A Look Back at Summer

 Hard to believe it's Fall already.  Weren't we just baking a cake for America's birthday?  But here it is, school is officially back in session for the local kids, the weather is getting colder, soccer season has begun, yep- summer's over!

So I thought a recap of what we did this summer would be a fun way to welcome in Fall.

This summer I got a job.  As in a real job- a jobby job.  BTW- that's my term for anything that actually pays me money to work.  So this June, I started said Jobby Job and it definetly impacted our summer since I had to be home Monday thru Friday during normal business hours.

But I didn't let that stop me!  I was able to take a few mornings and afternoons off and so we managed to still do some fun things during the week.

We followed this great summer schedule from Pinterest.  This truly helped me stay organized and motivated.  I highly recommend adopting something as simple as this for some summertime fun!

We went to several of the $1 Summer Movies offered through Regal Cinemas, we found a new arcade game place near our house and visited a few times, we went to the Farmer's Market, the outdoor water splash area, the local bouncy house facility, participated in the free summer library programs, released our pet bass, visited the indoor trampoline place.  We went to birthday parties, participated in the FREE Lowes Build and Grow Kids Clinics rang in America's birthday in style, took William to his very 1st baseball game at a ballpark, made crafts and built a robot.  Oh yeah- and we homeschooled!

We went to the FREE summer library programs

Arts & Crafts!

William built a robot with Daddy

William's very 1st trip to the ballpark

$1 Summer Movies

We released our pet bass

Water Fun!

Bouncy Fun!

Free play, knights w/swords

Fireworks!

Next week we will celebrate the 1st official week back to school for William with a weekend trip to visit Mt. St. Helens.  William has become obsessed this summer with volcanos and this will be our final summer hurrah.

I'd say we've had a pretty successful summer!  How about you?

Summer Homeschooling

Schools Out for Summer!!!  Oh wait- we homeschool year round.  Ack!  You do what?!?  Seems like even in the homeschool community we are freaks.  Oh well, what else is new?

We are currently in our week long "detox" from school.  William is pretty much doing whatever he wants while I am finishing up my first week at my new job.  Thankfully it's a work from home thing (yes, there are a very small amount of legit ones!) so I can be home with William while he explores his FREEDOM!  This week he and Buddy Dog have been digging holes all over my backyard. 


The start of the cavern

Which has only succeeded in making the hubby extremely pissed.  An angry husband battling the "man-cold" is not fun.  Pray for me folks!  So with that, William & Buddy Dog have decided to focus their digging efforts on one large dirt pile.  Currently we have the mini cavern, complete with kiddie pool roof.  Excellent creativity my child, excellent!

In addition to starting my new jobby-job, I have been putting together our summer schedule.  Let me first just say that I love schedules.  I love everything about them!  Writing them down on paper, crossing things off when I've done them, highlighting the most important items, making a to-do list and so on and so forth.  Weird, huh.  Oh well, I'm over it.

We are eclectic homeschoolers which simply means that I pull William's curriculum from many different places.  During the school year he attends Edmonds Heights a couple days per week.  This year his classes included metal arts, pottery, marital arts, science, math, musical theater and a drop in open lego lab.  Fun, fun and fun!  William also participated in the Homeschool Swim & Gym class at our local YMCA, he loved it!  And let's not forget soccer and the weekly trips to the library.  For his bookwork at home, we use Scholastic grade level workbooks that I bought from Costco.  Yep, Costco.  I freakin' love Costco for workbooks!

$6.99 at Costco!!!!

Buddy Dog loves helping William with his workbooks

                                                                                       I keep several workbooks in a cute basket on my kitchen bar and he spends 40 minutes per day in the workbook of his choice.  Sometimes he likes to do all math problems, other times it's reading comprehension- but the point is that William picks what he wants to learn.  Finally, each day William is required to spend 40 minutes reading quietly.  He is currently working his way through the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and has been known to spend an entire afternoon finishing a whole book.  Yay for a child that enjoys reading!!!
So that's just a bit of what our "normal" school schedule looks like.  How does our summer schedule differ from our school year schedule?  Well....I'll tell you!

William is still required to complete his 40 minutes of workbook time and his 40 minutes of daily quiet reading.  But that's pretty much where the strict schedule ends.  This year I've found a wonderful schedule plan from Pinterist.  Ah, how I love me some Pinterist!  I'm currently working on figuring out how to adapt this great summer plan to our homeschooling life.

• Monday is Make Something Monday.  Think crafts, recipes, homemade playdoh etc.
• Tuesday is Take a Trip Tuesday.  Anything from taking a trip to the farmer's market, going to the movies or even down the street to the park.  
• Wednesday is Wet & Wild Wednesday.  The water park, local pool, or even your backyard kiddie pool and sprinkler.
• Thursday is Thinking Thursday.  This day is for science experiments, fun projects, math games or even trips to museums or the library.
• Friday is Free Day Friday.  Freedom, freedom, freedom to do whatever you please.

In addition to this schedule, I want to take advantage of some great summer programs offered in my area.  Do you know about the $1 movies at Regal Cinemas?  How about the fun summer programs offered through your local library?  And let's not forget that many museums offer free days.  FREE days!!!  Whew! This summer is shaping up to be BUSY and I still have to find time to actually work.

What will you be doing this summer?  Lazy days poolside? Summer camps, vacations?  If you're a homeschooler or even if you're not- I encourage you to use this summer break to your fullest advantage.  Summer is a time for creative play, imaginative learning and fun, summer activities.  Watch out summer- here we come!