Our Summer Bucket List 2013

Summer really is a magical time of year.  It is simply the best. Even better than Christmas, in my opinion.  Especially when you consider there won't be any of that white fluffy stuff flying the whole season. Well... in this northern town, one can surely hope not, that is.

Last year was the first summer in our new town.  We no longer had the lake right down the road to spend our days at.  We had no friends to hang out with all day.  We'd had a rough, lonely school year with lots of emotions surging through our home.  I was very afraid we would have a miserable summer.  So I determined not to. We made a list of all the things we'd love to do and began planning them out, putting events on our calendar and setting the wheels in motion. It ended up being a truly wonderful, satisfying summer for all of us.

So this year we are doing the same thing.  As a family, we made a list of what we'd love to do in these few short months of sunshine, warmth, and no school.  Here's a sampling:

1. Lunch at the Japanese Steakhouse
2. Camp out at our friends' house on the coast
3. Mini golf
4. Make homemade ice cream
5. Camping trips with smores, hot dogs, and a fire
6. Picnic at the park
7. Picnics on the boat
8. Stay at Nanny's and swim at our "old" beach
9. Campfires at home
10. Yard sales
11. Go to Bar Harbor
12. Ice cream social
13. BBQs with friends
14. Go to the movies to see Monsters University and Despicable Me 2
15. Trips to the beach
16. Camping trips
17. Hike Blueberry Ledges
18. Read aloud several good books
19. Go to camp
20. Go out for ice cream

As I write, the kiddos are enjoying their first afternoon running through the sprinkler and filling up squirt guns.  A warm, gentle breeze is blowing the scent of lilacs toward the back deck, where I sit soaking it up.  Summer is no longer a far away dream.  It's here.  And we plan to savor every little bit.

I hope you create your own bucket list for this summer!  For help and ideas, visit The Happy Family Movement blog.

Enjoy the life you've been given and the place where you're livin'!

Australia and Antarctica- Weeks 31-34

I can hardly believe this.  We have completed Exploring Countries and Cultures from My Father's World!  Okay, so that doesn't mean school is out. We've got to hold to the letter of the law and make sure we've put in our 175 days of school (which means we have another week left!).  But our curriculum... DONE!

The final two places we visited this year were Australia and Antarctica.  Above, the kids made a mural of a coral reef, the ecosystem we focused on while studying Australia.  Petite added all the faces to the fish and other underwater animals.  Plus she added some of her version of Minnie Mouse, scuba diving I assume.

I found this box of Ferraro chocolates in the shapes of sea shells and seahorses a while ago and saved them as a special treat for this unit.

For the first four months of the year, we've been saving change and other extra money for a Bible Translation project through God's Word for the Nations.  We learned so much this year about how special a Bible is to people all over the world, who have never had one in their heart language.

We saved $100 (plus a little more change that didn't fit in a roll yet).  Yeah!  We decided to give it to Rancho Sordo Mudo, a home for deaf children in Mexico, and for work to be done translating the Mexican language into a Mexican sign language.

We restained our seven-year-old swingset to help it last longer....

And Mister celebrated quite a milestone birthday- #10!  Nana made him this very special cake, per his request, of Moosehead Lake.

I am hardly a cake decorator, but at home we had a  party with a homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream cake.  Delicious!

He got a much needed new bicycle!

Petite declares she is a princess and we don't really bother to dress her anymore because she always ends up putting on a fancy dress anyway.

Brown-Eyed- Girl cracks me up with her photo bombs.  Here she is wearing Petite's Minnie Mouse bow and glasses, hamming it up.  But when she really gives you that look, whoa, you feel it.

And our final country, Antarctica, was celebrated eating penguin shaped crackers and reading Mr. Popper's Penguins, a book everyone loved.  We also read The Twenty-One Balloons.

So that is that, we are bidding farewell to our first year with My Father's World.  I have nothing but good things to say about it.  And I hope to say more when I wrap up our school year officially next week.  For now, hope you enjoy this quick update on our past month.  Home education is really, truly... amazing!