Insta-Friday Homeschool Edition

The first three weeks of school are coming to a close.

I am taking a deep breath.

It was all about...

Wednesday tea and treats 

cute and very distracting little girls

breakfast, lunch, dinner, repeat

Waldo finding

Mommy decompressing

Family bio contest winning

{at the homeschool picnic}

Cute nephew visits

moody three year old moments

favourite dress wearing

fun times with JD

{our visitor for 3 weeks from Ohio}

desperate attempts to cling to a schedule

crazy frantic teacher-mommy

{followed by realizations that I'm a little bit high-strung and need to tone it down a bit}

Baby finding opportunities to get into things while I am teaching

Baby being cute

kid photoshoot

laundry pile-ups

ballet dancing babies

creative play dough playing at snack time

{yuck}

Friends over for an afternoon

spending gobs of time and cash at the dance store

moving to the next level in dance.

{making the time and effort and cash all worth it}

Banman Academy Year 3 Begins

Please let me introduce to you....

the class of 2012-2013!

Mikayla Grace.

{almost} 13

Serious, perceptive, caring, helpful.

Interests: Dance, Taylor Swift, AIO, reading.

Do I even have to say it?

{yes, yes I do...here it comes..}

When did she grow so big?

She gets two pics cause she's starting middle school:)

Mailee Joy

{almost}11

Sweet, particular, fun-loving, jokester, sensitive.

Interests: Collecting Barbies, Taylor Swift, fashion, Paris.

Again...

What's up with all these girls growing up before my eyes!?!

Maddie Faith

8

Focused, conscientious, exuberant, multi-talented, thoughtful.

Interests: Giranimo Stilton, Taylor Swift, animals, Adventures In Odyssey.

Caleb Michael

6

Full-throddle, Black and White, kindhearted, intense.

Interests: Lego, Star Wars, WII.

Caity Hope

3

Loud, confident, indépendant, grown up too fast!

Interests: Lalaloopsies, play dough, Dora The Explorer, Grandma Crick.

Oh little cutie pie!!

She gets two pictures because it's her first year in school!

Mike surprised the kids by dressing up and making an appearance as the principal!

The teacher and her class!

(plus an extra...and why yes, that is a toothbrush she is holding.}

What a great bunch of kids!

I love them and I have high hopes for this year!

The honest truth is I am exhausted from our first day back to school.

There were unknown passwords for the online courses, a lost CD for science, lots of "mom, Mom MOM!'s" (all at once usually) a schedule that didn't get followed and a few cranky impatient moments from yours truly.

I want this to be a productive and enjoyable character-building, faith changing, academically challenging kind of year.

I don't want to just survive or "kind-of" finish.

You know?

I am thankful that tomorrow is a new day and God has grace for me and our school's imperfections!

Banmans + Obwalds = Fun!

We love our time with the Obwalds when we come to Frenso.

This time was no exception.

As the kids get older, they remember each other and have a great time.

Erin and Me and all our kiddos.

This girl!

We have had so much in common over the years.

It's pretty fun to both be homeschooling now!

We spent a glorious day catching up browsing antique stores and Joann's...kid free!

Speaking of the kids...

There's a lot of them!

And they have so much fun together!

Caleb and Cohl had to stick together with all the girls!

Check out the boys in the background.

Under the table.

On the Ipad.

Classic.

Such a crazy bunch!

Erin hosted a few of our other "old friends"

{we aren't old, but we've been friends a long time...right??}

and all their kids.

It was awesome to see Paula and Melissa and their growing kiddos.

Here the count was:

Girls-11

Boys-4

We had a morning out with Jen.

So good to be together. We pick up right where we left off.

Lifelong friends are such a blessing.

Missed Court and Gretch so much!

When Mike came for the weekend, we were back at the Obwald's house.

All over their pool.

Dads in the pool.

That's just the best.

We got married the same summer.

So many great memories with these guys!

I love this next generation of friends!!

Seriously the kids could not get enough of each other!!

Look at my happy boy!

It was an awesome summer with these fantastic friends.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone was an anticipated stop on our trip.

Much of the park was still closed but the things we most wanted to see were open and did not disappoint!

Bison!

Up close and personal!

 Mailee wasn't so sure at first, she asked me to roll the window up:)

Old Faithful!

This is the best pic I got of the geyser.  I was distracted.  It was spectacular, you can You Tube it if you wanna see!

Caity was really happy to get a ride from Daddy.

She still likes to be the baby sometimes!

The visitor's centre was fantastic.

Very informative and appropriate for all ages.

(That's my homeschool teacher review)

Cute baby!

Pools of acidic, boiling, bubbling amazingness.

{and some chilly cute girls}

These were really beautiful, vibrant colors in real life.

Bree girl enjoyed Yellowstone too!

We were so close!

Elk are gigantic.

We were surprised by their size.

I am certain I have said this before but I feel compelled to say it again...

I love learning alongside my kids!

I love seeing them experience cool stuff!

I love that we get to tailor their education to our life, to our interests as a family and also to each one of them individually.

Homeschooling is not for everyone.

Three years ago I would have laughed "out loud" at the thought of me teaching my kids.

I am so thankful that I went with the urging of my heart and gave it a try.

It has been an invaluable experience that continues to get better all the time.

It's also a gigantic challenge.

Not easy.

Not always fun.

Makes my house messy.

Minimizes my "alone time".

But so rewarding.

Trips like this with fun stops that involve hands-on learning by experience remind me what awesome kids I have and how blessed I am to get to soak up so many things with them while they are young!