First Month of School

 Homeschool Academy

     To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. 

- Thomas Edison

   The 3 youngest kids all take a class called Junk Box Wars at different times with their own age levels.

 

        This class is based on the tv show Junkyard Wars. The kids have individual or group challenges each class. Just a few of their other challenges include throwing a candy cane without it breaking, building tall card houses, making sling shots, creating marble runs, and building "pilgrim houses" that can withstand wind and weight, etc. It's a good interactive/teamwork/social class.

 

 

   This particular day (this pic and ones above) their assigment was to build a contraption that would cushion an egg's fall to keep it intact. There were different rounds/testing variables.

building spaghetti tower another day with his little buddy

House Update

     Although we did like the sunny feel of the breakfast nook with the yellow walls, I couldn't quite get on board with this particular shade of yellow with everything we own. I had to go with my standard gray, much to my sunshine-y daughter's chagrin. I don't think it's as dark as it seems in this pic. I was also happy to hang up all of my (around 30) cute plates. Since we lived in the RV for the year, it's kind of fun to unpack things that you had almost forgotten about.

Friend Fun

     Sis got a day out with a friend at a trampoline/climbing place in Tampa.

Homeschool

     This is the chapter book we are reading together right now. We started reading it several months ago but misplaced it. Now we are back at it. We visited the actual Alamo last year. Aaaaand getting ready for another visit. I recommend this book for a greater understanding of what happened here. There weren't many options for Alamo themed children's books. We all remained engaged in this historical fiction book.

 

     I mentioned in last post that we do our history lessons together. At the end of each lesson, we try to play an online game, Kahoot! This requires me to create questions ahead of time using information from the chapter, as well as pulling questions for review. This is a fun motivation for all of them. We are keeping track of points. I told them the overall winner at the end of the year will receive a special prize. 

     I just noticed that Dash had named himself Mr. Hair Cake during this particular day. (What a fun personality this kid has!) I feel I need to explain this is from a youtube video he showed us one day. I can't even begin to properly explain this video. It's basically these guys who make a cake using all sorts of hair - like shaved off their bodies, etc. They proceed to eat the cake. I literally threw up watching this video. I'm not kidding. (And I don't know why I'm sharing this for anyone in the world to see.) We were sitting on the bed watching it, I started feeling nauseous, I THREW UP and had to run to the bathroom with my hands over my mouth. I'm sure the kids wish they had a video of my reaction to that video.

Travel

     Labor Day Weekend arrived, and we made plans with relatives in Missouri and Texas. We only made a quick one night stop through my home state, and while we were there I took them to a well-loved restaurant (where we can pretty much eat nothing, but they were excited to order drinks, which is a treat for our water-at-restaurants family) at Flat Creek. Two of my childhood friends play in a cover band, and I always enjoy going to their shows. My kids had expressed they wanted to go watch them sometime since they know it's something I do occasionally. They got to meet some of my friends and like I wrote in a previous post, they got to experience a little bit of my small town roots, which is good for my "city kids."

     THESE TWO...are always either picking on each other or having great fun. They're like an old married couple. 23 months apart in age. I'm curious what their relationship will be like when they get older.

     We went to my aunt's house for our annual kickball game with my uncle, cousin (who is my age) and his kids, which was the main purpose for this leg of the trip.

          I love kickball. And we always have a great time getting together with this crew. I try really hard to keep traditions and connections within our nomadic, somewhat untraditional life.

     Next stop on our Labor Day Weekend Extravaganza was a visit to see my college roommate who lives near Dallas. I hadn't seen her in YEARS, probably since the older boys were very little. We had dinner out with her husband and two young sons and spent the night with them. (Ninja always says he is "so shy," but really he is my friendliest, least shy kid.)

     Jen and I lived together for two years in college. She is one of the NICEST, funniest, easiest people I have ever known. I have missed her, for sure; it was so nice to hang out with her and for my kids to see how great she is. They really liked her!

        Another long overdue visit was to our best friends from our early days in Arkansas. The four of us met pre-kids, so we have known them for 20 years. Our kids always attended each others' birthday parties, etc. "growing up." We moved to Florida, and they moved to Texas and somehow five years went by without us seeing each other. I had decided earlier this year that I was not going to let 2018 end without getting together with our long lost pals.
      I was curious how the kids would interact. Ninja didn't even remember them because he was still a baby when we left Arkansas. They all sat in formal awkwardness for the first half hour. By the end of the visit, they were running around playing like no time had passed at all.

     Life is so busy. Life is so hard. I MUST do better about seeing the people who mean the most to us. If only time and money were infinite resources. Spending time with Jen and these kids I had held as babies (and their very cool parents) was good for my soul.