Homeschool

I thought I should share some of the projects and activities we have been doing so far this school year with Austin. I don't always think to take pictures of many things we do, but here are a few I have remembered to photograph.

Austin generally really enjoys our art lessons and the art projects that often go with them. One of our lessons was on relief sculpture, and Austin got to try to make his own relief sculpture with play-doh. He put a snowman, a tree, and some rectangular looking mountains in his.

Austin with his play-doh relief art

This last fall we also did a unit on microbiology. We talked about different kinds of cells, and the organelles inside cells. We looked at cells through a microscope and talked about how cells are the basic unit of life. We also learned about vaccinations and scientists like Louis Pasteur. We concluded our unit with an edible model of a cell that Austin made using left over Halloween candy.

Austin's edible model of an animal cell

Now we are studying botany. We recently talked about why plants need stems and how they work. We did an experiment using celery stalks in jars of water dyed with food coloring to see how the stems take water to the rest of the plant. Austin was very excited about this experiment.

Our celery stalks at the beginning of our experiment

Our celery stalks after a few days

When we were finished, we sliced a tiny bit of one of the celery stalks off and observed it through the microscope.

We also recently finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe together. We talked a lot about the symbolism in the book and discussed how the decisions of the different characters lead to various consequences. To celebrate our reading, we had a little party. Austin dressed up as Edmund and told me about his role in the story. (He wanted to make a sword for Edmund's costume too, but he ran out of time.)

Austin dressed as Edmund

I attempted to make some Turkish Delight. It turned out...okay... I am sure that there are better ways of doing it. I used a microwave version, but I am guessing a stove top version with a candy thermometer is more exact and would turn out better. Maybe if I am feeling more ambitious sometime I will take it on again with a different recipe. Most importantly though, Austin was very excited to try my "magic" confectionery and ended up liking this particular Turkish Delight.

Christmas and New Years

We spent Christmas with my family this year. We drove to their house that Sunday before Christmas and spent the evening with my parents and brothers. We ate a nice dinner with a peppermint dazzler dessert, read the Christmas story from the scriptures together, and sang Christmas songs.

Christmas morning began with the traditional line-up to go in and look at our stockings together. That was followed by an omelet and muffin breakfast, which was then followed by unwrapping more gifts. There were lots of gifts with so many gift givers and receivers being present. In fact, about half the floor in my parent's front room was covered by nicely wrapped packages.

Our Christmas tree and gifts

My parents' Christmas tree and everyone's gifts (many
of which I couldn't even fit in the picture)

This year I made Austin the aviator hat he had told me he wanted previously. I also made an owl hat for Abbie. I then got fancy and tried lining them both with fleece, which ended up working out alright.

Austin with his new aviator hat

Abbie with her new owl hat

Nathan with our gifts to him

Nate's gift from me: a mandoline

I personally was delighted that for Christmas, Nate managed to find someone to fix my cuckoo clock from Germany.

My mom with her gifts from me and my brothers. Austin
is also holding his new snowball maker.

Unfortunately, our great lack of snow has lead to very limited opportunities for Austin to use his new snowball maker. He has gotten lots of use out of many of his other gifts though. He particularly has been enjoying the additional Duplo blocks we gave him and the Knex he got from his Grandma and Grandpa Scott; he loves toys he can build and create with. He has enjoyed coloring and cutting with the construction paper, scissors, and colored pencils from his Grandma and Grandpa Peaden as well. And he was much more enthusiastic than we thought he would be about the digital clock we got for him to have by his bed in his room.

After all the gift-opening, we didn't have too much time until we ate lunch and drove up to see my Grandma Peaden. After coming back from that, we had a very nice dinner together with my grandparents and two aunts on my mom's side of the family. That was followed by another round of gift giving. Luckily, Ben got a humorous gift from my parents to help him stay warm while he is out running in the cold. Christmas in our family wouldn't be the same without a joke gift of some sort.

Ben with his new mask to stay warm with while running

My brother Allan and his family had to leave that evening since they flew out to visit more family the next day in the wee hours of the morning. However, we stayed the night and then played racquetball the next morning with a couple of Nate's old roommate and brothers. We also went to the temple and did sealings with my family. Later there was a family game and dinner at Smash Burger with one of Nate's old roommates before heading home.

Nate took the rest of the week off work, so besides cleaning up our house, we spent time relaxing, seeing the latest Star Wars movie, and going to a family party with Nate's side of the family. We returned to my parents' place again on Sunday though to celebrate Ben's birthday and the New Year.

We were really disappointed at the great lack of snow that prevented us from pursuing one of our usual favorite activities during the holidays: snowshoeing. Since it was so warm, we ended up playing some tennis on New Years day instead. We are still hoping and praying for more snow; the lack of water this summer is going to very unpleasant at the rate we are going!

December

Our December this year felt emptier than usual...it is more difficult to go about holiday celebrations when you a missing the child you thought would be a part of them. But we still did our best to go about many of our normal fun Christmastime activities, plus some that haven't been traditional for us.

One of the first things we ended up doing was seeing the lights on Temple Square.

Right at the start of the month we also went to our ward's Christmas party. This included a dinner and program put on by the various organizations within the ward. The Primary dressed up as people and animals from the nativity and sang a couple songs. The Elder's Quorum put on a kazoo piece that Austin ended up participating in too.

After everything else, Santa came to visit, so Austin hurried over to wait in line for his turn to speak with this important guest.

The following week, Austin played Silent Night at his piano recital with Nate accompanying him. He played his piece better at home many times, but he didn't do too badly at the recital.

Later that week we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert because our good friends Heather and Royce invited us. We always try to get tickets for this, but have never been successful, so it was our first time going. We enjoyed it, and really appreciated the invite to go!

We also got to see our good friend Lori and her kids that weekend. We met up at Burger Stop for dinner and then took a hay ride around Layton Commons Park to see the lights there. We topped the occasion off with some hot chocolate.

The weekend before Christmas we went to and performed in the annual Peaden Family Christmas Program that my grandma holds each year. We were grateful that it only lasted an hour and didn't drag on seemingly endlessly as it sometimes does.

Nate's sister-in-law is Mexican and she invited us to join in their Christmas tradition called Las Posada this year. So, the Friday before Christmas we drove down to Utah Valley to have dinner and walk between a couple places representing "inns" with the children all dressed up in nativity themed costumes. We sang about needing a place to stay while the "innkeepers" sang back that there was no room. We ended with going inside the room we had started at and then acting out the nativity. Afterward, there were a couple pinatas to batter and smash. It was a fun way to celebrate Christmas a bit differently than we normally do.