don't call it a dream. call it a plan.

Sooo...we live in an RV now. I will back up in another post to explain how that came to be. For now, I will start at the beginning of our school year. It had been a rainy, mosquito-filled summer; we figured we might as well hit the books. The kids agree they would rather school year round, so that we can travel and take off when we want during the year. (Actually, they mostly agree to this, but occasionally one of these children - who shall remain nameless - likes to protest, "It's so unfair!!! My friends don't have to do schoolwork today!"

We began with a little Chicka Chicka Boom Boom breakfast in honor of C's KINDERGARTEN year. (My big kids are good sports.) This is the same thing we did when Sister started homeschooling in kindergarten.

7th grade, 11th grade, kindergarten, 5th grade

I thought about dressing them up nicely and doing the whole first day/chalkboard/grade thing, but this actually represents our current living situation and lifestyle so much better. Their "first day of school" fell on Kids' Activities Day at our RV park. (Art & P.E. I guess?!)

How's that for the first day of school?

This has been my 2 hours of solitude every week this summer. I love it, and the kids love it. They do crafts, play games, and swim with the other kids under the watchful eye of the kids' director and another helper. Instead of swimming, F likes to work on the community puzzle. He has helped complete 2 of the really big puzzles and is currently working on a 3rd.

We had tried these amazing dragon fruit smoothies at our favorite health food store, Nature's Food Patch a couple of days before. We loved the idea of dying coconut flakes to use as sprinkles (and coconut whipped topping on a smoothie - yum!). We used turmeric and a green smoothie powder (and baked them for a bit in the oven on a low temperature).

Ours didn't turn out quite as magnificent as the samples we tried - but almost as good. They fit our coconut/CCBB theme perfectly.

They drank them with their A, B, C fries for lunch.

books we read

I loved Mrs. McGee's Coconut! (It's always an extra bonus when a book with a cute idea also rhymes.)

our current read aloud

(my beloved tattered copy from growing up)

Some of the books Sis has read lately: Pie, Magic Treehouse Shadow of the Shark, Ramona's World, Ramona Quimby Age 8, Ramona and her Father, Magic Ballerina, Mermaid Tales (2 of them), Magic Treehouse Night of the New Magician, The Adventures of Sophie Mouse (books 2 and 3), Rosalie the Rapunzel Fairy, Barbie Sisters Mystery Club (books 1-3). Some of the these books that are below her reading level (like the Barbie books - and also Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, as well) - she reads them to her little brother, and he LOVES it. He really gets into it. He doesn't like to be cut off on a chapter book because he "wants to find out what happens." A few other books we read to C this week: Hurray for Today: All About Holidays, The Story of America's Birthday, and The Story of Martin Luther King Jr.

R is currently reading one of the Harry Potter books he had not previously read. I can't remember which one! He also just finished an abridged version of Moby Dick.

Some of C's kindergarten activities this week:

He can already say his A,B,C's and name all of the letters. He can write many of the letters by memory, but we are still working on that. So "Letter of the Day" activities are really just for fun and a review for him.

my first leftie

 This is something we bought at the homeschool convention we attended a few months ago in Greenville, South Carolina. It's the I Can Pound Activity Bench from Fundanoodle. It is a piece of foam that came with the pegs, hammer, and a large pack of pages - as many as he could probably possibly do this year - shapes, letters, numbers, etc.

 It is a fun toy/learning activity for him. This is going to be the challenge of living in an RV for me - especially while homeschooling. How do I find a good compromise between my love for books, for learning materials, for THINGS - and my desire to live for simply in a smaller space?! I don't know how that is going to play out, but I'm working on it - we'll see!

Hot Dots! The older kids have their versions of Hot Dots (currently science and vocabulary cards) they work on as a part of their supplemental daily work, as well.

Life in the RV has been a mix of fun, exciting, and frustrating, so far. It has become so normal for us, by now; I think we forgot what it felt like to live in a house! In fact, we are currently trying to sell our (3,300 sq. ft.) house, and it feels so strange to stand inside all of the space when we go over there, haha.