Weekly Wrap- Up: The Week We Officially Started Back to School

This week I finally decided it was time to break out all our schoolbook and start trying to put a routine into place for the new school year.  I have to say that it went really well!  We did find a new math and English book for Alec who was really not enjoying the book we had picked we had picked out for this year but it was really cheap and easy to find a replacement so I can't complain.

Of course just because we started back to school does not mean that we didn't have lots of fun, field trips, and outings!

We were heading out letter boxing on Friday.  For some reason I thought we were meeting our group at 10 and not 9:30 but luckily they are an amazing group of ladies that waited the extra 20 minutes for us to show up.. so much for my plan to be a bit early!  We had a fabulous day and found two letterboxes; one in a local cemetery and one that was a good hour hike out in the woods.  I love finding new places to hike and the boys were quite motivated to find their stamps.  We stopped by the apple orchard on the way home and decided we were all too tired to pick so we just bought some apples and other assorted treats then headed home.

All that remains of the old homestead once located in this particular park 

We found it! 

A very interesting fungi we saw growing on the downed tree 

Saturday my boys and I were on our own. The boys helped me clean out the basement and clean off the patio; preparing for fall and winter.  We put away all our floats and water toys and cleared out room for the patio furniture.  The boys played outside most of the day and Evan was so exciting to pry open a milkweed plant pod and see all the seeds inside.  Him and Alec both spent quite a bit of time examining it and feeling how soft the seed fibers were.  Evan headed out to lunch with my mother in law and Alec went to pick apples with a friend.

Ian headed off to work with his father and grandfather on Sunday.  Alec and Evan stayed home and painted their last two picnic tables.  We spent lots of time watching hurricane Irma coverage; we have a trip planned to Tampa bay soon and we were quite concerned for many of our friends and family that have homes all across Florida.

Monday the boys worked on their schoolwork.  We added in spelling so the boys had spelling, Grammar, math, and reading.  We also read a chapter in What Were the Salem Witch Trials? for history.  We ran a quick science experiment on Bernoulli's principal.  After lunch we headed out to walk about a nearby town and learn about our Hometown Heroes.  There were  flags of the last surviving world war II and Korean war veterans.  We enjoyed reading the names and seeing which branch of the military they served in.  We finished our walk with some fresh homemade ice cream!

The ping pong ball is held in place by the force of the air; even if we turn the hair dyer slowly the ball remains in the stream

When we add a paper towel tube on top the force of the air sucks the ball through the tube and send it flying higher

The leaves are already starting to change so much!

Enjoying his cotton candy ice cream with hot fudge

The boys had karate Tuesday morning and Evan was thrilled to learn a new form.  All three boys finished up all their schoolwork before we left the house! They each had spelling, math, reading and cursive to complete.  Evan went shopping with his grandmother after karate and picked out a bunch of new Lego sets and some stuffed animals.  After visiting with their grandmother most of the afternoon Ian asked if we could go to the store so he could buy himself a few Lego sets.  The boys spent the rest of the evening putting together ALL the new sets and playing with Legos.  Ian got a new belt in the mail for his antique truck and spent some time fitting the new belt in place.

We had a pretty quiet day planned on Wednesday.  The boys did their schoolwork pretty quickly in the morning and then went to play with their Legos.  They each worked on math, reading, spelling, and English.  After lunch we headed to spend the afternoon visiting with my mom.  I needed some old school photos of myself for an upcoming blog post and we had a ball looking through all sorts of old photos.  We even saw pictures of my mom when she was in 8th grade and my father when he was in high school.  After we got back home Evan and I went for a nice long walk and to get the mail.  Along the way we spotted a baby snake sunning itself in the road; why do I always nearly step on them before seeing them?!

What! You don't read with a bear on your head?

We  planned to stay home on Thursday since we had a lot of prep to do for the weekend.  I ironed clothes and Alec made two different kinds of cupcakes; snickerdoodles and mint chocolate chip!  He even mixed up the frosting for them both so we can get them finished quickly this weekend. The boys did all their schoolwork pretty quickly this morning and all of them not only passed this week's spelling lesson but passed next week's lesson with flying colors as well so we'll skip spelling next week.  Today they each worked on writing, spelling, reading, and math.  We finished up the book on the Salem witch trials and we're hoping to plan a visit to Salem soon. Alec and Evan finished painting their picnic tables and Ian spent most of the day working with his Lego sets.