Last week found us field tripping our way around Virginia -- the weather has finally reached Goldilocks levels here (not too hot, not too cold) so we can be outside without melting in the heat or freezing. 

 Monday, we took our church homeschool group on a geocache scavenger hunt at a nearby historical farm.  To find the cache, we first had to complete a worksheet about the different exhibits, which gave us the correct cache coordinates -- then we had a mile-long hike along a nature trail to find the hidden cache.

And on Tuesday, we finally got a chance to visit Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington.  The boys have never been there before, and I toured it at least 11 years ago, and the entire place has been updated.  There's a new visitor center, with a museum and education center, a movie theater, and a food court (always popular with the boys). 

We rented the audio tour, which was the best money I've spent in a long time -- the boys loved being able to use the MP3 players and to listen to the history stories on their own for each exhibit.  It was a lot of walking though, and we didn't even get to tour everything.

(Mental note for next time: don't walk down to the wharf on the Potomac River -- the view is beautiful, but the hike back up the hill is a killer.)

After all that fun, it was hard to get back to our seat work on Wednesday, but we still got through our weekly assignments.  I'm hoping to start working on an election lapbook in the next few weeks since the boys are really interested in the upcoming election.

We're about 7 weeks into another school year, including a fall break (our trip to Walt Disney World!) and sick kiddos (viral infections and the stomach flu -- not so great).

Our new school schedule of 4-5 weeks of work, followed by 1 week off, seems to be going well so far.  It's nice to know that we're never far from some time to relax (and time to get the household chores under control too).

Here's where we are so far:

In history, we're studying the causes and initial battles of the Civil War.  We've been reading a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and both boys are reading books on the subject -- Hobbes on life during the Civil War, and Calvin on the Monitor and the Merrimac.  It's a difficult subject for a teacher (me!) to explain in simple terms, especially for a 2nd grader who wants to separate everything into Good Guys and Bad Guys.

For science, we finished reading an introduction to chemistry, including the parts of an atom, which Calvin now likes to draw just for fun.  We're now reading a book explaining the scientific method.  And now we need to come up with our own experiment that uses the scientific method.  I would not agree to the boys' initial idea -- see how long it takes milk to spoil when it's sitting on a kitchen counter.  I think we're going to try it with bread instead -- less of a weird smell issue.

For Calvin:
In Language arts, he's learning about nouns and simple capitalization rules.

Math: working on memorizing the addition and subtraction tables, and learning about adding 2-digit numbers.  He's very irritated that he has to start with the ones column to add.

He has also has a number of occupational therapy exercises for his motor skills that we've been working on.  And he's enjoying his yoga class, which just started again for the fall.

For Hobbes:

Language arts: reviewing verbs and learning about direct objects and predicate adjectives.  His IEW writing class began this week; his first assignment is a 1-paragraph essay on a topic we're studying in science.

Math: reviewing long division.  Using Teaching Textbooks has been great so far -- Hobbes likes being able to complete his math assignments completely on his own, and the lessons are a great combination of new subjects and review.

His art class also started this week -- he's going to be doing projects at a local pottery studio -- this week, his class sculpted pumpkins out of clay.

And I have another 2 weeks before our next scheduled break.  Hurray for the teacher!

Happy Birthday!

to my sweet, smart, freckle-faced, not-so-little 8 year old, Calvin.

All 11 1/2 pounds of him arrived on the morning of September 15, eight years ago.  And I'm pretty sure he hasn't stopped moving ever since...  He's a funny, imaginative kid whose love of explosions will keep our lives interesting for a long time!

So, we've finished our first 5-week school block in our New And Improved Year Round School Schedule.

It must be time for Fall Break - how about a road trip?

A really long road trip... maybe 13 hours or so...

And we ended up here:

We had a great vacation -- a perfect fall break for our school!  Here's a shot of our hotel -- Pop Century Resort (our room was in the 1990s section, hence the giant cell phone staircase.)

We had the chance to spend time in all the parks, plus visit the water parks and Disney Quest (virtual and video game center).

Here's Calvin playing in the  Pop-up fountain at our resort.  He was instantly soaking wet.

The boys meet Donald Duck in Epcot:

And the biggest surprise of our trip?  We won Dream Fast passes at Hollywood Studios one morning -- it gave us instant front-of-the-line access to the most popular rides in the park. 

A great way to spend our Fall Break!

And it doesn't involve explosions, dirt, or noise...

Every night, about 10 minutes after they go to bed, both of the boys wander out of their room down the hall to the bathroom to get a drink of water.  They have special cups in there with their names on it that they can use.   They each grab their mug, and before they take a drink, they clink their cups together, like they're "toasting."

Matt and I watched them do this several nights in a rom (we can see them from our bedroom) before we asked what they're doing.

Hobbes's response: "We're toasting to our good friendship."

Makes up for all the arguments during the day...

We started back to school again last Monday, full of energy and enthusiasm for 5th and 2nd grade.

And then we all promptly got sick 2 days later.  Which has put a bit of a crimp in our schooling plans.

How can there be so many yucky viruses running around in August?

But, we're all finally healthy and back on schedule.  We started a few weeks early this year because we're trying out a new schedule -- 4 weeks of school, followed by a week off, with a shorter summer vacation. 

So let's see -- what are we studying this year?

We're starting Sonlight's Core 4 program -- Modern American history (starting in 1850).  Hobbes has a new math program that is all computer-based, and which he loves -- he can sit right down at the computer and work on his math without Mom's help.  Calvin is continuing with his Singapore math workbooks, plus some on-line math drills.

We're emphasizing grammar and language arts this year, with Hobbes continuing his IEW writing class from last year.  I found a new language arts program for Calvin that appeals to his visual learning style.

And for science -- we're studying chemistry!  Matt and the boys have already started building molecule models at night.  I'm sure Calvin will start blowing things up any day now.

This is Calvin's new funny joke:

Calvin: Hi, Mom.  (Comes over, chats about something, gives me a big hug.)

Me: (Thinking -- how sweet!  He still wants to hug his mom!)

Calvin: (Leans over during the hug and blows a raspberry on my arm -- we call it a Zerbert.  Runs away laughing.)

And I fall for the "I Just Want To Hug Mom" routine every time.  You'd think after this happens repeatedly over the past few days that I'd remember and suspect the Zerbert.

Nope.  Here's me, still thinking he wants to hug his Mom.

And then comes that big wet BLURGH on my arm.

An Out of This World Adventure

In the year 3000, a family lived on Mars. The family consisted of the Dad, the Mom, and the boy. One day, the family decided to take a trip to Pluto. So, they hopped into their space ship. When they had secured themselves, the computer asked, “Where would you like to go today?” Quickly, the Dad replied, “Pluto.” “Calculating route,” the computer replied. Revving the engines, they blasted off from their home on Mars!

            On the way to Pluto, the computer yelled, “Asteroids!” Asteroids were floating past the ship, and one of them accidentally crashed right into the ship! Spinning out of control, the ship quickly spiraled down to the planet far below. Thankfully, the ship landed in water, which cushioned the impact. Because they thought they were going to drown, they screamed with terror. Asteroids surrounded the ship.

             Quickly, a nearby alien saw them and jumped into the water. After pulling the ship onto shore, the alien fell into a tired heap. Jumping out, the family looked at the city while an alien pulled the ship to a repair shop. When a repair man came out of the repair shop, the Dad asked when the ship would be able to fly again. “I would say about two to three years.” the alien replied. Two to three years! On Mars, it would only take a couple of minutes! The Dad asked the alien if it knew another way to get back to Mars. The alien replied, “Try visiting Crazy Calvin. He might know.” When they got to Crazy Calvin’s and asked if he knew how to get back to Mars, he replied, “Hold hands and make a circle around your ship and say, `booer borro boop.’ Nearby aliens waved goodbye as the family teleported back to Mars.