3rd and 5th Grade: Post #3

 I have waited so long to finish updating my blog that I'm missing so many details. I'm going to go ahead and post what I have, hating that I'm leaving so much out of their fun 3rd/5th grade year! Hopefully (will I?! one day?!), I will get back to doing a better job recording our family history. And this has been all about Sis and Dash, since they were the ones who homeschooled. Baby Bro and Tornado have great years at their schools, too, and I will update their happenings, too, eventually - especially since at the time of this posting, we are all back to homeschooling together.

Citrus Picking

 We love visiting Dooley Groves, picking citrus fruit, and sampling the super juicy oranges and amazing fresh juice.

 Disney

 One of the kids' Christmas gifts: Disney annual passes!!! We had been saving up for 3 years for this moment!

It was definitely a fun year full of fun - and learning. We tried to explore all that Epcot had to offer, as far as technology and countries/cultural, but we couldn't even get to all of it in a year. (Hopefully, there will be more Disney in the future!)

 Exercise

One of my favorite places in Tampa is the pedestrian walkway on the Courtney Campbell Causeway. I brought my homeschooled kids one day for a little exercise.

They were exploring the crystals/rocks along the edge of the water. Also, I think they got captivated by a very mysterious, unknown dead animal carcass.

Special Moments

Brother celebrated his 4th birthday on a pirate cruise in Clearwater.

Sister invited a couple of friends to join her family for a Rainbow-Unicorn themed bash.

Sis joined me in my excitement to attend the Loretta Lynn concert in St. Petersburg. This was a beautiful theater, and we had a fun night. 

 Another day we ventured to the Chocolate

Festival (!) and found a few vegan treats.



Tornado chose to celebrate his birthday going to LEGOLAND and staying a night at the resort. It was a great family weekend. We haven't stayed at a resort many times, and I'm reminded when we do about how nice it is. We were able to get into LEGOLAND with our homeschool discount, which is a great deal.

Field Trip

This was an educational field trip at the Science Center of Pinellas. The subject was rock and minerals. I dropped them off for the afternoon while they enjoyed this hands-on class. They also watched a show in the planetarium.

We spent time at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium when our friends from Missouri were visiting. We also made a visit to Dino World for the first time.

During one of our trips to Missouri, we got passes to the Discovery Center in Springfield.

We were able to go back a few times over the year.

Gymnastics

Sis took gymnastics her kindergarten year in Arkansas. She started taking classes in Florida. Soon she was asked to join the Future Stars class, which is the pre-competitive class. Then she was asked to try out for the competitive team, and she did great. Her competitive season would begin January 2017, but they were already hard at work getting ready for that. Side note: Sis loves leading stretches. I always tell her she should channel her love and skill toward coaching gymnastics one day. I think she would be great!

A couple of other special moments for Sis in gymnastics included being the week she was named Premier Princess - and the classes in which she has been able to ring the bell. The girls get to do this when they have learned a new skill. Everyone in the gym stops to watch her perform her new accomplishment and cheer her on.

Parkour

They started a new class/sport they love this year: parkour. It's such a fun, challenging thing for them to do. They also have a super cool instructor who has competed on parkour/ninja television shows!

This was an open gym/parent's night out they attended one Friday night. It included a nerf war.

Easter

 Easter baskets in age order

Travel

 together again!
(Sis with her BFF since preschool)

 We met my sister Tracy for lunch at The Root Café, which has solid vegan choices. There is this little play area for the kids while they are waiting for their food.

We took trips to Arkansas and Missouri in February, March, and May. It's been so special seeing my nieces and nephews regularly. Moving to Florida, despite the wonderful aspects of such a fun state, has created sorrow in my heart (and many tears have been shed) for missing out on seeing them grow up. I made it my vow when I turned 40 that I just wasn't going to miss out on it anymore. I would just make trips more frequently.

 Homeschool Co-op

Second semester, the kids both took the Chronicles of Narnia class. I happened to be assigned the assistant teacher job for the class. It's one of those books I wouldn't necessarily want to read with them because I'm not a fan of fantasy, so I was glad they took this class. They both like the books. They were assigned to read a chapter on their own during the week, and they discussed it during class. They completed vocabulary worksheets together and other activities. The teacher usually had a book related experiment, craft, or food activity for the end of class.

They made tea during this class, and I can't remember the significance of the cookies. But they also all got to try Turkish Delight in another class.



Curriculum

I've talked a lot about our activities but not a lot about their curriculum this year. The homeschooling requirements in Florida include registering your intent to homeschool with your local school district office the year you begin homeschooling and choosing to take the standard test or keep a portfolio that must be evaluated by a certified teacher. We always do the portfolio, which needs to show an overall record of their year and also indicate improvement. They have been using Abeka history, Time4Learning, Horizons Math (Sis), and Saxon Math (Dash), among other things, including their great classes at co-op.

 Summer Has Arrived

 Sis was happy to have her little brother join her at gymnastics camp at the beginning of the summer. And no one was happier than he was to experience "camp" for the first time.

This summer cousin C and Sis were really into cooking projects together.

Another Birthday

I don't know if it's because we now have a Mac, and I'm not used to it - or blogger has changed. But I can't seem to move this pic and the following up to where it belongs! (I'll edit when I figure this out.) This year Dash invited his neighborhood pals (who once again, we are so very grateful to have on our street) for a day of paintball. Even ol Mom joined in on the (painful and intense) fun.

More Fun (and learning) At Home

The kids experimented with the volcano Dash had made at one of his classes.



3rd and 5th Grade: Post #2

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year consisted of traveling to Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving AND Christmas with Ryan's family and then down to Missouri to spend time with some of my family and friends. We had just arrived into town and went straight to the festivities at their great grandma and grandpa's house - the kids had lots of energy and jumped on the bed with their cousins...shh, don't tell Great Grandma. :)

Neighborhood Friends

This is a typical scene on our street.

 

Best place we could have moved for Dash. What a dream.

 

 

Crystal Springs Preserve

more fun on one of our monthly Crystal Springs Preserve field trips

finding as many different critters as they can to look at and share data

 

Home "School"

The kids loved the weekends that we got to take care of Tornado's class pet (and later pets).

It's a great responsibility activity - and I love how careful and sweet they are with them.

team work

 

He and I read and did a study on Red Badge of Courage during our Civil War unit.

 

Waldorf Holiday Faire

We love visiting the Waldorf School, especially the holiday faire in December.

Sister made this lovely headband.

 

Basketball

Despite being out for a month, Dash had a fun basketball season.

 

Tennis

Besides attending camps and team lessons twice a week, he participated in a couple of Saturday tennis tournaments.

We love watching him play!

 

 Seasonal Celebrating

Our neighborhood has a Christmas parade every year. Kids line up wherever they live and wait for Santa to stop by on the golf cart. :)

We also got to experience a little snow at a snow festival. They got to sled and make snowballs, among many other activities. And had lots of fun, even if it was warm enough to wear shorts.

 

 Travel

This was the trip we took to Missouri in December. The kids love playing with my friend's daughter in their great yard. They are playing "house" outside and making soup.

sweet E's new tree house

I think this was the first photo we took with my new selfie stick.

eating lunch at Mama Jean's

 

The kids and I drove to MO, and after a few days, Ryan flew in to meet us.

 

We went back to my hometown to watch a girls' basketball game. This is another one of my friend's little girls, and Sis loves playing with her.

Finally -

cousin time at Googie and Papaw's!

basketball with cousins

 

The girls and Tornado set up an art gallery and worked hard at creating pieces for it.

We were given invitations to attend.

Each piece of art had a price, and the adults paid real money to snatch up these lovelies.

Sister's best friend came over to exchange gifts. Her friend got her a matching jean jacket.

They also tried out the art supplies gift that Sis had given her.

I put up an advent string with number cards every year at Christmas. The kids look forward to looking behind the cards every morning to see watch book we are reading, what new gift we are receiving, what service project we are participating in, what craft we are doing, or what movie we are watching, etc. This night we watched Elf.

Christmas spaghetti!

 

The favorite Christmas activity is our Christmas Eve scavenger hunt. I've done this every year (except maybe one) since Tornado was little.

We usually do it after we get home from Christmas Eve service at church. There are a series (20-25) clues, one that leads to the next. The final clue leads to a gift and the baby Jesus that needs to be put in our nativity scene. When they were younger, the gift was new pajamas. Lately, I've been giving them new special ornaments especially for each of them.

 

 

 Day Trip

We attended Space Coast Veg Fest that fall. It took place in Cocoa Beach, which was a new location for us to visit. We had a nice meal on a second floor restaurant overlooking the street. We checked out the cute downtown, a little park, a health food store, and the beach. Before it began pouring rain, we had a very nice day.