Field trip #2 - Robot Factory and Art Museum

On Thursday we played hookey from our co-op and went on a homeschool tour of the Robot factory Sally Corp. Actually my mom went with the boys on the tour since they have a strict rule of no kids under 7! that means no Adeline and since my mom has been wanting to go, she took the day off from work and took the boys. They had a great time

very intrigued


Cool robot man
Elvis is in the house
When the tour was over I picked them up and we headed over to the Museum of Modern Art to check out the squares exhibit. WHen we went for opening night - the place was jammed pack! It was impossible to get up close. This time we had no trouble! There are about 400 squares back there. It is pretty cool to see. I have to admit I did not get to look to much as I was busy chasing Adeline making sure she did not cross the ropes and play with the art. But I was able to get glances
And a quick photo near my square (it is the one at the top -3rd from the right). THank you Adeline and Sage for taking this picture.

this weeks field trips part 1 - St Augustine Light House

This week the St Augustine Light house was having homeschool day so we signed up and headed on over there.

The outdoor classroom - I love it!!! The boys learn a few things
While little sis can be like the big kids and then
run around barefoot and play - love those dirty toes : )

The boys learned how the Keeper kept log books, how they dressed, how they lived and bout the lighthouse itself.

I think these keepers had a very nice house!
Look here are two of them now -
Asleep on the job - should of known


We explored the house/museum and learned about diff knots
Little A is doing here best.

We had a nice time and then headed over to a restaurant on the water for some lunch!! My camera ran out of batteries as we were eating or I would of taken pic of lunch. Take my word for it - it was yummy!

lessons have begun

About 4 weeks ago we started our homeschool lessons. R is second grade this year. This year we have new students. His sister who is now officially a toddler and wants to be a part of everything we do! His older brother who is in 9th grade this year!

Yep - we have been talking about bringing Sage home and homeschooling him again for a couple of years, and this year we did it!! As he heads into high school we wanted to make sure he has a good solid foundation before he heads off to college. He is one that needs more time to focus and concentrate on his work, at school he was too easily distracted. Not too mention peer pressure. So far he is doing great. We registered him in the free virtual school and I can already notice his confidence in his abilities as well as him becoming an independent learner. The 2 main reasons for homeschooling him. He told me the other day that he loved homeschooling!! yeah.

With little A everywhere i am trying to stick the Christopherus Curric that I have. In the past I only use potions of the guide and change things around.

We started with a 2 week math review block and form drawing. Since the weather here allows us to be outside ALOT - we took our lessons to the driveway.

The math block is followed by a 4 week Language Arts Saints/ word family block.

We have started writing our own word family story book together. First the AVE family

Then the EER and EAR families

We started our Saints Stories with Genevieve of Paris. Trying to use our watercolors to paint Genevieve was a bit of a challenge - but they came out ok.

We added a summary in our lesson book.
THe second story we worked on was Kun and Yu. We really spent our time on this block crayon drawing to get the drawing of Yu the best we could.

In addition to our lessons we have joined a Waldorf co-op that meets 2x a week where the boys will be learning violin,recorder,spanish,handwork,circle,yoga and drama!! What fun.

To add to that Sage is in a financial club and I am sure there will be many more homeschool adventures this year!! !

We are off to a good start.

New dress for baby A

It has been awhile since I have made little miss A anything new! How can that be !!

I was finally inspired by this cute white fabric

And this pinafore pattern :

Adeline wanted to help. I think she will be a seamstress when she is older.

And this is the result! It came out very cute, of course the cute model wearing it makes it even cuter! This was the first dress I have made with a yoke and it turned out to be so easy!

the perfect summer dress! I love pinafores , so I see some more in her future!

Has it really been a year?

t has!!! I have a hard time believing that only a year has passed since we left our life behind in Connecticut. Our friends, our homeschool community, the trees, the mountains , the seasons! All of it I miss dearly.

When we left CT we had no idea what the future would hold for us. My husband had not found work, no place of our own, our belongings in storage in CT while we headed to Florida. It was tough to say goodbye to a place where I felt so connected to. Not just the friends I made, but to the land itself. A place I cherished everyday and never took it for granted. The smell of Fall in the air, the magic of those first snow falls, watching the trees come to life in the spring, looking out at the mountains every morning from my bedroom window. I hold on tight to those memories.

It only took my husband a couple weeks before he found work in Georgia. We retrieved our belongings and tried to look forward to a life in GA. It was not easy at first. Eventually we fell into a groove and met some pretty cool people. Unfortunately my husband's job was not what he thought it was going to be and the search was on again to find a new and better one.

That happened rather suddenly 2 months ago when he was offered a position down here in Florida. It turns out it is an excellent job and it is going great. I am torn. I am happy to be back near my family. My parents have been such amazing support for us during all the ups and downs and I am so thankful for them! Being near them (well infact right now we are living with them until we find our own space) will be great for the kids. They can have their grandparents so close now and I really appreciate that now in my life.

I am also sad at the idea that I will no longer be living up north. A little piece of my heart stayed up there. I can't choose where my family is from and mine happens to be from the south. I grew up mostly up north and spent a good deal of my adult life up north and I think that is why I will always love it up there. Don't get me wrong Florida is nice. A little too hot , too flat but it is workable. My path in life has found me back here and I am embracing it a little bit more each day.

The kids and I have been hanging out waiting to get settled. We are in the process of trying to but our first home. Keeping my fingers crossed that will happen soon! We are also homeschooling Sage for high school starting this fall. A lot of changes this year!!!

During all this I have tried to keep my own self together for the kids, to keep things "normal". Although our normal has been anything but that lately.

Adeline has taken a love to watercolor painting. I am looking forward to when she is a little bit older and can really participate in our homeschool lessons.

The boys have loved going to the skate park. The one near us is perfect. The boys can skate and I can take Adeline to the playground right next to it.

If you look closely Ryan has a vintage Back to The Future skateboard that belonged to either me or my sister - can;t remember

Sage used to skate all the time. He enjoyed picking it up again.

We also took in a baseball game as a family
Adeline did not want to sit still - can you tell : )
She wanted to get up and check the place out.