A Crazy Fun Summer 2012

It's been a wild couple of months! When we finished school last April, I thought we were leaving ourselves all kinds of time for summer. And I needed that.

Because of this:

38 weeks with child #3

But the time has just flown past and next week we're beginning school again!

Our busy summer at a glance:

Family performance in the church talent show

Even little tigers lose their knack
when somebody twice their size
can't see the world through children's eyes.

We finally filled up the zoo chart with good Sunday behavior!! But Mom was too pregnant to go yet...

Summer time crafts out of the DK First Encyclopedia

They're Aztec headdresses

DK First Encyclopedia 

Great summer time resource. Below is my review:

A great conversation starter with your kids! 

A typical encyclopedia addresses topics in alphabetical order, and a bit more thoroughly, which this does not do at all. Rather, it addresses topics in a seemingly random order, providing more of an overview peppered with interesting facts and ideas. That's what makes it such a great conversation starter. I used this as a summer learning tool with my five-year-old who's now starting first grade. It took him all the way up to the first day of school, so every day he had some new curiosity to explore. We did a two-page spread per day, sometimes reading four pages if they happened to be in the same subject area. The subjects included are: 

World Regions (including one large world map near the back of the book)People and Society (including pop music and the six major religions)History of People (introduced the concept of cave people and the theory of cultural progression, which was a great conversation for a Christian family)Living World (the plant and animal kingdom)Science and Technology (very interesting introduction to light and color, matter, and many other concepts; led my son to an interest in mechanical engineering)Planet Earth (introduces geography and geology, including awareness of scientists who study them)Space and the Universe (impressive pictures of planets; we particularly liked the volcano on Mars and space probes/robots) 

As a summer overview, this was perfect. There were a few "get messy" activities highlighted now and then, but not so many to be overwhelming. If we were to use this formally again, I'd make better use of the "Website addresses" pages in the very back. I didn't really notice them until part way through the book and then wasn't sure how to use them. Looking at them now, I can see how they would have complemented specific pages of the book. I would have liked this to be a truly internet-linked resource by listing those sites directly on the pages to which they correlate. As it is, you have to go looking in the back to see if they've provided a site for further exploration on any given topic. I've given the book five stars anyway because this is just my personal preference, and if I'd looked more thoroughly through the book before starting, this would be a non-issue.
Even though we've now read through the entire book, I know this is something we'll pick up again, maybe even as a summer study again but with more science projects and internet exploration. It's clear that children can get more out of this as they mature, and I think my son will find the subjects even more fascinating after he's encountered them a little through other studies.

Box guitar

Tents and telescopes; the trappings of summer

Gilgamesh became interested in chain reactions and built endless ones out of all his toys.
Youtube has countless examples of these. MIT hosts an event each year involving several teams who link their chain reactions together for one giant one! It's called FAT (Friday after Thanksgiving).

The music video below is an extreme example:

Bedroom makeover

Mighty Mind

Car washes

After church visits to the duck pond

but only if they were really good at church

Daddy and Mommy helped Gilgamesh with his summer workbook

Mommy found an old favorite!

We celebrated Mother's Day

with a Mother's Day craft

Basketball ended; Soccer began

And the sunshine was just what we needed!

Daddy completed his master's program

Tinker Toys tripod; Gilgamesh practiced amateur photography

We tried (and failed) to grow strawberries

We welcomed a new brother!!!

And he is wonderful

Mommy meme

We love little Sir Petrus!

Soccer ended; Tennis began

We played for fun

as a family

Daddy reads with all the young knights

Sir Gilgamesh, Sir Alastor, and Sir Petrus all together, three little knights sharing a quest

Loved

Comforted

Learning how to be the big brother

Fourth of July bicycle parade

Chutes and Ladders with Papa

And last of all, we finally made it to the ZOO!!!

Ready to see some animals!

Unafraid!!

A Year at a Glance and Kindergarten Graduation

It's time to jump into another year of homeschooling and we are EXCITED! 

But first I want to look back at our first year of homeschooling and the celebration that marked its successful completion:

We used this:

Sonlight P4/5 Core plus Kindergarten readers: Exploring God's World

We supplemented with Math from starfall.com and donnayoung.org's fact drill sheets and occasional science experiments from Science Play! The curriculum above included social studies, language arts, science, reading, and art. It included nursery rhymes and fables, missionary stories from faraway lands, and workbooks for developing critical thinking and fine motor skills. We learned all the first and last names in the family, memorized our address, and talked about phone etiquette and emergency protocol. We read through Book of Mormon Stories and Old Testament Stories. We sang Primary songs and nursery rhymes, and danced to Ella Elephant Scats Like That. We copied and were inspired by great works of classic art and the fun tissue paper collages of Eric Carle in Animals, Animals.

Sir Gilgamesh (age 4 during most of the program) learned to read at a first grade level, and developed an affinity for refrigerator magnet number math. He learned how to sit still and be respectful of his teachers during Sunday School (and earned a trip to the zoo after being good for eight Sundays). His growth by leaps and bounds this year has been a miracle to witness, and a lot of fun, too.

Here's our school year (which was actually more like 18 months) in pictures:

Pocket chart schedule

Playing with letters to make words (self-directed)

Spelling to "Word World"

First memorized scripture

It's a crown, not an anti-alien foil hat. :)

Great wall of China? Close, but no. This is a net for table tennis.

Buy it Right with Daddy, learning about money

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

Sir Gilgamesh, 4 years old

Sir Alastor, 2 years old

Silly Mommy

Spider craft!

Clock tower

Our graph of Teddy Bears

Seek and Find puzzle

Build-a-birdhouse project with Daddy

Gilgamesh oversees the construction

Then paints it.

Sir Alastor sits with us during reading time

Sir Gilgamesh made me flowers

Buzz and Woody, good buddies

We are Barbie, Golf Ken, Woody, and Buzz from Toy Story 3

Scraping out pumpkins to paint

Johnny Appleseed lesson

Count the apple seeds and add them together

Starfall.com

Building together

Holy Crow, that's tall!!

Pretty exciting tower.

White on black art

Gilgamesh's idea.

Dancing

Autumn nature walks

Wild children

Stuffed animalpalooza

Balance

Gross motor skills up the wazoo (this is a two-year-old)

Gilgamesh's girl and boy puppies

Monkey

Snowflakes for the season

Why are they sitting on a frozen turkey? It's an inside joke thing...

Announcing! Due in June with baby #3

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some trees are too spooky to climb

Best buddies

Christmas candy

Cider and donuts after a night of caroling (Christmas Eve)

Tuckered out after going shooting together for the first time

Awesomest babysitters

Christmas party

This is math!!! Counting the logs as he walks across.

Sir Alastor loves the wagon, but why isn't it moving!

Tinker Toy airplane with Daddy

Homemade California rolls in California

Great preschool activity: jump on G! Okay, now jump to L!

Gilgamesh's writing practice.

Sir Alastor's army of H's. He's picking things up from his brother.

Fun with sidewalk chalk.

Numbers practice

Looks like an L, but it's the beginning of a pillow.

He wanted a robot, so we made one from garbage and stickers

Welcome to California! Gilgamesh has this flag memorized now.

And he gave it a nap

He showed an interest in basketball

We decided it was time for the littlest one to learn about babies

Not used to the cold!

Pickle ball. It's a real sport.

Playing Kinect Sports

Leapfrog Clickstart games

BrainQuest on a roadtrip

All ready for Gilgamesh's first basketball class

He's a natural! (Coach says so.)

Christmas present: huge art kit

Sight Words popcorn

The Tinker Toys elevator

Great grandpa and the boys

Meeting his great grandma

Chore cards. These make doing chores like a game.

Baking homemade wheat bread. Gilgamesh is really good at rolling it out now.

Learning geography and puzzles together

Starfall.com with Backpack Bear
(one of Gilgamesh's birthday presents; he's five now!)

Headed to play in the sand

Jungle gym

Teamwork

Gilgamesh loves pulling Alastor in their new wagon

Hours of fun!

Sorting the Tinker Toys

Tissue paper flowers

Threading cheerios

Copying the masters

Still learning the difference between addition and multiplication
and the signs, but you get the idea!

Angry birds in real life: mechanical assessment practice

Groundhogs Day!

Valentine's Math: yummy!

Beads to thread

Puzzles to sort

Tinker Toys fiddle. He made a musical triangle after this.

Tinker Toys car

Alastor likes basketball, too.

Gilgamesh is an old pro now.

Got dribbling skillz!

Taking a water break

Ready to play, but not old enough for the class... yet

Math Mat!! Run, jump, or walk, but hurry!

Buzz Lightyear party

All boys fun!

No education is complete until we've introduced THE PINATA!

Toy story toys!

Home economics in kindergarten

Home economics includes cleaning, right?

Sailboat project with Daddy

Goofy about to paint

Artist at work.

Finished product. It floats in the bathtub!

Keeping the records like a good mommy

Book nook! Now that Gilgamesh is reading at a 1st grade level,
we needed the books to be more accessible.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Drawing with green pudding. Tasty.

Math time with dessert-shaped manipulatives

Caps for Sale! Guess what children's book we just read!

New chart to motivate Gilgamesh on Sundays; if he's good for 8 weeks, he gets a zoo trip.

Writing his own music

Playing his song, which is a medley of children's songs and hymns. It was beautiful.

School: find the hidden objects

School: find faces and feelings

Put them in groups that are similar

Puppet show!

It starts with an A.

Classification of objects

Color the picture that... 

First poem

Letters for Daddy and the rest of the family 

Giant thinking cap!

Fishing for sight words

Painting outside

Searching for earth worms at the Science Festival

Science Festival, starfish and urchin

The snake goes... *tongue out*

Shiny new bike and helmet! He earned these with good behavior.

Bike time with Daddy.

A working family farm for Easter.

with Grandpa

And we got to pick strawberries!

Alastor is a natural on a pony.
Reminds me of George Washington @ our visit to the Ronald Reagan library
and the George Washington exhibit.

Gilgamesh is getting tall!

Happy Easter!

My knights at the Kid's Camp at a run for the cure, a cancer event.
Mom and Dad were volunteering.

In our Helping Hands vests.

Nature walks galore

Pretending

After a LOT of learning, Sir Gilgamesh received a diploma at a family party just for him. We had cake, goodie bags, singing, and a special hat just for him. He's all set for first grade now!! Well, he will be after a wild and crazy summer.

 *happy sigh*