Tuesday Coffee Chat

What is on our Summer Bucket List?

We keep things pretty tame around here in the summer. In fact, "summer" is a relative term because since we homeschool we have several long breaks throughout the year and we do fun activities during those times, as well.

We take off the month of May from school, and that went by in a blink of an eye! Our very exciting list of things to do in May? ... stay up half the night playing video games (kids only, of course) and sleep as late as possible during the day. That was definitely accomplished. Check. Check. Check.

For Rick and I, we are celebrating our 15 year anniversary this month so we went to Puerta Vallarta last week. We went on a crazy hiking adventure which was definitely on my Bucket List. A big fat Check! I will be posting about that trip later in the week.

Now it is June and we are back to school. For us that means schoolwork for three hours each morning, Monday through Thursday, and then free time in the afternoons. It also means doctor appointments, sports camps, library trips, softball games, etc. We will carry on this way until August when we take off that month to gear up for another full school year. I imagine the kids will be back to the staying-up-late-sleeping-half-the-day schedule again.

So what really is on our calendar for the summer months?

* The whole family is going to Great Wolf Lodge this Sunday to celebrate Brynne's 11th birthday. Her birthday isn't until August but I found a Groupon!

* As a family we will be going to the movies to see Finding Dory!

* Rick and I are going on an overnight trip to historic Hermann, Missouri, to stay in a Bed and Breakfast and go on some winery tours. This is another little anniversary trip. We plan to watch the Katy Trail bike riders come through town on their first stop and scope out the scene since we hope to do that ride some day.

* The kids and I are going to Oklahoma for a weekend to see family and friends and revisit the old water park where we used to go every year when we lived there.

* We will continue to prepare for our grandson Bennett to arrive. He won't be here until September, but we have lots to do! His baby shower is in July.

* We are going on our annual lake trip with our Okie friends in August. This is when the kids swim and play games and the moms plan the upcoming school year and drink wine.

* Rick and I are going to go to a Kansas City Royals game later in the summer.

* Rick, Brynne, Collin, and I will celebrate birthdays.

* We will ... read, swim, play, repeat.

And those are our summer plans. How about you?

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

America: The Story of Us ~ Episodes 8 "Boom" and 9 "Bust" Lesson Plans

Only two more units to go, and I will wrap them both up in this post. (Well there are actually five left, but I only completed lesson plans through the next two.) This was as far as we were able to get in the series this year. We were at the end of our school year and Dawson was ready to move on to his unit-of-choice: knights. The next two units in the America: The Story of Us series were Episode 8: Boom and Episode 9: Bust , or better known as The Roaring 20's and The Great Depression. We spent three weeks combined on these two units. Our book for both units was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I had never read this book before and I thought it was an excellent portrayal of the good and bad of the 20's. The symbolism was astonishing and meaty, and I recommend having your student do an essay on the symbolism in the piece. I wish I would have done that with Dawson. We watched both Episodes 8 and 9, did the discussion questions/video quiz fo

Stacy UncorkedJune 7, 2016 at 11:28 AM
I love the benefit of homeschooling for that very reason - being able to take time 'off' - I'm actually looking forward to more 'freedom' next year since I enrolled Princess Nagger in a Virtual Academy, another version of homeschooling where she'll be able to work at her own pace, I'll be doing all the lesson plans and whatnot as her 'Learning Coach', but a certified teacher will be doing the 'official' stuff that the state needs. :) I'm looking forward to it as much as Princess Nagger is! :)

Ooooh! Happy Anniversary!! I'm going to have to plant a bug with the hubby for our upcoming anniversary this summer (13th) we've both been really wanting to go back to Punta Cana for a week. I also love your idea of a B&B weekend with wine tasting! Totally up my ally! :)

All your summer plans sound like fun! I look forward to reading all about them! :)

Countdown to Summer Break; Cool Monsters, and talking Summer Bucket List with Coffee: RTT Rebel
Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam & Dylan TooJune 8, 2016 at 1:26 AM
It sounds like you're having a lot of fun! I hope you had a wonderful anniversary trip with Rick!
LA BotcharJune 8, 2016 at 11:53 AM
Happy Anniversary!! I have no idea what we will do this year for our Anniversary... I actually think we are camping! ha. Smores and wine by bonfire I guess. LOL
Great Wolf Lodge is amazing!! I wish they had more than one in Canada - because it's a long drive from where we live, so it was pretty much a one time trip. But it's one of the few vacations where Everyone had a blast. That's worth billions.
I think Finding Dory will have to be added to our Bucket List. There's a chance the whole school may go see it though - which means I'll have to sneak in later or borrow another kid! ha.

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