Weekly Wrap-up: Week 1

I am beginning to post a Weekly Wrap-up of our activities during the previous week. I plan to publish this post each Friday or Saturday.

This is the perfect week for us to begin this post as this is our first week back in school. I know, I have heard it from a few family members. "Why in the world are you starting in June?" Well, it's easy, Little Buddy asked to start. So, we did.

We are starting a bit easy and low key. Or at least I had planned to start easy and low key. I was afraid to put too much on Little Buddy or on me for our very first week of homeschooling. Well, Little Buddy kept asking for more. So more we did. We have begun.

At the end of each day, I would take a look back at all of the work that we had done. Then, at the end of the week, I was just plain out impressed. I did not blog much at all this week. My priority was honestly getting Little Buddy off to a great start. Check. That was accomplished!

You are welcome to view our curriculum that we are using. We have progressed through each piece with the exception of Latin. We will start our Latin studies in August. Now, we are spending additional time outside on nature studies, walks, and other activities while we have good weather.

In addition to planned activities in our schoolroom, we had the following living activities:
- Living Math - Couponing, Weekly Allowance, Review of Lego Education Catalog
- Living Writing - Father's Day letter, Bug Journal
- Living Science - Nature study of bugs, Bug Journal


Other Activities this Week
Father's Day
We had an excellent Father's Day. Little Buddy gave his Daddy a birdhouse that they put together and have painted. I'll post about it soon. They did a wonderful job. I posted about the NASCAR driving experience that we also gave Daddy. He's pretty excited about that gift.

Business
My family's newest business launched this week, www.market-wares.com. Getting to this point has taken a huge amount of time and I am so proud for it to reach this point.

Camping
We are camping this weekend in Nashville in our RV. I've blogged about our excursions. And have most definitely tweeted about them. We are planning upcoming RV trips to Oshkosh, WI to the EAA's Airventure 2009 (airshow for those non-aviation folks) and then to DC in the fall. We are excited about both of these trips. Little Buddy is helping us to plan both. We are searching for great excursions. I am also starting to plan forward with our homeschooling to see where we will be at that point to include great activities during the trip. I surely do not want to be traveling and not have what we need.

Summertime
We have enjoyed this first week of summertime. Our nephew spent a few days with us this past week. The boys loved playing outside, swimming, catching lightening bugs, and playing Legos. I enjoyed watching them. They reminded me of summertime when I was a little girl.

Camps
This week, Little Buddy enjoyed tennis camp. He really did very well and was very proud of his accomplishments. It was great for him to spend some time with his buddies, too. This coming week is golf camp. Many of the same boys and girls will be there. I know he'll have fun. He LOVES golf.


Well, having a weekly wrap-up is an excellent idea. I am so proud that Kris at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers thought of it and is so gracious to host it for us all to enjoy. It seems to help me think of all that we have done during the week and look forward to all of the fun in the week to come. Week 1 of homeschooling done, Week 2 here we come!

Today's Adventure: Nashville Excursions

We are back in Nashville camping in our RV this weekend. Oh how we love to RV. Yesterday, we enjoyed the new Mike Schneider show at the Opry, Pickin n Grinnin. I highly recommend the show for families. It was wonderful. We laughed so hard, clapped along with the songs, and had a wonderful time.

What's up for today? Well, we have a couple of great excursions planned. Breakfast, then a drive downtown to check out the museum, a trip to Camping World, a shopping trip to the Bass Pro Shop, swimming, and then the movies tonight.

Sounds fun, huh?

Today's Adventure: Cousins and Summertime

I remember summers where my cousin would come and spend a few days or even a week with me. We would stay up late, get up early, and play hard all day. We would ride our bikes like we were in a NASCAR race and disappear to the horse barn for hours. Then, when it was time to go home, we would have concocted a sneaky plan on how I could now go home with her for a few days. We would convince our parents at pickup time. Low and behold, I could magically produce a well-packed bag for at least a three night stay.

This week has brought back those memories. Our nephew is staying with us for a few days this week. Little Buddy is loving it. Being an only child, I think he has played to his heart's content (well, almost) everything that he could imagine as if he had a sibling. Without the fussing. They have played with Legos (and more Legos), basketball, jumprope, Wii, sidewalk chalk, and more. They have gone swimming and biking and have taken long nature walks on our farm. They have enjoyed crawling all over airplanes. They have plundered through the old barn and have taken care of all of the chickens, rabbits, dogs, and fish. They have caught lightening bugs until they couldn't catch anymore. I think they both have had a fun, full few days of playing and exploring together.

I checked just now and Little Buddy's bag is still not packed. I wonder what age that trick begins. Hopefully, I have a few more years.

Happy Father's Day, Papa

From the minute Little Buddy was born, he was his Papa's grandson. Papa was surely the proudest of grandfather's I had ever seen.

Papa would take his lunch break every day and come to our house, just to hold Little Buddy. In the afternoons, he would drop by again to hold him and give him his bottle. Each week until Little Buddy was a month old, he called and sang "Happy Birthday." Then, each month on the fifth of the month, he called and sang. Always, I'd hold the phone to Little Buddy's ear for him to hear his special song.

When Little Buddy turned one month old, Papa gave him a ride on John Deere tractor. It would be at least a year or so before Little Buddy could ride on it I thought. Nope, Papa would sit him on the tractor, hold him tightly, and ride him all around the living room on this special toy.

Little Buddy was four years old was four when Papa died. About a week later, we were blasting a little rocket off in our back yard. It was a cloudy day and the rocket just disappeared. We never saw it come back to the ground. Little Buddy just clapped his hands, had the biggest grin, and said, "Oh, I am so excited. Papa got my rocket to play with in heaven."

Papa helped to raise a great Little Buddy. One who loves him dearly.

Let's Go Racing, Daddy!

We love celebrations around our house. Can't you tell? Father's Day is certainly no exception. Little Buddy and I have been planning today's special events for about a month. But, shhh, we had to keep it all a secret. (We are learning about good secrets that we can keep, and those that we should never keep.)

Daddy had to be in Boston for the weekend for business. Luckily, he was able to get home by noon today. Needless to say, we were tickled. Today was the big reveal of all of our plotting and planning.

Ready...

We gave our adrenaline junky Daddy a 6-lap NASCAR driving experience at the driving school of his choice. We'll camp. He'll drive. We'll wave. He'll grin.





So, Let's Go Racing, Daddy. We know you'll have a great time. Happy Father's Day!

Ice Cream Sodas

Well I'll be dog gone. Saturday is Ice Cream Soda Day. I have wonderful memories from my childhood of drinking plenty of ice cream sodas. (Yes, Little Buddy, I really was a child once upon a time.)

My grandmother had these very special glasses that she would let my sister and me use on very special occasions to drink Kool-Aide or ice cream sodas. Now I know these were actually her parfait dishes, but my sister and I were just determined they were wine glasses. Being a devout Southern Baptist, it would have been pure scandalous for my proper, Christian grandmother to have had wine glasses.

She would mix some delicious ice cream sodas for us in those glasses though. My very favorite was what we called a Coke float. Half a glass of coke and one scoop of vanilla ice cream. Now, that was the perfect treat on a hot summer day.

I think I'll make one for Little Buddy. He will enjoy hearing the stories of how my grandmother made them when I was his age. There is something about traditions, Coke, and long stories in the South. I just wish I had those glasses to serve them in.

Making Fossils - Part I

Looking for a fun, clean activity to do with your child? Making fossil molds fit the bill and it is educational, too. This project took us about 10 minutes, including gathering our supplies.

Supplies You Will Need
- Clay
- Rolling pin
- Small item for molding (ideas: small plastic toy dinosaur or bug, seashell, leaf, etc.)


Instructions
1. Knead your clay. Knead your clay until it has reached a pliable state. It will be easier for the following steps.
2. Roll your clay. Roll your clay until it is about 1/2 the depth of the item that you will be molding for your fossil. This makes the best mold. We used a rolling pin from our Play-Doh set. You could also use a drinking glass or other item to roll your clay.

3. Mold your fossil. Mold your fossil by firmly pressing the item that you are molding for your fossil into the clay. Do not press to far into the clay or you will puncture all the way through the clay. We had that issue in one spot. Also, it may be helpful to help younger children with this part

so make sure there is now movement of the item during the molding process.

You are done with Part 1. Can you believe it? Isn't this the simplest part of a project you have done? We were thrilled at how quick, clean, and entertaining. We created about five casts today. Now, we are letting our molds dry to a firm state.

Tomorrow, we will create casts using plaster of paris, vaseline, and our molds. This should take about 30 minutes.

Vocabulary Words

- Fossil
- Mold
- Cast
- Sediment


Reading Selection

Please let us know if you try this fun project. We would love to hear about what fossils you have made. Please send us a link to your site where you have uploaded pictures of your fossil masterpiece. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have. Check back with us tomorrow for Part II.