Posted in Family

Well, we generally do some school year round, but the girls are going to camp this year and so we are working on wrapping things up in the next couple of weeks.

Little Miss has already finished her "school" work - grammar, math, spelling and handwriting.  Sweetie Pie Girl still has a little bit of math and grammar left, but should be done with it within the week.

Besides that though there is a bunch of big projects we are working on that are keeping us busy right now.

1)  The girls both had their end of year show for their dance/gymnastics class this evening.  They both did beautifully - really the whole class did.  It was kind of sad having the class end.  It was just a great program.  I was just so proud of my girls.  Sometimes they are so beautiful they just take my breath away.  Tonight was definitely one of those times.

2)  Next Tuesday is the Homeschooler's Fair.  I am organizing this for area homeschoolers.  I did it a few years ago as well but then moved and haven't done it since.  I was ready to do it again this year.  A homeschooler's fair is similar to a science fair, but kids can do their displays on any subject they are interested in - not just science.  We are homeschooler's after all.  SPG is doing her display board on Leonardo Da Vinci.  This was actually an assignment from TOG to do a display board a few month ago, but she had no where to show it.  Now she does.  I also got her a Leonardo DaVinci Treasure Chest.  She has been having a good time exploring that and has made a model of his flying machine for her project, and has also been reading a bio of daVinci.  She has been having a lot of fun.

LM is doing her project on the brain.  She decided a few weeks ago that she was really interested in studying anatomy.  I found her one evening, reading a human anatomy book (Usborne First Encyclopedia of the Human Body) and crying saying that she wanted to go to school!  We talked about it for a while and what it finally came down to was she really wanted to learn about the Human Body, and it wasn't in our curriculum for this year.  She thought if she were in school she would have been able to.  I explained to her that in school, they don't change the curriculum to meet what she wants, but in homeschooling you can!  That basically there was no reason we couldn't do some human body studies at home.  LOL.  She asked if she could do her "science fair" project on the body and I said sure but also suggested she narrow it down some if she wanted.  She chose to focus on the brain.  I gave her some of my college anatomy books, and she got some library books. She has made a model of the brain and is working on her display board now.  She has worked really hard and I am proud of her.  She also now realizes how cool homeschooling is. :)

So that is next Tuesday.  I will share pictures later.

3)  The very next day, we are going to Plimouth Plantation as our end of unit project on the pilgrims.  I was able to get a group rate (almost half off) if I could put together 15 people.  So I invited 30 other homeschoolers to go with me and we are going next week to Plimouth Plantation, the Wampanoag Village and Mayflower II.  It should be a phenomenal trip.  www.plimoth.org

I am just trying to figure out what possessed me to organize 2 homeschooling events in one week!  I have no one to blame but myself.  I chose the dates!

4)  We have next Thursday at home, but next Friday is their graduation/final Program from Zoo School.  We did this once a month all school year long at the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, RI.  It was a phenomenal program.  It was just homeschoolers, and every month they got to see a different part of the zoo, including parts visitors can't normally go (i.e one month they went to the zoo hospital).  Their last class they get to play "Zookeeper for the day" and everyone gives their family a tour of the zoo and then there is a graduation ceremony.  Everyone also has to do a project on an animal of their choosing.  SPG is doing hers on butterflies (there is a butterfly garden at the zoo) and LM is doing hers on Moonbears (Asiatic Brown Bears).  So again, that will be a busy but exciting day.

After that we should be all done with school!  The week after that the girls won free tickets to Six Flags New England through a reading program.  So we will do that to relax and have some fun.  And then just get ready for camp.

So all in all, we have an busy couple of weeks, but it should be a lot of fun!  I plan on blogging about some of these events as they are pretty cool. :)