Weeks 7 thru 10 - Summer Sports

For the last month we've been driving back and forth to the park up the hill four times per week to participate in athletic programs through the local Parks & Recreation department. It's been a lot of fun for our kids and was made all the better because they took the classes with friends.

The classes have also given our family a jump start into attempting to be more active in the sports arena. We went to our local tennis courts/soccer field one night to get some extra practice in and some quality family time besides.

Seth took baseball. After a rough start, he tried his best.
Madelyn was the only girl in her tennis class. She held her own and can't wait to take more lessons. (Can you see the bottom of the ball at the top of the frame?)
Chloe and Catherine excelled in their lessons as well.

Sam played soccer in preparation for the fall season. He did great in drills. Now we have to get him ready for the Saturday games.
The fall will be packed with more sports: soccer, t-ball, swimming and tennis. Because of our summer warm-up, we can't wait!

Week 5 - Camp

Our summer vacation reached a frantic pitch this week. Madelyn decided to forgo a birthday party this year, opting to attend Zoo Camp instead. Catherine was signed up for Soccer Camp this week as well. Our leisurely mornings gave way to a 7 a.m. revelry. The early mornings and endless chauffeuring were definitely worth it as our girls learned a lot and made special camp friends.

Catherine attended a soccer camp sponsored by the University of New Mexico. The coaches were all former and current soccer players. They were tough. Catherine worked hard, endured a few bug bites, and smiled through it all.
One of the highlights of the week was a spray-down from the local fire department on Friday.
Madelyn's camp was so cool! She got to take daily 'behind-the-scenes' tours at the zoo. Being an aspiring veterinarian, she LOVED learning all the inside scoop about each animal. She can't wait for our next family visit to the zoo so she can share all that she learned.

Week 4 - Arizona Vacation

After much deliberation, we headed west to Flagstaff last week. We set up a base camp at the Tuthill County Fairgrounds Campground. It was not fancy, but it was quiet most of the week and well located for our day trips.

Day Trip #1: Sedona
The last time Mark and I visited Sedona we got engaged. Here we are almost 14 years and 6 children later. We visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross and took in many of the rock formations in the area.Day Trip #2: Walnut Canyon National Monument
The kids had a blast exploring the ruins of the Hopi tribe's cliff dwellings. We all tried to imagine what life was like for these people. Water collection was certainly a challenge. Day Trip #3: Grand Canyon National Park
We spent Monday in the Grand Canyon. I think our children are a little young to comprehend the wonder of this park. Catherine and Chloe both expressed feeling small and a little scared by the canyon. The boys enjoyed hiking but didn't seem impressed by their surroundings. Nonetheless, the five older children completed the Junior Ranger Program for the Grand Canyon. We attended a great ranger-led program about wildlife tracks.
Day Trip #4: Slide Rock State Park
We spent two days at Slide Rock State Park. One day was spent with our Arizona cousins and the second, just us. What a fun place! The girls and Mark had a blast sliding down the rock water slides. I stayed with the boys and enjoyed splashing and swimming in the shallower pools.

Weeks 2 & 3 - Summer School

The highlight of the last two weeks has been swim lessons. The pool's heater was broken, so the kids had to endure some frigid temperatures and a great deal of shivering. They had fun, at least during the party time today. Madelyn really improved with her swim stroke techniques. Catherine gained some confidence and now knows how to got about swimming. Chloe worked on her freestyle technique. Seth and Sam had fun playing games and getting to know another teacher. Harrison was a warrior-waiter. We are proud of them all!

• Math - We've continued with Math Sprints. The girls have great accuracy, now it's a test of speed.

• Reading logs - The girls turned in their reading logs to the library. They've been reading more Andi books and Madelyn reads Nancy Drew books to Catherine at night. We've been enjoying the library's summer programs on Tuesday nights. We've seen an African music and dance group and a ventriloquist.
  

• Writing

1. Madelyn - Completed through Lesson 76 in Primary Language Lessons. Also daily cursive practice.
2. Catherine & Chloe - Completed through Week 16 in Daily Language Review: Grade 1. Also manuscript practice daily.

• 10 minutes of daily piano practice
  

Week 1 - Summer School

The girls are continuing with school through the summer. They are required to do about an hour of work each day plus reading. They also are continuing their weekly piano and Mandarin lessons.

• Reading log - This will serve as a record of books read.
  

1. Madelyn - Long Ride Home by Susan Marlow
2. Catherine - Andi's Pony Trouble by Susan Marlow
3. Chloe - Andi's Indian Summer by Susan Marlow

• Math - Daily Math Sprints from Singapore Math.com. We are trying to build speed and accuaracy.

• Writing
  

1. Madelyn - Daily cursive practice in Handwriting Skills Simplified: Mastering Cursive Writing. Also completed Lessons 56 through 59 in Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl.
2. Catherine & Chloe - Completed Weeks 4-7 in Daily Language Review: Grade 1. Also daily handwriting practice in Handwriting Skills Simplified: Improving Manuscript Writing.
   

• 15 minutes of piano practice daily
  

Day 90 - Last Day of School

Today's Activities:

• Art - The girls painted their O'Keeffe inspired art. They experimented with using washes, wet-on-wet, and wet-on-dry painting techniques.

• Writing - Madelyn finished her cursive book. In many ways, I credit this book with being the seed that started our homeschooling journey. Had I not gone to the local teacher store and come away aching to teach, we may not have taken the plunge into homeschooling.
• Semester Summary - We did a plus/delta exercise. First we reviewed all 90 days of homeschooling to date, then we discussed our favorite things and the things we would change.

Pluses:

1. Catherine – Clay, Strega Nona books, painting, writing stories about ourselves & fables, bread tasting,
2. Chloe – watercolor paintings, Lilly's Purple Purse book, reading about faith, Santa Fe Trail, journals
3. Madelyn – watercolor paintings, Allen Say books, E.B. White books, crafts at home, journal writing
4. Mommy - I am so proud of all of the hard work we each did. I feel like our first semester was successful in many ways. Of course, I'm blessed with three highly-motivated students. I feel like the girls were exposed to some great literature and I'm a big fan of Singapore Math. I'm firmly committed to giving our children a 'contextualized', well-rounded, multi-lensed, and multicultural education.

Changes:

1. Catherine – more spelling, more Faith Like Mine books,

2. Chloe – more science & spelling, more journal writing,

3. Madelyn – more journal writing, fewer math tests,

4. Mommy - I feel like we need to add more science. The classes the girls took were great and got them excited but I feel more needs to be done to give them a working science vocabulary. I also want to focus more time on writing, especially teaching minilessons on specific topics, such as commas. I feel we did a fair number of writing assignments but there needs to be more of an every day element to writing as well.
   

   
   

   
   

Day 89

Today's Activities:

• Singapore Math - Madelyn finished 3B today. She achieved a 90% average on all the tests. Pretty solid for her first time using this program.
  

• Writing -
  

1. Madelyn - Grammar Lesson 55 in Primary Language Lessons. Also cursive.
2. Catherine & Chloe - Week 3 in the Grade 1 Daily Language Review workbook. Also handwriting review.

• Art - The girls each did a sketch, complete with color, of their Georgia O'Keeffe inspired watercolor. Tomorrow they paint!