** 2nd post of the day**
Here is pics of Tyler’s rabbit. Her name is Blackie & she is a Holland Lop. She’s settling in right now, but is totally lovable & adorable!!
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| From 07-28 Blackie |
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| From 07-28 Blackie |
We survived!!! All 9 days of the fair!! We were there every day for something and had lots of fun so I’ll give you the quick version of the fair (and I’ll throw in some pics that either myself, Trent or Tyler took.)
Fri 7/17 – First day of the fair. Our main objective that evening was to find out how Tyler did on his projects. He, of course, did wonderful. He got a blue award (1st place group) on his model & his fishing club poster. And he got a Reserve Champion (which is 2nd place overall) on his rocket.
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
Sat 7/18 – We wandered around the whole fair. We saw all the animals, the birthing center where calves were born all week, and we went through the commercial buildings.
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
Sun 7/19 – Trent & I got up early & went to see the balloons take off. Then we came home to get Tyler to head back to the fair so that we could see the parade. It started raining almost at the start of the parade & we were so glad Tyler wasn’t in it this year for TKD. Those white uniforms were so muddy by the end of the parade and I know that there was red clay mixed in on the track, which is a real pain to get out (reminder of our days in TN.)
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
Mon 7/20 – Tyler & I wandered every day. Our usual haunts were the miniature horses, the rabbits or the draft horses, though we were through every building more than once. In the morning we watch the rabbit open show. This was also the cat show day so we watched my niece show her cat.
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
Tues 7/21 – This was our one short day at the fair since Tyler had a library program in the morning. In the afternoon we took my grandma to the fair so she could see the great-grandkids’ projects. After grandma left, we listened to the illustrated talks in the rabbit barn. In the evening we headed over to the horse arena and watched the show while listening to the grandstand music.
Wed 7/22 – We watched the rabbit show in the morning. In the afternoon we watched the llama show, which is really neat. I’m trying to talk Tyler into doing that next year, but we’ll see when the meetings are and how much it conflicts with other stuff. We also toured the exhibit building and took pics of projects that he might be interested in doing next year. So far Fishing Club, Rabbit Club (yep, we’re getting a rabbit, more on that later) and Rockets are on the definite list, but he has 13 projects currently on the maybe list. I also had building supervision for 2 hours – basically telling people not to touch the exhibits (seriously, why would you touch something anyways, but people obviously do.)
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
Thurs 7/23 – The main attraction for us was watching the small animal round robin and the goat costume show.
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
Fri 7/24 – We were out there early for the auctions, which I’ve never experienced that I can remember. Then in the afternoon was the rodeo. It was OK, but we’ve been to PBR events and those are much better. I had building supervision again so more of telling people not to touch.
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
Sat 7/25 – Last day of the fair. Rocket Launch for Tyler. It was really fun and Tyler’s rocket didn’t get damaged.
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
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| From 2009 4-H Fair |
So now you know where we’ve been.
Our big news is Tyler doing the Rabbit Club next year. So Sat afternoon we got a used cage & carrier. Then yesterday we got food, hay, pellet litter, treats and toys. Today we are going to a rabbit breeder to look at rabbits. But knowing Tyler we’ll be coming home with a rabbit. He first was looking at Netherland Dwarfs, but all week his was mostly petting Mini Rexs at the fair so that’s what he thinks he wants. There will be more updates on this as they happen.
I already shared the pics of what he brought home, but there was more to the camp than that. He did learn some things, but tells me that he already knew most of it. No surprise there since we spend so much time in nature & discussing these types of things. But there were a few surprises this year. The first surprise was that Tyler made a friend and not in the usual way of him making a friend which generally entails them playing next to one another or swinging on the swings at the same time and not really talking. This time he came home with not only a name, but details, details, details. They have similar interests and play with a lot of the same toys and like the same books. Like I said, details!! I was so happy for him! By the end of the week they were fast friends & I was told that I had to make sure that I exchanged contact info with the mom so that the boys could get together again, which I did manage to accomplish. The second surprise was how sneaky my son has become. On the first day 2 boys sat across from him & his new friend. I guess they (Tyler & his friend) didn’t want the boys to sit by them again the next day. Tyler says they weren’t very nice nor were they helpful when it came to doing things together as a table. So Tyler decided to save the seat across from him for his new friend because he knew the other 2 boys wanted to sit next to one another. It all worked out and those boys did sit somewhere else. But when did he get so sneaky about this stuff? The third, and final surprise, was that Tyler made some other friends during the week and they were all boys. He barely talked about the girls at all. Now that is a huge change because usually it is the girls he befriends first and doesn’t want anything to do with the boys because he generally feels they are too loud and rowdy. In other words, my little one is growing up.
Tyler completed his last 4-H project today (his fishing club poster.) Here are the pics so you can see all 3 of his projects:
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| 07-10 4-H projects complete |
We have to turn them in on Mon, then we won’t see them again until next Fri when the fair starts. I’m super proud of him and the effort that he has put into these projects. We’re celebrating tonight with sushi (and dessert, of course.)
Tues – Tyler had an art program at the library. This one went really well and I met a new mom. Here’s his creations:
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| 06-30 Art class @ Library |
He also started back to Leadership club in TKD now that Worlds is over. They spent almost the entire class on Leadership skills. Tyler had so much fun and I was really happy that we had a great transition back into that class.
Wed – Mostly filled with school and working on 4-H projects.
Thurs – Tyler had another art program at a difference library branch with one of his favorite librarians. This time it was on the computer. They started out learning about tessellations, which are shapes that fill an entire page and the shapes repeat and lock together like a jigsaw puzzle. Here’s what he created at the class:
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| From 07-02 Computer art class @ library |
Then he came home and made me put a shortcut to Paint on his desktop so that he could keep creating. He’s made some great ones. And I love that he came home wanting to create more. It doesn’t always happen. In the afternoon, he had an ice cream social at another library branch. He could have had a rootbeer float, but he only wanted ice cream.
This was also the 2nd Leadership class that Tyler attended since Worlds. I was a little nervous since they had already done so much Leadership stuff on Tues, but they spent the entire class on Leadership. They started out in groups of 3 taking turns teaching each other. Then they had to go in front of the whole class and teach. Tyler did a great job!!! It was his first time teaching a group that big. He talked loud enough for everyone hear and said the right things. I think he needs to work on praising more, but it really was a great beginning. Mr. Birky asked Tyler if he was nervous and Tyler told him “No.” But after class he told me he was a little bit, but that he didn’t want Mr. Birky to know. I told him Mr. Birky was probably nervous his first times doing the same thing. It’s hard for kids to realize that the person teaching them was where they are at one point in time. He came home in a great mood and was so excited to tell Trent all about class.
Fri – We went fishing on Diamond Lake in MI. I went along to take some pics for Tyler’s 4-H Fishing Club project and so we could all look at a house that we are thinking about renting for a month next year. Trent caught the first fish on his first or second cast. It was a really good sized redeye. Trent caught a couple bass, but none were keepers. Tyler & I caught nothing. So the redeye got put back in the end and we took home nothing. But we did have fun. Here’s some pics:
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| 07-03 Fishing @ Diamond Lake |
Sat – The weather wasn’t the best, so we headed out to Shipshewana to find a windchime for Trent & I to get each other for our 10th Anniversary. It’s coming up on Fri. Today (the 4th) was the 11th anniversary of Trent & I meeting each other. We met at a party in the afternoon at one of my co-worker’s (Trent’s former co-worker’s) and then we went on our first date to see fireworks and talked into the morning hours. We kept telling Tyler about it, but he didn’t really care. Here’s our new windchime:
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| From 07-05 10th Anniversary windchime |
We then stopped at my parent’s house (since they weren’t answering any of their phones) to ask them about where we could find some interesting wood for Trent to make into a display for all his medals for the 1/2 and full marathons. They were working on their fire pit area and Tyler just pitched in and helped them with a lot of work. Trent & I went to the Old Bag Factory to Swartzendruber’s to the scrap pile and found a really cool piece of cherry to use. We came back and Tyler was still working. So they took Tyler to get a treat and some patio blocks. Tyler came back with a light saber. He loves it. It goes everywhere with him and he is always playing with it. Then we headed out to dinner with them. It started raining during dinner and I was so happy because I thought it would cancel out the fireworks. No such luck since our neighbors just waited until it stopped and started setting them off around 11pm. Tyler & Hershey hate loud noises so it was a long night.
Sun – Tyler did lots of work on his 4-H projects. He has 1 done, another almost done and made lots of progress on the 3rd one. Trent put up new lights downstairs and we did a little rearranging. I did laundry and supervising. Then in the afternoon, we trimmed trees. Then Trent asked Tyler if he wanted to mow and Tyler said yes, so he mowed for the first time. It was so cute!!! I have these pics to share:
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| 07-05 Tyler 1st mowing lawn |
He did a great job and mowed almost the whole backyard. We thought he would only get to about 1/2 of it, so he surprised us. I weedwacked while Trent finished up the mowing. Tyler’s hand hurt from holding the self-propel down, so he put an ice pack on it for a little while. He got the hearing protection last weekend and I told him “The 80s called and they want their headphones back.” Trent & I laughed, but Tyler just thought we were weird. Then we took him to Flavor Freeze for a treat to reward him for doing such a great job with all his helping out and for his mowing. After, we headed over to my parent’s again to test out theories on using the leaf blower and torch over by their fire pit on things like pine needles and acorns. Tyler helped out again with the assembly of their wood holder for the fire wood.
We came home, got the bikes loaded and headed to OxBow park to go for a ride. This was Tyler’s first time on a path on his own bike with no training wheels. We’ve had him practicing in a parking lot. He did good with the hills, which he hates, and OK with staying on his own side of the path. We’re going to have to work on that some more. We rode for 3.25 miles. I can’t believe that Tyler still had the energy, but he did. We came home and Trent & I took the dog for a walk since he was getting left out. And then we collapsed and relaxed before bed.
I’ve been looking at curriculums for next school year. Tyler enters the middle school level of Soaring Mountains Academy next school year. I decided to set it up as Elementary K-5, Middle School 6-8, and High School 9-12. I know I could still design the curriculum, but I don’t know that I want to anymore. It is a lot of work. So I’ve been flipping through the Calvert catalog and I think that’s what I’m going to do for next school year. I’ll probably even get the Science kit and the Spanish enrichment. But that’s a while from now so I have a little time to think about it.
My friend, Tammy, has a great post about the UK homeschooling situation. Thanks Tammy!
