Lots of good things have been happening around these parts lately. Our Sadie girl is now a second grader! We’ve been spending time outside, I’ve done a bit of organizing, we started a new school year, and I’ve been baking away.
Here’s what life has looked like recently!
Finishing First Grade + Starting Second Grade ✏️
Sadie finished up her 180 days of first grade in late April and had her evaluation last week. In the state of Pennsylvania, homeschooled students need an annual evaluation completed by a qualified evaluator that meets state requirements. This can include a PA-certified teacher, licensed psychologist, or certain nonpublic school teachers with required experience. The evaluator reviews the student’s portfolio, talks with the child, and determines whether an appropriate education has taken place during the year. The goal isn’t a stressful “test day,” but simply documenting that learning and progress have been taking place.
Our evaluator is a PA-certified teacher with a Reading Specialist Certification! We met with her, discussed our year, showed her samples of Sadie’s work and everything went well! She signed off on Sadie’s school year and I sent that paper along with next year’s educational objectives and homeschool affidavit to our local school district.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief and joy—we did it! We decided to celebrate our homeschool year by having a mommy and Sadie date.
We walked around Barnes and Noble and our local mall and just talked and enjoyed our alone time! The only thing we ended up buying was Auntie Anne’s pretzels (IYKYK). I soaked in and cherished our time. From holding hands as we walked into the book store, to watching Sadie play at the mall play area and make friends, it was such a sweet evening.
I also had the chance to ask Sadie what she thought of homeschooling and if there was anything she wanted to learn this year. She said her favorite subject is Bible and she totally surprised me when she asked for more science lessons this year! I admittedly tend to focus heavily on language arts, math, and Bible (and lots of crafts/art), but am a bit lighter on subjects like science. I am excited to do more lessons and projects in this area for second grade. 😊
After our evaluation, I took some time to organize our bookshelf (it’s where I store our curriculum) and whew did that feel cleansing!
I prepped our binder and tracking papers for second grade and then we started a few days later! Jimmy called me a slave driver, ha. I just know that both Sadie and I do well when we keep our momentum rolling! Our summer will be relaxed in terms of school, but we will keep the learning going!
We did some of our lessons outside this week. Sadie read to Mordecai and it was so sweet to see them cuddled up together.
And we did some cooking lessons with Sadie’s Easy Bake Oven. The kids love that thing!
What was your favorite subject in school?
Out and About ☀️
We had a few hot days, so we soaked up the sun at the park!
And we cooled off with Italian ice at Rita’s!
We walked our neighbor’s dogs, too!
We went to a sporting goods store to get Jimmy a new pair of shoes as his birthday gift!
Sadie and Mordecai went to a birthday party at our neighbor’s house and Mordecai fell asleep on their couch. 😂
Have you gone anywhere fun lately?
Around the House 🏡
I love seeing our big kids all snuggled up together before bed! They were watching Bluey on our bed when I took this picture.
I got Dakota dressed for the day and Sadie decided to try and match her!
They are too sweet. Dakota was very happy to be on the couch, haha. She isn’t usually allowed on the couch without being closely supervised because she is rowdy and liable to fall off. 🤣
We had our first experience with mobile grooming! It was incredibly convenient. The groomer just pulled up to our house, I brought Niva out, and she brought her back to our door about an hour later all clean and smelling amazing.
We were laughing that Niva just blindly jumped into a van with a stranger. That’s classic Niva right there. The groomer said she wasn’t a “typical” husky in that she didn’t howl the whole time. I’ve always thought she’s basically a Labrador in a husky’s body!
She was literally the cleanest she has ever been. It was worth every penny, especially as she has started to blow her coat for the season!
Sadie and Mordecai spent a while painting a cardboard box to make it a “habitat” for their toy animals. I love seeing them team up like this and play!
In the Kitchen 🍞
I had another Etsy order this week. It feels nice to slowly dip my toes back into the Etsy world. The customer ordered two flavors of granola: cherry almond and peanut butter.
I also baked a strawberry pistachio swirl loaf!
I put the batter together and thought, hmm this needs a little pizzazz. So I topped it with chocolate chips, coarse sugar, and walnuts.
It turned out very vibrant!
Have you baked or cooked anything extra bright lately?
Other Notes and Thoughts 📝
- Scripture I’m loving: Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10 🙏🏻
- I bought a few packs of mosquito repellent bracelets for the next time we go fishing! 🎣
- I taught Mordecai how to scoop the cat litter and just sat and watched his adorable little determined face. He is such a great helper! 🐈⬛
- We are going to grow aqua dragons and caterpillars (to turn into butterflies) for science this week. Wish us luck! 🦋
And that’s a wrap! We are headed home from church as I type up this post. We will be celebrating Jimmy’s birthday tomorrow and visiting our friend’s baby in the NICU. I can’t wait to meet him!
Living My Full Life 