Field Trips 2016

This post is dedicated to my dear friend who plans all of our field trips for our homeschool group. We leave the house much more often because of her. Thank you, Emily.

February

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The moms planned a Valentine’s Day party for the kids. So much fun!

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There were some pretty creative Valentine boxes out there. I am pretty proud of Jack’s bag and Lucy’s backpack.

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Some crafts and activities with friends.

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The fellowship and food was great. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Next this month was a beginner sign language class. I’m not sure how much baby sign language was retained by my two.

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And the last field trip for February was a class on winter animals at the Outdoor Campus.

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Craft Time!

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She really loves stuffed animal of all kinds.

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feeding the fish

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March

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Here the kids worked in groups to create their own “roller coasters” for the Roller Coaster Science class. After assembled, a marble was sent down to test the ride.

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The next trip was a computer demolition class. The boys were all over this one. I think it was Jack’s favorite so far.

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April

While Jack took a beginner programming class at the library for the older students, Lucy joined an art class for her age group.

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They also learned how to use the computers at the library to look up books and play games.

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Next we took another class at the Outdoor Campus about birds and bird watching.

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Apparently, due to allergies, Crisco has replaced peanut butter for pinecone bird feeders.

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bird necklace craft

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hanging her feeder

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And at the end of April, they attended a Junior Achievement course that taught about community basics like economy, voting, and being a good citizen.

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May

Our only trip in May was to the rock quarry in Sioux Falls. So. Much. Quartzite.

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We couldn’t leave the bus so this was the only picture I managed to get.

August

We managed to make it to two trips in late summer. The first one was a hospital tour in town.

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touring the new ambulance

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The second trip was a pontoon ride at Split Rock Park in Garretson, SD.

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We passed bat caves, bald eagles, and Jessie James’ old hideouts.

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September

And our first field trip of the 2016-2017 school year was to the Pioneer Village in Worthington, MN. Lucy had to wear her pioneer bonnet bought earlier this summer at the Alamo.

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in the one room schoolhouse

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wood working old school

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The old dentist room was creepy.

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But not as creepy as the antique doll.

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It’s going to be a fun year!

Science Review: Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy

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This was our first year using Apologia for science. Last summer, out of a list of options, Jack decided we were studying Astronomy. I purchased the textbook, the Notebooking Journal, and the Lab Kit. The journal was quite a bit of writing for a second grader and if I had to do it over, I would’ve purchased the Junior version. The Lab Kit was a lifesaver. I was a little hesitant of the cost, but it was so well organized and really ensured we actually completed the experiments because all the materials were easily available.

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For each lesson, we read from the book, summarized with pictures in the journal and completed other activities and experiments throughout the week.

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I appreciated the copy work included cursive practice.

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Jack working on a rocket ship mini-book for his journal.

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I took pictures of our experiments to place in the journal.

Lesson 1: What Is Astronomy? Project: Model Solar System that Hangs from Your Ceiling

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Lesson 2: The Sun, Project: Sun Collage and Make a Solar Eclipse

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Lesson 3: Mercury, Project: Understanding Craters and Make a Model of Mercury

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Lesson 4: Venus, Project: Make Some “Lava,” and Learn How Radar is Used

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I woke up Jack super early one morning so he could see Venus next to the moon.

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Lesson 5: Earth, Project: Make a Compass

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Lesson 6: The Moon, Project: Make a Telescope

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This project just didn’t work out for us. But the good news is some family members helped us purchase a real telescope for Jack’s birthday! We also kept Jack up late September 27th to observe the super moon/blood moon total lunar eclipse. It was out of this world!

Lesson 7: Mars, Project: Build Olympus Mons, Make an Edible Mars Rover

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Lesson 8: Space Rocks, Project: Cartoon of Exploded Planet

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Lesson 9: Jupiter, Project: Make a Hurricane Tube

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Lesson 10: Saturn, Project: Make a Centaur Rocket

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Lesson 11: Uranus and Neptune, Project: Make Clouds

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Lesson 12: Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, Project: Make Ice Cream!

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ice cream requires a LOT of shaking

Lesson 13: Stars and Galaxies, Project: Create a Constellation Planetarium.
I didn’t get a photo of this project because I just couldn’t get a great picture with all the lights out.

Lesson 14: Space Travel, Project: Build a Model Space Station
With a picture in the textbook as our guide, this is how our space station turned out.

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And to tie up our year in Astronomy it worked out for us to take a visit to NASA at the beginning of summer. Pictures from that trip are here. I highly recommend this curriculum and will be using Apologia for science in the future.

History Review: The Story of the World Volume 2

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This is a short review of our history curriculum and activities for the 2015-2016 school year. Our text book was The Story of the World Volume 2: The Middle Ages by Bauer. I also purchased the activity book, test booklet, and audio CDs to listen to in the car. For someone like me who needs a lot of help in the arts and crafts department, I loved the activity book. There were almost too many good ideas that tied the lessons together.

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Every Monday, we read a chapter then briefly covered the review questions and did the accompanying map work from that chapter in the activity book.

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Tuesdays and/or Wednesdays were color sheet days.

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We usually tackled the project list as best we could during the week but usually ended up working on them Thursdays and Fridays. Thursday was a test review day as well and Fridays were for the test.

I catalogued our project attempts to put in Jack’s history notebook. Not every project listed in the activity book was attempted because there were simply too many of them. Some chapters we didn’t do a project at all but still did the map work, color sheets, review, and test.

Chapter 1-The Glory That Was Rome, Project: (fail) Cookie Dough Roman Pillar. Learn from my mistake and use the recipe provided in the activity book. Do NOT buy a tube of pre-made cookie dough-it won’t hold the shape of the “pillars” and you will be left with a flat, albeit tasty, sugar cookie mess.

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Chapter 2: The Early Days of Britain, Projects: Celtic Double-Headed War Axe and Celtic Brooch and Cloak

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Chapter 3: Christianity Comes to Britain, Project: Monk’s Cross Necklace

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Sculpey makes a good clay monk’s cross and an old Gandalf Halloween costume works well as a robe. There may have been excessive Nacho Libre quotes this week.

Chapter 4: The Byzantine Empire, Projects: Crown of the Empress Theodora, Make Justinian and Theodora Paper Dolls, and Byzantine Mosaic

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Sometimes cursive practice is easier when you wear a crown.

Chapter 5: The Medieval Indian Empire, Projects: Say “Welcome” with Sand Art, Paint an Ajanta Cave Fresco

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Diwali is the Hindu New Year celebration.

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Our “frescos” were made with a small box of Plaster of Paris.

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Chapter 6: The Rise of Islam, Project: Make an Edible Oasis

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Brown sugar sand, tootsie roll and gummy trees, chocolate refreshment, and camel animal crackers. This was one of my the kids’ favorite projects.

Chapter 7: Islam Becomes an Empire, Project: Sinbad Spoon Puppets, Make Ali Baba “Open Sesame” Biscuits, Make a Hanging “Valley of Snakes,” Make Your Own Royal Scimitar. These were all too fun to pass up.

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Sinbad and the Valley of Snakes

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Open Sesame!

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Paper plates really are terrifying in snake form

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“Sinbad” vanquishes the Dixie snakes

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The Royal Scimitar

Chapter 8: The Great Dynasties of China, Projects: Make a Jade Bead Necklace, Learn to Eat with Chopsticks, Make a Chinese “Lacquered” Bowl.

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Sculpey jade beads

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Lucy was more excited about wearing her jade jewelry than Jack

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we cheated with a rubber band and a small piece of rolled paper

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Lucy’s non traditional bowl

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the lacquer is a coat or two of white glue

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Chapter 9: East of China, Project: Compose and Illustrate a Haiku

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This Haiku is great
I did not help him one bit
I am so proud, Jack

Chapter 11: The Kingdom of the Franks, Project: Design Your Own Dynasty

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Not quite sure why he named his imaginary kingdom, “Range rover super snake string,” but I did give him free reign.

Chapter 13: The Great Kings of France, Project: Puppet Retelling

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honestly, these puppet re-tellings end in sword fighting and splinters

Chapter 14: The Arrival of the Norsemen, Projects: Make a Viking Boat, Make a Viking Brooch or Thor’s Hammer Pendant

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This is one of those times the project didn’t quite get completed. Our Viking ship never got its sails.

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So, this was my first experience with Shrinky Dinks. I’m still not sure why this is a thing. This is a before and after to show the shrinkage.

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Chapter 15: The First Kings of England, Project: Make an Alfred the Great Statue

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Chapter 17: Knights and Samurai, Project: Design Your Own Coat of Arms

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Lucy just wanted to paint

Chapter 18: The Age of the Crusades, Projects: Make Your Own Pilgrim’s Badges and Make El Cid’s Beard

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we tried

Chapter 20: The Diaspora, Project: Make a Tzedakah Box

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Chapter 24: The Ottoman Empire, Project: Byzantine Icon, Make Turkish Dancing Bears

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Chapter 25: The End of the World, Projects: Make a Cycle of the Plague Wheel, Make a Plague Doctor Mask

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this was a feel- good chapter

Chapter 26: France and England at War, Project: Joan of Arc Paper Dolls

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hang in there, Joan

Chapter 27: War for the English Throne, Project: Build a Pop-Out Tower of London Card

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Chapter 28: The Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, Projects: Isabella and Ferdinand Paper Dolls

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power couple

Chapter 29: African Kingdoms, Projects: Make Your Own Gold Nuggets, Gold and Salt: The Fast Tax Game

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Note: rocks, glitter, glue, and sugar cubes make a huge mess

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Chapter 33: Spain, Portugal, and the New World, Project: Conquistador’s Mask

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Chapter 34: Martin Luther’s New Ideas, Project: Illuminate the Book of Common Prayer

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Chapter 35: The Renaissance, Project: What’s Your Name in Greek?

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Jack really got into the Greek alphabet

Chapter 36: Reformation and Counter Reformation, Project: Make Stained Glass

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We are looking forward to next school year already and will continue with this series with Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times-From Elizabeth the First to the Forty-Niners.

Last Day of 2nd Grade and Pre-K

Friday was our last day of school for the 2015-2016 school year! We spent the whole day celebrating.

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We began with Flyboy Donuts for breakfast. Yum!

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Jack’s poem review for the year. However, his favorite subjects this year were math and science.

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We finished the last chapter in our current read aloud book, Farmer Boy. I bought our copy used online. Inside was this inscription from 21 years ago to the day. I’d like to have a word with this Austin about getting rid of a book that his Grams so lovingly gifted to him.

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Some of our other read aloud books this year. Lucy and I are still going through her beginning- to- read book and will finish the lessons this summer. Jack has decided he will only read books by himself if they are in comic book form. Fortunately, our library has a nice supply. Both kids enjoy being read to and I am always happy to oblige.

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The celebration continued with a trip downtown for macarons and Falls Park.

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The last day of school calls for double dessert. Why not?

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The next day was a rainy one. I think our summer is off to a great start.

First Day 2015

This school year, I have a second grader and a preschooler. School with Lucy will still be very informal and laid back but we will begin the basics with her. We are ready.

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The preschooler chose her own curriculum.

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“Mom thinks we’re going to go easy on her this year!”

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You can tell here that Jack has grown a foot this summer.

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This pretty much sums up the day.

“Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.”
– Yoda

 

The Last of First

After out of state visits for job interviews and a cross country move immediately followed by a family vacation, I found myself STRUGGLING to finish out the school year with my first grader. The year had started out perfectly with all 36 weeks, 180 days mapped out, new curriculum, cute pictures, and even a mission statement. We would finish our school day before lunch and I ruled the world. The year ended with me looking at the clock and thinking, “oh no, we haven’t started yet and I have to get dinner in the oven.” Our last day of school officially ended on the third day of VBS, June 3rd. And we aren’t doing summer school. I didn’t take his last day picture until today (the 26th). Last year, I made a big deal about the last day and we did projects and played a game and took pictures and I let Jack pick out whatever he wanted at the store (Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch). This year, I chose to do absolutely nothing and prayed he wouldn’t notice. He didn’t. But, we made it. All 18o days. And I am blogging about it almost a month late. Second grade will be all about second chances.

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His most recent picture showing off his missing tooth.

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This year, we spent a lot of our writing time composing letters to friends and family. He officially has the best handwriting in the whole family.

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This was our 100th day of school project.

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I was very happy with our history and Latin curriculum. This was our first year to try Latin and Jack, no surprise, picked it up very quickly.

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Yes. He wrote and can recite the Lord’s prayer in Latin. Memorizing does come easy for him, but he still works diligently. He memorized the second chapter of James this year and  is a true math whiz. He goes through his math facts flash cards faster than me. He also likes to do math problems in his head for fun. So that makes 2 children that are nothing like me.

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I love you.

Love note for mommy. ♥

Our reading list this year:
Charlotte’s Web
The Chocolate Touch
The Magician’s Nephew
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Several Captain Underpants books (because we’re a classy homeschool) There is not much redeeming about this series in particular except for the fact that my super serious son will laugh and giggle out loud when we read about Captain Underpants and Professor Poopypants.
Several Animorphs books
The Phantom Tollbooth
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

He is a model student and and is forever asking questions and making connections. He learns and loves easily and I couldn’t be prouder of all he accomplished this year academically or otherwise. He is wise beyond his years and makes me look like I have my act together even when I’m failing. I cannot believe my first will be in second soon. Ego amo te, little man.

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Field Trip #2

Our second field trip of the year was to the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum in Seminole. The kids love this place and we brought Miss Catie along because Doug was out of town and she needed a day off from teaching 2nd graders. Although I wouldn’t call making sure my kids didn’t get lost in a a sea of children a day off, but she’s special like that.

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Lucy LOVES Catie.

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Holding them tight before the chaos ensued.

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They really dug the excavation exhibit.

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Lucy “Grease Monkey” Hurt

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Technical Jack running through the clipboard checklist. This car was in good hands.

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Kid-sized stores are a lot less stressful than our typical grocery trips.

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She’s always judging us.

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We made some art expressing our disdain of Doug’s absence. Well, Lucy painted a heart. We heart this place and we heart our dear Catie.

Back to the Farm

Our homeschool group returned to P Bar farms this year for another field trip.  The weather was gorgeous albeit a bit windy, but what else can you expect from Oklahoma?

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On the way, we took a pit stop at The Cherokee Trading Post.

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Check out my hair. This is what happens when you have long hair in this state.

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We were more than happy to visit again.

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So this was essentially a vinyl tarp of some kind half buried in the ground and then blown up. It was like a huge bouncy house with no enclosures. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. And when you have a daredevil child (Lucy) she might jump off completely and you might have to sacrifice your body to cushion her fall.

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Seriously, you would’ve thought we were at Disney World.

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Nothing better than a corn maze in the fall.

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I told Jack he was in charge of making sure his little sister didn’t get lost. He took the job very seriously.

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picture with Daddy

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picture with Mommy

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Resting on pumpkins after our walk.

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We need more practice on posing in cutouts.

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See?

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The farm has some pretty neat playground equipment. That slide hurts.

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Farmer Jack

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Lucy’s turn

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She really will be able to drive someday. This thought keeps me up at night.

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I told Jack to pose by the tractor.

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I told Lucy to pose by the tractor.

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Outdoor checkers! So much fun!

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he beat me

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In this picture you can tell that Lucy put on teal eye shadow that morning. On only one eyelid.

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We loaded up on the trailer to ride to the pumpkin patch.

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Lucy’s pick

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Jack’s pick

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Mommy’s pick

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windy pic

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family pic

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Lucy wanted Pumpkin to have his own seat.

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The farmer called to cows over for a closer look.

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Riding the “train.”

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Milking the “cow.”

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And before we left, we had to feed the animals.

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We couldn’t get the feed into Lucy’s hands fast enough. She wasn’t hesitant at all.

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She loved the little goat.

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Am I the only one who thinks goats are kind of disturbing?

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Fingers flat! Fingers flat!

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Jack needed a little more coaching and encouragement.

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But he loved feeding them too.

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Pretty sure we did everything there was to do. We even listened to Farmer Loren give a lecture on GMOs so the trip counted as educational.

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I’m sure we will be back.

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Proof that we had another great day at the farm.

Field Trips

Our homeschool group took a couple of field trips this past school year that I am late in posting about. I did post some pictures of the trip to the state capital building here. The first trip was back in the fall to P Bar Farms located in Hydro, OK about an hour west of Oklahoma City. image

This family owned farm is picture perfect and there were many activities to keep the kids busy and entertained.

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gorgeous day

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They were very happy to be on the farm after two hours in the car.

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I love the look she is giving him.

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being silly

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my favorite

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We took a ride on a tractor trailer to pick out pumpkins.

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gorgeous, but windy

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Lucy’s pick

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Mom’s pick

We were trying to get a nice picture, but the wind was against us.

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an attempt at a family pic

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She insisted on riding by herself.

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They both loved the “train.”

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Feeding the animals was their favorite part of the day.

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The kids had a blast playing on the playground. I didn’t love how tall it was. However, at the top  was a nice view of the land.

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she is out standing in her feild

We actually went through the corn maze with Lucy. I made sure she never left my sight.

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In Texas, we take bluebonnet pictures. In Oklahoma, we take grass pictures.

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She was fascinated by the pigs. The farmer told us their names were Sausage and Bacon. I don’t think he was joking.

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llama face

Even Doug made a new friend.

In the spring, our group went to the pretzel factory to learn how pretzels are made.

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This is at the Auntie Anne’s at The Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City.

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Lucy was instructing the worker on the proper way to put the gloves on. She knows everything.

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a little bit too big

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She’s going to be a pro with the Paparazzi one day.

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We were taught how to roll out and shape the pretzel dough.

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First you roll it out, stretch it out long…

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then cross your arms to twist the pretzel.

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yum!

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I might have been wearing a hat too. Unfortunately, none of those pictures turned out.

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While the pretzels were baking, we got to go behind the scenes.

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Can I eat yet?

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After the tour we all got drinks and had intelligent conversation while we waiting patiently and properly for the pretzels.

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It looked like this.

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Jack and his school friend

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They were so good. Definitely worth the wait.

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And because this was our first and only visit to this newer outlet mall (because the only way to get this family near an outlet mall is to plan a food based field trip) we did some exploring.

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And we found a Disney Store.

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never serious for long

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Imagine how much more fun they could have if I actually put money in the machines.

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My favorite things about the mall: the pretzels, the cookies, the walking, and the company. Pretty much anything but shopping.