Ahh.....Summer is here!

Summer is here! With some gift money the kids received from grandparents for Easter, we bought a new backyard pool with more space to play!

Somehow chewing on a water ring and watching is not quite as much fun as being outside with the big kids.

 

Summer reading while drying off on towels.....one of Mommy's favorite childhood memories!

Welcome Summer!

Overdue School Update: The Roman Empire

This school update is way overdue! I have been so busy with getting our house ready to sell, I have not kept up with our school posts. That is my excuse for this long post!! In May we started our last unit of study for Tapestry of Grace focusing on the Roman Empire. The boys have been waiting for this unit all year long! School books we have not read yet are off limits. They had seen the books about Gladiators and soldiers and were eager to read them. Ben came to me one day with a gladiator book and said, "Mommy, when will we read this one? I am desperate to read this book!"

Learning about the Roman empire in conjunction with learning about the life, death and resurrection of Christ has been a really powerful study. It is so amazing to listen to the boys as they make connections between what they have learned in their Bibles and history. 

In art, we made Roman mosaics both with construction paper and with cookie dough and M&Ms! (Of course the cookies were the favorite mosaics by far!)

 

We learned about some Roman war tactics, and got to make our own marshmallow catapult! :)

We read one book about Cleopatra. We learned that it is said to show off her wealth in front of dinner guests she drank a pearl. In reality it is said she put a pearl in a glass of vinegar and it dissolved for her to drink. To test this experiment we left eggshells in vinegar for a few days to watch them dissolve!

 At Christmas, Luke and Ben had received these soldier dress up kits from Grammy and Papa. They played with them for a few days at the time and then asked me to put them away until we were studying Rome so that they would not be broken before then. We have gotten a lot of good use out of these sets on all of our recent rainy days!

Ben has been begging for a Mohawk haircut. I finally caved and agreed, just for one week! :) As he and Luke would act out the things they were learning, it was fun to watch them go and grab our different books to verify details and make their play more accurate.

Here the boys are acting out some chariot races! :) It's amazing to see what their imaginations will come up with to play.

In science we discussed the debate of whether Pluto is a planet. We also learned about how cold it would be on Pluto with everything frozen. We learned about different things that affect how fast liquids freeze. We then got to do an experiment making homemade ice cream!

 

 

 

 Of course then we got to taste our homemade ice cream!

 

Good to the last drop!

 

We also started a lesson on stars and galaxies.  We learned how to draw stars, we learned about Polaris (the North Star), and how we see different stars each month. To understand the concept we drew Polaris at the top of our umbrella, and lots of stars in each segment (month). When we spun the umbrella Polaris seemed to stay put while all the other stars changed. This simulated how the sky will look different each month even when Polaris seems to stay the same.

 

 As you can see, we have had a pretty full last few weeks of school. We only have a few more weeks left before our summer break. (We took off some time when Caleb was born, so we are going to finish up school at the end of June!) 

In closing, here are a few of our favorite books about Rome so far!

Caleb: 8 months!

I feel as though I just wrote Caleb's 7 month post, and here it is already past 8 months!

As always, Caleb continues to be a smiley joy to our family. He is desperate to keep up with his older siblings, and loves to have their constant attention. New for this month: Caleb is getting to be a pro at eating baby food, and has mastered figuring out how to get puffs into his mouth on his own. Caleb is also up on his knees rocking, getting ready to crawl. (Slow down little one!) He loves to laugh and giggle and ham it up with everyone he meets. Happy 8 months sweet boy!

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Random cute pictures

Here is just a random smattering of cute pictures of the kiddos. :)

Random School Tidbits

Here are a few random school tidbits that were from our study of Ancient Greece. (I forgot to post earlier, but they were too fun to just pass up!)

Here we are making and then painting some "Greek" pottery.

 We had our Morgan Olympics when Papa was with us. Prior to that we had learned that when the Greeks participated in the sport of wrestling they took off their shirts so they would not be encumbered by their clothing. Well of course when the boys read that they wanted to participate too! Here is our Morgan ring of wrestling! :)

Of course Jacob and Gracie want to be a part of everything too!

This is just a cute picture of what some of our mornings look like around the school table.

Last but not least......here are a few of my favorite quotes over the last few months. You know your children are homeschooled when this is what they are talking about.....

- When digging in the backyard the boys found a piece of broken white plastic. They came running into tell me they had dug up "ancient bones." I said, "That is plastic, not bones!" Then they smiled and said, "Oh, Ancient plastic!!!"

-After studying about China several weeks ago, Ben has discovered the "Made in China" label on many items. He is so excited to tell us when he finds out something was made in China! :)

-Ben was playing one day that he was Alexander the Great. Gracie piped in and wanted to play too. Ben said, "Girls can't be Alexander the Great!" Gracie's reply: "Yes I can. I am Alexander the Grace!"

Awhile back we were out as family and saw a young man with an impressive mohawk. Luke shouted out, "Look Mommy, there is a Roman soldier!"

Luke's Birthday!

Last week, our oldest, Luke, turned seven years old!

What a joy it is to watch him grow and develop his unique God-given personality.  Luke has a sensitive heart and an inquisitive mind. He is a born leader. This year Luke has lost his first four teeth. Luke can read anything you put in front of him, and he devours it all. He continues to love anything that has to do with science and animals. His current goal is to grow up to be a cattle rancher and a missionary. Luke is also a prayer warrior! Thank you Lord for this funny, sweet boy you have given us!

Even though Luke's birthday is the end of May, Luke asked to celebrate early when Papa was here visiting. Luke said that Papa never gets to celebrate birthdays with us, so we agreed!

Papa even got to meet the twins Bekah and Avery at the party.

We had a fun time celebrating his special day.

For his actual birthday, Luke got to help Mommy make a special brownie dessert.

Luke chose Olive Garden for his special meal with Mommy and Daddy. Luke chose Olive Garden because of their salad. His favorite food is salad! It was fun to watch him savor every part of the meal, and especially his one-on-one time with us. We love you baby boy!