Our Week with Accidental Summer Learning

What is accidental summer learning?  Well, maybe unintentional might be a better word for it.  I like the relaxed atmosphere of summertime, when I'm not constantly structuring the kids' learning experiences.  But I do like to provide learning opportunities.  They just don't look like "school."

Family sent Sam an iPod touch as a graduation gift.  He was so excited.  I helped him get it set up, and it hasn't left his side since.

You can tell it's summertime because there's often someone playing on the Wii in the front room.

But it's not all vegging in front of screens.  This play money set was part of my sneaky plan to provide some summer learning.  When I opened it, I had Eli teach Katie the names of the coins.  Up till now, every coin is a "nickel" to her.

It was warm enough to have a water balloon fight.  Eli's been anxious to use these ever since he spied them in my sewing room a few months back.

They all came in soaked, but it was worth it listening to the happy shrieks out back.

Remember that money tray?  Jack counted every. single. piece. all on his own.  He'd come update me at the end of each denomination.  "Mom, we have 50 $1s!"  Altogether it's $4,000 something.  I'm pretty sure he has the exact amount in a notebook, since I saw him scratching out his calculations.  See what I mean about sneaky learning?  He also split it 3 ways and played games with Hannah and Katie with it.

This very blurry, distance shot was taken waiting for football practice to get out.  Now that Sam's graduated, Eli has joined the team.  And Brianna (seated) is one of the water girls.

I laughed when I saw this picture.  It looks like he's thinking, "Why am I in the school room?  It's summer."  He's actually watching a video.  We're working on an online art course, which I'll be telling you more about soon.

There's a happier face.  He asked if he could play with the puzzle blocks.  It's interesting to see all the educational things the kids do without realizing it.

We met up with friends at the park this week!  I brought a kite, and Jack got it up in the air.

See?

Sam and I stopped at the fabric store "for one thing" after his workout with the Marines one day.  Well, that was sort of like If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, because one thing led to another, and I ended up busting out the variegated wooly nylon to edge him a new blankie.

I may have been in the sewing room, but I don't feel like I can say, "I made Sam a blanket."  I just bought the fleece and used my serger to trim the edges off.

He seems happy enough with it.  Now he's waiting on me to make him a pillowcase from a Marines print cotton.

Friday, we went to Shriners to get the girls' legs adjusted.

 Hannah got 3/4" length added to her prosthetic, and Katie 1/4" and some adjustment to the foot position.

Brianna came with us because we pass by the Asian market on the way home, and she wanted to stop and get some treats.  The school only allows "natural hair colors" so she's taking advantage of summertime to have blue hair.  No decision yet whether she'll cut the blue off or dye over it come mid-August.

We had quite a wait while their prosthetics were being worked on, and the girls were playful.

When it got too crazy, we sat down to a nice game of Alphabet.  It was perfect, because Katie picked basic things, like Apple, Bat, Cat, while Hannah picked more complex things, like Walrus and Zebu.  Brianna did all animals, and I did all place names.  That made it a challenge to each of us, which is fun.

Hannah, checking out the buckets of turtles at the Asian market.  I haven't mentioned why they sell live turtles there.  I think she still thinks the fish and turtles are pets.

I've been working on our Family Tree, and I've made some interesting discoveries this week!  Immigrants from Ireland in one branch, and Quakers in another.

This coming week is VBS, which should be fun.  We're going to try to get to the pool, too.


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