We went apple picking with some of our co-op friends this week - anything is more fun when done with friends (and apple picking is fun to begin with)!

Jaden pushed the cart to the part of the orchard we would be picking in.

Noah definitely enjoyed his first trip to the apple orchard :)

Jaden inspecting the cart to see how much room we had left.

The final two apples for our baskets!

Lael shared the pushing job with Mom on the way back - being very careful not to spill any of our beautiful apples!  We picked two varieties - Jonagold (the ones closest to Lael) and Empire.

A lovely afternoon at the orchard!

I'm already thinking of all the tasty treats we will make!

SCHOLA fun has begun again!

Co-op time is here once again!  It's hard to believe, but this is our fourth year with our homeschool co-op . . . we all look forward to the beginning of the new school year to see our old friends and meet new ones!

 

This fall, Lael's classes include Genetics, Elections, and a gym class.

This week, they made a model of DNA using paper clips . . . pretty cool.  (Why didn't we do things like that when I was in school???) 

 Jaden has a class on Elections too (his is taught by Mom), as well as one on famous scientists and their discoveries . . . oh, and the ever-popular gym class!

 Noah is still too little for actual classes, but he still has lots of fun playing with his friends :)

Science Fair Fun!

One of our final co-op activities of the year is the annual SCHOLA science fair.  This is the second year that Lael and Jaden participated in the science fair, and although the days leading up to the science fair are always filled with a flurry of activity, it's always a fun night!

This year we had a special guest - Mr. Frank DeFreitas (he's a member of our church) - who shared with us about holography . . . amazing stuff!

 At the cafe, kids could choose a cookie by naming an element (or just picking their favorite color)!

 We've been studying the human body this year, so Lael and Jaden each chose to do a "display of knowledge" about something relating to the human body.

Lael's project was on nutrition and digestion:

One of the co-op moms was the judge who talked with Lael about her project.

 Great job, Lael!

 Jaden's project was on muscles . . .

 . . . and here he is with his judge.

Great job, Jaden!

 Noah spent a lot of time in his stroller at the science fair so that he couldn't do any damage!  But he still had lots of fun - he especially liked looking at the goldfish that was at one student's display . . . and he ate lots of popcorn at the cafe!

 What a fun night!  Congratulations to all who participated!

Some end of co-op pics

Noah loved climbing into the exersaucer in the nursery - even though he was way too big!

Just a few pictures from our co-op international dinner . . .

 Lael was dressed up as a young lady from Japan, while Jaden was a Brazilian gaucho.

 Jaden's class singing "Fifty Nifty United States" (Warning - mom brag:  he has memorized all 50 states and can locate them on the map!)

 Certificates for the Primary Class - congratulations, Jaden!

 Lael's class quizzing the parents on Bible geography

 Certificates for the Elementary Class - congratulations, Lael!

 The Fenstermakers (wonderful "adopted grandparents" that my children are blessed to have in their lives) came along to be part of this fun night!

Phases of the moon - the edible version

In Jaden's "Blast Into Space" class, they were studying about the moon . . . and this is what he brought home!  (It's the phases of the moon made from chocolate sandwich cookies.)

If we had done that project in MY science class, I would have remembered moon phases!  I love homeschooling!

Apfel kuchen, anyone?

In our homeschool co-op this semester, Lael is taking a "Cooking Around the World" class - which she is loving!  They have made some tasty treats, like naan bread, gazpacho and apfel kuchen (German apple cake).  We are enjoying having her practice what she's learning on us!

Here she is, rolling out the crust . . .

 . . . and carefully placing the apples.

 Ready for the oven . . .

 Time to eat - and boy, were they delicious!

Snapshots of our homeschool co-op

This is our third year as part of our homeschool co-op . . . the focus this fall is the arts.

Jaden has an art class taught by his most favorite teacher in the world - his mom! :)  Called Meeting the Masters, each class has focused on a different artist and his artwork.  Today we learned about Vassily Kandinsky . . . here Jaden is working on his own version of Concentric Circles in Squares.

 He also has a building class - they've made all kinds of Amazing Structures from many different building materials - like marshmallows, pound cake, toothpicks and raisins, grahams and marshmallow fluff . . . here he's working on his popsicle stick bridge.

 While the big kids are in class, Noah spends time in the nursery - being cute, of course!

 Lael is taking a drama class - we are excitedly awaiting the premier performance of their play next Friday night!

 And no co-op would be complete without a gym class - Lael and Jaden have their gym class together.  Here they are having fun with the parachute . . . you can see them, right???

We enjoy our Thursday mornings so much, so we thought we should share them with you! :)

Raptors - close up!!!

In September, we traveled to Camp Sankanac with our homeschool co-op for a presentation on raptors that was just AWESOME! Jonathan Wood travels all around the country with The Raptor Project and shares his testimony as to how God has guided him as well as his passion for all types of raptors: eagles, hawks, falcons, owls. He travels with many of his winged friends and introduces them in the course of his presentation.

We were able to get up close to many of these majestic birds . . .

(yes, I took the above picture of a live bald eagle)

. . . and Lael was even chosen to help feed the bald eagle!!!

(Sorry it's not a better angle . . . I didn't have a very good seat to take this particular picture)
While Jaden enjoyed the raptors, he also enjoyed cuddling his baby brother so that Mommy could take pictures! And both kids were excited to take home baby owls (stuffed animals) as a reminder of this wonderful trip!

Co-op Speech Meet, Part 2

And here is Lael sharing her poem, a cinquain about the Winter Olympics:

Olympic Games by Lael Martin

Vancouver

Crowded, competative

Skiing, skating, snowboarding

Hoping for a medal

Olympics

Lael and Jaden, you both did a great job! Mommy and Daddy are so very proud of you!!!

Co-op Speech Meet, Part 1

Public speaking is pretty new to our kids . . . they haven't had much experience with it. So that made this semester's co-op closing exercises more intimidating for Lael and Jaden. Each student was asked to share a poem - Lael and Jaden each shared poems that they had written themselves!

Here is Jaden sharing his poem:

And in case you couldn't make out all the words, here they are:

Seasons by Jaden Martin

I like to play in the cold winter breeze.

In the fall I like seeing the leaves roll off the trees.

In spring I like sitting on the beach.

In the summer I like hiding out of reach.

More co-op fun!

The fall semester of our homeschool co-op is winding down . . . both kids have been having so much fun!

Jaden's class spent time retracing the steps of Lewis and Clark as they explored our great country.

They also played a fun game of Geography Twister -- okay, so it wasn't really Twister, but more of a "find this place and step on it" kind of game! ;)

In math class, Jaden and his friends had fun "shopping" -- and learning to add two-digit numbers at the same time! Pretty cool!Lael's ARTifact class spent two weeks working on coil pottery . . . first making them, and then painting them.
Closing exercises are just a couple of weeks away!