We started homeschooling! I am really happy with this decision. I now see our life and home as learning environments in all that we do. Chores are part of "school," the first 30 minutes. I get lots of time with the kids in the morning. In the afternoons we often have children from the neighborhood over or are running errands, had I put Dillan into public school I would have felt really distant from him or would have needed to turn away the neighborhood kids in order to enjoy some family time. I'm also learning so much about learning. Regular school is about an hour, 4 days a week. Twice a week we have art time in addition to that. We also have 20 minutes of recess each day after school. Fridays are "Field Trip Fridays" where learning takes place outside of books.
We got 40 pounds of peaches and 40 pounds of pears.
Kyle had Jury Duty and didn't get to do anything, just sat around for the first half of the day and was sent home.
Flew a kite.
We went to the Children's Museum (First Friday's are Free!) as our first home school field trip and had a picnic there.
We spent a day at Hood River (sorry, no pictures). They have the most awesome skate park I've ever seen. We spent a few hours there with Dillan on bike and scooter and Hazel on scooter. We also enjoyed a picnic there and talked to some of the other kids about what makes their scooters special. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I asked them that! Hood River has a small beach with a grassy park. We played at the beach for a few hours, everyone enjoyed the water. Lincoln sat right at the edge, with his legs in the water splashing and chewing on sand toys. I got to enjoy a mud bath. Hazel and Dillan loved swimming, wading, and playing in the sand. We played in the nearby park for a little and then the stroller "took control" and walked over to the gelato shop. Yummm...The day ended with a Carne Asada dinner with the Elder's Quorum that included a bounce house. I think we were too tired by then to really enjoy ourselves, but it was nice that someone else cooked dinner!
First Day of Home school
They both love it!
Lincoln can crawl!
Left to Right: Jessica, Hazel, Gisselle, Daniel, Dillan. We call them "the neighborhood kids."
Loving Art Time
Week 2:
I took 2 neighborhood girls to Activity Days and went to the Family History Center for the first time! I found 2 names for our youth to take to the temple and the girls got to learn about the microfilm readers as a bonus.
We hiked Bridal Veil Falls as our home school field trip. Hazel hiked it all by herself! (.5 miles). We found a caterpillar, looked at leaves, admired the waterfall, explored a little, touched the cold water, talked to some fellow hikers, listened to the sounds of the forest, laid down on the benches to see the view above us, and Hazel was brave and pet a dog!
Saturday was the Day of Service. Dillan was recognized as the hardest working 5 year old. He kept raking and raking along side his dad. We chopped down a lot of overgrowth on the Gresham-Fairview Trail, raked up leaves and debris, and threw away trash.
We also got to go to the temple!
Week 3:
Hazel started Ballet lessons. She loves it! She's learning all the French terms, watches and repeats what her teacher does, and is excited to do the recital in December. The instructor usually teaches some moves, has the girls do it with music and then hands out a prop for them to do it again (tutu, wings, wand...)
Jessica and Gisselle are often at our house for Family Home Evenings. We had the missionaries over to teach them this week.
Kyle took his mom out on a date as her Mother's Day gift.
I took the kids to the Bonneville Dam for our field trip. They learned about dams, fish ladders, and the spawning cycle of salmon. They also enjoyed running around on the roof of the building as we ate our picnic lunch.
Saturday was winter clothes shopping day at Once Upon a Child. My favorite store for used kids clothes.
Our good friends, the Dovers, had a good-bye party and moved to Florida at the end of the month, we miss them.
Our family did Cosmic Bowling for my birthday.
I got face "paint" for the kids. They are more like crayons.
Dillan is a Transformer, every time.
That window shows the fish swimming up the fish ladders. Dillan and Hazel enjoyed jumping off the seats and running around the room more than the learning experience :)
Hazel's conceptual art.
Dillan wrote the orange words: dad, had, and sad. Then he drew a "lad" with a word bubble saying "lad." How does he even know about word bubbles? That's awesome!
Proud home school moment!
This is the stuff memories are made of. Clean underwear on the head and loving it.
My favorite part of the evening: she danced after each bowl.
Week 4:
Hardy Family Dinner
Missionaries taught neighbors at Family Home Evening
Kyle chose to coach Dillan's indoor soccer team, had an introductory coach's meeting.
Activity Days for the neighbor girls.
Tried to do sewing for our Friday home school activity, ended up taking it in to get fixed
Watched Teddy Bear Parade, ate at Local Cow
Went to the Gresham Bike Fair, Hazel began learning to bike without training wheels, someone from local news got footage of her and said it was the cutest thing he'd seen in months.
Worked on fence post
General Women's meeting (loved that, a great spiritual experience)
The Power went out at church, we all went home an hour early, that was fun! The sewage system needed electricity to run, other than that it seemed like all classes were continuing as normal.
Worked on fence post more
Yes, I'm teaching the kids piano. It ends up happening about once a week.
My Boys!
