August 29 - September 2

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston started reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin" for his Sword of Freedom class.  He's also been doing a math lesson each day as well as working on his karate lessons and preparing for his upcoming belt test.  

Preston and Marissa both attended kickoff for Polar Star this week.  Preston is the historian on the Youth Council this year and gets to take pictures (which he loves) and help put together the yearbook and a video at the end of the school year.  Preston dressed up as an old fashioned photographer for an introduction skit the Youth Council put on for the other scholars.  Both kids participated in a book discussion of "Tale of Despereaux," had fun team building activities, participated in a service project at Pine View, played at the lake, had a delicious dinner and dessert, listened to an inspiring speaker talk about "seeking truth," (the theme for this year), and finished off a long day at a glow party with dancing and glow-in-the-dark 9-square.  

MARISSA

Marissa started reading "Red Scarf Girl" to prepare for her Key of Liberty class.  She has also been completing one math lesson in CTC math or Elephant Math each day.  

Marissa also attended her first day of choir and theater this week.  She is excited to participate in the ensemble for "Lion King Jr" and learn fun Christmas songs for the choir concert in December.  

CALEB

Caleb has been working on phonics with reading cards to bridge a gap in reading before he moves up a level in his language arts curriculum.  He completes 3-5 cards (phonics concepts) as well as one reader each day.  He is also working on improving his fine motor skills with lots of handwriting practice.  It is a slow and tedious process, but he is making progress.  

His favorite subject is math and he LOVES all the apps that allow him to play while learning.  

August 15 - 26

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston has had a couple of really busy weeks getting back into a full school routine, plus keeping up with karate lessons and family adventures.  

He is rotating using CTC math and Elephant Learning Math as well as using a few MTH resources to review math facts so he can solve problems more quickly.  This week, he's been working on a placement test for elephant learning math and also completed several lessons in CTC math.  

Preston (and the whole family) finished a read aloud of "The Tale of Despereaux" for the book discussion Preston and Marissa will have at the Polar Star kickoff next week.  We all loved the book and had fun listening to it together! 

MARISSA

Marissa worked on a placement test for elephant math learning this week.  She's also been reviewing her handwriting and poetry in addition to working on some reading assignments that will be coming up in her Polar Star classes in a few weeks.  

She loves writing and one of her favorite things is listening to audiobooks while following along in the book and taking notes and highlighting things she loves.  

CALEB

Caleb took a placement test for elephant learning math as well (it took several days to finish).  He is doing really well in math.  He also decided to review some math facts using "Imagine Math Facts" and also "Prodigies Math."  Math comes more naturally to Caleb so he gets in a lot of extra practice playing games.  

Caleb's birthday falls in the middle of "Birthday Week."  Half of the family has birthdays in the middle to end of August (both parents and Caleb) so Caleb ends up with a week-long celebration most years.  This year, Caleb chose to celebrate his birthday playing at the Treehouse Museum with his sister.  He also had a Nerf war with friends over the weekend.  He had such a great time and was excited to get a pass to the Treehouse Museum to get to play this year.  He and Marissa were both selected for parts in the partici-play.  Caleb got to play the emperor in "The Emperor's New Clothes" and did a great job.  Marissa was one of the seamstresses that tricked the emperor.  She did a fantastic job playing the role of villain in the play.  

OTHER

BEAR LAKE

Our family had an end-of-summer family vacation at Bear Lake right before school started.  We got in lots of outdoor play time with cousins including days at the lake and a ropes' course.  

HIKING

During birthday week, we always get in a hike or two with the family.  This year, we hiked the Duel Creek South Trail in Centerville (with our puppy, who is now finished with training so she can join us on adventures).  The kids had a great time on the rope swing and playing and balancing on logs in the creek.  

May 9 - 13

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston has been working on two piano pieces for his piano recital.  Unfortunately, our trip to Moab overlapped with the piano recital so he performed for his teacher and she recorded it for our family.  

Preston has also been reading Ranger's Apprentice and is loving the series.  He just finished the second book in the series and can't wait to start the third.  

MARISSA

Marissa also played her recital piece.  It was adapted for her to be fully played with her right hand while her left hand healed from the break.  She played the first section alone and the second section was a duet with her teacher.  

Marissa has also been reading a series called "Zoe's Rescue Zoo."  She's loving them!  

CALEB

Caleb's been working on his piano pieces as well.  He has two songs that work on his fingers crossing over with both the right hand and the left hand.  He's doing such a great job! 

Caleb has been reading an easy reader series called "Golly and Bink," "Poppleton," "Henry and Mudge," and "Ting and Ling."  They have been a lot of fun for him to read! 

OTHER

MOAB

Our family had a great time in Moab this week!  We visited Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. We spent most of our time hiking, swimming, camping and reading lots of books!  

May 2 - 6

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston's biggest focus this week was on his Shakespeare Play.  They performed a version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with a Mexican theme.  He was Fernando and had the coolest costume ever.  He had three hour rehearsal Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, a full dress rehearsal on Thursday and performances Friday night, Saturday matinee and Saturday night.  So much work, but it was AMAZING!

MARISSA

Marissa has started a new type of schooling.  We have a puppy who is four months old named Indigo (Indie for short).  It was actually big brother's puppy, but he is too busy with work to have time for her so we are now going to be her owners.  We signed her up for puppy training classes.  Marissa goes with me to training every week and works with her daily.  She loves animals and wants to be either a nurse or a vet when she grows up, so having a new animal to teach and play with has been so much fun for her.  

Marissa has also been learning to sew.  She inherited a sewing machine table from her great great grandma and she has been learning on that.  It's so great to watch her create things she loves!

CALEB

Caleb and Marissa also got to help with the Shakespeare play this week.  We were in charge of concessions.  They helped me package popcorn bags, candy bags and rebrand water bottles.  They helped county inventory and add up money we made on sales each night.  It was really good practice for running a business (even though the proceeds went to the Shakespeare class for their performance next year).