Future Pianist

More Wordless Wednesday

First weekly wrap-up this school year.  I can’t believe we already have 4 weeks under our belts.

We took a trip across to Greensboro, NC to visit family this weekend.  5 boys in one house – ages 8-15.  It was crazy as usual.

We turned our trip home Monday into a field trip.  We drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway from Boone, NC to Asheville stopping at many trails, overlooks, and historic sites along the way.

Hike to Cascades Waterfall

Craft Center at Moses Cone Manor

Mt Mitchell, highest East of Mississippi

Friday we took a trip to downtown Nashville to get library cards.  The main branch of the Nashville library is huge.  It is so exciting to have this resource for school.  The boys loaded up on fiction and non-fiction books and have been voluntarily spending time reading.

Saturday, Jack spend all day at Adventure Science Center with Dad while David stayed home to have an attitude adjustment.

After church Sunday, we spend a few hours exploring the Tennessee State Museum and stopped back by the library again for more books.

That’s our week.  Read other weekly wrap-ups at one of my favorite sites Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

I am glad he made the point that kids cannot expect easy success in life via music, sports, or stardom.  It was an important reference to reality in the “celebrity” culture that surrounds us.

I was impressed that he emphasized personal responsibility.   Our society plays the “blame game” too often, blaming our bad choices on external circumstances – we blame our failures on our parents, the media, teachers – anyone and anything except ourselves.

On the other hand, the “humble spirit” I wish to teach my children seems conspicuously absent in our President.  Surely he can use his own story to inspire without boastfulness.

Whether you agree with his politics or not, I hope everyone will take the time to see what he had to say.  Visit To Love, Honor, and Vacuum, Vernalization, and Principled Discovery for other analysis of the speech.

We have been busy packing this week.  We have decided to move to a new location in Nashville and are heading home to South Carolina for the summer while we search.

After several days of thundershowers and tornado warnings, it is finally rain free here.  Instead it is hot.  But the heat will rise almost 10° when we return to a high of 101° in the Lowcountry.

Monday I attempted to organize our week by making a list of places the boys wanted to visit one more time before we escape to SC.  We made a list of 4 places both voted for and 4 more they were interested in individually.

We visited two.

Monday we used our Kids Bowl Free coupons for two rounds of bowling at Hermitage Lanes.  The boys never bowled before and had a great time.  Jack wants to buy his own ball.  In addition to free bowling, we received 4 free tokens for AJ’s Arcade next door.

Wednesday we saw Alvin & the Chipmunks during the weekly Regal Free Family Film Festival.  Rachel does not show interest in the TV yet, so I spent half the movie watching her crawl in the hall.

Thursday we didn’t make it out of the house and it showed.  When Dad got home, he bribed them with a trip to the mall to get their toys packed up for our trip.

Now – I’m sitting here blogging instead of finishing up my packing.  Almost 7pm and its still stinking hot outside!

That’s our week.  Read other weekly wrap-ups at one of my favorite sites Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Our favorite Nashville field trips -

• Adventure Science Center – Homeschoolers qualify for the educational discount on memberships!
• Lane Motor Museum – Even if you are not a classic car aficionado, this inexpensive museum has some fascinating exhibits, including amphibious vehicles.
• Nashville Zoo – Our kids will go for the Jungle Gym alone.
• Discovery Center at Murfee Springs – The Fire Truck and Train exhibits were big hits.
• Tennessee Agricultural Museum – We attended a class focusing on George Washington and Jack got to spin cotton.  Self-guided tours are free.

Thanks to Kelli for giving me something to post by hosting Fave Fridays.

Two weeks ago we were at the emergency room getting David’s head stapled and one week ago today we were getting the staples removed.  No hospital trips today … yet!

14 days of school left and counting.  I’m ready to be done, yet excited about starting a new year in August at the same time.

This week’s school days went by smoothly.  Because it is too nice out to spend all day inside, I have been allowing the boys to save their independent work until the end of the day, so they’ve been enjoying spring and doing “homework” each evening.

We are finishing up some of our curriculms.  Jack finished his Handwriting Without Tears book and only has a few lessons remaining in Singapore 1B.  David finished the Language Arts section of Time4Learning.

We are only about three-quarters through Sonlight’s 1+2 World History and I have not decided if I will finish it when the new year starts or start new with Core 3 American History next year.  I’m thinking I will start new with Core 3 because this year was our first year homeschool and I would like to start next year fresh and more organized.  It will be harder to convince the boys to follow a new routine while continuing the same material.

Our “science” lessons this week have been in the garden.  We’ve been learning that mulch helps are soil retain water and horse manure fertilizers are plants.  I added 30 minutes of “hard” work outside to encourage Jack to spend time outside and develop a better work ethic.  David already loves to be outdoors and volunteers for yard work.

That’s our week.  Read other weekly wrap-ups at one of my favorite sites Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Thanks everyone who left a comment for me last week on my first real post here.

Field trips saved my sanity this week and I hope to give each its own post soon.  We started off our weekend with 2 “unofficial” field trips.  Saturday we took an excursion south to Huntsville to visit the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.  The museum participates in reciprocal admission privileges with other science museums allowing us to get free entry with our Adventure Science Center membership.  The boys were especially impressed by being able to stand under the rocket engines on display.  Jack decided that he does not want to be an astronaut but will sign on for a space vacation.

With some time left until we needed to head back home, we decided to check out the Harmony Park Safari which I found listed at the Huntsville Visitor Center website.  Visitors drive very slowly through the “zoo” to view free-ranging animals in the park.  Feed is for sale at the entrance and is a must have for getting the most out of the ride.  Emus, a pony, turkeys, deer, a llama, and more, walked right up to our windows for a hand-out.  It was fun and hysterically funny.

Sunday afternoon we took another side trip – this time North – to visit Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.  We took a short tour to see part of the extensive cave system and made another short stop to pan for gold.

Wednesday we spent the afternoon at Adventure Science Center in Nashville.  David went “moon walking.”

Finally today we went by the Bloom ‘n Garden Show in Franklin.  Gardening is one of my favorite hobbies.  Even though Jack informed everyone that he “used to like to garden but I don’t anymore,” the boys found many booths to interest them.  We started out tour with insects and plant diseases, got a free tree to plant, tried to talk mom into buying a venus fly trap (again), donated to a wildlife fund (David’s only dollar), and found many plants and landscaping products we would love to have.

In between adventures, we managed to continue our daily studies without too much nagging and begging by Mom.

That’s our week.  Read other weekly wrap-ups at one of my favorite sites Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.