Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Entry #1,120

Today, we left early for a field trip with some other families in our homeschool group. We had plans to tour the Joseph Priestley house, where we learned about Joseph Priestley, his family, his accomplishments, his lifestyle and so on.



















When we left there, we headed over to the nearby marina for a picnic lunch, the playground, and to walk around some. Even though it was a little drizzly part of the time, the kids really enjoyed this.









On the car ride, Alexa read from Moon Over Crete (for social studies) and Harry Potter (for fun).

At home, Alexa wrote her spelling/vocab words five times each, we had dinner, and then Alexa went to a friend's house until 9.

More tomorrow!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 - Entry #1,119

Today is my 39th birthday! So, happy birthday to me! I didn't do anything all that exciting though because Shawn and I just recently went away for a great overnight as a combination birthday thing for both of us.

Today I did some school with Alexa. We started by reading Story of the World Chapter 31, The Mauryan Empire of India. We read about The Empire United and Jataka Tales. We did the review questions and narration exercises orally and read the relevant page in the Usbourne Book of World History.

Next we did supplemental reading. Alexa read "Nine Animals and the Well" and "The Monkey and the Crocodile" to me, and I read "Festivals of India" to her.

After that, she did the map work and coloring page (The Jakata Tales) for the current chapter, and we took a lunch break.

After lunch, Alexa went upstairs and read from The Moon Over Crete for supplemental Oak Meadow history reading.

Around 2PM, about halfway through the book, she wanted to take a break, so we got a deck of cards and played Indian Battle for a Story of the World activity. This is a card game played like War but with each player getting their own suit of cards, minus the Aces and Queens. The King represented the King of India, the Jack represented his general, and the number cards were the armies. Ben, Alexa and I played to see which army would win. Ben's army won, and this concluded chapter 31 of Story of the World.

I had Alexa do spelling/vocab, alphabetizing and defining her words, then we continued with social studies.

I read aloud about ancient Greece from the Oak Meadow syllabus, including the story of The Trojan Horse.

We added the countries of Europe to our map, and Alexa drew a picture of Paris trying to decide who was more beautiful- Hera, Athena, or Helen. I am not sure why he's wearing jeans and they are wearing business/office attire. :)



By the time she had finished that, it was quite late in the day, so we stopped for the day and she was free to do her own thing. We got quite a bit done, which was good, as we are still behind!

The rest of the night was uneventful. More tomorrow!

Monday, April 30, 2012 - Entry 1,118

Today was Shawn's day off. We spent the morning doing some house cleaning, and then I left for a while with the kids to join some other families from our homeschool group for an Earth day litter cleanup. We were supposed to do that last weekend, right after Earth day, but it had gotten rained out, so we did it today instead.

We went to a local bike and jogging path that goes through a pretty, scenic, wooded area and the kids all picked up litter along the way. They did a great job, finding some, er, interesting things, from eyeliner, to a dirty diaper, to a sock, to a pair of glasses, etc. Of course, we brought plenty of hand sanitizer! And after our litter cleanup, we went to Rita's for a treat and enjoyed gelatis, frozen custard, and Italian ices.









At home, we did more cleaning, had lunch, then took Ben out front to ride his new bike.

Alexa had her last book club of the school year (a friend took her along with her own son), and I picked Melissa up from Special Olympics softball practice, then picked up my mother-in-law on the way home. She is visiting from Florida and staying at Shawn's brother's house. Tonight she came to visit for a while and came along with us to Ben's teeball game and out to dinner before going back to Shawn's brother's house.

That was about it for today, just a relaxing night watching a bit of TV.

More tomorrow!

Saturday, April 28, 2012 – Sunday, April 29, 2012, Entries 1,116 – 1,117


On Saturday, Shawn and Alexa went to a “frag swap.” Shawn has a big coral reef saltwater aquarium and belongs to this club and they periodically meet up and buy, sell, or trade fragments of coral, fish, and other equipment. They left before 9 AM and didn't get home until after 8 PM.

Melissa was gone much of the day, too, going out with one of her aides from 10 AM until 3 PM. So Ben and I did our own thing. I read a lot, he played computer games, watched TV, played with his marbles, etc.

When Melissa got home, we went to the track. I brought Ben's bike along and I walked three miles while he rode his bike.

At home, I played pillow catch with Ben, put on music for him to dance to at his request, and fed him and Melissa dinner.

When Shawn got home, he and Alexa and I ate, then watched some TV. That was about it for Saturday.

On Sunday, I did art with Alexa. We read the Meet the Masters script about Remington, did the practice activities (drawing desert plants and scenery in the foreground and background, attention to detail), then did the Remington project- a desert scene.



I showered while the kids had lunch, then Shawn and I went out back to rough up the dirt patches that were taking over our backyard and put down some grass seed. We watered the lawn, then headed over to Walmart for a few things, including a new bike for Ben as he'd outgrown his old one.

We had a snack, then we took Ben to the track so I could walk and he could ride his new bike.



At home, we just had a quiet evening- ate dinner, relaxed, nothing noteworthy.

More tomorrow!

Friday, April 27, 2012 - Entry 1,115

We had another field trip today. We left the house early, before 8 AM. We picked up my friend Tami and her two kids and drove an hour or so to the Ephrata Cloister for their community days program.

We learned about what life was like there in that celibate religious community in the 1800's. There were lots of hands on stations and demonstrations. Trying on old clothes, touring the buildings, trying bread with apple butter, learning about courting candles, seeing how the “doctor” treated patients, a one room school house, an old cemetery, quill pen writing, and more.



















We didn't get home until after 3 PM, and I had a meeting at 4 with Melissa's services coordinator. After that, Alexa got picked up to go to a friend's house from 5:30-10.

The rest of us relaxed and did our own thing at home, and that summed up today.

More tomorrow!

Thursday, April 26 - Entry 1,114

Today, we left the house around 10 AM to go on a field trip with our homeschool group. We were touring Eckley Miner's Village, an old coal mining village which is now owned by the state (although a few residents still actually live there and apparently there is a very long waiting list to be able to have that chance). People can go and see the museum, learn about life in the mining village, see houses the miners and their families used to live in as well as the churches they went to, their doctor's office, the company store, and so on.

This village was actually used in the movie The Molly Maguires, which is kind of neat, too, and it's a really nice walking tour, which would have been nicer if it hadn't been so chilly and drizzly today, but at least it didn't pour on us!

































After the tour, we went home and the kids ate a late lunch, and then we left shortly after to get Melissa from Special Olympics sports practice.

We stopped at the library, did our own thing for a while, had dinner, and then I dropped Alexa off at Girl Scouts. From there, I took Ben to sign up for fall soccer, and then let him play Wii Fit until it was time to get Alexa. When she got home, she went to a friend's house for a while, and we just relaxed until bedtime.

More tomorrow!

Monday, April 23, 2012 – Wednesday, April 25, 2012, Entries 1,111 – 1,113

I fell behind on my blog as you may have noticed. Most days I took notes as to what we did that day so I could later come back and fill it in here, but apparently Monday I did not take any notes, and I don't really remember much of what we did. I think I caught up on all my laundry, went to the store to buy the kids some socks and underwear, packed as Shawn and I were going away for an overnight the next day, and had Alexa finally finish reading Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind.

On Tuesday, my mom came over before noon, and Shawn and I left for an overnight, which was a combination birthday thing for both of us as his birthday was April 12th and mine is May 1st. We had plans to drive 2 ½ hours to the State College area, stay overnight, and go to the Michael Jackson World Tour Cirque du Soleil show tonight.

We had a nice dinner, a nice suite, a nice time at the show- it was a lot of fun. We weren't allowed to take any pictures at the show, but here are some of our suite and of Shawn and I:















Meanwhile, my mother took the younger kids and went to Melissa's basketball game, and when Alexa lost a tooth, my mom played Tooth Fairy.

On Wednesday, we had breakfast, checked out of our room, and then got an hour long couples massage at the spa on the hotel premises (my birthday present to Shawn) before heading out to drive home.

We ended up stopping at the store and buying things to make for dinner, because Shawn's mom had come in from Florida and his sister-in-law had driven to New York to get her, and they were due to get back a bit after us. We thought it would be nice to have them over for dinner, so Shawn made sausage, meatballs, pasta and garlic bread and we had dinner with the family.

It was a fun few days!

More tomorrow!

Friday April 20, 2012 – Sunday, April 22, 2012, - Entries 1,108 – 1,110


Friday morning, I left early to take Melissa to a doctor appointment then dropped her off at school.

When I got home, I hung out with Shawn a bit and had a late breakfast, then ended up taking Alexa to the ER because for the second day in a row she was complaining of bad stomach and side pain and I started worrying about her appendix.

Shawn took Ben to work with him, my mother got Melissa after school (and then picked up Ben after her own doctor appointment), and I spent five hours in the hospital with Alexa doing all sorts of tests only to find out it was nothing serious at all. Which is good of course!



It was just about dinner time when we got out, so I picked up dinner and brought it to my mom's where we all ate, then came home so Alexa could rest.

The rest of the evening was quiet, everyone watched TV or played on the computer or read and basically did their own thing.

On Saturday, Melissa went out with one of her aides from 10-3. Alexa had judo from 10:30-11:30 but decided to skip it (her stomach has been bothering her on and off), and Ben had opening day ceremonies for teeball at 11. Since Shawn didn't have to be at work until 1, he went with me to that.

We had lunch after and at 2 I had to go back up for Ben's team pictures, and at 3 he had his first teeball game of the season, although it started 40 min late.







We got stuff at the concession stand for a treat for the kids (Melissa's aide dropped her off at the field) then I went home and ate dinner.

It was a long day, but the rest of it was uneventful.

On Sunday, we cleaned the house, and my aunt and uncle came to visit. We chatted a while, then went to a diner for lunch. My sister was also out from New Jersey staying with my mom, so they stopped by to visit for a while, and we said goodbye to everyone before dinnertime.

We took the kids to dinner as no-one wanted to cook, and on the way home we stopped at our friends' house and the kids all got to play while the adults chatted and enjoyed some wine. We stayed very late, so by the time we got home, everyone just went to bed.

More tomorrow!

Thursday, April 19, 2012 - Entry 1,107

Today Shawn took off work. At around 11, we picked up my mom and went to this environmental education area called Frog Hollow that had different walking paths, and we walked around outside enjoying the scenery and nice weather.













When we got home, we dropped my mother off and picked up a few groceries. Then I went to pick up Melissa from Special Olympics basketball while Shawn started a roast for dinner.

Alexa had to eat something else because I had to bring her to Girl Scouts this evening and the roast wasn't ready yet, but when she came home later she got to have some.

Other than that, we all watched some TV before bed, and that summed up today.

More tomorrow!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 - Entry 1,106

This morning, I played a little catch up on my blog while the kids had breakfast and Alexa did her chores. We got a late start to school, starting with Meet the Masters art.

Today Alexa did her Georgia O'Keeffe project which involved using a little square paper "viewfinder" on a flower print to find an arrangement that looked interesting and then sketching what she saw in the viewfinder onto a much bigger square of paper, scaling it up.

Then she used watercolor crayons to shade, tint and color her design, outlining with a black wax crayon to provide a "dam" between colors. And finally she went over the picture with a paintbrush dipped in water to give the crayon a watercolor paint effect. We didn't have the same exact colors depicted on the model, but she had fun doing this project.







Shawn left for work and the kids had lunch. While they ate, I read aloud from Sacred River for Story of the World supplemental reading. Ben wandered off to play computer games and I read Countries of the World, India to Alexa, as well.

Lastly, Alexa read me I Once Was A Monkey, Stories Buddha Told, which wrapped up the current chapter of Story of the World. One of the stories led to looking up why birds stand on one leg as Alexa was curious.

When we were done with Story of the World, Alexa went upstairs to practice guitar and to have silent reading time (Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind, for Oak Meadow history).

When she had finished that she went out to play with friends and cousins. I had to watch my nephews for a while this evening and my mother and I ended up taking all the kids to McDonald's to eat and play.

Other than that, we just watched some TV, and that wrapped up today.

More tomorrow!