Friends in Flowers

We went with our friends to take some pictures in the wildflowers nearby-we were slightly late as the radiant yellows faded somewhat. Every time you would drive by these it was a neon yellow-like a glowing lake. Pretty fun. We have Katie Ellico 13, Cassie Ellico 10 (Yes! Finally a friend for Jessica) Rachel Ellico-8. They brought their Friend Destiny-short dark hair

Justin

I wanted to post about Justin as he has grown so much this last year-even this last six months. Here are some of his activities...

Justin enjoying the hammock...wait a minute-THERE'S A GIRL IN THERE! This is Rachel Ellico, Justin's friend. We are good friends with their family. Jason, her dad is posted about below.


Trevor took the boys on a father's sons outing. Here he is being a good helper.


Here I am teaching Justin Piano. His teacher asked me one day, "what are you doing with this kid? Do you realize that in just a few months he has accomplished what most kids do in 2 years. He is very gifted. Does he practice an hour a day?" I said, (shocked of course) "He practices 15 or 20 minutes a day." She said, "another year with him and I would have to recommend him elsewhere." He is a joy to teach. He just gets it. He is very bright and quick to learn. Only downfall is he tends to be lazy about his ability. Always looking for the quick way out. If only he could combine dedication with his wit
Exploring in the abundant forests. He loves playing war in the battle fields of his mind. He and his brothers find sticks that look like guns and go to imagine. Nice on the pocketbook.

Here he is with a crawfish. Trevor and him have caught full traps of these in the nearby lakes, brought them home and had a crawfish feast. Some of them ended up as pets where the boys in a Tupperware box built a home for them with rocks and plants and fed them for a few days. (this I insisted be left out on the porch) a few days later I went with Justin to release them back into the lake while reminding him not to play with or name his food.

Justin at scouts (his dad is his leader) went to the fire station. He is sitting in the truck and thoroughly enjoying it. He loves scouts! It's one of the highlights of his life. He is not a bear yet, but 40% done with the Bear book. He is just doing well with so many things.

Okay, my son is a fisherman...He is the kind that movies are made out of. No kidding. He can outfish, outwait any fisherman that I have met. He patiently waits longer than his dad...could do it all day. He can catch a fish when no one else can. When he does catch its always the biggest fish. Justin nearly set a record with a catfish caught on a weak line. Seriously Jason our Highway patrol friend took Justin and his nephew fishing one evening which turned out to be 6 hours. Justin caught this fish and patiently reeled it in. Jason said, "I can't believe the line didn't break. I kept expecting this young boy to not know what he was doing, work too quickly and snap the line. So I just patiently watched him to see what he would do. It's like he had an innate sense of what he should do to reel him in. Amazing." So Jason was so impressed by the size of this fish he quickly went to have it tagged and weighed the next day. It was a few ounces off from being a record here. But he said that Justin is quickly becoming a legend for the young boy that caught a near 15 pound catfish on microfilament line-that didn't snap. Jason proudly took these pictures from his phone and showed the ward on Sunday. We later had a fish fry with their family. And because there was so much meat left over (uncooked) we took it camping as a family and cooked in in the charcoals of the fire.



Here's Jason who had his wife take a picture of him with the Fish in his kitchen. He is so good to build people up. Very positive. They have been such good friends to us. We appreciate their example and friendship during our time here in Williams.

Our Schooling Days

I thought I would document what we do in a typical school day.

!.)Breakfast-girls help and learn to cook (no I don't do cold cereal)
2.)Chores after Breakfast. This includes alternating laundry, ironing, garbage, organizing a cupboard, counters, floors, table and the classic dishes. Weekends we do windows, beds, dusting and sweeping porch. I also clean out several cupboards to reorganize and do fridge. These are all alternated with me helping the little ones as the older ones have learned them and can work independently.
3.) Music-the two oldest are independent now so I help Jessica(cello) and Justin(piano).
4.)Foreign language-boys picked Spanish girls picked french-each does her/his lesson at their own pace.
5.)typing-younger ones have a typing program that they use, older ones that have graduated this use McGuffey readers (yes from 1836)to type the lesson in there.
6.)Spelling
7.)Penmanship-older ones use a paragraph in McGuffey to practice, younger ones use tablets-Alexis is using a McGuffey Penmanship program from the 1800s that teaches old-fashioned cursive. MaKayla is about ready for this-while she knows cursive she wants to learn this style. I actually let my children chose whether they want to learn cursive or not.
8.)Math-Alternate helping all children
9.)English-Alexis finished the books, Makayla and Jessica are working through them.
10.) I help the little boys with phonics and Justin with a more advanced version-from
Explode the code workbooks. He also has a comprehensive workbook.
11.)I read with the little boys-Justin which includes 2 chapters from simpler readers. For the littlest ones I like the Bob books, Dick and Jane, Mennonite readers that teach about God and Bible stories, and the McGuffey primers.
I also still read with Jessica, though I am weaning from it. She needed glasses, then with the OCD she has been very slow at academics. I do see an improvement as she is getting treatment for both.
12.)Those that don't know their music note reading do the online program that teaches them the notes-Justin and I think Jessica finally has mastered it.
13.)lunch-i usually do left overs or have the girls help whip up something simple as I am trying to teach them how to cook and I am preparing science and/or history for after lunch.
14.)Science-we have just completed the human body. I like the series from Apologia-creation based that recognizes God. They have several textbooks. We've done astronomy, Flying Creatures of the fifth day (insects, birds,bugs, bats). I am about to start Botany.
15.)US history
16.) Dinner-while I do it and have them watch and learn while helping me, I sometimes have them look up recipes themselves. Alexis picked an Indian recipe and I guided her through it.
17.)creative time. Sometimes we do an art project. Sometimes we cook homemade bread or cookies. I have helped Justin A LOT with scouts. He is making great progress.
18.)Sundays I read with the girls Beautiful Girlhood. This books is fantastic at teaching virtues that can be focused on each week. I think this is so important in this day of age.
19.) Personal progress on Sundays-help and check in with MaKayla and Alexis.
20.) Learning civility-manners and how to cooperate and get along. Sometimes in this little house we do the unthinkable-we fight. So I try to teach these kids to focus on the eternal perspective. We are a family, we were best friends, they need to learn to get along. This will help them on missions, in their marriage and all other relationships.
21.)As much social as I can find in this little town. I only wish I could find mentors. Seamstresses. Art Teachers. A Historical Farm...all these things I desperately miss. Maybe our next place as our time here is drawing to a close.
22.)A classic book read aloud to all the children. Right now it's Charlotte's Web
Whew! No wonder I am tired all day

Grandparents Come For A Visit.

One of my fondest memories of my dad is when he carved a whistle out of a Willow branch. I thought he made magic when he did this for me as a child. I asked him to teach me and show my kids...oh the things they USED to do before TV and video games. So innovative.




Grandma plays Barbies with Jessica

We went to OUT OF AFRICA wild animal park down close to Phoenix with my parents when they came up. It was a fun day...long, but good.


Here we are, waiting for the tiger show.

Girls with Grandma waiting for the Tiger show




Petting and feeding the ostriches and deer.


Amazing Snakes that the kids got to touch and hold.



Enjoying the Snakes


The guide is teaching us about ostriches

Brett is looking at the Eggs.


The kids got to feed and pet the giraffe as he came right up to the jeep.






Heck, we didn't need to drive down to Phoenix area to see wild animals...we have one in our back yard. A Javelina. They migrated over the last couple hundred years from South America and are wild pigs.