I chuckled a bit when I read the topic for the letter "G" week in our My Father's World kindergarten curriculum - goats!  For those of you who know us, you know we have goats.  We raise Nubian goats for milk.  (Nubians are a large, dairy breed of goats known for their adoringly floppy ears and creamy milk.)  One of the lessons suggested that we try goat milk.  The irony of that is that our goats are dry right now, and we don't have any goat milk!  But my children don't need to sample goat milk this week to broaden their taste buds; they get lots of it in the spring and summer months when it's abundant here at Russell Homestead.

So, what did we do for goat week?

We watched a short video explaining the four most common breeds of dairy goats.  I explained how to tell these breeds apart.

We made stick puppets for the song "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."  I wasn't sure my oldest son would find this fun as it gets a bit repetitive to sing the song and wave the puppets, but they all thoroughly enjoyed it!  So much so that we decided to paint a barn mural on cardboard complete with a window that opens so we can do a puppet show for Daddy. Below is the painting in process.

They decided to add an orchard by the barn because we read the book Little Apple Goat this week.  Little Apple Goat is about a goat who enjoys eating apples, pears, and cherries from the orchard on her farm until the orchard is damaged by a storm.  We enjoyed that story, but our favorite from this unit was There's a Billy Goat in the Garden.  We loved the ending and the triumph of the little bee that the other animals poked fun at.

We also worked on rhyming words, matching mother and baby animals, and learning the correct names for farm animals (a mother pig is sow, father pig is a boar, etc.).

JJ (age 3) enjoyed my first ever lapbook that I made.  Since I kept reading about "lapbooks" on blogs and websites, I decided to find out exactly what they are.  Basically, it is a book made about a topic.  They are typically made from a file folder.  Below is the one I made for JJ's "lessons" this week.  He treasures his 10 minute time with Mom!  (I learned how to make them from Confessions of a Homeschooler, and I got most of the printables from 1+1+1.)

And, of course, some of our "goat week" was spent with baby EJ.  (In case you missed my blogs on baby EJ, read them here and here.)  He's been doing fabulous for us and fitting in quite well.

​Thanks for stopping by!

This post is linked to the weekly wrap-up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Oh, the joys of getting 5 kiddos ages 6 and under to, not only be in one place touching each other, but to look in the same direction and smile!  A feat I didn't tackle with Dad's help, for sure!

​How did we do it?  Here's a few tips from a mom who's done it a few times.  Perhaps not successfully every time, but I've got many photos jam packed with good memories.
 
1) Take family photos first thing in the morning, after nap time, or after mealtime when everyone is fresh and/or full.
2) Keep it short - 15 to 20 minutes is about all young kids can handle and still have a smile.
3) Have a helper.  You need at least two people to pull this off.  It helps if one person has some clown tendencies.
4) Keep it fun and don't worry about perfect photos!  What family is perfect?  And who doesn't enjoy looking at the blooper photos more than the polished ones?

We took advantage of the summer time temperatures this week and did a family photo shoot outside with baby EJ.  We'll begin with some photos of EJ.  He wasn't too hard to keep in one spot.

And those irresistible hands & feet...

Now for the whole tribe - here's the cream of the crop photos...

And here's the ones you've been waiting for...

Good times; we are so blessed!  So, truly, I can't tell you some secret on how to get 5 kids to look at the camera at once, but I can highly recommend that you take time to try.  Whatever stage your family is in - don't miss these moments!

Thanks for stopping by!

Baby #5 made his debut in the Russell household this week!  We are feeling very blessed to have a healthy son.  His blog name is EJ.
The words of song by Matt Redman have been going through my mind, "Blessed be Your name, when the sun's shining down on me, when the world's all as it should be, blessed be Your name."  We certainly want to seize this opportunity to bless the name of the Giver of Life!  We are so grateful!
This is brief as we are all busy adjusting to this new precious life.  More pictures later!