Every year we take the first few minutes of our first day of school work to take some quick photos of the students. They get to choose where & what with & it's always interesting what they choose.
This year I almost forgot. Thankfully somewhere in this crazy brain I remembered just as we were sitting down to begin our year. Rather than get the children to dress in cute matching outfits or to even do their hair ( although one quite obviously did - child of his mother that one :)). I just told them to make sure they were clean & to meet me outside.
They chose to get their group photo in front of the tomatoes. I'm not sure why except that they all must feel some ownership as we worked together towards making this experimental garden a success. I realised as I look back at these pictures how desperately the boys need a haircut (which has now been done!). Also how it is completely impossible to get even one picture where everyone looks decent. Most importantly though I realise how much fun it is spending each & every day with these precious blessings the Lord has given us!
Perfect? ...No, we aren't; our farm isn't & these photos surely aren't!
Treasures...oh yes!
Eli
Eli is entering grade 3 this year. When we first began this journey of home education he was just a toddler running around with his twin brother. Eli works hard at his work & has just had his glasses prescription changed to (hopefully) make it easier for him. His lazy eye has not improved over the last year & so he needed a stronger prescription. Our optometrist noted that it takes Eli twice as much work to focus his eye on pages than it does his twin brother.
Eli chose to have his photo taken with "Aussie" his budgie. Sadly the other budgie was attacked by one of our cats (while in it's cage). We are hoping to get a replacement in the near future.
Jud
Jud is also entering third grade. He finds his schoolwork rather easy & so I must come up with ways to challenge him. He is wonderful at independent work & loves to have a list to tick through as he achieves the goals (his mother's child - again).
Ellie
Oh my sweet Ellie. She's decided that she can't be bothered with pretties any more (much to her mother's sadness). No more flowers in hair (sigh). No more ribbons (double sigh). Maybe it's just the results of growing up. She's certainly done a lot of that lately & we are definitely into the next stage in her development!
She did choose to be photographed in front of the flowers, although she'd just been wrestling the dog which accounts for the grass in her hair & the rather dishevelled look!
Ellie is entering 6th grade - her last year of primary schooling. As well as her normal load of subjects, we are choosing to combine her with Zai for a couple of the technology subjects in Stage 4. This is because I know she will enjoy them & they are more fun to do them with multiple children (cooking & sewing). As she is covering all the learning outcomes in her key learning areas for Stage 3 this is fine.
Zai
Zai is entering 7th grade which is high school here in New South Wales. It's hard to believe he was a little grade one student when we first made the decision to homeschool our children. What was possibly a temporary solution has become a wonderful lifestyle for our family!
It was with much prayer that we decided to homeschool Zai into high school. This has not been an easy decision and we will reassess it each year. At the moment we are comfortable that homeschooling continues to be a good fit for our children. Zai made it quite clear that he wished to continue being homeschooled.
Of course Bolt got into the photo! Bolt is a wonderful dog & we are thankful that so far he hasn't been the headache either of our other dogs were by this stage.
Zai insisted on getting a picture of the teacher. No makeup, dagy farm clothes & all! :)
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| 3 crazy, wild farmboys! |
We look forward to another year of educating these precious children at home. We still feel that homeschooling is one of the best decisions we've made for our family. It is an honour to have this job & responsibility!
I am immensely blessed!
Have a wonderful day friends
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