Washing Dishes

As a part of our homeschooling journey, the kids are also learning how to participate and help with different parts of taking care of our home.  This was the first or second time that Jaden got to participate in washing the dishes with his big brother, Taylor.  Taylor is our resident dish washer and a really good one at that.  Jaden was very excited to be participating in such a big job!  

 

Knitted Hat

This was Audrianna's first project with her knitting hoop that she got for Christmas.  She decided while we were still in California visiting, that she was going to make Grandpappy a stocking hat.  She did such a great job on her first project.  

Here is a picture of Grandpappy with his hat.  This picture was taken at the rehab center where Grandmother is.  He went to visit her on their 68th Wedding Anniversary.  

Homemade Nativity

Every year at our church, they have a display of all different nativity sets.  I happened to come across this article that I had saved years ago on how to create your own Nativity Set.  So, Audrianna decided that she would like to make this for the display.  It turned out so amazing, that we decided to create a bunch as Christmas gifts, as a family.  It was a fun project to work on together.  Here is a picture of the one that Audrianna made.  We made a few changes to the original pattern to save money. 

 

A homemade game

This year for Christmas, we decided to be very crafty with our gifts.  After searching and searching for something to make for the cousins, we came up with our own twist to the game Sequence.  This game was called Four Score.  There are five free spaces on our game and not just four.  There are markers for three people.  We made these from stickers and the little metal rimmed tags that you can buy at a craft store or office supply store.  The board is actually made from cardboard and posterboard which was decoupaged to the cardboard.  Each square has an individually decoupaged picture that was cut to fit the space.  The cards are actually business cards that are perforated and were printed on both sides to look like normal cards that you would have with a game.  We themed this game for the three brothers that were to be receiving this game.  They all participate and enjoy different sports.  So we tried to include the different sports within the pictures on the board.      

Our little visitor

Back in the Fall, one day Sydney was sitting in the basement reading a good book in the recliner.  Out of the corner of her eye she notices something moving up and down.  As she turned her head to look and see what was going on, she discovered that a baby rabbit had fallen through the grate and was trying desperately to escape.  Daddy came to the rescue and saved the bunny.  We let the bunny go back into the fields around our house.  We have witness many bunnies since we have lived here, but this is the one that we had to save.

I am wondering if anyone can guess whose hand is in the picture with Dad?  If you guess Audrianna, then you are correct.  She is the oldest animal lover in the family.  Followed closely by her younger brother, Jaden.  

Making Breads

One of the first things that Audrianna and Taylor worked on together in the kitchen, were some lovely creatures using The World's Simplest Bread Dough recipe from the FamilyFun's Cookbook.  Here are some pictures of this fun time of learning how to bake and create. 

 Who would have thought that you could actually make snakes and mice from bread??

 

Sydney and Jaden also made us some yummy Banana Bread.  We didn't get a picture until it was nearly gone, but it was delicious!

A New Melody.....

As the end of one school year comes to a close, and the beginning of another is around the corner.  We are excited for all the changes that will be coming to our homeschooling adventure.  We are going to have a 1st grader, 6th grader, 8th grader, and a 9th grader.  We are so proud of all of the accomplishments of each of our children.  We are looking forward to the future learning that will take place inside and outside of our home.

When creating this blog, we decided that we needed a name that would represent what our adventure with our homeschooling life would look like.  The name that we came up with was, "The Heart of Life's Melody".  We are excited to embark on this journey with the start of a new year.  We chose this name because each experience that we share in learning is shared by gaining knowledge, but also by gaining love...and love is beautiful and should represent that of our Father in Heaven.  It is this type of experience that we believe is the Heart of Life's Melody.  We are looking forward to sharing our experiences with you as we learn.