Swim class and Geocaching

Everyone was up early to get going on their schoolwork so we could go out for the day early.

Skylar had her first swim lesson at a new facility.  Her physical therapist really wants her to swim regularly to help build up her leg muscles.  Her friend A is in the class too so Skylar was super excited.

She did a great job, had a lot of fun and it didn't appear to hurt her legs much.

After class, we ran home for a quick bite of lunch before heading out on our next adventure - geocaching.

The Juniors earned this badge today.  We met up with a woman who runs a geocaching club for kids.  I had sent her the requirements for the badge and she developed the day for us.

First, we learned about the sport, how it got started, where in the world you can go and the rules.  Then, the kids started finding the caches (as they are called).

They found a total of 5 different caches - one was a bird (plastic pretend one), one was a purple mini (there are even nano's), 2 were in boxes and the final one was an old peanut butter jar.  We left a trackable inside that one.  A trackable is a card that you can leave and it has a destination.  A person picks it up and takes it to another cache until it makes it to its final destination.  Sometimes they go all over the world.  Ours just wants to see Colorado and then make it back to Girl Scout Council.

We hiked around for almost 2 hours - Skylar's legs were a mess when we were finished.  I thought I might have to carry her some of the way but she pushed on and made it back.  As soon as we got in the car, I gave her an Advil.  Andrew fell asleep almost immediately when we got in the car.

We made it home just in time for everyone to go to their rooms for quiet time and a Girl Scout leader showed up to turn in her fall sale reports.

Fair Play Badge

Today, the Brownies got together at the Rec Center to earn their Fair Play Badge.  First, we talked about how to play fairly and how to be good sport whether you win or lose.  I had lots of examples of how to be a bad sport - they giggled.

We played a relay game where the girls had to match up the score with the sport
Football = touchdown
Baseball = homerun
Soccer = goal
Tennis = ace
Rugby = try
Horseshoes = ringer

Then the real fun began, we went to the turf and played octopus tag, popcorn, more relay games and an obstacle course.  All the girls earned the badge and Cairn and another junior received a fun patch for helping out.

Andrew was very intent when he played.

We spent 2 hours running around - tons of fun.

School and Girl Scouts

Andrew woke up at 6:30 AM this morning and interrupted my morning time...I just need an hour to myself to get ready for the day.  I wake up early to get it in but for whatever reason, Andrew woke up early too.

We got school going by 8:30 - only Skylar was dressed up we didn't have to get out of the house until noon so I tried not to worry about it much.

Cairn went back to working on her Spanish.  She got frustrated because she made several mistakes and didn't earn any points.  Then she worked on multiplying multi-digit numbers.  She practiced her piano, did some writing in her Mad Libs.  I tried for a year to teach her nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs and she just wouldn't learn it.  Over the weekend, she retaught herself and started teaching Skylar the parts of speech so Skylar could help her write Mad Libs.  Just goes to show...

After lunch, we went looking for some supplies for Girl Scouts, couldn't find them so had to improvise.  The Girl Scout meeting was more like a parent meeting but the girls were great - sitting together at a table, chatting quietly.  Then we played some games and did our Investiture Ceremony for the year.

 Girls playing Knots.

Cairn during the Investiture Ceremony - she is saying the Girl Scout Promise.  Her candle is supposed to be lit but the wind kept blowing them out.

Skylar watching her flame, hoping it wouldn't go out.

After Girl Scouts we stayed at the library until Cairn's writing class and then we finally headed home for dinner and I had to get ready for a New Leader meeting at my house.  Only one new leader showed up but she got all her questions answered.

Tomorrow is Constitution Day!!

2nd week of school

This happens every year but this time I am prepared for it.  This is also why I don't really like to take long breaks from school.

Everyone's attitude toward school is just negative and instead of saying they don't want to do school they misbehave (yes, even homeschooled children misbehave).

We have had lots of fighting, tattling, nitpicking and just general not so nice behavior.  I just keep telling myself that it is the 2nd week of school.  If I can get through this week then next week, my normal children will return.

Last week, they were very excited about all the new things they were going to learn, the new books and materials they had.  But this week, it is old hat and boring therefore I get the behaviors.  Next week, we return to "this is what we do, we homeschool, so let's do it."

Monday - we had our first troop meeting with our much smaller troop - last year was 21 and this year we are starting off with 7.  We had a lot of fun - played games, learned a little and figured out what we want to do for the year.  Cairn and I went to our first Mother/Daughter book club meeting.  It was fun.  We saw some old playdate friends from about 4 years ago (I was actually pregnant with Andrew when we left the group) and made a new friend who homeschools.

Tuesday - Andrew had speech and he is progressing very very well.  He works so hard to improve his speech plus he just loves Ms. Jill.  Then Cairn had a writing workshop and we ran into the new friend we had met Monday at book club plus one of our regular homeschool friends.  She LOVED the class and wants to take a 4 week class next month.

Cairn is such an incredible reader and so creative and elaborate in the stories she creates when she plays that I always thought she would be an awesome writer but she has always hating writing.  Not anymore.  Over the years, I have never pushed her to write, I figured it would come in time if she was really going to be a writer.  Plus, I knew that she would go to college able to write and communicate effectively so I wasn't worried.  It paid off - last night and today I found her hunched over her notebook writing.  No prompting from me!

Wednesday - We did our schoolwork and then went to a friends house to swim and just hang out while we still can be outside!!

I have been busy every night this week with either our book club or Girl Scout leader meetings.  I have 3 this week - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday night, Skylar has piano.

School, Birthday Party and Bridging

We were up and ready to get to work on our schoolwork today so we skipped our morning workout.  Not a good idea now that I look back on the day.  They did their schoolwork but we had some trouble staying focused on it.

Skylar needed to finish her oral and visual presentation of Rapunzel, Cairn needed to finish her picto-code and Andrew needed to finish his Colonial America lapbook assignments.  They all worked hard and finished up their work on time.

We filmed Skylar making her presentation but I can't seem to get it to download.  I will keep trying but wanted to get this posted.

Her dolls that she made.

After lunch, we had to run a couple errands to get Skylar ready for her party and to pick up the last couple things for the Bridging.

We got Skylar to her party on time, helped the mom make the goodie bags and then Andrew, Cairn and I headed to the Bridging ceremony to set up while Skylar stayed at the party. Dad picked her up and brought her to the Bridging just in time for the ceremony.

She was beautiful.

In her Daisy uniform.

 Waiting for the ceremony to begin.  I put her in that seat and told her to wait for Ms. Jill to tell her when to come up.  Another leader told her she was in the wrong spot.  She was very sweet and told her, "My mom told me to sit here so I have to sit here."  Can't argue with that.

 Ms. Jill is reading the Elf Story where the girls have to turn around 3 times and then see if they see themselves in the "water", if they do then they can become Brownies.

 Looks like she saw herself.

A Brownie taking off her Daisy uniform so she can put on her new Brownie uniform.  That's me in the background, helping with the ceremony.

Our newest Brownie.

I had to stay to help clean up but Dad took everyone else home to eat dinner.  No one got into bed until after 10 PM.

6th birthday and Girl Scout camp

This morning, everyone was up early - there was a lot of excitement to be had.  Skylar was ready to open her presents right away.  I had them out for her since we wouldn't be home tonight and we wanted to open presents with Dad.

Yes, I even let her have cupcakes in the morning.  We had to sing to her right?

 Andrew and Cairn gave her a pet rabbit for her new American Girl doll - it had a bed and carrots included.

 From Cappy and Nana she got 2 new dresses that she loved and her most prized gift...

 Saige - her newest American Girl doll.

 Family portrait - Skylar, Saige, and Lily - her first doll.

After presents and breakfast, we got on with the day.  I had to finish packing for 2 trips - Girl Scout camp and our trip to Mount Rushmore.  

As soon as the orthopedic office opened, I was calling to see if I could get Cairn into the doctor today.  No such luck, she must wait until Monday.  She will be allowed to go to Girl Scout camp though.

Grandma stopped by to give Skylar her birthday present too - more American Girl doll items.  Skylar was in heaven.

Finally, it was 3 PM and the troop started showing up to head to camp.  

We had a fabulous time at camp.  Cairn had a lot of fun and only had tears a couple times when she couldn't participate in an activity.  Mostly though she could do whatever we did.  The troop cooked dinner Friday night - hot dogs, tator tots and salad.  For dessert, I brought more cupcakes so that Skylar could celebrate her birthday with everyone.  Then we played games until bedtime.  The troop stayed up late (past 11 PM).

Saturday, we started off with a flag ceremony before breakfast, learned a new craft, played games led by older Girl Scouts, bleach tie dyed some shirts, then headed to lunch.  After lunch, we had clean up chore in the dining room, more crafts, and a visit to the farm.  Then it was dinner time.  It was a little cloudy, cool and looked like rain so they moved the campfire inside.  So we went and sang songs and then headed back to our cabin to make smores.  The girls were exhausted and quickly fell asleep by 10 PM.

Sunday morning, we woke up to head to flag ceremony and brunch.  Then we had to clean our cabin from top to bottom before we headed to closing flag ceremony.  Finally, it was time to head home.

We arrived to a street full of parents waiting to pick up their girls. I had backpacks and crafts to hand out.  All the parents wanted to make sure their girls had a good time and then it was quiet.

But not for long, because we had to get the car unloaded and then reloaded for the next adventure...

Back on the horse

We jumped right back into our schedule since we got home.  Today, Cairn had a private piano lesson because her teacher will be out of town on Tuesday.

Skylar and Andrew practiced on the keyboards while we were at the studio so they got in an extra long practice too.

Then we went home to eat lunch and do a little schoolwork before heading out to Girl Scouts.  Today we had a special tour set up.  We are having a used book sale on June 1st to help us earn some money to purchase medical supplies for our Kits for Kids that we are making for Project Cure.

Now, if you haven't heard of Project Cure go here.  They are an amazing organization.  Every time we go in I learn more about what they do.  They operate within 1% of overhead, just about everything they have is donated.  Even the notepads they use in the office are donated - sometimes they are scrounging.  

I have always been looking for an organization that I would adopt so the kids and I could really get involved in donating time and money to. We may have found it.  The kids really like because there is so much they can do to help.

After Girl Scouts, we went home to ride bikes, roller skate, finish up some schoolwork.  Finally, it was dinner and bedtime.  Everyone is still catching up on sleep and went to bed easily.

Lots of schoolwork but no Girl Scout field trip

Everyone was up and ready to get to work this morning which was good because we are started a couple new units.

I signed us up to do a State Share class with our home-school group.  Cairn picked Oregon and the littles picked Texas.  I printed out a state study packet that included all the normal things like state motto, flag, tree, flower, bird, etc plus some more interesting things like Indians, famous people.

We also started preparing for our upcoming road trip to Grand Junction, Arches National Park, Capitol Reef National Park and Colorado National Monument.

Cairn was supposed to go on a field trip to the Capitol building for a legislative tour with the Girl Scout troop.  But unfortunately, she lost it because of some temper tantrum behaviors she continues to have.  She did a great job handling it today.  Hopefully, we will start to see some decrease in tantrums after having such a big consequence.

We hit the library today too before the snowstorm hit so we should be good for a couple days at home.  We have lots of projects to work on so we are okay either way.

Girl Scouts a Singin'

Today was a regular day in the morning.  Everyone worked on their math, copywork, art and reading but Girls Scouts was a little different.

We went to a local music studio and had a free choir lesson.  Most of the girls had a great time and wanted to take more lessons.

First, they warmed up their muscles.

Then they learned Do, Re, Mi.

 Then they sang "My Country, 'Tis of Thee".  We want the girls to learn Patriotic songs and Girl Scout songs.

After our lesson, we did some planning for next year.  Many of the scouts are on Spring Break so we couldn't go a lot.

After the troop meeting, we headed to the library.  Cairn left with 30 books, I left with 42.  It always makes me laugh because people look at us funny when they see the number of books we leave with.  One man asked Cairn how long it would take her to read all those books.  She said, a couple days and he laughed.  Then he looked at me and I nodded my head.  "Wow," was all he could say.

I added some pictures to Week in Review.

Week in review

What a week.  Could not stay awake long enough at night to blog so here is the week in one entry.

Monday - Andrew went to the doctor for his 4 year old check up.  He is healthy.  He is 34 pounds and 3.2 ounces (35%) and 3 feet, 4.25 inches (50%).  His BMI is 14 (22%).  Doctor has no concerns other than his speech.  She asked me to call his old therapist and ask her to stop by and check on his speech.  She stopped by on Wednesday and agreed that he is missing some sounds that he shouldn't be missing at 4. (C's, G's, Th's and F's). So she gave me some activities to do with him and if in a month I don't see a marked improvement then I will take him in to be reevaluated.  I hope to avoid taking him to another therapist because at this age it is all out of pocket.

After his doctor appointment we went to the Colorado History Museum for a co-op.  The kids loved it.  They got to "milk" a cow, collect eggs, go to school in a one room schoolhouse and ride a horseless buggy.  Then we went upstairs and learned about mining, WWII internment camps and Colorado tourism.  The kids wanted to stay longer but I knew we were about to reach our limit so we headed home before everyone lost it.

Tonight, I went to a friends' house to do some planning.

Tuesday was piano for Andrew and a class for me from 5 to 8 PM.  I didn't get home until after 9 though.

Wednesday Miss Jill stopped by to see Andrew and then we headed to Golden to go to another co-op.  We went to NREL (National Energy Renewable Lab) where Phil told us about different kinds of renewable energy  such as; solar, biomass, wind, ocean, geothermal and hydro.  We learned about corn stover (the leaves, stalk, husk and cob that are left over after harvesting), bagasse (the fiber stuff leftover from sugar cane after squeezing the juice out to make sugar), and switch grass (American hay). We smelled some corn-biomass that smelled pretty yucky.  It took my breath away.   Phil told us there are over 40,000 types of algae.  We also learned about photovoltaic, a car run by water and about a concentrate solar array that melts salt and then preserves the heat for when it is needed later.  When it cools then the salt goes back to crystals and you can use it over and over.  I learned a lot and Cairn asked lots of questions but it was a little over Skylar and Andrew's heads.  I know they picked up a little though.

Got back home just in time to throw dinner on and I left for my class again.

Thursday - Grandma came over to watch Cairn and Andrew while I took Skylar to the eye doctor.  We discovered she is farsighted and needs to wear glasses to read and whenever she is inside.  She could possibly outgrow it but for now she will wear her glasses.  This explains a lot.  She complains of headaches almost every day after we finish up school.  She did great in her large piano book but ever since she moved to her piano book where the notes are on the Grand Staff she has really struggled.  Now I know why - she couldn't see the notes.  I was getting pretty frustrated at her at times because I thought she was just guessing.  She probably was but only because she couldn't see.  She is excited to get her glasses - the color is chocolate raspberry.

Tonight, Skylar had piano even though she couldn't see well because her eyes were dilated but I figured she could do everything but read her music. I prepared her teacher.  I had a Girl Scout unit meeting to run so Dad took Skylar to piano.  

Friday - the only thing on the schedule was Andrew getting his 4 year old pictures taken.  He was so excited.  The girls went to 2 different houses for playdates so I could take Andrew by himself.  He liked having mom all to himself.  We hung out at Cairn's playdate for awhile because the mom, L, is going to help me co-lead the Girl Scout troop next year and we were doing some planning.  

Finally, we got home and we didn't have to go out for once this week.  Every night, I was out and the kids got to bed late but not tonight.

Snow is in the forecast for the weekend.  It kinda threw off Andrew's birthday plans but I am sure we will have a great day anyway.

Hometown Hero Delivery

Today, we were out the door early to meet up with a couple girls from the troop to deliver our 96 boxes of Hometown Hero Cookies to our soldiers.

First, we unloaded the car.

 Then we headed inside to see a cannon,

 get inside a hummer

 and pack a box with a soldier.

 She told us about how much the soldiers love to get cookies and we thanked her for serving our Country.

Then each of the girls wrote a letter to a soldier to go inside a box.  Skylar is getting help from one of our leaders, Lauren.

 As we were standing around a soldier asked us if we could help build some more boxes.  We were ready to help and got right to work.  We probably made about 100 boxes.

Our assembly line...

Finally, some of the boxes we made.
 

It was great to start the day helping our soldiers.

We went home for lunch and then the kids played outside with the neighbor kids while I worked on the budge and paying taxes.

After dinner, Andrew wasn't being included with the girls playing princess so we played games.  First, we played Candyland and then we played Cadoo.  We just took turns sculpting, acting out and drawing.  We had a great time.  We are continuing to enjoy our electronics fast.  I thought today would be a little difficult since it was a Saturday but since we got out the door so early and then it was nice outside it ended up being pretty easy.

Tomorrow is pancake and cooking day.  Haven't figured out what I am cooking yet but Andrew already said he would be my helper.

Slow day planned...not so much

I scheduled nothing to do on Thursday and as little as possible for Friday to help Cairn prepare for Saturday's graduation but everything changed.

Friday morning we stayed home, took showers and worked on schoolwork.  At noon, we got Andrew's haircut and got Oreo weighed at the vet.

We had to get Oreo weighed because when they vet saw him in September he weighed 7 pounds.  I knew he weighed a lot more than that now and I was worried about his fat belly.  So the vet said to bring him in for a weight check.  He weighs 13 and 1/2 pounds.  She said only 1/2 pound overweight.  He just has a large fat deposit on his belly.  Good to know.

I thought Cairn had something special to wear for her graduation but she grew and she didn't have anything so after the vet we headed to the mall.  We hit 3 shops before we found something.  The best part everything was on sale and I got everyone's Easter outfits too.  Cairn got a dress, shoes and a headband.  She was super excited.

Andrew has had a cough for about 3 weeks now.  It had been a pretty normal cough - not too bad and he never had a fever, runny nose or any congestion so I didn't worry about it much.  Then yesterday (Thursday) he started barking when he coughed once or twice.  After going to the mall today, his cough got even worse and every cough ended in barking so as soon as we got home I decided to call the doctor.  I figured she wouldn't want to see us since there was nothing really but a cough but she had us come over right away.  10 minutes later we were in the doctor's office when Andrew coughed and the doctor said right away he had croup.  Since croup is a virus, there is nothing to do except a steroid which opens up the pathways.  She said it would take 12 hours to take effect.

We ran from the doctor's office to get Cairn to her last piano practice class before her recital.  Her teacher wanted us there early but we were late since we hit the doctor.  Dropped Cairn off, then the three of us ran home to pack the car for all the things we needed for World Thinking Day.  We picked up C and headed down to the fairgrounds.  Dad would pick up Cairn after her piano practice and take her to the fairgrounds.

World Thinking Day was fabulous.  The troop looked great in their costumes.  I didn't take any pictures but the other leaders did - as soon as they send me some pictures I will post them.

Cookies, Art class and dentist

What a day!

N and C were at the house by 8:20 and we got right to work on school.  I had all the kids on a laptop working on math facts, identifying body parts and states.  N also practiced some spelling.  About an hour later, we all got dressed to be outside and headed to the troop Cookie Moms' house.  We loaded up our wagons with cookies and headed to the high school to sell cookies to the kids going to lunch.  The first lunch group bought only 1 box and we were really bummed!  We had about a 30 minute break until the next lunch so we hit a couple houses.  We only sold 1 more box.

We headed back just in time to hit the 2nd lunch and we did great!!  We sold 58 boxes of cookies in 45 minutes.  Everyone thought all the girls were cute in their uniforms.  We had some extra siblings (Andrew, N and another brother and sister) and they were great helpers too.

When the kids went back to class we headed back to the Cookie Moms' house for lunch.  The kids sat around one table and ate while the mom's sat in another room.  The ages ranged from 3 to 14.  They were fabulous.  Everyone was polite, had good manners and ate their lunches.  Then they went outside to play tag and Duck, Duck Goose.  It was so wonderful to look outside and see such an amazing age range playing so nicely together and including everyone.

Then we headed to the library for an art co-op class titled, Anamorphic Art.  Click to see a definition and some examples.  

Here is what the kids did today.  

Skylar's ice cream cone - see it in the reflection?

Andrew's - he was just having fun making reflections.

Cairn's - she figured out how to write her name so it would be correct in the reflection.

After the class, we headed to the library park to play outside and meet some friends.  We didn't play outside long because it was getting a little chilly so we went into the library.  We signed up for the spring reading program and picked up some books. 

Then Cairn had a dentist appointment to check a sore gum.  She has been complaining about it for a couple weeks. so I finally took her in to get it checked.  One of her permanent teeth is coming in and pushing on another permanent tooth and a baby tooth.  It isn't supposed to come out for a couple years but because it is pushing on a permanent the dentist wants to get it out.  So I have to schedule another extraction for Cairn in March.  She just had 2 other teeth pulled at the end of last year.  They will pull both the upper canines because they suspect the other tooth is doing the same thing but might not be as far down so not bothering her yet.

We finally headed home again (we left at 9:30) for dinner.  First, we had to clean out the car when we got home though - it was a mess.  Everyone was plain exhausted by the bedtime.

Catch up

Friday was a gorgeous day.  We went to a rally in the afternoon.  Then we headed out to lunch at our new favorite restaurant, India Oven.  We love their buffet because we can try lots of different things and the kids have many favorites - saag paneer, bindi masala, sweet potato masala, banana pakora and mango chutney.  Grandma and Aunt Trish liked it too.  Skylar and Andrew have already decided that that this the restaurant they want to go to for their birthday dinners.

We had a few minutes to spare so we could stop at home to get Cairn's piano bag before class.  The weather was so nice that the kids and I walked around the little strip mall and checked out all the stores.

Saturday was chilly with snow in the forecast at 2 PM but first the girls had to do a Girl Scout cookie booth sale.  Cairn and I did a shift together and we were super cold but I had dressed for the cold.  Skylar did a shift with a couple other moms but she did not dress for the weather.  She was super cold.  The girls ended up selling 123 boxes over 3 hours.  Cairn had gone home with Dad when he dropped off Skylar and I had stayed to help break down the sale when we were finished.  Then I sat in the car with another mom to chat.  By the time, we got home Skylar and I were both frozen and I just never seemed to get warm again.  It started snowing at 2 PM on the dot but we only got a sprinkling.

Sunday we were out the door early to head south.  First the girls had a card making class to go to run by one of their friends.  The moms and I just sat around and chatted.  Andrew hung out with me.  Then we headed to lunch and found a park to play at for a few minutes.  We were trying to find things to do in town because I didn't want to head home again since we had to be back by 3 PM for 4H.  After the park, we hit the library and finally 4H.

It became quite clear today that 4H is not for us.  I knew that 4H had a lot to do with raising animals and I know that farm animals are eaten but I thought I could avoid most activities about the killing/eating of animals.  NOT so.  Many of the things we talked about today seemed to do with animals being eaten/raised for meat.  Then afterwards another mom was talking about killing a chicken.  It was just too much for me.  Plus, the club we were joining wasn't quite as organized as I would like it to be.  So I am going to call the office tomorrow and withdrawal from 4H.

Cairn was pretty upset about the chickens being killed so she was all for leaving 4H.  The only thing she worried about was learning cake decorating.  I told her we would still do that.  We also talked about that we would rather do more things with Girl Scouts.

Full week coming up.  First thing Monday, I am withdrawing the kids from COVA.  It isn't working for us and there isn't really any reason to stay - I won't be using any of their curriculum so we are moving on.

Girl Scout Monday

Another great day here.

Cairn got to work on her schoolwork all by herself with no help from me - I wasn't even downstairs yet.  She completed her Grammar workbook, handwriting, Always Ice cream games and Study Island. (We were a little behind)  She worked on coloring her skeleton and completing a page of her Colorado History book.  She knew the Governor's name!!  She really pays attention when it comes to politics.  The worksheet had a place to put the Governor's name so I asked her if she knew who that was - "Mom, his name is John Hickenlooper."

Skylar worked on her Reading Eggs and math (skip counting by 5's and 10's to 100).

Andrew worked on reading and piano.  He has a big solo tomorrow so we have put in some extra practice time.

We headed to Girl Scouts after lunch where the troop finished working on their 500 swaps for Thinking Day and their tri-fold board.  I will get pictures at the event.

After Girl Scouts we headed to a friends to play and visit before I went out for the night with Aunt Trish.

Back to Normal

It was Monday and we did what we were supposed to do - school.  The only thing different was we had N and C for the day - they didn't have school today.

So we got right to work on Always Ice Cream and Clever Dragons.  Then at 9 AM I had to post my co-op classes on the homeschool board so everyone got off task.  As soon as I was finished we got to work learning about taste.  I read some books and then we made a model of our tongue.  Everyone except Andrew excitedly got to work.  Andrew just wanted to play with N even though I had warned him we were doing school first.

The kids worked so diligently on their models that it took a little longer than I had anticipated so when they finished I sent them outside to run off some energy.  It seemed to be an off day for everyone because they came back crying at one time or another because they were injured.  I was just trying to check the co-op board and make snack but I kept getting interrupted.

Finally, the popcorn was ready and I called them back in.  After snack, I had N and Cairn write a story together.  I gave them a piece of paper, a die and the title.  They were to take turns rolling the die to see how many words they were to write and then write a story.  It was an interesting story. The reason I did it was to get Cairn to write.  She always tells me how much she hates to write yet she had no problem with this assignment.  I will keep that one in my back pocket to use again except I will help her write the story next time.

Eventually, we got to lunch, clean up and then the girls and I headed to our Girl Scout service project - visiting the residents at the Care Center.  Since Dad was home I let the boys stay home with him.

The girls sang songs and played Bingo.

This is not the entire troop, a lot of girls didn't come because of the holiday.

When we got home the kids played for awhile.  Then I tried to get everyone back together to do our eye model.  Cairn got right to work but N, C and Skylar didn't want to so I said you can either do it now or do it for homework.  That got the girls but N thought he could out smart me - he wouldn't know how to do it without me.  After awhile I told him, that I could send the directions to Dad and he would make sure he got it done.  All of a sudden he was ready to make his model.

The kids got a lot of work finished today and I was really proud of their attitudes.  I don't remember what started the conversation, but at one point Skylar said to C, "you should just homeschool."

C said, "I know."

I quickly got the conversation switched to something else and then I talked to Skylar before bed - different families make different choices about education and not everyone can homeschool.  So even though it would be fun to have C with us, her family made a different choice and we have to respect that.  She said she understood.  Time will tell.

School, try-outs, piano and a movie

Cairn woke up early, got dressed and came downstairs and got to work before she had even eaten her breakfast.  She did a math lesson on story problems with area and perimeter.  She took a spelling test, and a Spanish test and got ready for her piano solo.  She was finished by 10:30 again.

Skylar struggled with staying on task.  She did take a language skills test and aced it and read her phonics book.  She loves to read to us now and Andrew likes that Skylar can read to him and she wants to read to him.

Andrew worked on Reading Eggs.

After we had a snack of popcorn I got everyone working on some of our science experiments.  First, we crushed some ice and put it in a plastic bottle.  It was supposed to cave in but it didn't.  I don't know what we did wrong but we will try again tomorrow.  Then I read a chapter about atoms and molecules.  I pulled out the periodic table and we found different elements.  We found out what the numbers mean.  We acted like neutrons, electrons and protons too.  Then we started working on our buckyball.  We couldn't get it to work either so we will try that again tomorrow with Dad's help.  Finally, we created a water molecule model and talked about how different atoms attract.

Our Girl Scout troop had their flag team try-outs and Cairn made it on the team.  Skylar is an alternate.  It was so beautiful outside we held try-outs outside.  Only the roofers next door thought we were a little crazy, everyone else on the street figured it was just us.

Cairn had piano tonight and struggled through her solo - she forgot the chords -so she will try again next week.  She was pretty upset about it.

We came home and while I made dinner we turned on a holiday movie to get everyone into the giving spirit.  It was just a nice evening.

This weekend looks to be beautiful and busy.

Back to work

We took all of last week off of online school off.  We did other lessons around Thanksgiving but not the sit down and work type of schoolwork.  So as always it bites me a little when I return to the regular schedule.  This is why I don't take the entire summer off.  I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to get the kids back on the routine after 3 months of nothing.  Don't even want to think about it.

So today, there was a lot of playing, ignoring of the schoolwork.  I sat in the TV room which is where we do school waiting to do my job of teaching.  I didn't bribe, remind, beg for schoolwork to get done.  I knew that in a few hours some consequences would come down and then we would start the real learning.

We went to the mall for Girl Scouts to do a badge workshop at Microsoft from 10:30 to 2:30.  Way to long.  We got home and still no return to schoolwork even though we had taken most of it with us.  Cairn got a lot of hers done but not Skylar.

So here comes dinner - no dessert, no TV, no fun time after dinner.  Lots of crying, whining and complaining - I kept saying, "tomorrow you get to try again."

Cool Science Day at the Air Force Academy

Skylar and I headed off to the Springs to go to the Air Force Academy to do a Cool Science Day for Daisy's and Brownies.  No one else from her troop was going so it was just the 2 of us - no tagalongs allowed.

It was fairly nice when we got there so we took a group photo.

 Then we walked for about 15 minutes through a whole variety of places that you don't usually get to see when you visit the academy.

We finally made it to the Chemistry Lab and Skylar got started on her first experiment - Paper Towers.  The goal was to build it strong enough to hold several chemistry textbooks.

The final count - watch and see!

After paper towers we went to food chemistry - first we made butter.

Then we put food coloring in milk and then touched the center with dishwashing soap.  Check out the star.

 Then it was time for Skylar to get angry and stab a potato with a straw.

We all know that angry face and it worked!

 She did it!

Then we made orange juice soda by adding baking soda to orange juice.  It was disgusting!!

 Then we made ice cream by adding liquid nitrogen to milk.  Skylar got some on her finger but she still stirred and made some - she ate a little - it was good but she didn't want to get a tummy ache.

After a little food chemistry we headed over to Alka-Seltzer rockets.

After we worked in the lab we went into the stairwell to see how high the rockets actually go.  Over 15 feet!!  This is Skylar moving away from the rocket after putting it together.

After all our experiments, we headed to a chemistry classroom for a magic show.  Check out these videos.  I wish I could have recorded all of it.  I learned a lot but can't remember all the things he said.

After the magic show, we got our fun patch and another experiment to do at home and then we walked back to the car - the 15 minute walk in the frigid wind, watching the snow clouds coming over the mountain.  Skylar was so excited she talked the whole back to the car, going over every experiment she did.  She talked almost the whole way home too but finally fell asleep after about 20 minutes.

As soon as we got home she was back to talking and wanting everyone to see exactly what she did.  I got out a potato and a straw.  I got out the milk, food coloring and soap.  Now I am doing research about more experiments.  She is excited and I don't want to lose that.  She said a couple times today she wants to go to the school at the Academy.