August 22nd, Weekly Report

Oh, it's an exciting day here today!

Here at Trivium Academy it has just been discovered that Camille is in her final lap of her 2nd grade studies. The suspense is building as fans gather to see if she will indeed finish 2nd grade in the next 2 weeks.

Let's check the scoreboard:
------------------------------------------------
Explode the Code, Book 6: FINISHED!!!!!
------------------------------------------------
Horizons Math 2: on lesson 150 of 160!
------------------------------------------------

Oh this is going to be a close race folks. Camille has already finished Explode the Code Book 6, will she finish the Horizons work in a timely manner? Inside sources say that her coach and mother is keeping her on track and they are enjoying their informal study time. It is rumored that Camille is also studying invertebrates at this time and reading books from Tapestry of Grace..oh wait, another report says she's currently reading Book 1 of The Spiderwick Chronicles as well.

Will she run out of steam before the finish line? Will her coach be able to keep her on track and focused? Stay tuned to find out.

In other news...

Danny will be starting soccer practice on Tuesday! His mom has just talked to his soccer coach and it has been found out by our sources that he will have soccer practice on Tuesdays and games on Thursdays.

The soccer coach has reportedly assured Danny's mother that the games and practices are only to teach them a little technique and to help develop the kids' focus. Danny's mom is very excited for Danny and hopes he will love doing soccer as much as she suspects he will.

The soccer season runs from September to November so stay tuned for action photos of Danny running his little heart out, TWICE a WEEK. Wooo-Hoooo!!!!

That concludes our report for today. Thank you for tuning in, see you next time.
Same bat time, same bat channel.
(Isn't that what was said at the end of the old Batman cartoons?)

Party in a Skyscraper

Camille (8), drew this all on her own.
I think the trips to New York City have inspired this,
but I can see her maturing in her thought process and capability.

August 15th, Weekly Report

On the left are Danny's watercolor creations, on the right is Camille's watercolor creations.

Our new perpetual French calendar with a seasons and weather spinners.
This will be the kids' calendar and I'll write the English words for Danny.

State, State Capital, State Abbreviations, State Bird, State Flower, and State Flag
These U.S. states magnets were a gift from a homeschooling friend, here's the product page but we didn't buy these. We spent about 30 minutes this week finding the correct magnets for the states and had fun doing it. They take up a lot of space on my whiteboard so I hope to find another solution for displaying this. I'm contemplating putting them on the fridge but I'm afraid Danny will get ahold of them. We may get a magnetic board just for this so I can hang it above Danny's reach.

This new but bare pine cone fell from the sole tree in our yard and the kids were enthralled with it for about 2 hours.

This is an entry in Camille's nature journal of our Milkweed plant and Crepe Myrtle bush that we have in planters in our backyard. She drew herself in the picture. The Milkweed plant is now hosting a lot of Milkweed bugs. Our insect field guide said that they are harmless unless you're trying to cultivate Milkweed plants. Sigh. At least some type of wildlife is enjoying them, we were hoping for butterflies!

Other than these adventures, we have focused on Horizons 2 Math, Primary Language Lessons and reading aloud. We have been thoroughly enjoying Children of Summer by Margaret Anderson and Paddle-to-the Sea by Holling C. Holling. I have been planning out Horizons Preschool for Danny, and so far I have 3 weeks planned out in spreadsheets to make accomplishing the lesson plans easier for me.

We also explored our local library more and I am delighted to say that they have an excellent inventory of books, I may be using the library more, especially once I finish the books we have at home for preschool. For Danny this week, I checked out This is Soccer by Margaret Blackstone, because Danny is now signed up for soccer from Sept.-Nov. this year.

Weekly Report, August 8

Technically we're still in 2nd grade, just finishing up our studies and I don't know what number week we're on, we're just using August to finish. 3rd grade will start September 15th, preschool is being done informally right now and I plan to start Danny the same time as Camille.

Because of the way this year has gone, we're able to have a fairly light August and start our 3rd/PreK year a little heavier than what I would typically do.

Bible: We started the Keepers of the Faith character book- Willingness and it has made a change in Camille this week. Her chores are being done without reminding, she has a more pleasant attitude. I've really focused this week on teaching moments for both of the kids and I'm seeing the fruits, even in little ways from the time spent doing that.

Math: I am glad to say that we will finish Horizons 2 before our September start date! We completed lessons 134-139 this week and if we continue in this way, lesson 160 will be done on September 8th and I can give Camille some time off from math until the 15th when we will start Horizons 3! Whew. All I can say is...what a year.

Camille is doing multiplication fact copywork, we are reviewing our skip counting songs (I prefer Ron Brown's Intelli-Tunes Skip Counting cd), and we're reading a few math literature books. Right now we have The Best of Times - Math Strategies That Multiply by Greg Tang and Harry Briggs from the library. A friend says that Times Tales is working for her, I'm waiting to see how our daily practice and using what we have will work out for Camille.

French: I've been practicing with Écoutez, Parlez! myself this week and renewing my goal to make this an integral part of our lives. The only thing I worry about is Danny, I don't want the exposure to French to stifle his speaking progress. I've decided to make a conversational reminder on our bulletin board which is in plain sight. A French calendar will go up as well in our learning room so that Camille and I can practice telling each other what day it is. On the current conversation reminder is:

Bonjour, comment t'appelles-tu? (Hello, what is your name?)
Je m'appelle Camille. (My name is Camille.)

Il s'appelle Danny. (His name is Danny.)
Elle s'appelle Camille. (Her name is Camille.)
Elles s'appellent Camille et Jessica. (The girls names are Camille and Jessica.)

Comment ça va? (How are you?)
Ça va mal. (I am not well.)
Ça va bien. (I am well.)
Ça va comme ci comme ça. (I am okay. or I am so so.)

Then I have 3 two part conversations that have us ask how we are doing and responding, as well as asking about how other people are doing. We have covered this many times but since we've taken such a long break, we need to review.


Poetry: Camille reviewed the last few poems she was working on and we found that a few need work so she is currently working on Rain by Robert Louis Stevenson and Singing by Robert Louis Stevenson. I might have her skip Happy Thought by RLS and Purple Cow by Gellett Burgess and just move on to The Secret Song by Margaret Wise Brown. After typing that I think that IS what we'll do. After she masters Rain and Singing, we'll move onto The Secret Song and if she masters that before September 15th, then we'll do Happy Thought and Purple Cow. I feel the completion of The Secret Song is more valuable than the shorter poems because I chose that particular poem as a 'next stage' poem, a way to show Camille that I have faith in her to start memorizing longer poems.

Danny is working on nursery rhymes, whichever fits his fancy that day. :)

TOG/History: This week we have read The New Americans by Maestro and will finish Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling over the weekend. Camille colored a picture of Iroquois warriors.

Science: We had nature study this week and we're reading about invertebrates, for science literature we're reading Children of Summer by Margaret J. Anderson and enjoying it very much! I haven't had Camille do the worksheets that I intended but will remedy that this coming week.

Piano/Soccer:
We have a new piano teacher for the month of August, due to unforeseen circumstances we will have another new teacher in September. Either way, Camille is glad to be doing lessons again. We are going today to get a copy of Danny's birth certificate so that I can finish registering him in SOCCER. He will not be attending an outside preschool but will be running his heart out on a regular basis. Dh is enthused too and got Danny his own little soccer ball with goal cones to practice in the backyard.

The plan is to have Danny play soccer for a season and see how things go. I'm going to continue working with him at home (of course) on his academics and discipline issues. We are on the waiting list at a local Karate school and Danny may do that after the soccer season. I'm just praying that he will be able to play soccer, we're signing up at the end of the registration period and we've never done this before.

Extras:
We had tea this week with animal crackers while I read Children of Summer, it was supposed to be a fairy tale but the kids wanted me to start reading the book about insects instead. We have our needlepoint projects for first quarter, I will take pictures soon and I'm working on a plan of action for Drawing With Children.

Danny is working on tracing his Aa's and Bb's and completing his chores, as well as obeying the first time. :) Our mascot, Jack has seen the vet and is scheduled to be neutered (yay!). The visit to the vet's office was very trying with a puppy and little boy super excited at all the new canine friends to make. I was given the news that Jack will calm down more with age so I am resigned to wait both of them out, Danny and Jack. Danny was scared that Jack wouldn't come back home with us when Jack was taken into another room to get weighed. "Mom, Jack going with Magnum?" (Magnum was our previous dog that passed away last October.) "No Danny, they are just finding out how much Jack weighs and he'll be right back." Danny smiled, "Okay, we take Jack home!"

A Weekly Report

We are starting back slow but it was good to have started! Camille is currently reading Roald Dahl's The Twits and she'll read Gulliver's Travels next. I'm reading books from Year 2 Unit 3 aloud without anything else for history, just enjoying what we're reading.

We are doing math again, all week we've been working on our math facts both formally and informally. In English, we've focused on letter writing and envelope addressing. We've completed 4 lessons from PLL. Next week, Camille will probably start her piano lessons again, I'm pretty sure I've found her a new teacher.

Slowly but surely, we're getting back into rhythm. I have not been successful in meeting new friends, I have found two homeschool groups but have not spoken to anyone from them.

Today we're going to Oatland Island Wildlife Center, and possibly to the Marine Science Museum at Tybee depending on how our visit at Oatland Island goes. The kids are excited...

Our July 4th

We spent July 4th at Fort McAllister State Park, exploring Civil War times and the remnants of Fort McAllister. Here is Camille eating watermelon, goofy girl.

This historical embattlement was visited by Robert E. Lee and was the site of numerous unsucessful attempts by the Union Navy to pass it's guns in an attempt to access the Ogeechee river in order to lay destruction to the railway upstream, the plantations that were feeding the Confederate armies, and the CSS Nashville which was trapped by the Union blockade around Savannah. It fell to the hands of Sherman's ground troops during his infamous march to the sea on his way to Savannah from Atlanta.

To see a virtual tour of the park, click here.





We arrived just in time to hear the cannon firing and see the musket firing demonstration. We learned about the components of the uniform and why the men wore wool instead of cotton. Wool in 90°+ heat, I was sweating in cotton! Poor men.

We explored Fort McAllister and went into a few bunkers, one contained a row of bunk beds for the soldiers with a small eating area, another contained artillery. Actually the one pictured contained the artillery.

This is a picture of the wheelbarrow race that was a part of the fun that day.

I must have been dreaming

To think that I could move and homeschool at the same time! I thought I could accomplish our lessons in a small amount of time and then focus on the house the rest of the day. Yeah right. By the time lessons are done, I'm done. I just want to relax and play with the kids, not navigate through our stuff to determine what to keep, toss or donate.

My brain is in overload. So, when Camille gets back from her trip to NYC- it's reading, math and Primary Language Lessons only. The goal is to finish Horizons Math 2, the other two are just so she doesn't lose what she's gained this year. Math will take 10 minutes of teaching time. I can do that. With read alouds from TOG as nightly reading, minus the projects and all the other fun stuff. Yep. Bye-bye idealistic fun projects- I have walls to wash. Lol.

I have to coordinate utilities for two houses with a mid-June start/end date, fun huh? Next week, painters will descend on our current home so I have today through maybe Monday to get things packed. Next week, dh will be leaving Monday-Wednesday on a business trip and then after that we'll be in our last week here. Snap, just like that.

There won't be any homeschooling posts from me probably until July. My brilliant, idealistic idea that we could accomplish a full day's worth of school during this time- was too idealistic. I'm swamped with moving but I have the added pressure that dh cannot help physically. He's swamped with trying to set things up for the new pastor here and preparing for the new church.

I just hope my head doesn't pop off with all the spinning it's been doing lately. There's just too many decisions to make!

Friday's Adventures

Today we went to Columbus, GA to visit the Coca-Cola Space Science Museum and walk along Columbus' Riverwalk.
When we first arrived we watched the planetarium show, "The Universe" but on a much larger domed screen than the planetarium we visited yesterday. Today, dh was able to come with us and we all enjoyed the movie as well as the Spring sky constellation show before the main feature.

Robotics interactive display so the kids could control their space vehicles.

Here the kids are crashing their own space shuttle, I couldn't even land it!

Danny simulation flying, this was his favorite of the day.

Camille watching "Milestones in Space Travel" video by video.

Astronaut suit on display, the blue light thingy is a wave simulator that both kids had fun with.

Camille in a flight simulator, I tried this and I didn't get it. We were supposed to shoot something and I never caught on.

The kids trying out weather forecasting.


These pictures are from the Riverwalk in Columbus, which was built in 1992 and opened on Columbus Day.

A tree with woodpecker markings, when we looked close we saw a spider inside one of the holes. I couldn't get a good picture but Camille and I thought it was neat to see it. All we could see of it was its two eyes and front legs.

A flowering tree we wanted to identify, I'll try to find it online since all our books are already packed. Sigh. :)

The kids standing on a modern sculpture of Columbus (on Camille's right) and other important figures. At this point dh's back was starting to ache so we headed towards the Space Center.

Birds' nest in the corner of a concrete overhang at the end of the Riverwalk. There was a nest in each corner.

Picture of the other end of the Riverwalk, at least as far as we walked today. There's a waterfall on the far left. This river walk borders the Chattahoochee River that separates Georgia from Alabama.

After we left the Space Center we ventured up the road to the Peachtree Mall at dh's request where he surprised me with a trip to a bookstore. We all got a new book, my selection was 501 Science Experiments ilustrated by Glen Singleton, authored by various teachers for $7.99, big surprise huh? Camille picked a hard bound sketchbook for her miscellaneous drawings (thankfully), Dh picked a funny book about Chuck Norris and some Living Green type book and finally Danny picked a board book that came with an ice cream truck (big surprise).

My feet have been hurting me all week and we suspect it is my tennis shoes that are 4-5 years old. Dh must have been in a very generous mood today because he told me to pick out a new pair but since I've been hiking so much lately, he said to get my 'starter' pair of hikers. Insert big smile here. I have a new pair of New Balance All Terrain shoes, best of all they were on sale! (Oops, wrong picture, I have the 479 All Terrain. Does it really matter? Lol)
He said if I keep it up then I can upgrade to these...

or something similar. I really enjoy hiking and exploring so I hope he meant it! Lol.
It was a great family day.

New News: We have a house! Our new church has rented a house for us since they do not currently have a parsonage and the Tuesday after Memorial Day, we'll go see it as well as meet our new church family.

We are done with our field trips. Before we move in mid-June I want to go back to Providence Canyon and actually go to the canyon floor. It's been a wonderful and long week, it's time to get packing again.

Thursday's Adventures

We started our day with an IMAX movie called The Octopus Challenge which was outstanding as it teaches about how an octopus uses camouflage to protect itself in both skin color and body transformation as well as how intelligent/clever an octopus is.

The octopus is a truly remarkable creature. This amusing and insightful programme shows the octopus in action - squeezing into tiny spaces, sniffing out hidden food, even opening doors. These soft-bodied, boneless molluscs appear to outshine all the other invertebrates, but are they clever or just instinctive? A BBC/Animal Planet co-production.

I thought it would be a wonderful way to jump start our invertebrate study at the beginning of June. We sat and watched it with a school field trip. We cannot escape these it seems. The next few pictures are of the kids exploring a catfish exhibition, they especially loved the huge catfish that they could internally explore.

Here at one of the kids' favorite parks that has been a "treat" for the last 4 years.

We also visited a planetarium and watched a domed show (3-D, awesome!) about the solar system and explored a neighboring science discovery center with sound, magnetism, light and mirrors. We finished our day with our last tour of the aquarium that we've enjoyed at least 6 times since we've lived here. It's amazing how much retention the kids have about what's there, Camille was identifying animals left and right. I didn't take pictures inside because I've taken so many before.

I will say one thing- it seems that after school field trips have gone through, people's patience, care, and attitudes go with them. I don't know if the school field trips are just horrible experiences for the people who work at these places or we are just at the wrong place at the wrong time but I stopped myself from telling someone today that their attitude was very poor, especially for children who WANT to learn. Any-hoo, it's one of those things that I wanted to say something and didn't so I'm writing about it here. How's that for passive aggressive?

Wednesday's Adventures

How cool, before we even arrived at any destination we saw this amazing falcon nest on a light post. I pulled over and took a bunch of pictures but only a few came out. (Reminder to self: get a better camera!)

First we went to Florence Marina State Park and had a wonderful time at their Interpretive Center. We ate our lunch in the shade of pine trees overlooking the marina and saw a Great White Heron and Great Blue Heron. Their walking trail is under construction so we went on to Providence Canyon State Park.

If you ever go to Providence Canyon and decide to walk the 3 mile trail, turn at the waterbeds because they will take you to the canyon floor. We didn't do that, because the Park Ranger on duty was overwhelmed with school children on their field trip and by the time they left- his directions to me were very rushed because he wanted to go to lunch. Today was more exercise than anything, we did 3 miles in a little over an hour with very steep inclines and declines. Danny was great, we do not have a tether. We're working together.

Then we went to Lumpkin, Georgia to see some of the historic sites there but they were closed. For what it's worth, their brochure said they would be open. We took a few pictures of the courthouse and Confederate Soldier Memorial, as well as an overview of the town.

Tomorrow we'll be at another agricultural museum with a lot more activities for the kids.
They better be open.