Halloween~ Is it even a Holiday?

I'm not sure if Halloween is considered a true holiday or not, all I know is that we've been celebrating it for the last four days. 

I'm so done with Halloween.

It began a week ago at the Nicasio Pumpkin Patch, where Bryce and Paige picked out their pumpkins with their cousins, Raja and Yasmeena.  They played on the jumpies, walked the corn maze and picked the biggest, round pumpkins they could find.

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Maybe the Best Use of Red Solo Cups, Ever

Red Solo cups.  They're a part of lives and for many of us, mainly for the consumption of beer consumed during college years, right?!

Today marks the end of Red Ribbon Week  for schools across the nation.  And I'm proud to show you how our little one-room school house decorated their school using red Solo cups. 

Hey, we do what we can out here in the country:)

Possibly the best use of red Solo cups I've seen to date.  I was impressed!

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The One-Room School

There are nine students attending our district's one-room school house this year.  That's nine students, total, grades K-6th.  Two Kinders, two 1st graders, two 2 nd graders and three 6th graders.  So, what does that mean for my Kindergartner and Second Grader?

With one teacher/principal, one full time aide and one part-time Spanish aide, it means LOTS of one on one attention.   The school is very academic, they work hard and they play hard.  Bryce was reading during the second month of his Kindergarten year and now, so is Paige.  All the kids learn and progress at their own pace, what ever that may be.  They're not forced and they're not held back. 

Similar to home school, but I don't have to do it!

At first I was concerned about Paige being the only girl in the school up through the 5th grade level, but no longer. I actually think she likes being the only little girl....and why not? She get's a whole lot of attention from the boys, even with one of them being her brother.

Now with both kids attending the one-room school, I'm finding by beginning in Kindergarten, they don't know any different with regards to the size of the school and the amount of children. I keep both Bryce and Paige active in many activities outside of school. Paige spends time with her girlfriends, so she's not missing the important girl time where she can dress up in princess outfits and such......although, she could probably talk those boys at school into playing princess with her if she really wanted to.....I'm sure of it.

Confidence is not lacking at all.......amazing what a little sheltering will do.

Linking up for Wordless Wednesday to:
Pinke Post
Project Alicia
Live and Love Out Loud


Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment. I love to hear from you! Have a fantastic day!

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The Columbia Gold Rush Experience

During our overnight, camping field trip to Columbia State Park, CA with Bryce's one room school, we experienced what life might have been like in the gold rush days back in 1848.

Where else can a kid carry a shotgun through town and look normal?

The town of Columbia was only one of hundreds of settlements that popped up during the exciting years when Gold brought optimists from all over the world to seek their fortunes in California.

Columbia is located in the heart of the Mother Lode, a mile wide network of gold bearing quartz that extends 120 miles along the western edge of the Sierra Nevada, from Mariposa northward to Georgetown, Columbia yielded $87 million in gold at 1860's prices.

Columbia has never been a 'ghost town', it has never been deserted.  Through State Legislature in 1945, Columbia State Historic Park was created to forever preserve it's history.

On Saturday's post, I shared with you, many of the tours we went on at Columbia.

One of the scheduled tours, I found most interesting was, of course, the one room school house.

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10 Things I Love About a One-Room-School House

As I've mentioned before, my son, Bryce, is in 1st grade and attends a public one room school house.  The same school Dominic and his sisters attended when they were in elementary school.  At first I was a bit apprehensive about the socialization part of a one-room-school house,  but after talking with the teacher and seeing how things were taught and run there, I knew this would be the right decision and perfect environment for Bryce {and Paige}.

Here are 10 reasons I have for loving a one-room school house, as I was feeling them on our recent trip to the S.F. Exploratorium:

1.  There are many field trips scheduled throughout the school year which gives the kids many experiences outside of school.

2.  I get to go on the many field trips throughout the year as a driver and mom.

3.  We get to visit places such as the San Francisco Exploratorium and Palace of Fine Arts as we did on a recent beautiful winter {spring like} day.

4.  The kids learn at their own level, whatever that may be at a one-room-school house.

5.  There are only 14 kids in the entire school {K-6th}.

6.  I loved Little House on the Prairie as a child and now our kids are kind of living the life....but with many modern conveniences.

7.  Students can't get away with anything at a one-room school house......at least not for long anyway.

8.  There is plenty of time for one-on-one teaching.

8.  Kids can become very confident in this environment.

9.  All ages learn to watch each other's back......much like a family.

10.  The entire school can be driven on a trip within three SUV's.

There are many, many more things I love about the learning environment of a one-room-school house, these are just a few of the things that crossed my mind the other day on our field trip :)

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Summer Home School

Bryce is 5 years old (will be 6 in October) and he just completed his Kindergarten year at the one room school house he attends. I really feel we have the best of both worlds with this school.  It's a one room school, as I said, there are 15 students total (grades K-6th) with a full time teacher and a full time aid.  It's in it's own school district and has been in existence since the 1800's.  Dominic attended this school as did his two sisters.

Last year Bryce had two other Kindergartners in his class.  His teacher, Mrs. Wester teaches K - 2nd grade in a small room off the main room.  Mrs. Doyle, the teacher/Principal teaches 3rd - 6th grades in the main school house room as well as overseeing the little guys too.  Each student benefits from one on one time at an individual level with the teachers. 

So with this being Bryce's first summer break from school, I didn't want him to lose any of his reading, writing and math skills that he's learned through the year over the long summer. So I thought if we did 30 minutes of 'Home School' each weekday morning, it would keep him in tune and ready to begin 1st grade when September comes.

Bryce totally got into this idea.  He was SO excited that we were going to play 'Home School' each and every morning.  The entire first week, he woke up at 7 a.m. and was ready to begin 'Home School'.

I told him 'Home School' begins at 9 a.m. after breakfast and coffee.

I don't know if he was more excited about me being his 'teacher' or just the idea of playing school in general.  He insisted that we play until lunch time every day.  And we did, with recess , a school bell and all.

We begin with reading then math, flash cards, spelling test, art and what ever else we find interesting on a particular day.

I found a few grade level books at Target for him.

Paige wanted in on 'Home School' as well.

I try and mix it up as much as I can with the different subjects.  So far it's going well.  The great thing I found about homeschooling is you can work it around your own schedule.  Like the two weeks of swim lessons that we signed up for, conflicted with the homeschooling time, but we just moved it to the afternoon instead.  I do prefer the morning time though, I think there's better concentration at that time.

There are also a couple of good websites to go to, one of them being http://www.starfall.com/ (Bryce was on Star Fall throughout his Kindergarten year and now Paige is into it)

and another, Enchanted Learning  there are also a few others that are tied to his school such as Study Island and Accelerated Reading.  And I've found numerous websites readily available on the world wide web by googling 'homeschooling'.

If you have a great home school website you know of, please let me know!  I'd love to begin a file:)

Happy Friday!

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Happy Wednesday! - But Not For Everyone...

On the drive to school this morning.... Bryce's one room school in the distance... This morning on the drive to Bryce's school, it looked as though it might turn out to be a partial sunny day after the fog clears. A good bike riding day after school and a good morning to find Bryce that bike I had been promising him. Since his other one was left in the driveway last summer, behind the truck, it has never rode the same since. We did try to salvage it by straightening out the training wheels and handle bars but the training wheels kept turning up and it has just never rode straight after being drug by the truck. First stop.....Starbucks, okay, when did they start carrying these 'Mini Sparkle Donuts?' I couldn't resist! There can't be too many calories in this itsy, bitsy donut can there? Happy Wednesday to me! After Starbucks, I headed down to the toy store to shop for bikes. I decided on one that looked similar to his old one with the exception of the 16" inch wheels versus 12" inch. Happy Biker Bryce... After biking, it was time for Chloe's bath... Not a happy Wednesday for Chloe... Chloe 'tolerates' her bath, but not her favorite thing... Done.. A treat makes it all worth it... Pin It

Day to Day Happenings

My day began on Tuesday getting myself and Bryce ready for kindergarten. Breakfast was a 100% whole wheat english muffin, topped with a sliced hard boiled egg made with my EggGenie.....LOVE the EggGenie! The easiest way to boil eggs, just add water, seven eggs at one time, plug in and let it do it's thing. On Tuesdays, I volunteer at the one room school house Bryce attends and puppy Chloe comes as well. Mrs. Doyle, the teacher/principal, owns a relative of Chloe.....Cooper, a Maltese / Shi Tzu mix just like Chloe and Tuesday mornings they have a standing playdate appointment at school. A fun time for all! Photo below ~ Chloe and Cooper atop Mrs. Doyle's desk ~ well behaved students! In the evening, our family attended the Redwood Empire Dairy Holstein Association's annual dinner. A short meeting is conducted during dinner, where the attendees are informed of any upcoming dairy shows, heifer sales, meetings, etc. The junior division, California Junior Holstein are present as well. Awards and scholarships are presented to the winners. The juniors announce up-coming competitions that they will participate in such as, Dairy Jeopardy, Dairy Bowl, and Public Speaking to name a few. The dinner was held at the Elk's Lodge in Petaluma. It's a catered event which consisted of tri-tip, chicken marsala, fresh roasted vegetables, ceaser salad and a creamy penne dish. Photo below: the future of the dairy industry...hopefully, if our local dairies are still around in 10 or 15 years. Moosemilk ~ a loaded drink ~ not for the kiddies 1 oz. white rum 1 oz. dark rum 1 oz. Kahlua coffee liquer 2 scoops vanilla ice cream 2 fresh strawberries Mix all together in a blender and enjoy! (this can also be made in big batches and served punch bowl style) Pin It