Trip to the Moxi

 The Wolf Museum of Exploration and Innovation.

The Moxi is in Santa Barbara and has been on our list to get to for several months.  I told the kids that when we finished our science curriculum, we would go...and we finished in July.  Better late than never, I suppose.

 First of all, I love that day trips to Santa Barbara are an option in life.  Without traffic, it was about 45 minutes and a beautiful drive. 

On the first floor:

The giant guitar was Colin's favorite.  Ben has shown him how the capo works before, but the life size model really made it click for him.

 Eli's favorite was this giant ball.  You put your hand in front of the screen and it projected it onto the ball and you could add effects.

 

Inside the hands on room, Alison did a little animation.

 Eli did a little programming

And they all made light creations.

There was also a sound booth where they could experiment with different sound effects.

 

The second floor had a huge race track and you built your own car to enter into a race.

There was a mind game...whoever was the most relaxed won.

 

On the roof, they explored different sources of energy.

 

 

After all that learning and exploring, we were ready for some ice cream!  McConnell's was right across the street and did not disappoint.

August flew by

We took a longer than normal break this summer and it FLEW by.  It was full of all good stuff, but busier than I anticipated.  We continued piano lessons, had dentist appointments, went to the beach every Wednesday with the church group and had lots of friends over to play. 

Alison completed the library's summer reading program in record time and earned lots of free food.  Mr. Softee's was a favorite.

 We also went to a Lego building event at the library.  After an unnecessary presentation, they gave the kids instructions and a box of Legos and were going around helping the kids build.  Eli had his built before they could even get to him :)  

 

There has been lots and lots of music being played.  Ben got Eli a Star Wars piano book and he has 2 songs completely memorized.  He also got Colin a ukulele that he has been carrying around nonstop and has learned few things on it already.

We also had Riley and Tristen (8 year old twins) here for a couple of days while their mom had a baby. Tristen thought it was fun to help Eli with his songs



We ended the month with a trip to Sea World (next post) and yearly check ups. Alison is in the 95th percentile for height and Eli is in the 85th! And the best news, Colin is up to the 16th percentile for weight, at a whole 44 lbs!

Apolgia Science

We're less than 2 weeks into school and I am already LOVING Apologia science...and regretting not finding this sooner.  I found Sonlight's (what we have used up until now) lessons to be all over the place and the activities were extremely complicated with little explanation as to why you were doing the activity, thus we didn't do very many.

Night and day difference here.  It's so well written that my 6th, 3rd and 1st grader can all learn it at the same time and participate in the experiments.  You just read a couple of pages and then it will give you an easy activity to do with an explanation.  It also has an activity book that is probably most appropriate for the 3rd grade, but I am able to make it work for all of them.  This week, we just picked one page with a corresponding Bible verse on it and they colored it while I read.  At the end of the week, whoever had the verse memorized got a little treat.

Most of all, I've been excited that the activities are actually doable!

We learned about volume, matter and density and did an experiment with an egg.  

Will it sink or float in water and salt water?

And buoyancy.

They were supposed to craft a boat out of foil and pretend they are pirates who have captured a ship and need to bring the treasure onto their ship.  They estimated how many pennies (the treasure) their ship could hold and then tested their hypothesis.

Last Day of school!

We finished our school year July 26th.

When all the work was done and tests finished, we went to get pizza for lunch.

The kids wanted "sit down pizza", so we went to Toppers.  I filed this place away, if there is ever a time that we want to go out as a family but Ben and I want to talk...they were so enthralled with the TV's around that this is what they looked like the whole lunch:

I did get them to tell me some things they wanted to do over our break, but that was about it.  

When Ben got home from work, we had a little party.  He gave each of them a certificate and congratulated them on completing their grade.

6th grade, check.

 3rd grade, check.

 

 1st grade, check.

Our focus for this year was reading and I told the kids at the beginning of the year that we were going to see how many books we could read and then have a big celebration at the end to acknowledge all their work.  I didn't want to set a goal, because I didn't want them to reach a number and then just quit reading.  It was hard keeping track of the boys reading, but Alison did a stellar job.

Alison read 315 books!!!!

The boys read 164!

I am beyond proud of them.  We're going to Sea World in a couple of weeks to celebrate,

but for now, cupcakes and party blowers had to do.

Oh, yes...note to self for next year...buy graduation decorations in MAY...and don't even think about buying summer stuff in summer (I am thoroughly annoyed with stores stocking policies).

 I actually got pretty teary on this day.  I looked at the stack of books that we've finished this year and saw much more.  I saw the times that they worked on those books in a sea of boxes, while saying goodbye to dear friends, while unpacking their world into an unknown place, while being the definition of brave and making new friends and while figuring out a whole new rhythm of life.  I saw this day how many big life changes these kids have gone through all while learning; deployment, a cross-country move, another deployment, survival of the desert and another move.  I may say it a million times, but our kids are strong, amazing and brilliant people.

This year was another unique year and as we ended the year, I wondered "Was it enough?" (I'm pretty sure 100% of homeschool teachers think this at least 3 times a year).  I started to question whether I made the right decision with our time the last 7 months.  To be honest, people were a priority.  If there was an opportunity to make a friend or find a great activity or build fellowship, we were there.  That meant I did a lot of shuffling of schoolwork and shorter work days, but it also meant that they were meeting people and experiencing new things.

It didn't take long for me to realized that it was enough and our priorities are just right. 

I try to be diligent in keeping our schedule light because I believe it's a blessing when you leave space for people. If that's the only lesson they learn this year, I'm okay with that.

Alison's Birthday!

She's 12!!!

Donuts for breakfast and a historic day: Eli let Alison kiss him!  I'm glad I got that documented.

Ben set up her first present the night before and we waited to see how long it would take her to notice.  It wasn't long after donuts that she saw a tree swing in the backyard :)

This was the first year in a LONG time that we waited to open presents.  Instead, we headed to the beach!

 It was another cold day on the beach, but that didn't stop the kids.  Ben and I had sweatshirts on, but they were boogie boarding.  It's crazy how much the weather changes by the water.  At our house it was sunny and 80, but by the water was 70 and cloudy.

When we got back home, we had a luau.  We played beach ball volleyball, had a hulu hoop contest and sipped fruit punch out of fancy cups.

The boys surprisingly really got into the luau.  I wasn't able to capture them hulu dancing, but they did :)

Even Maya joined the fun.

Before dinner, we finally opened presents.

My favorite part of the day was right here, when Eli said excitedly, "I want to sit next to the Birthday Girl!" and then both boys showered her with hugs.  Alison always tries to love on them, but it's rare that they initiate affection.

We planned kabobs for dinner, but Alison changed her mind last minute and wanted hotdogs...actually she wanted Indian rice, pork belly, hot dogs and grilled pineapple.

Her cake request this year was a layered white cake that was decorated.  Ben made the cake and frosting and Rayna helped me with the decorations.  I think the team effort made it all the more special.

One tradition that has carried on is her need for a birthday shirt.  Thank you Target for making that an easy button this year.

 

Alison had the great idea for this swing shortly after we moved in and I think it was a brilliant idea...the boys think so too.

Here we go 12! I think it's going to be a great year!

Rayna came to visit!

Alison and Rayna had such a great time hanging out together in Idaho, that Greg and Amy decided to fly her to California for a few days before school started. 

We made a list of things to do; options for Rayna to get the full California experience.  The first day, the girls came to me and said they wanted to go the library and then to the outlet mall.  I love that they picked getting books first.

When we pulled up the library and Rayna said, "This is your library?!?!"  It is definitely the nicest library I have ever been to and the children's wing is out of this world.

They checked out a few books and then stopped in the used bookstore next door.  I knew Alison and Rayna were two peas in a pod, but it was confirmed when they were shopping for books. 

Next stop was In-N-Out for lunch.  

Rayna declared it delicious and bought a T-shirt so she'll always remember it.

Then we went to the outlets and I let the girls wonder through whatever store they wanted.  Last stop was in the Disney Store.

The rest of the day, the girls spent in the garage making crafts and walked to the park for a little bit.  

The next day the girls picked to go to downtown Ventura.  They have some fun thrift stores and that sounded fun to them.

Our first stop was to a soda shop.  When we walked in, the owner told us that everyone could pick one free piece of candy.  I think that was their favorite part of the day!

Rayna found huckleberry soda, like they had at the ghost town in Idaho and they wanted to try pop rocks.

The girls didn't find anything at the thrift store, but the boys found a steal on some Legos...because we need more...

Rayna was anxious to see the ocean, so we walked down to say hello. 

The kids climbed on the rocks and we watched a bunch of surfers by the pier.  That evening, Rayna helped me get ready for Alison's birthday and man, is she a good wrapper.  I need to bring her back at Christmas!