Fair Weather Fans

We look forward to our annual trip to the Washington State Fair all year long. This year we teamed up with Katie and planned to go on her birthday. We also met up with our good buddies the Coberly's for the first half of the day. Between our three families we had 13 kids; we are always a spectacle!

The night before our planned adventure I was playing volleyball and rolled my ankle pretty severely. I wasn't sure how it would hold up to a day of walking, so I borrowed a pair of crutches just in case. Thankfully, I was able to hobble along well enough and left the crutches in the car. When I got home late that evening, however, my ankle looked pretty angry.

You would think that my gimp foot would have encouraged us to be mindful and intentional about planning our activities to minimize how much we had to walk. You would be wrong. That was arguably our least efficient trip to the fair. We zigzagged back and forth over and over trying to see all our favorite exhibits and events. 

Many of the old favorite stops remained favorites. Pioneer Farms always has great, hands-on exhibits.

 

The entertainment offered in their corner of the Fair, however, was significantly sub-par; we ended up bailing halfway through the "1800's Variety Show."

We briefly stopped by another entertainer who did impressions of famous singers and actors. Graham's dancing might have been just as entertaining to us as the paid performer!

 

Our littlest kids are getting big enough now that they can ride the tractors almost independently. Our older kids are too old to ride. Our middle kid enjoyed what might be his last ride.

One benefit of going on a Friday is that the Pacific Northwest Building is open with always highly anticipated activities like archery and fishing.

The kids like the fishing, but what I like best is seeing the faces they make in the pictures!

I actually have a whole series of hilarious Nellie photos, but for this post I narrowed it down to just one.

Getting the kids to cooperate for a picture after getting their faces painted was an exercise in futility. We finally bribed them with snacks and managed a semblance of order.

At the exhibit halls, Thane found a Monopoly collection and was thrilled. Seeing all the different collections is always a favorite fair pastime.

In addition to our old favorites, the Fair opened a new and really impressive exhibit this year. It's basically an interactive farm-to-table experience. At the beginning, each kid gets a lunch box and moves from station to station doing activities to fill their lunch boxes with healthy food. For example, they collect eggs from the hen-house, pick apples off trees, and pick fruits and vegetables out of the ground.

 

 Don't let these faux-sleeping girls fool you; everyone loved this exhibit! It didn't hurt that they all got a juice box at the end when they turned in their full lunch boxes.

All things aside, the two favorite Fair events are probably ice cream and mutton-bustin'. We didn't get ice creams last year, so the kids were over-eager this time around.

Both Piper and Graham signed up to do the mutton-bustin' this time around. 

Last year Piper won 2nd place (and a GIANT trophy) in the last-day-of-the-fair mutton-bustin' finals. This time around, while initially excited to participate again, she got extremely nervous when it came time to get on. 

Still, she plucked up her courage and managed a fantastic ride. She would have made the 6-second mark, but when she saw the fence looming, she bailed off because she remembered hitting her head on the fence last year and did not want a repeat. She wasn't a happy camper after her ride.

Right after the National Anthem at the beginning of the event, Nellie cried out, "I have to go potty!" Mark was back with Graham, so I left Aubree in charge of the other kids, and Nellie and I tried to quickly and frantically find a bathroom (both so she wouldn't have an accident and also so we wouldn't miss seeing Graham and Piper ride). Of course, I was still hobbling, so the best we could do was a semi-quick limp. There was a line at the bathroom and I considered begging our case to get to the front of the line, but in the end we were able to make it back in time to see the kids ride. Phew!

Graham had absolutely no hesitations or fears about hopping on the back of a woolly, stinky sheep. When he fell off, he likewise hopped up happily and claimed his ride was "so much fun!"

Oh yeah, we also found a hidden escalator and treated the kids to a few rides. Ha! That's probably the part of the fair the little ones will remember best.

After the fair we went out to eat for Katie's birthday. It's harder than you'd think to find a restaurant where 12 people can eat on a Friday night without having to wait upwards of an hour. We struck out at a number of places before ending up at IHOP.

The service was abysmal, but the company was exceptional. We do love our Katie and it was wonderful to spend her birthday with her.

Graham's 6th Birthday

 Our happy, goofy, youngest boy is now six! Just like on the year of his birth, this year his birthday fell on the first day of school. As I mentioned in my previous post, this turned out to be a boon for him because we got to spend the day playing at a beautiful lake.

He certainly didn't complain about the birthday doughnuts either.

After partying at the lake, we came home and celebrated the rest of the evening with Katie and her kids, and my brother, Daniel, who was in town visiting for the week. Graham chose to have hamburgers for his birthday night dinner (other birthday week dinner choices included tortellini, waffles, and a dinner out at McDonalds).

 Graham asked Katie to make him a "jungle cake" and she did not disappoint!

The monkeys were a big hit; Graham asked to have one to eat all on his own (gag).

Graham had to leave his own party to go to soccer practice (he wasn't sad about that; soccer practice is just an extra hour each week he gets to play with his buddies), but when he returned he got to open his gifts.

Graham is a huge animal lover so many of his gifts were animal related. One of the gifts we gave him was a National Geographic Animal Encyclopedia. He's spent many, many hours and days poring over it since his birthday.

Graham continues to be a happy, social kid. He loves any opportunity to be with friends... and he considers everyone a friend. He's still going through a contrary phase, so he loves to answer with the opposite of what he really thinks. He's also trying out negativity. It's not a good fit for him.

Remnants of a morning smoothie

Graham is a clever, confident, funny boy. One recent Saturday I was taking him to his soccer game and had to turn around twice (once because I was going the wrong direction and once because I forgot my phone). "Graham, I'm so sorry," I told him, "we might be late to your game and it's all my fault."

"It's not your fault," he responded.

I laughed, "Really, then whose fault is it?"

"Mine," he quipped, "I gave you a forgetting potion!"

Thank you Harry Potter.

Road Rash

One Sunday at church one of the primary leaders tracked me down saying, "I have to tell you the funniest thing that just happened!" 

Graham had been asked to read a scripture at the beginning of primary. He happily hopped up to the microphone and read his scripture.  As he was walking back to his chair, the primary chorister commented, "Wow, Graham, you're a really good reader!"

Graham bent halfway over, touched his chest and laughingly proclaimed, "I know!"

This resulted in all the adult leaders and teachers busting up laughing.

There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. He might have crossed over a bit...

An Interview with Graham:

Favorite Color?: "Silver."

Favorite Candy?:  "I don't know. Mints."

What do you want to be when you grow up?: "A Narwhal.”

Where do you want to go on your mission?: "Russia because I want to see the things that are in Russia. No, Antarctica because I want to see penguins."

Favorite Primary Song?: "'I Will Be What I Believe'."

Favorite Animal?: "Tarsier."

Favorite Movie?: "'I don't have one. I like Toy Story 3.'"

Favorite Thing to Do?: "Have pizza and watch movies all day."

Favorite Food: "Pizza, hamburgers, and pancakes."

Best Friends?: "Ben, Silvie, Ike, and Corbin."

Favorite Book?: "'Animal Encyclopedia.'"

Favorite Toy?: "Legos."

What makes you happy?: "Playing Legos and eating pizza."

Favorite thing to do with Mom?: "Read books."

Favorite thing to do with Dad?: "Go to the library."

What do you do really well?: "Reading and painting."

What makes you laugh?: "Hahahaha. That question made me laugh! Everything makes me laugh."

What’s the best time of day?: "Free time, because then I can do whatever I want."
What's your favorite day of the week?: "Monday because we are going to have co-op on that day."

What are you afraid of?: "Nothing."

What do you like to do with your family?: "Play board games and eat pizza."

What do you love to learn about?: "Animals."

What is your favorite class/subject?: “Science.”

Where do you like to go?: "Out to eat.”

If you had one wish, what would it be?: "Everything!"

What would you do if you had $1,000?: "Buy Legos and go out to eat."

What is your favorite song?: "'I only like church songs.'"

What do you hope you can do before your next birthday?: "Get one Lego pack." 

What's your favorite Super Hero?: "Flash."

First Week(s) of School

The first day of school this year fell on Graham's birthday. Don't feel too bad for him; he had an excellent day. Over the summer we had the idea to make the co-op's first day of school extra special day. To do so, we rented out a neighborhood community clubhouse right on the lake.

The weather was delightful, and since all the neighborhood kids were back in school, we had the lake and park to ourselves! 

I treated my kids to first day of school/birthday doughnuts.

We spent most of the morning giving the co-op teachers a chance to introduce themselves and their classes and having the co-op kids play team building games.

We have eight returning students from last year and five new students.

Having a set-apart day for them to get to know each other in a beautiful, fun environment was brilliant.

After lunch we hit the water. The co-op kids and my kids kayaked, used the paddle boards, jumped off the dock, swam, and pretty much had the best first day of school ever.

They all relished telling their public school friends about how they'd spent their day. I think we'll have to make this a first day of co-op tradition.

The co-op and my boys had their first official day of school work the following day. Things went great with the co-op, but I can't say the same for our home. We had a doozy of a day. Nellie was a disaster. The boys didn't want to do their work. I was impatient. It was ugly.

Thankfully, things have steadily improved since then (I guess that's a silver lining of having a rough start). Seven weeks in and we've got a pretty decent groove. Bryce and Thane have figured out that if they get up and immediately get started on their independent work, they have lots of free time later on in the day. That's been especially helpful with Bryce.

Another things that's really helped is that now that Nellie is no longer napping (can I just say that again. Nellie is no longer napping! We have no nappers in our home. That has NEVER happened before and it is fantastic!), we have scheduled almost all of our outside-the-home activities for the afternoons. Every day has something fun scheduled that the boys can do if they get their work done and behave themselves. They are super motivated by the carrot at the end of the stick. One week Bryce missed his robotics class because he didn't get his work done. That was a super sad evening, but I doubt it will happen again.

Our Road Trip USA curriculum includes recipes for most of the states we study. So far, we've made Connecticut clam chowder (which was fairly decent, but was more of a soup than a chowder), Delaware crab cakes (Mark and Nell loved them, not so much everyone else), and Massachusetts Boston Cream Pie (which Bryce claims is now his favorite dessert ever).

So far so good. Wish us luck as we try to finish the whole year's curriculum by the end of April in time for our road trip!

Back to (Home) School 2018

For the last three years I haven't managed to post our new school year plans until November. So, even though we've already been "back to school" for six weeks now, I guess I should give myself props for being ahead of my normal self, right?

We pretty much started our official home school year coinciding with our local school district's calendar, which meant the day after Labor Day. I'll be writing another post with more details about our first few weeks of school. This purpose of this post is more to sketch out our curriculum plans and choices for the year.

Aubree - 8th grade

This is crazy to consider, but Aubree is in her final year in our Homes United Middle School Co-op. As our co-op has proved itself over the last two years, we've reached a point where we have reached our full capacity and have a waiting list a few years out. We have twelve students ranging from 6th-8th grades (with an additional student who only attends for science). They're an excellent group of kids!

Our class line-up this year is really exciting. On Mondays/Wednesdays they have Physical Science, Cooking (this was a class the kids begged to have), Business, IEW writing (most of the kids are using level B, but Aubree has chosen to do many assignments from Level C), and World Cultures. 

On Tuesdays/Thursdays they have US History/Government (they are using We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution as their spine), Math study hall (where they each bring in their personally chosen math curriculum and work individually, but with teacher support. Aubree is doing BYU Independent Study Algebra), Communications, and Outdoor Survival.

In a departure from the last two years, I am not teaching literature. Instead, I get to teach communications. I feel strongly about teaching Speech and Debate to our middle school students and it's part of our class line-up every year. This year's speech and debate class is a much more applied version. I want them to know how to use their speech and communication skills in the real world.

It's been a really fun class thus far. Six weeks in and we've covered introversion and extroversion, nonverbal communication (including body language, posture, facial expressions, hand shakes, tone of voice, and use of hand positions), sarcasm and verbal irony, and listening skills.

Another very applied class is our outdoors class. Twice a week, for an hour and a half each time, these kids get outside (no matter the weather) and learn great skills. So far they've covered shelter (tarps, tents, hammocks, etc), fire, and water (finding sources and filtering). Many days I've picked the kids up for carpool and they pile in smelling of woodsmoke, hotdogs, and marshmallows. I love it!

Outside of co-op, Aubree is continuing violin (that probably deserves it's own post someday soon) and still has a private lesson (1 hour) and a group lesson (1 hr. and 45 minutes) every week.

Bryce - 5th grade

This is a pivotal school year for our family. I already mentioned that Aubree is in her last year of middle school. Next year she plans to move on to public school for high school. Likewise, this is Bryce's last year of elementary school. As Aubree moves out of the co-op, Bryce will move in, so this is my last year with him home most of the time. That being said, we have so many outside-the-home activities this school year that I'm not sure if we're home or out more often!

For Language Arts, Bryce is doing level 5 of The Good and the Beautiful (TGTB). I've been quite pleased with the scope, sequence, and content of this program. He just finished TGTB level 5 handwriting and will start level 6 as soon as I get it bound. 

For math, he is finishing up Math U See Epsilon and will start Math U See Zeta. The goal is to get him no further than halfway through Zeta by the end of school year. The research I did last year made it pretty clear that it's not beneficial for most students to be pushed further than Calculus their senior year. Backing up from that end goal, he should be doing pre-algebra as a 7th grader, and the path we'd been following had him beyond that point. So, we are slowing down, trying to play more math games, and making sure he has a super solid math foundation.

For History we are doing something (or many somethings!) quite different than we've ever done in the past (we've done Story of the World since Aubree was in 1st grade). I was impressed with Aubree's We The People book, so I ordered the elementary version to do with Bryce and Thane. This is a great curriculum for covering the foundation of the United States and the Constitution. 

As a family, we are planning an epic road trip in May and June of 2019 (we plan to drive all around the country). In preparation, I chose to use a curriculum called Road Trip USA that systematically takes us through all 50 states. I've also made a master list of many of the specific places we plan to visit. Every two weeks, each kid chooses a place to research. They have two weeks to put together a maximum- two page report on that location. They give their report during FHE and their physical copy goes into a file folder from which I will eventually bind into a book that we take with us on our trip. 

If that's not enough on the history/geography/social studies side of things, we also have a pretty good collection of related games and apps, we bought the Liberty's Kids DVDs and watch one episode a week, and our read alouds for the year will all be historical fiction relating to American History. Phew! That's a lot.

Oh year, one more thing...We are working on memorizing our state capitals and all the presidents by regularly watching Animaniacs videos on Youtube. They're great; if you haven't seen them before you're missing out (though I will warn you, the President's song can be an ear worm).

For Science, Bryce is again taking weekly classes at a local business that offers homeschool academy courses. He's a little bummed that they're not covering engineering and technology topics this year (instead they're doing units on light, chemistry, waves, and human anatomy), but still loves to go. He is especially enjoying being in the 10+ group and having his good friend Jordan in the class with him.

For the third year in a row, Bryce is taking Art classes once a week at our neighbor's home. She does a great job, and it's just soooo convenient. 

For Music, Bryce is continuing piano lessons. He really enjoys playing, and his teacher is a perfect mix of praise and high expectations. It's a good fit.

I'm having him continue with the Computer course he started this summer. He flew through the first level, but is learning new things on level 2. It won't be long till he starts level 3 (I think he's already on "week 30").

Our plan for scripture study this school year is divided. This semester we read The Jesus Storybook Bible, and are now reading Saints, Volume 1. In January, we will study the New Testament using the Come Follow Me- For Individuals and Families curriculum as a spine.

A huge highlight of his school this year is a weekly robotics class his friend's dad offered to teach (with just two students, Bryce and Jordan). I believe they're learning to program an EV3 Mindstorm robot. Bryce looks forward to it all. week. long.

Finally, we started up a new co-op this year called FLEET. FLEET needs it's own post, but for now, suffice it to say that Bryce has two classes there: Lego Engineering and Oregon Trail.

Thane - 3rd grade 

Thane has a lot of overlap in his curriculum with Bryce (otherwise I'd never survive). In summary, he is doing the same thing as Bryce for art, social studies, music, science, and scripture study. Unfortunately/fortunately, he is not in the same science class as Bryce (Thane's in the 7-9 year old class), but they are studying the same topics (unfortunately because it means an extra trip/outside activity for me, fortunately because it's good for Thane to have his own experiences).

Thane is also continuing The Good and the Beautiful for language arts, and is doing level 3 this year. He's using TGTB handwriting as well and he's on level 4 this year. Thane is not the world's best speller, so we're also continuing to use All About Spelling, level 4. I think his biggest problem is that he just tries to go too fast (what a shock, right?). He's excited that he gets to start typing this year. So far I've just had him using typing.com. It seems to be working well enough.

For math, he is finishing up Math U See Gamma and will work through half of Math U See Delta by the end of the year (actually, by the time we leave on our trip. We're front loading all of our school work to try to finish by the end of April).

At FLEET, Thane has a cooking class and a games/art class. Yes, those classes are pretty much his dream classes. 

Graham - Kindergarten 

While Graham is technically a kindergartner because of his September birthday, as homeschoolers we have the flexibility of tailoring curriculum to match the academic needs of our kids, so his coursework in many ways is more reflective of a 1st grade student. This is especially true in language arts since he is doing The Good and The Beautiful, Level 1. He's a seriously amazing little reader. I plan to finish up All About Spelling, Level 1 with him and start him with level 2. He's also using TGTB handwriting, level 2.

He also started taking a weekly art class at our neighbor's home, but he's in a different class than Bryce and Thane. He loves his art class. One day he told me, "Can I never stop art class? Never!" When he has spare time he's either reading or drawing.

For math, I took a risk and tried him out with the brand new TGTB kindergarten math. It's been fantastic and is a really good fit for my fun-loving boy. Most of the concepts are super easy for him, but it's laying an excellent and thorough foundation, so I'm not complaining.  

Graham is continuing with year 2 of Let's Play Music. He has mixed feelings about this class. At home he claims he "hates it," but in class he's nothing but excited and involved. Also, when I tell him, "if you hate it, stay home. You don't have to go," he quickly back-peddles and explains why he really does want to go. 

This year they start learning keyboard skills, so Graham has daily practice assignments. I think he likes having time on the keyboard like Bryce and Thane (even if he doesn't love being pulled from other tasks to complete said practice).

At FLEET, Graham has a Wild Kratts class and a yoga/art class. Graham loves, loves, loves learning about animals, so the Wild Kratts class is a good fit for him. When he talks about FLEET, he refers to it as "my kindergarten."

Nellie - Preschool

With my other kids, I organized a co-op preschool or regular playgroup when they turned three. Nellie has FLEET for her 3 year old preschool and she adores going and having time to play with friends, read books, have a snack, and sing.

I'm not doing any other official or structured learning with her, but she's quite the little sponge. When I'm working with Graham, especially on math, she's always sitting right next to me or on my lap. As soon as Graham finishes an activity, she thinks it's her turn... and she usually does a pretty solid job!

I think it's going to be a great year for learning!