St. Louis

Grant's Farm & Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site

(No photos of the educational... Just the fun animals!)








Gateway Arch








So much to do in St. Louis. I'm already pondering a return trip.

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Homeschool Moment

Not exactly the way I pictured our visit to the George Washington Carver National Monument...


RAIN!

(Plus a Jack meltdown which is why he isn't in the photo)

Still interesting to see a place we've read about so much in books.

Jack recovered, we enjoyed our rainy walk, and kids got Junior Ranger badges. I just wish I had thought to take more photos despite the rain.

We covered a lot of ground today. TX-OK-MO. (Rain the whole way!) Now in St. Louis for 2 nights.

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Right Now

My sweet babies.


I hate to have to wake then up for our journey today...

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Homeschool Moment

Homeschool Grandpa Joe style


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Right Now

Birthday breakfast in bed!


Cocoa Puffs (at grandma's house...) and fruit. Breakfast of Champions!


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Right Now

Just west of Vernon, Texas while listening to Gordon Lightfoot...


Very exciting! We had a little party in the car.

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Right Now

(2nd?) Largest cross in the Western Hemisphere


Been here before but decided to stop again.

(Kids are tiny at the bottom of the photo)

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Right Now

I love the open road!
Today we are going CO-NM-TX


(Okay, not really *right now* because I couldn't post while driving. Right now I'm sitting at Texas Roadhouse in Amarillo)

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Homeschool Moment

Day at the zoo with friends

Newborn giraffe

Baby Peacocks!!
(oh my goodness they were so cute!!)

The hornbill had a worm and
was trying to feed it to us through the glass.
So funny!

I've got to stop posting awful photos of myself...

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Homeschool Moment

Dad home in time to help with math.


(Kate is not hurt... She became enthralled with crutches after a friend broke an ankle. Convinced Matt to buy an old pair from the thrift store and loves to pretend with an ace bandage wrapped around her ankle)

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Right Now

Lots of rain here! Heard that people are being rescued from flooded cars at the intersection where our grocery sits.

Jack and I just returned from a (wet!) bike ride to see how full the creek near us is. It was raging!


Hope all this rain foretells of lots of snow for skiing this year!

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Glitch

Someday I'm going to be one of those women who have it all together.
Today is not that day...




Um, that's an egg that broke in my pocket. Again.
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Right Now

At USTA districts (sorta like a championship playoff). Won my first, long, hot, singles match this morning (7-6, 6-1).


Doing my best to ice my poor, crampy calves and feet before my second singles match this afternoon. Wish me luck!

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Homeschool Moment

Leadville National Fish Hatchery





A lot cooler than it sounds...

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Anniversary dinner...


With kids but no spouse (duty calls!).

This is lucky 13 for us.

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Homeschool Moment

Baking lesson


We are doing each recipe 3x. Once together, once with supervision, once independently (although Kate has baked enough that we are sometimes starting with just supervision).

Starting with brownies. That means lots of brownies the next few weeks! Yum!

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This Makes Me Happy

Expanding the range of colors on my cooktop with a Labor Day sale.


Now I want one in kiwi green...

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September Homeschool Plan

Here's the plan... we'll see how it goes...

• Online poetry class (Kate)
• Tutoring (Jack)
• Increasing Fluency (Jack - maybe... I need to discuss with tutor first)
• Sight Words app (Jack)
• Cursive Handwriting Practice: Jokes & Riddles (Kate)
• Vision Therapy (Jack)
• Apple 1:1 (at least twice)
• Swim Team 3-4x/week
• Lacrosse practice/games (Jack)
• Keyboarding (Kate)
• Logic Work: Beginning Links to Logic (Jack), Perplexors (Kate), Daily Word Ladders, Sequencers (maybe 1 or 2 a week of each?)
• Couch 2 5K - I keep thinking we need to find 10 weeks in a row to do this, but that isn't going to happen, so we are just going to start
• Story of the World - just keep working our way through. Would like to get through Ch. 17 this month
• Grammar: Review memory work from last year, start First Language Lessons Level 3. Plan to do 4 lessons/week
• Spelling: Kate will start back to Sequential Spelling. Jack I don't know yet. Sequential Spelling or Spelling Workout. Will discuss with tutor.
• Daily Reading Comprehension (3&4 - if 4 is too easy for Kate, I might skip her up to 5)
• Math: Math U See - review from last year, finish up Beta & Gamma
• IXL and XtraMath and Times Tales DVD (to finish memorizing multiplication tables)
• Baking class - I think we'll start with cookies and brownies. Also reading a lot about yeast, bread, science of baking, etc.
• Assigned Reading: Long Way From Chicago (Kate will read, Jack will listen to audiobook), use worksheets from Ed Helper for discussion questions/comprehension/projects
• Science museum class (maybe...)
• Horseback riding lessons (Kate. Maybe... I'm supposed to call back 2 weeks)
• Piano Lessons (maybe...)
• Weather Lab (maybe... probably... this will be ongoing all year...)
• Quick study on St. Louis, the Gateway Arch, Lewis & Clark, Chicago, Michigan (probably just books from library) to prep for October travel
• Biography: George Washington Carver & Abraham Lincoln (focus on boyhood)
• Road Trip: Colorado to Dallas. On this leg we will probably just go to Fossil Rim in Texas. Not planning to stop and see much as we do this drive at least once a year.

It seems like a lot (and maybe it is!), but we don't do everything daily. Most subject lessons we finish in 20 minutes or less.

Oh! And my September assignments:

• Firm up baking curriculum
• My reading list: Deconstructing Penguins, Overcoming Dyslexia, 
• Finalize road trip plans, make reservations, etc.