School has started...

...at the Veldstra academy! We are off and running for our 4th year of home school...hard to believe it has been that many years already, time just seems to fly by so fast around here. I have 5 students in 5 different grades this year, although I guess you could say I am teaching 6 kids. Adams is preschool, Alyssum is in Kindergarten, Kailee is in 1st grade, Tyler is in 3rd grade, Ethan is in 6th grade, and Ann Marie is in 7th grade. They are all doing so well in school and most of them enjoy their studies! Ann Marie is doing so well in school and applies her self to her school work. We have decided to enroll her in a lower grade so that she won't be working toward high school credits until she is ready academically. She seems to be in no hurry to get done with school and move on, so we are content to have her at home with us and actually enjoy the extra time we will get with her since we missed so much of her early years. Not only is she great at her school work, but she applies herself to learning all she can about cooking, baking, and lots of handcrafts...she does such a great job of helping out any way she can!

We are still figuring out our school schedule and how to teach all those different grades and curriculum! I think it is alot more challenging for the teacher than for all her students!! I sure do love teaching the kids and seeing their excitement at what they are learning, and I enjoy learning with them! Amazing how much a teacher learns too!

Steve is teaching some again this year. He is teaching Bible in the morning which includes Bible memory passage, studying the Bible, missionary stories, and praying for people groups all over the world and then current events from God's World magazine. He also is teaching Botany several evenings a week...we are continuing our study from this summer (we found it was better to teach Botany in the summer rather than in the winter in Alaska...not a whole lot is growing)! We all enjoy having him around teaching some of the classes and I certainly enjoy having the help!

We love teaching our kids together and watching them grow, not only in knowledge, but in their understanding of the Bible and their relationships with Jesus Christ and with each other as a family.