Let's start by talking about the last week of Classical Conversations, or CC for short. CC is a nationwide program of small groups of homeschoolers that meet weekly to study together. It is a Bible-based, classical education curriculum and we love it. We meet with other homeschoolers on Tuesday mornings and have a lesson on Geography, History, Science, Grammar, and Latin. Plus each child gives a 3 minute presentation each week and we do a science experiment. It is fun and challenging. My kids have learned a TON this year. Anyway, it is the end of the school year and our CC group met for the last time last week. We were sad that it was over. My kids are already looking forward to fall. We are still doing our other homeschool lessons at home though and aren't on our summer break just yet. However, we will be finishing well ahead of the public schools because we didn't take any snow days all year. I love that little perk to homeschooling. Instead, we are taking SUN Days very soon.
So anyway, to celebrate our last day of CC, I planned a little scavenger hunt around Louisville and Flora. We went to several different businesses where the kids had to answer review questions in order to get their next clue. Some of their questions were: Tell me about the Cold War. What is Newton's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Laws of Motion? Tell me all of the European Mountains. What is a gerund? What are the 1st Conjugation Present tense in Latin? Name the axis leaders and ally leaders of WWII.
The kids did great and answered everything correctly. They blew away the business people reading them their questions. We ended the hunt at Charley Brown Park with a picnic lunch and relays and games. Sort of. The kids thought that was the end. But then I surprised them with one more clue, which led them to the Dairy Queen, which turned into a field trip. We all got to go inside and make our own ice cream cones and get a tour of the place. It was so fun. The kids had a blast!
Behind the scenes at Dairy Queen. Owner Dave
was telling us some secrets about how they make their Cokes.
For the last three weeks of CC we had all worked
on constructing an egg holder made from only
popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and napkins (no glue!).
The purpose was to protect the egg from breaking
when dropped from a higher area. We tested
our designs out by dropping them from the top of the
curly slide at Charley Brown Park. These two, Harrison
and Janae, did the best and their eggs did not break!
Carissa and her broken egg.
Dropping the egg.
Maleah and Carissa with their egg holders before the big drop.
Answering review questions during the scavenger hunt
at the Clay County State Bank.
Scavenger hunt at the Potter's Shed.
We were encouraged to dress up as our favorite historical
character from our history studies. Carissa went as Mary
Queen of Scots and Maleah went as Joan of Arc.
I wore Clarence's old green jacket from Vietnam and went
as a soldier.
We also recently went to the St. Louis Zoo. We had a great time there too. We actually had to go to St. Louis for my three month checkup with my oncologist. I had a great appointment and all of my bloodwork and everything came back looking fantastic. Cancer free! It's always a relief to hear that. This was the same day that we went to Build A Bear (see previous post.) I also managed to fit some shopping into this day and bought Mr. Silas Man some new clothes because the kid needed some warm weather attire. He had nothing but long sleeved shirts and pants that were too short. He is tall and getting taller! The kids and Dad (lucky him) got to ride a double-decker carousel at the mall. They were very excited about that. I skipped the carousel and went to the Gap instead.
Back to the zoo. It was great. We no longer try to fit everything in when we go to the zoo. We just pick a few things and see that and then we leave. It's always enough. Carissa loves lions. Last time we were there she really wanted to see the lions but they were cleaning the lion area and so all the lions were inside. She was so disappointed then so this time she had high hopes of seeing a lion. It was her lucky day because she got to see two lions, a tiger, and a couple other big cats. She was thrilled! Maleah wanted to see Maliha the elephant and we did. It was an all around good time. However, the hippos proved, once again, to be the most entertaining. They growled, and huffed, and puffed, and got in and out of the water, and swam right by the kids. Those things are so huge that when they growled (or whatever they were doing, moaning maybe?) I have to admit I was a little scared and very thankful for that extremely thick glass window.
The Mini Coopers!
Aren't they cute?
He liked the fish.
Maleah and a hippo
This one would have eaten Carissa up, if given
the chance. I am quite sure about it.
I told you the hippos were entertaining.
They put on a quite a show. The hippos. Not the girls.
This is Carissa roaring like a lion. She speaks Lion.
Or is it Lionese? I don't know. I'll have to ask her.
I mentioned that we had one of our top three worst Easters ever. It ranked right up there with the Easter that Maleah was in the nicu when she was a few days old and the Easter when Carissa was two and in the hospital for dehydration. Here's what happened this year: We had the stomach flu. All five of us. It started off with Carissa on the Wednesday prior to Easter. She puked in the car on the way home from Effingham. She puked into a McDonald's bag that Maleah had been eating out of. She continued to puke every 15 minutes for the next 14 hours. It was terrible. I was up all night caring for my sick little blondie. After we got home from Effingham I carried all of our stuff in, put the carseat cover in the washer, all while Jason started a bath for Carissa. A few minutes later, Jason and I realized that Silas was eating french fries. Where did they come from? You guessed it! Out of that McDonald's bag that Carissa had puked into. That makes you want to puke now, doesn't it? Okay, so guess who got sick next? Yep. Silas! If I would have bet money on that one, I would be a little bit richer. I had been preparing for a huge garage sale all week and was having it on Friday with a friend of mine. While I was at the sale, Jason stayed home with the kids. He called me around 8 a.m. and said that Silas was sick. Jason dealt with that while I sold all of the kids' clothes they had outgrown and a bunch of other stuff that we didn't need. (I made a lot of money, which then paid for clothes that fit when we went shopping in St. Louis. It was worth it.) By Saturday, Carissa was much better and Silas was getting there. But by Saturday night... dunt, dunt, dunt... Jason said he didn't feel good, an hour later it was Maleah, and an hour later it was me. We were all so sick! It was terrible. Terrible, I tell ya! Easter Sunday morning came and we were all still sick and exhausted but suddenly, I had two little kids that felt great and wanted to play. Um, no. Please just watch television for the next 20 hours. Thanks. They were pretty good for not having much parental supervision. By Monday, our house was a disaster (see previous sentence), Maleah and I were feeling better but didn't have much energy and poor Jason was still sick. He missed both Monday and Tuesday from work, he was so sick. I think he had it the worst. The kids did get an Easter basket but the Easter Bunny only hid five eggs and they were all empty. We didn't get to go to church on Easter or to Uncle Timmy and Aunt RaeAnn's house for dinner and an egg hunt.
We celebrated Easter this past weekend instead. The girls and Silas wore their Easter clothes to church and we had an Easter egg hunt at my Mom and Dad's house. The kids had fun doing that and hopefully it made up for that unreliable Easter Bunny. Hopefully next Easter will be much much better!
Hunting eggs! Finally.
Silas wasn't very good at it.
(Understatement #1)
In fact, he was terrible at it.
(Understatement #2)
This kid is adorable.
(Understatement #3)
He has eggs in his basket because his sisters
gave them to him out of pity.
I'm having the kid's eyes checked.
She is in motion. I think she is reaching for an
egg, although she looks as if she might take
off flying.
This picture reminds me of Laura and Mary
on the prairie.
Thanks for reading. See you on the flip side.
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