What We've Been Up To

We have had a couple busy weeks here, although so much of it seems to be outside of the 'classroom' environment.

 Little Mama went through her first year of state mandated testing. Where we live, a home-schooled child only has to take tests in Reading and Math, since it would be nearly impossible to make/take an accurate test in History or Science, since there is no good way to know what families are currently learning about. I have to admit, I was a little nervous - only for her and how she would adjust to the environment where I was not the main teacher and where she would not be able to  ask for help. Reading was not a concern of mine - I don't say that with an over-dose of pride, it's just that - well, she can read faster than I can and retains EVERYTHING. She amazes me at her reading skills - I was more concerned about her Math portion. If you have read this post about Little Mama's math, you will understand why I say that. We DID have the talk about not being able to ask for help with a problem, and I DID have to remind her that she was not allowed to cry and give up if she came upon a problem she wasn't sure about.

 Little did I realize, my concerns were for nought. She came out extremely confident, telling me that they "didn't even have long division or fractions on the test", and that she was the first one done every time they took a portion of the test. I was a little unbelieving at first, until she told me that she looked around when she was finished, and that everyone was still working. :) 

 With that out of the way for the year, we took the next day for a little bit of fun!

 We have a lovely nature center in our town, and we haven't been since the weather got too cold last Fall! So, in honor of our current theme - Weather and Spring - and the fact that this particular day was supposed to be sunny and beautiful, I decided it was the perfect time for a picnic and nature walk!






There is an amazing indoor world inside the Center, with small areas showing the different land formations in our area and how they happened over time, a HUGE fish tanks with a good variety of fish, a REAL tree that the center was built around,with many differnet examples of wild life and fun, interactive facts. They also have a great kids classroom, with quite a few different displays of wild life, birds, and many more things - I would have taken more pictures, but quite frankly - we were too busy having fun! Then we took things outside for a walk around the lake (there are actually three or four different trails, but we were with friends and fellow homeschoolers, and some of the bigger children were in canoes on the small lake, so we chose the path closest to the perimeter of the water for that reason). We plan on making regular trips again, now that the weather is nice - it is a WONDERFUL learning environment, that is so much fun!

MEANWHILE...

We are still making our regular library trips, and I managed to capture a few good pictures of one of our most recent:

snacking with Clifford!

Buddy Boy loves ANYTHING that has the appearance or shape of a ball :) 

Hoss begged to stay long enough to finish the typing game he was playing - he insisted that he get to 'save all the letters from the green monster that was trying to get them!'

I think she just loves the camera, to be honest with you.... :)



     Baseball season is beginning for us - well, the game portion of the season, anyway. Last year, my husband was overseas for the entire season of Hoss' last year of T-ball, so this year he is more than making up for it - I have been the official MMIA - Missing Mom In Action - because it is usually a 'Daddy' trip to go to practices. However, I managed to make one last week, and enjoyed watching the progress Hoss has made in the last year. 


It was also very funny to see Buddy Boy watching the practice - he LOVES anything with a ball involved, and so he really got in to imitating the batters when they were practicing with the machine.





We also had a very fun visitor to our library this past weekend - YES! It was the Cat In The Hat himself :)




They got to watch projector video cartoons of Cat In The Hat



Color a variety of CITH Pictures



And we were able to catch one of several different story time readings throughout the day!  



That is just a little of what has kept us busy the last two or three weeks! Before I go, I will show a sneak peek of what the next blog post will be on and what is keeping the attention INSIDE the school room lately!!! Good Bye For Now!!! 







  
      

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