Ending This School Year...

The snow and ice finally turned to rain,drenched us for two solid months, then settled in to a more usual pattern of extreme heat, dotted with heavy storms and frequent tornado warnings. Our weather alert radio has certainly been busy these past few weeks!

Neal and Alanna once again opted for Standardized Tests rather than building portfolios for the year-end evaluation required by the State of Ohio. They were both in the top one percent, which Severus Snape would call "acceptable."

This past year was quite interesting. A few high points:

Alanna continued her reading and writing gains. She has finished three books, but she says that they are not worthy of publishing.

Neal continues to scarf down and absorb facts as quickly as he does food, which is saying something. He's also quite adept as Tech Support.

Thanks go out to CK12.org and KhanAcademy.org for brilliant resources! It's wonderful to have someone actually explain algebra in a video or on an e-book so cogently.

Neal started a novel, which began brilliantly but soon fizzed out. I'm still wondering how the story would have gone!

We charted Neal and Alanna's progress in high school subjects. Neal is through nearly two years, and Alanna has about 1/2 a year of credits.

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The return of Deathly Heat must mean that school is over, more or less for this academic year - except for the frequent educational excursions and activities that we do in the summer as a matter of course. Since we've discovered the Blue Star Museum program, which allows military families free admission to hundreds of museums across the US this summer, we've been salivating over the lists. COSI, Westcott House, Boonschoft Museum, Columbus Museum of Art...they're all on there, and they only cost the (substantial) amount of gas money that it takes to drive there. If gas was cheaper, we'd be on the road weekly, hitting nearby states, but that's a fantasy for the future. Right now we'll just stay close to home, except when we visit Renee or Claire.

I'll be back soon with news of Next Year's Plans. Until then, please enjoy this shot of a Very Educated Baby:

Now guess which baby that is!

Summer Break...Sort Of....

We finished our exams. I've sorted the books and stored the best for Brenna and Noah. A few that need to be finished or reviewed are on the desk waiting. I've even chosen the basic outlines for the Fall's Learning Season.

But learning continues here between the Asiatic Lilies and the enormous tomato plants. Alanna and Elizabeth have their own garden behind the Gray Building (my husband's great-grandfather's former blacksmith shop that's next to our house.) Their broccoli is gorgeous, and their pumpkin plant is threatening to engulf the entire back of the building! The girls also have a pottery class starting tomorrow.

Neal has plans involving soccer, computers and science experiments, but he's a bit vague. Thirteen is a vague year.

We do have a bit of math to review this summer, and a bit of a history book to finish ( A History of USBook 3 on the American Revolution.) We'll squeeze that in between painting the front porch and redoing the living room floor. Our current family debate is about whether to paint the porch white with green accents, like the rest of the house, or Black and Gold to honor the Columbus Crew Football (soccer to you, probably!) team...

School Year's End

The sun is stronger, the flowers are up, the asparagus is gone...must be the end of the school year!

Of course, our school doesn't really stop, it just morphs into a more relaxed, more eclectic learning experience. The schoolbooks sit on the shelf, ready for reading up in the treehouse, while the games and puzzles are easily available, and the science equipment ends up out on the picnic table satisfying the curiosity of young minds.

Inside, I'm sorting through piles of worksheets and computer photo albums for material to put into our end-of-the-year portfolios. Our state requires that a bit of our children's work be examined by a certified teacher, or some sort of standardized testing, so I usually opt for making the thick folders of papers and having a friend look them over and sign for us. Jim has eight children, all of whom were or are homeschooled for at least part of their education, so he knows the ropes quite well.





I look for samples of work that show practice in several of the areas that we covered during the year, and the kids pick out their favorites. Sometimes I use World Book's Typical Course of Study to help me figure out what to include, but, since every child is unique, I don't stick too closely to it. I try to put in the best of the best, but not to overload poor Jim with stacks of papers that really belong in the recyclable bin!

When I have the papers from my stacks, I separate each child's pile into subjects and use pieces of colored paper to separate them. The kids like to decorate these, and I write a short paragraph about each child's achievements and difficulties of that year. Then I put the pages into portfolios with pockets, along with sports certificates, photos of field trips and art projects, and even cds of computer projects and graphic design examples.

During the search for the perfect papers, I'll also make notes about possible ideas and challenges for next year. It always amazes me how a child can seem to have no grasp at all of a complex procedure like long division in the spring, but by fall it seem to come into focus with almost no effort. A bit of maturity can make a huge difference!

When the folders are finally complete, I copy the necessary paperwork from my state, and take it all to Jim, who'll check it and sign the forms. Then we are finally free to call it a school year. It's time to sign up for the library's book club, get out the bathing suits and squirt guns, and enjoy the hikes and stargazing.





Sometime I think that we all learn nearly as much in the three months of summer than we do in the whole academic year, though the learning is of a bit of a different sort. I do try to plan an activity for every day, if only to break the apparent monotony (also known as "I'm bored!") and stealthily fill their mind with brain food. Even the older teens will paint on the sidewalk, go to the zoo or check out the water bears under the microscope. And everyone will watch water start a fire or spike a bonfire with chemicals for color!

By next fall, I'll be happy to get some type of routine going again and the kids will be secretly glad too, though they may not admit it!

Summer Activities for Your Family

Summer Activities For the Whole Family

Scavenger hunt! Write (or draw) a very simple list of things for your youngster to find in the backyard, park, or while on a walk. Here is a list that was developed for nature walks in an Ohio, USA, forest...can you find everything where you live?

Check out animals all over the world with Critter Cams! Birds, elephants, moon jellies, chickens...

Survey your backyard and become members of Backyard Jungle. Upload pictues, drawings, and descriptions of the plants and animals that live near you and see the backyards of people all over the world.

Practice the rules for survival if you are lost in the woods.

Help scientists keep tabs on the bird populations by helping out with My Yard Counts. Go birdwatching three days in a row at different times throughout the summer and send your results to Cornell.

Go for a walk in a local park..with empty trash bags and gloves.

Learn about first aid for kids

Make ice cream in a bag!

Go stargazing with a telescope or binoculars. Check here for the stars to be seen in your area. Also, be on the lookout for some spectacular summer meteor showers!

Summer Activities for Younger Kids

Join your local library's Summer Reading Program, if they have one. If not, give small prizes (gum, small toys, trips, game time, etc.) for every five books read.

Try these fun ativities that go with popular kids books. Make a spider web to go with Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider, turn your room into a jungle to go with Where the Wild Things Are...

Make a bug catcher. This is a very simple way to see critters up close.

Try these fun art projects for little ones, but don't be surprised if the older kids want in on the fun too!

Make your own personal rainbow.

Make your own rain!

Ask a furniture or appliance store for large boxes, then turn them into castles or forts. It may be a bit hard to navigate your living room for a while, but it will keep kids happily and creatively occupied for days!

Take a measuring tape outside and measure large distances...it's helpful for kids to be able to be able to guess approximatly how far away something is. 'One hundred meters' means a lot more when they know that that's aout how far it is from the swingset to the garage.

Summer Activities for Middle Kids

Plan and create the perfect wildlife-friendly backyard.



Make Pencil Rockets from NASA

Grow your own crystal garden.

Open your own worm hotel!

Check out these exotic art activities from the National Gallery of Art.

More Science Fun from ZOOM...make Rube Goldberg machines, electric gelatin, and much more. Creative and fascinating!

Have a writing hour now and then, where everyone writes instead of talks.

Play this fascinating Art mystery game online. Beware...it's a bit spooky, but really creative and enjoyable.

Have your child keep a one sentence diary for the summer on your family calendar. This is especially good for those children who aren't fond of writing.

Make a family history timeline, starting with the births of grandparents (or great-grandparents, if your family records are good enough.) Draw the timeline, then add dates and pictures of family events.

Put drawing things,art books, paint, glitter, fancy paper, etc. on the table. The kids will find them!!

Make up a "Bored List" of things to do the next time you get bored! Or make one up for a younger sibling...

Plan an imaginary trip to the moon. Get as technical as you like...or not!

Try cartooning with this Flash animation tutorial.

Make a solar cooker!

Go for a nature sock walk!

Summer Activities for Teens

Create the ultimate bottle rocket!

Volunteer at the Red Cross, or in a local shelter or food bank.

Take a babysitting class online or from your local Red Cross.

Make your own inuksuk

Hold a tournament of a game that you like...darts, table tennis, Yu-Gi-Oh, whatever...and invite friends to compete for a silly prize or two.

Hunt for bears in your backyard...with a microscope!

Check out NASA to discover how to make your own 3-D pictures.

Check a book of difficult thought puzzles out of the library and discuss them at dinner.

Try making Jewelry with these great ideas.

Experiment with quilting.

Do a little interactive activity about the roller coaster you visited.

Build a flower press.