Piano Recital 2016

There was a new venue (& season) for this year's piano recitals. We loved going to one of our favorite spots to enjoy lunch before watching the kids perform. They both did a great job! 

Kyrie with her teacher.

Degen with his teacher.

Franklin Park Conservatory, Fall 2016

An afternoon at the Franklin Park Conservatory. 

Tae Kwon Do

The kids started Tae Kwon Do last summer and have been making their way through the belt rankings. Currently, Kyrie is a green belt and Degen is a yellow belt. They attend classes once a week and enjoy learning new techniques, self-defense and sparring. 

Dance Photos '16

Though their recital was in June, we didn't get formal dance photos until September. Here are a few of our favorites: 

VBS 2016

Well, summer is just about over, so I guess I had better update the blog (eek!). We had another busy summer. This year, I didn't even attempt to do homeschool units, but let the kids enjoy their day camps and friends and the pool as much as they could. June was our busiest month with two camps and Vacation Bible School. 

The theme for VBS this year was the Arctic. I lead Degen's group of rising-first graders. It was another great group of kids who worked hard every day to learn their Bible verses and participate. (Kyrie also attended VBS, but she was in the elementary program, so we didn't get the chance to see her.)

Each VBS the kids bring in money to support a mission cause (this year and last year they raised money for Kenya Kids Can, which helps provide meals for students). They did a great job!

Homeschool16: April & May

Kyrie

Behind again on the blog and so the kids' folders became a bit jumbled... so, here is their highlighted work for both April & May. We covered a lot of units in these last two months before summer, including: America, the Earth & conservation, space, transportation, sports, authors & artists, and summer fun & safety. I might be missing a few in there, but we learned a lot.

Of course, in addition to thematic units, the kids continued to work on their individual skills. For Degen, this includes basic math operations and reading (we wrapped up phonics and have been focusing on sight words). Kyrie continues to move forward in practicing more complex math skills and improvement of writing skills. 

The summer has been a busy one so far, and the kids are having a lot of fun, which means they haven't been focused on lessons. There is still a lot of learning happening outside our usual classroom. The kids have enjoyed: tennis camp, French camp, international cooking camp, Shakespeare camp (Kyrie), circus camp (Degen), Hogwarts camp (Kyrie), junior science camp (Degen), and vacation Bible school. They have continued most of their extra-curricular activities over the summer, too. 

Our art lessons have been focusing on texture.

Kyrie has been practicing a variety of writing techniques, including using her senses in her writing.

French includes a lot more grammar this year.

Degen

Degen

Degen

Kyrie

Kyrie

Kyrie

Degen

Degen has been learning some basic grammar rules. 

Degen

Kyrie

Degen

Kyrie

Degen

Degen

Before summer began, our art focus shifted from texture to color.