Week 2 is Just As Grand

We had lots of fun with our summer projects this week. For reading, Rachael worked on “at” words with a worksheet. Anna had one for the letter B.

For science on Tuesday, we had friends with us so we had to recreate our experiment later for the pictures. We gathered items from around the house and tested them in a tub of water to see if they would float or sink. We made a chart to track what each item did. Then we saw what happened when we put those items on our foil “boat”. The kids were so excited when they saw that it would hold all the items at once without sinking.

For art this week we made torn paper mosaics. Rachael had a minor melt down spreading out the glue with her fingers. I think she was mostly mad that I hadn’t gotten anything out for her that she could wipe her fingers on. Anna was pretty happy. I don't have a picture of her artwork because Rachael decided to “fix” it after Anna was done.

Our math project involved sorting all the things in our critter box. We decided to make the following categories: bugs, mammals, fish, and amphibians/reptiles. Then we estimated which piles had the most and least. We counted each pile and found that Rachael was spot on with her estimates.

Gratuitous Poppies

Ok, yes. Maybe I'm addicted to flower pictures, but I had to give you a couple pictures of my poppies. I always love the week or two that I get to enjoy their vibrant color. You also get a bonus bee hovering in the second picture.

My Grand Summer Vision

I have a Grand Vision for this summer. Ok, it’s not that big, but it feels grand that I actually have a well laid out plan and not just some nebulous idea that may or may not happen. Here is my plan. I have decided that we will do 1 project each day Monday through Thursday. The projects will fall under one of the following four subjects: Reading, Science, Art, and Math. I’ve looked online and found enough activities to fill the entire summer for each subject. Yay me! I also decided to blog about them so that I am a little more accountable for actually carrying out my grand vision. 

So, here is our first week. The girls were super excited about having projects each day. They were sad on Friday and Saturday when I told them we didn’t have anything that day. On Monday, we had reading. We made Alphabet Monsters. I wrote each letter on a piece of paper and then we made them into monsters by drawing on eyes and legs and tails and things. Rachael went into a lot of detail making her monsters. We then gave each one a name that started with its letter.

On Tuesday, we did science. I pulled out the big guns with this one: magnets. I had the girls gather different items and we tested which ones were magnetic. The girls drew their observations in their notebooks and then got to use our really strong magnet to move things around in a cardboard box lid. The giggling was awesome.

Wednesday was art day. We headed outside and made wet chalk drawings on the sidewalk. Rachael helped by labeling everyone’s drawings. The girls did not want to come in. 

Thursday we explored patterns for math day. First I made patterns using the wooden shapes and they had to figure out what came next. Then they made their own patterns for me to figure out. Lastly, we made figures out of the shapes.

Hurray for a successful first week.

Planting Our Garden

We didn't do a vegetable garden last year. I was planning on being really busy with a new baby when it was time to harvest, so we decided to forgo it. Turns out we were way busy with other things, but I digress. We had a lot of work to do to get the ground ready for plants this year. Patrick sprayed all the weeds and a week later we raked them all out. I enlisted the girls to help pick rocks. We worked on it twice and got not quite 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket. We borrowed Patrick's dad's cultivator to till the dirt. It was my first time using one of those. It was like a bucking bronco. Every time it hit a rock it would bounce out of the dirt. My arms started going numb and Patrick had to do about a 1/3 of the area. The next day I went to the nursery and bought the plants and the weed control fabric. The last time we tried putting fabric down, it disintegrated within a month or two. This time I talked to the owner of the nursery and bought what he recommended. It is definitely much sturdier looking. I also think he gave me more than I paid for. I asked for 60 feet, which was a miscalculation on my part. It shouldn't have covered it, but we had exactly enough to cover everything. I got it all covered during the day. Then when Patrick got home, we planted our veggies. We did 3 tomato plants: 2 romas and 1 black krim. We also planted a bell pepper, a banana pepper, a cantaloupe, and a pumpkin plant. I'm excited to have a garden again. Can't wait to see everything grow. I think the girls were mostly excited about turning the sprinklers on.

Evening Walk

We went for a walk as a family last week. The girls loved all the rocks and tried to put as many of them in the pond as possible. We made one lap of the pond. It was tough for Patrick towards the end. It was nice to be outside together, however. 

Gymnastics

Rachael has been in gymnastics for 2 years now. I decided this year to let her participate in the in-house "competition" that they do in the spring. She performed a floor routine that she has been learning all spring. I was worried about her because she sprained her ankle pretty good earlier in the week, but she healed up and didn't have any problems. I also noticed that she went back on the apparatus where she was injured. So glad she didn't let that stop her.
She was so excited about her pink medal. I think both the girls were more excited about the open gym time at the end. Rachael has chosen to try ballet during the summer. Anna will start gymnastics.

Sweet Anna

Anna is getting so big now. She tries to do everything that Rachael does. They both are always playing and singing and running around. Anna hasn't taken a nap since last summer. She stopped during all our craziness. With people coming and going and our routines upended, naps were what had to give. I wish she still took them. Sometimes, my wishes come true. I went to check on her one afternoon in the toy room. She had fallen asleep reading books. Now who else does that?

Roller Skating

The girls have been working on keeping their bedroom clean and earn pompoms each day when they complete certain parts of that. They finally filled the vase up to the top. So we got to go to Starlite Skating as their reward. It was an interesting experience for us. Rachael freaked out as soon as she got in the rink. I had to skate away for awhile and let her finish her fit. Patrick was able to walk with her for a little bit. Anna, on the other hand, had a natural balance with the skates on. She was able to walk/skate around with minimal help from me. In the end, I was very proud of Rachael because even though she was extremely frustrated, she kept trying and was able to make it around a couple times by herself. She would pick a spot to head for on the rail and that helped quite a bit with her balance. It reminded me a little of learning to drive. It wasn't until my dad told me to look at the tire tracks on the road that I was able to keep the car from veering too much to one or the other side. The girls both want to use skating as their next reward. It was so dark in there, it was hard to get good pictures.