As promised...some pictures from this Spring!

 They set up a tea party during quiet time.

 End of March snowstorm and Della's first time playing in the snow! I wrapped her feet in plastic bags and I think she had about 12 layers of clothes on under her Mariner's suit.

 Caley stayed out the longest and built a snowman!

 Della was much happier when she came inside and had some milk.

 We had a Lego birthday party for Bill's 40th and got these Lego molds. We had Lego ice cubes and then made Lego crayons! A fun project.

 We went to Grama and Papa's after Easter and of course they took a bath! A Grama pasttime!

 We visited the UW Planetarium with our friends Rachael, Lenora, Noelle and Holden. We saw the fountain and the herb garden.

 We also walked through Red Square in the pouring rain. Maybe someday these kids will be students at the U like their moms. :)

 Also in playgroup we learned about family crests and did jousting.

Caley and Emma at a birthday party.

 Caley and Yuuka at Yuuka's birthday party. They met at VBS last summer and really hit it off! I love seeing Caley's friendships.

 Caley went to work with Daddy, so the rest of us got ice cream!

 We practiced fairness and ran races in the yard.

 Secret Beach

 Biking day

 This is how Wesley and Della entertain themselves during school time.

 Della's first time with playdough, she did great! Since this picture (May) they have played playdough for hours. I love how their creativity and imagination comes out in playdough.

We made it through ANOTHER year! Praise Jesus!

Another year down

Our 2012-13 school year has ended! We survived! 4 kids, first year with two being homeschooled (officially) and we had a great year. A few highlights for me, with pictures to come:

• Doing kindergarten with Amelia was far easier than when we did kindergarten with Caley, both because Amelia's a different kid than Caley and because I'm a little more confident in teaching kindergarten. 
• We learned about the Revolutionary war in conjunction with the election in November, I plan on doing this during each election cycle and look forward to their deepened understanding each time we hit these topics.
• Taking all of December off seems to work very well for us. It's a busy season and I love being able to focus on Jesus instead of feeling like a failure for not doing the math lesson for the day. 
• I am the teacher. I do not have to obey every instruction in every curriculum. Amelia finished her math book two months early because we didn't do every lesson because she already knew the material. 
• I am not owed a break every day. If I don't get up early to exercise or read my bible, I shouldn't get mad if I can't find the time later in the day. 
• This was the first year Caley had to take a standardized test. She is right on for her age, in most areas. Her strengths are language arts and social studies. Her weaknesses are math and science. It was redeeming for her and me to get an unbiased view of her learning. Still, the test did not test exactly what we focused on this year so I shouldn't be discouraged that her math was lower than I wanted.
• It's okay to take a day off here and there. Both the kids and I need it. I am not a failure. 
• Life happens. Caley got a headgear in April, we thought Wesley was going deaf, somedays school is just learning to slog through the daily crap together.