I blame Target.

Wondering what we've been up to? Well, we were finishing up our May homeschooling so that we can take a week or two right now to tackle some home projects and adjust to the new summer schedule (with swim lessons instead of swim team) before going back to homeschooling for June. (We continue with our roughly three weeks on, one week off homeschooling schedule year-round, but will take August completely off this year since I realize that I'll be useless during the Olympics, lol.)

Back to blaming Target, though. 

So. Our main home project this summer is going to be redoing boys' bedrooms. Right now all three share a room and, by summer's end, the plan is for them to each have their own. To that end, the boys have been making plans and window shopping aplenty, and we've been purging and sorting like crazy to empty out what are currently the storage and Lego rooms. Aside from my office, that's pretty much all the clutter in the house, lol. 

Well, I decided last night that it's all Target's fault. If not for Target, I wouldn't have shelves and shelves of stuff in my storage room, right? Right?! It couldn't possibly be my seeming inability to buy only one of anything...or my obsessive "planning" for potential future gift needs. That's not why I have boxes (and boxes) of pretty containers to possibly put gifts into, right? Or why I have materials to make at least three of anything? (usually more than three, because you never know when you might want to make any gift extras, of course, lol) Or why I have unfinished holiday decor projects aplenty? (because they were just such a good deal on clearance after the holiday, obviously)

Yeah. That's what I thought. ;) Darn you, Target. 

(Incidentally, don't let me buy any more wrapping paper for at least a couple years, okay? Thanks. Now back to trying to sort stuff in that storage room before boys' dentist appointments, swim team practice and karate classes. Will try to post pics this weekend-ish...)

Reply.

Just quickly (and because I can't figure out how to just email her directly), Carrie left this comment recently with a question:

Hi--I always enjoy your blog. I am knew to homeschooling (almost completed year one!) and have gotten lots of good ideas and advice browsing through your homeschool archives. I have a 10 year old and am using the Real Science 4 Kids books, also. I read in one of your old posts that you have used their KOG (or is it KROG?) workbooks along with your curriculum. My question is, how do you like the additional book? and, how do you work it into your curriculum? I am debating this purchase for next year's curriculum and just wanted another mom's opinion. Thanks

May 23, 2012 | carrieH

So. Real Science 4 Kids. Yes, I did use the language KOG workbooks for Biology, Chemistry and Physics (Level 1). I feel like they did add something to our curriculum but, to be honest, don't think I made the most use of them. Each book was broken into 10 lessons just like the texts...each lesson featured a list of words to accompany that text lesson. We would read the list and discuss the common stem. That was it. In hindsight, I could have made more of that and had my boys write out sentences using the new vocabulary words. Does that help? If you'd like to chat more specifically, shoot me an email, okay? ;) Thanks!

Solar Eclipse Day

Whew. Yesterday was a long one. Good, though. Pretty darn good, actually. ;)

After getting my run in (9+ miles) and checking on how the new dishwasher had done overnight and such, we headed down to Boulder to the Fiske Planetarium to snag some eclipse viewing glasses. After standing in the line and thankfully scoring some glasses, we stuck around for the show in the planetarium theater. (Am I the only one who seemingly cannot stay awake through shows in IMAX type theaters? Honestly. I fall asleep partially through them every stinkin' time. They don't even have to be long. It's something about having to look up to watch the show??)

Then, we walked the scale solar system there on campus. The boys thought that was pretty awesome. 

Next, we relocated to the Pearl Street mall area where we caught a street performer's act:

The boys were way impressed and the show was actually really entertaining. ;) We stood around and watched till he finished up then continued on to get some early dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (yum!). We also walked across the way to a fun toy/kite store. (Now that the boys know it's there, I foresee future visits, lol.)

And then we decided that the cloud cover in Boulder was just too iffy. (I don't know how it turned out for those who stayed in Boulder for the viewing event at the stadium. Anyone know?) So. We headed north and east and found ourselves a nice deserted road to watch the eclipse from. (East of Longmont, on the other side of I-25ish...) The boys put on their glasses and we set up our spotting scope (from archery) with a viewing dealio taped to the front. We'd picked up the viewing dealio along with the glasses and taped it on with first aid tape that we found in the van, lol.

We took some pictures through our iPhones and Noah's iPod:

And during the course of the eclipse (which lasted more than an hour), we entertained ourselves with looking at giant ant hills, playing rock-paper-scissors, seeing who could leap highest and the like. (We had to wait out clouds at various points, as well.) In the end, we missed the peak of the event thanks to clouds:

but still felt very satisfied with our viewing experience. ;)

Da Vinci

Yesterday, the boys and I had one of those beautiful days. We started out by getting the small amount of schoolwork I had planned for the day out of the way and had an early lunch. Then, we piled in the van and headed down to Denver to enjoy the Da Vinci Exhibition that I'd snagged tickets to through Groupon awhile back...

This is the boys investigating the Archimede's Screw that moves water from the lower basin to the upper one. :) 

 
Overall, the boys were pretty happy with the experience and had fun looking at all the inventions, building model replicas and playing in the mirror "room." Many of the pieces weren't new to them, though, as they'd seen a number of them on various tv shows...so they delighted in explaining them to me. ;) The replicas of paintings hanging around the space didn't impress them nearly as much, lol. (Micah, in particular, is perturbed by how the Mona Lisa keeps staring at him regardless of where he is.) 

Earlier in the week, btw, we'd been reading about Da Vinci and how he wrote his notes backward (such that you can read it in a mirror). I'd made the boys try it, themselves. (They were then more suitably impressed, lol.) At the exhibit, Noah took this picture:

Using an app on my iPhone, he thought he was being so smart when he flipped it horizontally so that he could see it the "right" way...but was disappointed to realize that, um, it's not in English. ;) 

Anyhow, after that, we wandered briefly around the 16th Street Mall area (the boys like escalators, lol) then headed out to the Flatiron Mall for a snack, the obligatory time at the Apple Store ;) and then time at The Container Store browsing for ideas for the boys' bedrooms.

Right now all three share a room but our summer project is to give 'em each their own room...which will mean dismantling the Lego room (gasp!) and purging what's currently our storage room (and, hence, having a rockin' garage sale...probably on June 2; stop by if you're local!). Wish us luck! In any case, the boys actually had a blast going up and down the aisles of The Container Store, trying to figure out what their rooms will look like, and are now making lists of things they want for their rooms. 

After that, we headed home for a little rest before the boys took me out to dinner...a perfect ending to a lovely day. ;)

Things that happened on Monday...

1. Our new heating and AC system got installed. Yay? ;) (Very thankful for the AC, just not thrilled with the unexpected expense, lol.)

2. The boys had their last day of Options for this year. They were stoked, primarily because it meant they got pizza for lunch, lol. At the end of the year awards, they did pretty well and are pleased with themselves:

Noah...

• got a certificate of recognition for his participation in the Stock Market Game through his Ameritowne class;
• received a certificate for accomplishment in his chimes class;
• earned a National Physical Fitness Award for his performance in the five testing areas (this is a national program...you have to score at that level in all five areas to earn it, so he got to the "national" level in all five areas--mile run, shuttle run, sit ups, push ups and v-sit and reach...the three levels are Participant, National and Presidential)...he got National last year, too, so was happy; and,
• won first place in his Investigative Science class science fair. (Yes, he recycled his project from our NCHA science fair. But, he had to add all sorts of "structure" to it, and the boy puts together a mean trifold board...he's, um, anal like that. ;) He was worried that his oral presentation was lacking since he refused to write out a script ahead of time, but he truly knew his material.)

Asher... 

• received a certificate for accomplishment in his chimes class (he and Noah are in the same class);
• received a certificate for accomplishment in his keyboarding (piano) class;
• earned a special music achievement award for outstanding attitude across all of his music teacher's music classes (keyboarding, chimes and handbells); 
• earned a Participant level for the Physical Fitness awards (if not for the sit ups, he'd have had a National, but that's fine); and,
• won second place in that same science fair! (The science fair, btw, followed a pretty standard format with weight being given to different aspects, like the oral presentation (which Asher *did* prepare for), the research paper, the presentation board, etc. There were, I believe, five judges overall for the couple dozen projects.)

Micah... 

• earned himself one of only two Presidential Physical Fitness awards out of the entire student body (100ish kids?) (In all fairness, he's the only six year old who tested since they don't generally start until second grade but Micah was in the 2-3rd grade PE class so just went along with them...and, we're pretty sure that whomever his partner was who kept track of his time in the mile run was, um, generous, lol...but, hey, he's super thrilled.) ;)

3. We handed out all our end of the year teacher gifts. (Check 'em out...I'm rather proud of myself.)

4. Then we headed to the park with a bunch of friends from Options and let the kids run and play for a couple hours. Whew. ;)