Strawberry picking

Today we had a field trip with our homeschool group.   We went strawberry picking.  These strawberries taste so much better then the ones you buy at the supermarket.  They were so yummy.  I ate most of them.  The farm was really nice, they had hayrides, homemade ice cream, and farm animals all around.  The kids had a blast and so did we.  Here are some pictures of our trip.

Growing kids

On Saturday my oldest miss N took her SAT's.  This was just her practice run at it.  She will be taking them 3 more times.  One of those will be her PSAT's and 2 more runs at the SAT's.  People say that the more you take them the better it is because with each go at it your scores increase.  College Board has a free practice test that you take online, which is graded for you.  She also took this practice test and scored a 1620 out of a possible 2400.  A 1500 is about average, so I am very happy with her score.  We do not homeschool the conventional way, meaning I do not use textbooks.  Basically my kids read, do math and write everyday.  This is the best way to learn.  They do not read water downed books(abridged) they read the original copies. We do have abridged copies of some books because some of my kids can not wait to read them.  This makes it easier to read but once their reading level is up they are no longer allowed to read them.

The best way to learn how to write is actually from reading good books and writing.  Teachers do not grade papers by analyzing whether the periods are in the correct spot, commas or anything else.  Papers are graded by content and the writing part is graded by the sound part.  Does what you just wrote about sound correct when read? 

I have never taught my daughter grammar or language arts and she scored an 8 out of a possible 12 on the writing section of the practice SAT that she took online.  Lord willing her test scores are as good or even better then her practice test.