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

Fall and Cub Scouts camp

This week flew by so fast! We had all the normal activities and added in high school bowling league for Chase and a field trip.  I also had the first meeting for my new book club. We read "Home Front" by Kristin Hannah.  I've read two other books by this author and liked them, so I looked forward to this one. I wasn't disappointed -- this was a good one.  It's about a marriage in which the husband and wife have been drifting apart. She is a helicopter pilot and when she is deployed, he is left behind to take care of their daughters. Their lives and perspectives change through the course of the book, following a couple of tragedies. I learned many things I'd never known about military families and how deeply they and their returning loved ones are affected by their experiences. I also cried through the last 3 chapters. Very well-written, moving book.

We also had a virus move through the house this week. Aiden came down with it first on the afternoon of the field trip. At first we though it was heat exhaustion, but then the next child came down with it. And the next. It has traveled through all the children now, so far sparing me and Scott. So for the majority of the week I had at least one of the kids on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. Thankfully it seemed to be quick-moving...a day or two at most.

We were so relieved that Aiden felt well enough to go camping with his Webelos troop this weekend. He had been fever-free since Wednesday night and said he felt fine, so he and Scott left on Friday and returned on Sunday. He had a great time, and Scott survived sleeping on an air mattress in a tent. :)

He got to try some new activities, like archery, b.b. shooting and rappelling.  

They also got to see a beautiful sunset and sunrise.

Chase had put an ear of corn in a squirrel feeder in the tree and it didn't take long for one of them to find it.

After church, I took the kids to a park for a little while.

As the week ends, I'm so thankful the sickness has passed and fall has begun.

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.