Dear Old Golden Rule Days...

We've had a varied and crazy late winter and early spring in our homeschool world, and I realized that I haven't posted since Miss G's birthday (in January... oops!), so I have quite a bit to catch up with! We have had a lot of ups and downs, and my opinion of our success as a homeschool family seems to vary by the day, if not the minute! But overall, I'm happy with our experiment so far. So, on to the pictures! I posted a lot of these on facebook at the time, which is one of the reasons I haven't posted in so long, as usual. The kids went to the Arab Shrine Circus with Grammy and Grampy, and got to ride an elephant! (In a writing assignment, Grace said that she could "feel the elephants muscles" as it walked. Pretty neat!

Big Guy had the opportunity to join a Lawrence Virtual School group to go skiing in the Kansas City area. (Because I don't know about you, but when I think of downhill skiing, Kansas City is the first place that comes to mind...) He had a great time! It was his first time skiing, and the weather was so beautiful that it was almost too warm to ski, but he was able to learn a lot, and had a great time!

The kids have all been working hard at home, too. Little Guy joined us at home full time recently. Preschool was becoming a less and less exciting place to him as the year went on, especially when brother and sister were staying home for school, so since he's going to be home next year, we decided just to bring him home a little early. He's really enjoyed the transition!

One day recently, Big Guy had a LVS field trip to Exchange

City in Kansas City, so the little kids and I did a fun day of church history, past and future! We went to the construction site of the new temple (it has since gotten it's Angel Moroni on top!):

Then we went to visit Liberty Jail. Sam was at first NOT a fan of sitting still and listening to a presentation, but once he settled down, we all really enjoyed it.

Of course, the unexpected hit of the day was the park we passed as we were driving around trying to find the temple (I managed to find it again later in the day!). The kids have regularly asked when we can go

back!

While the big kids go to their swim lessons, Little Guy and I have had some good opportunities for getting some academic work in. "Workbook time" often happens at the picnic tables at the natatorium (when he's not chasing around after friends from church who are hanging around!)

And sometimes, all of that work and play is just too much for a busy four year old:

When Miss G was finishing her history unit on China, both of the little ones had a lot of fun trying their hand at calligraphy (well, Miss G did calligraphy; Sam just had fun painting!)

Little Guy got to welcome a new baby goat to Grammy and Grampy's farm!

Miss G has been having a good time learning about the states: the book The Scrambled States of America has a board game and a puzzle that has been very popular in this house!

After a field trip to LVS last Friday (when the little kids wrote books -- Little Guy narrated and illustrated, and I acted as scribe), on Saturday, Daddy and I got to take Big Guy on a special trip to Kansas City to see a Broadway Across America production of West Side Story, which was great! Then we went out to dinner after: The weather was so gorgeous earlier this week that we had to play hooky a little bit and take a picnic to the walking trails around Cedar Crest (the goveror's mansion). It was a lovely day!

So this is a small sampling of what we have been up to together lately! The thing that I try to remember through it all (and occasionally succeed in achieving) is: