Flubber

Today we made flubber. Recipe is below and it's super easy!

Reading...

Ben has really been working on reading this summer. I found him in front of the restrooms while camping trying to decode a couple of words, one of which was "welcome". He turned around and saw me, pointed to the sign and said "we'll come!!" with a big smile on his face. He was so proud. I just hugged him for his accomplishment. Since then I've noticed that he will read lots of little words but hide it from me. He is shy about it. So I sat him down today with a little book from dltk's site (that I had printed and put together a couple of months ago) and he read it with no problem! He is interested and motivated to learn more. I am thrilled. He is on his way :)

First day of school...

I think every day is a learning day and we spent most of the summer learning. When does one turn their brain off? And if it is shut off then how will one survive in the world? As adults we are constantly learning new things, and I expect my children to constantly learn too. Summer is a great opportunity to continue to learn, it may be more relaxed and self-guided for some kids but for us it is the same year-round. We don't have more learning in different times of the year. 

I bring this up because at the end of the traditional school year, a woman (who knew that we homeschool) asked me if we took the summer off. I told her that we continue to learn through the summer and treat it no differently than the rest of the year. She gave me some strange look but couldn't understand that kids -all kids and adults- still learn in the summer and why wouldn't we capture those learning moments and make it great and memorable? She rolled her eyes and I never saw her again, I guess she went on summer break.

So, Hannah starts her Kindergarten year and Ben is in his First grade year and we spent our first day of school at the beach :) The kids had fun playing with friends and making a seaweed flavored cake. It was quite the cake! I have no pictures but the day was great. The tide was strong so they played on the side of the water and never got in too deep. Safety is big for us especially if I'm taking them somewhere on my own.

We're looking forward to some good learning experiences this year. I'll try to list what the kids want to learn about very soon :)