October

Wow--I can hardly believe it's November! Here are some highlights of our month....

First of all, Middle Bro. turned 14!!   Where are all these teenagers coming from??  Middle Bro. is a great person to have in our family!   I think 3rd children are SO great (yes, I'm a 3rd too:))   Happy Birthday to my smart, talented, and considerate boy!!

  

My favorite times in homeschooling are when I can just sit down side by side with a child or children and work with them.  There's something great about watching them learn and progress--and I also love the quality time I get with them when we work together!

A few weeks ago, Little Bro. was very distraught about doing math problems in his workbook.  I really wanted him to do more problems, but he was quickly losing patience and desire.  I considered telling him to do it anyway, but knew that would probably end up making us both miserable!

Luckily, I thought of getting this white board out.  It was like magic!   He loved working out the rest of his math problems on the board!

It was just adorable the next day when Little Bro. got the white board back out--all on his own--and made this "alphabet challenge" for Baby Sis!   Then he sat by her and helped her fill it out!  

This is some of the magic of homeschooling!  I love it!  

Not every day is "magical" though.   There are often times my children drag their feet and whine about doing work.  One particularly hard day, I came back to the kitchen table and found this...
just makes me laugh!  Often times school work is just no fun!

My children LOVE going to a homeschooling co-op each week.  In this picture, the girls had fun making "hamburgers" from Vanilla wafers, chocolate mint cookies, and colored frosting.  Middle Sis is doing great in crochet class as well!

 Basketball time in PE!

 One Friday, the younger kids and I got to take a fun trip to Lost in Fun with their favorite babysitter!  Since I finished school, we haven't seen much of our favorite babysitter lately and the little ones have missed her.

 On Halloween day we attended a Homeschooling Halloween party with our friends.  In this game, the kids blew up a balloon and then let the air out toward the cup to push the cup forward!   Why didn't I think of this before?? They loved it!

 I don't like spending a lot of time and energy on costumes.  Thankfully, our kind neighbor let the youngest 3 borrow a costume!   My older ones were on their own, so that just left middle Sis. that I actually had to help.
Big Bro. went as Percy Jackson (if you don't recognize the Camp Half-blood shirt).  Middle Bro. went as an error screen...or something.  If you can read it, it says: Error 404: Costume not found.

 

 Little Bro was a storm trooper...Here he is trying to knock cups down with a ball in stockings...

 Baby Sis's turn...

 Middle Sis wanted to be a Wizard.   She didn't have a specific wizard in mind, but we kind of went toward a Gandalf the white theme.  She was so excited to get to wear a beard.  The girl cracks me up!

 She vows that she will keep the beard and wear it every year....no matter what her costume may be...silly girl! 

 Their favorite game is the toilet paper mummy wrap.

 My friend's kids were all Lord of the Rings characters, so Middle Sis fit right in with them!  OMG, I love that little hobbit!   He is Baby Sis' age and made a perfect Hobbit.  He told me he was "Merry", because Merry wore the yellow vest.   Cutie pie!

 Big Sis joined the fun for the Trunk or Treat at church and came up with a cute Little Red Riding Hood costume.

 Enjoying the spoils....

 With our peanut allergies, Dad ended up with a big bowl of stuff we won't eat (as he does every year).  (He took it to his work)

...And, more homeschooling....laundry doesn't wait for math lessons....what we do when the laundry gets piled up....sit down and work while mom folds clothes.