Summer Week 1 ~ Summer Break

Hello, Summer! We had a great first week of fun. We are doing light school with the theme of "Around the World in 8 Weeks". Our summer plans are outlined here. This week we started our studies in England. The children received their passports, complete with tea cup stickers (for England), and we were off on our adventure. Here is a list of what we did this week.

• Made meat pies, strawberry-rhubarb pie, and baked apples for an English feast
• Filled out our England fact sheet and colored the flag
• Watched a travel documentary on England
• Learned how to play Whist
• Learned about Stonehenge
• Learned some English vocabulary
• Located England on the map 

We watched Around the World in 80 days (Disney version) and listened to the first two hours of Around the World in 80 Days on audio CD. We also did math every day and Goldilocks worked at her Time4Learning curriculum.

Jackpot!
 

I hit the jackpot this week. A local homeschool store is going out of business and they are selling everything inexpensively. I got a huge amount of school books and supplies. Much of what I found was brand new and still sealed in the box. I just had to leave everything in piles and admire it for a few days. LOL

These piles are even sweeter because much of it was on my need or wish list. I'm very happy to have saved so much money.

The Boy Can Ride ~ 
 

Tom Sawyer (cerebral palsy) started physical therapy a few weeks ago to help him with weak core issues. The exercises are difficult and painful for him, but he has stuck with it because his ultimate goal was to be able to ride a bike. Well, he learned to ride a bike this afternoon!! His Dad has been working on teaching him to ride for years. Today it happened. I never saw any kind of therapy work so quickly. I look forward to seeing how well he feels after the whole 16 weeks of therapy. He was riding the neighbor's bike in this picture, as he had grown out of his own. We've bought him various bikes through the years to help him and were planning on getting a balance bike once the physical therapist selected which one. But now I need to buy him a new regular bicycle and helmet! Hooray! We are so proud of Tom Sawyer. It was a delight to hear him yell, "I feel so free," as he zipped past me.

The Rest ~ We are all done with dance until dance camps begin. I am ready for the break. My little Red Riding Hood tried hard not to cry about classes ending for the summer. She is enjoying trying new tricks on our trapeze bar and practicing her one handed cartwheel. She taught herself how in one afternoon this week.

We also made it to the small indoor water park over in the next county. It only has one slide and some sprinklers/buckets systems that pour water on you, but it is inexpensive and the kids love it.

Blessings, Dawn