I Love Homeschool! - Back at it!

It's that time of year again!

We had a great summer break, and a happy Labor Day.

Now we're ready for another year of learning and growing together.
Here are some highlights from our first week - 

At 2 1/2, Ashlynn isn't really even old enough for Preschool,

but she wants to do everything her older brother and sister do!

She'll be following a simplified version of Caleb's curriculum.

She's a smart little girl, and I'm sure she'll surprise me 

with all the things she learns this year.

Caleb is 4, and ready for more preschool.

His reading skills are getting better everyday & 

His enthusiasm for learning makes every lesson extra fun.

Marigold is our big girl, starting 4th grade.

I have purchased the majority of her curriculum this year.

I appreciate that while she is far ahead of the other children,

she still loves singing and crafting right alongside them.

Each year, I try to keep track of how many books we read.

I like to make fun bulletin area 

where the kids can add somethingfor every book they read.

My parents were kind enough 

to let me construct our apple tree in their front hallway.

They earn a leaf for each book, and an apple for every 10 read.

(18 so far)

Every 100 books read = a special fun day together.

I'll post pics to show their reading progress throughout the season.

We made these cute School bus crafts:

I'm a big believer in letting little ones do crafts own their own-

that includes cutting and gluing,

but Ashlynn did ask for help writing ABC, so I gave in :)

Our Homeschool garden needed a complete overhaul 

after a month of not being tended well - 

Herb garden before and after.

We planted broccoli and spinach seeds in the empty corner.

Carrot patch before and after

yes, we picked all of the carrots in one bed

Both to make room for new plants and to make carrot bread!

(see the killer recipe at the end of my post)

We'll be planting beets, swiss chard and romaine here in the next few weeks.

Our lettuce bed - all bolted and full of weeds before

And after - We planted red kale, some heat resistant butter head lettuce

and some gourmet mixed baby greens.

While we were weeding, we found a baby oak tree!

(we live right by the woods, so I do not feel guilty about uprooting it)

^_^

It was so cool to see the stem growing up out of the acorn!

Another fun discovery were these guys on our parsley

They are Black Swallowtail caterpillars.

Parsley is one of their host plants - 

They sure are doing a thorough job eating the leaves!

I'm hoping they'll stick around

 so that we can see their metamorphosis.

We also started our yearly self-portraits

but I'll save those pics for next week when we've finished.

And that's pretty much it!

I'll do my best to update weekly, 

so be sure to check back soon to see what we're up to!

Here is the recipe for the carrot bread we made this week - 

It has the fall flavor and smooth consistency of pumpkin bread - hope you enjoy!

Carrot Bread

yield, 1 loaf

2 cups All Purpose Flour 

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1 Stick of Butter, softened

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

2 Lg Eggs

1 1/2 Cups Carrot Puree*

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup White Chocolate Chips (optional, but why not?)

1/2 cup Pecan Pieces (also optional, you could also use raisins, or both!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x5 pan with parchment paper.  

In a medium bowl, sift together first 5 ingredients.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  

Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Add carrot puree to wet ingredients.  

Slowly stir dry mixture into the wet bowl. 

Stir in white chocolate chips and pecans.  Do not over mix.  

Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until done. (ours took 70 min)  

Let cool for 10 min, the remove loaf from pan, and place on cooling rack.  

Wait until cooled to cut (or not, we didn't, and it still sliced fairly well)

*we made our carrot puree with our own carrots by steaming them until fork tender, and then processing them with a splash of water in our Blendtec...shoot for a consistency of a thick applesauce...not too pasty or dry, but not too wet.