Is anyone else out there ready for summer break?  I’ve been so busy for the last month that I’m daydreaming about our camping trips and reading while the kids comb the beach.

• We took a wonderful trip to Washington, DC.  That isn’t the kind of vacation that leaves you feeling rested, you know?
• I participated in my first-ever iHomeschool Network 10 Day series with resources for a 50 States Study.  (Phew, that was a lot of work!  If I suggest doing that when we have plans to go away please remind me.)
• Some activities are wrapping up and we’re planning for special endings

With all the beautiful weather here it’s feeling like summer in Maine (70s most days).  It prompted us to get outside, and we’ve set a family goal of 10 new hikes this year. 

Hike #1: Beech Mountain in Acadia National Park.

The trail was just what we like–not too strenuous, lots of interesting natural features and views along the way, and the ability to make a loop so we don’t have to go back the way we came.

But the most memorable part of the hike is actually the Spruce Grouse story.  As we arrived at the summit two other hikers warned us about a territorial Spruce Grouse.  Sure, we said, figuring we’d keep the noise down and just steer clear of her turf.

The problem?  She was guarding the ENTIRE top of the mountain.  We’d try to follow her lead and go away from her space, find an area to take pictures and eat a snack, and she’d head our way again.

Side note: I am afraid of birds.  Yes, you read that right.  I’m not afraid of wild birds that fly away when you try to get close, but larger birds that stare at me and look willing to peck my eyes out frighten me.  Go ahead and laugh.  I think it actually stems from a terrifying car ride with my aunt and her Cockatoo.  He escaped her grasp and perched on the back of my seat.  Okay, back to our story.

She was not the least bit afraid of us and would chase us down wherever we went, making it clear she wanted us to leave.  There was no pleasing her or shooing her away, so we headed down the trail to eat our snack somewhere else.  {And I kept looking over my shoulder expecting to see her glaring eyes behind me.}

We informed the next hikers on their way up, and we could tell they were thinking, “Yeah, whatever.”  I do wish we could have seen them on the way down.

What’s a homeschool mom to do after an event like that?  Turn it into a lesson, of course!  We spent some time researching the Spruce Grouse and completed a notebook page.

*In case you’re wondering, that notebook page is a freebie from Our Worldwide Classroom.

Other School Happenings

We’re working hard to finish things up before the end of our school-year schedule.  (We homeschool year round, but slow down in the summer.)  The kids and I are very motivated to finish the few things that must be done before I can close the books on this year:  my son’s Funnix lessons, my daughter’s Teaching Textbooks 5, and our Civil War unit study.

We’re also keeping an eye on the Robin nest cam from Heather at Blog She Wrote.  When we’d focused on birds in our nature study we watched hummingbird and eagle cams, so it’s neat to compare the differences.  We’re really excited for when those little blue eggs hatch!

Other Things I’ve Been Working On

Did you catch my list of 10 Things I’ve Learned While Homeschooling?  Then yesterday I jumped in to share some of the Realities of Homeschooling.  Just so you won’t think I’m perfect or anything.  (Quite a laughable idea, really.)

I’m also planning for our summer school and next year.  I actually love the planning!  Other than that I’m gardening and mowing.  I was sort of hoping the grass wouldn’t grow until we were on our summer school schedule but it didn’t cooperate.

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!

In our homeschool this week:

1. I changed up the store game I frequently play with my son.  I told him HE would be the storekeeper, and had to label items with prices.  The catch: I would be trying to cheat him, so he had to really know his coin values!  He loved this new twist.
2. The kids declared Tuesday to be Smencil Day, announced on our whiteboard.  It cracked me up–I’m known to love a good theme and will randomly declare it something-or-other day if we’re doing a few things that go together.  I had told my cautious daughter that she should go ahead and use the Smencils (scented colored pencils) she received for Christmas instead of saving them forever, and little brother was happy to join her in making it an event.  I allowed all schoolwork to be done in Smencils.  Embrace the small joys!
3. My daughter published another Writeshop project.  This lesson was on Haikus and my daughter wrote one about spring.  (My full review of Writeshop is in the works.)
4. Does any one else have a counter that looks like this in the middle of a school day?  Please say yes.
5. Martha Dog is a sweet, sweet dog.  She’s happy to stand in as a footrest during my son’s reading lesson.  These moments make up for those others, like when she attempted to chew into her food bin this week to get at the 40 pounds of dog food.

I was happy with what we accomplished considering I was dragging with a nasty cold.  It settled into my chest and disrupted my sleep all week.  Thank goodness for audio books (Wind in the Willows free from Librivox) as I sipped hot tea!  My daughter helped fix snacks and said “bless you” when I coughed (which was a lot!), my son cuddled (a rare event) and rubbed my back.  It warmed my heart to see them as sweet caretakers.

Thursday Auntie came for a sewing day.  We usually do these on a Saturday (with a name, of course: Super Sewing Saturday), but she had a rare afternoon off from work so we took advantage.  I was struck by so many things to be thankful for:

1. Flexibility: How often do I say this? A lot!  When the option to sew with Auntie came up, I could adjust our schedule.  We got our core work done and will finish the rest today–an adjustment my daughter was happy to make.
2. Sewing:  It teaches valuable skills to my daughter, gives her a sense of pride, and is an activity we can share even in the years to come.  Handicrafts of all sorts can fit the bill, sewing just happens to be our favorite.
3. A sewing mentor:  Sometimes when Auntie comes to sew with us she doesn’t get as much done on her projects because she’s helping us.  She teaches us a lot, always has cool new tools for us to try, and also makes it a whole lot more lively and fun.
4. Our sewing machines:  We’re blessed to each have a Singer Featherweight–a sewing machine made over fifty years ago.  Picked up at auctions, we treasure these little beauties that hum along and are a thing of beauty.  (At least to sewing dorks like us.  We call ourselves the Featherweight Fan Club.)
5. My husband:  My husband returned home at 7:00 AM from his 24-hour fire department shift.  He made us a delicious chili for lunch and ran out to get pizza for dinner.  And he didn’t say a word when we had to eat at the coffee table because every other surface was covered in sewing supplies.  He’s a keeper.

My daughter sewed another project from her Kids Can Do It: Simply Sewing book (a fleece bag to bring to sleepovers), I made a case for my son’s iPod out of an old pair of his jeans, and we started work on a tote bag.  A productive day!

Today we’re embarking on a last-minute interest-led study of the Iditarod after seeing it on the news this week.  I’ll share the details and pictures when we’re done!

Other things from this week:

• I shared about a sanity-saving daily habit of Quiet Time.  (Extra helpful when Mommy is sick.)
• I joined with other bloggers of iHomeschool Network to share some of the reasons why people think they can’t homeschool–and how we make it work!  One of my fears before we took the plunge was that I can’t homeschool because then I wouldn’t have time for anything else!

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!

I’ve struggled with feeling over-scheduled since the beginning of the school year.  We rarely had a whole day at home, and it was a nagging bother because the days spent at home seemed closer to my core homeschool priorities.  We could always get the basics done (the three Rs) but only on slower weeks could we get to the “extras” that matter to me: nature study, hands-on activities, artist and composer studies, time for personal interests.

I made small changes and waited it out, figuring after the holidays during the bleak winter months we’d be glad for the busyness.  February arrived and I wasn’t glad, just busy.

I mulled it over, talked with my family, and decided to take out two activities.  Each occurred only once a month but required planning from me and school time during that week for the kids to prepare.  The problem?  The two activities were good activities with nice people, and they depended on the participation of the involved families to keep going.

I notified the groups, and some members were disappointed.  I felt sorry and yet that I had done the right thing for our family.  This week reinforced my choice.

1. My little boy loves and needs hands-on learning: here are our homemade (pepperoni) pizza fractions.
2. More hands-on learning fun: after watching Beakman (our favorite science show–all episodes streaming on Netflix!) we had to try the Beakman Challenge: sucking from a straw with a second straw out of the fluid.  P.S. It’s impossible and it all has to do with air pressure.
3. We delved into our history program every day this week.  These are our Jumping Jacks, a popular toy from the 1800s.  My son colored the printable one, my daughter designed her own.
4. One of our “extras” is composer study.  We’re working on Beethoven and enjoyed another SQUILT lesson for Fur Elise.  Thanks ever so much to Mary from Homegrown Learners for teaching us all about Super Quiet Uninterrupted Listen Time!

My children enjoyed their non-school hours, too.

• Imaginative play: The kids built a covered wagon in the playroom, then a claim shanty out of the kitchen table.  It even had a quilt for a door like Ma Ingalls.
• Time for personal interests: My daughter completed a sewing project from her book Kids Can Do It: Simply Sewing.  She took a photo of lovely me (in my pajama pants) helping with pinning to capture our very helpful sewing assistant, Martha Dog.  The completed transformation of jeans-into-skirt was a success and my daughter has basked in many compliments.  I love the lessons learned and pride that comes from sewing for her.
• What else? My son practiced until he could do a double-somersault, my daughter did math in her spare time (Life of Fred Fractions–I may be in love but don’t want to judge too quickly), we sorted and delivered Girl Scout cookies, and enjoyed lots of reading aloud, including all of The Twits just for fun.  Roald Dahl gives my son belly laughs and I love to share that with him.

Now, this doesn’t mean we’ve become hermits.  With church, Scouts, two book clubs and music lessons we’re still on the road many days.  But we’ll have a couple more days at home and more freedom to work on our priorities.  And a bonus:  it cleared up some mental space for me since I had to plan what we would prepare for both events.  I need all the mental space I can get!

How is your schedule working this year?  Do you have a hard time balancing time at home and outside activities?

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!

Last weekend we caught the end of the big blizzard.  The amount of snow wasn’t that unusual for Maine, but the wind made it an extra fierce storm.

From inside our cozy house we fretted for the birds as they fought their way to and from the feeders.  We watched the chickadees aim for one tree but end up blown to another.  I was glad for the existing evergreens…and glad I planted over twenty more!  After the storm passed this snow mountain was in our driveway and provided hours of building enjoyment.

Monday we celebrated our 100th day of school.  What a fun day to beat the midwinter blahs!  (And yes, in Maine it is really only midwinter…spring is slow reaching us up here.)  I detailed all our activities in that post, and would be happy for any new ideas I can put on my list for next year!

You know how you have those things about school you don’t want your kids to miss out on?  Making and exchanging Valentines is one of those for me.  Luckily a friend hosted a Valentine Party for about 20 kids and we spent the day crafting, playing games, and exchanging the sweet Valentines our kids had made.

Today we’re donning our citizen scientist hats to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count.  We’ll spend periods of time throughout the weekend with binoculars in hand, tallying what we see for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to track bird populations.  There is still time to participate, just check out the GBBC website!

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!

I make our 100th day a time to play with numbers and pat ourselves on the back for being over half way through the school year.  It also lands perfectly in the winter doldrums, so it’s an opportunity to ditch the normal schedule and make it a special day.

Here are 10 ways to have a little fun on 100th day:

1. First of all, mark the day!  Decorate–just a simple message on the white board, or even break out the balloons and streamers.  I personally like making things a surprise, so I didn’t tell the kids ahead of time.  They were pretty excited to walk into the schoolroom on a Monday morning to see our whiteboard pictured above.  The pocket chart held the list of 100-themed activities we were going to do.

2.  I type up a quick and easy list of 100th day questions.  I’ve varied the questions, but basically ask about their thoughts on the year so far and then some 100-themed questions.  What has been your favorite activity of our school year?  What would you buy with $100?  I would like to have 100 _______.

3.  To get out the wiggles that can go along with a special day we did 100 exercises!  I simply cut five index cards in half and on each half wrote an exercise we would do 10 times, then the kids took turns choosing a card.

4. Make a picture from the number 100!  I gave each of them a big 1-0-0 cut out of paper and instructed them to make them into a picture.  My daughter’s finished product really cracked me up!

5.  We had some fun with estimating.  Which container has 100 items?  How far will we go in 100 steps?  How far can we run in 100 seconds?

6. Lunch and Breakfast were 100-themed.  Breakfast looked like the number 100 and lunch was 100 items!

7.  Each of them completed a 100-piece puzzle.  (I read aloud while they worked–we can’t have a day without reading aloud!)

8.  We played Chutes and Ladders, since there are 100 spaces!

9.  The highlight of the day was a Lego Challenge: What can you build with 100 Legos?  To add difficulty I chose the 100 Legos and they had to build with just the ones in the tray and use every piece.  My daughter built a car (with storage in the back–creative spot for the pieces she didn’t have a place for) and house complete with pool and side play yard for pets.  My son’s creation was a factory.  He turned his wheels into a conveyer belt!

10.  Write a 100 word story or poem.  We ran out of time before getting to this due to a large mountain of snow outside waiting to be made into a fort.  I planned for this to be an optional activity, figuring my 10 year old daughter would be interested but not my 7 year old son.  I will add this idea to the list for next year.  My daughter writes very long stories, so I think having to choose words carefully and make it shorter would be an interesting challenge.

What ways do you celebrate the 100th day?  I’ll need some fresh ideas for next year!

The high temperatures in Maine this week have been in the single digits.  Brrrrr.  We’ve done most of our at-home schoolwork near the gas stove.

Though we don’t love this kind of weather we remembered to be thankful we live in much more comfort than Laura Ingalls did in The Long Winter.

In our homeschool this week…

• We celebrated Marlin Luther King, Jr. using suggestions from Mary at Homegrown Learners.  The Netflix documentary was fabulous and I highly recommend it for all ages.
• Both kids were able to complete their full week of individual work for the first time since before Christmas!  Between the holidays and then illnesses we’d had such odd schedules.  This week the basics (reading, writing, arithmetic) were done and done well each day.  That was a good feeling.

The rest of our learning was all about reading aloud.  Quality literature is always our base, and subzero temperatures make for perfect reading time.

• We read The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden and enjoyed the lovable characters.
• We’re continuing our historical journey with the audio version of These Happy Golden Years.  Oh how I love this series and sharing it with my children.
• We continued our nature study of birds despite the frigid temperatures by reading The Burgess Bird Book for Children and continuing to watch the nest cams I talked about last week.  It’s amazing to see how fast the hummingbirds are growing!  I was able to talk about the “pin feathers” after reading about them in the Handbook of Nature Study.  For fun we read through Feathers: Poems about Birds.
• We continued our study of Mozart with the Tell Me About Wolfang Amadeus Mozart Biography and lots of listening.  We were all amazed with how young he was when he began not only performing but composing!
• My daughter finished From The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and loved it.  I asked her to notebook it in some way and she asked to do two book reports–one on the storyline and one on the main characters–and a picture collage.  (Oh, okay, if you really must!)  She is now reading The Secret Garden and loves that, too.  Hooray for great books.
• I am still very slowly working through the original Charlotte Mason series.  Did you see the six volume collection for Kindle for 99 cents from Amazon?  I picked that up and use it with the Kindle app on my android tablet.  I had downloaded the series free from Ambleside but the formatting and table of contents are worth the 99 cents.  I also borrowed A Charlotte Mason Companion through inter-library loan.  I enjoy Ms. Mason’s writings but also like to have a little help applying it to our homeschool now.

Places we went and people we saw…

Though the cold temperatures made me want to hibernate we had a lot of places to go this week.

• Daddy took the kids on a radio station tour that turned out to not be as technical as my kids were hoping for.
• For my daughter’s book club they attended a talk by author Jennifer Richard Jacobson.  It was full of great information about being a writer, and how even as a professional author you have to make lots of revisions.
• Our homeschool geography club meeting was about Russia.  My son presented on the volcanoes in Russia and its location on The Ring of Fire.  My daughter shared about Matryoshka dolls.
• We paid a visit to the orthodontist.  Good news–no one needs braces right now!  My pocketbook heaved a sigh of relief.

Things I’m working on…

I’m trying to gather and organize everything to send off to my accountant to prepare our personal and business taxes.  Anyone else out there buried in paperwork?

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!