Pass The Torch

Kelly’s Excellent Summer Book List

Kelly — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:14:53 +0000

Summer seems to be the only season I take the time to read books for pleasure. I’m pretty selective about what I pick up, since I only have those few weeks to get my annual page count read, so I only read what’s tried and true - and highly recommended by people I respect. [...]

LOST Homeschool Lessons - Character Arc

Kelly — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:22:26 +0000

This is the second part of our LOST homeschool curriculum - an ongoing discussion about character development and arc (PART I - THEMES is here.) We’re keeping notes (a very large chart) on the main characters and how they develop and how our feelings change about them as we watch the series. NOTE: If you [...]

10 “Dos and Don’ts” Travel Tips - Kids in DC

Kelly — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:25:27 +0000

My sister-in-law is planning a trip to DC with her family this summer, and I shared some of the tips that worked for us when we visited last year. I thought you might enjoy my “Top 10″ list as well. 1. Do stay at the Hotel Harrington - it’s affordable, historic and close to everything. [...]

LOST Homeschool Lessons - Themes

Kelly — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:15:55 +0000

We’re doing some summer homeschooling (plan is here) and a large part of it centers around the analysis of the TV series, LOST. NOTE: If you watch the series, this will all make sense to you. If you don’t watch the series, I highly recommend it, but you have to watch it from [...]

Finding a Balance - Summer Youth Programs

Kelly — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:33:23 +0000

This month’s Positively Speaking column has been published, and I explore summer youth programming. Please click over to 5 Minutes for Mom to read some tips on ways your kids can benefit from summer programs, without running you ragged. You may also be interested in these recent posts on Pass the Torch: Our Summer Homeschool [...]

Books We’ll Use for Summer Homeschool

Kelly — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:04:44 +0000

Last week I introduced our plan for summer homeschooling. Here are some of the books we’ll use. Many are from Mindware. I’ll continue to add to this list as we find great materials! Analogy Challenges Level B Age 11-14 Analogy Challenges Level A - Grades 3-5 Connections: Activities for Deductive Thinking Total Sudoku Lateral Thinking Puzzlers Grid Perplexors [...]

Summer Homeschool Plan

Kelly — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:44:55 +0000

Our kids generally don’t participate in summer school, partly because we move to the cabin, and partly because it gives us an opportunity to revisit the stuff we loved most about our homeschool experiment. Although I’ll only expect a flexible few hours per week of sit down work, I think it will be enough [...]

Mesa Verde National Park

Kelly — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:11:55 +0000

On our way to Utah last month, we went through Southern Colorado to get to Mesa Verde National Park. The beauty of travel field trips is that you get to walk around and crawl into awesome spots that you’d otherwise only see in books. Mesa Verde is a perfect example of this. [...]

Lopping off Her Locks of Love

Kelly — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:16:00 +0000

My girl had her first major haircut a few weeks ago. At age 12! She cut off a foot and donated it to Locks of Love. Going… going… Gone! Her hair was so long that it’s still long after removing a foot, but it was a big step for her. She’d thought about it for a [...]

Zion Canyon Family Adventure, Part II

Kelly — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:11:12 +0000

Zion, Part One is here. Once we reached the Zion Canyon floor, we found a place to park (difficult, even on a Tuesday in early April) and took a shuttle bus which would carry us to several stops along the Virgin River, which cuts through the Canyon. While there are many beautiful hikes along the shuttle’s path, [...]