Study of Flight

We began our school year studying inventors.  Nicolas did a lapbook on inventors - Braille, Wright, da Vinci, Ford, Edison, etc. while Alex was preparing his oral presentation on Benjamin Franklin for our first co-op.

For our first co-op, we read The Glorious Flight, the story of Louis Bleriot, the pilot who flew his plane across the English Channel. 

Then, the 5th graders split to do their inventor presentations.  We have 4 5th graders this year, so we heard presentations on Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford and Alexander Graham Bell.

The younger kids built their own planes and flew them to see which one went the furthest and which one was in the air the longest.

After our co-op meeting, we met a pilot at a local airport.  He talked to us about his plane and showed us maps that pilots use when flying.

Summer Fun

For the closing of Scout Day Camp, we spent the day at the Splash House.  First they gave out the awards.  They kept track during the entire week who got the most bullseyes in slingshots, archery and BB guns.  At the end of the week, they gave out handmade awards to recognize those that did well.  There were about 40-50 kids at camp.   Alex got first place in slingshots.

Nicolas got third place in BB guns.

Then we went swimming.  Ryan met us there at lunch time and spent the afternoon with us.

Ryan is the adult on the left, our pastor is the one on the right.  This is the bucket dump and they are being dumped on!  The water was not all that warm that day, either.

Over the weekend, we went north to Lake Dewart to celebrate my brother-in-law's fortieth birthday.  Even though it was chilly and rainy, Alex tried tubing (with his uncle.)  He loved it.

A new pet

Last week, we found a dog in our yard - either a stray, or more likely, a drop off.  He's a very good dog.  Not sure what kind he is or how old he is.  We think he was an indoor dog.  We have decided to keep him, however, he is now an outdoor dog.  The boys love him, and, in my opinion, for a dog, he's pretty good.  He loves to fetch tennis balls or play catch.   The boys have named him Buddy.

 

Camps, camps and more camps

The month of July started out with Nicolas at Scout Camp and Alex and Junior Bible Camp during the same week.  The next week, Alex went to scout camp.  Here are pictures:

And now this week, the boys are at Cub Scout Day camp.  I had to help out there yesterday, but the rest of this week, I am by myself yet again.  Friday is Splash House day (the local waterpark.)  While I was there yesterday, I took just a few pictures.

On top of day camp, this week is our church family camp.  We are trying to get over to Fairmount every night for camp meeting.  The boys did okay yesterday, but I think as the week moves along, the getting up early and being active outside all day is going to get to them and we may have to miss some services.

Alex at church camp

Junior Bible Camp at Fairmount Campground

This is Alex's second year attending, and he enjoys it.  He was in a 6 person room this year, including his cousin (which was his first year.)  The theme was Alien Kids and Rod and Wanda Snow were the speakers.  Rod is a skilled chalk artist and drew a picture after each lesson for the week.  I got to watch him create his last masterpiece of the week and took a few pictures.  Alex took a disposable camera, so I may be able to scan more pictures in later, but these are the ones I took today when I picked him up.

Look what we've been doing....

Some home improvement projects we have been working on:

The old well house - it was functional, but last winter we had some problems with water freezing.  It was hard to work on, so we decided this year to tear it out and build something more functional.

This is every boys' dream - young and old.   And we ended up with this:

The well is in the back right corner now and will be well protected and insulated.  Now we have room for other storage (bikes, kids' toys, etc).

My father - in - law took out the bushes from the front and side of the house.  We're not sure what we'll do with this area yet, but it looks so much better without the bushes.

(You can see the old bushes in the background of the shed picture.)

And an ongoing project - cleaning and organizing the barn.  Still some work to be done, but now you can see much of the floor and can walk all the way through it.

After all the work is done, I sat down today to do some painting (something I have been wanting to do for a while now.)  Here are the results:

Tomorrow - organizing the school room and getting it ready for the start of school next month.

 

Nicolas cub scout camp

Nicolas spent the last couple of days with Daddy at Cub Scout camp.  He had a lot of fun, but is tired tonight.  He got to shoot his first BB gun, shot a bow and arrow and got 2 bullseyes, and made a stool in woodworking.