Graduation!!

We had our graduation program for coop on May 8th. We didn't have any seniors in coop this year so we only had 8th,6th, and K graduating. Aaron was one of the 8th graders and Morgan did the K graduation. She did K for the first few months of the school year but has actually completed 1st grade as well so we were extra proud of her!

Here are Aaron and Chris posing before the program. We don't get them in a tie very often!!


And Momo.....


Momo and Sara!

Sara will be a Kindergarten graduate next year!

Ian and Sara having fun!

Morgan and Morgan! The only girls in the Kindergarten class!!


Momo and Lulu, up close....look at all those sweet freckles!! I love them!

All three girlies together!


Our friend, Eric, was the speaker for the night.

Stephanie giving Morgan C. her diploma.

Stephanie, Scott and Lulu.


Momo's turn for her diploma!


The Kindergarten class and parents!

Now time for Aaron. Notice the slideshow up on the wall behind the stage. They did this for all of the graduates as their names were called.


The 8th grade class with parents on stage.

Randy and I with our graduates after the program.



This gives an idea how tall Aaron has gotten. Randy is 6 feet and I am 5'9". Aaron is just over 5'10"!

The program was followed by a small reception. We didn't stay for too long though since we decided to go out to eat to celebrate. We are very proud of all of our kiddos. They have done great this past year!!

Reading Incentive/Fundraiser

The kids(all 4 of them) are working on a fundraiser/reading incentive program for coop right now. They are asking for sponsors and they will read for 300 minutes over the next two weeks. (30 minutes a day for 10 days) The program is sponsored through Usborne Books. The kids will earn 50% of the money they raise in books which they pick out of the big catalog. Since as homeschoolers, the moms are the teacher, I will get to choose 30% of what they each raise in books as well. ( This will be used to get curriculum books.) Finally, our coop will get the remainder 20% of what they raise in cash to help with different needs in our coop. If you would like to sponsor the kids, please email me and let me know. Thanks so much for helping us.

MMMMMMMMMMMM

Yesterday was our first day back at coop for the spring session. As always, the kids (and me too) were excited to get back after our break. Since Ian will be 3 next week, we decided to go ahead and let him move out of the nursery and into the Pre-K class!! He is such a big boy now. Anyway, at lunch I was asking him how his class was. He said it was fun. I asked him what he learned about and he said, " I learned, MMMMMMMMMMMM". I was a little puzzled but one of the teachers in his class was sitting there beside me and she said " That is right!! We learned the letter M!!" I just thought that was so cute I had to share. My baby boy is growing up!

Another project in woodworking and other coop pics.

Morgan was in a PE class at the same time as our woodworking class so I snapped a couple pictures of them playing Red Rover.




The boys in the woodworking class finished up their second projects a couple weeks ago( yes, I am just now posting pics). They made little table bookcases this time. Here they are putting the stain/varnish on.






Some of the cases drying in the sun.


The boys hanging out waiting for the next class to start. The matching tee shirts are the yearbook class shirts.



They are just so cool!!


Aaron as usual...doing some kind of stunt!! Here he is jumping over Tyler's head!!

Ian and Cade heading to lunch together.


The cool kids again during lunch. A couple of the boys (Aaron included) like to bring their guitars to play together at lunch break.



Here are the kids in my science experiments class. We made butter this day. They were just beginning to shake......

and more shaking....they decided doing jumping jacks would make the shaking go faster....

It was a really nice day so we took our shaking outside. Here is Kristen showing off her butter!!

We found some crackers in the kitchen and enjoyed the fruits.....errr...butter of our shaking labor!! YUMMY!!
Here are Tyler and Micah enjoying theirs.


We finished up coop for the winter term and are now on break until March when we will start the last term for this year!!

CHOO CHOO!!! A visit to the Railroad Museum!

We went on a field trip today with some friends from our coop. We visited the http://www.chsgeorgia.org/roundhouse/home.htm and had lots of fun and maybe even learned a little bit too. We were really excited that my nephew, Lil Rob was able to go with us. I took lots of pictures while we were there.

Here are a few old trains that are parked on the site. This is looking at them across the turn table.


This is a big engine that was right up front as we walked in. Ian really liked this one and told our guide he could drive it!!

Another shot of the turn table.


Another smaller engine.

Aaron, Chris and Tyler walking around the turn table.


Some of the group listening to the guide. The Roundhouse is in the back.

Morgan and a few of her friends.


Looking into the broiler room.



Now touring in the blacksmith shop.

The base of the HUGE smoke stack. It was too high for me to get a picture of the whole thing.

Now in the steam engine demo room.



Our guide started this engine so we could see how it works.

Lil' Rob.

Morgan was chosen to be a helper and Ian went up to help too.

Out by a little gold fish pond/wishing well.

Aaron, Lil'Rob and Cade




More about the big engine in the front.

A group photo by the big engine...this kind of gives an idea how big this one is.

Looking out over the turn table again.

Lil'Rob walking across the field to go play on the small train.


Getting a little help from Kristen now...

Checking out some of the trains on display.

They have an inside area with some big model train sets on display in glass cases. Ian and Cade checking them out.

Lil' Rob and another coop friend.

Momo and Lulu.

Momo looking at me through a HUGE magnifying glass.



Some old fire trucks on the site.

And now, the kids all got to run off some energy on a little train they have for kids to play on.

Lulu

Notice Ian's mouth....he was saying "ALL ABOARRDDDD"

Being the "engineer"






Climbing on the red caboose!! Ian said he could drive this too! He kept asking where the horn was!

We made a quick stop at the gift shop where the kids all bought little wooden train whistles. Then we went back to the small engine to get a couple last pictures. I usually try to get a picture of all my kids together at each place we visit. Lil'Rob got to be in the pics this time!! Notice Momo blowing her whistle by the train.




It was another great day. We left the museum and headed back towards home. We stopped for lunch with Stephanie and the kids and ended up playing until 3:30. The kids were all wore out by the time we made it home. Now we can't wait till the next adventure.