Posted by Cindy on July 22, 2010
Summer wears me out. It’s all good, but whew am I ever ready to start school again by the time August rolls around! I have tons to post about, so I thought I’d do a giant post and try to fit in as much as possible. Hang on to your seats!
A nearby church hosted Big Daddy Weave for a free outdoor concert. It was fabulous! We were able to set up our lawn chairs on the front row, no farther than about 20-30 feet from the stage. Once the concert started, they allowed people to stand up by the stage. Our children stood at the foot of the stage the entire concert and loved every minute of it. Great music, by the way!
We’ve been slacking off just a bit with nature walks since it’s been 90+ degrees with nearly 100% humidity most days. I’ll be writing about this blackberry walk soon over at Shining Dawn Books.
Of course, horse riding never stops no matter the temperature (for my daughter and her grandpa anyway!)
At our church’s 4th of July party, we enjoyed a parent vs. youth baseball game. Our church is moving closer towards family events rather than segregating the kids all the time. (A decision I highly support!) It’s so obvious how much children really do crave that family time when every age level is focused on a task together – even if it was just a baseball game this time around.
Swimming with friends is an obvious favorite!
Even though our garden was hit with both a vine borer (killing almost all our vine plants) AND powdery mildew (making the rest of the garden produce very poorly), I’ve still been busy canning, freezing and cooking yummy dishes.
Oh, and I’ve been serving on the Grand Jury for the past few months, too. It’s been fascinating!
I hope you’re having a great summer!
Posted by Cindy on July 12, 2010
I love planning and preparing for a new year! And that’s one of the things I’ve been doing on our lazy (yeah, right!) days of summer break. After much consideration, here’s the plan – but it comes with pinkies crossed.
Mahayla – 8th Grade
We’re jumping to Algebra 1 a little early. I have Algebra 1/2 we can fall back on if this gets too tough.
Logic is a very important subject to me! We’ll get an introduction to formal logic along with continuing logic puzzlers this year.
Our history program below will cover plenty of research & factual types of writing – this will fill in the creative writing gap.
I know the language arts section looks pretty slim. We’re taking a break from grammar this year, while our history program will include tons of reading, writing and drama.
Other:
Caleb – 5th Grade
Saxon – not much more to say!
Both of these are logic puzzlers – and fun!
This is a new-to-me curriculum this year and I’m in love!
I’m beginning with All About Spelling to reinforce some basic phonics rules, then we’ll jump into Spelling Workout.
Caleb worked through much of this last year. We have about 1/3 of the book to go, then we’ll just use Spelling Workout as handwriting practice.
Other:
- High-interest, often history-related books for reading
- Living math lessons
- NimbleFingers.com for typing
Together
This is an amazing curriculum!!! It will cover Bible, history, language arts, science, art, music, drama, and so much more! I *think* most of our art and music studies this year will come only from this study. (Gasp!) If I feel like we aren’t diving into art and music enough, I’ll supplement.
Another gasp! I’m using a full-blown traditional textbook for science this year! What?? Let’s just say I’m giving this type of learning a shot this year. If it works, awesome – I won’t have to keep planning my own lessons! If it doesn’t work, no biggie – we’ll keep on keepin’ on the way we always have. Caleb will be following along with us on many of these lessons, but I have separate reading and activity plans (following the same subject) on the days when this is information overload.
Well, of course! A nature study author can’t leave out nature study!
I’m trying a new, informal approach to foreign language this year. We’re using this program for 5-10 minutes a couple times a week as a fun game/flashcard drill time.
Other:
- Occasional Bible & devotional studies to accompany our Old Testament history program
- Games – board, card & online – for many subjects
Eli – Early PK
We’re going to have a fun time learning the alphabet this year with one letter per week as a theme. I have each letter planned with fun crafts, activities, experiments and such that will make Eli beg for “school”.
It’s a do-it-yourself curriculum with hodgepodge ideas from every corner of the internet and my brain, so I can’t give you a specific link. You can check out my preschool links, though, to find many of the sites I visited when planning. A few of the major items I’ll be pulling from include:
I’ll post a tentative weekly schedule before long.
Posted by Cindy on July 1, 2010
Summer is the perfect time for nature study trips that might be difficult to fit into the regular school schedule. Things like all day hikes at a nature preserve, days spent exploring the beach, and observing the middle of the pond from the view of a paddle boat.
Paddle boating at Jacobson Park in Lexington was a great experience last week as we took about an hour out of our busy day of running errands to check out the view of a pond that we don’t normally see. Here, two people can ride per boat for only $3.00 for 30 minutes. It was $6.00 well spent!
Mahayla and Caleb were much faster than Eli and me, but I was paddling by myself and it was at least 90 degrees outside with nearly 100% humidity!
In fact, it was so hot and steamy because a giant storm was headed our way. The picture doesn’t look like much, but just trust me – the storm it brought was a doosey!
Parking paddle boats is harder than it looks. At least it was for me. My kids just zoomed right into their spot without a hitch. The lifeguard stood on the dock waiting for me (for some time), while he almost didn’t make it to the kids’ boat before they were out and taking off their life jackets.
Ducks and geese love this pond and there were hundreds of them in many varieties. We rarely make it to this park in time to watch mamas nest on eggs or babies learning the ropes.
What’s on my summer nature to-do list?
- The beach at Fort Boonesborough
- Paddleboats
- Salato Wildlife Center
- McConnell Springs
- Natural Bridge
- The Arboretum
- Buckley’s Wildlife Sanctuary
- Raven Run Nature Sanctuary
- Cincinnati Zoo
- Virginia Beach
