Summer, this year, finds us tucked away in our air-conditioned house, as temps climb into the hundreds. We are in the midst of a drought, and spend much of our mornings and evenings trying to keep our gardens watered. Keeping the field of sweet corn growing has proved a challenge, and Farm Boy, who has been lately excited by all things pioneer, especially pioneer farms, has felt like he has gone back in time. As they haul buckets of water up to the field, he can pretend that he is Almonzo Wilder, or Ralph Moody trying to save the family from a devastating drought. Out of desperation one day, and taking pity on our poor, panting chickens, The Princess and I rigged a 'fan air-conditioner' for the coop using copper and plastic tubes, and an aquarium pump. We succeeded in lowering the temp in the coop by 15 degrees. A friend called me 'Mama MacGyver'! Too bad the boys were away that day, and missed this demonstration of their old mom's genius!
On cooler days, we enjoy park hopping, trips to the zoo and bike trips out to grandma's house. The boys went to an amusement park last week with their dad, and are going to a Milwaukee Baseball game tomorrow with Daddy and Grandma. We also spend a lot of time at the library, enjoying their many summer programs. J-Straco took third place in a Lego building contest. He built a flying ambulance of the future, complete with healing crystals. The judges were very impressed with his detailed explanation of how his futuristic vehicle could travel the solar system and heal people.
After one of our family meetings, the boys decided they were wasting too much time playing games, so they decided to take the month of June off. They stayed very busy with their Lego's, blocks, books and puzzles. They have been very busy with their Playmobil knights and spent one whole day building a Roman Castle out of blocks.
We also had a talk about summer school, and came to an agreement. We would do a block schedule of three weeks on, one week off. So far this is working fantastically. We feel very relaxed only tackling 2-3 subjects a day. This will keep their brains fresh, yet give them a little break before we start in again with a much more rigorous curriculum line-up come fall.
We have coined Monday, "fun-day", and play games such as Latin flash-card war, Bananagrams, Go-Fish for elements of the Periodic Table, and math and logic games. The rest of the week we work on our normal curriculum with the exception of one new addition requested by the boys, a Chemistry unit. The boys are loving the Chemistry curriculum from Ellen McHenry. I, also, am finding excitement in learning Chemistry in a way I never have before. I highly recommend her courses. They are very inexpensive, and the lessons are interesting and hands on. Link here.
Here is what we did this week:
Math: Played 'Rush Hour' and 'River Crossing' games. No formal work this week.
Lang. Arts: The boys worked in their spelling books 2 days this week.
Latin: Worked on memorizing our newest vocab list, and two days with the workbooks.
Science: Learned about Mendeleev and how he organized the periodic table. The boys were amazed at his genius for the elements, and saddened by how his work was not recognized by his home country of Russia (during his lifetime).
History: Listened to two chapters from MOH on Jesus. Read a book about Pompeii, and watched a movie on netflix about the last days of Pompeii.
Reading: Farm Boy finished 'Farmer Boy' by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and started the first book in the 'Little Britches' series by Ralph Moody. J-Straco is still reading 'Wonderstruck' by Brian Selznick. He has also been reading 'Cheaper by the Dozen' by Frank
B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.
We finished 'The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe', and will move on to 'The Horse and his Boy' soon.
After a trip to the book store this week, J-Straco has been working through his new book, "101 Things to do Before You Grow Up.' He has learned some magic tricks, and created an air-cannon.
Music: Farm Boy is working on 'F-Position' on the piano, and really enjoys practicing and performing for us. J-Straco is perfecting his hand positioning and form on the violin, and learning new scales and songs. On the guitar, he has been working on speeding up his pentatonic scale, memorizing his music theory, and transposing. He loves to make up his own songs on the guitar, and his even taught his old mama how to play four chords. He tells me he wants to start piano lessons soon. I think The Principal will have to pick up another job to keep this kid in instruments and lessons!
Bible: The boys and Daddy have been reading and discussing, "Good to Great in God's Eyes: 10 Practices Great Christians Have in Common" by Chip Ingram.
The Princess has been spending her time playing with her Playmobil animals, especially her new animal hospital set. She has also really started to enjoy coloring, and spends a lot of time with coloring books and her markers. I think she will really enjoy starting a formal K4 curriculum in the fall.
As much as I love how relaxing the summer has been, I can honestly say I am looking forward to fall, and the cooler temperatures it will bring. Did I mention how much fun I am having choosing our new curriculum and organizing everyone's schedule? I live for the first day of school!!
