weekly wrap up 7/20/18 School and volunteering

I have been working on lesson planning this week while the kids work on a few school activities.  Since I will have one child in Public school in September, I only need to lesson plan for one child this year!  I have been working on lesson planning for our art and literature as we do these with another family.  I am also ordering and finishing up planning for our topics for 9th grade and should be ready to post about them soon:)!

FireDrake is taking AP Literature at Public school in Sept and she has been given summer reading to complete.  So far she has read the books "A Brave New World", "A Day in the Life of Ivan Deniovich".  Her next book to read is "Crime and Punishment".  In addition to doing the required reading she is responsible for writing two papers on each book each with different criteria and turning them in to her teacher over the summer.  FireDrake is also working on finishing up her World History and Astronomy lessons.

MarioFan has completed his pre algebra TT book and has now begun Algebra TT.  He has also finished his grammar book from last year!  We are still working on our World History textbook and will be throughout the summer.   For Science we have been working on some electronic kits that he received for Christmas.  MarioFan keeps saying he wishes to be an electrician so I am trying to find activities he can do to improve on those skills.

this Speaker project is from Kiwi crate ages 14 and older 

directions were clear and easy to follow

took us two days to assemble but that was only because we had plans on the first day and couldn't  finish it 

It worked!  MarioFan was disappointed that the sound wasn't louder !

We have two more projects to work on by this company this summer, a flash light and a laser project!  MarioFan is looking forward to completely them!


The kids and I have begun volunteering once a week at a local animal shelter.  I require the kids to have some volunteer hours in order to graduate from our home school.  Last summer Firedrake worked at the Wild Bird sanctuary.  This year she wanted to work with dogs and cats.  Firedrake will also return to be a camp counselor in August for a group called "Buddies not bullies".  She enjoyed being a counselor last year at this camp.

This will be the first time MarioFan has done any volunteer work.  Since MarioFan is under 16 he needs a parent to work with him, hence I am volunteering too:) at the animal shelter.  There will be certain activities he can not do as he is underage (such as walking the dogs) and the facilities insurance forbids it.  I still think it will be a good experience for him.

the kids spent some time in the kitty room playing with the babies kittens

next we went next door to socialize some of the older cats that are looking for new homes.

This shelter is a no kill shelter so they strive to socialize all the cats and dogs so that they can be rehomed permanently.  Any animal found to be ill or unable to be rehomed will live out its life at the shelter.  It was so hard not to come home with a cat!  My husband is very allergic to cats so I had to keep reminding the kids that taking one home was not an option!!!

Weekly wrap up 7/20/18-- Spokes science day

Every year one of the coops we belong too, sponsor the Harvard college students Spokes team as they bike across the country and in return the college kids do a free science camp for our homeschool kids.  We go every year and it is always a lot of fun and the activities are interesting.


The first class was engineering.  The students had 3 challenges to complete.  First they had to build out of paper a structure that could support weight.   The structure that supported the most won the contest.

MarioFan remember his work on Bridge engineering and suggested the  make a column and fill with rolled up paper for strength

MarioFan's team won as their paper structure supported 9 boxes of candy dots.:). The second place team could support f4 boxes of candy

The next contest was to build the tallest structure out of candy dum drops and marshmallows and it needed to remain upright for 30 seconds once the timer went off.

Boys working together and it took a few minutes for them to realize that a triangle was the sturdiest  building option.   MarioFan did not remember this from our Bridge unit from a few years ago.  Can't win them all:)

MarioFan's team won again by 1/2 inch they built a 13 /2 inch structure in ten minutes!

The last challenge was to build (using only paper, straws, and tape) a container to hold a egg that would be dropped from shoulder height and not break the egg.

This challenged proved to be the hardest for the boys to work on.  I also think there was too much parental involvement here as everyone tried to figured out what would work. (guilty as charge)

the final model design

the dropping of the egg

While the boys egg did not fall out of their structure like the others did,  it still broke.  So there were no winners for this contest:). 

Next class was learning about computers and working with the Scratch programs

Many activities to show just how hard it is to program a computer to do exactly what you want.

Completing their scratch games.

The last class MarioFan did was robots and engineering.

Learning about the bread box in electronics

assembling the electronics

building a base for his robot car

testing to see if it works

MarioFan was pleased that his car was the second best in distance:) !

We had a great day of learning and as usual the college kids did amazing classes and engaged the kids in all areas!

Weekly Wrap up 7/13/18 -- Summer activities

We have been keeping busy after our summer vacation to the Southwest.  Some of the activities we are been doing are....

My husband was honored with an award at work!    I am very proud of him as he works very hard!  

Husband watching every hockey game and cheering for his team which won the Stanley cup this year, something he never thought would happen!  He cried tears of joy!!!

Next to the Stanley Cup which he hopes he will be able to see when he travels to DC on one of his business trips

Going to the pool with friends

My daughters Japanese tutor is moving:( so I created two gifts for her.

she is adopting a calico cat so I made a stain glass cat for her

Kanji for Friend...the tutor still plans to tutor Firedrake but it will be done by computer  from now on.    Fingers cross it will work out!  

Getting together with friends at a recreation center to play fooz ball

and ping pong 

Enjoying beautiful sunsets from our back porch!

going to six flags hurricane harbor and the amazement park.  We have season passes so the kids and I  have been going once a week.  This time Husband was able to take the day off and join us:)

My husband and I had a date night recently 

we saw Jethro Tull in concert!  

IN addition to this we have been doing a little school too:). will post about what we have been doing next week.

Weekly Wrap up 7/06/18-- Southwest Trip

We have been enjoying our time off.  We spent two weeks driving through the Southwest.  Part of this trip was to cap off our daughters learning in Geoscience with her Dad and have her demonstrate her knowledge of geology!  Also part of this trip was because my Husband just loves the Southwest and hopes to retire there one day!  We visited many of the National parks that were on our bucket list!

I will just show a few of our pictures as I took so many!

Our first stop was to Cadillac Ranch.  I have pictures of the kids here 3X over the years.  

We always stop here on our way to New Mexico:)

 We spent several days in Santa Fe New Mexico.  Visiting local places and museums!  We also enjoy some fantastic Mexican food!

Next stop was to Mesa Verde.  It was super hot this day!

MarioFan was fearless and climb every ladder!

I did manage to keep up but those steps were steep  and narrow!

 On our way to Utah we made a quick stop at 4 corners which MarioFan really wanted to see!

Next we stopped at four Corners 

Stop we visited Monument Valley!  Which was on my bucket list.  

Next stop was to visit Glen Canyon in page Arizona  .  We have never seen a dam up close before so we stopped to do a tour!

Lots of people and cars crossing over the bridge which had to be built first before the Dam was built.  

We took a tour inside the dam and learned about it.  Very interesting.

We also experienced a cultural dinner out.  Where we enjoy Native American food and watch Native American dances.

Both kids loved the Hoop dances and declared this the best experience of our vacation!  MarioFan insisting that we go to the huge Indian dance competition that is held yearly somewhere in Arizona:). The gentleman we saw that evening is rated the 6th best in his age category in the US.  It was fabulous to watch and he worked with over 14 rings!

Next on my bucket list was to visit Antelope Canyon.  We have a fantastic guide who showed us how to get the million dollar shots with our phone cameras:) and well as many other facts.

The canyon was amazing and we took the early tour  which we were told would give us the best lighting pictures and it did!

The guide also showed videos of the canyon on the canyon walls including a raging flood that occur several years ago that killed 10 tourists!  

Showing us what a sand storm inside the canyon could look like

close up of the wall.  The color variation of the rocks were unbelievable.

dragon eye photo in the canyon

the guide also demonstrated how the canyon formed .

 Next stop was to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We have been to the South Rim when the kids were little.

MarioFan spotted beefalo (buffalo/cow mix breed) at the entrance.

Just contemplating life 

 On our last day in Page, AZ we took a boat ride through Glen Canyon!

the original Planet of the Apes was filmed somewhere along this canyon

A beautiful picture around every corner.  Plus lots of people kayaking and paddle board in the canyon.

 Moving on to Moab, Colorado we visited Island in the sky park.

Throughout our trip we listened to many ranger lectures on the geology of the area

Both kids thought the scenery at this park was magnificent!  

 Next we visited another park on my bucket list was Arches National park!

We had to wake the kids up at 5:30 to get to the park by sunrise.  The kids were less than happy with this  news!!!!

It was just gorgeous!

After visiting the Arches National Park the kids wanted to go back and take a nap in the hotel!  Teenagers, sigh lol.

We found a scenic road that took us by the Colorado river that was beautiful.

 After Arches we had to begin our trek back home.  We decided to go through Rocky National Park

Amazing to see large snow drifts in June!

Kids trying to get me with snow ice balls:)

We had an amazing 2 week trip and it reinforced my husband desire to retire in the South west one day!