Great Wolf Lodge - May 2019

Going to the Great Wolf Lodge has become a tradition for us and the kids. We love it because we can all fit in one room, weather isn't an issue, and staying one night gives us two full days of fun at a water park. 

It's especially fun to see the little ones as they are becoming more independent in the water. Neither of them is afraid of diving right in and swimming around. They wear life vests, but dont really need them much any more because they're both getting stronger in their swimming. 

A new thing we got this time that I think will be a new tradition is the big bucket sundae. It's just big enough to satisfy this horde. It certainly doesn't last long! 

Already looking forward to our next trip!

A Sad End and a Living History Lesson

When we bought our house, one of the things we loved about it was the old dogwood tree right out the back door that bloomed big and beautiful every year.

Sadly, the last couple of years it has been slowly dying, with fewer and fewer limbs showing those beautiful blooms. And this year, it didn't bloom at all. It was finally dead.

However, out of the sadness came an opportunity. We have been studying Ancient Egypt all year and one of the things we learned about was the various tools they used to make life easier along the Nile. One of these is the shadoof, a tool used to raise water out of the flooded canals and into the fields to irrigate them.

Since the Dogwood had a nice split on it, we took the longest limb and made one for the kids to try out. Now, a real shadoof is much loonger and has a significanly bigger weight at the end, but this worked well enough for them to get the idea.

No question, we're going to miss our beloved Dogwood, but the kids got to experience a valuable history lesson we might not have otherwise had the opportunity to.

High Point Homeschool Band Spring Concert 2019

Olivia performed with the High Point Homeschool Band in their spring concert last night. It was great to see all the hard work she and the other students put into practicing both in a group and on their own come to fruition. They did a fantastic job!

Spring 2019 Recitals

These guys work so hard to improve at their piano and it shows!

Gabe didn't have the easiest term and has decided that he will not continue with piano lessons. He has asked to try playing the drums, which isn't exactly something we are cool with, so we are narrowing it down to playing the bells and snare drum in the High Point Homeschool Beginners Band. If he does well and works hard, we can see about going further with that...

In the meantime, we are very proud of him for sticking with piano for three years and thankful to Cathy Lamb for all her hard work and patience with him.

Olivia continues to excel at her piano studies. She going to attend UNCG's piano camp this summer, giving her a taste of college life a little early! She does so well and works so hard that we can't possibly complain about the results!

Lake Townsend Hike

We took advantage of a beautiful Friday afternoon to hike along Lake Townsend. 

 Olivia needed to do some orienteering for one of her AHG badges, so as we went along, she documented every turn we made, noting the number of steps and the direction we were facing after the turn. 

 A few weeks ago, we had some storms that knocked down some major trees. the root balls were just massive!

 We saw some evidence of the beavers that live along the lake somewhere.

 The littles loved the brides that we had to cross and wanted to pose on each and every one. 

 The downed trees that fell across the trail had been cleared, but the stumps and logs were still there. This gave us the opportunity for a little science lesson. We counted the rings on one tree and looked at the spacing between them. This tree was about 75 years old and we could clearly see years when the tree grew more than others.

 Like I said, there were a lot of trees down.

 We even found some little friends along the way. 

Spring Recitals

After another long term of practice and lessons, it was time for the spring piano recitals. One thing we've wanted is for the kids to each have at least two years of piano. It builds so many great things! Discipline, artistic talent, an appreciation for music of all kinds and possibly an open door to new instruments if they want to try something else. If, after two years, they decide they don't want to continue, that's fine, but they'll at least come out on the other end having tried and learned something new. 

Gabe worked so hard on his piece. He struggles with frustration when he can't seem to get things right and the spring recital is always harder. The kids have to memorize their pieces, which just adds that extra degree of difficulty to an already hard piece. He made it through and has said that he wants to continue through the summer and fall, so we'll see how things fare this winter.

Olivia continues to work on her music and Ms Lamb has really pushed her this year with difficult lessons and pieces. This one was 4 whole pages that Olivia had to memorize! So far, she's certainly our most musically inclined child and could go far if she wants to put in the effort.

We're so proud of both of them for the hard work they put in and for persevering through the tougher times when they don't feel like continuing. I think the end result shows that they both have some solid skill and talent that will serve them well in life!

AHG Spring Camping Trip 2018

One of the things the AHG Pioneers and Patriots did was go on an overnight backpacking trip to Stone Mountain (NC) State Park. This was a girls-only trip and they had to do a lot of the planning and execution of the necessities for the trip. 

They had to plan and map out hikes, carrying backpacks and equipment with them, using compasses and orienteering skills.

They had to plan and prepare meals.

And setup camp for the night.

They all worked very hard to make the trip a fun time and I think it's clear from the pictures below that it was a success!