Homeschool Summer School

My good friend over at A Few of my Favorite Things just blogged about kids, learning, and how kids seem to need to learn all the time.  When they aren't learning, they dissolve into grumpy chaos.

We've had a long enough summer break over here.  How about you?

I've decided in the last week that I need to take a break from the parent partnership program that we have been a part of for 2 1/2 years.  It is nice having money for curriculum support, but the laws are changing to require more and more busy work for us with less and less funding.  The kids and I are spending way too much time jumping through bureaucratic hoops than we are actually learning.  So that means the system no longer works.  Especially at a time where I need to be able to focus on helping Grandad with his needs.  Packing up a ton of busy work workbooks to take to the hospital is not my idea of good learnin'.  But tossing a nice paperback classic and a few lined notebooks and reading out loud as a group in a waiting room is much better.  Plus, we look cool.

We are going to use Sonlight, which is a curriculum not supported by the PPP programs because of its non-secular views.  Which is a little exasperating because although the Instructor's Guides have a Christian viewpoint, the books they use are the very same books being used in the public school (classics, Newbery award winners, etc).  I understand state money not being used for the guides, but to toss out the books as well?  Weird.  We aren't allowed to purchase "library type books" anymore.

I thought about enrolling part time, so science, math, PE, and language arts curriculum would be supported and use my own money for history.  And one would think if you were enrolled 80% full time, you would get 80% of your funds.  Which would be "enrolling" for four classes instead of five.  But nope!  You get less than half if you enroll at 80%.  For four classes instead of five.  Isn't that a dirty trick? They will give me $1250 (half for kindergarten) per child if I enroll at 100% and spend a huge amount of time writing up reviews for 15 classes per month, but if I want to only write up 12 reviews, I only get $450.

Anyway, back to summer and kids and learning.  This morning, S asked me what the hardest math was.  I told him he will do Calculus before he is done with high school and that is the hardest for basic education.  They started boasting how they already know algebra and it was so easy.  "Yeah, four plus something is five.  That is so easy!"  I said, "What if you get something plus something equals four?  Then what do you do?"

 I'll tell you what I'd do... I'd pull out my white board and make them do math before breakfast!

This morning they learned about number lines, sticking two number lines together and naming them x and y and that mathematicians call those number lines axis (axes for more than one).  They figured out different values for x and y when the equaled four, including negative numbers.  And they learned how to plot those points on the graph.  And that is what they get for thinking they are so smart.  They get to find out there will always be someone smarter than they are...all the way to infinity!

A Good Trade

S: Mom, could you finish my pie for me?  I don't like it.
Me: Sure!  I'll finish your pie if you...

...put a diaper on the baby!

Milk!

I took the kids to meet the cow that gives us milk today!  How fun!  We've been buying our milk from this local source for awhile now, and this milk is better than any milk we have ever had.

Lola is the cow that gives our milk

IJ feeds Jada

S was fascinated with the bulls

D pets "our" cow

Lola thinks F is a tasty treat 

E has turned into a cow!

 And the best part is... M is seriously considering letting us get our own beef to raise!!!

M's Vacation

Now that M has spent one of his two weeks of vacation time at Scout camp, a few days running his dad back and forth from treatment, and getting his new computer set up, he is ready to really take a break and...

...build an addition to the shed so the bikes and mowers have someplace else to park besides the carport.  Part of this project involved looking for all the tools...

...and to do that, M had to make a dump run.  This meant he had to clear the van of my survival-with-kids things and the seats.  By the way, if you ever happen to have chickens free ranging, you shouldn't leave the doors to your vehicles open:

Rockets

Tonight we launched rockets with our beloved Cub Scout pack.  And it was a very windy night.  Wind + Rockets + small field surrounded by tall trees = Many Lost Rockets.  So my boys had planned on not launching their rockets, just bringing them to the meeting.  But on the way there, the people with unmatched chromosomes decided they would take the risk and launch them anyway.  Whatever.

I mean, I don't really care that we spent $50 on rockets and engines and we were just going to blast them into the wind and get them stuck in trees.  The money is spent and isn't coming back no matter what they do with those darn things.  I had my fun building them.  They can destroy/lose them how they choose.

The boys had a blast.  Get it? Blast?  I crack myself up.  S's Hornet had a great flight and came down in a small tree that was easily reached.  By two boys.  One pulled the nose cone and the other pulled the body and the elastic cord that held them together broke.  And that was the one and only flight for the Hornet.

IJ's Alpha went so very high, but the nose cone did not come out.  So the rocket plummeted toward earth and slammed nose first into the parking lot.  Thank goodness no one was hit!  The rocket was bent and the nose cone pushed so far in the body we couldn't get it out.  And that was the one and only flight for the Alpha.

Hooray for Cub Scouts and Estes rockets!

Guineas

My Facebook friends already know about our latest fowl addition to the barnyard.  Guinea.

Why?  I need more birds.  Just kidding.  Because my friend bought 30 and that is too many.  So now I have 73 birds.  And that is too many: 42 full size chickens, 17 growing chicks, 6 turkeys, and now 11 guineas.  The guineas are cute now, but they are going to grow to be ugly loud things that will taste delicious!

Camp Thunderbird, Take 2

M and IJ just got back from IJ's turn at Camp Thunderbird.  The big difference?  RAIN!  It rained the WHOLE time.  Their towels are so wet that it looks like they just dipped them in the lake before they came home.  IJ's feet were so wet he looked like he just crawled out of a three-hour bath.

IJ's Bat

Swimming Relay

Ringing the Bell

Like Father Like Son: Polar Bear Swim

Camp Leaky

Archery

BB Guns

Bull's Eye!

Rain Evacuation!

A little (okay, a lot) of rain didn't stop IJ from enjoying himself.  In fact, swimming in the rain was great!