School

I thought this article was interesting.  I don't consider myself to be an unschooler, but do agree with and follow many pieces of that philosophy.

This summer has been so enjoyable.  The kids have spent hours upon hours of playing - with each other, cousins, and friends at Mama's house.  We've gone to a bunch of the dollar kid movies, taken part in some free church carnival-type things, went to Oaks Amusement Park, bowling...the twins are taking a soccer class at the rec center and are now on a soccer team that Tom and Donnie are coaching together.  They all still do an hour of gymnastics each week, and it's so exciting to see the improvement in both strength and technique, as they've been taking this class almost a year now, and have come SO far.  Ruby, who had to re-learn how to walk at age 4, and has always been noticeably weaker than her peers, now does cartwheels all over the place and can occasionally beat Lily in a race!  Her legs even have a little bit of shape to them.  :)

We've signed up for this year's courses at school, and we're so excited about them!
Our school classes are as follows:  (The kids picked out all of their classes, very enthusiastically.)  :)

• A language/culture class that covers one language/culture each term - Chinese, French, and Spanish.  A blurb from the course description:  "In addition to linguistic instruction learners will be introduced to the beliefs, habits, and worldviews of each culture. We will utilize music, stories, and food from these societies to give a fuller, richer cultural experience."
• A music class (so important to be introduced to, but I don't have much knowledge about, myself).  A blurb about the class:  "(1) Developing singing voices and matching pitch (2) Playing/notating rhythms (3) Identifying notes on the staff and playing them on glockenspiels (4) Creating our own music and (5) Learning musical terminology (dynamics, tempo, symbols, etc.)"
• A math-ish class called Detective Agency, that sounds exactly like what my kids are really into right now.  Here's the course description:  "Be a detective as we explore word and number puzzles, brainteasers, and unlock secret codes together. We'll spend some time looking at clues up close with magnifiers. We'll also read stories about detectives and solve mysteries as a group. There will be lots of detective work in this problem-solving time together!"  Wow!  They're going to love this class, if it's even half as fun as it sounds.  They love this stuff.  (And I was recently reading about how good all those brain-teaser things are for little brains.)
• A class called Magic Tree House, using the popular book series as a spring-board for studying history.  One book per week is read at home, then an aspect of the book is explored in class, including a little vocabulary lesson.  We already own a bunch of these books and the kids love them.
• A math course called Measure for Treasure.  We know the instructor for this one and like her a lot.  (The rest of the instructors are new to us.)  A blurb about the class:  "We will use a variety of measuring systems and tools to estimate, investigate, and calculate the world around us. Included: length and area, volume and mass, time and temperature, money and comparisons galore."
• A science class that studies meteorology, paleontology, and oceanography (one subject per term).  A blurb from the course description says, "...a science class that uses hands-on activities and literature and art to explore scientific principles and concepts."  This class has the same instructor as the Measure for Treasure class, so I'm hoping for good things from it, as well.

The rest of the classes they're taking are: TaeKwonDo, Lego Club, Wacky Wednesdays (a fun, hodge-podge of different activities), Folk Tales from Around the World (studying culture through folk tales), and finally, Bananagrams, Cribbage and Cards (pretty self-explanatory.)

Oh, and Claire and I are also taking a cute little Toddler Time class.

This is a much heavier time-commitment than last year.  11 hours of classes, instead of last year's 4 hours per week.  We'll also still be involved in soccer and gymnastics, and will be joining the children's choir at church.  Looking at this fall's schedule, it feels like such a busy schedule!  It's more than we've ever taken on before, as far as scheduled time.  Still, it's less than most school kids spend out of the home.  We have no classes Mondays or Fridays, so we can take it easy those days.  :)


Our computer isn't working right now,which is why I haven't posted pictures lately, but believe me when I tell you that Ivy is the cutest little thing you've ever seen.  Oh my goodness, I can't get enough of this baby.  None of us can.  She's so sweet, incredibly easy-going, and ridiculously kissable.  She's amazing.  Amazing!  She's now sitting up and also scooting around.  She made it part-way down the hallway yesterday.  She chews on her arm or finger almost constantly, and I never thought that would be so cute, but on her, it's adorable.  :)  We LOVE this baby!