Weekly Wrap-Up... 6/27 - 7/1

Ahhhh, summer vacation. Anyhow, here's a brief rundown of our week.

Monday:
Beach Day! After the kids did their chores, with the spiffy new wipe-off chore charts I made to remind them, we went out to the coast to meet with some friends. It was an overcast day, but not too cold. They had loads of fun playing in the sand, collecting bits of shell and driftwood, and getting a bit wet. Cyrus helped another kid build a pretty solid and impressive sand fort with a moat, while Cassia crusted herself in sand while getting thoroughly soaked in the waves.

Once home again, we started reading an old book called Our California Home. It covers California's history in a story format, and was published by the Department of Education back in the early 1930's. So far, it is quite delightful, much more so than the modern textbooks put of by the same DOE, and the kids and I are enjoying it. I also had Cassia review one of the Nora Gaydos books. We also finished watching The Fellowship of the Ring. These are the "extended" versions, so each movie (2 discs) is taking us two evenings to watch.

Tuesday:
Nature decided to do my watering for me, and it rained quite a bit. The kids headed off to my mom's for a morning of crafts, art, and general fun while I headed off to a local homeschool group meeting. We're in the process of becoming a nonprofit, so we ratified bylaws, elected a board, and formed committees. Naturally, since I never seem to have quite enough going on, I signed up for two committees - field trips, and community outreach. I also picked up a few new freebies from the Free Table. It was a great meeting, full of positive energy.

Back at home, I had the kids do a few chores, Cyrus practiced piano, and Cassia and I "read" some of her favorite poems. Then, I brought out a surprise for them, and they made their own egg tempera paints! I don't think we used quite enough pigment, so the paint, when dried, was on the light side, though we did notice the lovely glaze the egg yolks impart. The instructions for the project also covered the historical use of egg tempera paint, so I shared that with them as they mixed.

Cyrus's abstract painting

Cassia's work, also an abstract

In the evening, we started watching The Two Towers. We talked a bit about world wars, and how war influenced Tolkien's writings. The kids also noted some similarities between Tolkien's Middle Earth and Lewis' Narnia.

Wednesday:
Started out the day again with chores, then errands, and then Cyrus had his piano lesson while Cassia played with the piano teacher's daughters. I read some more in Pocketful of Pinecones (yes, I am re-reading it while waiting for the 2nd book), and listened to the music. After that, we took a short walk, and purchased The Sentence Family from the author himself, who also gave a tour of the lovely property of the little school, church, and living complex. I barely made it home before I had the book open to peruse. This looks like it will be a great addition to homeschooling!

In the evening I worked, and the kids went to my mom's for an overnight, since I also had work scheduled very early the following morning.

Thursday:
After work (I got off very early in the afternoon), we headed home for some relaxation and reading. We read a bit more in Our California Home, and All of a Kind Family. We played Uno, the kids watched an episode of Meerkat Manor, and then we headed off to buy a pool! We spent the early evening setting it up, with the kids helping every step of the way, and then of course the kids tested it out. We finished up the evening with the second part of The Two Towers.

Today:
As I type this, I am watching the kids play in the pool. They already watched an episode of The Addams Family, and did a couple of chores. Other plans for the day include the kids making dinner (Cyrus has a Sloppy Joe recipe we all love, and Cassia makes homemade coleslaw dressing easily), some more reading, a bot of phonics work for Cassia, multiplication review for Cyrus, and then I have work. We opted not to go to Park Day today because a) the new pool is so much fun and it is getting hot, and b) I hate hurrying them away from Park Day to go to work. have watering to do, and laundry to fold.

And there's our week!