What are we reading?

Well, we are reading a lot of books!  We started school the end of August and here's a sampling of what we've been learning.  

We are working our way through the Presidents, so you'll see many books on Washington and Adams. We're working our way through the United States, so you'll see many books on Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.  In between those, we've been reading books about missionaries or heroes of faith and you'll see three of those books in the bottom center (Amy Carmichael, Corrie Ten Boom & Mary Slessor).  

Tuttle's Red Barn was an interesting book about America's oldest family farm!  Gervelie's Journey  was a book about a girl's journey as a refugee from Congo.  

For Science, we're learning about the flying creatures that God created. 

We checked out a video on White House workers (to go along with our Presidents unit) and it was pretty interesting.  I read the book in the middle, November's Fury.  It is a book about a 1913 hurricane to strike the Great Lakes.  Lots of destruction and a many lives lost due to poor weather forecasting, improper loading of ships and head-strong captains who wouldn't listen to the weather even if it had been accurate because they wanted their end of the season bonus.  It was a good book!

We read about Connecticut and Rhode Island.  Moved on to Jefferson and Madison for Presidents.  A couple Dust Bowl books and bird books.  

The 50 States book is an interesting one about how each state got their name.  The books in the front: Buffalo Soldiers, Triangle Shirt Factory Fire and Surviving the Dust Bowl are all ones that Emmet has read.  He enjoys the graphic novels so we've check them all out.  

The boys found this Monster Truck DVD at the library and watched it maybe 50 times :)

They also tend to check out the Trucks book often.  

Now you're up to date with what we've been reading.  Go ahead and ask the kiddos about a book the next time you see them!

Autumn Acres HSAP Field Trip

We were able to enjoy a beautiful day at Autumn Acres the end of September with our homeschool group.  The children always have a good time together!

Sarah and Eden on the giant slide--a favorite of theirs!

The boys like the innertubes--stack them up with you in the middle and then tip over!

Emmet's ready to tumble!

Back to the slide--this time with three girls!

Eliza loves running on hay bales--here and at Grandpa's!

And one last trip down the slide before it is time to go home!

Wow!  Getting so tall!  I should go back and find our pictures from our early days at Autumn Acres :)

Beautiful day!  Fun friends!  We are blessed!

Cement Workers

The morning after we baled hay, he had to be up EARLY to pour cement.  Seth has been working hard to get an additional cattle waterer in place and it included a lot of digging and thinking (and not necessarily in that order).  The pad was finally ready for cement and the children were eager to help.

Eden had a shovel just right for her.  

The boys took the trowels to level out the high spots.  

Trying to get the last corner finished up.  

You can't have a cement project without a handprint or 4 or 8, actually.  

And they wrote their names underneath.  

And a family shot of us all working together to get this cattle waterer ready.  We are thankful that it was an enjoyable morning to be outside.   

Balin' Hay

Wow, what a relief to finally get our 3rd cutting of hay done.  With the weather being wet every couple of days, it was hard to think about even getting the hay mowed, dried and baled.  But our opportunity finally came on Monday, Sept 22.  Kind of late, but better than never.  We had a lot of hay mowed and did A LOT of round bales but we saved a section to do in small square bales.  They are nice to have if you have a sick cow or to give our bottle calves.  We baled plenty so that the boys will have some to sell, too.  All the children were ready to go . . . with their gloves and Eliza even packed her pliers, just in case.  Seth was so proud!

Emmet on the rack, ready to hand the bales back to the adults stacking them.  The boys were EXCELLENT help.  Notice he's got his John Deere gloves on that he bought on our day-vacation.  

We did just over 400 bales.  

We had a crew inside working on unloading a hayrack while Seth stacked them in the barn.  

Cousins all working together.  

The girl cousins:  Eden, Sarah & Eliza.  

The boys on top of the rack.  

Gotta get that rack  unloaded just so it can be loaded again!

I said it already, but it is worth repeating . . . the boys were excellent help and worked hard.  We do our best to raise our children to know the work ethic that we've seen in our parents and grandparents.  They are required to work within their means and they aren't necessarily paid for what they do.  We didn't hear one bit of complaining from them on this day.  

Uh oh, who's taking a break on the top bale?  Didn't I just get done saying how hard they worked.  Okay, a well-deserved break is allowed.  

Still smiling.  

Waving at the school bus going down the road and I heard some remark about the hay rack being the boys' "bus."  

Look at all that hay!

Our haying crew, ready for to call it a day.  

What a relief to have the hay done for the year!  

Proverbs 12:11 “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.”

3rd Grade Bible Presentation

 Our church has a tradition when it comes to 3rd graders and Bibles.  They are each presented with a Bible, monogramed with their name.  It's been a long-standing tradition because Seth received a Bible of his own as a 3rd grader.  The actual presentation of the Bibles has evolved over the years.  Now, it is  a special event with parents fully involved.  First, all the 3rd graders and their parents met together.  We looked up a few scriptures about the importance of God's Word.  

The students left the room to work on a bookmark and the parents took the Bible and wrote in the cover.  We could write something about how special our child is to us.  And how important it is to read God's Word everyday. 

We wrote this verse in Emmet's Bible cover:

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes . . ."

During 2nd service, there was a short ceremony with all the students (10 or 11 of them) and their parents.  We, as parents, said: 

______ you are my child and I am very proud of you.

You are a wonderful creation of God who is fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:11)

God has a special plan for your life, a plan for hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11)

May this book be a lamp to your feet (Psalm 119:105)

May it penetrate your soul (Hebrews 4:12)

May it teach you, correct you, and train you (2 Timothy 3:16) to be the very person God longs for you to be.

We love you and present to you your very own Bible. 

The 3rd graders had to repeat:

I receive this Bible 

As God’s Word for me.

I will strive to know 

And understand it

And through it know God.

May it shape my character,

Penetrate my soul,

Direct my decisions,

Shepherd my heart,

Be a beacon of truth,

And lead my life. This is MY BIBLE! 

Emmet with his new Bible!  

This was the first day of Sunday School for everyone AND we were scheduled to be greeters for first service.  A busy church time for us, but all good stuff!

4H Herdsmanship & Record Book

All during the fair, the 4Hers are judged nearly every day on how well their animal pens are cleaned and how the chores are done.  There's a 9 point system for tracking what's been done or hasn't been done.  They get points for making sure the bedding is clean, the walkways are clear, the water is fresh, the decorations look nice, etc.  Ephraim did his best to keep his poultry area and his bottle calf pen clean and tidied.  The results are posted after each day so you can see where you can improve or where you rank.  

The final results are posted online and in the 4H newsletter after the fair.  

Ephraim brought home the Herdsmanship trophy for Poultry!  

This is his trophy for all his hard work.  

Also in 4H news, we've spent a couple weeks working on his 4H record book that was due on September 15.  It is a combination record book/scrapbook.  

We attended a short record book/scrapbook workshop and were given a ton of 4H papers and other scrapbooking items.  

It will be a nice keepsake to look back on all his memories.  We started early and worked on it a little bit each day.  He applied for several awards, too.  

He was pleased with how it turned out and so was I!  We can't wait to show it to family and friends (whenever we get it back from the Extension Office).