Civil War Battle Simulation

For our Sword of Freedom class, we did a Gettysburg Battle Simulation- basically capture the flag with taped grocery bag balls to "shoot" each other. It was much more exciting than pictures can show!

Math Fun

We are currently reading TimeLife's I Love Math: Alice in Numberland. After each short story there are activity suggestions. 

Sunny Days

Is it really October? It looks like the weather is going to change this week :(

George was tired of being squirted with water.

Random things in random places

The farm! The farm! The farm!

The zoo! The zoo! The zoo!

Hiking

This Past Week

Playing

Dragon Questing

Yard Sale-ing

Battling

Yay! Daddy's Home!

Austin Shakespeare Trip

Austin's Shakespeare Conquest classes reward for completing all 10 requirements was a trip to the Shakespeare Festival. They had a blast!

Early Morning Hikes with Austin

Austin likes to take pictures of the ducks & deer.

Fall Swimming

Uncomfortable or Not

Homeschool Fall 2014

Our plans for this semester

KidSchool

• Pray, Song, & Scriptures
• Character- currently reading 7 Habits of Happy Kids
• RADKids- Olivia & Jolie took this class this past spring. We are reviewing the safety rules & lessons they learned.
• Verbal Math
• Poetry Memorization

Austin

• Math- Teaching Textbooks & Other Side of Math class- a friend of mine is teaching this class for youth 13+ yrs. A short description is a right-brained math class. They work on logic puzzles, riddles, games, art, projects, etc. A Mathematician's Lament is great starting point if you want to learn more. 
• Shakespeare Conquest- project offered through our commonwealth school. This semester they are reading & discussing King Lear, reading-listening-watching 17 plays, learning about the Elizabethan era, developing acting skills, memorizing a soliloquy, and more. Next semester they will rehearse & perform a family friendly Shakespeare play. This is a LEMI project.
• Sword of Freedom- Civil War history project offered through our commonwealth school. They read & discuss four books (uncle Tom's Cabin, Across Five Aprils, Abraham Lincoln biography, & To Kill a Mockingbird), historical documents, learn about the history of battles and politics, watch movies, memorize songs & Gettysburg address, and more. This is a LEMI project.
• Adult Scholar Class- this year the adults in our commonwealth are reading & discussing Science Fiction & Fantasy books, and Austin decided to join us. So far we've read Peralandra by C.S. Lewis and Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card, and there will be a number of other books and fairy tales throughout the year.
• Minecraft/Java Programming- through My Tech High
• Python Programming- through My Tech High
• Video Game Design & Entrepreneurship- a class offered by a homeschool dad we are good friends with. 
• Piano Lessons
• Scouts

Nyah

• Math- currently reading & doing activities in the Time Life "I Love Math" series.
• Shakespeare Conquest- same class as Austin
• Young Stateswoman- this is offered through our commonwealth school. The girls are reading biographies of women from the civil war era- so far they've read Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman and Invincible Louisa. The girls also plan and carry out activities & service projects. 
• Our Animal Friends (science)
• Drawing, Sculpting, and Animation Foundations- through My Tech High 
• Art Class- Nyah wanted to take an art class again this year, but the classes through the rec center were on the same day as her youth church activities. So I'm teaching a class for Nyah and some of her friends using Artistic Pursuits and Harmony Fine Arts 7th Grade plans. I'm not sure what Nyah will do next semester because she'll have Shakespeare rehearsal during this time.

Olivia, Jolie, & Sophie

• Reading Eggs- through KOLA (discounted rates!)
• Liberty Girls (Olivia & Jolie)- reading history books (Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman so far), planning & sharing fun activities, 
• Living Math- currently reading & doing activities in the Time Life "I Love Math" series
• Stations- once or twice a week they spend 15-20 minutes rotating with Austin, Nyah, & I, doing different games & learning activities. 
• Art Projects- they paint, draw, or use chalk pastels, or play with play-doh during Nyah's art class.
• Reading & Math workbooks- once or twice a week when they want to do "school"
• Speech (Olivia)

Kelsey

• Adult Scholar Class & Mom's Colloquia- monthly classes offered through our commonwealth school. 
• Mentoring in the Classics
• Geography & Current Events- our family loves to watch Amazing Race and I decided to capitalize on this interest to help us learn more about other countries, cultures, governments, and current events. We watch the show, read & discuss the new country in The Travel Book, discuss the type of government and any current events we can learn about, makes some food if we can, listen to music if we can, and so on. 
• Piano Lessons
• Nature Study- we go on walks or hikes a couple times a week & learn about anything interesting the kids find. 
• Mentor of Sword of Freedom project at our commonwealth school.
• Teach Nyah's Art Class

Shakespeare Festival

I won tickets to the Utah Children Theater's Shakespeare Festival through a Facebook contest, so we had a blast seeing Merry Wives of Windsor, Digestible Shakespeare, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.