Heat Wave = Hit the Beach!

We experienced another heat wave this week, so of course we planned a beach day! This time we packed a picnic lunch and met a couple of other homeschool families (3 moms and a total of 9 kids between the ages of 3 and 13) at a beach we hadn’t visited yet. We all had a fantastic time! The moms and I were laughing about “this is homeschooling on the coast!” But then we started thinking about all the things our kids were doing and everything they were learning at “just a day at the beach”:

• They caught and observed 3 mole crabs in a bucket of wet sand.
• They identified seagulls and pelicans.
• They observed seals playing just past the surf.
• They experimented with finding the perfect ratio of sand to water for different kinds of sand building.
• They examined kelp and sea shells.
• They accomplished the engineering feat of building a bridge out of sand.
• They practiced problem-solving skills with things like choosing the best tool for whatever sand project they were working on.
• They developed all the gross and fine motor skills necessary to keep their balance in the breakers or on a boogie or surf board, to jump the little waves, to run in the sand and in different depths of water, to haul buckets full of sand or water, to build and decorate sand castles, etc. etc.
• The little ones in particular built self-confidence while facing the dangers of playing in the surf (while the moms watched them like hawks of course).
• They practiced the basic social skills of playing/working together in a group of various ages and abilities.
• Any child older than another had the opportunity to pass on skills to someone younger, and therefore the younger ones got to learn from older kids they looked up to. It’s a win-win situation! For example, a 13-year-old taught a 10-year-old to surf, and another 10-year-old helped the 5- and 6-year-old set to accurately gauge how big the incoming waves were and keep them from going in over their heads.
• They were reminded of all the health and safety rules involved in visiting the beach: staying within their depth in the water and within a safe distance of our beach tent, staying hydrated, remembering to reapply sunscreen, staying with a buddy in the water, etc. 

Three Rs

For math Monkey and Bug worked on fractions (matching a fraction to an illustration), telling time, and single-digit sums up to 20. Goose is practicing counting and adding up small number of objects.

This week Bug read Goodnight Goodnight Sleepyhead, Inside Outside Upside Down, and The Doghouse. Monkey read I’m a Baby. You’re a Baby and The Doghouse. Goose practiced writing and saying the letter sounds she knows and wanted lots of books read to her.

For writing, Monkey and Bug have really been enjoying the spelling worksheets I’ve found online that have involved unscrambling letters to form words and writing out the answers to “color problems” (i.e., white + red = pink). Bug also spent one writing lesson copying a Bible verse, and Monkey spent one writing a paper about worms. They also dictated to me about what they did this week in their composition books.

Library Day

There's still no story time, but the girls and I made some new friends--another homeschooling mom and her 5-year-old daughter who are new the area. The girls all had fun playing with the library toys, while Miss M and I had a chance to chit chat, before checking out all our books and heading our separate ways. We came home with these books:

Little Black Crow

Huck Runs Amuck

The Ugly Vegetables

Princess for a Day

Tanglebird

Grumpy Bird

The Doghouse

Rhinos Who Surf

How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin

Big Thoughts from Little Girls

Since we finished our girls of the Bible study last week, we needed a new direction, and reading the whole Bible cover-to-cover the way we read the Bible story books wasn't going to work. They've been focusing on the Old Testament stories at church, so I decided we'd read through the gospel of Mark at home (because it's relatively short and pretty action driven). The Bible I'm using gives some background to each book of the Bible, so we covered who wrote it, when, etc. We're taking our time and having lots of good conversations (which tend to get rehashed throughout the day), so we're only into chapter 3 at this point. Questions that have come up include (but aren't limited too): 

• Who wrote the rest of the Bible? 
• How old is it? 
• What are demons?
• Where do you go if you don't go to heaven when you die?
• What's a Pharisee? 
• What's a sinner? 
• What's the Sabbath?

Unrelated to Bible study we're doing (I think it must have been percolating in her head since Easter), Monkey experienced a major spiritual milestone this week: the "aha moment" of realizing that the stories about Jesus weren't just true stories--this all applied to her! One evening she came rushing into the kitchen bursting with excitement: "Mommy! I prayed to God and asked him to forgive my sins, and Jesus took them ALL away!" I remember experiencing that moment as a kid, and watching it happen for one of my own kids was just amazing! It's made a difference for her too: every morning when we finish our Bible time, I give the girls the opportunity to say a morning prayer or I say one. Monkey has never volunteered for this, and I don't push it, but the day after being forgiven, she jumped at the chance to open our day with prayer!

Budding Engineers

There's been a lot of Lego building going on this week! A variety of wheeled vehicles, rocket ships, towers, and houses have made their appearance on the play table. Bug even executed a fairly extensive project: Inspired by a picture on the Lego box, she created the numbers 1-9. She made 1-4, 7, and 8 on her own, but was stumped by 5 and 6. When Daddy got home, he helped talk her through the planning stage and they inked it out on the white board first. 

L-R: A few sample buildings; Bug with her first 4 numbers; the planning board

Tidbits

• It feels like our studies of ancient Greece are winding down, but I haven't prepped our next unit yet (my mother's helper is coming to my rescue next week!). Anyway, this week the girls and I watched a YouTube video in which actors recreated scenes from everyday life in ancient Greece, and included shots of some of the pottery and paintings the scenes were based on. Pretty neat.
• Daddy and the girls had a discussion about basic computer science over breakfast: the usual definition "bits" versus the computer definition of "bits" and what they do.
• Monkey and Bug have finally figured out how to work the swings at the playground themselves! The swings we have access to are pretty high, so they still struggle to get in them on their own, but I once I give them a starter push, they're off! Bug and their friend B even pretended to fly to the moon in their swings the other day.
• We babysat a friend's 8-month-old for a couple of hours this week, and the entourage loved being able to be the "big kids"--finding appropriate toys for her, making sure she didn't put anything in her mouth, and telling her the names of shapes, colors, and any objects she seemed interested in.