Road Trip!

Last week we made our annual summer trip to visit some friends in State College. We've gone every summer since they moved there four years ago, and we always have such a great time.

This year we made not one, but two!! trips to the Berkey Creamery. I always get the same thing: Death by Chocolate. So much chocolate goodness there are just no words. There's only one size ice cream, and it's too much ice cream for the kids, but I let them get their own anyway. It's once a year, right?

The blue and white sprinkles were a hit.

Summer is a great time to visit the town and the campus because most of the students are away. No long lines for ice cream. You still have to dodge students on bikes, and there was a group of students meditating who we may or may not have completely disturbed. At the same time, the kids could run all over in the grass after they finished their ice cream and not disturb anyone.

We also visited the duck pond on campus. It's kind of tucked away in a little nook, so it's quiet and peaceful there. The kids loved spotting turtles in the pond and watching the ducks. They explored and just sat to take it all in.

We used to have a turtle just like this. They were hoping he was a relative.

Deep in conversation.

There's an arboretum being built across from Beaver Stadium. It's small at the moment, but the kids were enthralled with all of the plant life. They were especially amazed by the water plants.

The only one who managed to get all wet.

Aptly named Angel's Trumpet.

I thought this one looked like a pie plate. I was fascinated.

We called these Shower Head Plants. So scientific.

Looking for wildlife.

Outside of town, we visited this really cool playground that looks like an airport. It's complete with a runway, control tower, and a plane. Part of the draw is that the equipment is different from most parks.

Control tower.

We also visited Spring Creek park where you can wade in the creek. We didn't find much wildlife here, but we did brave the icy water. It was honestly painful (little knives of ice) to get in, but it was okay after a few minutes. I felt like it was an ice bath for my lower legs.

Dancing in pure joy.

Some of us weren't so thrilled with the water.

Little Bear made this potato mine. He insisted it make the blog.

Little Bear's sand castle. Please don't ask.

We climbed down a small waterfall, built a small dam, and walked a fair distance in the water.

The boys went to a Spikes game one evening where we had a small incident with Little Bear getting (almost) lost. Oy. Poor Dr. Jeff. He was so worried.

It was an adventure! We had so much fun, and the kids already have a list of things they want to do there next year. They've heard rumors the public pools are amazing...

Coke and a Car Battery

When our battery died the other day ( I still wish I knew who left the lights on), we had some really nice guys help us out.

 I am not above playing the damsel in distress. There was a time when I was younger that I might have tried to be all independent. But these days... not so much. I don't know how to fix a car battery, and, quite frankly, I don't really want to know. The poor man jumping my car was trying to give me a lesson, and I felt so badly for him. He thought I was actually going to remember what he said. Bless him for trying.

My kids were sitting in the car during this lesson, and I can assure you they were actually laughing at me. The man told me to be sure not to let the ends of the chargers (see how technical I am?) touch. So, naturally, I was terrified of getting electrocuted. Held those chargers as far apart as I possibly could.

Curly tells me they watched me back up, away from the car altogether, when the man turned his car on. Merciless teasing on the way home ensued. Those poor kids saw a whole new side of their mama that day.

There was a small crowd of men at some point. Apparently, if you are a woman and open the hood of your car, it's an invitation to come on over. They all peered inside, looking at my corroded car battery, which I found oddly embarrassing. The state of my car battery is surely a direct correlation to the state of my house, obviously.

One of the men, whom I know in a vague sort of hey-I-know-you kind of way (that's actually what he said to me) took a look at the battery and said, "You should pour some Coke on that when you get home. Clean it right up."

What?! Wait a minute. Pour Coke on my car battery? Sounds thrilling and terrifying! Sounds like science! And it's not even Friday.

 It wasn't until the next day that we actually had some Coke in hand, but when we did, we popped that hood and took a look.

Car battery in all its corroded glory.

Curly ready for the cleaning.

Look at that!

Yeah, that's pretty much the face I was making during my jumping-the-car lesson.

The final product. Amazing! Now just don't think about what that Coke is doing to you! :)

Waiting for Batman

You know how we all have "those" days? Days where not only does it all seem to go wrong, but our reaction to it all going wrong is somehow completely disproportionate to the actual events?

That was my yesterday.

I've been playing it cool lately. Not getting stressed over all of the little things. Focusing on the good and being thankful and all that jazz.

But here's where I'm going to start to whine a little. Woe is me. My life is hard.  I need Batman to show up and fix everything.

Last week, I had my wisdom teeth out. In my mind, I was going to be completely fine and back to running two days later. Maybe even the next day. In reality, it's 5 days later, and my face is still swollen and hurts. I got some sort of cold on top of it, so I have felt crummy all week. ALL week. Add into it that I'm not sleeping well because I like to sleep on my stomach and that's not working right now, and you have one grumpy mama.

All summer Papa has been working overnight one night a week. It's all good. I can handle it. Except I don't sleep when he's not here. I'm sure that burglars are lurking outside, just waiting to come in, knowing he isn't here to protect us. I mean, he would definitely protect us, but he's not Batman. So, I leave all of the lights on (sending a loud and clear message that we are awake all night long, burglars), thereby making it even more difficult to sleep. And at every tiny little noise, like the fat cat thundering across the house, I jump out of bed. Ready to protect. It's exhausting trying to be the super hero. When does Batman sleep?

Tuesdays are dance class for Tiny Dancer. My cell phone was dead, so I left it at home. Thought I would take the boys to the park while she danced. It was drizzling, but they were having fun. All good. Until the moment about 45 minutes in when I heard the car click. Yeah, someone had left the lights on while we were sitting there. I'm not sure who, exactly, would do such a foolish thing. But someone did. We walked ourselves over to the dance school, found a mom I sort of know, she called her husband, and he rescued us. Batman? Not quite, but a good substitute.

By this time I was worn out. Face hurting, hungry but not for the soft foods I could eat, tired. I decided to splurge and get the kids some McDonald's for dinner. We never eat there. I'm not super strict about what they eat, but I can't get thoughts of what that "food" is out of my head. But I was tired enough to not care for one night. Drive through the drive-thru since we need to keep the car running. At home, we're getting everything situated when one of the kids (I don't know which one, and that's probably for the best) drops my soda all over the floor. All. Over. The. Floor.

You might think they would spring into action to clean it up. But they are kids. And so they stood there, looking at it. While standing in it. Totally dumbfounded. Um, get some towels, kids? Clearly, we need to work on our cleaning skills. And our jumping into action skills. Seriously, where is Batman?

None of it was a big deal. My floor needed to be mopped anyway. Maybe that was just what I needed to get that job done. I can sleep tonight, maybe. Or tomorrow. There's plenty of time left for sleeping. Right?!?!

I think I just need Batman to swoop in here today and take care of everything. Do you think he does floors?

2nd Grade Plans

Everything is, more or less, squared away and ready to start school in a few weeks. I've been sharing what Curly and Tiny Dancer will be doing this year, so I thought I would also share what Little Bear will be doing.

Little Bear is less enthusiastic about the slightly rigid approach of classical education. He likes to memorize, so we will definitely be learning verses for Awana as well as poems and such. But I also like to throw in some things purely for fun or that are more hands-on for him.

Here is the plan for what he will be doing:

Reading: Little Bear will be following the 2nd grade reading list in the Well Trained Mind. Some of these books include Beowulf: Grendel the Ghastly, Sainte George and the Dragon, and Knights of the Round Table. Some of the books on his list will be ones he can read by himself, but others we will do together. He loves literature pockets, so we are also going to work on a set of pockets having to do with Newberry winners. These are all books he can easily read on his own.

Writing/Grammar: Last year, he started English 2 part way through the year. We will finish it at the beginning of this year and then move on to English 3. This book is pretty solid, though not my favorite. After this year, he will move into Rod and Staff like his brother. I think they have a more thorough program. We did First Language Lessons 1 and 2 last year, though, and I wanted to keep grammar and writing, so we switched to something else in the interim.

Spelling: We're going to give Spelling Power a try this year. I've heard great things about it, so we'll see how it goes.

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears. Little Bear has little boy handwriting, to say the least. He needs practice with the letters. We will also do copywork and then move into some dictation later in the year.

Math: We've been using Singapore. I still feel a little undecided. It's not exactly what I'm looking for, but it is a very solid math program. We'll also throw in some games, Life of Fred, and Primary Grade Challenge Math. Little Bear LOVES math and is really good at it. I'm hoping that a combination of things will keep him interested and challenged while still being sure he's mastering the basics.

History: We're on cycle 2 of the Story of the World. I'm looking forward to the Middle Ages! I picked up the volume on cd this year. We may be spending a good deal of time in the car taking Curly to his Latin class, so I thought we would listen to Jim Weiss tell us the story of the world. We'll be doing maps, timelines, and lots of projects.

Science: We're going to be studying biology this year. We don't have a curriculum or text for this. We're going to learn about animals, the human body, and end with plants. We will do experiments, research, take photographs, and have nature journals. Little Bear also loves science, so I will take this as far as he would like to go this year.

Music: Little Bear will take piano lessons and listen to a variety of music. I'm going to see what I might be able to find that represents the time period.

Art: Working with Curly, we'll start with drawing, move on to sculpting, and then finish with painting. Art is so not my strong suit, but there are lots of great books out there. For drawing, we'll start with Draw Write Now. We used this some last year, and Little Bear really loved it.

Bible: We're going to study the Bible together for the first time. We're going to use the blog Bible Road Trip as our starting point. She has some great ideas over there, and I love the extra books she recommends!

We'll take field trips to round out the year. And Little Bear will participate in a few extra-curricular activities. He'll do scouts, Awana, and swim team. 

I feel like I am forgetting something important!

We're looking forward to a great year!

5th Grade Plan

First of all, where in the world did I get a fifth grader?? I can't even imagine how either of us are that old. I used to teach first grade, and the fifth graders seemed huge! And now I have one?!

Alas, I have a fifth grader, and it's almost time to start school.

I started re-reading the Well Trained Mind (WTM) back in March. He's moving out of the grammar stage and into the logic stage, so I wanted to be sure I knew where we were headed for the next few years.

Reading: He's going to be working from two different lists from within WTM. One is a list of books he will be reading on his own, including The Door in the Wall, I, Juan de Paraja, Adam of the Road, Robin Hood, and the King Arthur stories. We will also be working on some books together, including Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Dante's Inferno, and maybe dabble in Shakespeare at the end of the year. That's not an exhaustive list, but it does include some of the books we will be using.

Writing: We're going to try Institute in Excellence's Medievel History-Based Writing Lessons as well as Wordsmith Apprentice. Curly is a great writer with strong skills and an advanced vocabulary. I need something that will teach him how to clean it up and help him organize his many thoughts.

He really, really wanted to use this book, so I guess we'll throw it in every now and then.

Grammar: Rod and Staff's Building Christian English book 6. He's a year ahead in grammar because he loves it so much. This program is extremely thorough and advanced. It's perfect for him.

We're a little bit nerdy around here. We like diagramming sentences.

Vocabulary: Vocab from Classical Roots book 6.

Math: Math is my nemesis. I am still undecided. We have been using Singapore, which I mostly like. I have Calvert for this year, which I don't feel is up to the same level as Singapore. You can read more about that here. But I am excited about our supplemental math materials. We'll play games, of course, but we're also going to use Challenge Math and Life of Fred. A friend also sent me a link to this Pet Shop consumer math program that looks like a lot of fun.

Science: The topic this year is biology. We are not using a set curriculum or textbook for this. We are going to start the year by studying animals. We will read, explore, dissect, diagram, research, etc., a variety of animals. Later in the year, we will do a study of the human body and then move on to plant life. We are going to learn the scientific method, conduct experiments, and complete lab reports.

I've been trying to build up some reference materials for this year. These are some we will use for science.

History: We are on cycle 2 of the Story of the World, but we won't actually be using SOTW this year. I have a friend who is a former history major. She sat down (and had a good time doing it!) and wrote a plan for me! I am super excited. I don't know about half the things on her detailed timeline or list of topics, but I love that it's all written out for me. I told her she should go into business!

Some of the "fun" to go with our history studies. We're going to do lots of timelines, maps, and projects.

Latin: Curly is going to take a Latin class at the Lancaster Center for Classical Studies two mornings per week. The instructors are PhDs in Latin and Greek. I am very excited about this class.

French: We began studying French last year when I determined that I wasn't going to be able to teach him Latin. We're going to start out with this book. I'm not in love with it, but I haven't yet found something that I am in love with.

Logic: Last year we started studying logic. He went through books 3-6 last year, so we will begin with book 7 this year.

 Bible: We haven't officially studied the Bible together. I think we are going to use this blog I found as a reference: Bible Road Trip, plus these materials, to do something a little more in depth this year.

Health: We're going to try an official health book this year. We've never formally done health before, so I sort of wanted to check it out.

Art: We're going to study works of art and artists from the time period we are studying.  We are going to begin the year with practicing drawing skills (which none of us are remotely talented at), and then later in the year we will move on to sculpting and painting.

Music: We'll have piano lessons. I was hoping to get some other instrument lessons at the public school, but it doesn't look like that's going to work out.

Beyond that, it's extra-curricular activities. Swimming, scouts, Bible quiz team, Awana, a play, maybe.

I think we're going to be busy. What do you think?