2012-13 School Year–Week Thirty-Three
That’s a wrap!
After approximately 186 days of school (probably a few more…I sometimes forget to record field trip days!), we have finished the 2012-13 school year!
We did a lot of work this week (unlike, say, the public school, which appears to have been on vacation for the last two weeks of classes!). We had to finish up American history from Nixon to the present (a lot of fun stuff to explain in there!). We had math lessons to complete, and reading lessons for Ladybug, who finally made it through the whole alphabet, and all 27 of her “Fun Tales” readers! Turkey and Bunny also finished their spelling books, and one last writing assignment. We haven’t finished our read-aloud, but we can continue reading that for fun every day!
We also had some fun this week! On Thursday, Bunny, Ladybug, and I went strawberry-picking at Eckert’s, which seemed fitting since we went apple picking during our first week of the school year. Turkey, unfortunately, was sick, but he wanted us to go anyway, which was very kind of him. We had a fun time in the strawberry fields…it was the first time any of us had picked strawberries!
Today, after our last two tests of the year, we had a tea party for Pentecost. We were supposed to have it on Pentecost itself, but I ran out of time, and since it’s still Pentecost week, I figured I could still use red as a theme!
We also built the Lego Brandenburg Gate, a special project to tie into our studies of WWII and the Cold War/fall of the Berlin Wall. Since we waited until this afternoon to work on it, Moose got to join in, too! I love the Lego Architecture series, and can’t wait to see what other Landmarks they may come up with that I can use for school!
It’s been a great school year. There were tough times, trying to figure out how to balance three students in two grades, with an infant (and then toddler!), besides. There were challenges as I had to look for new materials to use for Ladybug when some of the things I used for Turkey and Bunny didn’t work for her. There was the difficulty of trying to teach long division! But the good times and the successes and fun events far outweighed any problems we came across. We’ve finished five years of homeschooling, and I’m already looking forward to year six…see you in August!
The Last Day
I always take pictures of my students on the first day of school…here’s a picture of them on the last day, too!
Instead of the more serious photo that the beginning of the school year gets, we went with silly this time!
Lego Store Grand Opening
Today was day two of the Lego Store Grand Opening celebration at West County Center in Des Peres, MO. If you’ve ever wondered what such an event is like, you’re in luck, because I took lots of pictures! It was quite an experience!
We got there shortly before the Lego Store was scheduled to open at 10, and the line was already incredibly long. I was worried that we’d be waiting for two-plus hours, and even briefly considered leaving, but in the end the wait was really just over an hour. No small feat with five children, but they were all extraordinarily patient, and Grandma came along to help out. Here’s part two of the line we waited in (part one, which was behind us, was about as long, but much more twisty):
Part three of the line was in the mall itself…it was a relief to get out of that darkish, stuffy corridor!
Part four of the line was immediately outside the store, and it was the fun part of the line. The employees were having a good time keeping the spirits of the crowd up, and being that close to the store made you feel like your wait was almost over…and really, it was! I was impressed with how efficiently they kept things moving.
The children each had a “Lego Store allowance” that they received, plus a little extra money from Grandpa. They had a fun time choosing what they were going to buy. We entered another line to check out, and it, too, moved pretty quickly.
We were lucky to be among the first 300 customers (which surprised me, based on the length of the line), and received this free limited-edition Lego Store set, as well. That one is for me!
After making our purchases, we went down to the other end of the mall for the building event.
Our store was building an eight-foot high Incredible Hulk (they have different builds at different stores)!
It was cool how they were handling the building…there were tables set up with bins of Lego bricks, and cards showing how to make a large brick. The instructions were simple enough for even small children to participate.
The children had fun making their bricks, which were later placed on The Hulk.
After we finished there, we went back to the store (but not the line, thankfully!), so the children could get certificates showing they participated.
We had to walk past the building event again on the way out of the mall. I thought we were just going to leave, but the Master Builder was doing some giveaways, so we stood around a bit, to see what that was all about.
It’s a good thing we stayed, because Bunny answered one of the questions correctly, and won a Lego Friends set! It was something she had been wanting, but didn’t have enough money for, because it cost $40! She was so surprised that she won, she could hardly tell the Master Builder her name!
When we got home, we checked out our haul (even with all this stuff, we managed to stay within our budget!):
And then the children immediately got to work on their new sets.
It was a long, exhausting morning, but it was also more fun than I had imagined. The children are looking forward to going back next May for the one-year anniversary celebration!
One of the Best Days of My Life
One year ago today was one of the best days of my life. When I look back on it, and think about the timing of the events that allowed our youngest child to be baptized on the same day our oldest two children were confirmed, I know that only God could have ordered everything to work out that way. I couldn’t have planned it if I had tried! I am so grateful for the gift of faith Chickadee received that day, and for the growing faith that has been a part of Turkey and Bunny’s lives since their baptism days. My most fervent prayer as a parent is that all of my children will continue to walk in the faith that began in them when they were baptized, and that they will always love the Lord with all of their hearts.
Happy first Baptismal birthday, Chickadee! And happy Confirmation anniversary, Turkey and Bunny!
The Guard
Turkey got to help out with the reenactment at the tomb outside of church this morning…he was very excited that he got fall over as if he were dead!
Ten!
Turkey is ten, now. I’m still having a hard time believing it!
I think he had a fun day. We got to pretty much everything on his birthday to-do list (he had to settle for a chocolate shake at McDonald’s instead of a shamrock shake, though. They’ve already stopped selling them!). Present opening was, of course, the highlight of the day!
The tuxedo cake was a big hit, and he got all of the candles in one breath!
Happy birthday, firstborn son of mine!
