Summer 2013 -- Week One

We enjoyed looking back at what our summer was like last year, so I thought I'd try to do a weekly recap again this year.


May 27 - June 2

We always finish with school by Memorial Day so that begins our official summer. This year we visited a couple new parks and had a picnic lunch.

Conner wasn't able to be with us for Memorial Day, but came home on Tuesday. Later in the week, we celebrated Liam's birthday. TWO! We spent the morning and the zoo and the afternoon with friends at a park in Golden. I think he had a really good day.

Two years old

BIG ball was a gift from a brother

Fun at the zoo

With Mom

With Dad, making silly smiles

birthday cupcakes

Brenna hadn't seen her friend Anna for 2 years

Another Sweet Sixteen

 Our 2nd son, Chase, turned 16 on February 4th. He wants to take a few friends to either paintball or bowling, but we haven't fully worked out the dates and details, so that will be later this month. On his actual birthday, he wanted me to make homemade biscuits & gravy for breakfast.

Only I don't do gravy. I do not have the patience for it. So he made his own. :) Hey, I did make the biscuits from scratch, though.

For lunch, he wanted to try Pho. We went to a place recommended by a friend. I kept it simple, but he wanted to really be adventurous and ordered the one with tripe. Even though I told him what that was.

Yeah -- it ended up on another plate. :) But at least he tried it.

That night, instead of cake, he requested fudge. Hard to get candles to stick into that!

We weren't able to go out to dinner on his actual birthday, so we went a few days later. He chose Yak & Yeti -- yum!!  

He ordered the Lamb Masala and Scott had Chicken Masala.

I had Shrimp Korma, and I think we all agree mine was the best! :) And of course we had lots and lots of Naan bread. I LOVE that stuff!

Chase's main gift was a new Ipod Touch. His old one wasn't working properly anymore and he couldn't add any new apps. His siblings bought him a case for it -- a Marvel one of course!

I'm really loving this age. He has his permit, but not his license for 6 more months. So we get to spend lots of time together and that's the way I like it. Soon enough, he'll be gone all the time -- with a job, and places to be.For now, I'm going to treasure the next 6 months.

Field trip to a farm

We attended a field trip with FACE this week, to a you-pick vegetable farm. All of us but Brenna, who chose to utilize the quiet house by getting a lot of schoolwork done. Good girl!

 The morning started cool, but the temperature rose quickly and we were pretty hot. We brought water but left it with the stroller instead of taking it on the wagon -- big mistake!


While we waited to board the wagons, the kids held a couple snakes they kept in tubs

On the wagons:

We picked corn, potatoes, cabbage, kohlrabi, leeks, onions,beets, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash and pumpkins.

All of the kids ate some corn, but Liam had 3 ears by himself!

After we picked the veggies and hauled them to our car, we were extremely hot, thirsty and hungry. We sat at some tables in the shade to eat lunch. At least Chase, Liam and I did.  The other three still somehow had energy to go back out in the hot sun and play.

On the way out, we stopped to pose for pictures with their collection of "Cars".

When we got home and set out all the vegetables, we realized we ended up with a lot more than we'd thought!

That night, Chase made a vegetable soup recipe from his favorite chef, Alton Brown.  We gave two bags full to a neighbor and two bags to a friend. Now we're working on what to do with the rest.  :)

Back to School

We are off to a pretty good start this year. We always begin here at home after Labor Day, although the outside classes start a week or two earlier.

To celebrate our first day and the fact that, as homeschoolers, we can start whenever and however we want, we bought Krispy Kreme doughnuts and drinks from Starbucks and headed to the park.

We got there right before it got crowded and hot. Once it did, we left. At home, I went over our new materials with the kids and we discussed our schedule. For now, it looks like our main at-home school days will be Monday-Wednesday. Brenna, Aiden and Zane have classes at Options on Thursdays and Chase has classes at FACE on Fridays.

I'm going to do Five in a Row again with Zane and Declan, with Aiden joining in when he wants to. Aiden is doing Saxon Math, A Reason for Spelling, Daily Grams and Writing Strands at home while at Options he is taking a Young Entrepreneurs and Pioneer Crafts class for social studies, Mountain Lab and Mythbusters classes for science, P.E. and Art. He is also a Cub Scouts Webelo and attending AWANA.

Brenna is taking History, a Composition class, and Guitar at Options. She is also continuing her art classes through here -- this year the advanced class is 2 hours instead of 1, which I think is great for her. She needs the challenge; her drawing is amazing and I definitely can't help her in this area. At home, she's doing Saxon Math, Total Health, and Grammar. I haven't found a good science curriculum for her yet this year -- she may end up helping me teach the littles in this area.

Chase decided to attend FACE instead of Options this year. He wants to take advantage of their culinary arts program through Warren Tech. in his junior year, so we switched him there now in preparation. He is taking Algebra, American Government and a cooking class. At home, he is doing his writing, Total Health, Grammar and we're working on custom-building a science class around his interest in molecular gastronomy.

As always, we will tweak this as we go.

Labor Day Weekend

Usually once a year, my most excellent husband takes the kids up to the mountains to visit my parents. And I get the house TO MYSELF. The thought of that one weekend keeps me going some weeks, I tell ya.

Anyway, I filled my 2 1/2 days with cleaning, organizing, planning, but also with reading, bible study, browsing online and catching up on some shows on the DVR.

Meanwhile, at the grandparents' , it truly was "labor" day. Scott and Chase helped my dad put up a new fence:

But they also found time to have fun and eat s'mores

On the way home, Scott stopped at a favorite place by the river and took a group photo for me. Thanks, hon!

The weekend helped recharge me and now I'm ready for the new school year!