weekly summary, early summer vacation

The Map Man had the week off from work, and we had a family vacation, of sorts. We didn't actually GO anywhere more than hour's drive, but we still packed the week with fun things. Like the Rock Cats game we attended on Tuesday evening. And a nice walk at Amelia Garden in Westfield, MA on Wednesday (where we saw this really cool statue of 3 kids examining a plant). And doing a lot of catch-up laundry from camp....oh, wait, that wasn't fun!

For the 2nd half of the week, The Map Man and the boys were on their own as I was attending herding clinics. They spent quite a bit of time in the woods -- the weather was pretty hot this week, and the woods were a cooler option. They explored a couple of local hiking spots. (This is Zoo Boy heading down the trail.)

They also spent an afternoon Letterboxing at Crandall Park in Tolland, CT. They found 3 boxes, did a bunch of hiking, and played on the playground for awhile.






On Friday afternoon the kids had a class about Animal Dads, where they learned all about those Dads in the animal kingdom who play a role in raising their kids. They also made a really clever Fathers Day Card, which they of course presented to The Map Man on Sunday. This was their last museum class until the fall, we're taking the summer off from classes, although I'm sure we'll probably go for some visits on rainy days.

Father's Day morning, the kids present The Map Man with his cards and gifts. We spent the afternoon/evening at my sister's family's house laughing and eating (and eating, and eating....). It was a nice end to a great vacation week.

Some of the schools around here are already out on summer break. My sister's kids only have one more week. We've got 2 more weeks in our Spring Semester (would have been done by now if it wasn't for the week at camp and the vacation week). Plans are to do a "light" 4 week summer semester in July, in which I'll start to introduce some 1st grade components for J, and then start the 1st Grade Enki Education curriculum with him in August, while keeping other activities at a lower level that month to make the transition to 1st Grade a little smoother (rather than just hitting him with the full schedule in September). I'll of course be blogging details as we go along! I have no doubt he's going to flourish with the 1st Grade materials, and I'm excited about starting more academic work with him!