the health adventure...

we are in the midst of our last main lesson block for grade 4...a geography block...

has there ever been a better excuse to get out & go places ?!?

at any rate, our second field trip was to our local children's museum, the health adventure...

la musica!

always a fan of dress-up!

practicing for when we go to michigan...:)

walnut creek

at the beginning of may we began our final homeschooling block...'local geography'.

i saved this one for last because i wanted to go on loads of field trips, and so we wanted the weather to be nice, of course.

here are some gorgeous photos from our first outing the park at walnut creek. we went with our favorite family, the millers!

the weather was absolutely gorgeous & nothing beats exploring mother nature with friends! we love you guys!
amazing...

ginormous 'shrooms...

jenny, my soul sista'...

great trails for the boys to explore...

mr. mike...

canadian geese...

mama & evyn (now 14 months)...

i LOVe this photo!

da' boys...

free...

look at all the green!...so lush...so, pure...

fresh water clams...

so many nooks & crannies to explore, our boys were in heaven!

help me out here...i know i know this one...

papa crawdad...

bunnies...

our neighbor down the road has a sweet rabbit that just had her first litter...aren't they just adorable??

(this is them at just 3 weeks old)

this is the one we'll be bringing home on friday. :)

unschooling...the "results".

a while back i posted that we were going to give unschooling a go for a month since orin & i were butting heads so much.

i honestly never thought myself the unschooling, type, but you know what?? i took a liking to it. granted we didn't completely give up our lesson books, but rather focused on our main lesson blocks (this helps *me* feel like we were "on schedule") & let life happen for the remainder of our day.

it went really well.

once again, we were able to appreciate time with each other & freedom, being masters of our days...the boys spend loads of time outside in the yard building forts, working in the garden, playing with our chicks...picking flowers, playing with friends, and otherwise enjoying themselves. i, too, reaped the benefits of not having to move from one thing/lesson to the next. i got to *be* with my children. we could again go on morning bike rides & nature walks without worrying about "the list" that was waiting for us when we got home.

i have been thinking about this, too...and i am curious. how do you keep the "magic" alive past 3rd & 4th grade?? especially with little ones in tow??

with our unschooling, life was one again the way is was when we started homeschooling...back when orin (now almost 10 year old) was 6.

i spend all of last summer planning out our grade 4 year...literally...cutting out what i could, figuring out our verses, our handwork, our recipes, etc...i spent time cutting our everything that we had already done. leaving only what i feel we needed to do this year. it all looked good on paper, but in real life, schooling a grade 4 child& a grade 1 child with both a 3 year old and a newborn/baby in the home is a bit rough.

i did the best i could & i have no regrets...well, except that i never got to spend time with my children!

i would talk to lance & tell him how i just wanted to *be* with them...

what kept happening is that when orin had a break, i was working with aydin, or when they both had a break i was nursing evyn or tending to ehren or making lunch or any number of other things that *had* to be done.

what was i doing wrong?? perhaps nothing...perhaps that is just life.

mother's day baktus...

(i can post this because my mom is actually in florida this week ;)



another lovely ravelry pattern, of course...the lacy baktus (i absolutely LOVE ravelry!)



this is my most intense project yet & not because of it's difficulty either, no. the pattern itself pretty simple, especially considering the gorgeous end product. but the length of time involved & the number of stitches...oh my! there are thousands, if not millions.



at any rate...(drum roll, please ;)


10 days, 420 yards & thousands of stitches later...the "mother's day baktus"!

a special thanks to aydin, our model this evening...;)

even more spring animals...:)

in mid april our friend meredith's sheep, dorothy, gave birth to twins...yin & yang. they invited us over to meet the sweet baby lambs & visit with the rest of the lovely animals on their farm...

angora goats & alpacas...

helping with chores...

the guineas...