just had to share

Since I learned some new things about my manual mode yesterday thanks to my photographer friend, I have not been able to put down my camera. So all this to say, I have more pictures to share. I love shooting at sunset, the light is perfect!

so excited!

So I'm pretty excited tonight. I have a photographer friend who sat down with me today and gave me a mini tutorial on my manual setting. I have been shooting on manual but still have so many questions. I learned so much today and was so excited to practice what I learned. So this afternoon and tonight I got to do just that. I didn't use my flash with any of these, and many of them are taken indoor. I have finally found and have a better understanding of my aperature/f-stop and also my shutter speed. I think I have the ISO down pat. It's pretty exciting when I finally "get it." It's as if a lightbulb went off. So here is some of the pictures I took using an aperature of 5.6 and different shutter speeds and ISO settings.
This was taken around 5 p.m. in my backyard. My shutter speed was set at 1/125 and my ISO at 400

 This one at 1/50 and ISO 400

 this one at 1/100 and 400 ISO

 I then came inside and took this in the boys room with the natural light coming in from the window. My settings were 1/2 and ISO 400, I should have set my ISO at 800 and used a faster shutter speed. But I still like how it turned out.  A tad grainy but that's what you get when you shoot at a slow shutter speed. I don't have the most steady hands.

 I took this one of me in the bathroom. It was dark outside by this point so I only had the bathroom light on. 1/10 at 800 ISO, I really like the lighting.

 And then I took this of Jadon's water dragon, Jasper. He has heat lamps so I was able to up my shutter speed to 1/30 at 800 ISO.

And I saved my favorite for last. Anna had her nightstand light on and ceiling fan light on. This was taken at 1/10 and 1600 ISO. 

I can't wait to practice tomorrow with more daylight.

this made me laugh, out loud

Every once in a while when I download photos from my camera I will find some that I didn't know were on there and every once in a while I get a good laugh, like with this one. I believe I wasn't home this night and that Annagrace was the photographer. This is how Camden takes someones blood pressure, let me know if you would like yours checked next time you are over. Oh, and the reason Michael's eyes are closed is so that his eyeballs don't pop out. Too bad the setting on my camera was the wrong one. 

 It's not that often that I dress up, have a good hair day, have my legs shaved, and just feel really good about myself all at the same time. And when I do, I always forget to have someone take my picture. Well, the other night I had one of those moments where I liked my hair, outfit, jewelry, and all that was missing was documenting this moment through a picture. So, I grabbed my middle son and outside we went. I got ONE picture by myself before Jadon joined in and then my camera battery died! I was so mad because I know it will be a while before it all comes together for me again. Oh well, at least after some editing, I got some keepers.

 And here is the one with my oldest son when he interrupted my one picture photo shoot. :)

a day in the life...

...of a homeschool family. Last year I did a similar post and documented what a day of homeschooling looks like at our house. I thought I would do the same this school year. It will be fun to look back each year and remember what our days looked like while we homeschooled. So here is the story of our day:
Anna is our morning alarm. Her body clock goes off right around 7 a.m. every moring. It used to be before 6 a.m. so we are thrilled with sleeping until 7 a.m. each day. Around 7:30 Anna and I make our way out to the living room and she starts right in with her studies. She is currently working through the master reader program by Hooked on Phonics. I love her messy hair in the morning.

 while she works on her reading program I make breakfast.

 After she finishes up on the computer she starts eating breakfast while I go wake the boys up.

 It's now 8:16, the boys are up and eating their breakfast, Anna is finished with her breakfast and I head off to take my shower.

 As I get ready for the day Anna does the second part of her reading program and reads outloud to me and then we talk about what she read.

 After I'm ready, the boys get ready for the day. Anna and I sit down and do her spelling lesson. I eat my breakfast at this time.

at 9:00, school begins for the boys. We start with our group time and since the weather was so beautiful this morning we took school outside.

 The only subjects we do together as a group are Bible, Geography, Vocabulary, and Science.

 for Bible we are studying the first few chapters of Acts verse by verse. We are on Acts 2 right now. The kids have a journal and each day they either write a summary of what they read or draw a picture to remind them what the passage was about.

For Vocabulary, we do a vocabulary word a day out of a great book called Vocabulary cartoons. In Geography we take one state a day, read out of a cool book about that particular state and then they find it on their map and label it. And for Science, we are studying all about Botany this year out of a textbook that Apolagia makes.
After coming in from outside, Jadon asked if he could teach Anna and Camden about something he learned at Eagle Ridge about space. So here he is giving a little lesson.

At this time, I work individually with Camden while Anna and Jadon work in the school room on independant work. Here is Camden doing his brain exercises, part of the in depth program we are doing to help Camden with his dyslexia. 

 Then we begin the reading portion. Camden is doing so well, I can't believe the progress has made since August, it is like night and day!

After my work is done with Camden, I spend some time working with Jadon looking over his independant work and helping him with anything he needs help with. 

 In the meantime, Anna take a break and does some art.

 When I'm done working with Jadon, Anna and I spend some time working together. Right now we are doing a literature study on Make Way For Ducklings. We both LOVE this book.

 Here she is doing an activity that goes along with her literature study.

 This is what Camden chose to do today while on his breaks.

At this point, part one of homeschool is over and we break for lunch.

 After a quick errand to drop the library books off that were due today at the library, cash a check at the bank, and pick up something from CVS, we came back home ate and then we were ready for part 2 of our homeschool day.

 I've been working with both the boys on memorizing the tricky math facts. Our meeting spot is in the bathroom, who says learning can't take place in the bathroom!

 Then it's time for Camden and I to meet again. This time to work on phonics and spelling. We always work together in the master bedroom. He has a whole area set up in there.

 At this point, Anna has practiced her piano and finished her homeschool work so she gets time on the computer.

After I'm done working with Camden, it's time to meet with Jadon again. Here he is using the dictionary app on his iTouch.

 And Pepper just sleeps through it all.

 And before the day is done, Camden has to do his dreaded writing 8 exercise and then work on the story he is writing for this week and then he is done with his homeschool work for the day.

But there is one last thing to do, practice guitar. 

 And as you can see our homeschool day is almost done. The "Fritz" you see under Jadon's name is the work he does for a class he takes on Thursdays taught by Mrs. Fritz. A majority of the homeschool work he does is homework for this class. It covers history, language arts, reading, composition, and debate. He loves the class!

 Jadon finishes up his last assignments for the day and then he is done.

 It is 2:28 and our homeschool day is done. The rest of the day will be spent playing, going to guitar practice (Camden), piano lessons (Anna), and then home for dinner, chores, and some family time. Our days fly by, that is for sure. I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to homeschool our kids. Even though it requires a lot of work on my part, it is the most rewarding thing I've ever done. And if you ask our kids, I'm pretty sure they will tell you that they feel pretty darn good about it too! It's now 8:45, time to go kiss the kids goodnight and do the same thing all over again tomorrow!