Camping Photos

Camping Week was GREAT, up until the pouring rain on the day we had to pack up and go home. Here are some photos. I'll try to type up a camp week report later on.

As always, if you click on the slideshow, you can see the pix bigger or comment on them. Are those of you on dialup able to view the slideshow ok? I've been wondering.

What time is it? Summertime! It's our vacation!

We finished our lessons for the year before Memorial Day, but I realized I never posted an "end-of-the-year" post here. I consider my kids "done" with the "school year" at this point, but the learning never stops. lol

David has a few things to finish before fall and I need to make him a list. He will have completed a year of high school American history by then, so he'll already have one credit under his belt. He'll be partly done with Algebra 1 by then too.

We will continue doing math and reading throughout the summer, mostly on days that are grey and lonely. If there's a chance to go anywhere and do anything and the weather is decent, we take the opportunity! I expect that the lessons to days-off ratio will be somewhere around 2:3 throughout the summer, maybe 3:2 for the older kids.

Bible study will continue - a great way to begin our days! I also plan to assign each child a map study packet and we'll repeat our Child Survival Skills unit since James and Suzy were quite a bit younger when we did that the first time.

I'm going to take a cue from my friend Jennifer and have the kids earn points to turn in for rewards. The details of that are sketchy at this point, but I'll share them once I have them nailed down. Maybe I can do that yet today.

So, the kids have completed their school years - David finished 8th grade, Emily completed 6th grade, and Suzy finished 1st grade. James is partway through 4th; his is an odd situation and I have a blog post about him started.

So, bring on the sunshine and warmth! We're ready for Beach Days and camping!

What time is it?
Summertime...
School's out, scream and shout!

Try-it Tuesday - "Stay-cation"

Undaunted by the high price of gasoline, we decided to stay home for Fourth of July, even though I had 4 days in a row off work.

We pitched a tent in our yard, built a campfire, and generally acted as though we were camping. The nice thing, of course, is that our house is right HERE, so we could use our regular bathroom and we didn't FORGET anything. LOL

The idea of a "stay-cation" came from friends, media, and a book I found called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Backyard Adventures: Close-to-home activities for fun-focused families (see link below). The book includes tons of ideas for recreation at home and nearby - nature study activities, sports ideas, experiencing other cultures, creative projects, neigborhood and community adventures. Small book, but wide-ranging in application. Check it out!