Isabelle Turns 8

Isabelle was very happy to have her grandparents here for her birthday. She received lots of presents, and we had a game night for her birthday party.

Visit with Grandparents

We were excited to have grandparents visiting us this summer. (Stephen's parents and Anna's mom) It was fun to be able to show them Brazzaville and Impfondo. The visit was over too soon!

The children with both grandmothers shortly after the grandparents arrived in Brazzaville.

At the river bank on a Sunday afternoon

Malaga, Spain

We had a great trip to Spain for our conference at the beginning of June. The only bad part was that Ian was sick for the first few days. Stephen and I took turns staying with him in the hotel room while the other one of us took Caleb and Isabelle out to see things. Caleb and Isabelle are splashing in the slightly cold Mediterranean Sea.

Ian

The Great Horned Owl
It's big; it's strong; it's nocturnal! The great horned owl is the master of the night. A sharp beak and strong talons make it gophers and skunks worst fear. It flies without making a sound.
It's harmless to humans except for when it's driving humans out of its property (its tree.) To me the great horned owl is a sign of power and respect.

This was one of Ian's last papers for school. His was not a research paper; he was supposed to write about something he already knows. He followed five steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, and publishing.
He just has one more paper to go, and then he is done with Language Arts for the year.

Caleb

Caleb is quite proud of the fact that he finished both of his Kindergarten Math books this year. He's officially in Kindergarten next year, but he wanted math to do along with Ian and Isabelle.

Caleb did lots of other activities throughout the year, too. In this picture, he is holding a calendar with velcro on the back of each number and month.

Isabelle

The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 as an entrance arch to the World's Fair! It is the second tallest structure in France. It is the most visited paid monument in the world. The Eiffel Tower is 324 meters tall. The Eiffel Tower has three levels for visitors. The walk to the first level is over 300 steps. There are also 300 steps between the first and second levels. The third level is accessible only by elevator. Both first and second levels have restaurants.

This was Isabelle's last paper that she wrote for school this year. We looked up information on the Internet together, and she did five steps: planning, writing, revising, proofreading and publishing.

Our Classroom

We've been enjoying our extended back porch for school. It is hard to concentrate sometimes, though!