Friday Afternoon at the Park

Moments from Our Day

Nature Study:


Rooftop at the Stillwater Library:

Recess

Weekend Moments

Apple Sauce

Reason number 89 that we love homeschooling (soon I'll get into the other 88 reasons)- today was declared to be applesauce making day.  We spent a good portion of our day chopping and peeling apples and then making and canning the sauce.  Thanks to this handy, dandy blog I remembered that sweet sixteen apples are the way to go if you don't want to have to put sugar in your sauce.  So this year we picked all sweet sixteens.  A ridiculous amount actually.  Despite the fact that we canned up 7 big jars of sauce (I used my weck jars so the sizes are different- not pints or quarts) there are still several baskets of apples to get through.  That's okay though, apples are one of my favorite things to cook and can.  I do wish my camera wasn't broken though because they are also one of my favorite things to photograph.  Anyways, more canning and baking ahead this weekend.

Field Trip: Apple Picking

Homeschool Co-op

We have been so blessed as beginning homeschoolers to stumble upon a wonderful newly forming homeschooling co-op.  The group consists of about 15 families or so and meets once a week.  This month we are meeting each Tuesday at Willow River State Park.  The beautiful waterfalls there have quickly become one of my new favorite places.  And with all of the wading pools, caves and climbable falls- it couldn't be a more magical place for children.

Autumn Garden Love

Field Trip: The Twins Game

Field Trip: Marine on St. Croix

Notes:
This year I decided that in addition to our regular lessons we are going to learn about good 'ol Minnesota. After this past "spring" that brought snowstorms in May my two bigger kids have had some pretty negative things to say about Minnesota.  While I can't blame them too much for their attitudes, I do want them to fully appreciate all the wonderful things Minnesota has to offer.  As much as I also complained last spring, I really do love it here and I want them to see that beauty too.  Plus I want them to have a good sense of their own heritage.  So we started this year with our first field trip to Marine on St. Croix, one of the first established towns in Minnesota.  We made a trip into the original general store, discovered another secret beach, had a picnic, visited a "settler's cabin" and sampled the really yummy chocolate.  On the way home I asked what they thought of their first homeschooling field trip and the response was a unanimous "awesome!".  I guess we're off to a good start.

The First Day of (Home)School

Oh the anticipation I created by simply putting a sign on a locked cupboard.  On more then one occasion I had to remind them there were just school supplies in there (not candy or a kitten).

Today our very first day of homeschooling mostly consisted of exploring this new cupboard and playing at Willow River State Park with our homeschool group.  It was a pretty full and very fun day.  Just the kind of day I was hoping for to mark the occasion.  Tomorrow we will start out official lessons.  I'm a little nervous.  We will see...