Just a Trip to the Store.....

Tomatoes!

We decided to dive into tomatoes this year as our big canning adventure. 

We ended up getting 57 lbs of tomatoes from the farmers market - 

I scored a deal with a farmer for the not so pretty ones for dirt cheap! 

Levi's grandmother also gave us lots of mason jars so we had to get busy!

Tomato Paste 

Tomato Soup

Tomato Sauce

& 

SALSA

ONIONS!!! 

New Countertops!

Dinner with G & G Gobel

We had dinner with my dad and Patty a few weeks ago to celebrate birthdays. 

The kids really enjoyed being there - they have a large yard without any neighbors and lots of wildlife and beautiful birds.  

Dinner with Cousins

Nephi and Clairana LOVE their 2nd cousins! 

We went out to dinner for my mom's birthday.

Cousin Madi's glasses

Cousin Abbi

Visitors!

 Tyrone and Ashli (Levi's sister and our wonderful BIL) came to visit good old Indiana!

I was too busy chasing kiddos and enjoying the company to take pictures but I stole some from others. 

Thanks!!

Family gathering at Mamaw & Papaw's house with swimming in the pond, bowling, dinners out, special date nights, boat rides, and lots of celebrating!

Tiz the Season - Sweet Corn & Boating!

Blueberries

New Adventure - Crawling

Video Catch Up

Kindergarten

Clairana turned FIVE in June and will be starting Kindergarten this Fall.Levi and  I have spent the past two years attending conferences, reading articles/statistics, fasting, and praying to determine if we should homeschool Kindergarten.

The world has lots of negativity especially when you do not take the 'normal' steps in life. I started to shy away from the idea of homeschooling just because of the negative comments I would get about her social being or why I thought I was smart enough to teach our children. You would think after not having Clairana or Nephi in the hospital I would be used to everyone's opinions. (People have lots of opinions about homebirths too)

I have come up with a response that seems to work well......please take time to think/fast/pray as much as we have for my children's education then please let me know your thoughts....with a smile of course.

I am not saying I will be homeschooling forever, but I am saying that I have informed our school district that she will not be attending this year. We will be using a curriculum called Latter Day Learning as well as a few other programs with rave reviews.

I started teaching Clairana and Nephi both in January to 'test' and see how it would function in our house and have been AMAZED at how well it has gone. I know hard days are coming but for now we are enjoying learning/teaching and she is reading and Nephi is doing great with his letters.

I have become a member of IAHE - The Indiana Association of Home Educators and we will start classes with other homeschool families once a week for a four hour block in September. Out of over 200 families we were chosen to join the Wildcat Creek Home Educator's Cooperative with 50 other families ranging from Nursery to High School. I will be a teaching assistant and all three kids will be in classes for the four hour block. Nursery/Preschool/Kindergarten

Why A Co-op?

One of the real benefits of homeschooling is the ability of families to come together cooperatively, to teach our children in a group setting.  The ability to have some control over the types of social interaction, while enhancing their education (okay, and maybe giving Mom a little breathing room), is a key component of cooperatives.

We will keep trying to make the best decisions for our family and see what happens!

Blueberry Pickin

One of my favorite things to do with the kids is to pick fruit.

Blueberries!