First day of school 2009-10
08 Sep 2009 2 Comments
in Home Schooling, kids
The kids all ready for school and waiting with Jordan for his bus
Close-ups
Maltby Cafe tradition on the first day of school. Hot chocolate - steamed milk and whip - YUM!
The girls!
We started the year with a family meeting the night before and began a new schedule for the first day of school which included everyone at the table at 8:00. Working on improving that family time! Jordan had an “awesome” day and hardly used his walker all day. The girls dug in and got their work done without too much complaining as well. To glorify our Lord, that is our goal.
My Favorite Person poem by Bekah
02 Jun 2009 Leave a Comment
in Bekah, Home Schooling
Momma
Black and curly hair
Brown eyes like tree trunks
Tall
She likes to scrapbook, talk with friends, and do school with me
Season Poem – by Bekah
11 May 2009 2 Comments
in Bekah, Home Schooling
Summer
Bright sun
Warm water
Fresh trees
Yummy blueberries
Sydney & Max laughing
It’s summer
—————
Using her senses, she described her favorite season. Nice work, girl!
Science: Strong stems and zylem
20 Mar 2009 Leave a Comment
in Bekah, Home Schooling
Bekah’s most recent science unit has been on plants and we’ve been experimenting with celery. A few days ago we left a celery stalk out on the counter so it would wilt overnight. The next morning, we added some food coloring to a glass of water and stuck the celery in it so it would perk back up. Within a few hours, the blue water could be seen in both the stem and the leaves. We left it there a couple days and then today cut it up and created Ants on a Log at Bekah’s request.
Zylem: tiny tubes that act as elevators to carry water up the stem and to the leaves
Look closely at the cross-sections of the celery and you can see some blue…
Blue-tinted leaves from the zylem carrying water up the stem
Cross-section of zylem (the blue spots)
More ants and blue dye
Hope you enjoyed your science lesson!
Ashley’s Illuminated lettering project
09 Mar 2009 1 Comment
in Ashley, Home Schooling
Drawn free-hand and started just with an idea, Ashley created this in just a few minutes.
“Seattle 6th” Franz Bakery tour
07 Mar 2009 Leave a Comment
Yesterday, Bekah and I donned red hairnets for a VIP bakery tour. First, we navigated Seattle traffic to arrive south of downtown at the Franz Bakery factory on 6th Avenue. We’d planned on a girls’ outing, but with Ashley on her 5th day of fevers she had to stay home with Dad. Bekah and I attended with our home school group, HHW, for the two-hour tour through the deliciously warm bakery.
We were permitted on a walking tour alongside many of the machines and workers, and were inundated with the smells of freshly baked bread. Each day, the factory bakes 40 different kinds of bread, and each week they put out 900,000 loaves!!! While we were there, cinnamon swirl bread passed from dough to ‘sponge’ to kneader to loaf to rising box to oven and onto a mile-long cooling system before being sucked out of the pans, sliced, and then popped into bags. It is a 4-hour process that rises high overhead during its cooling process and twists and turns to accomplish what needs to be done in the least amount of space.
Beside the fact that the bread travels a mile to cool and goes from 220 degress down to 100 when it is bagged, I also loved the fact that it passes through two metal detectors!! Since all of the machinery is metal, it is important that any metal shards that could possibly come off are detected. Three different types of metal are tested for down to a size smaller than that of a pencil led. The detectors must be periodically checked as well and are done so with a rod inserted inside one of the loaves which is then placed inside a plastic bag. When the metal is detected, a large burst of air blows the loaf off the line. It is placed inside a bag because the air is strong enough that it would basically blow the loaf to bits otherwise – ha!
Bekah’s favorite part of the tour was hanging out with her friend Jasmine throughout the tour and then getting her own loaf of bread to take home – which he had with dinner.
I’d never been on a factory tour like this and would love to find other ones to attend.
Sharing love – Valentine’s Day 2008
28 Feb 2009 Leave a Comment
in Celebrations, Home Schooling, kids
Bekah works on Valentines with friends Genna & Molly
Our Valentine’s celebration began with a party with our home schooling group on Friday the 13th. Jordan had the day off and attended the party with us as well! Being some of the oldest kids, Ashley and Rachel were helpers and had baby holding and general assistance duties. Activities included Valentine making, decorating cookies, eating snacks, matching the kids’ current photos with their baby ones, and games in the gym of Canyon Hills Community Church.
Jordan works on a Valentine for Mommy
A couple of the girls try to match photos. Katie and Rachel are H & C respectively and 9 & 5. Ashley, Bekah and Jordan are on other boards.
Jordan races in to participate in the 'pop the balloon' game
Bekah, the game too loud for her, sits it out with a smile on her face.
The next morning, Willie made pink, heart pancakes for all of us. The kids love these! Then we opened a few cards and gifts and went on with our day. Ashley had her first Stewart Little performance that night, so the highlight was dinner at Denny’s afterward with the Mansfield clan. Quite the romantic evening!
Tada!
Daddy and daughter early Saturday morning
Typical morning at the Bodgers! Bekah thanks Ashley for her V-day present.
Love for Jordan...
Bekah got a pink heart monkey
What did Ashley want as a $5 gift? A huge Costco box of gum!
We got a package later in the day from Gammy & Pa, and another on Monday from Wes & Kara. Once Stewart Little was done, my camera went away for awhile so I have no pics of those. Thanks, you guys, you’re all so sweet!
Jump Planet
18 Feb 2009 1 Comment
in Field Trips, Home Schooling
Every now and then a home schooling field trip falls on a date we can actually participate. Despite my folks being in town, I opted to sign the girls up for an hour and a half at Jump Planet. It was a tough decision to not include Jordan in something that could be, well… such great therapy, but knew it meant pulling him out of school and didn’t sign him up. Originally, the cost was $6/kid. The morning of the event, I learned that so many kids had signed up (50!) that the price had dropped to only $4/kid! In addition to this, one of the families had come down with the crud and that opened up two slots. One person jumped on the first slot, and I went for it and took the second. Yay! I was looking forward to taking all 3 of my kids on this adventure.
Homeschooling His Way at Jump Planet
Jordan disagreed. He was set on me picking him up so we could go bowling and didn’t appreciate me changing the plan to go to whatever this place was. He threw fits most of the way there, but ended up having fun. Here are some of the pictures from this massive room of inflatable toys.
Jordan crawling through the space station
If the hair isn't evidence enough, Bekah's having a blast!
Ashley and Rachel hold on tight
Mommy & Jordan climb up to whizz down
Mommy & Bekah - Whee!!!
Bluh! Hi Rachel - sorry about the red eyes
Jordan leads the way up the big slide
Steph, Jordan and Gramma - 3-wide! (sorry it's dark)
Mommy and the little ones
Back to School
08 Sep 2008 Leave a Comment
in Family Outings, Home Schooling, Illness, Jordan, Raising kids
New rules: The bus won’t come down the driveway.
Jordan’s not so excited to go back…
But cranks out a smile for the camera
It’s been a bit of a rocky start to the 2008-09 school year. Jordan’s first day was 9/2 and he cried the night before, the morning of, and a couple times during the day. Then, he came home with his throat sounding all scratchy. It was also pretty red. After a chat with the doc, it was off to Children’s evening/weekend clinic for another strep test. Thankfully, this one was negative. However, Jordan was out the next 3 days. Today was the 5th day of school, but only Jordan’s 2nd – but at least he went back today. He’s still having trouble with going to school; he’d much rather be home. But Willie figured out that Jordan wanted some ‘Mom-time” when he got home and that got him through the day. We then headed out to Game Stop once he was home. A much better day!
I wish every home school day looked like this
The girls have also had a staggering sort of start. We’ve been waiting for weeks for our books and other materials to get here and now that it is the official first day of school, books have finally arrived. However, we are still missing 6 boxes worth of stuff! I am pleased though that the girls got through all their lessons today and even worked on art together, studying animals that they could draw realistically or using their imaginations. Despite the 6 year age span and no one at home between them, I’d like to have the ‘olders teaching the youngers’ a little more this year. It seems to make a positive difference in the entire household.
For the 3rd year, the girls and I started off the year at the Maltby Cafe about 25 minutes east of here. It’s a fantastic place for brunch and has become a fun little tradition where we can talk about the upcoming year. Today we discussed our morning schedule and goals, as well as enjoyed great food. – I’m so bummed that I forgot to take pictures! So here’s last year’s…
Maltby Cafe 2007
