homeschool highlights

It's been a while since the last update. Mostly because we've had a lot of interruptions to the schedule. We've spread two weeks worth of work out over three weeks. Of course, one of the advantages of "officially" schooling year-round this time is that we've got the leeway to do that without having to make up a lot of work on weekends.

So what has Annie been up to since the last update?

*Her English class is still going well, and she's still enjoying it a great deal.

*She's learning a lot of great new vocabulary. We love our "klatches" and the vocabulary game. A huge thank you to everyone who plays! And she's donated several thousand grains of rice.

*We've read and discussed a plethora of dark and eerie stories, including among many others, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs and "Jerusalem's Lot" by Stephen King.

*Real world math has had Annie working with living expenses and budgeting, and algebra has seen her working mostly with inequalities.

*We're still traveling through time in the history of western science, and have met people such as Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, William Gilbert, Galileo, Rene Descartes, Pierre Gassendi, Christiaan Huygens, Robert Boyle, Francis Bacon, Marcello Malpighi, Giovanni Borelli, and Edward Tyson.

*The Civil War is still our focus in U.S. History...Annie can't seem to get enough! Grant and Lee have finally met, battled intensely, and are now outside Petersburg. And we learned about battlefield medicine. Yikes.

*She's completed the first two packets for the quarter in DBQ, and written essays on political parties in the blossoming nation of the U.S. and on the differences between the North and South leading up to the Civil War.

*We're continuing to explore Africa, looking at the physical and human geography of the continent. We're about to start looking at some of the history and some of the current day issues. And by the way, thank you Jean, for sending us the e-mail about your dad's experiences. We actually haven't read it yet, but are looking forward to getting to it when we start exploring current day Africa.

*Still focusing on elections in U.S. Government. Along with learning about the candidates, their positions on the issues, and the elections process in general, Annie participated in a on-line mock election for school age kids.

*Music consists mostly of fluting. But Annie did also watch a video, Music and Culture, which featured the musical traditions of some Polynesian, African, and Native American cultures.


*She's still taking an art class on Thursday evenings. Since last post, she's completed a watercolor painting and a painting using acrylics. We're also looking briefly into the lives of selected artists, so far looking at Da Vinci and Michelangelo.



*We're still learning about HIV/AIDS in health education, doing some demonstrations of how most viruses are spread as compared to how HIV is spread, and learning about risky behaviors. We've also read and discussed articles on the importance of sleep, autism, and vandalism.

*At Camp Arrowhead, Annie took classes on fire-building, outdoor cooking, and outdoor survival skills.

*As far as phys ed goes, Annie is also still enjoying swimming lessons on Wednesday evenings. She also continues to jog with Rich on a semi-regular basis, and has been hiking twice. And of course, bike riding never gets old.

the final weeks

I'm getting so far behind in posts for this blog, but I'm going to try to catch up with a few for today. Annie had her last two Camp Arrowhead classes for the school year. Two weeks ago, they had their big camp out. Annie was a bit nervous about it, but ended up having a ball! (As we knew she would.)


This is the before photo. In typical empty-headed fashion, I forgot to take the after photo.

And then this past week, they had a Civil War reenactment group come in. They also tried out a few crafts of the era, such as quilting and tin-punching. Unfortunately, no pictures from that. But Rich got a few shots of Annie at the end of year party thrown after the day's classes.

trash collectors

Yesterday was another Camp Arrowhead day for Annie, and again she had a ball. Hiking day is always one of Annie's favorites, but today there was a bit of a twist...they cleaned up the woods as they hiked. They managed to gather up over 100 pounds of trash!

Click here (and scroll down a bit) for a picture of Annie and the rest of the class with their haul.

making friends

Sometimes the highlight of a day is making friends and learning to lean on others. Yesterday was another Camp Arrowhead day for Miss Annie. And I think she had more fun there than she ever has before...and believe me, that's really saying something!

"Working Dogs" and "Community Cooperation" made up the schedule. Annie was most excited about "Working Dogs"...anything involving animals always gets a big thumbs up with her. Yep, she's a typical kid on that one. But it turned out to be the "Community Cooperation" class that left her full of excitement for the rest of the day. It simply involved solving problems as a group. This was not only a great life exercise, but it allowed Annie to finally feel a part of this group. Since her birthday, she was moved up to the older class and just really hadn't felt like she belonged yet. Now she most definitely does. She talked a mile a minute all the way home and for the next hour or so after. I think she may also have gained a little admirer...we'll have to wait and see on that one. But he made of point of getting Annie a chair at lunch and then asked for her phone number at the end of the day. (It was really sort of cute, though Annie might kill me for saying so.)

And then last night, the kids had their final swimming lesson of the current session. Annie wasn't so sure she would "graduate" and get to move up to Level 4, but she did. It's truly amazing to see how well she's swimming these days, after refusing to put her face in the water for so many years. :)



We were so proud of Gray as well...he "graduated" and gets to move to Level 2. He was so worried that Max would get to move up and he wouldn't. (No amount of reassurance from us could convince him that that wasn't going to happen.)



Max didn't "pass"...he won't jump into the pool, which is one of the requirements for moving up to Level 2. Luckily, he was not upset in the slightest...Whew. He just has a ball while he's there. And he's learning water safety and how to keep himself afloat, and that's all we really care about.



And to celebrate everyone's success, we went out afterward to the local ice cream shop!

on the go

Yesterday was a fun, busy day in Annie's world. Unfortunately one devoid of photos though. Well, photos of Miss A anyway.

Yesterday was another Camp Arrowhead day. The morning was spent in a hiking class, and the afternoon in a calligraphy class...Annie enjoyed both immensely. And she made new friends as well, since she has now moved up to the next age group.

After supper came swimming lessons. Annie is really enjoying diving. Just one class left of this session. She's not sure if she'll be moving up a level or not. But we probably won't get back to swimming lessons until the fall anyway, as soccer is about to start.

And finally, last evening she headed out with Rich to view the annual salamander migration. It was harder to pinpoint "the perfect night" this year as the ideal weather conditions haven't really presented themselves. Yesterday's weather was close, so they headed out to scope things out. And sure enough, they were rewarded for their efforts.



Not sure how easy they are to see, but there are three salamanders in this photo.

They saw three species of salamander this year, fewer than last year (but that is probably because of timing, not because of a change in populations).

for the brain and the body

Camp Arrowhead is an area YMCA that offers classes for home-schoolers throughout the traditional school year. Annie absolutely loves attending! They do offer some pretty fun, interesting stuff. (Unfortunately, we can only afford to send her to a few each semester...but I think that helps her appreciate them even more.)

















It really is a beautiful place, set out in the woods, which allows them to offer all kinds of camping, hiking, snowshoeing, and other outdoor activities.

Yesterday she took a full day class about the Olympics. Along with learning a bit about the history of the Olympics, the passing of the torch, etc., they also competed in their own mini version of the games. Annie had her first exposure to throwing the discus and heaving a shot put. They had relays, and obstacle courses, and long jump contests, plus a variety of "silly" games.


And here is Annie (in one very blurry photo) with her Olympic medal :)