School Year in Review

“I love sunrises and sunsets. But what I really love is the space I have in-between them to do something incredible.”

 Craig D. Lounsbrough

And what a magnificent year it was.

My favorite part of the school year was reading the Utah history book my husband's grandpa wrote. Not only did we read stories from the state's history, we went and visited it. In our travels, we visited Utah's Mighty Five, 4 out of the 8 national monuments, a couple state parks and other historical sites.

Bryce Canyon

Arches National Park

Capitol Reef

Canyonland-Island in the Sky

Zion National Park

In Zion National Park, the deer were grazing right along the trail.

We threw in a couple National Parks outside of Utah, too.

Yellowstone

Grand Tetons

National Monuments

Timpanogos Cave

Bears Ears National Monument

Natural Bridges National Monument

Other places

View from the Moki Dugway

Goosenecks State Park

Edge of the Cedars State Park

Cove Fort

Bluff Fort

We spent a lot of time exploring the State's Capital City.

Capitol Building

Clarks Planetarium

International Peace Gardens

Hogle Zoo

This is the Place Heritage Park

We went to This is the Place Heritage Park after our history lessons on people such as Father Escalante, Chief Washakie, the Donner Party, and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. This sculpture was a fun review of the history we had read.

We visited Thanksgiving Point and other museums around the state, too.

Museum of Curiosity

Curiosity Farms

Butterfly Biosphere

Tulip Festival

Ashton Gardens

BYU Museum of Paleontology

BYU Bean Museum

BYU Museum of Art

The Dinosaur Museum

For my animal loving son, we we had a strong focus on learning about animals and their habitats. We saw and interacted with as many animals as possible. We went to a reptile show at the Museum of Curiosity. We visited Sea Quest, Loveland Aquarium, Hogle Zoo, twice, and, his personal favorite, Scales and Tails located in Kearns.

Museum of Curiosity

SeaQuest

Loveland Aquarium

Penguin Encounter

Hogle Zoo
The snow leopard is K's favorite animal.

Scales and Tails

For many of the animal trips, we included the other kids as well. J loves cats, which we made a large part of our Hogle Zoo trips. The polar bear was also a major highlight.

They participated in other animal interactions, too.

T&T Farms' petting zoo.

In addition to our three pets the kids designated as "staff", A1 also had his own school of baby dragons to hatch and watch grow.

Baby Aqua Dragons

He also did piano lessons.

And spent a lot of time learning about coding and working a 3D printer.

He also learned about electrical circuits,
built hack packs, and crunch lab kits.

For my son who loves to build, his curriculum included a Crunch Labs subscription, Mel science Kits, Educational Legos, puzzles and more.

3D puzzle he built

Marble Maze runner he built

He loved putting together the human body, too,
For health, we learned about the human body systems
and how to care for our bodies.

He did basic coding, too.

Another thing he enjoyed was exploring with a handheld magnifier.

He also has autism and loved to do his math- we used Singapore Primary Mathematics- in his hammock. Another thing he loved to do was keep the calendar updated. 

He enjoyed forest school once a week for the second half of the year. 

One of his favorite activities was
making art by flicking a toothbrush.

We found he prefers daily structure over the fluid nature homeschool sometimes can be. We stopped traveling so much the second half of the school year to help with his routine. I love the ability to pivot whenever we find something is not benefitting a child- both in schedule and curriculum. It really is an education tailored to each child's individual needs and interests.

For example, at the request of the kids, we did a lot of art this year.

We also read a lot of books. The kids individually read books that interested them and we read books together aloud, such as the original Peter Pan and Wendy. While traveling, we listened to the audio books of Kid Normal 1-4 and Harry Potter and the Sorceress Stone. Here's a glimpse at other books we read.

My daughter, who loves to read, spent a lot of time doing just that. Her two favorite things are book and cats. Her favorite book is Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat that Changed the World. When we learned there was a small town library cat right here in Utah, we jumped at the chance to go meet him.

Cosmos the Library Cat

She wrote, too. Here are some of her poems:

The salty ocean breeze                                              Desert

whistles though the leaves                                         hot dry

as periwinkle blue waves crash                      changing moving hiding

on a stardust yellow beach                                sand storms swirling

pillow soft clouds float by                                        forbidden

on a cotton candy blue sky

the sea gulls soft cries fill the air

while dolphin's click near by

as I turn my gaze

I see crabs scuttling by

and turtles slowly making their way

to the aqua sea

as the sun starts to set 

and the world go's to sleep

I sit and watch 

the bright colors of the ocean

fade into the dark blue of night.

Another short story she wrote and illustrated

She used Mia Academy to learn world history, earth science, and language arts. Other things she did was a Mail Order Mystery, no sew blankets, and, with Grandma's help, learned to sew a pillow. We also had a semester unit on junior high health, just for her.

Perhaps the most fun for J this year was when she decided to declare her room independent from the rest of the house. I told her we would need to see a declaration of independence.  After that, she would need to establish a government. A flag and a motto were also encouraged. J named her room Felina. Her cat was elected president. (Although J serves as interpreter.) The official recognized animal is the cat, their motto is, "Meow". Which translates to, "We rule the world, you just don't know it." 

J also learned about  the importance of trade between countries when I pointed out that our part of the house supplied all the water, which she would need. Being astute, she quickly rebuttal that she, too, had a very valuable commodity we couldn't live without, sugar. (Which was being stored under her bed.) We called that a fair trade.

A1 wanted to join in the fun and he, too, wrote a declaration of independence. His flag was designed off of things he likes. There is a silver dragon with golden eyes and horns, 2 golden snakes with red eyes, and stripes that were supposed to be red and blue since it reminded him of the American flag. He named his room Eunectes, meaning Anaconda, and their motto is, "I'm bored." (Which he say he will probably change.)

For geography, in addition to learning about how governments are established (or changed), we learned a little about each continent. We used Google Earth to explore multiple countries. J made her own "passport" for our world travel. 

"Homeschooler! I don't need a passport! And I can bring my pets."

Along with "visiting" several countries, we made food from around the world using Eat to Explore kits.

Whether it was for geography, math, science, or just plain fun, we did a lot of cooking.

Homemade Ice-cream

Learning to make cinnamon rolls

K and J also participated in a geography fair.  K did his presentation on Egypt.

The cat let us know we forgot about
 the most sacred animal of ancient Egypt. 😉

K also made Egyptian Baklava

J did a game show type report. Where the questions were presented and you had to try to guess the answer. Where is the driest place on Earth? How many babies have been born in Antarctica? You can learn it all with these amazing facts.

Her cat also ate her homework helped with her project.

A2 participated where she wanted to throughout the year, too. 

She took apart her toy vacuum because she wanted to.
Puzzle loving K helped her put it back together.

Whether it was taking something apart, learning a new recipe, or going somewhere new, we tried to encourage a lot of exploring. A lot of growing their curiosity this year happened outdoors.

Not All Classrooms Have Four Walls

Exploring an island we kayaked to
for our lesson on geographical features.

Finding there way through a corn maze while
learning problems solving and leadership skills.

Navigating their way up the rocks enhanced
problem solving and critical thinking skills.

Exploring parks help them learn how to navigate a city
and increased their social skills.

They also...

Explored the woods

Discovered family history secrets

And learned about life beneath their feet.

A lot of scientific exploration happened, both in formal lessons and on their own.  This year they...

Learned about the Fibonacci sequence

Blew up marshmallows

Tracked a comet at a dark skies location

Grew crystals

Grew food

Tested what was magnetic

Tested what kitchen ingredients dissolve in water

Discovered dinosaur footprints (not in a museum)

Built a laser

Tested the weight of items

And became magicians

This year we had a lot of fun with a couple of themed weeks. Perhaps the kids' favorite was our School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Entire fun-filled week can be found here

It ended on Halloween night with a test to see who could use their new found magic skills to discover a way into the locked house. It was a great test of creativity and logic. Us and their candy bags all made it safely back inside. 😉

Their logic was also put to test with escape room games.

And their curiosity was fueled when they participated in the science fair a K's forest school. K wanted to learn all about elephant toothpaste.

J wanted to know how many helium balloons it would take to make an egg float.

And A1 was happy to do so more studying on animals he loves. He did an oral and written report on Pangolins.

Another themed week was Grandma School, where grandma taught the kids for a week. They learned about rock tumbling, chickens, and met a lot of new people they've never met before. 

Of course, while trying to keep it fun, we were sure to have math and language arts lessons as well. J completed prealgebra using Teaching Textbooks. A1 and K used Singapore Primary Mathematics. We did free writing, mad libs, and worked on penmanship using The Good and the Beautiful books. 

For the younger kids, we did Starfall and Spelling Training (Although this fell to the side mid-year). We had them write spelling words in fun ways, too, such as in sand, out of playdough, or using banana gram letters.  Sometimes, when they were done, they left other messages.

As summer approached we tried to continually learn, develop new skills, and stay active. We did summer swim lessons, had a lot of time in the pool practicing and J was on the community swim team. The boys did mountain biking with coach Dad.

We feel it's important to exercise both the body and the mind.  A quote I read sums up my feelings perfectly. 

"Movement is not a break from learning. It is the accelerator."

Whether it was math in a hammock swing or dancing to The Greatest Showman at the beginning our lessons, we tried to make movement an important part of learning. 

We were also grateful we had the freedom this year to get out and enjoy the benefits of outdoor play and learning.

It's more than a hike to a ruin,
it's a Native American history lesson

It more than hiking a new trail,
it's a scavenger hunt for native plants.

It not just pedaling a bike, it's boosting cognitive functions.
The coordination required in bike riding is so good for the brain.
Plus, it strengthens both fine and gross motor skills.

Archery or strengthening hand-eye coordination
and a math lesson on estimation
(How far it that target?)

Math? Art? Just plain fun?
Kids learn a lot from free play!

While still hitting the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, we tried to emphasize creativity and personal interest. After all, learning should be a thrilling adventure one is eager to pursue, not a chore of drudgery one must endure.

While our year wasn't perfect, I hope it was good enough to nurture the love of learning in our children.