We have had some amazing sun rises and sunsets lately. I often don't catch them, but I am glad I got this one. Sure wish I had been up on a hill with an unobstructed view.

Benjamin will soon be studying ants!!! So, I thought it would be fun to get some.

The boys have loved watching them. They don't sleep very much. Often taking short power naps and then might go for a 3 hour sleep. When they sleep, all the other ants just walk over them. It took them about 2 full days to start really burrowing, but now they are working a lot. When we dumped them into the farm, we were told to refrigerate them for 15 minutes to make them a little sluggish. I am sure glad we did that. We lost a couple as we were putting them in. The boys would not pick them up...mom to the rescue (Jacob was not around though). They are fun to watch.

I always wonder what Benjamin really thinks about homeschooling. Usually when someone asks him, I am around. One of the things he does every week is pick someone to write a letter to. He wrote to his cousin Gaby recently and I was glad I saw the note.  (Spelling is something we still need lots of work on....If I always made him rewrite things, he would never write them to begin with.  I think his brain gets going so fast, he just spells phonetically.)

Benjamin has started home school basketball. They practice 4 days a week and the practices are 30 minutes away! However, he is enjoying it and they have their first game next week. About half of the practices and games start before Jacob gets out of school, so it is the juggling thing for me. However, to see Benjamin enjoy it is all worth it.

The quarter for Jacob ends next week, which means we are 1/4 of the way through!  Wahoo!

My computer motivation has been limited lately. By the time we finish homeschool and I do what needs to be done on the computer, I am done with computers.

This past weekend I went to Billings with a friend. Nothing but relaxing, shopping, eating and sleeping. So nice to get away for a few days and have no schedule. Other than my persistent cough that would wake me up, I came back ready to tackle the rest of the fall! I also brought a couple of projects home with me that I hope to start soon.

The boys got out of school early today and off school tomorrow and Friday...for statewide teacher training. We are getting together to play with a few friends, but not much else on the schedule.

Recently Joseph's preschool went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. (The older two boys both went with their preschool classes and weird to think this is my last organized field trip there. I look at all of Joseph's classmates' parents upon preschool pick up. Many of them are hauling younger kids for pick up. That is no longer me. I am phasing out of that season!)

Here are a few pictures from the field trip.

This is the apple press....the juice comes out of the small pipe in the middle bottom of the picture.  They had lots of bees buzzing around but they said no one has ever been stung because the bees are way more interested in the apples.

These pigs were a muddy mess...

This is a set of twins that live next door.  They are all in the same class and Joseph loves playing outside with them.  (Unfortunately they are moving to a different part of town...Joseph will be sad.)

At the beginning of the school year Jacob's teacher sent home a note that there would not be much math homework coming home. It is the first year of common core curriculum and there was a huge learning curve for the teachers and how to teach it. I thought 'what in the world'...it is second grade math? Well, Jacob finally brought home a math paper.

Now they have like a 3 step process, where they have to break down numbers before they can add them. Still not real sure why the need was felt to change the way the kids have been learning for years. Jacob's teacher from last year was telling me that he thinks in the long run kids will understand the processes better and not be so clueless in the higher grades. I am not convinced. Seems like if I continue to homeschool Benjamin that he will be learning the same stuff but not in the 'proper' manner. They are supposedly changing up the SAT/ACT tests to reflect this new style of learning.  Something that has all home schoolers and some private schools concerned.

The end of October is the end of the first quarter.  One down and three to go.  I think we might both survive this school year.

Off to call it a night.

Pictures from our week....

Jacob has his school's Fun Run this past week.  He ran his little heart out.

All the kids had stickers on their shoulders that would receive tally marks for each lap.  Here is Jacob getting a quick tally mark.

Waiting in line for tally mark.  I ran several laps with him.  One of them I was in a full on sprint trying to keep up with him.  I thought I was gonna pass out when I stopped.  Thankfully, he does not know about slow and steady so I still would take him in distance :-)

Joseph decided it was time to celebrate black bear's first birthday.

We pulled out the winter gear recently. The boys always love the hats!

On Saturday we attended a local Raptor Fest...Being a 'bird of prey" exhibit.  Jacob is thinking hard as he sketches the eagle.

Here is a hawk, that was injured and now in captivity.  I learned the peregrine falcon is the fastest bird in the world that can dive at speeds up to 250 msp.

A cute little owl.

The boys participated in an obstacle course of such....they were trying to beat the records of the animals...These were Jacob's numbers.

A lovely turkey vulture....

Great horned owl.  It was interesting to learn that most owls either have a an owl ear tipped forward or backward or their ears are asymetrical - different heights on the head.  This is so that owls cannot only determine if a sound is left or right but it allows them to determine if it is high or low.  Even with big eyes, their ears are the most used sense they have.  They can detect a mouse 18 inches under the snow.  They had an owl wing and an eagle feather.  The quickly waved the eagle feather up and down and the noise it created was pretty loud.  The noise created from the owl wing was undetected, another way in which they are able to successfully hunt.

This was some kind of falcon.

This is an owl skull.  Look at those eye sockets.  That is why owls cannot move their eyes but must instead turn their head.  They can turn about 300 degrees.

The boys had a great time and we will make it an annual thing going forward.

Gearing up for another week. I think we are finally hitting our stride with the schooling. Of course every week I think that and then we find a better way to do things! Benjamin finally started getting into history. He is having a great time piecing everything together with Jamestown and the early settlers.