I just realized how long it has been since I've actually written anything on my blog.    We took our RV trip out west & got to see Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona & Sequoia N.P. & Yosemite N.P. in California.  The girls became Junior Rangers at the Petrified Forest & are quite proud of their badges!  It was a fun trip, but we were all ready to get home.  Of course the very day we get home, our A/C went out.  It was a miserable few days until the repairman could get the needed part.  We were sleeping with 4 or 5 fans blowing on us. 

Since returning home, we've also started our new semester at co-op.  That has kept me super busy since I'm the treasurer.  The girls are enjoying their classes there & are making some new friends.  They've also started another season of soccer, & tomorrow will begin drama class. 

Friday morning was our official first day of school for this new school year.  We kept it pretty light.  SJ did one math lesson while SD did one math & one phonics lesson.  Today, they each did a litle more.  I really wasn't planning on starting them until Aug. 18, but with our trip to Yosemite later this month, I decided to get going with lessons now.

Speaking of Yosemite, we are going in my in-laws RV.  We've done one overnight trip in the RV this summer, & we've taken a 3 night trip to Ruidoso, NM (both times we stayed in a cabin while the in-laws stayed in the RV).  With planning these trips, I've become interested in families who travel full time.  I've even found a cool website that I need to study even more.  I don't know if that's something that my family would do for a long stretch of time, but I could see us doing a short term of 2-3 months.  It could be fun & interesting!

I'm playing around tonight with how to upload images.  This is just a trial run to figure out what size it needs to be.  This piece of art was done by SJ in her K art class this year.  At the end of the class, she had to put 1st place ribbons on her favorite pieces that met certain criteria.  This was a 1st place winner!  By the way, SJ wants to be an artist when she grows up.  SD changes her mind almost every other week about what she wants to be, but SJ has been firm in her commitment to being an artist.

One of my hobbies is scrapbooking.  I really enjoy doing it but haven't done any pages in over a year.  I finally remedied that situation by getting a few pages done within the last week.  It all started because I was finally bit by the organization/cleaning bug.  Scary, I know!   I'm still organizing (scrapbook materials & homeschool books), so my house is a disaster right now.  I did go through our Fisher Price Little People playsets & gave some to the next door neighbor for her grandkids that she babysits.  I kept a few playsets & will give them to the girls if & when they have kids.

I'm going to go look at the forums section & try to figure out how to add pics. etc.  If I can figure it out, then I'll add one of my scrapbook pages.

Have a great day & try to stay cool!  It's supposed to be over 100 here again today.

The girls & I went to Walmart this morning to buy some of the 5 cent spiral notebooks & 15 cent 2 pocket folders.  I'm pretty sure I bought more notebooks than I'll actually need, but hey I only spent 75 cents total on them!  I've already put them in a box to put in the office closet, so they won't be slipping & sliding all over the shelf until we do need them.

This week, I ordered the girls curriculum for the upcoming school year.  SJ will be in 1st grade, & SD will be in K.  We're using K12, so our new courses will be up on the OLS on August 1.  We probably won't actually begin until August 18.  I'll use those 2 1/2 weeks to look through the new books, organize bookshelves, & figure out a plan.  Schooling 2 at a time can be done, right?!

My older daughter, SJ, finished up her K work on July 5!  We took a picture of her wearing her sister's cap & gown from preschool graduation.  We also gave her a little certificate for completing K.  It's so nice having some time off to do summer things. 

There's something about this time of year that makes me depressed.  Last May, I was a little bit depressed when SJ graduated from her pre-K class.  I was worried about her not seeing her friends again, & it really got me all emotional.  Luckily, she has made some homeschool friends, but she doesn't get to see them too often.  Now that SD will graduate from pre-K in less than 2 weeks, I'm getting all emotional again.  Part of that end of the year thing is that SJ will have her last Museum School class next Monday.  Both kids also have their last soccer games on Saturday, & we're thinking that SJ won't play anymore.  Even though she would just be in the under 7 group in the fall, they're already starting to get too competitive.  We're looking into piano lessons & martial arts, so she definitely won't be without activities!

We already have a couple of things planned for the beginning of the summer, so that will help get us in to a different routine.  We're going to the beach for a few days over Memorial Day weekend.  The girls have swim lessons the first week of June, & throughout June & July there's the summer reading club at the library.  They've always enjoyed that!  We have a couple of things planned with our co-op group also which gives us something to look forward to.

Two months ago, I posted about wanting to try Calvert math next school year for my older DD.  I bought the 1st grade math, & we received it today.  After taking a quick glance, I'm not real thrilled with the teacher's manual.  I was really wanting it to be more scripted than it is.  I'm definitely going to give it a try, & who knows, I might end up liking the lesson less scripted!

Previously, I was debating about signing up with Cosmeo or Discovery education (unitedstreaming).  I ended up taking advantage of the group buy for Discovery with the homeschool buyer's co-op.  I've already found quite a few neat video segments for my kids to watch.  I need to check out that site more thoroughly, because I'm sure I've missed lots of cool stuff!

In my co-op class this week, we're going to read The Cat in the Hat.  To me that is one of the very first Dr. Seuss books that comes to mind when his name is mentioned.   Since Theodor Geisel was born on March 2, I decided to decorate the room for a birthday party.  We're also going to make edible hats with vanilla wafers, white frosting, & red gummy Lifesavers.  I'm still waiting on permission from the parents of 2 kids.  I figured that these "hats" won't make it out of the classroom without getting eaten, so I should probably get the ok from the parents!

Last weeks class went really well.  We read Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  I had made some ahead of time & let the kids play with it after the story.  I was surprised that a few of the kids didn't want to touch it.  One little boy asked me to give the recipe to his mom.  I wonder if she made any for him?!  Before class let out, we played Hullabaloo.  I don't know if it helps get extra energy out or gets the kids riled up, but they had fun.