Herkimer Diamond Mines

Mike took Elijah and Luke to the Herkimer Diamond Mines to experience the fun of rock collecting. Mike's brother, Kris, an avid rock collector, met them at the mines to search with them for the day. The boys have a great rock collection consisting of random rocks they've found around our yard, people's driveways, etc. Uncle Kris would likely call most of their collection "leaverights" as in "Leave 'er right there." But to young boys sometimes it's not the quality, but the quantity, color and shape that matter most. After getting the hang of spotting the "diamonds" (actually, they are quartz crystals), the boys were on a roll, working very hard all day long. In fact, after spending 6 hours of searching, pounding, climbing and retrieving, they did not want to leave for home.

Daddy and the boys on the rock pile where they searched all day...with blue Gatorade stains around their mouths!

A diamond still intact in the rock

The diamonds they were able to free from the rocks. A valuable and treasured addition to their rock collection! This trip was a great way to whet their appetites for our study of Earth Science planned for the fall.

Dairy Farm Trip

We took a field trip with our homeschool group to a dairy farm with over 2,000 cows. I was fascinated with learning some of the details about running a farm this size while my boys were fascinated with seeing cows up close. This is a strange twist in our boys current suburbanite upbringing compared to my country "surrounded-by-dairy-farms-and-my-grandpa-was-a-farmer" upbringing...cows to my boys are like elephants to me. We visit our local zoo quite frequently and so it's "no big deal" to my boys to see the elephants or rhinos. But show them a cow, deer or pig and there are ooh's and aah's all over the place. The smell of the farm was like "coming home" while my boys were practically gagging and begging to leave the barn. Oh my! No wonder my "still-live-in-the-country" family think we're turning into city folk...and that's why were are constantly searching current homes sales to find our "perfect" mini-farm. We want our children to have the kind of country life we had growing up. Not that I want to own cows though...

Ollie's Bargains

A trip to Ollie's yielded a $40 cartload of bargains...most to keep and some for gifts. Our favorites so far are the giant U.S. Map puzzle (the boys favorite) and the Janette Oke Animal Friends series (my favorite). The Animal Friends series is great for Elijah's reading level right now with short, simple chapters and colorful illustrations throughout. Each book is approximately 60 pgs. long and recommended for ages 7-10. Each story teaches a different character trait with an animal being the main character/narrator. These books were $1.99 each at Ollie's while CBD sells them for $5.99 each. WOW!!! I love a good bargain!!!

Rosetta Stone Give Away

Want a chance to win a Rosetta Stone Language program? Here are the details from http://jeneralities.com


Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool LATIN program… FOR FREE! This is the first year you can get Latin in the brand new Version III update.

This is a $259 program. This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever! Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress- I love that!), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

Isaac "Reads"

Not one to be left in the background, Isaac typically declares, "Me turn now" at some point during the day so he can do "me (school) work wike me big brudders, Ewi and Wukey!" Usually I spent some time reading books, counting fingers and toes, naming body parts, etc. with him during his "school time." After seeing Luke read a book today, Isaac wanted to have his turn to "read" as well.

"The Bus" read by Isaac...

Luke Reads "The Bus"

Luke, mainly because of his persistence at this point, is eagerly jumping into Kindergarten type work though he doesn't technically need to start until the fall of 2009 or 2010. He's just weeks shy of 5 years old. Math is his favorite. He joins in most days with Elijah's first grade math work. He loves learning to read and has made good progress especially in the past few weeks. He chose a book titled "The Bus" this morning and I recorded his second read through. He is proving that his Kindergarten year will be much "easier" than my initial year of homeschooling. He is farther ahead than I anticipated and I am more confident in my ability to teach my children.

Enjoy...

Budding Musicians

The boys have been taking piano lessons this year and really seem to enjoy it. Our teacher, Miss June, is a pleasure to work with and she makes learning the piano fun. We had been using a large keyboard, but decided it was time to find a piano. We found this one on Craig's List at a reasonable price. The body is a little scratched up, but that works for our lively household and all the active play that takes place in our livingroom. All we need to do now is get it tuned and keep practicing!!!