Half-way Through Summer

June is almost over. G3 was in Utah for grandparent's camp. All kids and the Mom survived church VBS.  G2 is off to Bible camp.  G1 heads to Tennessee next week for a service opportunity with our church group.  G3MOM is packed and ready for a trip to Teach Them Diligently via an entry paid by 2:1 Conference.  I then continue on to serve in an English camp in Montevideo, Uruguay.

At some point in early July and before the end of the World Cup on Sunday, July 13, I need to fly stand-by on the Other airline back to the Chicagoland area.  I will then have 2 weeks to complete the first quarter planning before our school year begins.  That'd be year 8 here on the homefront.

Below are the subjects we aim to pursue.  We'll continue notebooking through Physics from our Elemental Science work four years ago with the Noeo Logos teaching plans.  We add quizes, timelines, literature studies and hands-on activities to our SOTW4: Modern Age (1850-present day) binder.  We get to add grammar in the form of Editor in Chief program.  G2 and G3 will begin Student Writing Intensive level B and G1 will perfect this writing program with in depth research along the Excellence in Writing format.  Each student will continue in their Saxon math challenges.  Our 3Gs really enjoyed the soft pastel art lessons from Nana at HodgePodge Art and will continue those until January.  We've decided to start the third pass through each of the world's nation flags with the same continent and the same questions to answer.   G1 will continue his French studies with French in Action for the first 13 lessons this school year as a goal using the website, text and workbook.  G2 and G3 will review their First Start French materials from Memoria Press and aim to finish the entire book for the school year.  G2 is determined to continue studying German (still working on the materials for this goal), and will tackle the Greek materials from Memoria Press as well. Finally, each has their own Latin goal. G1 will continue with Logic study in The Thinking Toolbox,  and G2/G3 will work through The Fallacy Detective. 

Bible & Health

G2 Math EIC IEW

G3 Math EIC IEW

G1 Math EIC IEW

SOTW4

Art Music Appre

Flags- Geography

noeo science-Physics 3

Band

G1 French ForLang, Latin, Logic

G2 Greek German French Latin Logic

G3 French Latin Logic

All three will continue studying music with band.  There are plans for G1's participation in an elementary Turkish class, but nothing is finalized yet. His goal is to be able to communicate for survival in an summer student exchange next year.  The Turkish may help him as well as his French.  Our Bible studies will follow a Community Bible Study format through the "Return to Jerusalem" syllabus.

April Field Trip to GHC-CVG with the Whole Family

When we decided to take the last break before the end of school the week after Easter to coincide with G2's and G3's birthday, the Cincinnati Great Homeschool Convention became an attractive goal.  I made arrangements to volunteer for our family admission costs to the convention.  I'd done this here in Chicagoland at ICHE and wasn't afraid of the tasks involved.  We made arrangements to cash in some hotel points for a relatively free stay at the nearby Hilton property in Cincinnati.  We are trying to fly stand-by, but we still don't know how that will pan out until we're returned.  We researched the plan to visit the Creation Center (per Judy Hoch's advice in her February blog post), but found that without a car and an additional adult entrance fee (G1 became even more expensive), we'll pass this time. Each G is geared up for a busy schedule in the REAL FAITH for the REAL WORLD Teen Track and doesn't actually know anything about Cincinnati chili yet.  We have three different museum field trips planned and it'll be good to get to at least one of those.  Probably looking at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center or the William Howard Taft National Historic Site (so the Nat'l Park passports are packed).

I've made lists for each of our family members to visit various vendor booths while at the convention, i.e. Memoria Press and Teaching Textbooks (per Marci Goodwin's advice in her February blog post).  I seriously need G1 to have his hands on the geometry textbook in order to give me feedback.  I am going to try to teach all three on the same science curriculum so do I need 3 copies of the text?  Will I continue to use the Classical Education method for high school science and will it be hands on science?  I wanted each of my students to see the science books available to them in high school and get their input.  I'll keep Paige's recommendations about science study in mind during each science speaker I hear.  I'm taking Tina Robertson completely serious when researching the options for homeschool history choices.  I will very much enjoy meeting some of my homeschool mentors from the blog world and eat some Cincinnati chili with Jimmie Lanley.  I just love the way Amy Maze presented justification for more family bonding.  I seriously needed the encouragement that Heather Woodie promised I'd find.

So, here goes another family adventure. (Family Adventuring at http://t.co/J8BTsgC8bt "We’re not on a vacation, where we seek relaxing pleasure experiences every day.")

A New Habitat Study: Ocean and Oceanography

It's time to move on from the Polar habitat study to study of oceans and oceanography. This study will take us through the summer and will include many books for read alouds as well as audio books from library or librivox.org.

We'll begin this study by reading one page a day from Holing C Holing's Seabird as we carefully study plants and animals in coloring pages from the Dover Seashore Plants and Animals.

Polar Habitat + Canada Geography Study + 2010 Winter Olympics =

A NOTEBOOK TO COVER THREE (3) curriculum goals at the same time!  (YES, I do have goals this year and printed them into the kids' planners to prove it!)  I used the Hands of a Child materials, inserted some Enchanted Learning graphics/ Venn diagrams AND a lapbook from GraceBoundBooks compiled along with Crayola geography pages about each Canadian Province to cover a country, the olympics and a habitat all in February.  All this Canadian culture came at the same time as SOTW3 chapter 4 about Champlain and Hudson in search of the Northwest Passage.  Otherwise, we'll move onto oceans habitat and oceanography in March with dreams of beaches, sand, sailing and swimming animal life (an odd dream for an Iowa farmgirl to have).

Homeschool conference mission accomplished!

Well, the 3Gs got to all their appointments for Thursday and I got the Daddy to the Illinois Christian Home Educators' conference. He enjoyed the two speakers he heard in the breakout sessions as well as Mr Tedd Trip in the opening session. We've been through the book, Shepherding a Child's Heart several times with different groups and really appreciated his presentation. We ran into people we knew from ten years ago while living in Omaha. That was a real treat, because her children are not that much younger than mine and she has an education background as well. I enjoyed hearing Jeannie Fullbright speak about choosing curriculum.

I got the Daddy his coffee and fed him well as he took business calls during our supper there at the mega-church where the conference is held. THEN I took him into the vendor hall! Talk about deer-in-the-headlights look... I now know how I looked last year when I was there for the first time alone. WOW! We refrained from so many impulse purchases and made solid, well-grounded decisions about purchases we would make on-line before school begins in August. If you want to get a wee bit of a glimpse as to what I'm referring to, there is a blog that shows many pictures that I recognize from our visit yesterday.

I'm thrilled that the girls from New Church could be with my kids and that my boys were able to ride along with another soccer mom to the last practice of the season. I got plenty of information and re-invigorating ideas about the new school year. I'm not stressed anymore.. well, for at least a few weeks I'm not stressed that is -- until our trip to Turkiye soon.

Late June Travel to Turkiye

The itinerary is drafted and the sites/events are being collected. We'll try to get all five of us to MUC for a flight to ESB and then travel within Turkiye to IST and back to Germany but instead try FRA and then home to ORD. Sounds insane? Try living it...

Imposing week ahead

Yep, school is over, but I get to do soccer practice and games 3 nights this week by myself as Daddy is not able to co-captain the delivery team. I'm set to attend a home-school conference and hear one of the creators of a curriculum we use AND meet those ellusive vendors of curriculum I can't find on their websites. I'm a newbie remember? I don't navigate vendor websites very well yet.

It is the first week our park pool is open and I look forward to a visit there. Maybe on bikes for the 5 mile round trip or maybe by van. We'll see. I know that the week will include some study time for my ICTS testing on Saturday to renew my teaching certificate in Illinois. Yep again, I'm a certified secondary teacher in the geography and earth/solar science subjects. I need to pass these tests though and I'm not good at that kind of pressure. Can't imagine the stress going back to work would hold for me someday, but testing is no picnic either.

No travel this week, but maybe some trips to the forest preserves or library to gently ween the triple G threat away for the two months of break. Can't have them getting soft, but need them to be ready for an amazing 1st and 2nd grade year. No major wisdom to impart and no major gifts to give, just really glad that the lessons and pursuance of their completion is on hold for a few months.

What will I do with the two months you ask? Well, I've already started. The garden is set as much as it's going to within my power. I can do no more to make it work. Sun, water and soil is how that "bird's gonna fly." Daddy and I washed the concrete basement walls down and I put a coat of paint (a whole paint can off the mis-tint table at home store) on those walls. The storage is now stored and play in the cooler basement will commence during the summer.

What more? Well, there is this living room, entry hallway and stairway that need a wash and coat of paint. IT maybe be one more can of paint off my shelf and that's ok with me! Then, maybe a wood floor compliments of the government's economic incentive check. We'll see if the Daddy can part with it for a wood floor in the living and dining rooms.

Bedtime for these people here and I hope/pray a good week ahead. My best to y'all too.