Delayed homeschool week in review :) ~ My Little Poppies

We are desperately trying to hang onto summer over here, folks. September is on the horizon, and with it, school for T and Seuss. We are trying to squeeze as much fun as we can into our last days of summer. Here is our delayed homeschool week in review!

At the start of the week, Schizz took the kids on a hike and then they went fishing.

T, trying to catch minnows.

Leo: very intense!

And, guess what?! Leo caught his first two fish in quick succession.

We released them after this photo op.

Leo has been studying sharks, fish, and other ocean creatures. He has read oodles of shark-themed books…

He’s especially interested in their teeth.

And creating a lot of ocean-themed art pieces…

While we devotin’
Full time to floatin’
Under the sea!

All the ocean-themed books made the kids want to visit tidal pools. So the day after Leo caught his first (two) fish, we went to Ordiorne State Park.

Heaven is…

Checking out the rock sculptures.
Of course, we made our own.

Seuss added the shell on top.

The crab carcass was Seuss’ favorite part of the trip.
It’s the little things, folks!

We had a blast climbing, splashing, and exploring but we had more luck finding live creatures inside the Seacoast Science Center.

Hermit crabs.

Seuss’ turn!

After a few days, our creature obsession switched from sharks to bees, as Schizz and the gang stepped on a yellow jacket nest while searching for a hawk nest. Bad news! Everyone except for Miss T was stung. Once the tears had dried, the questions erupted. We managed to dig up a Magic School Bus book on bee hives, and then we watched a Magic School Bus episode followed by a blurb on bees by Mister Wizard. Leo, who has been known to be dramatic, initially stated that he didn’t know if he’d “ever be able to go outside again” due to his bee-induced PTSD, but we managed to coax him out with the promise of s’mores. Because who can resist a s’more?

Nothing says “summer” like s’mores and kids running wild.

Then we were off to North Conway for one last summer get-away. We were blessed with perfect weather. There was a lot of game playing…

This Topple was mine when I was little.

These two had some great discussions while playing.

Connect Four (with braille… a hold over from the working me)

Building…

Robot construction in progress.

This one is a transformer.

This one is a twin.

Arts and crafts…

Suncatchers.

A movie or two (yes, you read that correctly!!)…

Bears.

A train ride…

All aboard!!

Seuss covered his ears when he heard the train whistle.
Last year on this ride, Leo freaked out over the train whistle. This year,he hardly commented. We’ve come a long way!

We celebrated a birthday…

Leo’s gift to me: a rock collection.

Chocolate-peanut-buttery goodness for the 36-year-old.

Lots of time spent outside, exploring nature, on the playground, and (in my case) by a pool…

Heaven is…

No, guys, you can’t take him home.

Swimming from sun up ’til sun down makes for happy and tired kids!

And, of course, oodles of books…

Miss T stacks her book piles to the sky.

Leo read this at a restaurant, while waiting for our food to arrive.
He then wanted to tell me what, on my salmon, could make me ill.
Quite an interesting birthday dinner.

He’s also humming.

Yes, his shirt is on backward. Details, details.

It was a perfect way to end the summer of 2014. Now it’s back to reality. T and Seuss start school next week and Leo has quite the wish list for homeschoolin’

Hope you all had a great week.

Happy first day of school those hopping on the big yellow bus.

And happy #notbacktoschool to those who are not.

***
There is no difference between living and learning…

it is impossible and misleading and harmful to think of them as being separate.

~ John Holt

***