Adventures in Summerland...

 Wow! What a busy, but oh-so-fun, summer we've had around here! I cannot believe that August starts in less than a week and that means school starts in 2 weeks! We have had quite a few visitors this summer, fun little trips, and adventures of our own around town. Here is a recap of what we have been up to:

  The end of May was my middle sisters wedding... we had a great time helping to celebrate her celebrate this wonderful time in her life and we were all part of the wedding party. Chickadee's favorite part of the day was the dance floor during the reception... I'm pretty sure of it!  (Although, she did take her flower girl duties VERY seriously...lol)

Getting ready...

Family picture!

Fanning the bride!!!

Time to drop some flowers... look at her determination!

One of my favorite pics of the night!

Dancing the night away....

In June we had our church's Backyard Bible School!! It was one of the best ones we have done and we had a great turn out! The following week Andy was gone for Children's camp and Chickadee and I decided to do some rearranging of our living room/family room! It was quite a task, but we managed to get it finished and Daddy approved when he got home ;).  The same week, we also had a garage sale in which I was able to sell a fair amount of "stuff" and Chickadee made some good money selling popsicles! 

 July hit full swing and stated off on a sad note. Our 15 yr. old nephew passed away on the 1st after battling a disease called ALD for over 8 years. It was a bittersweet time as we were all glad he was no longer suffering and instead enjoying a healthy body celebrating his healing in Heaven! However, it doesn't take away the loss we feel here on earth. Andy officiated the funeral, which was hard, but God got him through and it was a beautiful service. 

Coleton (before he got sick) and his Grandpa!

  During July we also headed to my grandparents for the 4th of July and were able to spend a few days with my parents who were also visiting for the weekend. We headed to my old elementary and middle school to watch the fireworks. Chickadee got to play on the playground at my old elementary school while we were waiting. She was excited to see my old school and I thought it was pretty neat how although some things had changed, some were still the same..

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  We also had a lot of visitors in the month of July: some of my cousins and their kids, my sister, my parents, some of Andy's family.... we joked we were running a hotel, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything! We also managed to head to our Museum 3 times in 3 weeks (due to all the visitors wanting to check it out!) It was great and I know for sure that we definitely got our money's worth out of our membership this year! 

Finally, Chickadee took some basic swim lessons. Our community pool offered a 2 week session and she was ready! She had some really incredible teachers (and a few COLD days- like 60 degree air temp) and totally grew in her swimming abilities! At the end of the week, she even got to jump off the diving board (into 12 ft deep water!!!) and swim to the side all by herself! We are so impressed and her hard work and excited with her for her new accomplishments!! 

And that brings us up to the end of July... Chickadee and I will be taking one more trip in 2 weeks to go visit my sister in GA and then we will be starting school! I can't believe we are almost ready to start first grade, but we are! Exciting time ahead!!

Adventures in The Great Outdoors with Poppins Book Nook

 This month's theme for the Poppins Book Nook (more info here) was "The Great Outdoors"

Chickadee and I had a wonderful time reading books about the great great outdoors and doing our activity together! Some of the books we chose to read this time included the following:

Curious George goes Camping 
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee
Birds (a nature book all about Birds)
Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee
 .... and several others!
   
    After we had read several books, we chose one book to focus on for our lapbook components that go along with each month's theme. Chickadee and I chose "Curious George Goes Camping" for this aspect. Chickadee filled in the answers to each booklet or colored pictures as it suggested. She is really liking making this large lapbook so far and we like to look back at each month's themes each time we pull it out! It will be a great keepsake for our school year!

After we had finished that, I gave her the activity I had created. I made up a "Nature Scavenger Hunt"  and she was so excited!  This is the scavenger hunt I created:

   We read over the list together first so that she knew what she was looking for, then Chickadee and I headed outdoors! As soon as we opened our front door she exclaimed: "I hear birds chirping!" and checked that off her list. We walked around our neighborhood for a bit and found the things we could there. The next day we headed to our local nature park to find a few of the harder things. 

Here you can see her "Smelling something Beautiful; finding a cool stick; wildflowers; 2 different types of leaves;  feeling something smooth (a rock); and something rough (tree bark)"
We had a wonderful time enjoying the great outdoors and spending time together as a family! We also headed to a local campground with some friends for the day during this month and enjoyed a hike on one of the trails and just being in "The Great Outdoors" for awhile! We had a wonderful adventure this month exploring this topic and are excitedly looking forward to next months Pirate theme! 

Until our next adventure,

Adventures in Summer Learning!

   This summer I created a "Summer Learning Basket" for Chickadee. I wanted to give her things to keep her mind active, but also let her dictate what and when she did these activities. I wanted it to be pretty laid back and fun for her (and not too stressful for me as it is my summer break too!) :)  

  I really enjoy doing thematic unit studies throughout the year so I decided to stick with that to create her summer basket. The first week of summer I kept it really light and just put in some books about summer, a few art projects, look and find books, a puzzle, etc., and her Summer Bridges K-1 Activity Book.  I told her I would like for her to do a page a day in this workbook (very easy, but keeps her mind active).

  Starting with the second week of our summer break, I included 3 Dinosaurs' Jump In To Summer Learning  activity sheets and she completes one set of these a day for the week. The first week was space themed worksheets so I included books about space, art/science projects about space, space themed games, toys, a leapfrog math DVD, and a sensory play box. 

I gather all the materials I need for the week on Sunday night then place them all in a big blue crate I found at wal-mart last summer. The crate sits in our living/family room so its close enough to find an activity and do and theres no need to go find supplies or other things. Chickadee loves this set up and likes looking through the crate each day to pick out something new she didn't see before! My favorite activities from space week were the games (from Mailbox) and the 2 projects. 

We made our own paper mache' moon lantern from a trial Babba Co. (no longer available) box I had gotten 2 summers ago and just saved the projects until Chickadee could truly participate and enjoy them. 

(I love her face in the first picture!)

We also made rockets from a trial Kiwi Crate that we got in the mail just a week before! The timing couldn't have been more perfect! 

This is just a peek into what our summer learning adventures look like. Other weekly themes will include Ocean/Beach, Dinosaurs, Pond, Robots, etc. We look forward to sharing those summer adventures with you as well! 

Until Life's Next Adventure...
~B

The end of an adventure...

 Our first official school year (Kindergarten) has come to a close! It has been a crazy fun adventure this year as Chickadee and I (and my husband) waded through the waters of homeschooling! We had many ups, a few downs, and lots of fun memories! Here are a few highlights from our year:

August: First Day of Kindergarten! 
September: Trip to Disney World!
October: Charlotte's Web Unit Study
November: Learning to Read!
December: Truth in the Tinsel Christmas Study!
January: 100th Day!
February: Animal Secret's Homeschool class at the Children's Museum!
March: Fairy Tales Unit Study!
April: Road Trip USA study (begin)

MAY:  

I can't believe that I have a first grader now, but I know that beyond a doubt, homeschooling her this year was the right choice! We have all learned so much from this experience and are excited to see what the next year holds!  Overall I was pleased with our curriculum and only had to make a few tweaks. Along with literature studies, a social studies magazine, and resources from our library, our Core Curriculum we used this year included:
Horizons Math K
All About Reading Level 1
Starfall Learn to Read
Elemental Science- Exploring Science
Home Art Studio
Writeshop Primary Book A
A Reason For Handwriting K
What's In the Bible with Buck Denver? (complete series)

We have now wrapped up our school year, are in the process of reorganizing and cleaning our school room to get ready for next year, and we are enjoying the summer!  We have already made a trip out of state (for my sisters wedding!), gone swimming at our local pool, played in the sprinkler numerous times, read many many books, joined our library's summer reading program, and done some cool science/art projects! Summer is in full swing and we are living it up!

Until life's next adventure,
~B


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Adventures in the Northeast Region part 1

 The next several lessons of our Road Trip USA start by introducing you to the states of the Northeast region. We were able to complete four states before the end of our school year and will be taking a break until next fall. We were able to learn about Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, and Maryland. Chickadee is really loving this study and I am amazed at how well she has been able to learn each of the state capitols, learn some of the state animals/insects/etc., learn where the state is located, and other information about each state. With the Road Trip USA curriculum, there is a coloring page included for each state as well as postcard to make. The postcards are my favorite activity! Below are some of Chickadee's coloring pages and postcards:

 

After this was finished, I cut it out and glued the picture to the message side and laminate them to keep better! I was really excited that just before we started our study, Highlights Which Way USA sent us an advertising envelope and inside were stickers (one for each state) so that is what we use for our stamps on our postcards!

Here is Chickadee eating a poptart one morning when she looked at me and proclaimed "It looks like Delaware!" Love that girl's creativity!

Also, during the study of Delaware we learned about the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Road Trip USA has instructions on how to build a replica of the bridge. We had a lot of fun working on it together as a family. Here are a few pictures! (And this bridge is still in our school room... I can't throw it out yet, we worked hard on it!) Chickadee had a lot of fun testing some of her small cars on the roadway too! I had her test it before the "string supports" were added and after to see WHY the supports were so important!

Proud Engineer!

Lastly, during our study of Maryland, we learned that they have a state boat: a Skipjack. Chickadee and her Dad made some of these boats and tested them in the water. 

Again, I can't say how much we love this curriculum, the hands on approach, and the fun we have while learning about our 50 states! Looking forward to the fall when we can pick back up into our study! 

For more info on this wonderful Road Trip USA curriculum by Confessions of a Homeschooler click here!

Until Life's Next Adventure,

~B