Our family has discovered how fun gallery walks can be! We went on our first one Saturday night and had a great time. Esme got to see a wide variety of styles and types of art.

Esme's first official day of school for this year was Thursday. She reviewed a bit of math, and got back to her Bob Books. She is super interested in space so she will begin her Solar System/All Things Space unit tomorrow. I can't wait to see all of her projects!

Another Educational Family Trip

As part of our family vacation we visited Plymouth. We stopped and took a look at Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrim Memorial, and saw the Mayflower II. We thought this would be a great way to kick off the social studies unit we're planning to do this Fall. Esme will officially go back-to-homeschool this Thursday. She'll be studying reading, writing, math, science, social studies, art, music, sports, and of course many other things. She'll also be continuing with lots of great group activities like Daisies, soccer, and more! Please wish us luck as she enters First Grade!!

A Summer of Learning

Esme has had quite an exciting summer. Her dad and I are both working, so she's been having lots of adventures. She spent several days with Grandma, traveling and visiting. She has been to work with her dad a couple days and it sounds like she is ready to take over the library. We took her to New York City last weekend on a mini-vacation and highlights for her including visiting Central Park, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and seeing the Statue of Liberty from a distance. Probably what Esme has found most exciting though is her three weeks at Girl Scout camp. At camp she's had the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of activities including swimming, playing group games, making fairy houses, learning all kinds of arts and crafts, and so much more. She's also accomplished some goals like learning the pledge of allegiance and has even taken an active role in the flag ceremony three times. She has made lots of new friends and is having a blast! It has been a very positive experience for her.

This coming school year is the first time I will have to report our homeschooling activities to our city. I am feeling semi-confident, probably only semi because this is my first time. I spent a long time working on my letter of intent, and researching exactly what I need to include, etc. Ethan and I are really looking forward to getting back to our regular routines!

One Busy Kid

Esme has been very busy the last few weeks! Last weekend she had her first ballet recital. I was so impressed how well she and all the girls in her class did. Their song was "Every Girl Can Be a Princess" and they were dressed like Cinderella.

This past Monday was her Girl Scout fashion show and court of awards. This was a wonderful evening. I was super proud of all of the girls, especially Esme. She got up and led the entire crowd in singing "Make New Friends" and in saying the Girl Scout promise, in addition to dressing up as Tinkerbell in the fashion show.

She has a busy summer coming up as well. She'll be attending three weeks of Girl Scout camp (I'll be working there) and one week of vacation Bible school. She'll spend one week at our house with Grandma, and probably a significant amount of time with Nonna and Auntie Lisa too. We hae all kinds of plans for this Fall, and we're looking forward to getting back to our regular homeschooling schedule again.

First T-Ball Game

Whirlwind of Educational Activities Last Week

Tuesday morning Esme and went to her first marionette show. The puppeteers performed Cinderella and were lit up so that the audience could see the show and how they make the marionettes move.

Friday, the most exciting day, we took our first family trip to the Boston Museum of Science. We decided this would be the perfect way to end our Human Body unit and segue into our dinosaur unit. Even though we've really been studying dinosaurs all year, it will be official for the next few weeks. The museum was WONDERFUL!! Our family universally agreed that it was a fabulous trip. Esme particularly enjoyed the senses room and of course the dinosaur section. She also liked the classification room and the anatomy room. She was disappointed that we didn't get to see every singe exhibit, but we have assured her that we will go again very soon!

Saturday Esme and I attended an all-day Earth Day celebration with Girl Scouts. Esme made her own applesauce over a campfire, cleaned up a campsite, made her own paper, went on a hike, explored wetland muck for life, made lip balm, sang Native American folk songs, beat a drum, and had a yoga session with a professional instructor.

Although Sunday wasn't an official homeschooling day, we did get a chance to spend some time at the beach and explore some things we don't see around our town every day. We waded in salt water and searched for hermit crabs with Esme's cousin, Dylan. Esme and Ethan made a great sand castle, and later we climbed on some very cool weather-beaten rocks.

Today Esme had her regular Girl Scout meeting and had her first TBall practice. It has been a whirlwind, but wonderful!

old units and new activities

At last, the human body unit we have been working on forever is drawing to a close. This is our last week on this unit, and our book of the week is The Ear Book by Dr. Seuss. We are not 100% sure what we will work on next, because semester breaks create a strange schedule for our family. Since we have already covered so much information about dinosaurs this year, we are considering doing a brief dinosaur unit.

I am excited that I am also going to start doing some new lessons. This year we have divided up labor just about 50/50. I have researched and written lesson plans, and coordinate the series we've participated in and planned field trips. Ethan has done ALL of the sit down, day to day lessons. It has been a bit hard to fit everything in, so I am going to start helping out a bit by doing some reading with Esme at night. At least three days a week she will read to me from her Brand New Readers sets, and I will read chapter books to her. We are hoping this will free up some time during the regular lessons, so that Ethan will be able to focus more on activities around Book of the Week, spelling, grammar, etc., but Esme will still get the extra reading practice that she needs.

It is hard to believe that we are almost to the end of our second year of homeschooling!!