handsful

Abbey graduated last year, but that didn’t stop her from enjoying ONE more homeschool prom.  This particular one (there are several in our area) welcomes graduates…and, the girl loves dances.

They were practical, though.  Abbey wore one of her prom dresses from a few years ago, and Daniel (rather than renting a tux) went out and bought a new suit.

Apparently, it started to sprinkle while they were outside.  And, this was apparently the logical thing to do when you’re in prom clothes and it starts to rain.  When did she grow up, again?

The rest of the Clark clan was out of town, having a belated Easter with Gram.  I HATED not being there…to see them off and to take about a zillion pictures.  Thankfully our great friend Janice and her girls were with Abbey and helped her get ready, and then Abbey’s friend Aaron came and took some great photos of them.

From what I hear, they had a wonderful time and enjoyed being one of the returning graduate couples.

Abbey informs me there were couples there in their early 20’s, so she’s maybe not done with proms yet.  Ha.

Love this one!

A favorite…but, I can’t just choose one.

These were taken at the prom…no boring, posed pictures for these two.  They always have fun together.

So glad you got to enjoy a “bonus” prom, Abbey!

This past weekend, we celebrated Abbey.

She’s our high school graduate now.  Twelve years of homeschooling under her belt.

And mine :)

Course, I have 5 more coming after her.  I’ll refrain from discussing how old I’ll be when Dylan graduates.  Shudder.

Abbey participated in the North Carolina Home Educators (NCHE) annual home school graduation ceremony.  Every year, during their home school convention, they hold a graduation.

We drove over to Winston-Salem on Saturday, walked over to the convention center, and spent a little time in the book fair…picture a ginormous room, with aisles and aisles full of everything you could possibly ever want or need for homeschooling.

I never get to spend as much time there as I’d prefer.

Then, we let the little kids swim at the hotel pool.

The next day, we met the grandparents (as well as Daniel and his parents) at a restaurant for lunch.  Gifts were given…

Abbey will be going to Mitchell Community College for a couple of years, to earn her Associate’s degree.

After a 3:00 rehearsal with students and parents (I was already getting weepy at this point…), it was time for the real deal.

In between weepy moments.

Abbey and Daniel were seated right across from each other.

Time for Abbey.  During this ceremony, the parents give the student the diploma…after all, we’re the teachers.  So, Abbey walked up from one side of the stage, and we walked up from the other side.

Abbey gave me a rose…

Picture time…Abbey and all her grands

Nana and Paw Paw

Gram and Pa-Paul

Granma and Granpa

Abbey with Uncle Tony and Aunt Dee Dee

Abbey and Daniel

Class of 2024 and 2025.  Heh.

Abbey and John William Frye…we’ve been friends with JW’s parents for years, and they’ve literally known each other since they were babies.

After the ceremony, we met up with Daniel and his parents for dinner.

It’s hard to believe that you’re a high school graduate, Abbey.  So much is ahead of you…we’re couldn’t be prouder of the young woman you’ve become.

Happy Graduation, Abbey.  We love you!

We’ve been busy doing fun stuff.  It’s been Spring Break, afterall.

First off, the boys had 4 friends over for 3 days/2 nights.  Lots of running around in the woods (in the rain), games on the trampoline, tent camping in our open field, and a TON of food now gone.

I’m just about recovered from it all.

We also colored eggs.  The pic above is from our experiment.  Apparently, using shaving cream and food coloring is the way to go, so we tried it.

They turned out great.  Here are two of them still in shaving cream.  After they chill in the fridge for a while, you use paper towels to wipe them off.  I think my “after” photo is on my phone, I’ll post that later.

Field trip time!  Marley tagged along as we took Lainey and Dylan to a farm owed by another homeschool family.  They held and played with lots of animals, saw a just-hatched chick, rode their horse, and had a fun egg hunt.

Lainey holds Peggy Lou :)

Next up…Annual Easter hunt at Gram’s house on Saturday.

We had a couple of extras join in this year.  We brought Kylie and Daniel, and Caleb’s girlfriend Anna came as well.

Gram and her grands

So many watchers this year…we’re down to only 3 egg hunters this year, and next year it’ll just be Lainey and Dylan.

The big kids read their first clue for the hunt…

Finally, it was Easter Sunday…

Payton, get outta our shot…

And, that covers  our Spring Break.  I think I somehow missed the concept of “break”…but we had a blast.

But, wasn’t it JUST October?

I mean, seriously, I’m not sure what’s going on lately.  My days, weeks, months are flying by at warp speed.  I need time to slllooowww down.  Not speed up, for crying out loud.

I’ll stop complaining now.

This month has been good…a few highlights.

As we’ve done every year since…well, forever…we have a Thankful Tree.  I tried to cut corners and I posted a “What I’m Thankful For” poster for everyone to write on.  I got SO much grief about that!  “MOM, where’s the TREE?!?!”  “We can’t just have a poster!!”

A tree it is.  Marley cut out the trunk, and we just used the leaves to make the top shape.  I like it much better than the poster.  There, I said it.

This is a picture of Abbey driving down the driveway.  WITHOUT me or Randy in the passenger seat.  Yes, she now has her license.  The other three are busy fighting over who’s going to drive every time we go anywhere.  They each have to log 60 hours (and turn 16) before they’re eligible to apply for their licenses.  And, we’re now also logging Abbey’s hours, so she can eventually get her “after 9” license.

Some of the kids went to see the premiere of Catching Fire last Thursday night.  Abbey went all out (are we surprised?) and decided to dress up as Katniss.  I took her to the thrift store and she found 2 dresses and a shirt.  Once home, she went right up to her room and started sewing.  She managed to use pieces of all three things to create her Mockingjay dress.  I was impressed!

While they were at the movie, I took Payton, Lainey, and Dylan to a Thanksgiving dinner and presentations, put on by the littles Classical Conversations group.  Payton graciously skipped the movie so he could be a teen helper with the kids games.  Sweet kid.

Lainey’s class presented a song about the planets.  She was Uranus, and told the crowd “Uranus is a pretty blue planet that spins funny”.

Dylan’s class sang their Timeline song, complete with all the hand motions.  Each child chose someone in the timeline to dress up as.  Dylan is Julius Caesar.

This is the end…”Jesus the Messiah!”

That pretty much wraps up November, with the exception of our yummy Thanksgiving dinner coming up next week.  I’ve got lots of cooking to do, and I’m so looking forward to it.  Not to mention having 4 whole days of zero school.  Woot, Woot!

Hey, teachers need breaks too.  :)

Our 13th year as a homeschool family began today.

Based on that number, one would think I’d have this down pat by now.  When I was a new homeschool mom, I remember thinking that one day this would be “old hat”.

Heh.

I was wrong.  I didn’t take into account that kids get older, which means math problems get harder.  As the number of students increases, so does the planning/grading/teaching time of mom.  And, every year, there seems to be even more curriculum out there to choose from…which can make the decisions harder to make.

But, it’s still our life, and it feels right.  We do take time to re-evaluate each year and will always be open to making changes according to what our kids need in regards to education, and what we feel led to do by God.

So, with the exception of an outside biology class for the trips, and the littles Classical Conversations day on Wednesday mornings, we’re home this year.

Lunch break…

PE

Did I mention we have a senior in the house this year?

Not to mention a few 10th graders, a 2nd grader, and a 1st grader.

Smile kids, it’s the first day of school.

How moms want our kids to feel about the first day.

How they really feel…

The principal makes a special appearance on this first day :)

Here’s to a fantastic school year…

For those whose first question, when we mention we homeschool our kids, is “but, what about socialization?”

I have one word.

Ha.

Pics of my kids going to yet ANOTHER dance…

You know, if my kids were lacking in opportunities to socialize, maybe I’D have more TIME to socialize?!  Hmmm….

They had fun, as usual.

Those are the grades I’m juggling this year in our homeschool.

I’ll be honest, this year’s planning has been ROUGH. We chose a curriculum that we’ve never used before, and I think it’ll end up being great. But, the work it took to get it ready was very much underestimated. Tons of copies, collating, making binders with a zillion labeled tabs…

And, that was only for history, literature, and bible. Heh.

I did end up getting it all done, and we jumped in this past Tuesday. Later than we usually do, but as I’ve mentioned…planning took a while.

The bigs are taking world history, world literature, church history/bible, worldview, chemistry (Abbey), physical science (trips), Mandarin, composition, and vocabulary. The littles are LOVING school…they have Kumon workbooks that teach math, reading, counting money, time, etc. We’ll also be doing Sing, Spell, Read, and Write for phonics and a couple of online programs (love reading eggs!).

Here are a few pics of our first day…

The trips joined Abbey in learning Mandarin this year.

Abbey, let me take your picture…

Thanks

Marley is workin’ hard!

I get the feeling the kids didn’t want me taking their pictures??

Back to the littles, they always like pictures. These were actually taken on our 2nd day. Someone is learning how to write his numbers :)

1 – 100!

Our 12th year homeschooling has now begun. Our oldest is 2 years away from graduating. Gulp. And, our youngest is in the…well, youngest grade. Quite a spread! Only by God’s grace and daily provision will this year be successful…I’ve just gotta always remember that.