Saturday, September 14, 2013

Week of September 9, 2013

We had another busy week here. Tuesday we went bowling again, Wednesday we went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and Thursday the kids had their monthly class at a nature center.

A bowling alley near us is offering a homeschool class. They had a preview day Tuesday so we went hoping there would be some older kids. It seems more difficult to find kids near Colin's age at homeschool activities as he gets older. There were only 2 boys there close to his age. I don't think we'll do it for this session, but I'll keep it in mind for later. They play 3 games every week and that's a little much for the girls right now. It seems like two games is their limit. With hockey season starting soon, he'll be pretty busy so I'm trying to be picky about what takes our time. It was a really good afternoon though. They had pizza and drinks for the kids. The bowling alley also has a game area so the kids got to play some. Colin really liked doing laser tag with some other boys. The girls spent most of their time playing claw machines.


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The girls tried to double team Colin, but he still won.



The MN Landscape Arboretum was really nice. We spent a little over 3 hours there. I think we'll try to go back some other time to take see some of the things we missed or rushed through. It would be nicer to go when it's just a little cooler out too.


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They had a great time running around this maze.

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The Japanese Garden



The kids take a class once a month at a nature center. It combines science and art. This month they made journals that they will use for some other classes this year. The journals have different kinds of papers inside and some pockets.


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We managed to do some school work too. I think this is the earliest we've ever been doing all the subjects.
In Prairie Primer, we finished reading The Little Town on the Prairie. We did the second chapter of Story of the World, talking about Japan reopening their border and the Crimean War. Colin started Apologia Physical Science.



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Experiment 1



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Experiment 3: I didn't realize he needed so much vinegar so we had to use apple cider vinegar for some of it. It still seemed to work.



The weather was great Friday. We spent some time around a fire in the evening making smores.


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On Saturday, we went to Pepin, Wisconsin for Laura Ingalls Wilder Days. We visited the museum, Little House Wayside, and the park (where they had crafts, demonstrations, and stuff for sale). That's the third site we've visited this year. I need to write a post for each of them. It's been so fun to go to them. I've wanted to go forever and it's even better because the girls enjoy it so much too.


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In front of Little House Wayside

2 comments:

Phyllis said...

I am jealous that you get to go to Pepin for Wilder Days. I would love to do that. The landscape museum sounds great, too. I love the journals, too. They are beautiful. How do you get so much table work done and get out so much, too? I am struggling with this this year.

Sarah said...

I struggle with the same thing. I try not to go out before lunch unless it's something really special. My older one gets up earlier than the rest of us and can get most of his work done early when he's motivated to do so. We also tend to go out a lot for a week or two and then I feel behind and try not to go out for a week or two doing a little more work.