Orchestra

 Why do we make our kids participate in orchestra? Because I like having my own personal concerts every day 

He’s Right, You Know

 

Back to School 2021-2022

 Time for my annual curriculum round up! We are a week into our school year and things are running as smoothly as it did last year. I’ve upped the amount of work we do because these kids are so good at their routines and we have so much extra time without outside activities.

Jason is finishing up his kindergarten work with Memoria Press before he starts on the First Grade level. He is such a young first grader with a July birthday, so I’m in no rush.  Math is MathUSee Alpha. He is also using Bookshark’s new science program, completely redone!  I’m so glad I still have kids young enough to use their revamped program.

Heidi is in second grade.  She loves drawing and reading the best but she is also very good at cursive, Latin, and math.  She is still very bouncy and needs to take lots of breaks to change position and run around.  She is using Memoria Press for all subjects except science.  Bookshark Level C science is what she is using, but because it is so new the program is in backorder. Still. She is also using MathUSee Beta.

Lula loves building and inventing things. She is using Memoria Press’ Fourth Grade curriculum along with Bookshark Science D and MathUSee Delta. She is also reading  Story of the World volumes 1&2 with Daniel and Fiona. She is also joining them in orchestra this year!

Daniel and Fiona are my middle school crew. How that happened so quickly I do not know. It seems like yesterday Fiona was having her first day of school. They are a great team and balance each other out.  They are using Memoria Press Sixth Grade plus a modified version of  Bookshark’s Level G. They are using Real Science 4 Kids Middle School Geology and MathUSee Zeta. Science is too easy for them, but they have a lot of their plates with the rigorous Memoria Press package. They also participate in orchestra.

Genevieve is heading into her second year of high school. She is learning valuable time management skills with working 20 hours a week, elite level vaulting, and doing enough schoolwork to satisfy me. It’s a delicate balance. She is focusing on the Middle Ages through renaissance times in history. She is mostly using Memoria Press (I’m a big fan, can you tell?) and using Novare Earth Science and MathUSee Geometry. I’m bulking it up with actual field trips. Okay, you got me. She just hikes with Mark when she’s not vaulting or working.

Shane and Ian are taking online classes at Tacoma Community College and working. Once upon a time they only wanted in person classes, but now they know how much it costs to drive around and how inconvenient it is to plan work around classes. They like to do their schoolwork in the evening after working a full day. Both boys are workin go full time and have shown great money management skills. I’m so proud of them.

Shane Graduates

 And just like that, Shane is done with school.  

It doesn't really seem like yesterday Shane started Kindergarten.  But it does.

I don't know if he appreciates what an interesting education he has had.  Maybe someday he will understand why I was so hands off with him.  I never really needed to come down hard on him or set boundaries or ground him from fun until he was caught up.

Here is a link to the Washington Homeschool Organization graduation announcements.  You can scroll down to see Shane's.

I'm so proud of him and can't wait to see what he chooses to do with his life. 

Next up, Tacoma Community College!

Great Wolf Lodge

 It’s been a long time since I’ve taken the kids anywhere. Partly due to life and mostly due to Covid19. I’ve become quite the homebody over the last few years and taking young kids in public is no longer the adventure it once was. One of my friends talked me into going to Great Wolf Lodge with her family for her youngest child’s birthday and... we went!

Yesterday, I packed Fiona, Daniel, Lula, Heidi, and Jason into the Big White Van and we hit the road. When we got over the Purdy bridge, the Little3 got super excited. I didn’t realize it had been at least FOUR months since I had taken them into town! 

We had so much fun. I resurrected my Large Family FUNctioning spirit and was super organized. We worked on how to walk politely up and down stairs and hallways and how to not block other people. “We walk how we drive!” I kept reminding them. I wish other people walked like we do haha. 

Heidi is a free spirit wild child. Is anyone surprised? The very first thing she did at the water park was wander off and get lost. It was so loud in there no one could hear anyone calling, so it just had to be that way. I made sure she wore a life jacket and trusted the staff would keep her relatively safe. 

Last time we went to GWL, I didn’t get to have much fun. This time was different! I actually got to go on the water slides! I had other parents to help keep track of my kids! I had kids that could keep track of themselves AND were willing to watch Jason. But I still had Heidi. 

Her two biggest incidents were leaving our hotel room to visit our friend’s room without telling me she was leaving and going to the deep end of the wave pool without a life jacket.