Two days before we left for NYC, one of my chickens went broody. That means her “mothering” switch turned on and she was determined to sit on eggs to hatch chicks. Since we do not have a rooster, this would be a futile exercise. However, one of our neighbors who was chicken-sitting for us DOES have a rooster and she generously swapped the eggs under Salt for 10 fertilized eggs from her hens. Three weeks later, we had little chicks! Out of 10 eggs, we had 7 hatch. Five became little balls of fluff! They are super adorable! We only named one immediately, since it was the easiest to tell apart — Pebble is the gray one. The kids love the chicks!
Kamy has been doing really good with thankfulness and gratitude. She remembers to thank others when she gets to do something special and she proactively remembers on her own. This is a long way from the same time last year when she flat-out refused to thank us for taking her to Breckenridge. She’s becoming more thoughtful and aware of how she affects other people. It’s been great!
Speaking of being thankful — I took the kids to Hurricane Harbor! Our Six Flags season tickets get us into HH as well, so we made a day trip into DFW to get wet. Garin and Jess met us there so I could have an extra set of hands for the kids. We all had fun! Kamy’s favorite ride was the Wahoo Racers, which is a tube slide with a stomach mat. They’re quick and a lot of fun!
Kamy and Caden had a play date with Ashlyn, Westin and Archer. I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning, so Lindsey Gregory offered to keep the kids in the morning. The kids had fun and behaved very well. The offer has been extended again, so that’s always a good sign!
We also took a short time frame, long distance road trip to catch the Solar Eclipse! We’re studying space in science, so the timing couldn’t have been better. We were generously offered a place to stay in Carbondale, Illinois, right in the middle of the totality. Unfortunately, the big, only cloud in the sky decided to pass over us for the last four minutes before totality and ALL of totality, but the sun (and moon) crept back around the cloud just as it ended. We did not get to see the corona, but we did experience the 360* sunset and dusk. I’m not sure the drive was worth it from that perspective, but come 2024 it’ll be right over our house here in Flint, so no travel necessary!
Now that summer is wrapping up, Kamy turned in her Half Price Books and Barnes & Noble summer reading logs. At Half Price Books, the kids ended up with $10 in credit they could use at the store. That’s always fun! Kamy picked out a Nancy Drew mystery and a couple of fairy books. Your money goes a lot farther there than at a regular book store! Barnes & Noble allows kids to choose a book from a list to take home, so she selected one called Fablehaven. She hasn’t started it yet, but it’s on her bookshelf in her room. Kamy’s accumulating quite a collection of books now!
As a special treat, Kamy has been using Keller’s old iphone for listening to music in her room. She’d mentioned wanting to get some speakers so she could listen to music without bothering us, so we obliged! Both kids love to spend time listening to all kinds of different music. Keller also set it up so the kids can call family with Facetime, with permission. Kamy LOVES this independence and will happily call everyone on her list until someone answers. If you don’t answer, don’t worry, she’ll call you again. And probably again. =)
Kamy is addicted to the music from Wicked! Keller bought the album after our NYC trip, so she has been listening to songs over and over. There were only a handful of days this month when she didn’t listen to at least one song from Wicked. At least we don’t have to hear them all, now that she can listen in her room! Phantom of the Opera has also been on repeat … and in costume!
Tied in with her passion for Wicked, Kamy is starting voice lessons! She loved the Broadway experience and thinks she wants to perform on Broadway in the future. She only did one class in August, but her teacher Mr. Clayson is very encouraging and she’s having fun so far. We’re going to take it month by month to see how long her interest holds up.
I bought the kids a huge bucket of perler beads this month. They both really like crafting projects at the moment, so it seemed like something they would enjoy. Kamy likes to make butterflies and hearts, while Caden follows the guide to make other critters. We’re encouraging them to make a bunch of perler bead creations and try to sell those for income, but thus far they aren’t interested. Fortunately, the bucket I bought had 22,000 beads in it, so they should be set for a while. Now if they were only sorted by color …
Clay has been popular too, so I bought a new round of clay for some variety. While it doesn’t end up all grey like Playdough, you can smash the colors together and end up with a muddled mess. Kamy’s goal is to create clay dragons like an artist we follow on Facebook. I see a resemblance, but Kamy’s skills are level 3 and Becca’s is level 10. =) We’re not there yet!
School is back into our daily routine. After taking most of July off, there was only a little resistance to starting back in. I started a new spelling program K12, for both kids that we are using to work on spelling, handwriting, and sentence structure. So far so good — the kids are doing the same material together. Everything I can do to simplify the number of moving pieces, the better!
In Kamy’s math, we’re working on weights and volume, as well as launching into division and dividing with a remainder. I have not required Kamy to memorize the multiplication tables, so she has a chart to help her find the answer. She’s pretty solid on the facts up to 5×5 already just from exposure, so I am confident the rest will come.
We also started the new Build Your Library curriculum — which combines literature and history, and it dabbles in poetry, art, and science. Second grade is focused on the Middle Ages and our first chapter book was The Trumpet of the Swan. Space and earth science are the science topics this time around, which the kids like learning about already. Both kids seem to really enjoy BYL, so it is a good fit for us.