Teddy Bears, Mountains and a Tryathalon

So...the picnic went well.  Teddy Bears, food, swing sets and ice cream created a happiness combination.

Thursday Dodger and Grandma set out to climb Camel's hump.  I'll let Dodger fill in the details (we plan to share blogging).  I have "Hiking one of the Green Mountains" listed on our curriculum so it feels pretty good to have a goal met even before the "official" start of the school year.

I will try to attach our curriculums soon in case they may be helpful to anyone else on a similar path.  I had to create one for Dodger for 5th grade and one for Sailor for 1st grade.  I used a combination of help from another home schooling mom, the VT Dept of Ed website and the Common Core Standards. 

In the general theme of soaking up the last of summer and rigorous exercise the kids participated in the "Tryatholan".  What fun!  Such a great time.  Sailor and Kitten were in the under 7's group and swam (actually ran through the water since it's so shallow this year), rode their bikes and then ran the last leg.  Dodger had a longer course which included swimming, biking and running.  Apart from some cramps and Dodger's bike chain falling off all enjoyed the event and we'll begin our training for next year soonish ;)

Summit marker on top of beautiful Camel's Hump

Well, I started with a schedule, printed out neatly on Word, and that, I've learned, is wishful thinking!  I've gone through a variety of stages in one week, first the enthusiasm, then the desperation and now I am coming to the mental calm.  I can't force the kids to do anything and I'm not sure I want to.  The purpose of home schooling for us is to maintain their sense of wonder and love of learning for as long as possible.  To sit down at scheduled times and force a subject seems to be counter productive.  Not that a basic schedule isn't helpful but I'm finding already that I need to RELAX and let them lead a little.  For example...

Day 1 looked like this..

8am-breakfast, dressed, clean up, walk the dog, fed the animals.
9:15am-Began Math Mammoth text books with Dodger and Sailor (Tried to fend off Kitten who vied for attention the whole time).  Slogged through math until 11:30am.
12pm- lunch
1pm-Literature...read out loud "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" 2 chapters (we've been learning about owls over the summer so this seemed like a nice addition).  Sailor and Kitten drew pictures of images from the story and Dodger wrote some of the owl facts down in his journal. 
Afternoon spent playing LEGOs, some TV, reading books, and taking a 2 hr bike and walk.
6pm-dinner
Evening swim, showers and bed-Started "The Flint Heart" for bedtime reading.

Today (five days later) looks like this...

9am-finally everyone is up and eating breakfast.
10am-Dodger read out loud to Sailor and Kitten and then they worked on planning their Teddy Bear picnic for lunch time.  They've made invites (written from the bears to the humans), written down a menu and decided which bears are allowed to come (only ones that qualify as "bears" so snake and kitty will have to miss out!).
11am-Dodger mixes up and bakes some brownies for a treat to bring on our picnic.

We'll see how it all unfolds today.  My tentative plan is to have Kitten nap after the picnic so that Dodger and Sailor can work on some more formal learning in peace!