Summer... Summer... Summertime....

As previously confessed here on this blog, we do NOT take a real summer break. In Mrs. Kastner's Klass we just keep plugging along almost ALL summer, occasionally taking a few weeks off in August. "Sooooooo," you might ask, "what do you DO all summer then?"

Math

1. Math: We finish our math curriculum. Some homeschoolers just get through as much of the book as they can in a school year. I (the QUINTESSENTIAL penny-pincher) prefer to work cover-to-cover, getting EVERY cent out of the curriculum I purchased. So we finish our math books. Often I allow them to take off on their own working at their own pace once summer comes. (Noah POUNDS it trying to finish because he knows that means more time to play Xbox once he finishes Math. Jeremiah just takes his time. Elijah has to be forcibly encouraged to do ANYTHING even Math which he is GREAT at.) Once they are done with their Math books that is one less school task they have to complete each day (until fall comes and bring a brand new book... hee hee hee!). 

Reading

2. Reading: We always have to keep on reading.  This year I started a summer reading program. I gave the older two boys a "Summer Reading List" filled with classic books I had recently stocked my library with (from the $1 section at Target!  OHHHHH do I get GREAT deals there!).  They both just finished Oliver Twist and are now independently taking on The Jungle Book (Noah) and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Jeremiah). I gave Elijah and Hannah blank lists to fill in a specified number of books they read this summer. I will admit that I had to offer a monetary reward (well actually it is Gamestop $$$ for the boys and Barbie $$$ for the princess), but for the FIRST time ever, I have caught BOTH of my older boys doing the Jami/Jodi (walking around the house while still reading a book). I welled up with a tear in my good eye!

Fun Fonix

3. Mechanics: This is what I call the bare bones things they need to keep up on in the summer. All my kids pretty much ROCK at math; therefore, this is typically something in the language arts family. (The irony of this fact is NOT lost on me.... the former Grammar Teacher with the English minor.... but my boys just do NOT enjoy reading, spelling, grammar, etc... *sigh*) This summer Noah and Jeremiah are pounding away at some spelling while Elijah and Hannah are doing some phonics work.


4. Bible: We never stop teaching the Word either. We are currently reviewing several passages of scripture we have memorized over the past few years while we take a walk through the Bible. In fact last week, I found a GREAT book for this purpose.... before we were just kinda doing it on our own... this book helped us get a framework to work from.

5. Martial Arts: John is still working to start his Christian Martial Arts ministry Rising Sons Martial Arts. He is using a form of Martial Arts called, Christjitsu. Our 4 kiddos and 1 neighbor kid are his cornerstones. They haven't done Christjitsu since before we went to Georgia as they train outdoors and the heat has been pretty dangerous lately, but typically they do Christjitsu 2x per week.


6. FUN STUFF: We keep on learning through fun stuff in the summer too. Our trip to Georgia to see my brother graduate from basic training was FILLED with learning adventures:  


*first airplane ride for Elijah & Hannah
*first terminal train and monorail ride for many 
*first getting separated in the airport and watching mommy BREAKDOWN in front of tons of people as well
*the graduation ceremony was CHOCK FULL of history and instruction

Tanisha & Dustin took the kids to the Zoo. 

We are also SOON planning trips to the museum and the domes now that mommy finally got her new driver's license (worst DMV photo EVER! I'd rather go to jail then show a cop my ID!)


So anyways.... before you start feeling too bad for those poor Kastner Kids who have to go to school ALL summer long, remember that a lot of what they do in the summer is FUN too (yesterday I read on FB: reading is like dreaming with your eyes open!) and don't forget that all year long the Kastner Kids get to go to school in their pajamas!

Stay cool everybody! 

Asphalt Project

There are SO many different reasons I love homeschooling, but one of them is FOR SURE this... I want my kids to learn to be LEARNERS. All of their life I want them to keep on learning. I love to turn everyday things into lessons because I want them to be the kind of people who see lessons EVERYWHERE.

Yesterday we got a new driveway!  If you want to read about it in proper order do it like this:

The Hill

A great day to wake up

Driveway

It was such an exciting experience for our family and on Friday morning I decided to turn it into a project... [we're still in the midst of that... final versions expected some time next week] Our project is CHOCK full of lessons, subjects, and experiences. By the time we are done, it will have included scientific hypotheses, creative writing, careful observation, photography, English, research, picture selection, caption writing and portfolio assembly. This project is the definition of AWESOME!  

We started around the kitchen table. We discussed our hypotheses of what we would see, hear, smell and touch during this project. [We discussed the fact that while taste is our fifth sense, we wouldn't really taste anything in this project.... yet STILL at the end of the day the kids BEGGED me to let them taste the driveway... NO! I didn't let them! I'm not THAT crazy!]

When we finished our conjectures we waited for the men. Every time a truck came down our road the kids RAN to the window. The excitement was so thick you could feel it. The kids wrote their blogs about what this driveway would mean for our family as they waited. 

When they arrived the kids ran outside clipboards in hand to begin checking off the items on their lists of things they would hear, see, smell and touch.

We took turns taking pictures of the event.

After at least a good hour of observation, we headed inside where we started writing out our observations. What we heard, smelled, and felt. We took time later in the day to go and FEEL the driveway, which ended with them barrel rolling down the driveway as the landlord arrived to check it out.

Today we are finishing up our writing, choosing pictures, sending them to be printed, and then starts the portfolio assembly. We plan to send one completed portfolio to our landlord so he can take part in the fun too!

And here's the best part.... the kids hardly realize that I snuck in grammar, science, creative writing, photography, and a myriad of other lessons! woohoo! That's what I call a homeschooling victory!