President project

Well, so ends our homeschool year. There have definitely been ups and downs, but overall it was the best decision for our family for this year. One of the most recent projects the girls had been working on was researching a president and doing a short performance. Jane chose George Washington. I read her a few picture books and she picked out a few facts to write down on her papers. Eleanor chose Abraham Lincoln and read a few books on her own and wrote her own little report. I had asked her to write down three facts, but she came back with a little speech! Here are the girls' performances (note Eleanor's eye contact, which I tried to explain to her, but obviously did not do a good job of! Hah!):

Eleanor had to do some end of year testing to submit to the county to show "proof of progress." Jane did not have to do this because of her age. 

After we finished we celebrated with strawberry shortcakes using the strawberries we picked at our local farm.

The kids all had a sleepover on their last day of school in the big girls' room. It did not go super smoothly and everyone was tired and cranky the next day. Oh well.

Also, we actually finished school at the end of April so really we've just been hanging out for the last month! It has been a nice reprieve from all the work, but we are so thankful that now swim team has started and we have a bit of structure again.

Onward to FIRST and THIRD grade!

Friday field trips - lavender farm

We decided to check out Sweethaven Lavender Farm nearby for a field trip. The kids enjoyed it and I kind of did. It seemed like I was picking lavender forever! It was a beautiful environment and a beautiful day, though!

Lauren and Bonnie came, too!

Ben and Rosie loved running around.

They got to pick out little lavender treats (lollipops and brownies).

And we just enjoyed to beautiful setting.

April Poem

This month the girls memorized the poem Who Has Seen the Wind by Christina Rosetti. This one was short and easy, which was a good choice for winding up our homeschool year.

Eleanor:

Jane:

Friday field trips - strawberry picking and beach

We decided to go strawberry picking one Friday at Mill Farm because our favorite place (College Run, because of the ferry and the ice cream) didn't plant strawberries this year. Bonnie came with us (and Lauren, of course)!

After picking we headed over to Freedom Park to play for a little while!

Another Friday we also rode bikes to the beach.

Field trips are definitely one of the big perks of homeschooling.

Friday field trips - biking the island loop

Last spring when the world shut down, our county closed Jamestown Island (think Pocahontas, 1607) to cars and other vehicles. The only way you were allowed on the island was by foot or bike, so we decided to see if our kids could make the ride. It was a 15-16 mile ride from our house and back and surprisingly they all did it, and pretty well! We biked it a handful of times last year on good weather days, and the kids have also gone from the parking lot around since then (more like a 7-8 mile ride), but we hadn't done the whole thing again since last year. One Friday with beautiful weather we decided to do it again, and it went pretty well! 

This was actually on a separate ride, but Ben and Rosie still occasionally fall asleep on longer rides if it gets too close to nap time. 

100 days of school

Awhile back we celebrated 100 days of school. We didn't actually count days since we did a few things occasionally on some days in August, we did partial school on "Spring Break" and we also don't really do school on Fridays even though things those days occasionally tend to be school related. So we decided to celebrate for a week.

The kids did a fun graphing/counting/color activity with fruit loops...

They completed a 100 piece puzzle together...Rosie was surprisingly good at this!

This was unrelated to 100 days, but they built a trap to catch some creepy-crawlies for a science lesson.

Eleanor made a lunch that consisted of 100 things. (10 each of 10 different things.)

 As we wind up our school year over the next month or so we've been reflecting on all they have learned this year, and it's been a lot!

March poetry

The girls' poem for the month of March was Trees by Joyce Kilmer. This was a good one for Jane to practice some of her pronunciation, and also seemed to be a more challenging one to learn. They both did great, though, and of course the twins tried to participate, too.

Eleanor:

Jane:

School pictures 2020-2021

I forgot to post these - we took them earlier this year. Since we decided to homeschool this year, we still decided to try to take some school pictures, so here they are.

Eleanor, 2nd grade:

Jane, Kindergarten:

Ben, 3 years old:

Rosie, 3 years old:

Friday field trips - Matoaka Amphitheater and Greensprings Trail

Just catching up on a few of these. We went to the Matoaka Amphitheater to play with friends and enjoy the nice weather one Friday! We also walked around on a few of their nearby trails. Unfortunately Ben and Rosie were pretty whiny. We had just gotten back from Florida and I underestimated how cold it still was in Virginia. I should have brought hats and gloves and only brought jackets.

Another day we decided to walk the Greensprings Trail. It's right off the Capital Trail but through the woods and the trail isn't paved. There are also fun bridges to walk across.