Summer Vacation – week 3

Still in summer vacation mode here.  This was the second week straight of Vacation Bible School for the girls.  I had big goals of getting everything planned and in place for the fall these last two weeks, but here it is Friday already and I’m not much further ahead than I was two weeks ago.  Let me just say, Little Mister is a lot more work when it’s just him and I.  He wants constant interaction, so without his sisters around, it’s impossible for me to really focus on anything else.  

PJ came down with a cold last week during our Vacation Bible School.  I think he was just terribly run down from his flying trip across the country for convention the week before.  VBS week is always tiring anyway, and he had a burial service Wednesday and a wedding on Saturday.  So it was a busy week.  Thankfully he decided to take Tuesday off, and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon outside as a family.  I thought it would be fun to cart everybody off to the beach or something (there I go with my big plans again!), but we opted to just get the kiddie pool out and lounge in the backyard, putting up our new hammock chairs.  Best investment of the summer!  Picked them up for 40% off the other day so they were only about $20 each.  And they are so comfy!  We hung them under the deck where they are in the shade most of the day.  I have a new favourite spot to read (and homeschool plan!).  

We did manage to do a couple Life of Fred lessons this week.  We borrowed the first few books from a homeschool neighbour, and we’re just trying it out to see if it might be something we will use in the fall.  

We finished our read aloud, Frozen Fire, and started The Green Ember just last night.  The first couple chapters seem to be laying the foundation for a wonderful  adventure story that I think our girls will love!  I downloaded it last week to the kindle when Amazon had it on for free!  

We are continuing on with Pagoo.  Didn’t quite make it to the end by the end of the school year.  The girls love it so much though that they don’t mind carrying on with a chapter a week throughout the summer.  

I love to see where the girls’ individual interests take them when they have so much free time.  Thankfully they are not TV lovers, begging to watch.  They would rather make and do and create.  C-Bear is into drawing maps and floorplans this week in her free time…floorplans for a restaurant and gift shop and even a house for our family.  Not sure her dimensions would quite compute to enough living space for the six of us, but she’s exercising her mapping and math skills!    

Boo is drawing and creating with paper as usual, writing out Bible verses from VBS that have inspired her.  I love this 3D creation of an ambulance.  I think the curly ribbons are supposed to be the lights.  

I am reading and planning, perusing books for next year and scheduling them out as best I can.  Last year I used a two-page spread checklist that covered all twelve weeks in a term.  I loved it and will use it again in my planning binder.  But this year I am really hoping to transition my oldest daughter to being much more independent in her studies.  This requires a detailed checklist of assignments and chapters and pages for her to read.  In future years, I anticipate being able to give her a book list and have her work through it each week to her own liking, but for now I know she will feel more comfortable and confident with a lot of guidance.  Here is a peek at the weekly checklist I’ve been hard at work making for her: This is just her independent work.  Other subjects like French, art and composer study, Shakespeare, handicrafts, memory work, and nature study that we will do together are not included in her checklist.  The books in purple are ones that I will have her and Boo read together.  I will obviously still be available to help her with oral narration, dictation, explanation of new math concepts, and that sort of thing.  I really hope that this will free me up a bit more this year as Little Mister will not be sleeping during “school hours” anymore, and I have a 5 year old daughter to add to the homeschool mix this year too.  

Well, that was week 3 of our summer vacation.  Tonight we are looking forward to having another homeschool family over for a BBQ so I best get going on my last minute to-dos in the kitchen.  What have you been filling your summer days with?

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