Weekly Wrap-up: Weeks 10-12 - Summer is Wrapping up!

Whoa! Is it really September less than 2 weeks? You know what that means, don't you? Our first day of homeschool is just around the corner! I've been planning the last couple of weeks, putting together 8 weeks worth of lessons plans. Are you ready? or have you already started the new year?

But in the meantime, we have summer to celebrate! And the temperatures are proving that summer isn't over yet!

We've been to the lake to cool off as the rain blew in. See to left of the picture? It poured at the other end of the lake! And then passed us right by without a single drop.



Tom and I have been exploring new lakes in search of Bass...and gorgeous sunsets.

Sam's been doodling and writing, a rarity for him. Isn't this kid awesome? His honesty. (And yes, his room is a mess.)

I finished up my first ever afghan for Jake. And planning on my next...

And the garden has turned into a jungle! But I don't have photos of that...

Summer School Day Counter

Cate - 20 days | Sam -  24 days

Cate - 40% Completed Math | Sam - 29% Completed Math
Cate - 3 books read | Sam - 4 books read

Cate - walk, swim, kayak,  garden | Sam - walk, swim, bike, fish, kayak, garden
Cate - Band Camp & Concert
Sam - Scout Camp
Field Trips/Activities - PEAR's Ice Cream Shop, CPL Mad Science, More to Life Campground, Casco Days Parade, Summer Reading Program

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

 

"When one teaches, two learn." - Robert Heinlein

Weekly Wrap-up: Weeks 8 - 9 - Summary of Summer Studies

What happened to last week? Somehow posting my weekly wrap-up got away from me! And I don't remember being particularly busy...Has that ever happened to you?

Look! Cate and Sam completed their first 12 days of summer study lessons. (And then some!) I ordered Cate's book from Amazon for her, and Sam had a Chinese take-out. (It was supposed to be ice cream, but.) They may even exceed my goal of 24 days this summer!

Sentence diagramming through Cate for a loop last year. We've been focusing on her understanding of parts of sentences and the method of diagramming them. Our FREE resources have been:

• Diagramming Sentences in English Review Part 1 (You Tube)
• Diagramming Sentences in English Review Part 2 (You Tube)
• Diagramming Sentences: The Basics of Sentence Structure (Website)
• Grammar Ninja (On-line Game)
• Mark Twain Media Publishing Company Diagramming Sentences Worktext (PDF)

She's working on the lessons in the worktext now, but her understanding has grown and I don't think she'll need to continue reviewing diagramming afterward. (Just between you and me, I'm not sure the value of DIAGRAMMING if you know the PARTS and their MEANINGS anyway.)

I'm impressed with Khan Academy! Have you used it in your homeschool? Cate is reviewing Pre-Algebra, another struggle from last year. The combination of video instruction, review of previous concepts, and commutation hints (rather than straight textbook learning) has deepened her understanding (and kept her happier with math). 

From an instructor standpoint, I love the ability to get on her profile and see what concepts she worked on, how much time she spent, what she's mastered, and what she struggled with, and I can print it all out.

Sam is moving along with Handwriting without Tears Cursive. He was super excited to learn cursive, but that initial feeling has waned. With delays in fine motor skills and visual tracking challenges, he's finding some of the letters hard to form and he holds his pencil so firmly that his hand tires quickly. (I'm on the search for a chunky pencils grip that might help him.) But his handwriting is impressively neat considering.

He's also reviewing 4th grade math with Khan Academy. His understanding of numerous concepts are shaky, so this review is necessary. He definitely benefits from a combination of visual instruction and kinesthetic (i.e. tapping keys) learning.

Summer School Day Counter

Cate - 17 days | Sam -  18 days

Cate - 38% Completed Math | Sam - 29% Completed Math
Cate - 2 books read | Sam - 3 books read

Cate - walk, swim, kayak,  garden | Sam - walk, swim, bike, fish, kayak, garden
Cate - Band Camp & Concert
Field Trips/Activities - PEAR's Ice Cream Shop, CPL Mad Science, More to Life Campground, Casco Days Parade, Summer Reading Program

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

"When one teaches, two learn." - Robert Heinlein

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 7 - As Summer Marches On

 Even Maine gets sweltering summer days. I'm not made for hot, humid days...It's a WONDEFUL thing that we live so close to a lake for refreshing dips in the water! (BTW, Cate is somewhere out with that group of kids in the photo to the left.)

But the garden is loving the warm weather. We had our first handful harvest of green beans to enjoy with homemade garlic hummus. The pie pumpkins have flowers. The 2nd batch of planted cucumbers and wax beans are coming along, but the peas were nibbled on by the hens again. They must like peas as much as we do.

Cate started band camp this week. We have such a cool program here! Not only does a school bus pick up and drop off band campers, but they provide them with a camp t-shirt and a healthy lunch, and encourage them to learn new songs and practice their instruments through summer. Free!

I also another thing to our summer studies: Physical Activity. On a quest to get us all moving more, I challenged the kids to aim for 7 hours of Physical Activity each week. (As you can see, we have some work to do here.)

We're getting closer and closer to meeting our first summer studies goals! Remember we're getting ice cream after 12 days of Language Arts and Math review lessons? Only 3 more days! (Note: Our counter will show a different amount of days completed as I record field trips and special activities as a day of school.) Cate would rather earn books - That's my girl! - so she'll be foregoing ice cream for an Amazon order.

Summer School Day Counter

Cate - 10 days | Sam -  12 days
Cate - 23% Completed Math | Sam - 24 % Completed Math
Cate - 3 Lessons Revolution, Completed WISC (Diagramming), You Tube + You Tube | Sam - 14 pages Completed HWT
Cate - 2 books read | Sam - 2 books read
Cate - 2 hour 10 minutes Physical Activity (walk/swim) | Sam - 1 hour 20 minutes Physical Activity (walk/swim/bike)

Another of my bible journaling pages. I decided to be more "whimsy" with this one. Each part of the page represents something meaningful for me, but I won't explain. That would take some wordiness!

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

"When one teaches, two learn." - Robert Heinlein

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 6 - Gone Campin' and Fishin'...and Learnin'

So, how was your Independence Day weekend?

Tom and I took the kids camping. We had glorious weekend weather, perfect for swimming in the lake, having campfires in the evenings and sleeping in a tent. (OK, it was a little cool to sleep in a tent. I should have packed the thicker sleeping bags and a few more blankets.) Our campground even let off it's own fireworks, which were quite good! 

And I only have about 20 bug bites on my legs. That bug spray worked...

Despite the 'quitoes, I love camping. There's something awesome about spending days outside, walking around talking to other campers, playing horseshoes, swimming and fishing, reading and crocheting, eating at a picnic table and sitting around a campfire, falling asleep with the sounds of owls and loons. Not all the kids shared in my enthusiasm though, and despite some fun, memorable times we ended our camping trip a day early.

But that gave Tom and I a day to drop our little boat into a small, quiet lake to fish. We only saw 2 kayaks and 1 canoe the whole 5 hours we were rowing around. (No motors on this lake.) The fish were jumping out of the water! A great catch day! I even caught one. Finally. But my favorite part of the day was seeing a Mama and Daddy Canada Geese with their goslings swim by. So sweet!

Our Summer Studies are going well! The kids haven't complained about doing some Language Arts and Math yet. I know that it can be hard. It's summer vacation after all. But it's also important to get a little extra work done is areas they're struggling with. And there's ice cream when they get 12 days completed...

According to Khan Academy, Cate has already mastered 18% of her Pre-Algebra course. She struggled with Saxon Algebra 1/2 last year. I'm hoping that Khan's different learning approach will help her to "master" those areas she just didn't get from Saxon. And Debussy seems to help the learning process...

Sam never did finish the entire Saxon 54 last year, but he's working on Khan Math 4 this summer. He's already mastered 13%, good, steady progress.

I didn't think that I would like Khan, but I do! I love the Progress Report! It shows me quickly what they have worked on, what they know and what they're struggling in, and it'll make a PERFECT chart to include in her end-of-year portfolio for assessment.

Summer School Day Counter

Cate - 7 days | Sam - 6 1/2 days

I joined a Facebook Bible Journaling group a month or so ago. I was inspired by the creativity of all the beautiful artwork and lettering that I decided to try journaling myself. Some choose do to the journaling right inside their bibles, but I decided to stick to a small hard-cover notebook for mine. I'm not an artist. I'm creative and enjoy handicrafts and photography, but drawing and painting has never been my thing. I'm quite happy with my first attempt though!

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

"When one teaches, two learn." - Robert Heinlein

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 5 - The One that Begun Summer Studies

Our Summer Studies began this week. After 4 weeks off, it's time to do a little focused learning. I wouldn't call us "year round" homeschoolers, but some extra work on areas of struggle, a little math review and lots of reading give us a jump start for the fall. And why not EARN those ice cream cones (that I'd get them anyway but don't tell)?

I found this printable years ago, using it on and off as a summer studies incentive chart. When the kids complete 12 lessons of Math and 12 days of Reading and/or other Language Arts, it's ice cream time! (As the teacher, I get an ice cream cone too! It's only fair, right?) If you can find ice cream STICKERS for the squares (unlike me) it definitely adds to the chart.

Incentive Chart Source

Both kids will be participating in the Every Hero Has a Story summer reading program at the library and doing Khan Academy math, but Cati will review sentence diagramming with Grammar Revolution here, a struggle from last year, and Sam will learn cursive using Handwriting without Tears. Just for fun, Jake, my oldest who attends a STEM high school, plans to study Finance on Khan Academy. (Yeah, for fun.) He wants to get a jump start on his year-long project that includes designing, building, marketing, and selling a product.

Now, don't feel too badly for them. We're only spending 2-3 days a week on our summer studies (unless the kids decide they want ice cream sooner or more often), and only when we're not at the lake swimming or fishing, off to camps or enjoying time as a family. Summer studies are just a little something to keep us thinking through vacation.

In the meantime, Tom and I are enjoying fishing together, sometimes with family and the kids. We went to my sister's favorite fishing spot this past weekend. Chris, her friend, caught a sunfish and a perch, and my husband caught his first fish, a large mouth bass.

But anyone can catch a fish with a fishing pole with enough patience. It takes REAL fishing talent to catch what I did...

I snagged a FRESH WATER CLAM, folks! Who catches a CLAM with a HOOK? I have yet to actually catch a FISH...

Sam decided to join us one evening. It was his first time fishing! I taught him to cast, avoiding trees and lily pads, mostly. We saw fish chasing our lures, but no strikes.

Another sister got married this past weekend. I was the official photographer, taking about 2000 snaps. I left the SD card with her though, to go through the photos. I did get a few of the wedding location on my cell phone. What a backdrop, huh?

The sun hasn't been out much this week, but we did enjoy an hour near the lake between raindrops, reading, watching the boaters and paddle-boarders go by.

Happy Independence Day! 

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

"When one teaches, two learn." - Robert Heinlein