you should see if your library has it. It's a very entertaining book!

Next week, we're planning to do a bit of art and music appreciation, and then we're going to do a unit study on chocolate!  We're really looking forward to that!

Every year we make a Valentine's Day gingerbread house.  We worked on it last week and had a wonderful time together!  If you look closely, you can see where I dropped the entire kit and Rachel had to glue it all back together with icing before we could begin.  Oh, well, it turned out nice anyway!

Simple Woman's Daybook (July 18th, 2010)

My first daybook in months and months!

Outside my window...
It's hot, but the sky is bright blue and the clouds are beautifully white

I am thinking...
I've been catching up on some blog posts and have been thinking about those. But I'm also thinking about my 5 of my children who are in different countries and states and cities.

I am thankful for...
People who love me and take the time to get to know me in our new church. And for watermelons and tomatoes and cantaloupes, which people have brought from their gardens and are a blessing to us.

From the learning rooms...
Our first day of school tomorrow. We'll soon see if all those plans I've made are based on reality! lol

From the kitchen...
Rachel made a great tomato pie (a la Paula Deen), I made rolls (a la Decadent Housewife) and black bean avocado salad over the weekend for company. This week our milkless kids are not home, so it's buttermilk biscuits on the menu!

I am wearing...
Jeans, a red check ss shirt, no shoes and my fav earrings. Almost time to get ready to go to Sunday night church, though.

I am creating...
Blog posts for my poor neglected blog.

I am going...
To a new library one day this week to get cards and to a new park in the same town. We've just moved and I'm exploring!

I am reading...
I'm on a Rosamunde Pilcher kick right now.

I am hoping...
To get a lot done this week!

I am hearing...
Thomas and Abby playing. There's only Thomas, Abby, Carrie, and me at home, so it's fairly quiet.

Around the house...
I want to paint a little chest of drawers this week - light lime green. And I want to get the paint to make a chalkboard out of an old window, which is hanging in my kitchen. And I have a few more throw pillows to make for the girls' rooms. Probably won't get it all done, but I'm gonna try!

One of my favorite things...
Cantaloupe! Love it!

A few plans for the rest of the week...
My oldest daughter is coming home from a mission trip to Bolivia and we can hardly wait to see her!

A photo I'm sharing...
Ella in Yella - the most wonderful grandbaby in the world!

house before and after

Before::

During::

After::

Before::

After::

Before::

After::

Before::

After::

We've been in our new house for a month now! We've been wildly busy, unpacking, figuring everything out, getting settled, painting and painting and painting some more, and learning where things are in our new community.

The before pictures were taken when we came for a tour of the house about a month before we moved. The after photos were taken several weeks ago, but I haven't had time to post them. The camera is gone with Katie to Bolivia and I'll post some more when she gets back. We've done a lot just since these pictures were taken.