It's Fall, Y'all!

We survived our first summer here in Georgia.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  There were no hundred plus degree days.  August was really the only icky month with both heat AND humidity.  I cannot wait to see what the Fall here will be like.  We came after the leaves had already fallen off last year.  Our area is on the border for peak foliage around late October to mid-November and early- mid-November.  Fall has always been my favorite season because of all the beautiful colors, but I know it's going to be even more gorgeous here with all the mountains in the background.  I hope we can even take a trip up to one of the mountains during that time.

Evelyn and Jacob planned a family fun night for us this past Friday night (I love that is had lots of F's in it for letter F week).  Evelyn was extremely sad because there was an event at church this past weekend that we were unable to attend due to finances.  I tried to explain to her that it was just not possible this time.  She said she was ok with it.  That was on a Tuesday.  The following night at church it was crazy hair night (to get ready for the Saturday event) and she saw how excited everyone was and it made her really sad we couldn't go.  Broke my heart, but it was just one of those things where we had to prioritize.  So to ease her sadness, Jake suggested they create their own event.  They made favors for everyone, planned games (Yahtzee and Win, Lose, Or Draw) and we even had a dance party.  It was nice to see them come together so that way no one was sad.  I only thought to take this one pic.  It is a drawing of my sister with a baby in her belly.  Ev guessed it first.

Today was a very pleasant day.  The kids were up, dressed, and playing outside before my alarm even went off this morning.  They must have been as quiet as mice, because I am typically a very light sleeper.  They even left me a note in my bathroom to let me know where they were.  I managed to snap a couple pics of the kids playing today.  As I sit out on my deck, watching the sunset, I am wrapped up in a sweater keeping warm from the heat of my computer.  It is a chilly 73 degrees.

The little ones got slushies from the ice cream truck.  Evelyn is in the background making a home for the walking stick bug she caught.  We're studying insects in science so the was observing it.  

The girls playing on the swingset as the sun is setting.  

Batprincess managed to take time out of her busy schedule to visit us this week.  

We just finished up our first nine weeks of school.  This week, the older two started reading Charlotte's Web- one of my all time favorites.  We tried building webs with skewers and string.  It was a lot harder than it looked.  

The glue webs we made for our shadow boxes were much easier to construct.  

Since it was the end of the nine weeks, Jacob did lots of review and had exams in almost every subject.  In math, we just started discussing changing fractions to decimals and rounding decimals.  We just started a science unit on the treasures of the earth, and read about the earth's layers today.   Jacob just finished reading Billy Sunday: Runner for the Lord.  He did a book report on that, which I look forward to reading when he turns it in tomorrow.  We've also been reading about Vincent VanGogh in art.

Evelyn just started dividing with a remainder in the quotient.  She left me this note on her last test: 

It makes all the sacrifices worth it.

Working a math problem on the board

She is continuing to develop her map reading skills in History, and as I stated earlier she is studying invertebrates (mostly insects) in science,  There is no shortage of bugs around here for her to capture and examine.  Evelyn is learning how to properly use quotations in her writing.  She also wrote a small essay on her best friend.  She chose Jesus to write about, and it was pretty much the sweetest thing ever.  

Aiden is doing very well with his kindergarten sight words (we and up were this weeks words) and learning to read short words using his blend ladders.  So far we are loving the K4 curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

number writing

letter writing

sight word practice

beginning sounds

maze

number puzzle

playdough shapes

fall ABC maze

fall magnet page

fall uppercase and lowercase letter matching

Claire just finished up the letter F in her preschool studies.  It just so happened that the first day of fall fell during the letter F week.  I added a few fun, fall activities in with their normal work.  

fish lacing

size sorting

letter tiles

fruit loop collage

fish coloring page

fish counting

cutting practice

fish puzzle

fall magnet page

Claire's very first lapbook on a clown fish

fish magnet page

To keep with the tradition, we ended the week with a letter F party.  We ate fish sticks, fiery chips (spicy doritos), and fruit cocktail while watching Flushed Away.  It was FANTASTIC! 

I can't believe we're already a quarter of the way done with our school year.  Time sure does fly.