The First Day of Summer

My plans for the week.

This summer, my goal is to keep the kids busy.  I also want them to go back to school smarter than they left.  Claire is already reading on a first grade level, but I want to get her to chapter books before the end of summer.  My goal for Paul is to get him to read simple sight words like "and," "the," and words like that.
Other goals include learning the names of all the planets, learning to add and subtract (Claire), learning to count to 100 (Paul), and learning all the state names.  Yes, I know that some of these are high goals, but I'm trying to shoot for the moon and no matter what, they will be learning.
Last night I got ready for this morning.  We have swim lessons at 11 a.m., so from 8 to 10:30 a.m., I planned on teaching.

Here are the kids reading words, math facts, and journal prompt for the day.  Yes, Paul is still three and I'm making him write in a journal.  Mostly he drew, which is just fine.

Claire was excited to get to work.  She didn't even want to put on regular clothes, but got to work in her pajamas.


It was the first day of swim lessons at the Benbrook YMCA.  Claire was in a beginning swim class, but she and her classmates did so well that the teacher advanced the entire class.  Now she's in a "Can Swim" class.

Paul was more apprehensive than we anticipated, but Mr. Marco got him going pretty well by the end of the swim lesson.  We love that both kids are in extremely small classes.  Paul's class has five kids and Claire's has three.

This afternoon we visited the Wedgwood Branch of the Fort Worth Public Library to see Lucas Miller present Science Rocks!  This guy is hilarious, and if you get a chance to see him, do it.  He sang songs about animals and other zoological issues.  He even rapped and wore different costumes.  Claire and Paul were picked from the audience to be backup dancers.

Now that we're back home, it's 5:20 p.m. and we're winding down for the day.  The kids are excited to read their newly checked out books and I'm about to make dinner.  Tomorrow will be another day full of excitement.

What I've learned recently

It is said that you learn something new everyday.  Usually, that's true for me.  Here are some things I have learned in the past few days.

1.  South Sudan is now its own country.
Since Sudan won its independence from Britain more than 50 years ago, there's been strife between the North and South, revolving around religious beliefs and natural resources.  There has been lots of bloodshed and tragedies amidst several peace declarations.  Finally the northern and southern parts of the country have officially separated, hopefully, leading to peace.

2.  Burnett Park has an awesome spiderweb climby thing.
Recently we were downtown and noticed this park.  Since the kids are into Parkour and Ninja Warrior, they especially liked the spider web you can climb in the middle of downtown.  We have now made two special trips to this park and then rode the free trolley around as well.  I don't think the trolley goes to the park, but if it's not too hot, you can walk to the nearest stop.

3.  You can buy individual serving packages of blueberries at Costco. 
Each pack contains only delicious blueberries, and for on the go in the heat, it's perfect.

4.  Kids' agendas are not the same as adults.
I took the kids to the zoo last week and asked them what they wanted to see.  Claire requested elephants and Paul requested a train ride.  From where we were standing, we started with the elephants.  I thought that would lead us through a trip through the entire zoo and then a ride back on the train.  Nope, just the elephants was all that was needed for Claire.  So we saw the elephants and then walked over to the train and then played at the indoor zoo playground in Texas Wild.  Both kids were completely satisfied and not concerned that we skipped the lions, tigers, bears, and nearly every other animal at the zoo.  I was dreading all that hiking in the heat, and we didn't even do it.  I often forget that their standards and agendas are different than mine.  They think outside of the box much easier than I do.

5.  The Wal-Mart greeters have free cookie stickers.
Yep, that cute senior citizen at the front door of Wal-Mart is holding out on you if they are not giving your kids the little blue stickers that say "free cookie."  If they don't offer, ask. 

6.  Buy school uniforms now.
When we registered Claire for school two weeks ago, the secretary said, "I'm going to give you some advice."  I was expecting something educational about how to prepare my daughter for kindergarten.  I nearly told her I knew it all because I was a teacher just a few years ago.  Thank goodness I kept my trap shut and listened because she told me not to wait to buy uniforms.  She said that if you don't buy them as soon as you see them, they sell out and are not restocked due to season changes.  The other day we grabbed some skirts at Wal-Mart and debated buying more.  When we went back to the rack five minutes later, they were gone.  Apparently if parents wait until the tax-free weekend in August, they're out of luck.