The Steadfast Toy Soldier

Disclaimer:  I am sooo Not the fine arts expert in my family. But, I try.

Recently, we had a chance to attend our second ballet.  It is put on by a local group and they are fantastic! They characters are played by a mixture of homeschooled, private schooled and public schooled students.  Their work is wonderful! The children very much enjoyed this tale.  It is a very old, small building so, as the pictures indicate, we sit on the floor and space is tight.

How Does Your Garden Grow??

Ours is on its way! This is how it all started:

And then, came.......

And so, this is how we began our gardening journey this year:

We purchased some lettuce transplants and the Vidalia onion sets you see here, the rest we are trying as seeds.

Previews for School Next Year

This is the time of year when all the homeschool world is buzzing with talk of curriculum choices, methods, conferences, resources and all the rest.  I love it!!!  I am a curriculum junkie.  I love planning and reading about planning.  I make planners, I buy planners.  I dowload tons and tons of free stuff that I just gotta have and then enjoy planning to make it work.  Do you?  Or is it just me???
Well, anyway, we started our homeschooling journey with a very low pressure, literature based approach.  We have used Five in a Row on one level or another since the beginning.  We have loved it.  Still do!  This year, my two older children have asked for their "own" stuff.  They want stuff on their grade level and definitely want text books.  Strange.  But, I considered it.  Now, after much thinking, evaluating and prayer, I have decided to head that direction with them.  We took a little more of a classical approach last year, but I'm not sure they felt my implementation was "individual" enough for them.  So, this is the beginning of a new thing for them. They are headed in a much more independant direction, and it fits both of their personalities.   They are all so excited, and I must admit, I am too!
The littles will still be very Mom dependant and very much enjoying reading and numbers and fun stuff to get into. 
So, here's a list of goods for my children for next year, plain and simple:
5th grade
Abeka Math, Lang. Arts, Science, and several of the readers
Christian Liberty Bible,History, Nature Reader
Writing Strands Level 4
Spelling Power
A Reason for Handwriting

3rd Grade
Abeka Math, Lang. Arts, Science and several of the readers
Christian Liberty Bible, Nature Reader, History
Spelling Power
A Reason for Handwriting (cursive)

1st Grade
Abeka Math, Phonics, Language, and readers (just for fun, not required)
Christian Liberty Bible,  Nature Reader, History, Science
A Reason for Handwriting
more reading and fun projects
Much of this will be used as supplements to our Five in a Row titles, as well as some lapbooks along the way.

Pre K (4 yr old)
lots of listening to reading :)
going along with whomever has the most interesting lesson at the moment.
a few lapbooks along the way
learning with numbers (hands-on)
learning letters (hands-on)
making messes (aka: Art)
maintain position as resident doggie sitter
I take ideas from lots of sites, but this is my most recent favorite.

All will participate in activities from :
Discovering Great Artists
How to Teach Art to Children

Also,
Bastien Piano series for 3 of the crew members.

Oh, and  this (No. 2) is the planner I ended up with this year because it is the one I used the most last year.

Anyone wanna share what your plans are for next year????