Homeschool: Summer Fun & Games

Degen building a Lego watermelon.

I guess I am not really surprised that I forgot to take a picture of our books from this unit. Sigh... in the last few weeks of summer, we have been busy with camps, friends and the end of our summer activities. Well, trust that we read some good ones and had fun talking about summer weather, safety, treats, activities and games. Of course, this is a fun & laid back unit all about the fun we have been having all summer long. 

Degen's unit folder.

Kyrie's unit folder.

The kids had lots of glyphs to work on this unit, two of which we used to decorate their unit folders. Creating glyphs involves passing along information with visual clues. I like using glyph activities with the kids because it gives them a chance to provide information about themselves, follow directions and be creative. I have 3 glyph books that I use for thematic units. 

Degen working on reading numbers.

This was our food-craft for this unit, which I found on Pinterest. I already had all the ingredients in our cupboards and started the kids out with counting cookies and red M&Ms. This was super-easy to put together and delicous!

When working with almond bark, I like to melt it in one measuring cup and then boil water in a larger measuring cup and place the smaller into the larger to keep the almond bark melted while I dip. 

Our assembly line was me dipping cookies, Degen placing M&Ms and Kyrie spooning sprinkles.

If we are talking about summer fun, we are definitely talking about swimming! Though it has been a cool summer, we have made it to the pool a handful of times. We have the most fun when we get to join our friends to swim! I am happy to see Kyrie jumping in the deep end (though not far from the ledge) and Degen (finally) trusting the lifejacket as he paddles around the lazy river!

Degen with his "sand" castle!

I have tried to give the kids extra time to play with their friends before everyone goes back to school. I love looking out the window and seeing all these kiddos playing in the backyard.

Veggie Good!

Degen sorting the vegetables he harvested with Darren.

We got the garden in late after a long, cold winter and this summer has been cool & mild. So only bit-by-bit have we been pulling in crop this year. So far, we have gotten peppers, cukes, squash and cherry tomatoes. When I can...well, I can! 

This is my third or fourth year, and I am still trying to work out a dill pickle recipe that I really love. I tweaked a recipe this year and the result is juts about right. 

Kyrie processing cukes for dill relish.

An alternate version of our dill relish.

Last year, I made a sweet & sour pepper sauce with our abundance of peppers. This year, I found a recipe for pickled Italian vegetables and turned it into an Italian garden relish. 

Degen processing mixed vegetables for our Italian Garden Relish.

Italian Garden Relish

Purr-fect Pictures!

I love this photo that I caught of Degen. He took the IPad and climbed right into the cat bed with Lilah to enjoy a few moments with her. So sweet!

Bentley is not always lovey-dovey, but he can be super-duper cuddly when the mood strikes. Here he is hanging out with Kyrie.

Our Lilah! Everybody loves our tiny, gray girl!

Our old boy Brutus enjoying a few moment's peace! 

If I fits, I sits! Big boy Bentley squeezed himself into this small toy bin for a nap during lessons one day!

Kyrie sharing a moment with her kitty Lilah! These two have an amazing bond! 

Homeschool: Oceans

A great unit for the summer! This unit leads us nicely into our Summer Fun unit! My kids are fascinated by the ocean. Kyrie really took an interest in the light depths of the ocean (eg. sunlight, twilight, etc.) and deep-sea creatures. She asked me to help her find information to make a folder about the ocean depths similar to the one she made about the rainforest layers. We had lots of fun books and extra activities, including some tasty snacks (most of which are not pictured).

Degen working on his unit folder. 

Degen's folder

Kyrie working on her unit folder.

Kyrie's folder. We couldn't find many stickers with animals that leave in the midnight zone of the ocean, so Kyrie drew in some of her favorites, including the angler fish.

The kids thought these were a fun treat!

The kids' interest in certain activities ebbs & flows (much like the ocean tide- ha!), but this unit the were really into puzzles. They had some great teamwork going on when they completed the floor puzzle below! 

Though I only got a picture of the final product, the kids headed back into the kitchen to make this cool ocean cake. They mixed the batter and added food coloring to make the cake blue. I put on the blue frosting and the kids added sprinkles shaped like ocean rock, sea stars and fish to make an edible ocean scene. They were very excited about this yummy project. 

Blurry photo, but my cutie crab!

A sticker pic that Degen did during his free time. I always love seeing my kids in the 'quiet' room during their free time.

 I am always on the look-out for educational and/or creative toys. We were wandering one of the kid resale shops and found a great ocean-themed gear set at a great price. Later the same day, the kids opened the box and had a great time putting together the different ocean scenes. They were pretty excited to see how their simple machines worked... and when they got frustrated, we talked about ways to troubleshoot or improve upon the given designs.