As we head into June...

Just a look at what's going on around here today...

- Noah is enjoying printing things with the 3D printer that arrived last Thursday. He spent Thursday and Friday building it (it came as a kit, not assembled) then has been honing his skills over the weekend. (There were a couple hiccups in learning to use it, but Noah and Nathan have been in contact with the manufacturer and had a nice conversation about all that.) It's pretty fascinating to watch and I'm loving watching Noah design things!

- I took the younger two to the pool again this morning to swim laps, as has become our routine. Now that schools are out, though, things are changing...it was a bit busier, there was a lifeguard on duty and the slide is now open. After they'd finished their lap workout, I let them mess around in the well portion of the pool for a bit and was happy when Asher asked if they could go down the slide before we finished up. Last summer, you might remember, Asher had a bit of a bad experience with this slide and pool, which ended with him having bandaged toes for weeks. So, I was relieved that he wasn't letting that keep him from trying again...

(You'll notice, though, that his feet are firmly in the air, lol.)

- And then we came home for lunch (yummy leftover calzones from the batch Micah made last night!) and are now tackling part of our required standardized testing for the year. (In Colorado, homeschoolers are required to either do standardized testing or a performance evaluation every other year starting in 3rd grade. There are a number of options for both routes but we've always just gone with the PASS standardized test. It's easy and I can administer it at home with no time limits, but it still gives the boys experience with taking a test like this and filling in bubbles and all that.)

We discovered that Micah and Asher don't work well at the same table (though they're doing different test subjects anyhow), as Asher has a definite preference to read his questions aloud, which irritates Micah. So, Micah opted to take his to his room:

...but is less than pleased about the whole thing:

Yeah. He knows I took this picture and said that it accurately reflects his feelings on the matter, lol. It's not actually that he dislikes taking tests...it's that he dislikes getting anything wrong. ;P

- And, finally, I'm patiently waiting for my peonies to bloom:

I was really hoping they'd have opened yesterday...as I thought that would be so fitting on Memorial Day, since my favorite memories of Memorial Days growing up were of placing bunches of peonies at the cemetery with my dad.  

(Incidentally, we had a very quiet Memorial Day here. Thinking of and thanking all those who gave their lives in service for our country! Memorial Day, for me, has also always been a time to remember all those who are no longer with us, not just service men and women...so I paused yesterday to think about my dad, obviously, and all the other people who played a part in my life but are no longer present in it.)

And now I must go chat with Micah (who's getting worked up again, lol) before letting the boys have some down time before karate. After that, we're going to need to stop and get some shorts for Noah, who somehow has none again.

This morning

A glimpse into life here this morning...

- Discovered a perk to having Noah home and screens required to be off...he voluntarily helped both brothers finish their math this morning. :) Yay!

- Took Micah for his routine check up with the orthodontist. It turns out that the precocious boy continues to do things earlier than his brothers and has lost enough baby teeth (and sooner than anticipated) that the orthodontist says he'll be ready for braces this fall instead of a year from now (as we'd previously been told to plan on). The boy is less than pleased, lol. 

(Funny note: They started out asking if we'd like to schedule his appointment...said we're looking at October. Micah immediately quipped that the Joker doesn't have braces. (He's planning to go as the Joker for Comic Con and Halloween.) So. As a concession to Micah, we scheduled for November instead...so he can enjoy one more braces-free Halloween first.)

- Came home to this:

You might think this was odd. But. It's really not anything out of the ordinary, lol. Course, Asher does have an actual Batman costume and mask but chose this so he could still wear his glasses...which is a rather interesting effect. ;) (And, yes, those knives are made out of legos so don't actually get used on anything/one.)

And that's a bit of my life this morning... 

And we're SOARing...

So. Asher and Micah go to Options here in Fort Collins on Mondays. It's a one-day-a-week homeschool enrichment program...where homeschoolers can go to take six different classes with kids of similar ages and interests. We've been attending some form of Options program since 2008. Very happy with the whole thing. :) 

Anyhow. Last Monday evening was the spring program. Neither of our boys were in any of the performances this year but wanted to go to watch and cheer on their friends. (It was a lovely program!) Also at the program, teachers had various artwork and projects out on display. I got to see the animations the boys had each worked on during the year, some of the digital artwork Micah had done, and the CO2 race car that Asher had designed and raced.

With races completed, the cars were on display for everyone to vote on their favorite looking:

Asher's is the tiny black one named Turbo. It didn't win on looks (that honor went to Bob The Duck, lol) but did take first in the race part!

Fast forward now to this afternoon...today was the last day of classes for the school year. At the end of the day, they held their annual awards assembly. The little kindergartners graduated and then each teacher gave out SOAR awards, generally one for each class they taught. To explain, the program's action statement is SOAR...Safety, Ownership, Achievement & Respect. It's a mantra they work on and award throughout the year. So, that's what their year end awards are called. :) 

Asher received a SOAR award from his science teacher. He has three classes with her. :) Here he is afterwards holding his CO2 car with Ms James:

And Micah received a SOAR award from his cooking teacher, for always bringing in recipes and helping with clean up (among other things):

So proud of my guys and their attitudes! And so thankful that this program exists and is run as smoothly as it is!

And now Options is over for the year...which frees up a bit of time but makes the boys sad, as they love seeing these friends every week. :) (They're already looking forward to August...) 

Just so you know...

...this is the brunch my Micah (with help from Nathan) made us yesterday:

None of us had ever had eggs benedict before, but we'd seen it made numerous times recently on the various cooking shows Micah's had us watching. So, Micah decided to give it a try using Alton Brown's Good Eats cookbook. (For this first go-round, they decided not to make the muffins from scratch, though they're considering that for next time.)

Yum!

"Where is my rotary slug thrower?!"

Yup. That's a direct quote. Asher asked this amid the boys' game of Smash Up this morning:

Apparently, a rotary slug thrower is some sort of weapon when you have steampunks on your team. I'm going to pretend that makes sense. ;) What matters, though, is that they're happily playing together without screens. So, I'll take the random nonsense in exchange. Plus, listening to them play amuses me, lol. In particular, I love how the older two have this expectation that Micah will play "fair"...how they're continually surprised when he instead goes for the kill, so to speak. :)

In any case, the game playing is making me happy. I have this "summer plan" in my head. It has three main parts:

1. less screen time
2. more physical activity
3. individual pursuits

So. Less screen time means getting boys to fill their days with non-screen things...like games, outdoor activities, reading, family time and plenty of other things. Last summer (and during the school year), for the record, I tried specific hour limits and requiring that for every hour "on" each boy had to take an hour "off." This *kinda* worked. It's an enforcement hassle, though...trying to keep track of each boy and when they started on a screen and such. This summer, then, I'm trying something different. We're simply going to block out periods of the day where screens are allowed. The rest of the time they're just not. Hoping this works better. :)

In terms of more physical activity, my goal is to make regular exercise a more routine thing around here...both because it's obviously good for us and because, with growing boys in particular, getting some good physical activity helps combat the teen (and pre-teen) angst and moodiness, lol. 

To that end, Asher and Micah have added swimming laps:

Technically, these two don't really need more physical activity. ;) They have karate at least three times a week. Asher also does gymnastics on top of that. And they both are fairly active just in everyday life. But. They're really enjoying the swimming (just once a week right now) and it's helping reassure me that swim lessons are no longer needed for Micah (since we finished the full course with Noah and Asher but didn't quite get all the way through with Micah). :)

I'm still doing boot camp three days a week and running once or twice, so I'm covered.

I'm sure you can do the math and figure out that leaves Nathan and Noah. We're working on it... ;)

Finally, we're working on encouraging individual pursuits this summer. Each boy has a sort of project to work on. Noah's going to build a 3D printer (from a kit we recently ordered) and design and build things. Asher's got a book of lessons about learning to program using Minecraft that he's going to work through. And Micah is going to teach himself new cooking techniques using Alton Brown's Good Eats episodes and cookbooks. (I've got projects of my own to tackle, too, and Nathan is busy with the new start up that he's building the tech for.)

We're in a bit of transition at the moment...as we're still homeschooling, though Noah's already out for the summer...and we have a couple trips and events in the mix throughout the summer. But it's useful to me to have the plan outlined at least. 

It's no rotary slug thrower, but that's my summer plan. :) Wish us luck...