Cock-a-doodle-doo

Meet one of our roosters . . .

Books

Jays school books have arrived for the next school year.

I looked back through my blog to see what I had posted about Jay and school. And I found nothing. So here is the Reader's Digest version.

After a month a kindergarten I was told that Jay was bored because he already knew "this stuff" and needed to be moved to first grade. After he missed the first month of first grade he started to fall behind. By second grade he was going to resource. By the end of third grade he was in the resource room more than he was in a regular class room and they wanted to move him to extended resource.

So . . .

I decided to home school Jay last year. Kind of. Jay "went" to a virtual online public school called Connections Academy. Since it is a regular public school there is no cost. They send a computer, all the school books and supplies, and even pay for your internet connection.

I had Jay take 3rd grade over again. I was by Jay's side about 90% of the time helping and guiding him. It was quite time consuming but we made it through.

The results: At the beginning of the year, Jay was reading 48 words per minute. By the end, he was reading 84 words per minute. Before last year, his ISAT (Idaho Standardized Testing) scores were all below basic. At the end of the year, he scored proficient in all three categories, reading, math, and language. Actually, he was about 2 points in each category from scoring advanced.

It was a lot of work and I am so glad we did it.

Thank You, Grandpa

We have been loaned this very old, beautiful piano from a family in the ward. They had pity on Thomas for having to practice on our digital piano. It had been in storage for 8 years.

Thanks to our very talented grandpa for tuning the piano. He said it was so far out of tune that he would need to do it again after it settled a little.

Chalkboard

I added some chalkboard paint to the center section of our pantry door. We have already had the opportunity to write "Happy Birthday Grandpa" and "Welcome Aunt Angela." I just love this fun addition to our kitchen!

Grandpa's Garden

He works so hard all summer long to bring us yummy produce to eat.

Chicken Love

There is still a lot of chicken love going on here . . .

Kuna Caves

We took the kids out to Kuna Caves Monday night. Todd and Thomas have been out several times, but it was the first time for me and the younger kids.The cave looks like a hole in the ground. You climb down and down and then down some more. This was the hardest part for me, harder than crawling on my hands and knees through parts of the cave.
When we got way back into the cave Thomas gave a Family Home Evening lesson. He took all of the kid's flashlights and handed them each a map. Hhe told them it would lead them to a great treasure. Just as they had unrolled their maps, we turned off all of the flashlights. It was complete darkness. Thomas then talked about how the map was the Holy Ghost and it would lead and guide us. If we live worthy (flashlights come on) we can have the Holy Ghost with us always. If we are not making good choices (flashlights off again) we cannot tell what the Holy Ghost wants us to do.
The map led to an actual treasure. Thomas had slipped in ahead while we were all climbing down the ladder and had hidden the treasure - - bottles of Gatorade for each of us.

I think this Family Home Evening ranks up there in my top 10 of all time. Not that I have an actual list. The kids loved it too.

Eggs

Look what we found in the chicken coop last night!