The Best Field Trip Ever - late May

A friend from church has a small farm, and she invited our church preschool co-op out for a field trip. All the siblings decided to come too, and they were glad they did! This was definitely one of THE best field trips we've ever taken - our friend went to a lot of trouble to plan a fun and educational day. We learned about llamas, rabbits, meat chickens vs laying chickens, milking goats, baby goats, and she even planned a craft for us - felted soap. We had a wonderful time, and that field trip has led to participation in 4H where Cora and Abigail will be working with llamas. It also led to a "chicken processing" day at the farm, where you will be very glad to know that we did not take pictures. :) Abigail Emma surprised and impressed EVERYONE on the work crew by working at the "eviscerating table" pulling out chicken guts without batting an eyelash. She was covered with chicken guts and blood up to her elbows the entire day, and she probably processed 20 chickens on her own throughout the day. She is one tough chick, and I wouldn't mess with her after watching her pull out chicken guts. I worked at the "quality control" station where I only washed them off and pulled out the remaining feathers. :) We went home with two fresh, organic chickens that weighed 6 3/4 pounds and 7 1/2 pounds. They were GOOD! :) Shiloh (who missed the chicken processing due to a doctor's appointment) almost couldn't bring herself to eat the chicken - I don't think she'll be a farmer's wife. :)

Without further ado - field trip pictures!

Nathaniel meets one of the llamas. Here's what I learned about llamas: they don't need as much pasture or food, they don't smell bad, they're very intelligent, they have soft feet like dog's pads, they like to give kisses, they are great watchdogs (even better than dogs, actually), and mama llamas don't give birth at night. If it gets dark, they just wait until morning to have the baby. I think that's very considerate of them for their owners' sake. Also, why are we considered to be more evolved if we haven't figured out how not to go into labor in the middle of the night? :)

Helping to feed the animals:

Their cat, Butterfinger, LOVES to be held. He was content to be passed from one person to the next the whole day.

Abigail learns how to milk a goat. We all tried the goats' milk, and only Adah and Nathaniel disliked it. Weird.

Our friend shows everyone how to make felted soap. Fun and useful project!

Baby goats one day old!! ADORABLE.

They separate the babies from their mamas because they raise them to be pets and they need them to become very gentle and dependent on people. That's why they bottlefeed them.

Our friend's son teaches the kids about checkerboard patterns on rabbits. :)

Feeding the baby goats! This was the highlight of the day as we watched their crazy antics.

This picture reminds me of Cora telling a workman who had come to the house in Florida, "When I grow up, I want to be a mommy and a raiser of goats." She was three. :)

Those goats are squirmy!

Shiloh became an expert at catching those little critters. She's fast!

Finishing Up School Year 2010-2011

Our enrichment group went to a local nursing home close to Memorial Day to deliver cookies and sing patriotic songs. The residents LOVED the songs, and most of them sang along to "America the Beautiful," "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "Star-Spangled Banner," "The Caissons Go Rolling Along," "My Country 'Tis of Thee," and others. The kids practiced beforehand, and they actually sounded pretty good! Notice Jackson's Civil Air Defense helmet that belonged to his great-grandfather - several of the residents recognized the logo and asked about it. :)

Making cookies beforehand:

The next batch of pictures comes from completed school projects. I want to do a better job next year of getting pictures of their projects. I often want to keep the actual projects, but there just isn't room enough in the house for all of them! Pictures will last longer. :)

These sea creatures were made as part of our study on weather and water this past year.

For Tapestry of Grace second semester, we studied Africa. They each had to pick a country they were interested in and research it. They needed to create a report that included the capital, flag, customs, language, food, and crops. It was interesting to see the countries they chose.

Cora took a science class at our homeschool co-op, and this is one of the reports she prepared for class. She chose to research killer whales, and she discovered a lot of interesting facts about them. Did you know a killer whale was once found in the Thames River? (me either)

Can't seem to move the pictures around today - this is Shiloh's map of Africa. The maps created no small amount of angst since they had to be hand-drawn. Shiloh is a perfectionist and did not like her first try. :)We learned about the push westward, and Shiloh created a poster to allure people to move.

We also studied South America, learning about Simon Bolivar and the push for independence from Spain.

These are pictures of the lapbooks that we do throughout the year for history. It's a great visual reminder of all they've learned, and the kids learn summarizing skills as they have to provide information or pictures from their memories of the events, places, or people.

There were so many more projects that they did throughout the year, but these were just the ones that survived to the end of the year to take pictures. :) They especially enjoyed a research project that we did on immigrants. They were asked to interview great-grandparents or grandparents about their ancestors, and the answers they got surprised me! I found out from my dad that my great-great-grandfather Levi just up and disappeared one day. No one ever found out why or discovered his fate. The family believes it had something to do with gambling associates. They also enjoyed learning about the Civil War - ahem, the War Between the States - and they had some great discussions with Daddy about the subject. This year we're moving into modern history and so far we've studied the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt, the Titanic, the Panama Canal, and the San Francisco earthquake. It's funny to me what each child becomes particularly interested in - I would have thought that Jackson would latch onto the Titanic or the earthquake because of the destruction and drama involved, but no. He wanted to hear more about the Panama Canal and the details of how they dug the trench, how they dammed the river, and how the locks worked. Did I mention he wanted to know all this in DETAIL? I learned more than I ever cared to about watertight doors on locks, dynamite blasting for trenches, and the solutions provided to cut down on malaria and yellow fever. Shiloh has now moved into the "dialectic" level of learning, which means that we have discussions each week that ask her not just to absorb and repeat information, but to offer analysis on the information. It's been so interesting to hear her thoughts on Teddy Roosevelt's presidency (she admired his enthusiasm and gusto - she didn't like how he thought government could take care of everyone's problems :) ) and Amy Carmichael's mission work (she was very encouraged to hear how Amy pressed on in the midst of incredible personal difficulty and she was troubled by the caste system that hindered her from presenting the gospel to all Indian people).

Part of the year-end project for Shiloh and Cora for French was to learn the Lord's prayer in French and recite it on video. Obviously, we still need to work on accents, but here they are:

Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens (late April)

Warning: These posts are not necessarily going to be in order. :)

Our enrichment group planned a field trip the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond (http://www.lewisginter.org/) to take advantage of a homeschooling program they offered on gardening. Cora became sick the morning of the trip, so I figured we would have to miss it. My dear friends offered to take the other girls, and one of them took these pictures for me so I could see what I missed. It looks like they had an amazing greenhouse, and the program was fun and informative. The cucumber and radish seeds that came home with them went into our garden, and the cucumbers took over. :)

Amazing orchid collection:

They found an amazing climbing tree:

The young man in the back always convinces his mom to let him do a crazy picture. :)

The cutie in the front still thinks it's crazy picture time.

The girls are checking out the herb garden:

Shiloh's Soccer Finale

The blog has been temporarily resurrected! I would like to say it's been permanently resurrected, but since I don't have a great track record so far, I would say that's probably not accurate. :)

So hello again! And hello to Daniel's aunt, who encouraged me to get busy on the blog again. :) Sorry it's been so long, guys! I was having such a good time this summer that I didn't get to the blog part of my to-do list (and, as I believe I might have mentioned before, Daniel hogs the computer at night :) ). Now that we're back to school and Daniel is in Germany on a work trip (where the primary goal is finding me a cuckoo clock) I have a little time in the evening to try to get caught up. I last posted as we were finishing the school year strong and looking forward to the end-of-the-year activities. One of those was the championship game for Shiloh's soccer team. The game was a heart-breaker. Shiloh's team worked hard and scored first, then got a little complacent and the other team scored. The score was 1-1 at the end of the game, then 1-1 at the end of overtime. The game went into penalty kicks, and they were STILL tied at the end of 5 penalty kicks. The parents were nervous wrecks, and the kids were exhausted! :) The coaches had to pick a player from the bench to make a sudden death penalty kick. The other team made their kick. Daniel chose Shiloh, the newbie, from the bench, knowing that she had already been chosen by her teammates for the All-Stars team and wanting to give her a chance. She missed the kick. :( She misunderstood Daniel's guidance and kicked it too softly to get it in. I was broken-hearted for her after she and her team had worked SO hard to make it happen. Daniel took it in stride, Shiloh took it in stride, and I was the one who had a hard time letting it go. :) (Competitive much?) Practice for the All-Stars game started the next week. On the calendar for the game day, Shiloh wrote "Beat Wade," her arch-nemesis on the other team. :) Daniel had little hope for his team after meeting with his new recruits (they combined the All-Stars picks from two teams to create one team). Over the next two weeks, they worked hard on communication and teamwork. Shiloh was ready! And MAN, DID SHE COME THROUGH. :) I'm so proud of that girl for her hard work and great attitude, all the while dealing with foot pain. Oma came up for the game, and it couldn't have been a better game for her to see. Shiloh scored one goal, then she scored another - the winning goal for the game. She wanted to prove that she deserved to be there after the championship game, and she definitely proved it. What a great end to the season for her first experience with soccer. Adah, Abigail, and Jackson's team finished strong as well, and Daniel is looking forward to coaching them again in the fall.

Okay, enough of the commentary. The picture below was taken on the day of the last game, and the video is from the championship game. I was taking the video and completely forgot I was holding the camera when Shiloh scored (which is why it hit the ground :) ). Yes, the screaming banshee in the video is I. I could say that it's an anomaly, but the kids will tell you that I yell like that for every goal and every basket (in Cora's case). It's a little embarrassing, but I come by it naturally. The kids got to see genetics in action as Oma yelled almost as loud as I did. :) It was also cute to see how much the siblings cheered for Shiloh - it's a great opportunity for them to encourage one another. We're all looking forward to this fall's soccer season when Nathaniel will join the ranks of the soccer players.

I'm Trying

I'm really trying to post some new stories and pictures, but blogger is NOT working with me. It is picking and choosing which videos it will upload, and the videos are central to the stories. ARGH! I'll keep working on it. We're all still here, and we're doing very well. We've enjoyed our summer break and are now back to some lessons, although we'll take time off for lake visits when we feel that the day calls for it. :)

I HOPE to have some pictures and videos for you soon. So much has been happening in the Houseworth household!

Catching Up

We've been doing our normal daily routine since I last posted, which somehow doesn't leave room for other activities like blogging. :) I've come to think that's an excellent thing, though - our home is full of life! Spring adds the additional fun of soccer season. Daniel is coaching both Shiloh's team and Adah's, Abigail's, and Jackson's team. He is one busy daddy since he is also Jackson's den leader! Shiloh wanted to play this year for the first time, and Daniel requested to be her coach. I put down on the sign-up form that the SECOND choice was for him to coach Adah's and Abigail's team. Well, the parks and rec organizer made him their coach as well. Originally, Jackson was on another team, but Daniel managed a brilliant move in transferring a younger boy who had no experience down to a team better suited to him and moving Jackson up so that we don't have to deal with three games every Saturday. They have all been having such a great time! The only sad thing is that the rain has been so heavy this spring that one set of games has already been cancelled because the fields were too wet. Abigail is already fretting that the games this Saturday will be cancelled. :) The first set of pictures comes from the kids' first practice when my mom visited. Adah and Abigail were wearing their jerseys from last year because they wanted to look like real soccer players. :) (It was freezing, but did Abigail want to wear her sweatshirt? Why, no, because that would cover up the jersey.) It's good to see Daniel in a teaching role, encouraging and challenging the kids to do their best. He also makes them run laps if they whine or backtalk his decisions about positions they will play. :) The parents back him up and have expressed their appreciation for his coaching, which is always nice for a wife to hear. :)

Mom, you are so weird. And yet my kids still like you. Because, clearly, they are weird also. Maybe Adah gets it from you. :)

Shiloh was so nervous before her first practice! She knew that some of the players on her team had been playing for 5 or 6 years by this time. She had no need to worry. Her natural athletic ability came out in force, and she is definitely contributing to the team. I just love to watch her run!!

No visit from Oma is complete without a trip across the street to Dunkin' Donuts. :)

The girls will love these action shots later in life. :)

First game day! There are no pictures of Shiloh playing because I completely forgot to take any pictures, and she took these of Abigail and Jackson (she got videos of Adah, who got a goal in the first game!) As I've already documented, I am very...um...involved when I cheer for the kids. I forget everything else. :)

We had a packed day the Saturday of the first games. Jackson had Pinewood Derby later that afternoon. He and Daniel created a Humvee from their car form, and it was painted camouflage. (Why do I not have pictures of this? I have no idea.) Jackson's car did okay for his first try...he was consistently getting second in each race and he thought he was going to win the second place trophy. I had to explain that the times were what mattered. A gentleman created the electric track that hooked up to a computer and automatically calculated the times and places for all the cars. I got to see first-hand once again the amazing difference that God has engineered between boys and girls. My girls were bored STIFF with the whole thing and really couldn't have cared less about the 8 rounds of 11 races (although they wanted to cheer on Jackson's car). The boys in the room, on the other hand, got wilder with each round and did not lose enthusiasm for the whole thing throughout the evening.

Jackson received more awards that evening. If you ever visit or talk to him on the phone, he will be able to tell you in great detail about everything he has earned and what he had to do to earn it. I am out of the loop on these things. :) I did, however, get to admire an orange neon poster he made on "GOOD MANNERS" and the hilarious drawings he made to accompany each of the admonitions about manners. Oh, my. I will need to keep it for posterity. Daniel and Jackson will be going to scout camp this summer, and I don't know who is the more excited of the two. :)

The boys eagerly wait for the first round. It did not remain this calm with the boys sitting quietly behind the rope. No, ma'am, it most certainly did not.

This is a random picture of Shiloh displaying her Masai necklace for a school project. In our last unit for Tapestry of Grace, we studied Africa. A friend's dad had just left for a medical mission in Sudan, so we got to connect what we were learning on paper with pictures he posted on Facebook...love it when that happens!

The next set of photos comes from our visit with Daniel's mom. She was here for her birthday, so we took a trip to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond as part of the celebration. (It was our first road trip in "The Beast," our new 12-passenger van. She handled like a champ, but the parking will take some getting used to - especially in parking garages!) Below is one of my favorite paintings by an American artist named Charles Pearce. The photograph obviously doesn't do it justice, and it also doesn't show the size of the peace. It was almost as tall as I am. It was breathtaking. Daniel's mom said the visit inspired her to go home and pick up her paints again. She's quite a talented artist herself. Shiloh took the photographs. :) There are about 100 more of all the paintings, sculptures, and artifacts that she found interesting.

This piece was in the English silver room. We all decided on gifts that we would like to receive for wedding presents, and I believe this was Abigail's choice.

Later that evening we gave Daniel's mom a Houseworth-style birthday complete with a crown. She was a good sport to wear it during the festivities!! She requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so I dug out my cake recipe with coffee in it and the chocolate buttercream frosting recipe. It was delish.

Shiloh had to take pictures of the games when Paula was here as well, because I was off to a ladies' tea at our sister church in Warrenton. The ladies of this congregation were taking up a love offering for our church because we're a new church, and they were so gracious to the two of us who represented our congregation. There is a chef in their congregation, and he blessed us with a LOVELY lunch while the young men of the congregation served the ladies at the table.

Daniel's mom bought us pizza that night for dinner, so I had a whole day of rest and renewal (and a quiet car ride home!). It's wonderful to have little breaks like that, especially as I enter into the last few weeks of our school year. I am asking for the Lord's help to end well with JOY in the midst of a busy season. We have so many things to look forward to in the near future that I don't want to forget to enjoy the time NOW. :)