George Washington's Birthday at Mount Vernon!

Every year on George Washington's Birthday you can visit his home, Mount Vernon for free.

We went and celebrated the birth of our first president!

Duncan watching the blacksmith at work.

Mount Vernon was a fully functioning farm with a blacksmith, a smokehouse, greenhouse, etc.

Duncan was my only child that joined me (Ronan & Morgan both said they'd been too many times), but we were joined with some other friends as well which made for a great time!

Nathan, Duncan, Charlie, & Ted at the backside of the house (where it overlooks the river).

Of course rolling down this great hill was a must for these boys!

George Washington's tomb.

We went through the house, as well as the exhibits, and enjoyed ourselves. 

And to top it off, they served us birthday cake to celebrate his birthday!

Happy Birthday George!

National Aquarium in Baltimore

Our annual Homeschool Field Trip to the National Aquarium!

The girls lucked out and public school was closed today, and so they joined us on our field trip too!

(Although, really I would of taken them out of school anyway.)

Madelyn touching jellyfish.

We got to see the fish being fed. 

And the Jellyfish exhibit!

Always one of my favorites! So beautiful!

Madelyn watching the dolphins play.

Touching a sting ray.

It's always a great day of exploring and fun.

We love to see the animals, as well as visit with our homeschool friends!

Farm trip!

Our Homeschool Group took a Field Trip to the farm!

Its always fun to go on a hay ride with a bunch of friends!

Grandpa & Grandma were in town for Ashlyn's baptism, and so they got to join us too!

Sweetness.

The wagons stopped at the pumpkin patch, and everybody got to pick out their own pumpkin, as well as an ear of 'popping' corn!

 

The girls playing checkers with little pumpkins...

There was lots of fun activities.

Like the Rubber Ducky Race.

Ashlyn was pumping away!

Madelyn enjoyed riding the little tractors.

 

The boys enjoyed the 'Corn Pit'.

And of course, Morgan hung out with the ponies.

Happy Fall!

Aviation Museum Field Trip!

We had such a fun time at the College Park Aviation Museum!

Making paper airplanes, 

And flying them with the automatic launcher!

Kids in aviation close are just too cute!

 

Flying a plane!

Such a great hands on museum! 

February (The longest month of the year)

You may think I'm crazy, because everyone knows that February is actually the SHORTEST month of the year, right? Well, not in the Homeschool world!

I have heard many a homeschool mom say that February is the toughest month of the year! It's often the month that homeschool moms feel like throwing in the towel. It's in the middle of the winter, you are all stuck in the house together, ALL DAY LONG, and it can feel like it's NEVER going to END!

February was a busy month for us, and luckily it didn't all involve being stuck in the house together ALL DAY LONG! We did a lot of things this month, and it just felt extra long.

But they were fun things!

Morgan began an Art Class for the younger children.

EVERYONE enjoyed this!

Our homeschool group field trip was to an indoor pool!

Some fun spent at the mall carousel.

And an awesome field trip to the National Building Museum in D.C.!

Ashlyn and Duncan took a class all about city planning. They got to help build some buildings for their 'zones'.

Duncan was so proud of his hotel....the 'Ritz'!

Then everyone came together with their buildings and laid out the city.

It was such a fun class!

Madelyn was in a class of her own...

Where she made her own house!

I didn't get to be in there (as I was a helper in the class Ashlyn & Duncan were in), but all reports came back that it too was a great time!

Then a little building fun together!

Ronan didn't sign up for a class, he just enjoyed roaming through the museum on his own checking everything out.

Back at home we were studying the solar system in science...

We measured out how far each planet is from the sun on a roll of toilet paper (scaled down of course).

The kids are way out where Neptune would be! So far in relation to the other planets!

Then we did some planet painting, and put together our own solar system. 

For our PE group we did some indoor games (due to the cold weather).

Like Red Rover, basketball, dodge ball, and others.

We also spent an afternoon at an indoor trampoline park for PE one week.

That was a definite hit!

A friend in the ward was looking for some faces to paint so she could take photos to have for her face painting business. My kids were more than happy to volunteer!

A friend in the ward was looking for some faces to paint so she could take photos to have for her face painting business. My kids were more than happy to volunteer!

I hosted Kindergarten Group just before Valentines Day, and we had fun with heart shaped crafts and food (apple hearts, and heart shaped bread).

Hayden had some fun with his chemistry experiments

And Duncan and Hayden took a 'Computer Guts' class offered at our local library which they loved.

They had fun taking computers apart and checking out all the inside workings.

And then we got some snow....

7 inches worth.

We had some fun snow days!

Whose crazy child is that outside in shorts and no coat in the snow???

Our dutiful boys clearing up the snow.

Hayden and his friend Ted had a great field trip opportunity to go meet the Governor of Maryland, and sit in on a hearing at the state capitol in Annapolis.

The students had lunch with a Senator, and a tour of the Capitol building as well.

The younger kids and I studied Medieval History, and made some Viking Long boats, 

and homemade catipults.

And I think Duncan slept in a tent in the girls room more nights this month than he did in his own bed!