I want to start this blog up again, mainly because there is always SO much I want to do with the kids in the summer and never get around to doing most of it. I have things swimming around in my head, and I hope that blogging will help organize it and that telling people will motivate me to actually do it. Zach told me today that he wishes we could unschool, and promised me that he wouldn't just want to sit around and watch TV all day. I asked him what he would want to learn about, and he said history and science. I pointed out that we already do that -- he just goes to school on top of it. So I am really going to try and give him lots and lots of experiences this summer. So far, both kids have each spent a week in Flint with my mom (separately -- "They do fight," she said), and Zach has been to Boy Scout camp. He had a wonderful time, judging by the state of the laundry I've been tentatively retrieving from his duffle bag. He earned his swimming, art, and leatherworking merit badges. Both kids have just turned in 4-H projects. Megan did her very first project for Exploring 4-H, the subject being our dog, Freddy. Zach did a computer project, which was a poster illustrating the parts of a computer, and built a birdhouse for woodworking. The birdhouse turned out very nice. I will take pictures of them Friday when we go to see how he did and post them at that time. He was also in rifle club and did a trophy shoot. His target will be displayed at the fair. I am glad to have them done. It's always a bit stressful, but well worth it. Zach started band today. He has chosen to play trumpet. It's something I feel I can help him with a little more than Tae Kwon Do (he is still involved in that as well -- he's a busy kid). He is very, very excited about it. I am trying to give Megan some piano lessons, but we're not very consistent about it. Megan played baseball through May and June but is done now. She says she wants to play again next year. She was getting to be pretty good, for it being her first year, so I hope she sticks with it. So besides all of those official activities, here are some things that we are doing or would like to do this summer: *Going out to our camper where we can swim, fish, boat, and hike to our heart's content. *Raising a monarch butterfly. Although we haven't found a caterpillar yet, I do NOT want to skip this activity for the second year in a row. It's such a fun and easy activity. *Geocaching. We didn't do this last summer, but we went out and had four finds in one day, which got Megan more excited about it than she has been in the past. Her legs are finally getting to the point where they can keep up with the rest of us and not tire out as quickly. *Sunflower house. The sunflowers are growing, although not as many as I had hoped. I think some bugs and bunnies got to some of the shoots. I still hope it will be a nice spot for the kids to read and play in once they get taller and start to bloom. I'm trying to keep an eye on them. I've never been very successful at growing things, but I truly hope this works. *Keeping a running list of all the birds and other wildlife we see. *Reading, reading, reading! Yes, Scott and I still read aloud to Zach, even though he's perfectly capable of reading some college-level material. We all enjoy it, and I will continue to read to my kids as long as they'll let me. Scott and I alternate who reads to which kid at night, and I read to both kids together during the day. I use Sonlight and Ambleside Online reading lists plus the kids' own selections and a few of my own favorites. We have independent reading time every day where we all choose a quiet spot and read. These are our current read-alouds: Megan: On the Banks of Plum Creek and D'Aulaire's Benjamin Franklin with me (I'm surprised at how much she is enjoying the latter) and Bedknob and Broomstick with Scott. We also still read picture books aloud, and some of our other standards that we read from over and over are James Herriott's Treasury, Aesop for Children, Just So Stories, The Burgess Bird Book for Children, Anderson's Fairy Tales, and The Blue Fairy Book. Zach: Poor Richard by Dougharty, To Kill a Mockingbird, and It Couldn't Just Happen with me, and Johnny Tremain with Scott. We just finished The Pilgrim's Progress, which Zach seemed to grasp fairly well. Both together: Ben & Me (since I'm reading biographies of Benjamin Franklin to both of them), Paddle-To-the-Sea (mapping as we go), a poem a day from Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Fifty Famous Stories Retold. We're almost finished with Ben & Me, and I plan to start The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe next. |