Our Ultimate Field Trip, Part 1

September 23rd, one week ago, Zachary, Nikita, Amelia, Micah, Leif and I embarked on our Ultimate Field Trip.  Our destination was Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, to see Alexander graduate from Army Basic Combat Training. 

Originally I had planned for Zachary and I to fly down, but in August we decided instead to make it a family trip like we had never had before!  Our stops were to be:  Hershey PA, Antietam Battlefield in Maryland, Luray Caverns in Virginia, Fort Jackson for 2 days, Chincoteague Island in Virginia, meet up with some friends in New Jersey, and arrive home again on Saturday September 29th.  We achieved most of our goals, the most important of course seeing Alexander after 2 long months!

We stayed in 2 different hotels driving down, 2 nights in a cabin at Fort Jackson, then 2 more different hotels driving home.  In all, we took over 250 photographs.  Here is just the first day of our journey:

 Leif has no idea how much time he is about to spend strapped into his carseat.

 Leif insisted on pulling this rolling luggage every time we stopped for an overnight.  He was too cute, and definitely learned about perseverance as he bumped along with it and refused to give up the handle. Micah and Amelia strapped on their backpacks and helped carry in our luggage too.

We had a nice stop at Chocolate World in Hershey, although it was so crowded we did not stay long past the fun educational ride about how chocolate is made.  Of course, we did leave with a bag of chocolate goodies!

Nikita and I took Amelia, Micah, and Leif swimming to work off some pent up energy.  They had a blast!
We then met my cousin and her boyfriend for dinner.  It was a long overdue time of reconnecting with family.

Our hotel the first night not only had a pool, but indoor mini-golf too!  It was a somewhat full contact, anything goes sport for Leif, complete with high sticking and crawling through the ball loops.  This time it was Zachary who came along, while Nikita relaxed in the hotel room.

Our Monday plans were for Antietam Battlefield, lunch in West Virginia, and Luray Caverns.  Almost 100 photos alone on Monday, so that will be Part 2, although not with all 100 photos!

Week 2 of School

One of the benefits of home schooling is flexibility.  I decided that this week's FIAR book was a little too advanced for the triplets, so we did not do it.  Instead we spent a lot of time on phonics, reading, and memory skills.   They also wrote letters to Alexander (handwriting), drew pictures with the letters (art), and Amelia walked to the post office with me, bought the stamp herself and collected her change (community awareness, street safety).

Micah is the most puzzling of my children.  He flies through the phonics worksheets and knows all sorts of sight words.  Yet he is stubborn and often acts tired unless he is receiving direct one on one attention.  Amelia meanwhile hovers over everyone trying to help with the teaching.  Amelia tries very hard at everything, while the reading seems to come easily to Micah.  Even with the memory work, Micah outpaces his sisters, when he is obedient enough to do the work with me.

We also started attending a co-op this week; it meets every Friday.  The triplets have 3 classes:  Ballet, US States and Capitols,  and Apologia Science: Land Animals.  The science requires a lot of reading during the week, and in class the kids to activities and put together a lapbook.  Nikita is also part of the co-op, she is taking Logic, Health, and High School Art. 

Zachary just stays home wearing his hat:

Actually, Leif goes to co-op and is in the Nursery with other pre-schoolers.  This photo is an excellent example of another home schooling benefit:  brothers bonding and having a blast.

Leif helped me clean up some over our yard area one day, and this led to another science lesson:

Who doesn't enjoy finding a caterpillar?

(His face is dirty from working outside, not bruised.)

This year I think one of my favorite learning tools is our iPad.  It is so nice to put one kid at the table with the iPad while I work with another.  There are so many apps, although I usually stick to the inexpensive short versions.  A favorite this week has been BOB books, as well as some spelling and sight reading apps. We also have a Montessori math app that helps them with counting.

Next week we will be reading and learning from Madeline, it should be an adventure!

Happy Birthday Alexander!!!

Today my eldest is fifteen years old. I cannot believe I have a child that old! He is such a blessing to this family.

Dante and Alexander have a special relationship. Here are a few pictures:
These ones are two years ago, just after Dante came home.





In this recent photo, Dante is giving Alexander some pointers on the PSP.


When Alexander was born 15 years ago, Jamie and I had been married for not quite 2 years. We were living in a one bedroom apartment that was part of a complex in Hamlin, New York. The high that day was -2 degrees. Yes, negative two was the high!

Jamie: At the time we drove a Geo Metro and we had to defrost the starter by dangling a hair dryer out of the second story window. When I was leaving the hospital after Alexander was born, I was afraid the car would not start (he was born at St. Mary's in Rochester, New York; Zachary was born there 15 months later). Fortunately, Jesus (and Mary?) intervened because a hair dryer in the parking garage was not an option!

I never imagined that 15 years later we would be "expecting" our seventh child and living in Massachusetts. We have come a long way from our little one bedroom one baby life, and I look forward to what the Lord has in store for our whole family in the future.

Here is a picture I took this morning while Dante was in the bath. Yep, it is a picture out the bathroom window...but what a beautiful photo it is of a morning after a fresh snowfall. And the temperature was already in the 20's...thankfully much warmer than 15 years ago!