So I guess its been a while.   Getting a new computer, Summer, and working too much are my excuse.

So, what have we been doing?

We participated in a homeschool forum about different countries…

Jordan and Alex chose to do South Korea, their birth country.   Aubrey chose Germany (and did a powerpoint presentation rather than the standard display board).  Everyone made food.   Jordan and Alex helped make their favorite—jahb chae and Aubrey made apple strudel.   We learned a lot and ate a lot of great food.

We read some good books.

Alex, my reluctant reader, is taking a stab at the Percy Jackson series.  He normally does audio books, but it was taking so long on hold from the library that he gave up.    Jordan is into the Fairy Realm series right now and has made it a goal to read every single one of Beatrix Potter’s stories.

We’ve fostered some more puppies…

This week we did a “free in the city” trip and went to the Hallmark visitor’s center and their art activity center Kaleidoscope and visited a traveling exhibit called Moneyville where they got to make their own money, see lots of shredded bills, learn about counterfeiting, ancient money systems, how interest works…..

We even went swimming.  Once.   Really.  Just once.

We’re working on a little math.  Jordan and Alex are doing the CM business math curriculum and are opening a pet store.  While I know real life is always best, this curriculum is a hit.

And, we’re gearing up for a new school year.  Aubrey starts at the community college next week (just one class).  Gulp, just realizing as I type this that it is NEXT WEEK!

We’re planning a budget trip to Chicago.   Everyone is helping to plan where we go.  We’re getting there by train and trying to hit the museum free days and we’re all excited to get outta town for a few days.    We hope to learn a lot about public transportation (we’ll be getting bus/el. train passes to get around so it should be a completely carless week.   Alex is beside himself that we’re working in a trip to the new Legoland.   Jordan is all about the shopping (we are hoping to hit American Girl Place) and Aubrey is excited about the aquarium.

We had  Mid-Summer yucks that we have suddenly rebounded from.  Everyone was grumpy, bickering and totally trying to addict themselves to media and pushing the limits I imposed.  I basically went on strike from taking them anywhere.   I think having some down time helped everyone recharge and we had a wonderful day in the “city” this week and Jordan and Alex have been playing non-stop like best chums for the past couple of days.   We’re planning a few more fun things before our trip to Chicago and the start of school.