When does school start?

That question is difficult to answer when you don't ever really stop.

We have less structure and fewer scheduled outside activities in the summer. Today most of the public schools in our area started. The one that affects us the most starts on Friday. So when do we start our new "school year"?  Today? Friday? Next Tuesday when PE starts? The Monday after Labor Day when Scouts starts? Or when I get our supplies, plan, and schedule at home set up?

In the past our marker has been HANCK's Not-Back-To-School party. There isn't one scheduled yet. That is partially due to so many different schedules in the area, partially due to the weather being so hot last week, and partially because no one has said, "It is at (this) park on (this) date."

Caterpillars

We have some swallowtail caterpillars! I got several a few days ago and thought I starved them, but 2 started moving when I put dill in their container. Add today's 2 or 3 and we might end up with quite a flock of butterflies in 3-4 weeks.

The boys seem quite interested. We have talked about their food, the life cycle stages, and different types of butterflies already. We googled to find some pictures and information about how to keep them. (Plastic baggies won't be sufficient for very long.)

It's That Time of Year Again

Back-to-School sales have been going on for a couple of weeks now, and my year-long discount at Sonlight is about to expire, so that must mean it's time for fall school planning.

The boys have really been enjoying listening to fiction lately. Both audio books and Daddy reading at bedtime have been quite popular. That's good because we will be doing more read alouds this year than in the past. Math has been more formal lately, too. We have some new supplies that will work well with our workbox-like system for organizing our day. And I plan to go shopping for cheap notebooks, paper and markers today or tomorrow.

The only activities that are definite at this point are Cub Scouts for DS2 & ALEKS math. Almost definite are Scouts for DS1, WWHM for pre-Lego Robotics, and PE somewhere. Sonlight will play a big role again; I will attend the monthly fellowship, and I'm sure we'll go on many of the field trips (that will be planned next month).

We have been doing PE with Angels Academy for the past 2 years and the boys have made some friends there, plus Coach Dave is really great. This year they will be in the same class, so we would only be there for 1 hour, and I would most likely have the time to myself. YMCA Homeschool PE is on the same days, and since I don't really want to double up, I have a dilemma. At the Y I will be able to work out, which I need to do, and it is much closer to our house. The cost for the Y even comes out slightly cheaper since it is twice a week all the time for both boys, plus my workouts would mean that our Y membership is getting used (unlike during the past several months).

Also, there is HANCK. I'm sure we will have plenty of opportunities for park days, field trips, and playdates with our HANCK friends. We usually start the year off in August with a Not Back To School party at one of the parks with fountains on the first day of public school.

What we've been doing

A couple recent discussions have led me to want to make a list of what we have been doing for educational activities. Some of the following are at home, some are with formal outside classes, and some are informally with friends.

DS1's "2nd grade"

• Sonlight Introduction to World History, Part 1 (Core 1) for History, Geography, Literature, and Bible
• Handwriting without Tears
• Sonlight Readers
• ALEKS Math (3rd grade Mathematics with Quick Tables)
• Singapore Math (1B and 2A)
• Math - various other critical thinking, logic, and gifted workbooks
• Sonlight science books & other Usborne science books
• Science projects & experiments from various sources
• PE - weekly classes, Track & Field meet
• Sports camps (6 weeks each) - cricket, soccer, dodgeball, tennis, gymnastics
• Photography camp (1 week)
• Dance - fall - intro to tap, jazz, and ballet, with recital
• Music - fall & spring, with recital
• Spanish - fall & spring
• Chemistry - fall (Real Science 4 Kids - Pre-level 1 Chem)
• Global Art - spring
• Cub Scouts - Earned Wolf rank & many beltloops, pins, & arrow points
• Bowling - spring
• Kid Zone (weekly Bible school) - fall
• Classical music study
• Banking, budgeting, and money management
• Technology - typing, word processing, spreadsheets, graphics
• Holiday celebrations
• Community Service - monthly Grocery Relief / Angel Food distribution
• Sleepovers (here, at a friend's, and camping out in a tent)
• Treasure hunts, codes, and mazes: both creating for friends & figuring them out
• Field trips (some might have been last year (1st grade), I'm going by memory not my calendar): Kansas Air Museum, a tractor factory, a bakery, the zoo, Exploration place, Pumpkin patch & corn maze, Cowtown, Wichita Historical Museum, Boise Discovery Center, Great Plains Nature Center