Daddy worked night shifts recently,
so we gave him peace & quiet by
picking up donuts and spending a
Saturday morning at a local park.

Science Topics
Recent time at a park and on a rec trail have led to some fun local wildlife sightings. We've seen a turtle, a large yellow mushroom, a snake, tiny crabs, hundreds of snails (clinging to the grass in the photo at left), and watched a garden spider catch a bug in its web, wrap it, and carry it across the web.

We've also recently experienced a huge amount of rain--enough that the local school district closed for a day due to flooding. Fortunately, our house was fine, and we had good discussions about why "the clouds aren't running out of rain" and why some areas flood and others don't even though the same amount of rain falls.

Good rainy day activity: watching Bill Nye the Science Guy. We watched (and discussed at length) episodes about gravity and volcanoes/plate tectonics.

Go! Go! Go!
We're a couple of weeks into the running club and P.E. class. The girls love them, and we've all had the opportunity meet some other local homeschoolers. The only complaint I've heard is that Lion says the little kids group at running club doesn't get to run enough. She was particularly disappointed that the announced "timed half mile run" turned out to be an untimed quarter mile run for their age group. (She did note, however, that she crossed the finish line second, beaten only by a boy who was at least a head taller than her.)

Since the girls get credit for physical activity outside of club meetings--and double mileage if a parent exercises with them--we've gone on a couple of runs with our whole family. Both times we've gone to a rec trail about 30 minutes away. It's a two-mile straightaway with no off shoots. With Daddy and I both running the trail and keeping an eye on the girls this gives them a chance to run their individual pace and practice some independence by taking off on their own.

We've gone swimming a couple of times, too. Miss D invited us to use her pool until the end of the season. We got in one awesome swim day at her place, but relocated to the indoor pool at the Y the next week when the girls deemed it a bit too chilly to go jumping into an outdoor pool.

Pirates & Presidents
We've just finished our study of the U.S. presidents themselves, and now we're moving on to the how our government works and the election process (the very, very basics). My plan is for our study to wrap up around election day.

By popular demand we've also been studying pirates--specifically the female ones. We've been reading a book called Sea Queens that records the tales of pirate women from around the world as far back in history as ancient Greece, and I recently found a documentary about an Irish pirate from the 1700s that we'll be watching.

While neither a pirate nor a president, we also watched a documentary about one of the women who may have inspired Mulan tales. Since Mulan is one of the girls' favorite Disney movies, they were very curious about a possible history behind the story. This one involved the daughter of a washer woman who grew up to lead an army of 20,000 against an oppressive imperial government about the time of the American Revolution (she eventually lost, but's a pretty inspiring tale).

With public schools starting up this past week, we carried out two of our own "school" traditions: a not-back-to-school day and a planning tea.

For our not-back-to-school day, we always do something fun and non-academic during public school hours. This year we headed to an amazing indoor play space (think McDonald's play space on steroids). They loved it! It's a huge enclosed space that involves climbing things, slides, tunnels, a ball pit with a ball shooter, a net bridge, and a kid-powered merry-go-round. They made friends with a four-year-old who was also running around, and I'm pretty sure they were in constant motion for almost 2 hours!

Here's a small glimpse of the play space. My girls are in there somewhere.

The girls bake brownies for our planning tea. Seriously, I did
little more than supervise the process this year. Home
economics (a.k.a., kids help around the house too) is a crucial
part of our home school program.

We're year-round learners here, so the whole "back to school" thing doesn't mean much to the girls. (They're still trying to figure out how to answer questions like "Are you ready to go back to school?" from well-meaning adults. We have at least practiced some responses to "Why aren't you in school today?") However, we do usually have what we refer to as a planning tea sometime late summer. We spend a morning preparing tea and treats, then enjoying both while we discuss upcoming activities and what we're going to be learning about, and we declare them "officially" in whatever grade I deem appropriate (this is actually more of a social designation than an academic one, and has more to do with where they fit into activities at church than anything else). So, here's a bit of a run down of the upcoming year with my first grader and two third graders:

As we have for years now, everyday begins with breakfast and Bible time. We're currently about halfway through "The Essential 100 Jesus Stories." When we finish that list, we'll be breaking from our usual reading of only Bible stories to read The Ology by Marty Machowski (it's basically systematic theology for kids that tackles the "ologies" of God, Christ, people, etc. through about 70 daily readings). Our church's children's program doesn't require any Bible memorization, so I came up with my own list of verses we're working on based on perusing a few "x number of verses every Christian should know" lists.

We have a lot of out-of-the-house activities we want to do this year!

Home School P.E.: The Y down the street is hosting this weekly class that starts next week, and the girls and I are looking forward to meeting some other nearby home schoolers.

Library Visits: Well, they've all outgrown storytime, so this isn't a formal event anymore, but it's definitely a non-negotiable part of the weekly routine!

Just Run: A local mom recently started a chapter of this national running club for home schoolers. Lion in particular was thrilled to find a running club for kids. They had a blast at the first meeting learning about posture and pacing through games and instruction. This club encourages kids to be competitive not against each other, but against their own best times. Their first timed run is next week, and the club also plans to participate in local races throughout the year.

Music Lessons: Their respective piano, drum, and violin lessons continue, and I've got them all back in one time slot! (Bug's violin was on a different day at first, but a spot opened up along her sister's starting in September!) Bug is transitioning back to violin very nicely, and it's definitely the right level of interest and challenge for her.

Martial Arts: Daddy's planning to have them pick up their martial arts studies later this month. We found a good school where they'll be studying muay thai and brazilian jiujitsu. Even Lion gets to participate this time! (She's so excited!) They'll be in back-to-back lessons for a little while, then Lion will move into the same class as her sisters when she turns 6.

Church: Sunday school starts up again this week as does the monthly children's ministry event. The girls will stay after church with all the other elementary kids to eat lunch, do games/crafts, and learn a Bible lesson. Our church also does Wednesday night suppers as a time for church-wide fellowship, but there are no additional studies or programming. The girls just have fun playing on the playground while the grown ups chit chat.

Tired yet? Me too! Before we can get to all those fun afternoon and evening activities, though, we have to tackle academic subjects. For this reason we've declared an official wake-up time, and a goal of sitting down to formal lessons by 8 a.m. Monkey and Lion are not fans of being rousted out of bed, but they are enjoying getting things done earlier in the day. As usual our academic focus is primarily on the three Rs:

Reading: Lion is advancing her reading skills through Bob Books and phonics worksheets. Bug has started doing daily read aloud sessions with me again. While she'd been voraciously reading solo based on my recommendations, she's found books she wants to read that are just beyond her level, and we agreed that reading those together would help her build her skills. Monkey loves to read but she does so very slowly (not an problem except for those pesky timed standardized tests). To increase her fluency we've added additional phonics and sight words activities to her usual read aloud time with me.

Writing: All three girls have spelling lessons now, and Lion loves that she's learned enough to write a few things independently. The rest of her writing practice is through first grade worksheets I've pulled off the Internet that deal with beginning grammar and composition skills. We've stepped the writing program for the big girls this year. They're now working through a Daily Grams workbook and writing a paragraph every lesson day based on a list of journal prompts. This year they're also going to learn about specific types of writing (opinion, informative, narrative, and poetry). We've done a unit introducing opinion writing already, and the other will be introduced throughout the year.

Math: Lion is still working through early math skills using worksheets and manipulatives, but now on a more formal, regular basis. I anticipate she'll start Khan Academy lessons sometime in the next 6 months to a year. Monkey and Bug are continuing to slowly work their way through third grade math concepts in Khan Academy while mastering their math facts. At some point this year I'll declare them ready and just let them loose in Khan to work as quickly through math as they are comfortable.

Social Studies: This isn't a subject that gets covered everyday, but it's a fun one. We're currently most of the way through our study of the presidents, and I'm preparing a unit on world geography next. We spent quite a bit time discussing US geography this summer when we had the opportunity to drive through most it.

Science: I've mentioned before we've covered this subject best through a lifestyle of exploration and that will continue to be our primary method. This year though the girls are also old enough to appreciate more science TV shows and documentaries, and I have a book of simple experiments I'd love to find the time to do at home.

[Look what I found: a lost blog post! I think I must have written it right before our beach trip, but never posted it. Enjoy!]

On a recent Monday, a lady from our church invited us and three other families for a pool party complete with a hot dog lunch because her "grandsons all live out of town, and I need some little ones to come enjoy all this!" We had a fantastic time! It was a great opportunity for the girls and I to get to know some of the other moms and kids from church, and the girls loved having several hours to just play with their friends.

Following up with Bug's interest in movie special effects, we discovered Khan Academy's "Pixar in a Box" program. It includes a series of short videos explaining how animated special effects are made, punctuated by simple animation programs that let you experiment with the effects they've been discussing. Bug hasn't worked through all of it yet, but she had a blast creating her own falling water and fireworks.

Bug finally got to start her violin lessons! She really likes her new teacher and has been thrilled with how quickly it's come back to her. Right now he's just having her practice scales and the songs she played with her last teacher, so he can get for where she's at and what to do next.

We love the Olympics! Watching the endless stream of talented athletes and cheering for the US are always entertaining, and of course they're full of learning opportunities: We've discussed different countries; their geographic locations, flags, and languages; the basic rules of a wide variety of sports and the skills it takes to play them (judo, tennis, handball, water polo, soccer, gymnastics, swimming, diving, fencing, rugby, beach volleyball, track & field sports); good sportsmanship; and the history and importance of the Olympics themselves.

In a break from the norm, the girls have had quite a few adventures without me recently! They went on two field trips with a group from our church with a weekend at Grandma and Granddad's place in between. Since I wasn't a participant, I don't have all the details and funny anecdotes, but I did receive a few cute photos.

First, they headed to the local zoo with about 20 kids, our children's minister, and a handful of volunteers. The girls had a blast riding the train, seeing all the animals, enjoying a picnic lunch, and just getting to hang out with their friends. I have been informed by the girls that it's totally worth us getting a membership and going back when they can actually learn more about the animals. (Meanwhile, I did some serious homeschool planning, read a bit of a novel--in a quiet house!--and did some personal shopping.)

Next was their weekend at Grandma and Granddad's! We staged the drop off at a Cracker Barrel halfway between us and enjoyed a lovely lunch (Thanks, Aunt E!). On Saturday they spent several hours walking the creek and woods with Granddad--definitely their favorite Grandma & Granddad's house activity. They also helped Granddad buy new Nerf guns and a play kitchen for the basement (a huge semi-finished space with plenty of stuff for grandkids). On Sunday they went to church, and on Monday morning I got them back again. (Meanwhile, Daddy and I got a weekend away with other grown ups to go rafting and enjoy kid-free dining.)

Their second field trip was to the local aquarium. They were especially excited because their good friend A was coming this time, and the loved getting to spend the whole day hanging out! Apparently, the touch tank was the highlight of the actual aquarium stuff; though they admitted that this aquarium was not nearly as cool as the others we've been to in recent history.