Summer Activities List / Our Grammar Studies

I haven't planned any studies for this summer. We've been working on our adoption paperwork and going swimming and doing VBS and the library summer reading program but we've had no formal studies for the past month or so. I did make the summer list of fun things and I have them do 6 or 7 of those before turning on any video games or TV. The summer list has been good for getting the kids to exercise and go outside. We have had a limit on screen time for a long time, but the summer list has kept the battles to a minimum and really cut down on the "I'm bored!" whining that I was hearing. You can see the summer list on my blog entry from June 9. I recommend making a summer list to everyone who is fighting the screen time battles. A good activity list is a good ally to have in the battle. I'm going to do a new one every couple of weeks this summer, just to keep it fresh.

We've had an informal spontaneous grammar lesson, led by the kids, for the past few days. We've been doing Mad Libs and they've watched Schoolhouse Rock a couple of times. For thoses readers who don't know what Mad Libs are, they are stories that have key words removed and the kids are supposed to fill in with the same word type, noun, adjective, adverb, etc. It's a fun introduction to the parts of speech. They are always funny and my 2 older kids try very hard to come up with new and interesting words to fill in the blanks, but with my 8-year-old answering the questions, they take on a new twist since he has favorite words he likes to use in them. His favorite adjectives are foggy, green and hairy. If asked for an article of clothing he almost always says "underwear" and for a body part, he says "left foot". He only knows 2 celebrities, Donald Trump and Brittney Spears. (He has watched The Apprentice a few times, but how he knows Brittney Spears, I have no idea!). This combination of words makes for hilarious mad libs and he knows it, comedian that he is. And, everytime someone can't remember what an adverb is, we start singing, "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, get your adverbs here."

You could poke an eye out!

Remember hearing this from your mom when you were a kid? I guess I haven't said it enough to my kids because my youngest, yesterday, was playing with a stick and poked himself in the eye. He had 2 lacerations to his cornea. Today, 3 doctor's office visits and $60.00 in co-pays later, he's better, but he has to have drops in his eyes and avoid swimming for several days, which he is not happy about. Still, I think he got off easy when I think about how bad it could have been.

Last night, he had to lie still as much as possible, with both of his eyes closed (one was patched) which is not easy for him, so we picked up an audiobook of Hank the Cowdog at the library and got a Mad Libs book at the grocery. Hank the Cowdog is wonderful for that 7 year old sense of humor and the Mad Libs book which was a Worst Case Scenario book was hilarous so he actually didn't have too bad of a time.

Anyway, hopefully we'll all be back to normal in a few days.

Typical Boy

Last night my younger 2 kids and I were on our way to get the oldest from the library. They were talking and to be honest, I was kind of tuning them out and thinking about something else. I did notice that they were doing a rhyming game, making up short 2 line poems that rhymed. After a few minutes, I tuned back in to hear my daughter say in exasperation, "You can't rhyme poo with poo! It has to be a different word!"

Boys!

Butterflies.

I've been having trouble with my camera lately, but if this worked, this should be a picture from the day we let the butterflies go. That was really cool.

Planning.

The rainbow on the previous post is pretty symbolic of what I've been doing lately, LoL. I've been looking at the Rainbow Resource catalog that came in the mail the other day. For homeschooling moms, this is fun stuff, trust me. I've been trying to figure out what I need to use with the kids next year. I got the test results back and both of the kids I tested are a little behind in math so this is going to be our math catch-up year. Actually, my oldest has been trying to catch up for a while and he's made progress, but he's got a little bit further to go. I'm looking at still using the Key To ... series with the oldest but I'm not sure about middle girl. What to do, what to do, hmmm. I guess I need more time in the catalog!

Rainbow.

This picture was taken from our back deck on Monday.

One Mama

I have a skin tag on my leg. (Of course, I'm just thrilled to have it. Not!) My younger son noticed it one day this week and pointed it out to my daughter. They asked what it was. I told them it was a skin tag and they were just facinated by it. My older son said that he wanted to see it too so he got up and came over and looked at it. He said that it didn't look like he thought it would, he thought it would look more like a real tag. I said "Like what? a price tag?" Then I joked "One Mama 99 cents" and my younger son said "No, it should say, 'One mama, priceless.'"

The last thing on my mind.

We are having a very bad time here lately, it seems. We've had another death in the family and it has been a very heartbreaking week, actually day, because it just happened this morning (hard to believe because it seems like forever). Anyway, blogging has been the last thing on my mind lately and it probably will be for the next few days at least as I attend the funeral home and the funeral. Keep our family in your prayers please.

Linc

Linc's Big Adventures - Episode III

I've written about our cat Linc a few times. The first adventure he had that I wrote about was the time he got into the garbage and got his head stuck in a ziplock bag. The second adventure he had was when he got himself stuck for several hours in a tree so tall even the fire department probably couldn't have gotten him out. He was way up there. This week, he had another adventure. He got curious about the inside of the van when my daughter went out there to get something and she inadvertantly closed him inside. He spent the night in the van and was finally liberated by my husband in the morning. Unfortunately, there is no litter box in the van and the next day, it smelled awful. I cleaned it out and then cleaned the van carpet and seats with white vinegar (which my best friend says will get out the odor of cat pee). Now my van has a really, um, distinctive smell which I hope will go away soon, the smell of pee and vinegar ... lovely.

Birthday.

Our youngest son turned 8 this weekend. I think he had a pretty good time. We had a birthday party for him on Saturday and then on Sunday, we went to a graduation party for his cousin and he got a gift there as well, so I think he felt almost like he had 2 birthday parties. It was fun, but I can't believe my baby (sob!) is eight!

Happy Birthday!

Summertime List.

The thrill of being off for the summer has worn off, I think, at least for the 2 younger kids. My older son has been keeping busy with working with his Dad, biking, reading and doing a lot of drawing lately. The younger two haven't been keeping themselves busy very well. My daughter wanted to watch televison all the time and my younger son wanted to play video games all the time. I put limits on the screen time and then I got to hear those famous words "I'm bored." So today, I made a summertime list for them of things to do. Instead of just pulling it out when they say they're bored, I just will assign a random number of these things that have to be done each day, they can choose. Today, since we were going to the park this afternoon, they had to do 4 of them before we went. It worked out very well.

Here's the list:
Reading Treasure Hunts. (from the book by the same title)
Board game.
Active game.
Build something with Zomes, Atollos or Legos.
Make a piece of art, sculpture, painting, etc.
Swing on rope 5 times. (We have a rope swing outside.)
Ride bike around house 5 times.
Jump on trampoline 5 minutes.
Toss a ball around for 5 minutes.
Play Badminton.
Play Frisbee.
Play with marble run.
Play "Guess who" game.
Play "Guess Where" game.
Dance to music.
Read a book.
Swim (our pool isn't up yet, so they can't do this one yet!)
Wade in creek.
Dress a doll.

These are just for the younger 2 kids, really, as my oldest has been keeping himself occupied. It went really well this morning. The first thing they chose was a Reading Treasure Hunt. My daughter hid the clues and my younger son read the clues and did the hunt. My daughter dressed her dolls and played with them for quite a while. They played a game of "Guess Where" together. I'm not sure exactly what else they did, but I know one very important thing: while I was working this morning, I did not hear "I'm bored" even one time (other than from myself, lol!)

Various Things.

My two boys have a toy called Scannerz. I don't think it is even being produced anymore, but it is a really cool game. It's a handheld electronic thing that scans UPC codes off of items around your home. When the boy scans one, he either gets a monster or an item like a crystal ball or lightning staff or finds an enemy and has to fight it right then. It is fun and keeps them occupied. They spend a lot of time in the pantry looking for new items and monsters. Occasionally, they end up making hilarious comments like "There's life in the toilet paper" or "The broom has a lightning staff" It's been very entertaining this week.

Our broom has been like a lightning staff this week. We've been cleaning for our homestudy home walk through. I've had a work deadline today and the homestudy visit tomorrow so that it's been a very busy week. The good news is we finally did the spring cleaning! Maybe I'll get to see some loved ones outside my immediate family again starting tomorrow. Whew!

My youngest son and my husband had an interesting conversation today about a contest that the kids were having. I didn't catch what the contest was about, but they discussed the prizes in great detail. One prize was a quarter and and one that sticks in my mind was the seventh prize. If you came in seventh, you got to kick the person who came in eigth, LoL.

It seems like I'm turning into a once a week blogger, but I'll try to do a little better. It's just been very busy around here.

Testing.

We did testing today with the older two kids. It's the first time they've been assessed since we started homeschooling. We used the California Achievement Test and we'll know the results in a few weeks. I have mixed feelings about it. I want the tool it will provide, to tell me what their strong points and weak points are but I think it made them feel bad today, because there were a couple of sections that they didn't have time to complete. I don't want a silly old test to bother their self-esteem. Darn. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it turns out. Thankfully, we live in a state where we get to choose whether to test or not.