Pixie Graduates from BYUI!

 She did it!  She graduated!

And because of that, we took a trip to Idaho (and then Utah).

We headed out 2 weeks ago on Monday afternoon.

(Don't worry, this will not be a travelogue!)

Our trip purposes were twofold:

1.  Attend Pixie's graduation.

2.  Visit with extended family, especially Sir Walter Scott's mom, who is declining rapidly.

Along the way, though, an awful lot happened that we can count as education!

Geography

The kids were pretty intensely involved in mapping the routes we took to our various destinations.  

*They counted hours and miles.  

*They watched the landscape change.  

*They asked questions about the landscapes we passed through.  

*They observed climate changes.  

*They interacted with new environments:  i.e. cold lakes and rivers!

We hit this Idaho river when we were between housing.  Had we thought clearly, we could have rented tubes and floated the river, but we didn't, so the kids just ran a way up the beach and floated their bodies down to where we were "camped" for the afternoon. 

Pixie arranged for us to rent an extra large paddleboard for the afternoon.  This experience that I have pictured in "Geography" definitely also applies to PE because the kids spent hours learning how to balance and paddle around the (very chilly on a 90° day) lake.

They also enjoyed the thrill of a different culture when Pixie told them it was perfectly legal for her to haul them around town in the back of her pickup truck!

One of my favorite geographical conversations was repeated several times as the kids debated hills versus mountains as we passed through and then observed the Rocky Mountains and the Wasatch Mountains.

The kids also enjoyed counting the number of LDS temples and church buildings they saw as we drove between Idaho and Utah--a definite cultural experience!

P.E.

See above for their paddleboarding experience.

There was also time swimming, learning to putt a golf ball (Brother managed to drive the ball into the neighbor's yard before he learned the niceties of putting), jumping on a trampoline, learning first-hand the effects of too little sleep (we also discussed the effects and the benefits of appropriate rest so that it was a lesson), and swinging on a super-long rope swing.

Literature

We finished listening to The Interrupted Tale on audiobook.

We started listening to Wonder on audiobook.

Mister Man re-read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Math

Other than the drivers of vehicles calculating gas mileage, I think we all took a break from math.  If there were real-life math experiences the kids had, I am unaware of any that can count as learning.

History

We talked a little bit of pioneers making the trek across the plains and mountains to settle what must have felt like an alien world.

We talked a lot of family history--sharing stories of grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  We even had a special interview with Grammie, learning about some of her experiences as a youth.

4 generations
(but not a complete 4 generations!)

We got to have brunch with my sister and her family (the other family time was with Sir Walter Scott's side of the family) one day, and the kids got to listen to a little bit of my family history as well as form bonds with some older cousins and their children.

Science

Welp!  We learned about insect stings when Beowulf was stung between the bridge of his nose and his eye one evening!

When he woke up the next morning

Later that same day!

We did a little research on our own, and we called a doctor.  We learned that it can take a full week for reactions like this to settle.

And that's exactly what Beowulf experienced--a full week before his eye returned to normal!

The kids observed geological differences between home and away.

I observed differences in animal life and spent time with Pixie's friend trying to identify a certain wildflower (no success).

Baymax was especially curious about patterns of live and dead trees on the mountainsides, and we learned it was due to a mix of wildfires and controlled burnings.

We explored a garden on the BYUI campus that wound in various directions with a different type of planting around every corner--from cottage garden to water garden to vegetable garden to Mediterranean garden to Japanese garden to . . . gardens none of us could identify.

The Arts

We toured the art building on campus that had student exhibits on every wall.  We looked at paintings, sculptures, graphic art, photographs, sketches, and digital art.  We talked about what we liked/disliked and why.

At Pixie's graduation, there were three performances:

1.  A graphic art presentation

2.  A clarinet solo

3.  A dramatic reading

(The dance department was not represented that day because the two elements of The Department of Theater and Dance have to alternate turns to exhibit.)

At some point in the past two weeks, Nature Angel worked on this sketch:

Back at home, the plan was to settle back into regular routines, but my mom had a heart attack the same day we returned (she's home and doing well), so with me driving a couple of hours back and forth between home and the hospital for a few days, our daily routines had to wait.

In addition, we had changes to our ward boundaries (church congregation assignments) that have us all grieving losses and feeling anxious about new experiences.  This led to several evening activities for farewells and meet-and-greets that kept evening routines at bay.

In the past 14 days, we had one quiet evening that included dinner, showers, and bedtime reading.

Which means we read exactly one chapter of Super, and the kids are ready for me to read some more!

As always, we rotated chores at the beginning of August.

As always, some kids are happy, some kids are mad.

But all of them are continuing to work on homemaking skills.

Nature Angel and I are cutting music and working on choreography for American Rhythm--which stars on August 8th!!!

I'm making progress in homeschool plans and preparations.  Books and supplies are arriving, and I've decided that our official first day of school will be August 20th.  That's The Munchkin's first day of kindergarten, and I decided that we'd wait until he starts, so that we can both enjoy his company for as long as it lasts and establish our school schedule with only the people who will be present for the year.

I guess that means we're looking at about 2 more weeks of summer . . .