Wednesday night we had convergence at our church.† We don’t have enough room for all of us at our building so we go to The Princess Theater.† It was amazing as usual.† I love our church and it has made SUCH a difference in Kei and I’s life.† Truly.

Kei had gotten a new shirt/jacket that she had to wear.† I reminds me of a jacket I had in the 80’s!!† Wish I had kept things like that.

We started off having children’s dedications.† It was so sweet.† Kei and I participated in it a couple of years ago. Everyone in the entire place prayed for these amazing kids and their parents.† Then our band played.† Our band ROCKS!

We did some really cool things this week lesson wise.† We are working on fractions in Math.† Right now I am using Math Mammoth Fractions.† I also have Life of Fred which we love!

In Science we are doing Physics for 3 months.† We are learning about forces and energy.† I found a GREAT free download based on 2D Physics.† Kei plays with this for hours.† It is called PHUN. She told me the other day, “Mom I bet you $1 I can make a machine that writes a “K”.† She did and I happily paid her $1.

We are using Story of The World for history.† I started out using that, then last year we did US History up until reconstruction.† Kei wanted to go back to Ancient this year.† We love SOTW.† We have the audio version and she listens to the chapters.† We even listen to it in the car.† We also got the activity guide which is SO worth it.† We also use Evan Moor History Pockets. These are the coolest things we have almost ever done.† Fun, hands on projects.

For writing I make Kei do a report once a week.† She turns in a rough draft and I correct it and she redoes it.† It can be on any subject and she has to have 2 resources.† So far she has done cooking and dogs.† :)† I have never made her do a spelling program because she would make 100 and promptly forget how to spell it.† This† year we are using Sequential Spelling and we both really like it.† There is a spelling ‘test’ ever day but it takes us about 5 minutes.† It makes sense so she remembers it so much better.† I can tell such a difference in her spelling.

For Geography I put all the countries of the world in a big glass bowl.† She draws one out each Monday.† She does a COUNTRY REPORT 2010 that I made up and also looks up images during the week.† I want her to really see how the people live.† How the children live.† How they are like and not alike.† We have 2 of the most amazing books that we also use for Geography.† One is called What the World Eats. It is a fascinating look at what the average family in different countries spend on food and what they buy.† The other is our favorite.† It is Material World: A Global Family Portrait. I had it in my cart for months and finally just ordered both of them.† We love them. It really makes you appreciate what you have when you see how most of the world lives.

I also made a jar with about 200 random questions.† She draws out a question every day and has to find the answer online.† I think knowing how to search is really important.† It is one of her favorite parts of her day.

We are using Live Mocha for Spanish.† She has only done a few lessons but really likes it.† We do critical thinking about 3 times a week.† We are doing Monet in Art right now.†† We read a biography about him and read Linnea in Monet’s Garden and watched a video from Netflix.† I couldn’t homeschool without Netflix!† This upcoming week we are going to try our hand at water lilies.† I am doing the drawing along with Kei.† I have always sucked at drawing but I still am loving it.† I am actually learning some techniques that I never knew.† We also do some Photography.† I just give her an assignment and she shoots away.

Friday’s we don’t do ‘lessons’.† We have, what we call “Fun Fridays”.† This past Friday we went on a hike and a picnic.† We took Nomad.† It was a really awesome day.† The only ‘bad’ thing is that we hooked Nomad on a post while we went inside to the bathroom.† When we came out his empty leash was laying there!† We freaked out but finally got him.† Kei calls him Houdini Dog.

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After Flint Creek we went over to the Wild Life Refuge for our picnic and more hiking.

We didn’t see any ducks but we saw some beautiful cranes. Some of the telescopes are on the second floor so Nomad climbed his first stairs.† No problemo.† Coming down was a different matter.† He laid down and went on strike.† Finally we got him to come down.† It was so cute.

Every time we go to the Refuge we take a “picture of Mommy and Kei on a rail post”.

I think it is supposed to cool off a little next week.† I hope so.† I am so ready for fall!† Fall was always my Mother’s favorite time of the year.

Be blessed,

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.† Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.† The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.† ~John Muir