Week Two

Week two was a fun, but strange week.  We had to move a few things around to get our work done so we could travel to Iowa on Thursday and then return home on Friday.  We shifted things to get the majority of our work done.  Homeschooling is so flexible.  

We have been making the morning time work well!  We read from Shakespeare's play, read a daily bible lesson, and talk about a character trait.  This usually happens at the breakfast table.  Afterwards Nate does some morning chores and then we head to the classroom.

This week we traveled to China!

 We learned about China, built a Great Wall, practiced saying 'hello' and 'thank you'.

We had our friends over to make and eat Chinese Cucumber Salad, and we made lanterns.

We watched Wild China episodes and learned about animals that live in China.

 We wrote our name in Chinese and Nate made a postcard at the end of our trip.

 To top it all off we went to eat Chinese at a local restaurant.  I could tell Nate was uneasy about this, but once he tried his sweet and sour chicken he declared we would come back anytime dinner wasn't thawed out from now on.  I laughed so hard!

We did lots of other fun stuff too.

It was a good school week.

 On Wednesday we had an appointment at the orthodontist.  Nate had braces put on his front teeth, and got his headgear.  When we put it on that evening he laughed and added Slap Shot glasses to make the look even more fun. 

He handled the braces very well, only complaining once or twice.  We had to go to WNL at church that night and he was really brave to go out with those new braces.   

We have had questions about why we went with headgear.  There is an appliance now that fixes the overbite with the equipment being only inside the mouth.  The appliance looks awful!  It is basically a huge hinge that changes how the jaw can open and shut.  We had one prescribed at our first orthodontic consultation.  But we went to another office for a second opinion and the doctor there thought about Nate being homeschooled and being a hockey player when he decided headgear would be better for him.  It has to be worn 14 hours a day, and once you consider the hours spent asleep, there aren't that many hours left  that it must be worn during the day.  But since he is homeschooled he will be able to wear it longer, while we do school, and hopefully it will give us excellent results.  

We are expecting a top appliance next month to expand his top teeth to make room for his big ol teeth.  With the braces appliance, headgear, and future retainer life, nearly all candy is out now.  He can pretty much have reese's peanut butter cups or plain m&ms.  No chips, bagels, nuts, popcorn... it is a sad time.

With all of the new changes though Nathan handled the road trip like a champ.  We did a little reading in our hotel room while we waited for puppy pickup.

As soon as we picked up Buddy we hurried home.  I was worried about 9 hours with a howling puppy, but he was quiet the whole ride. He is pretty much Nate's shadow.  When Nate leaves the room too fast for Buddy to follow he cries.  It is the sweetest thing!

Doing school with a new pup isn't easy, we did it a few years ago when Lucy joined our family.

Wish us luck!

Week One

 We had a great first week of fourth grade.

 Nate had a great attitude each day which I'm sure won't last, but it was refreshing.

Last year ended in laziness and annoyance.  Not fun.

We had a fun time with our new Expedition Earth geography curriculum.  

We had friends come over to work on globes each day except Monday.    We had two absolute disasters(shrinking balloons), but by my third globe I was a pro.  The globe we ended up keeping was my second try, and has some "mountain ranges" to add dimension.  This balloon started shrinking, but then Dave was able to blow it back up.  Our friends have the third attempt and it is PERFECT.  Seriously.   By the time we go to Mexico I think we should make some pinatas!

I was worried when we removed the balloon, but it survived!  It is now hanging up in the classroom!  And now we will begin our journey around the world!  

We read a super cute book on Friday as part of Expedition Earth

The book is called How to Bake a Pie and See the World.  And of course afterwards we made a pie and it was a delicious way to end our first week!

 Nate was even enthusiastic about art! 

He illustrated his name with things that he loves... Let me explain his choices...

N- a red Lego brick , Hot-wheels track, and a hockey stick

a- Reese's peanut butter cup and a car

T- Wii remote and a BBQ flavored Pringles can

E- Remote control, sucker, hot-wheels car, hockey pucks 

Third Grade

I finally made a collage of photos from third grade. 

New Thing and Preparation

I am finishing up back to school stuff....

Luck of all luck I found a Duncan Phyfe style table!

Nate will begin his orthodontic journey at the end of the month.

And soon we will begin our fostering journey.

Moments

Nate has been adjusting very well to the recent move of his friend T.  It was especially helpful that friends moved into our neighborhood just as T was leaving.  Homeschooling friends.  The most polite respectful kids I've met in this decade.  They are a good influence on Nate after the buddies he has been playing with in the past couple of years.  

I've still been working on getting our new school year planned out.  This is the first year I put together our own plans.  In past years I bought a package that came planned!  So this year I have had to go through our curriculum and decide how much we need to do each day to finish the work.  It only took me four years to decide I had the ability to do this.

Last night after dinner we were invited to a monopoly night at our friend's home.  I was mid margarita when it was time to leave, so I just put it in a plastic cup and took it with me.  It is so convenient to be a short walk away.

Especially since more margaritas were being poured around the monopoly board.(to the parents)  It was a margarita filled evening, but nobody is driving. 

We went for a nice hike this weekend too.  It wasn't quite roasting hot yet, and it is kinda wooded so it was enjoyable.

The girls loved it too... especially the creek

They ran like crazy and slept the rest of the day.

Things are good.

Sizzling Summer Heat

 It has been hot and dry here!  Seriously triple digits several days a week for the past several weeks.  Luckily Nate has swim lessons in the mornings.  It gets us out of the house.

 But most afternoons we lounge around indoors.

I have to water most mornings and evenings to combat the intense temps.  But most of the garden is doing well.  Some things are doomed.

I've spent the past several weeks preparing for fourth grade.  I don't plan to start until the end of August, but with fostering possibly starting around the same time, I want to have things ready.

Nate has been doing great!  He has been busy playing with the neighbor girls, playing catch, riding his bike, and enjoying the summer.  I signed him up for four weeks of tennis in June and four weeks of swim in July. He passed his first session of swim lessons.  He is in the third level now, he is learning some impressive swim strokes.  We will have to see how well he does!

Moments of the Week

We have been busy lately.  Nate has been out playing all the time.

I have to water everyday since we are dry and HOT

Nate has been trying to spend as much time with his buddy T, since he is moving away.

The boys have been inseparable for the past couple of week.  

They have spent the most recent roasting hot days building LEGO masterpieces.  

I am really worried about Nate and how he will deal with this loss.

But we've had friends over the past four weeks for Friday night fire and smores. It is more socializing than we are used to in half a year!  Last week we tried out this color pouch you put in the fire and it changes the color of the flames.  It was really neat. 

In other news we bought a hot tub.  

 We decided to put it off the deck so we can get to the house quickly in the winter.

We had to move plants, take down the railing, and make a flat base to set it on.  

Luckily our friend knows how to do legit electrical work, so he put in a new outlet for the hot tub.  We found out the outlet the tub is plugged into shouldn't have anything else, and the plug we intended to use is connected to our classroom/sewing outlets.  

We want to put in some privacy things, and maybe cover it... if I win that debate.