The Last Week of School!

We survived another year of homeschooling!!  Good bye 5th and 1st grades, hello 6th and 2nd!

First Day of School

Last Day of School

It was a great week.  Here's what we did:

Monday:

Happy Memorial Day!  I finally got to meet up with a great friend for coffee in the morning :)  We had a standing weekly coffee date before I started homeschooling, but ever since, we've been lucky to get together once every two months.  It was great to catch up with her!  Afterwards, the fam and I had lunch, and went out to the Franconia Art Park.  It's a really crazy place!  Thank goodness pictures can tell a thousand words, because I don't really have the words to describe this place.

Tuesday:

Playgroup day!  I didn't take any pictures, but we went to the Science Museum of MN, I swear ;)  It was very relaxed.  Really, it was one of the best visits to the museum in quite a while.  We walked home in the rain, walked the neighbors dog in the rain, and then vegged out for the rest of the day.  Oh ya, we also did school work and had piano lessons.  Millie is finishing up the editing process for her Evolution of Calpurnia Tate book report.  I'm really impressed with her work so far!  Elise was supposed to have a math lesson, but she took it upon herself to do the worksheet on her own.  Turns out, she didn't need a lesson, math just comes naturally for her.  I'm so proud of my little girls.


Wednesday:

Finally a break in our rainy icky weather!  It was a perfect day to meet friends at the beach.  The kids swam and played in the sand.  I battled off inch worms, spiders, and moths.  For some reason I attract bugs this spring.  Gross.  Before leaving for our day in the sun, we had a morning full of school work.

Thursday:

T-2 days until the end of school!  Regular school work in the morning, and something fun in the afternoon.  At 2 we met up for bluebird trail training.  We have volunteered to monitor the 4-H bluebird trail every week for an indefinite amount of time :)  We got to see a lot of sweet little birds and some tiny little eggs.  (Two days later, Elise would find a very full wood tick in her head.  Poor baby.  We'll have to look closer next time)  In the evening the girls and I watched Living On One Dollar. It was such a great movie, very eye opening.  I think it touched the girls.  It was Part I of our compassion study.




Friday:

The last day of school!  It's finally here!  We finished Part II of our compassion study by going to the Compassion International tour.  We  walked through the home/experience of a girl in India.  It was amazing.  The girls really want to adopt a little girl from Compassion.  It was a great way to end the school year.

This is the end my friends!  It's all Summer updates from here on out ;)  

Find out what other homeschoolers did this week, here!

Zoos, Ducks, and Monster Trucks

Every time I sit down to write up our weekly update, I have to get out my calendar to see what we did over the course of the week.  I can never just remember.  Well, this week was special, because I looked at my calendar and I STILL couldn't remember what we did!  Yikes.  Either I'm getting really old, or this week was rather uneventful ;)  I think it's the latter.  Thank goodness for photographic records ;)


Before I post the weekly update, I will post Millie's recital piece from last weekend.  Buds phone froze up, so we didn't get the first two songs, but we got the last one (my favorite!).

Here's what we did:

Monday:

Today we were supposed to have a play date, but it got rained out...again!  We used our gift of time to design a zoo!  It was harder than we were expecting (I should have known, since the grade range was 6-12).  The kids had fun with a slight variation of it, though.  I'm definitely going to keep it on hand to use in the future, when I teach geometry.  I think I'll get this version of Design a Zoo for younger kids (3rd-6th) and try again.


Tuesday:

Today was playgroup day!  It was also a very late-start day for me.  I have been working extra late lately, and I didn't get to bed until closer to 4 AM.  My body has adjusted to a 3 AM bedtime now after 9 years, but even going to bed a half hour later throws me off.  Ick.  Millie ended up missing piano lessons because of my sleepiness.  Sad!  We made it to playgroup, through!  We went to Silverwood because the weather was kind of iffy.  The moms sat inside and drank coffee while the big girls played outside.  There were some cute baby ducks and other recent developments at the park that the girls had to check out.  Elise's friend wasn't there, so she sat with the teen boys and played video games.  It was pretty cute.


Wednesday:

Today was my mommy's birthday, so we were going to go to the farm to celebrate with her, but my mom requested that I stay home and nap, because "even (my) voice sounds tired."  So, as a girl that always listens to her mama, I stayed home and napped. :)  The girls were inspired by their "design a zoo" assignment from Monday, and decided to make actual zoos out of supplies from around the house.  I love that they're being creative, having fun, and spending quality sister time together, but...oh, my poor living room!  Ha!

Thursday:

Today I slept in really late (again).  I really hope the super late nights end soon, they're ruining my days.  Booo.  At 2, I brought the girls to their grandmas house for a sleepover with Aunt Kinsey!  They watched a lot of Barbie Life in the Dream House, played with their neighbor friends, built a fort, stayed up LATE, and had a super fun time.  Since they were gone, I had the rest of the day to myself!!!  I used the time to finish up the website for the field trip club I'm starting.  It's pretty much done now, I just have to have a few people test it for bugs.

Friday:

I didn't have to pick up the girls until afternoon, so Bud and I spent the morning walking around Downtown. It was so fun!  After lunch, we picked up the girls, and took them to see a monster truck at one of the local car dealerships.  Fun times :)

That pretty much sums it up!  Next week is our last week of school for the summer!  I can't believe it.  The year went by so fast.  I'm actually kind of sad to see it come to an end.  I loooove routine.  I have my summer schedule pretty much all worked out (except for a 3 day period in June).  It's going to be a good one :)

Find out what other homeschoolers were up to this week, here.

Mounties, Minnehaha Falls, and Eco Systems

Scootering!

Since I made the decision to wrap up school after testing, and take it easy for the rest of the school year, we seem to have been doing a lot more school.  Ha!  It's all going so smoothly!

Here's what we did this week:






Monday:

The girls did their school work in the morning (math and reading for Elise, and typing, literature, and math for Millie).  They had some free time to play in the afternoon.  We found some time to scooter up to the capital grounds, and walk to the pet store to get some horn wort plants for Wednesdays SciGirls class. On the way to the pet store, we encountered some mounted police. It's so fun to see them riding around downtown!  The girls got to pet them, and ask the police a bunch of questions :)

Tuesday:

Today was Millies last piano lesson before her recital!  I think she's very ready :)  I absolutely love the duet she's doing with her teacher; It brings tears to my eyes.  After lessons and a quick lunch, we met up with friends at Minnehaha Falls.  It was a beautiful day.  The kids all separated into their groups (big boys, big girls, and little girls), and did their own things.  Before we left, we went on a mini-hike down to the falls.  It's so pretty!

Wednesday:

SciGirls!  This was the SciGirls class that we were stressing out about the most.  It required a lot of planning, timing, and supplies.  It turned out to go perfectly.  Yay!  the girls had fun going on a tour of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, and making eco-systems to take home.  We were so lucky to have beautiful weather, since the class was entirely outside.










Thursday & Friday:

If you ask my girls, they'd say that these days were total duds.  They did their normal school work, but we didn't do anything else exciting.  They played, Millie worked on her DIY Acting Camp challenges, they had a tea party, etc.  It was nice for me to have a couple days to turn my brain off, after having just completed my first semester back at school.

It was a great week!  Find out what other homeschoolers did this week, here!

This weekend will find us attending Millie's piano recital, going to the farmers market, 

and vegging out.  Yay!

Annual Testing, Play Dates, and Navigating the Light Rail

This was finals week for me!  I am officially finished with my first week back to school, and I finished with straight A's.  That has never happened to me before :)  Weeeee!  I love that I'm going back to school, and I love that my kids see me working towards a dream.

OK, on to our week.  Here's what we did:

Monday:

The girls had their annual testing bright and early.  Elise went first.  I eavesdropped from the kids room while she tested, and it was well...hilarious.

     Tester:  Why do we have laws?
     Elise:  So people don't go cray-cray

     Tester:  What language do most people in the United States speak?
     Elise:  Spanish

He he he!  Both girls did really well on their tests.  Millie tested way above level in reading, science, and history.  She's right on grade level for everything else.  Elise tested above grade level in math, and on grade level for everything else.

After testing, we had a surprise visit from some friends.  We ended up going to a playground for a few hours.  It was a beautiful day, we all had a great time!

Tuesday:

Today Millie had a really great piano lesson.  Afterwards, we went to playgroup at a park.  The kids all played together really well, it was pretty sweet.

Wednesday:

DIY Club day!  Today our friends met up at our house, and we left on a Light Rail adventure.  The kids had to navigate their way from the light rail station to the Mall of America completely on their own.  We were there of course, but they weren't allowed to ask any adults for help.  They had to rely on map reading.  Millie really knew her way around.  If for some odd reason, Millie had to go to the MOA on her own, she could totally do it.  We all had lunch at the mall, and then came back home.

Thursday:

Today I woke up early and brought the girls down to the farm.  I needed the day to myself to do a science lab, finish up the last of my school work, and take my Earth Science lab final.  It was a great day!  I loved having some alone time.  After my lab final, Bud and I grabbed some pizza at Black Sheep.  A date!!

Friday:

Today I slept in as late as possible.  It was great!!  After lunch I picked up the kids from the farm.  It was so great  to see them again :)  They showed me the brand new baby kitties that were born that morning.  Soooo sweet!  Meow :)

The weekend brought a birthday, the Style Pile, another trip to the farm, and Mothers Day brunch.  It was a great weekend!!

Find out what other homeschoolers did this week, here!

DIY Camp, Parks, and Newspaper Outfits

Only four weeks left of school!  I've upped my game, and we're going to end the school year with a (very fun) bang.  Here's what's going on:

1. Annual testing is on Monday
2. After that, we're going to have some serious fun
1. We're going to design a zoo
2. Learn about the rainforest
3. Work on 4-H projects
4. The girls will do a little delight directed learning.

This week was so nice!  The weather is great, and from what I hear, it's here to stay.  Hooray!  Here's what we did this week:

Monday:

The girls did their school work in the morning, and then we left for the last day of Gale Woods Farm!  Their class was shorter than usual because the last 45 minutes was set aside for a parent tour.  It was fun to see what the girls had been doing for the past 8 weeks.  They both made really nice friends at class.

Tuesday:

 Piano was cancelled today because Millie's teacher was in a car accident :(  She'll be OK, but is very sore.  With our gift of time, we did  a lot of school work in the morning, and went to playgroup in the afternoon.  We had to stop by the U of M to pick up an ipad for Millie to use for a DIY.org camp that she's doing through 4-H.  It's an intro to acting camp.  She's having so much fun already!!  After that we went to playgroup and played with friends at a playground for a while.  The sun cooked my back, and it felt sooooo good!!

Wednesday:

"A structure that holds 10 pounds"

Today we did school work in the morning, and then met up with friends at Fort Snelling State Park.  Elise had been looking forward to this date for a week!  She exchanged Pokemon cards with a friend, while Millie and her friend played on the beach.  Spring is so beautiful, and so SO welcome, it was fantastic to sit outside and chit chat with another homeschool mama for a few hours.  While I made dinner, Elise was busy working on *something*.  Turns out, she was building "a structure that holds 10 pounds!!"  She was pretty proud of herself :)

Thursday:

Amazingly, we had a stay-at-home day!!  It was so nice.  The kids acted like they hadn't been out and about in years, they were so stir-crazy.  Grrr.  I had class in the evening.  Millie and Elise went to the Humane Society with their aunt to register for the Walk for Animals, and then played with cousins until 9:30.  I had the house to myself for a couple hours.  It was nice, although I didn't get as much done as I had hoped to.

Friday:

Today did school, and then had an impromptu playdate at a friends house.  It was supposed to be at a playground, but it started raining.  Boo.  Everyone had fun, anyway.  Millie and her friend scootered up to the local coffee shop to get a treat.  I love having a kid that's exploring her independence.  I remember that feeling when I was little.  Freedom!!  In the evening, we had 4-H.  Millie and a friend ran the Cloverbud activity, and the club had a competition to see who could make the best costume out of newspaper.  It was so much fun (even for me!).

This weekend will find us doing the Walk for Animals, deep cleaning the 4-H building, and spring cleaning the house.  

Find out what other homeschoolers were up to this week, here.