Fall Ball

Griffin's t-ball season started up a couple of weeks ago.  He's playing on the Longhorns and having a good time.  He has different coaches this season, and they are really helping the boys learn a lot -- and they're having fun while they're doing it!  At one practice, they even brought water balloons so the boys could practice throwing and catching and hitting them off the tee!

The Longhorns have played their first few games already.  Griffin has mostly played 2nd base and outfield, and although he's not nearly as intense about it as his brother, he seems to be enjoying it. 

Unfortunately, we aren't having as good luck with Rhys's team.  Several of the players decided at the last minute to play football, which conflicts with the baseball practice and game schedule.  So we've had to put the Voodoo on hold for a few months until after football season.  We're hoping to squeeze in a tournament or two before the end of the year.  Rhys is pretty disappointed about the whole thing, and I'm sorry to say that we, as a team, have learned some lessons the hard way.  There are about five core team members that have been working very hard to learn to pitch and keep up their other baseball skills.  Rhys has been practicing a lot and is turning into a pretty good little pitcher.  I just wish we didn't have to wait so long to see him pitch in a game!

Math

For the past six months or so, Bill and I have been putting more of an effort into making math interesting for the kids.  Both older kids do well in math and consistently stay a grade or two ahead, but neither one particularly likes it.  So, we decided to scrap the curriculum we've always used (Saxon) and shake things up a bit. 

For the first couple of months, the kids exclusively used Khan Academy.  Khan is an awesome website that has videos and practice problems.  They provide the kids with a map, and they can work at their own pace, unlocking new levels as they master concepts.  They really liked it, but we decided to give some other things a try before we settle strictly on Khan.

This month, the kids both started new curricula.  Avery is using Jacob's Algebra, which I adore. She isn't quite as enthusiastic as I am, but she definitely likes it better than Saxon.  Jacob's feels like it's designed for verbal kids like Avery.  It does a really good job of explaining the why, rather than just the how. It's great for problem solving and critical thinking.  Rhys started Singapore, which I'm also very happy with. It has less drill than Saxon, but that's ok for Rhys, who catches on to math concepts quickly. I think it also does a pretty good job of encouraging mental math and problem solving.  Overall, I'm very happy with both!


But, however good the new curricula may be, we wanted to encourage the kids to discover the fun of math.  So, in addition to playing math games (Set, Quirkle, Rummicub, Izzy, 24, Blokus, Colorku) and working the problems on Alcumus, we've started getting together with a few other families for math nights.  We get together for a potluck, then one family presents math-related activities.  We've had a ton of fun with these nights, and the kids really look forward to them!  (My apologies for the terrible cell phone pictures.)

Bill helping the kids figure out how to draw Borromean rings, ouroboros, and binary trees after watching Vi Hart's videos.

Playing a string trick game.

Bill and Avery also really enjoyed going to a Sunday Morning Math Circle lecture at UT.  They learned something about infinity, but they can't quite tell you what.  But I'm pretty sure the exposure was beneficial!

Nine!

At the end of August, Rhys turned 9!  Rhys celebrated by inviting six friends over for pizza, a Round Rock Express game, and a sleepover.

Making sundaes!

Rally caps on!

And what's a birthday without football?

And, speaking of football, we got tickets to the Longhorns' first game for Rhys's birthday present.  We went a couple of weeks after his birthday and had a great time!

Goodbye, Summer

We are officially about a week into fall, although it doesn't feel like it.  Temperatures are still hovering over 100 degrees, so it feels very much like summer still.  Although we do notice the days getting shorter and the light quality changing, so we're hopeful that the weather will soon follow suit.

I think we all just feel thankful that the summer of 2011 is drawing to a close.  Despite every attempt to keep busy, many days dragged on.  Austin officially had the hottest summer on record, and as of today, we've had 90 days over 100 degrees.  We're also suffering from an extreme drought, now officially the worst on record. 

Despite the miserable weather, we did manage to have some fun this summer.  Clearly I didn't keep up with the blog this summer, so I'll try to do a quick recap.

June was mostly taken up with Rhys's All-Stars.  July was taken up by camps.  Avery went to Austin Chamber Music Center's Summer Workshop for the second year in a row.  She really liked her groups this year, and loved the chance to play with different instruments.

Rhys went to the Brandy Perryman Shooting Camp for the second year in a row.  This year a friend of his was there too, and the two of them cleaned up!  Rhys won the free throw competition, his team won the camp championship, and Rhys's friend won the three-pointer competition.

Griffin took gymnastics over the summer and had a little mini-meet.  He did great and earned all blue ribbons!

 

In August, the boys liked to play tennis in the morning...

...and we swam often in the afternoon...

And of course we spent plenty of time with friends.

Bill and the kids went to Bookpeople for the book release party for Darth Paper.

And Rhys and Bill walked with the All-Stars team in the Hutto centennial parade.

And, last but definitely not least, Griffin lost his first tooth!

Fun at the Mayborn

More pictures from the Mayborn Museum in Waco:

Back to "school"

This was our first week getting back to work, and a busy week it was! 

Monday is our long day this year.  I decided that instead of driving somewhere every day, we'd schedule all of our in-town activities in one long day.  I'm not sure yet if it's going to be a good idea or not, especially since Monday night orchestra hasn't started.  I guess we'll see...and maybe rearrange things again next semester.

Anyway, on Mondays Avery takes a middle school writing class at a local college prep school for homeschoolers.  This was actually her second week of classes, and I think it's going to be a great fit.  The teacher is wonderful, and she gets to see lots of friends, new and old.  It's nice to see so many teenage homeschoolers in one place, especially since so many seem to go off to school as they get older.  She's been working hard already, and I think she'll learn a lot this year.

During her class, I took the boys to OT.  Rhys is close to graduating from OT, and I'm amazed at the progress he's made over the last year and a half.  He has met all of his goals and now has the most beautiful writing in our family!  This is huge, especially considering 18 months ago, they were considering giving him a dysgraphia diagnosis.

After OT and writing class, we finished our day with music classes: violin for Avery and piano for Avery and Rhys.  The kids are still loving their music classes, and I'm happy to drive all over town for their wonderful teachers.  Not much actual "work" gets done on Mondays, but they try to do a little while waiting for their siblings to do their lessons, and there's always reading and audiobooks in the car!

Tuesday was a total deviation from our plans.  I had planned for us to be home all day on Tuesday to have a quiet day and get lots of work done.  But we're dogsitting my dad's dog while he and Ronnie are in England, and she developed a bad hot spot and needed to go see her allergist.  Her doggie allergist could work us in, but only as a drop off -- and their office is on the other side of town.  So...we moved onto Plan B.

We dropped Annie off at the vet's office, then we headed over to Barton Springs for a dip in the pool.

Trying to get used to the frigid water!

After a swim and a nature walk, we went to Mamar's new apartment downtown.  We visited with her, ate some lunch, and did some schoolwork.  I think our motto this year is: Have schoolwork, will travel.


On Tuesday evening, we met our book club group at the sprinkler park for a fall kick off party.  We're all looking forward to book group this year.  Avery's group has gained some new kids, and they are reading some really fantastic books this year.  Rhys's book group is moving to the same time as Avery's, which really streamlines things for me.  His group has gained some new kids too, and I look forward to leading a bigger group through a great list of Newbery winners.


Wednesday, we actually spent at home!  The kids got down to work, and I got to catch up on the more exciting facets of life, like laundry.  On Wednesday evening, Bill took over for me while I went to teach a class about babies' brain development.  As I left, Bill was helping Griffin make an underwater volcano (at Griffin's request, of course), and I was glad to see that everything and everyone was still in one piece when I returned.



On Thursday, we went to Waco to visit the Mayborn museum with some other homeschoolers.  They had a very fun Egyptian exhibit, and as always, the hands on science exhibits upstairs were a hit.

Friday, Griffin and I did his schoolwork quickly first thing in the morning, then his good friend Marten came to pick him up for a playdate.  Marten has been in Colorado for the summer, so they were thrilled to be reunited again!

The bigger kids and I finished up their schoolwork for the week, then picked Griffin up, went for haircuts, and headed over to history co-op.  We've been learning about the Civil War, which has been very interesting for us all.  The kids did short presentations (Avery on Stonewall Jackson and Rhys on Johnny Clem), and then we built "hot air balloons" that were powered by a toaster!  (Both the Union and Confederate armies used hot air balloons for reconnaissance during the Civil War.)

 

The boys shot down the balloons, like the armies tried to do during when they saw an enemy balloon.

All in all, a very fun week.  I'm so grateful for every year that we get to continue homeschooling.  It takes some sacrifices, but it's soooooo worth it!