The (Girl) Apples of my Eye

This past spring, Da and Grammy planted two apple trees in their backyard. We were not sure that we would get any quality fruit from them this season, but those little trees surprised us with one shiny red apple that was ready to be picked! The other night at dinner, we cut that tiny apple into pieces and we all had a bite. So yummy! There is just something special about eating home grown food that makes them taste so much better than the store bought variety. A perfect little apple for the (girl) apples of my eye!

Review, Review

Today marked the end of a two to three week kindergarten review that I have been doing with Emma each morning.Next week we will officially start first grade! I decided to do a review so that we could wake our sleepy summer brains back up! I also thought it would be a good idea to slowly ease us back into the routine of schooling each day, while allowing new schedules for the rest of the house to fall into place and giving life a chance to calm down a bit before jumping into new material. I bought some addition and subtraction workbooks from the dollar section at Target and we went through those these past couple of weeks. There were also some review sections in her first grade spelling and handwriting books, so we knocked those out of the way, too. Last but not least, we went through the book What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know (it is part of The Core Knowledge Series, and it is awesome!).

One of my biggest fears as a home school mama was that I would not teach my children all that they needed to know. How was I supposed to know what each grade required a student to comprehend before passing them on to the next grade level? It was overwhelming, to say the least. The easiest route, of course, would have been to select an all encompassing curriculum, but I am not really a boxed curriculum kind of gal. I tried that, and it just did not work for our family. I wanted to create my own mini curriculum, but had no idea where to start. Then my friend introduced me to The Core Knowledge Series books. They have a book for every single grade level and when I read it, it made me all warm and tingly inside, because it told me exactly what my daughter needed to know for each grade. (What? A textbook has never made you all warm and tingly?) All I had to do was find a curriculum for each subject that covered the required material. It was awesome. Love at first sight. I read through this book towards the end of the summer and highlighted areas that I wanted to introduce to Emma before moving on to first grade. These past two weeks we have talked about poems, tall tales, common sayings, weather and seasons, authors, the continents, pilgrims, and presidents, just to name a few. I had originally planned to only review for a week, but she was so fascinated that it ended up taking three! That's what I love about learning at home. You can adjust your schedule to meet your child's needs (and even their wants!).

So, that is what we have been up to. Reviewing in the mornings, and playing Just Dance in the afternoons. We have also thrown in some mall time, card time, and Grammy and Da time. On Friday Kate starts mini school, and next week dance classes for the girls pick back up. Fall is officially here, and our school schedules are underway. Life is good.

Kate's Quotes Of The Day

Quote Number 1:

Kate: Mom, your welcome for everything that I've ever done for you.
Me: Um.... thank you?

Think the child is fishing for some praise much? Ha!

Quote Number 2:

Kate: Mommy, you are so pretty. I love your big tummy. It looks like you have another baby in there.

Awesome.

A Day At The Dairy Farm

I have always loved farms. Always. When I was in junior high, I wanted to grow up and marry a cowboy, have four sons (who would grow up to be cowboys themselves), and we were going to live on a pig farm. Happily ever after, of course. As you know, my life did not actually turn out that way. Instead of a cowboy, I married a sports loving, school principal. A super hot principal if I do say so myself. Instead of four sons, we have two daughters and one bouncing baby boy, and I can't imagine any other combination of children suiting the two of us any better. And fortunately for me, God knew better than I did, and we do not make our home on a pig farm. Thank goodness! Have you ever smelled a pig farm? They stink! Instead, we live out our days at a children's home where we work with troubled teens (though some of them do tend to stink...). Life is just as it was meant to be, but I still love farms. I love the animals, the smell of straw, and the down home country feel. There is just something about turning off the electronics and the business of this world and stepping back in time, if only for a few hours, to experience the simpler ways of life. It stirs something deep within me when I watch my children feed a goat, pet a baby calf, climb on straw bales, and chase clucking chickens! Good old fashioned fun!

Today was a beautiful day in our part of the mid-west, so we decided to make the most of it! We took all of the children (both big and little) to Young's Dairy Farm for an afternoon of good old fashioned fun. We ate lunch in the cafe, feed the goats, toured the barn, saw cows and chickens, carried around a stray kitten, played in the straw bales, sat on tractors, slid down a giant slide, and played putt-putt at Udders and Putters. Whew! So much fun! It was such a fantastic day. My children wore looks of sheer joy on their faces the entire time that we were there. It makes me want to buy them a calf, or a goat, or at least a rabbit. Thank goodness Boss keeps me level headed, or this home of ours really would turn in to a zoo! Or a farm. Instead, every once in a while, he fills up my need for farm life by taking us to spend the day on an actual farm. And then he brings me home content and thankful that I got to love on all of the farm animals, without actually having to do any of the work that is involved in caring for them. Yes, indeed. A day at the farm is sometimes just what this gal needs. Life is good!

All In A Day

(The Mama and her Little Ladies)














Thursdays are always busy in the Zickafoose house. I have my staff meeting and staff lunch, which fills up the majority of the school day. I don't teach Emma on Thursdays, but I usually assign her some seat work to do while I am in my meeting. Did you know I have great kids? Each week they are so very well behaved and I am so proud of them! It is a long time for them to be quiet, busy, and sitting in one place, but each week they impress me.

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In other news, Emma lost her second tooth today! Well, really her daddy got tired of seeing it dangling there in her mouth and she finally gave him permission to pull it. Isn't her smile just precious?















In honor of another lost tooth, this afternoon she got busy writing her note to leave for the Tooth Fairy. She takes this leaving your tooth in exchange for money business very seriously! Except for the fact that she always wants to keep her teeth.Not quite sure what she wants to do with them? Nevertheless, here is her sweet note. Love how she spells things!















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Tonight we enjoyed an evening off with some new friends! We took all of our kiddos to Chuck E Cheese and had so much fun chatting and laughing. The girls won enough tokens to each get a purple ring, a purple bracelet, and a purple plastic fish. All completely wonderful prizes. Totally worth the money. Just kidding. But a good time was had by all. I just love how God continuously fills our life with new friends to walk this journey with! All in all, today was quite a lovely day! Thanks for checking in!