HomeSchooling

This year we officially started homeschooling Dude.  He would be in first grade this year, so we really needed too.  I was having a hard time staying organized to make sure they had work to do the next morning and when I did put a lot of work into it they didn't seem interested, which frustrated me because I worked so hard at it!

We found a great alternative and everybody seems very happy with the new set up.  They have been using these workbooks that we found at Barnes and Noble and they are helpful with subjects I'm not so great at, like language arts and writing.  Dude has a few books that he's going through but he does really well with it.  We even got some books for the girls so they could do something while he was doing school.  It also helps that they don't bug them that way too.  :)

Something that my sister told me about that really helps is that Barnes and Nobles gives educator cards to homeschoolers so we get a nice discount on all their school stuff!  its awesome!  I am really enjoying homeschooling, and I know that this is what is working best for Dude.  

Lucy keeps asking to go to school, and I think she will probably excel in a bigger class, so we will see where we are next year!

JVG

Volcano experiment

We have been doing science experiments with the kids since the summer time, but this one is a classic.  We got some clay so they could make the volcano with the village and then G did the experiment with them while I was at work.  They loved it!  :)












JVG

Last First Day of School

School has started and no surprise I am way behind on blogging!  G started his last first day of school!!  Whoo hoo!  He told me that the head of the department told him that he was going to be done this year :)  We are so excited for him and all the opportunities that it will bring, and I can't even imagine how excited he will be to be done with school!

Way to go honey!  You've got this!

JVG

On Campus Adventures

G has been on campus a bit more this summer semester so that means that the kids have been too!  They love exploring the different places around and their favorite seems to be the little fountain by his building and the sand elevation simulator in the geology department.  We've gotten a few snacks and enjoyed them outside (tried cheese curds for the first time!) and we even scored some free pizza! I like that the kids can enjoy things like being around academic surroundings and can entertain themselves outdoors.















JVG

Kalamazoo Museum!

Gaetan's advisor asked him if he could drop him at an appointment the next morning and pick him up since he had to get a procedure done that the Dr's didn't want him driving himself afterwards.  We had made plans to see Amy and Brian one more time for lunch before their flight in GR so while G ran that errand for his advisor I took the kids to the museum downtown.  We had been down there before when Dude was smaller but their children's museum worker made the visit less than desirable.  We had given it a few chances but every time we went she would just follow us around and clean up everything right after we were done.  He had made this block thing to show me and when we came it was already cleaned up.  He was pretty disappointed... :(  But, now that the kids are older and we were going to be in that part of town anyway we thought we'd give it another go!














The kids LOVED it.  They actually had a lot more fun with the actual museum than the children's museum part.  They loved exploring all the different exhibits and trying everything out.  They learned what an old school phone looked like and how it worked, even with the operator!  It was a really good time and it wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be.  The museum is free and it's downtown so sometimes it's really busy, but today wasn't too bad.























Per usual the kids favorite part was the science part, where we did experiments.  I felt pretty good about this part because since moving we have been not doing a lot of school stuff... and they absolutely loved it!  Good to know for when the weather gets crappy out :) :)

JVG

Columbus Day 2

There were a few things that we researched to do while we were there and depending on the day and how everybody was feeling we decided what to do which day.  This day when G got back from his talks and stuff we tried out their conservatory.  We had visited a place like this in Chicago, and the kids loved it, so we thought we'd try this one.  It was pretty cool!  It turned out to be a pretty hot day but all in all I think they enjoyed it.























































































The exhibit they liked the most was the butterfly room.  Just like Frederik Meijer Gardens they have a room full of butterflies that just fly around.  These particular kinds were not native to the area so they were all new to the kids.  My favorite was this brilliantly bright blue one on top of the wings but when it sat with its wings closed up it was a dull brown color, and it blended in quite well.  Dude loved chasing them around and seeing all the different colors.
































































The day ended up being a little too hot so after we saw all the grounds we went back to the hotel and swam some more.  I think the kids would've honestly been happy enough to stay in the hotel and just swim the entire time!  It was amazing though, because we were in the water so much Lucy became more of a confident swimmer and can now swim without any flotation devices!  :)  Norah became more comfortable with her puddle jumper and can get around the pool by herself now, which was adorable to see.









I think that afternoon G had to go back to the conference and I was going to take the kids to this ice cream place that had a playground inside, but they misbehaved so badly that we ended up having to stay at the hotel, which was much more difficult and way less fun.  :( They had a little down time in the hotel room and watched some Sesame Street which they LOVED.  We had tried them on it before but they didn't seem too keen, but they thought it was hilarious this time.  We haven't had TV in such a long time it was a bit of a shock to see commercials.  The kids didn't understand why their show was being interrupted but they got over it rather quickly.






After G got back from the conference we had some dinner and swam some more.  Onto day 3!

JVG