The Beginning of Summer

Summer is in full swing!  I feel sooooo much better about things.  It has been good for me to turn my brain "off" and relax, wrap up tasks I've been meaning to do, visit with friends casually, etc.  Here's what we've been up to so far:

Lady's as tall as Millie now!

Painting rocks by the creek.
This was on her bucket list.

  

Digging a hole.  Finding clay.  Fun with friends!

Playing with neighborhood friends.  Making a fairy island.

All set up for the 4-H carnival!  Ring toss.

Millie working on er 4-H county fair project with a good friend.

City kids waiting for the bus. This picture makes me sad.

Aspiring Viking

Fun in the fountains!

Watching the trains roll through

A train!  A train!

Tried rollerskating for her first time at a birthday party!

Aunt Leslie's Daycamp, day 1.  So much fun!!

That sums up our summer so far.  We have so much fun planned, I can hardly stand it.

Am I the only one that gets pleasure from staring at my calendar?  I loooove my calendar.  Wanna see her?  Here she is:

Summer Bucket List - 2014

The summer is just beginning!  It's going to be a great one.  Here's what we came up with as a family, to put on our official "Bucket List" for Summer 2014:

o   Dance with Bud at 9 nights of music

o   Go to Craguns

o   Catch fireflies at the farm

o   Play in Grandma Suzie’s neighborhood

o   Make cookies

o   Have a lemonade stand

o   Sleep in the tent

o   Lay on the beach

o   Play in the woods

o   Have a picnic dinner

o   Get and play with fireworks

o   Canoe at Taylors Falls

o   Go on a kayaking date

o   Cocktails on a patio with friends

o   Go on a hike

o   Do a ranger program at two state parks

o   Go geocaching 

o   Make crafts

o   Go to the state fair

o   Start an herb garden

o   Go to gooseberry falls

o   Climb rocks at Taylors Falls

o   Go on a family bike ride

o   Spend the day at Oliver Kelly Farm

o   Boat tour in Duluth

o   Play in the creek at Mears Park

o   Go to the Black Dog playground

o   Walk at the quaking bog

o   Paper trail game

o   Cartwheels in the grass

o   Go to the Eagle Center in Wabasha

o   Read outside

o   Go to a parade

o   Get ice cream in Marine in St. Croix

o   Go star gazing

I'll check in mid-way through the summer to make sure we're staying on track.  It all seems pretty doable!  

A Free Range Summer

The problem with living in a condo in Downtown St. Paul, is that every single outing has to be intentional.  If they kids want to play outdoors, I have to come with them, sit with them, monitor them, and essentially stifle their childhood urges to run, play, and explore independently.

It's not that I don't want to spend time with my kids, I just feel that they should have the opportunity to have lazy summer days to play with friends, start a pick up game of kickball, build castles out of logs, run and play with other kids, and do things that "regular" kids get to do in the summer (without mom looking over their shoulders at all times).

This year, we're going to do something a bit different.

It's called our Free Range Summer.  

Since moving isn't an option right now,  a backyard isn't going "come to us." Instead, we're going to "come to the backyard"!  We're going to spend time in a designated neighborhood as often as possible.  I'll stay out of their way, and they'll run around and have the childhood I had hoped for them.

While they're doing that, I'll read, work on my lesson plans, jog, and soak up the sun.

I can't wait!

Side note:  I stumbled upon this article this morning on Facebook.  It's fabulously written, and expresses exactly what I feel about the "Free Range Summer."  All parents should read it!

Farewell 4th Grade and Kindergarten! An Exit Interview.

It's finally the end of 4th grade and kindergarten!  We're welcoming summer time with very open arms.

As usual, before we officially concluded the end of the school year, I conducted an "exit interview" to find out what the kids thought of the school year.  Here's what I found out:



Millie (4th Grade)

What is something we did this year that you'll remember the rest of your life? Making so many friends and learning to dance.

What is something I could have done to make this year better? Moving and having a giant backyard.

What is something that was hard at the beginning of the year, that's easy now? Typing.

What is something you taught me this year? All about animals.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A farmer.

Elise (Kindergarten)

What is something we did this year that you'll remember the rest of your life? Reading.

What is something I could have done to make this year better? Play with me.

What is something that was hard at the beginning of the year, that's easy now? Reading.

What is something you taught me this year?  That my favorite food is fruit snacks.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A princess at Disney.

*****

But, what about me?  Don't I get an exit interview?  I'll just say that this was the most challenging year yet.  In fact, if it was my first year homeschooling, it'd be my last.  I lost any and all  motivation a couple months ago, and really felt like a slacker towards the end.

My solution for this problem is to create a highly detailed schedule for next year.  I tried to "take it easy" this year, which does not fit my personality or teaching style at all.  So, I'm going to spend the summer prepping my plan for next year, taking it easy, and trying to relax away my guilt from this school year, away.

I kicked off my summer break by going on a weekend getaway with my 3 closest friends.  It was amazing.  We shopped, ate, explored, laughed until we cried, told (too many?) secrets, drank (too much?) wine, and had a blast.

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

Holy Cow, It's Been A Month...Again!

I'm certainly not going to get any ribbons for my blog maintenance, am I?!  It's been a month since I blogged...again!

This has been a big week for me.

• I went to my first homeschool convention.  It was fabulous!  I'm a different homeschool mom, for sure.
• I discovered Life of Fred, and I'm positive that it's going to change Millie's disdain for math.
• Millie passed up dessert to read a book (jaw drop!)

Here's what we've been up to for the past month:

The girls made flapper dolls at the MN History Museum for 1920's day

Elise is a notorious gangster!

Practicing the Charleston 

Just hangin' out at the speakeasy 

Calculating their carbon footprint at Girl Scouts

Painting Daisys

One of the last hot chocolate mornings of the year

Honey, I shrunk the kid!

Their first Girl Scout cookie booth was a success!

Fabulous essential oil class

Busy making hand sanitizer out of essential oils

Mom and Dad had a few nights out while the girls were at play practice :)
Lucky us!!

Ukrainian egg workshop through 4-H.  

She made a hedgehog!

A little too early for playgrounds?  The water was about a
foot deep.  Memorable, for sure!

Elise designed the horse on the left.  Grandma 'Rira
helped sew it.

4-H solar car workshop.  Millie's was pretty fast!

Peer pressure is good!  She would have never climbed this high
without the encouragement from her friends!

A day at the zoo

Playing at the beach!  Just ignore the coats, snow, and ice.

Painting paper mache mushroom logs

Making an oyster mushroom garden.  Ummm...

Plays, Protein, and Princesses

Holy moly, I just noticed that I haven't posted a new blog entry in over a month!

Well, last week was a classically perfect week here at Two Cowgirls Homeschool :)

Over the weekend, Millie participated in a 1 act play through 4-H, and ended up getting 1st play with her group, and a special award recognizing her as an outstanding performer.  We're so proud of her!  She had a lot of fun, learned a lot about keeping her front facing the audience, projecting her voice, and enunciating her words.  It was a great experience!

Monday was yet another cold day in which we didn't attend play group :(  It's officially March now, and I'm fulling expecting it to come in like a lion, and out like a lamb. It'd be nice to see this record breaking cold winter come to an end! Hopefully our play group will be on track now.  Fingers crossed!  Instead, we stayed home.  Millie got a phone call from her dog walking poster downstairs, and accepted a 2 week dog walking gig!  It started that very day, so we got out and took the pup around the block.  Now Millie is going full speed ahead toward her goal of saving up for a hamster, and is also super motivated to earn a business badge in Girl Scouts :)

Tuesday Elise had Doodlebugs.  While she was having fun with kids her age, Millie had fun with friends outside and in the nature center.

Wednesday the girls attended their first princess book club!  They read a book about Anastasia Romanov a couple weeks ago, and this was the club that went along with the book.  It started at the Russian Museum of Art in Minneapolis.  They have two levels dedicated to artifacts from the Romanov's.  It was absolutely amazing.  I could have stayed for hours and read everything.  Perhaps i'll go back on my own ;)  After that, we went to a library where the girls discussed the book, and then decorated their own eggs!

Half of the Anastasia Romanov book club girls.

Thursday and Friday we stayed home for some much needed book work.  We finished up our 1920's unit study, and learned about protein, starch, and fat.  We did a few experiments to determine if certain foods had those elements in them.  It was really interesting.

We're ready for another fun week!

Since I didn't post for a month, here are a few pictures from February: