Slices of Life

I read 10 books this month!  I could not believe it when I sat down to compile the list.. but that might explain why my house isn't the cleanest or the most organized right now.  Ha!  To be fair I did manage to read three of the books while on vacation; I just love reading in the car.  I know many people can't do that but it really helps pass the time. 1.  Slightly South of Simple by Kristy Woodson Harvey - When Ansley's three daughters decide to move home for the summer she knows it's going to be a busy season.  Her oldest daughter's marriage is falling apart and she's more than 6 months pregnant.  Her middle daughter is struggling to raise two kids while her husband is once again deployed to another county and her youngest daughter is starring in her first major role; which just happens to be shooting nearby.  When her old childhood boyfriend shows back up in town and her mother hurts her ankle forcing Ansley to bring her mother into th...

We incorporate nature into our homeschooling in so many ways! We go hiking most every week.  We visit aquariums , zoos , and nature centers. We've raised butterflies , hatched ladybugs from larvae, watched tadpoles turn into frogs , and even resuscitated a dehydrated hummingbird we found in our garage. We've taken classes at our nature center to learn about clamming, fishing, nature journaling and more.  We once went out on an ocean research vessel and learned all about the ocean animals in our region.  We've taken classes through our local zoos over the years learning about habitat, animal adaptations, and more. But one of our favorite ways to learn all about nature is to read.  Even though my kids are all in middle and high school we sill read lots and lots of wonderful picture books.  I look for books with beautiful illustrations and moving stories. You can read the rest of this post at the 30 Days 30 Ways Blog Party where 29 other bloggers and myself tea...

We had a great week even if it was a quiet week.  With our temperatures plummeting and lots of rainy/ gray days I wasn't motivated to do much at all this week.  Thankfully the boys were content to work on schoolwork and spend their time at home too.  We did try to get out of the house whenever it wasn't raining and managed to hike twice! We watched another episode of How the States Got Their Shapes on Friday.   We are just LOVING this series!  After the episode was done we read two picture books for science/history and then the boys settled in to work in their math books.  After doing a bit of reading Ian headed to work with his grandfather and the younger two boys and I packed lunches and headed out to go meet up with our hiking group.  We hiked for a good hour or so and then enjoyed a picnic lunch at the park.  We had the whole place to ourselves and were rather reluctant to leave.  We stopped at Target on the way home to get Alec s...

We finally started back to school last week but looking at this list of books my boys read this month you'd never know we were on vacation for most of the month. The 91 Story Treehouse-- Ian has read every book in this series and really enjoys reading about the crazy new additions they make each time.  In this book Andy and Terry are babysitting Mr. Big Nose's three grandchildren for a day. The Erth Dragons: The New Age- - Alec was so excited to read the final book in the Trilogy in the culminating series there is a battle raging between the dragons and all the other races. Keeper of the Lost Cities-- Sophie is a Telepath and her ability to read minds sets her apart from the other kids in school and even her family (even though she has kept her ability a secret).  One day Sophie meets Fitz (another Telepath) and he helps her see that she has never really fit in because she is actually from another world. The Lost Continent-- Alec got so frustrated wai...