Weekly Highlights: Week 15- Special Event

We had a blast at grandpa & grandma's yesterday. We spent time enjoying carving pumpkins, learning to put together birdhouses, and getting to use various tools.

Ezekiel with his very own carved pumpkin, with special effects:


Ezekiel holding nature in his hands- caterpillar!

Ezra working hard on his 3rd pumpkin:

Erzsebet with her pretty pumpkin, complete with eyelashes:

Grandpa designed & precut the parts for all the kiddos! He's quite the talented handy man:

Ezra happy with his completed birdhouse:

Daddy helping Ezekiel with a powertool:

All finished!

Ezra got to use some historical tools that date way back to the 1800's.

Finished products by all the family members. We had cousins and siblings who attended this annual tradition.

Ezra playing the cornet with family.

Weekly Highlights: Week 15

Reading & Writing:

Ezra loves to color the pictures in the Bible Reader.

Bible: We are fully enjoying all that we get to do while studying Genesis- story of Creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, etc..

Ezra's Bible Notebook illustration of the story, "A Sad Day".

MFW also instructs the parent to keep her own Bible Notebook & participate in the lesson with the student. Here is my version. By the time Ezra was done, I was out of time & didn't get to put colors in.


Cain & Abel illustration by Ezra. I love the abstract lines in the drawing of Cain. I thought it was appropriate in depicting his heart condition.


My rendition. We used various examples of illustrations to project images on our notebooks.


Math: Measuring

Homemade balance scale:

Special Activity: Baking a birthday cake for Halmuni.

Weekly Highlights: Week 14- Science

Science experiment from the Under the Sea unit: Underwater Pressure.

Ephraim explaining the experiment to Ezra. Plastic bottle filled with water, prepped with 3 nail size holes- top, middle, bottom. Holes temporarily covered with tape.

Once the tapes are removed, you can see that the bottom hole shoots the water out the farthest, due to the greatest water pressure. The top hole drained water with such little pressure, we didn't actually see it "shoot out". The top hole just leaked water down the side of the bottle.

As the water emptied the bottle, the middle hole also started to lose pressure.

Ezra pointing to the middle hole, which is now just leaking water agains the side of the bottle.

Ezra adding more pressure- air pressure that is- into the bottle.

After the experiment- a photo of our beautiful Maple dressed in Fall colors. I absolutely LOVE Fall in Oregon!

Weekly Highlights: Week 14

Despite not feeling well this week, I did manage getting school done.... but that was pretty much it. The enemy knew I was vulnerable & made me feel guilty about not having kept up with my tasks, house chores, etc... Does anyone else go through this? I'm thankful to God for my husband, who is so understanding and supports me through the tough days.

I love the picture of Adam & Eve in the Bible. I love that God took a rib out of a man's side to create a woman.... not from his back or from his tummy, but from his side! I love that we
were created as one bone, one flesh.... to stand together as one, right next to one another. I know I was created to be a helper to my husband, to stand by my man! I also know that I can always find comfort in knowing that my husband is right beside me, putting his arms around me, willing to help me get through the thick & thin of life.

Our Bible lesson this week was regarding that same topic- the Creation & the institution of Marriage.... Why God created it & what He had intended for marriage- a lifetime commitment between a man and a woman. I thank God for the Bible, our life manual!

Here is Ezra retelling the creation story.


Here are the kiddos during their 'chice time'. I think it's important to give children choices that are well-guided by parents. It's amazing how fast a day goes by when you give them plenty of choices to choose from....choices that will help you manage time in the most educational & beneficial way as a family. Our kiddos choose between several activities each day, and computer games seem to be their favorite! (Make sure to set a timer, so they don't overplay! Sooooo important! Make sure you're in the room when they're on their computers.)


(Sorry, these pictures are out of order.) Going over the months of the year during our opening time.


Ezekiel has his own set of toys that are used only during school time. This helps a bunch!

Number of the day: #46

Number of the day: place value & 100 day puzzle.

Erzsebet holding day 46 puzzle piece.

Rainy day activity: finger paint!

....and pudding art!

Children love getting messy or what?!

One of my personal favorites..... quiet reading time, while the baby naps. Ahhhh.

This is what Erzsebet is currently using for reading. She really enjoys Bob books. *General Reading Tip: Make sure your child is not just reciting the memorized sentences by looking at the illustrations. Her memory is incredible & will memorize a sentence after reading it 1x or 2x. I purposely hide the illustrations as we turn each page, forcing her eyes to go immediately to the words. Then I reveal the pictures for her to enjoy (reward). Do help with sounding out difficult sounds. This practice will get them in the habit of reading the actual words, not just the fun pictures.

A Simple Woman's Daybook

For today... October 12th from Alicen's Daybook

Outside my window... are yellow, green, orange, red, beautiful autumn colors.

I am thinking... 3 more weeks!

I am thankful for... God's willingness to entrust such precious children under my care.

I am wearing... black pants, nike white shirt & a black apron.

I am remembering... that it's not about me.

I am going... to start on my handmade greeting cards this week.

I am reading... 1 Samuel with my son. He is quite fascinated with King Saul & King David stories right now.

I am hoping... for better discipline in all areas of my life.

I am creating... new labels for our daily schedule chart.

I am praying... for my husband & his work.

From the learning rooms... Kiddos working on their pattern blocks, cuisenaire rods, and quiet reading.

Noticing that... It's really REALLY easy to over-commit as a homeschool mom.

Pondering these words... Be still, and know that I am God. Ps 46:10

From the Kitchen... Kal-Bi is thawing right now. Oh yea baby, it's Korean BBQ tonight!

Around the house... I'd like to skim down our collection of toys. I hope to talk the kids into giving them away to bless other children.

One of my favorite things... waking up my babies in the morning. Messy hair, morning breaths, warm little bodies & big happy "Mommy!" smiles- soooo yummy & endearing!

A few plans for this week... Winnie the Pooh Play at a local children's theatre! Soccer, ballet, church, and hopefully a trip to the beach or a pumpkin patch.

From my picture journal...

Ezra spending time with the Lord on the way to school (taken by a carpool mom friend from 2 years ago). I must say he continues to teach me a lot about God's love and grace.

Weekly Highlights: Week 13- Ketchup Week

This was our "ketchup" week. We had some catching up to do on math & science, so we took a little break from our regular routine. We also took advantage of the beautiful sunshine and got to play outdoors a lot each day. We had a few special happenings as well- grandma's birthday visit, family portraits, and a special field trip (see below).


We registered to attend Oregon Symnphony's Kinderconzerts, a 4 part series. This week was the String Family. The concert was very well done!! Geared toward K~2nd graders, the musical concepts were introduced in an easy & fun way. The String Quintet played examples of legato & staccato using various well-known classical pieces (selected short movements). The narrarator did a great job keeping the children engaged & managing noise level. It was held at a local school, so there were other (chatty but entertained) young audience members in attendance. We arrived earlier though & got to see/ touch the instruments close up and talk to the instrumentalists. It was a wonderful experience, one that warms my heart especially since our family loves classical music.

Here is the cellist who was very child-friendly & took time in explaining cello parts to the kiddos. Although I've played the violin throughout my school years, I have to say cello has always been my favorite string instrument. I'd suggest Y0-Yo Ma to those who want to hear quality cello sound.

Children getting to feel the vibration of the instrument while he bowed the strings.

Bassist also gave the kiddos a show & tell. Here he is answering Ezra's question about the bridge.
(Notice the bassist's tie.)

Quintet making beautiful music. (Ahhhh.... what fun job it would be to play in the symphony.)

Children enjoying the mini-concert.

In summary, we had a relaxing & fun week, with just a few things to check off on our school curriculum list. It was a nice change of pace to just play, enjoy ballet, soccer, and lots of goofing around (as you can see below). I can tell we'll be enjoying more "Ketchup Weeks" in the future!