Beyond FIAR Co-op: Skylark 4

Well, we have already started up our new Beyond co-op for the year and I haven't yet posted this last installment of our co-op from last year.  Here goes.  This is the final co-op for Skylark.  Can you guess what state we talked about?  Look at the map below.  

Kansas.  Prairies.

They looked at pictures of sunsets.

And had an art lesson on painting a sunset.  I'm so glad that my children are getting some lessons here that they wouldn't get at home.  :-)

They started out each drawing an outline of something which they would paint - as a shadow.

Some worked in groups.

Others alone.

Or in different locations.  I love that each child is free to be who they are and to work in a way that is best for them.

Daniel drew a buffalo.

They moved outside to start their painting.

Snack time outside.

Of course the boys were moving while they ate!

Peaceful times painting and creating.

Proud of his work

Definitely hosted by a mom with the gift of hospitality who loves the details in hosting.  Isn't this lovely?

And a yummy spread to enjoy!  Since this was our last meeting of the school year (yes, I'm that far behind in posting about schooling), we had a lunch to end the co-op.

A rare photo of the people usually behind the camera.  :-)  Love this fun time with my friends.

A lesson on ocean tides.  

A hands on look at how the moon affects the tides.

Looking at the chart of color intensities to find the colors he had used on his painting.

Aren't they beautiful?  I never cease to be amazed at the creativity displayed!

Without planning, Isaiah's picture ends up looking a lot like one in the book (which was pointed out to him by the gal teaching the class).

Once again, this group has been a blessing!  We are learning so many neat things and forging deeper friendships in the process.  I'm thankful to be a part of it and looking forward to this upcoming year too!

Blessings
Leslie

Blueberries for Sal - Before FIAR

I'm going to try to do a better job of doing more formal schooling with Eliana this year.  I'm not sure how it will end up looking for us, but I've been trying to make some plans - and still have more work to do.  I'm excited about doing Before FIAR with her though!  I've done this with all of my children and look forward to making some sweet memories with her too!  This was where I started my FIAR journey with Christopher and Rebecca in 1997.  It seems so long ago that we enjoyed those books.  Our whole family has precious memories tied to books and I'm thankful for that!

Summer just calls for picking blueberries, doesn't it?  And what better book to choose than Blueberries for Sal.  We chose a "cooler" morning to go pick berries and headed out.  I learned a couple of things that day too.  

Eliana loves to try new things - and is all about doing it for herself.

This is a great quality and one that I want to encourage.

I also learned that if you are colorblind, that the pinkish "not ready" berries look an awful lot like the blue "ready" berries.  And when 3 of my pickers are colorblind, that isn't always a good thing!  LOL  Thankfully, most of them were good.

I also figured out that I should have made our group photo at the beginning of the picking and not at the end when all were hot, tired and ready to go.

I'm blessed to be a part of a group of moms and children who are getting together to do Before FIAR once a month.  We have a simple framework that we use for our mornings.  We start with a devotion and story time.

Our devotion today was on the fruit of the Spirit.  (Get it?  Blueberry is a fruit?)

We also use this time for discussion.

The next piece of our morning is some type of hands-on activity.  Today we painted blueberry bushes using our fingers.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much all of the children really seemed to enjoy this.

We had a lot of the older siblings helping out too.

We made 4 berry bushes which we used later in our drama.

The paint was a little messy - but who cares, right?

I was surprised that it didn't completely wash off at first even though it is washable paint.

Next we acted out the story.  I found adorable little tin pails in the dollar section of Target which were perfect for this.  I put out black beans to use as our "blueberries" for this activity.

We had a mom and baby bear.

And everyone just jumped in and pretended to be picking berries or following their "Mom".

Showing off her cute little bucket.

Our group.

Then we took a break for a snack.  We ate blueberries (of course), gummy bears and watermelon.

For our last part of the morning, we had crafts.  The children made bears and blueberry bushes out of craft foam that had been precut.

Eliana is glueing some berries onto her bush.

It was a delightful  morning with friends and we are looking forward to more fun together.  We have plans to involve the older siblings at a later point, but during the summer, we were just planning for the younger group.

I highly recommend Before Five in a Row if you have a younger child.  It is a delightful way to learn and you will both enjoy it!  You can find out more at Five in a Row website

Blessings
Leslie

A glimpse of some of our summer ...

Life has just been busy.  I'm sure you can relate.  It seems to swirl around me so fast at times that I can hardly catch my breath.  Other times are slow and sweet.  I like those times best.  Relaxing.  Family and friends.  Laughter.  I'm trying to savor the moments.  Cast my fears and worries on the only One who can carry them.  It isn't always easy though.  Stress settles on me and I can feel it.  Its work to push it off.  (Maybe its because "I'm a girl" as my oldest reminds me.  LOL)

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.  1 Peter 5:7

So looking back a bit on our summer and then hopefully catching up.  It seems to be a theme with me though, doesn't it?  LOL

We ran and played and had fun with friends.

We celebrated graduations.  (Isn't this an adorable gift that Rebecca made for one of her friends?!)

We celebrated a birthday (more on thatHERE in his birthday post which I just wrote).  Happy Birthday my precious Daniel!!!

We worked and had fun at our church's Kids Week (VBS).  I worked with snacks with another sweet  Mom.  We made snacks for 500 that were gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free.  Wanted snacks not to be a stressor for the kids attending.

We said good-bye to someone very dear and precious to us.  Our beloved pediatrician, Dr. Lail.  We met her after Eliana was born and in the NICU at the hospital.  She did not know us but stepped in when we needed someone and started advocating for us.  She has been a God-send on so many occasions.  I know God blessed us with her and I am so very thankful to know her!  She is a truly amazing doctor and Cincinnati Children's is very lucky to be getting her!

We are going to miss you!!!  (Eliana took this picture of us.)

We had our shopping adventure at the consignment sale.  Here is Eliana modeling one of her new outfits.  Isn't she beautiful?  Sorry the pic is blurry.

Christopher came home.  So thankful to have him nearby again!

We went to visit my parents for a day.  Christopher had a tight schedule coming home from NJ and then starting back at State.  We took a day to go to Charlotte to visit.  They have faced a lot of challenges and health issues and its been a more than challenging summer for them.  We were thankful to have some time together even though it was much too short.

Hanging out with one of their cousins.

Not sure if Eliana didn't want her picture taken or if this was to block the sun.  Or maybe it was a premonition of things to come.  While we were there, her eyes started watering and nose running - like an allergic reaction to something.  Then she started crying.  She was inconsolable with things that will typically cheer and distract her.

The ride home was long.  Adding in standstill traffic and construction didn't help things at all.  Eliana cried and cried and then starting getting sick.  Very sick.  Can I just say that Rebecca was amazing during this ride!  After getting sick 5 times, she finally was able to go to sleep.  She continued to get sick at home and it was a long rough night.  She woke up at one point and wandered into the kitchen ... and then fell asleep again.  Isn't this pitiful?

After a rough few days, she began to mend.  We had one trip to the ER which confirmed some infections.  I think all of this stemmed from food poisoning.  We don't know for sure though.  Thankfully she is a tough little girl!

It was so nice to see her back to looking like this!

After our trip to the ER with Eliana, we were back again a few days later with Daniel.  He stepped on a toothpick which impaled his foot.  (No, we don't know how he did it either.)  We tried to pull it out and it wouldn't budge.  They tried in the ER and had the same results.  Brought in some surgeons to remove it.  There was a 1" piece stuck up into his foot!  Eek!  No wonder he screamed so!

Not many pics, but here you can see one after stitches.  (Yes, I know it needs to be cleaned.)

These last few incidents were all happening on the week we were going to start school.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  We are back in the swing of things though and I'll share more on that later.

Through it all, God is there.  The good and bad.  The happy and the frightening.  He is with me through it all and I need to keep my eyes on Him.  So much to learn - always.   Funny, one of my boys the other day told me that he "knew" the Bible.  So confident about how much he knew.  I chuckled.  I realize that the more that I learn about God and His word, the more that I have to learn.  There is so very much I have yet to learn.

This post feels long and rambling and disjointed, but there you have it.  It is kind of reflective of our summer.  Thank you to my family and friends who have been praying for us over the summer.  We appreciate your love and care so very much.  We are thankful and grateful for the many ways that God has blessed us.  Sometimes those blessings are disguised and hard to recognize and other times that are surprising in being more than we could have asked for!  Today was one of those days and we are grateful.

With love
Leslie