The inspiration.....

KindredSpiritMom was inspired by ejoyce to write down what her and her kids have done so far this summer and then she challenged others to do the same so here it goes:

What we’ve learned/ experienced so far this summer:

~The girls saw their first fireflies at night, we caught one to look at it up close, we accidentally killed it, and then we got a book from the library about them and learned that the reason they "blink" is because they are sending signals to attract a mate.

~They are both in the process of learning how to swim and becoming more comfortable in the water.

~We’ve gone to the beach and experimented with sand and water.

~We’ve splashed in puddles and played in the rain.

~We’ve seen beautiful fireworks.

~We've gone to the library every single week.

~We've read at least 30 books.

~We learned that the Disney version of Pocohantas is not the true story.

~We’ve found treasures(clothes, books and the desk) at the Salvation Army store.

~We’ve met several new people while looking for a new church.

~My oldest just learned how to ride her bike without training wheels.

~My oldest learned how make several lunch meals with very little assistance.

~My very sensitive youngest has shown great improvement at being able to laugh at herself.

~We went to the zoo and saw a demonstration about male elephants and another demonstration about birds of prey.

~We’ve listened to Yo-Yo Ma, Chopin, and Andrea Bocelli as well as our normal Christian music.

~We’ve made and experimented with rubbery goo.

~We’ve made and used bath paint.

~We’ve added to new things to our day: (1)a kindness jar to cultivate kindness and (2) snuggling in Mom and Dad’s bed in the evening and listening to an audio book (we’re doing Black Beauty right now which also happens to fit in perfectly with our emphasis on the virtue of kindness)

~We’ve been learning about different breeds of dogs and we saw our first ever-in person-real life- Newfoundland dog, which I am in love with.

~We’ve used math manipulative to do sorting and fractions.

~We’ve found many different varieties of wild flowers including daisies, lilies, cat tails, buttercups and Queen Anne’s lace.

Here come's the Epiphany....

My plan was to do our classical structured homeschooling for 36 weeks, just like the public schools and then tell the girls they had the summer off but really we'd be "unschooling."  Well, as I made this list it hit me:  I COULD BE GETTING CREDIT FOR THIS WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND RELAX OUR SCHEDULE AT THE SAME TIME!!!!! I've also been reading A Charlotte Mason Companion by K. Andreola and I've been reading articles from the Heart of Wisdom website so my classical agenda is in the process of getting a make-over.  So from now on we will be doing school year round, just don't tell my kids!!!!!