Homeschool Discoveries

Temperatures have finally moderated and it’s getting cooler at night.  We didn’t go to the pool at all this week.  The boys pulled out pants and long sleeve shirts (I guess 55 or 60 feels cold after weeks of lows in the 80s!).  We added back in another school subject for Miss M.  Slowly, it’s starting to feel a bit more like fall around here.  We even found a few leaves prematurely changing color!

We still have a few last hurrahs of summer left on our calendar though before we really dig in to our full “school year schedule.”  Next week we have Vacation Bible Camp at church.  I’m directing our VBC for the third year in a row.  I have to admit I have been kind of “phoning it in” in terms of my organizational duties based on work done in previous years — but that kind of caught up to me this week and I spent a lot of time answering emails (hence the lack of blog posts…too much computer time eaten up by that effort!).  Following our week of VBC, we have our vacation/staycation week 11 days.  We’ll be taking a couple of short trips out of town, plus doing a few more summer bucket list items here in the metro during this time Tony has off from work.

Here are a few highlights of our week:

1-2:  I love our annual block party for National Night Out.   NNO is very popular here — the city of Minneapolis makes it really easy for individual blocks to block off the street and have a party for a couple hours on the 1st Tuesday of every August.  Many, many blocks in our neighborhood participate! This year we were treated to a visit from the mounted police officers!  Doesn’t baby J look relaxed? All the kids have a great time playing with other kids on the block, on the one night of the year that it’s okay to ride your bike in the street!

3: This week’s “most creative” awards go to Mr. E for his collage of a “candy robot” and a collaborative effort from all the kids on this airplane.

4-6: Cooler temps meant more time outside doing things other than swimming.  We took the books and blanket outside for some school time (which never happened outside…too many distractions). Miss M tried rollerblading for the first time!

7. A sudden rainstorm led me to declare a spontaneous indoor picnic yesterday with cocoa, popcorn and finger foods for lunch.   I read three and a half chapters of our current history read aloud (Om-Kas-Toe: Blackfeet Twin Captures an Elkdog) while the kids enjoyed their “picnic”.

8.  Besides our history reading, I worked with Miss M on spelling  (LOE lesson #6), and Math (RightStart Level C, lessons 107-109).  These were our first new math lessons since May! Most of spelling and math were smooth sailing, and I think the bumps in the road we did have this week with school and otherwise (which on at least one day were not necessarily minor bumps) are helping reveal ways that I can be more effective in working with Miss M.

9. Today we spent almost all day with friends at a huge park about half an hour from our house — it has so many slides and ladders that its nickname is “Chutes and Ladders” (It’s really the Hyland Play Area).  I can’t imagine having done this while it was so hot earlier in the summer, but today’s weather in the 70s was perfect.

Have a wonderful weekend!  I hope to come up for air from Vacation Bible Camp long enough for at least a couple posts next week.  🙂

Linking up with Collage Friday and The Weekly Wrap-Up.