July 26, 2008

Happy 10th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

To celebrate we went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire. Here's a slideshow of our day! Enjoy!!

July 21, 2008

It's Ocean Day in Japan! I haven't pulled out any ocean activities just yet but maybe I'll grab something off the net. :)


Third Monday of July (national holiday)
Ocean Day (umi no hi):
A recently introduced national holiday to celebrate the ocean. The day marks the return of Emperor Meiji from a boat trip to Hokkaido in 1876.


K has been gone for a week now, he'll be back on Wednesday. He decided to take some time off at his grandparent's for a bit. We see him every couple of days because we are so busy in the summer.. I'm guess that he's loving the time away from everybody though.

Tomorrow is pool day! More swimming fun for us.

July 15, 2008

Another day of swimming! It was very hot and humid today so we spent the day in the pool. A practiced holding his breath and putting his face in the water while J perfected going under water and picking up things from the bottom of the pool. K played with the big kids, pool volleyball must be lots of fun.

K also discovered he has a sensitivity to chlorine. He now has to be very careful NOT to swallow ANY pool water. After a day of play in the pool he got out with a nasty cough, very red eyes and a headache. :(

Miss S perfected her social skills with all of the new faces at the pool. She's such a flirt! She also spent the day walking all over the place, her newfound skill. She's going to be running before her first birthday.


No pictures today, I spent most of the day in the pool having too much fun to take the time to get the camera out. :D

July 14, 2008

Today was a trip to the Illinois State Beach. We collected many rocks to look at and to paint. Daddy found some fossils which were very cool. K wasn't feeling too well so he decided to stay home. J and A were in all their glory studying rocks. :) Lake Michigan goes on and on forever.. it almost looks like the ocean when you look across it.

July 12 and 13, 2008

Last night we discovered that some wasps decided to make our attic vent their home. They were starting to enter the upstairs (where K and J sleep) and I felt it was a bit risky for us to be there for the time being. J is somewhat allergic and I didn't want to take the chance.

For the time being, we are hanging out at my grandparent's house. Enjoying the change in routine and of course the multigenerational banter. The boys went to the driving range this afternoon. S is walking more and more each day, probably around 75% of the time now.

Hopefully, we'll be able to trek back home on Sunday with no more wasps! (well.. maybe I'll dig up some info on wasps and share it with the boys. I'm sure I can find something interesting about them. LOL)

July 11, 2008

Last night Daddy rescued a toad from his work. We are observing the toad, watching it eat and hopefully grow.


Here are some of the things we learned today about toads.

•we were surprised to learn that toads are actually frogs
•most toads have stubby bodies with short hind legs(for walking instead of hopping)
•they prefer dryer climates (making their bodies dry and warty)
•some have poison glands behind their eyes
•toads tend to lay eggs in long chains instead of clusters and there's at least one species of toad that has live young.
•they are find worldwide except in Australasia, polar regions, Madagascar, and Polynesia, though Bufo marinus has been artificially introduced into Australia and some South Pacific islands.

Tonight when Daddy gets home we'll probably release the toad in our backyard where it will hopefully help eliminate some mosquitoes.

Pics to come!

July 10, 2008

In an effort to get in to the habit of updating this regularly, I'm going to try and post daily.

Today we had some friends over that we hadn't seen in a very long time. Everyone had a really great time! I made a yummy lunch of mac-n-cheese with no icky stuff hot dogs even S enjoyed it.

J and A were having a nice game of brain quest earlier... A gets really excited when he answers correctly. I even got in on the fun.. I need to make a mental note to get more of those, in all different grades.


An interesting observation.. J and A are really looking anywhere right now for some mental stimulation. J made me download spelling bee lists to drill just him at night. A has a million questions about e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.. I'm thinking within the month we'll probably pick up a more active school plan.

I worry about K. He doesn't, at this time, seem to have an interest in finding something to stimulate his brain. He prefers to have his work handed to him and directed what to do. He definitely takes delight in helping his brothers to learn so I'm hoping some of their interests rub off on him. I'm thinking maybe a longer deschooling period might have been beneficial for him but we'll see as we enter in to the next year. I'm sure being in traditional school for 6 years made an impact, I believe it might take some time to unlearn those habits.

The past week...

I wanted to get started on this blog... while we are definitely taking a break from paper drills and the hum drum of regular school work we are far from not learning while we take a break.

K asked me last year on his birthday if we could make his favorite t-shirt (he's a HUGE Beatles fan!) in to a pillow when he grew out of it. It took exactly a year for that to happen and he's totally lovin' the new pillow he helped design, sew and stuff!

Here's a shot of him in it a year ago as a t*shirt:




And here is a shot of him at the age of 13 with his new pillow:




I truly can not believe how big my boy has become in just a year...

Swimming!!

Today we went for a swim at a friend's pool. All the kids had a blast! Even Miss S got in on the fun, splashing and surprising me with her instincts to swim already. A is getting better and better at remember to move his arms AND kick his feet. He should be swimming, really swimming in no time. J was practicing diving under water and K of course was at the head of all the activities.

Here's some great pics from our fun filled day:

Our First Post!

This blog was created to chronicle our homeschooling journey. We can't wait to add some fun and interesting posts. Stay tuned!