Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Weekly Photos

This blog really is plenty of nothing. I have been really busy and still am, but I figured it had been so long, and made myself get on the computer today and do this. We have had Elanor's birthday (she's 6 now!) , had Christmas, I'm directing the play Secret Garden with my good friend, Mallory, and I have obsessively been following the news, especially in the last two weeks since Trump has become president. It is really stressing me out and he is pretty much the worst there ever was (that may be an exaggeration, but there certainly has not been anyone so orange). If you would like to take your mind off horrible news, scroll through these photos from the last few months.

Should have been posted November 21st:

 Morning silliness and snuggles.

Should have been posted November 28th:
 With the Christmas tree we picked out.


 Should have been posted December 5th:

 We picked up my brother, Erik (and my parents too, they went to Europe to pick him up and travel around), from the airport after serving a two year mission for our church in Sweden. There was this silly cutout at the airport and of course Elanor and Erik got their picture taken in it.

Should have been posted December 12th:


 Elanor's birthday was the 10th and she had a Harry Potter birthday party. It was a really fun party!

Should have been posted December 19th:
This was a busy week!


Alice with Mema at Kim's school gift charity event.

 We celebrated St. Lucia Day this year (and we like the tradition and will now do it every year!). Elanor in a Lucia dress my parents got her in Sweden, they also opened St. Lucia pajamas.
 We also went and saw Santa this week, Erik gave his homecoming talk, my grandpa and Vonnie were also in town. It was a fun week!


 Should have been posted December 26th:




It was the first time all the Scott kids were there for Christmas in four years. So, of course we had to get pictures taken.


 Alice as the Angel in our little Nativity play on Christmas Eve.

Should have been posted on January 2nd:

Christmas day
 (I left my phone home, so only have these few pictures from the morning! I need to get some from Tyler)
Elanor with her Hermione doll from Santa.



My cousin also got married on the 29th, so we went to Utah for the wedding.


Should have been posted January 9th:

We had a lot of snow and ice storms the first couple weeks in January. I love snow, even though Portland totally freaks out when there is an inch of snow.

Should have been posted January 16th for MLK Day:


Should have been posted January 23rd:


We marched at the Women's March on January 21st for women's rights worldwide. It was a peaceful and unifying experience.

Should have been posted on January 30th:
Bath baby.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

The Weekly Photo(s)

Behind again, but what's new?

Should have been posted Monday, October 31st:


Should have been posted Monday, November 7th:

 Star Wars characters: Han Solo, Rey, ewok and Leia in ewok garb.

 Should have been posted yesterday, the 14th:
Elanor is playing Molly in Sandy High School's play, "Annie". I did the choreography. We had one weekend of shows last week and have another this week. If you're in the area, you should come!

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Pumpkin Patch 2016

We went to the most beautiful pumpkin patch this past weekend. Just look at it:
 When I drive out to Sandy from Corbett, I take country roads all the way there (a seriously beautiful drive if you have never done it) and I had seen a small sign for a pumpkin patch on one of my drives. I decided I would really like to go to that patch this year. While more big/festival type pumpkin patches are fun, I prefer to go and actually pick my pumpkin in a patch with rain boots in all the mud. Also, no one but our family was there. Plus, the scenery was just top notch.
 I took quite a few photos because it was so beautiful, the cutest kids were the subjects and the lighting was pretty good. So, forgive me if I indulge in uploading too many photos.
Just look at little Cedric. 






 In an effort to get the babies to stay in one place to take a photo of them all, Elanor decided to play ring-around-the-rosies, which did keep them all in the same place, but not exactly looking. I actually, really love this photo of the three of them.






We tried to get some pictures in a wheel barrow, but no one ever looked at the same time. I still love the candidness of these photos and there are some great expressions pictured. Also, Cedric really could not keep his eyes off the pumpkins. I did not edit these pictures to be this color, they just came out this way. I really like the fall-like feel it gives the photos.





And the lighting must have changed for this one (and several others, I only added this one.) Weird, right?

A family picture!

There was a mini corn maze, which was mostly just paths through the corn stalks, with some "spooky" signs, but it was still fun! This spot was just so gorgeous and these photos do not do it justice, but it was my favorite pumpkin patch experience yet--and I sure love pumpkin patches.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

The Weekly Photo

We haven't had a family picture up here on a Weekly Photo for awhile! We went to the prettiest pumpkin patch last week.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Kindergarten Homeschool

We have been doing kindergarten at home for a month now and we are really liking it! There are a variety of reasons why we chose to homeschool Elanor this year, which I have mentioned before, but the two biggest reasons are that only full day kindergarten is available, and I want Elanor and Alice to be close (even if they are four years apart) and going to school all day would make that more difficult. I do not think we will homeschool for every year, but it will always be an option if Elanor would like to do it.

So, I wanted to explain our curriculum/schedule as it could possibly be helpful to others. 

Here is our schedule:

Monday: Journal, Reading/Writing, Art
Tuesday: Journal, Math, Music
Wednesday: Journal, Geography/History
Thursday: Journal, Science
Friday: Journal, open for field trips/play/hikes or a day do a subject we missed during the week.


Most everything also has to do with the country we are studying that month. For example, we learned about Nigeria in September and Elanor used pastels and scissors to make a really cool mask based on Nigerian masks. We also read and talked about one of Chinua Achebe's poems for reading/writing, listened to traditional Nigerian music, learned about the animals and landscapes of that country and learned basics such as the capital and flag. 


We chose the countries by trying to get a country on each continent, or close to and also learn about the US and our neighbors. Here is what we chose:
September: Nigeria
October: Canada
November: United States
December: Norway/Sweden
January: India
February: Peru
March: Great Britain
April: China
May: Mexico
June: Greece

We also chose a natural disaster to learn about each quarter (Earth quakes, Hurricanes, tornados, volcanos) and weather for the corresponding season. 

For the journal, Elanor writes the date, her name, our theme for the school year (Seek Learning), and one to three sentences about anything she would like to write and then draws a picture to go with her writing. Reading/writing we do things like read/memorize poetry, have spelling tests, and learn about how to write a story (story arch/mountain). Elanor can already read really well, so also reads during quiet time (I highly recommend "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"). For math I use the Miquon Orange math book with Cusinaire rods. Elanor loves it and it is actually a really fun math book. For geography/history, we learn about the country we are currently studying and also work on memorizing the continents. For science, so far we have learned about the water cycle and about why leaves fall from the trees--also hikes. I also use the "What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know" book for some guidance and they have some fun games and projects in there as well.

Elanor is also playing on soccer team and is in Sandy High School's play, "Annie", as the orphan, Molly. I am also doing the choreography for the play. So even with homeschool, we are pretty busy and Elanor is getting plenty of socialization. It has been really great to be able to have the freedom to go on adventures, which will really be missed if Elanor does go to school next year or something.

I also believe in kids getting a lot of playtime and time outside and homeschool allows for this. So for us, it has been really great so far! However, I also think it is good for kids to learn from other people and be around a variety of children, so Elanor will go to public school at some point.













And Elanor really is a great sister and she and Alice are developing a wonderful relationship. Also, as great as homeschool has been, it has been hard too. Kids are hard, but I have created a schedule with enough flexibility, so that when something comes up, or we have a hard day, we still have time to recover and get some school done each day. Hopefully, for those that homeschool or are considering it, this has been helpful!

The Weekly Photo

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

The Weekly Photo (s)

Yeah, I'm a bit late again and I hardly post actual posts. This blog is starting to be pretty pathetic. Oh, well. I will keep trying.

This should have been posted on September 19th:
We picked a ton of apples at my parents house and turned them into applesauce, apple crisps, apple pies, etc.


This should have been posted on September 26th:
We went camping with Tyler's family (including his parents, brother and girlfriend, and aunt, uncle and cousins). It was a lot of fun and we soaked up that last bit of summer.


Should have been posted yesterday, the 3rd:
 School in the morning--and this might be one of my favorite pictures ever.