Learning at School and Home: Year 5

First day of school (7th, 4th, and 9th grades)

 We took an unexpected trip to the Grand Canyon

The boy studied hard, taking dual credit courses as a freshman

He also learned to cook.

 Sharpened some existing skills

 (the sisters couldn't be outdone)

 And changed a few light bulbs in awkward places

 Our county Fire Department opened a new station in October, so we gave it a visit

And the girls went on a school-sponsored fishing trip

Ember caught the biggest fish and won a hoodie

We took walks with dogs

We had bunnies in the yard

Ember's self portrait was featured in a local gallery

 Willow played all of the sports

And tried a few new things (things that need a little more work)

 Marching Band is Ryvre's sport

Of course, Willow does that too!

Ember's softball season has just begun

Learning at school may be finished for another year, but there's plenty to do over the summer.

Technological Wasteland

After checking into several options, it has come to our attention that we are completely unable to obtain internet service in our home until the phone company decides to put DSL lines in our neighborhood, or one of the cell companies strengthens their signal or places another tower in the area.  This leaves us in a pretty difficult position in regards to both communicating with our friends and relatives, and continuing to homeschool our children.

I will of course continue to update whenever possible, though it may mean postdating entries (fortunately, Blogger makes that easy and painless).  And we will continue to give our kids the best education we can, even if the technology is sparse, and even if it eventually means we turn to the local public school district (it is small, and the longer we live here, the more wonderful things we hear about it, so this may well be a very good thing).

The point is, things are changing here, and we're still progressing, but it may be a bit harder to see it from a distance.

Snowpocalypse

Well, not quite as the weather predicted, but we did get a lot of snow for southwest Missouri.

Out the front door

The back

The driveway...somewhere...

Our street

The main street

But we started our day with Little House on the Prairie.

Then we did a project with the flowers Dale has given me over the years

We pressed the dried petals onto contact paper

Ember was distraught when she realized the flowers were in fact dead.

Willow posed with hers

Ryvre's--it looks like petals scattered on the table, which is what i was going for

The contact paper didn't stick as well as i had hoped it would; i had to finish the edges with packing tape, and the above is the result of Ember shaking hers up and dragging it around the house.  Oh well, it's sort of like a flat, petal-filled snow-globe.

Our snack: strawberry chardonnay cheddar with fresh strawberries (i suggest eating them with graham crackers--tastes like cheesecake, minus the sweetness)

Willow needs more than one craft per day.

Ready to brave the blizzard

The road didn't get plowed, but we still got mail!

Willow slid down everything

Who needs a sled?  We have plastic cutting boards!

But some would rather tumble down the hill than slide.

Home

This is it: