Some other highlights of the month included: a Valentine’s Day sleepover, performing a Yoruba naming ceremony, baking bread, a new swim club for Alexa, attending a DuSable Museum of African American History dance performance, dim sum in Chinatown, and three birthday parties.

Books – Together

The Island of Horses (New York Review Children’s Collection) – While this is a slow burn book with a little mystery thrown in, the Irish island setting is beautifully described.

The Odyssey – This is quite a long graphic novel- close to 200 pages- but it faithfully describes The Odyssey. Just as a warning, there is partial nudity in some of the panels.

Alexa’s Reading List

Alexa has been tearing through the Erin Hunter Warrior Cats and Survivor series. Give her book with an animal in it and she’s good to go! She also just started the Mysterious Benedict Society after seeing it on my bookshelf.

Warriors: The New Prophecy 3: Dawn

Warriors: The New Prophecy 1: Midnight

Warriors: The New Prophecy 2: Moonrise

The Mysterious Benedict Society

Warriors: The New Prophecy 4: Starlight

The Sight

Jared’s Reading List

Essential Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials) (v. 2)

DK Readers L2: THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE Rise of the Rogues

DK Readers L1: THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE Team Batman

Warriors: The New Prophecy 4: Starlight

TV/DVDS/Youtube

Great Courses Plus– The Other Side of History – The lectures in this series for this month focused on ancient Greeks.

Great Courses Plus: English Grammar Boot Camp

Crash Course Economics- Since we started our last Pre-Algebra book with Economics, we started watching this Crash Course this month. It’s funny and really informative. We’re liking it a lot!

How to Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge Season 5

The Great Outdoors

My Kitchen Rules

Batman (1966)

Planet Of The Apes (2001)

Sherlock Season Four

Games/Puzzles/Kits/Activity Books

Australian Birds: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Species (Pocket Naturalist Guide Series) – To prepare for an upcoming trip, the kids and I have been memorizing the pictures and names of dozens of Australian birds. This month we learned the names with pictures of 53 waterbirds and nearshore birds. I’ve always wanted to be able to name the birds that I see in the wild, so I’m hoping this will help me do that next month!

Writing/Spelling/Grammar

Sequential Spelling Level 2 Teacher Guide & Student Workbook, Revised Edition

Editor in Chief® Level 2

The kids wrote a short play together for their Awana club about Joshua and the battle of Jericho.

WCRP.forums.com Alexa spends several hours a day on this site. It’s a role playing game based on the Warrior Cats series. A leader starts a clan and has to write up the entire back story of the clan, write the prologue to the series, and is responsible for recruiting people on the site to participate in the clan’s storyline and answer questions and comments.

After a few weeks, Alexa decided to start her own clan. She worked with another player to create a banner for her page on the site. She has written dozens of pages worth of story for the clan she made up. Basically she writes part of a story and then the other people in her clan continue writing the story. Each clan member adds to the story when the other clan members are done writing their sections. Alexa really is a great writer- extremely detailed and descriptive for her age. I’m very proud of her!

Marvelous Math

Finished up Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology

Started Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics – last book before Algebra!!!

At Home Fun

Nerf gun fights in the back yard with Steve- Crazy we can do this in February

Baked Challah bread together- We made this bread from scratch using slivered almonds and raisins instead of currants. We braided the bread into a rope and baked it. It turned out wonderful!

Cooked hot dogs and roasted marshmallows over the fire pit…in February!

Kids made us a pre Valentine’s Day dinner: The kids wanted to do something special for Steve and I for Valentine’s Day, so they made us a pre- Valentine’s Day dinner all by themselves. The menu: orange, raspberry, and Triscuit pizza appetizer, pita pizza entree, and a dessert of white and milk chocolate drizzled over caramel corn.

Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt – Jared wanted to do something special for us for Valentines’s Day, so he made up a bag filed with his own candy and hid it somewhere near the house. Then he hid clues all over the house that we had to use to find out where the candy was hidden. So sweet!

Rode bikes next to Steve while he ran with Jessy

Tossed the frisbee around in the backyard with Steve

Jared has started to regularly practice gymnastics at home, too, for about two and a half hours per week on top of his regular 11 hours at the gym. Steve built a short parallel bars set for him using PVC pipe.

Alexa loves to color on her own. She usually prints up pictures she likes on Google images. She has been studying shading techniques and has become quite good! She also has been practicing realistic drawing.

Out of the House Activities

Weekly: Jared 11 hours of gymnastics practice

Alexa started 2 hours per week of a new swimming club this month to prepare for trying out for competitive swimming team in the fall.

Big Chill gymnastics meet: I worked as director this year. It was A LOT of work!!! During the month of January I put in around 20-30 hours each week and then 46 plus hours during the four days the meet took place. It was a very intense 5 weeks to say the least! Jared had his best meet of the year with 1st place all around.

Homeschool Co-op:

Geography club: Africa- Kids did presentations on Egypt and Kenya, participated in a Yoruba naming ceremony involving oil, ginger root, beef jerky, water, salt and sugar, and played the African games Mbube, Mbube, and Mamba.

Book club: Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.? We had a really thoughtful discussion of the book  and then headed to the park for a while to enjoy the beautiful day.

History club: Black History Month: The kids gave reports on famous African-Americans such as Ida B. Wells, Michael Jordan, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesse Owens.

We also: read part of an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure type history book calledThe Story of Juneteenth: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose: History) about the aftermath of Emancipation Proclamation, listened to Martin Luther, King,Jr’s “I have a dream” speech, and compared and contrasted three jazz songs by Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.

Went ice skating with friends

Alexa had her permanent retainer put in. She’ll need to wear this to hold the space in her lower jaw open until the rest of her baby teeth fall out.

The kids’ had a sleepover at their grandparent’s house. They watched The Spy Next Door, played Hot Potato with their aunt and uncle, played with their baby cousin, and read their new devotional book.

Playdate at a friend’s house for Alexa

Jessy’s vet appointment – The kids always like coming with me for Jessy’s annual check up and shots.

We attended a Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief musical performance at the McAninch Theater at College of DuPage. It was SO good! I was very impressed

Bowling party with Jared’s gymnastic team

LOTS of birthday parties this month!!! Uncle Andrew birthday party, Uncle Joe’s birthday party and Grandad’s birthday party. So nice to spend time with family this month We also went out to lunch after church one day with Steve’s aunt who was in town from Missouri.

We went to the DuSable Museum of African American History for a Celebration of Dances from West African performance. It was REALLY good! They called kids up to the stage to learn a dance and perform it, so Jared was able to go on stage which he of course loved. Afterwards, we went through the museum and saw exhibits on African-American quilts and African-Americans in war.

After the DuSable Museum we had a dim Sum Lunch with friends in China town at MingHin. It was DELICIOUS! I have to get here sometime with Steve. We also stopped at a Chinese bakery on the way back to the car.

Playdate at a friends’s house. My sister and her boys were able to come, too.

On the Computer, Kindle, DS, or Wii

 Roblox – lots, and lots of RoBlox!!!!

Story of Seasons – Nintendo 3DS – DS game

Youtube Lego review videos

*some of the links above may be affiliate links

Photo Credit: gordsam

What were some of your favorite activities from February?

So I’m going to approach blog posts and writing without regrets. To approach it as another part of what will make my life rich, and to make it a priority but not as high a priority as family or travel or planning new adventures and experiences.

My kids are almost 11 now. 11 years old!!! I remember when they were 1 and 2. I had so many ideas of what we would do together, the trips we would take, the activities we would do. I still have at least 7 more years before they could potentially move away (hopefully not that soon!), so I want to make the most of my time with them.

But I’ve also become more realistic in knowing that no matter how much time you have, you’ll never be able to do everything you want to do….especially if you live and dream large.

So, I aim to chronicle the living and learning we do this year…one month at a time. But if I skip a month here and there…no guilt, no regrets…especially if it was because time with my family consumed most of my writing time that month.

So……here we go!

Highlights from the month: Alexa’s trip to Wisconsin, dissecting a squid, drawing Manga, going to the Greek and American Indian museums, nerf gun fights, gymnastics meets, and Greek mythology Bingo.

Books – Together

Finished reading D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. I’d highly recommend this book of Greek Myths. The artwork is fabulous! I could have checked this out from the library, but it was too gorgeous not to own

Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?“– A short book, but filled with pictures and interesting information about Dr. King Jr’s life.

Alexa’s Reading List

For the past six months, Alexa has become a reading fiend! She has always read well and enjoyed reading, but she would often go for months at a time without picking up a book. Then she got hooked on the Survivor and Warrior Cats series of books, and she’s reading all the time! If you have an animal lover, these books would be a perfect read for them.

Survivors 5: The Endless Lake

Survivors 6: Storm of Dogs

Survivors: Tales from the Packs

Warriors 1: Into the Wild (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin)

Warriors 3: Forest of Secrets (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin)

Warriors 4: Rising Storm (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin)

Warriors 2: Fire and Ice (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin)

Warriors 5: A Dangerous Path (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin)

Warriors 6: The Darkest Hour (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin)

The Complete Peanuts 1993-1994 (The Complete Peanuts)

The Complete Peanuts 1987-1988 (The Complete Peanuts)

Jared’s Reading List

Jared is a bit obsessed with Spiderman now. He’s started to read the first printed Spiderman series. He’s not a bit reader of regular books, but he will spend hours at a time reading his graphic novels!  It makes my heart warm

Essential Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials) (v. 1)

Clone Wars Adventures, Vol. 1 (Star Wars)

Clone Wars Adventures, Vol. 2 (Star Wars)

Meet the Marvel Super Heroes , 2nd Edition

TV/DVDS/YouTube

Finished Crash Course Biology– We started watching the Crash Course Biology videos on YouTube around October of last year to go along with our Life of Fred: Prealgebra 1 with Biology. The videos complemented what we were doing perfectly. As a warning: the videos are not aimed at kids and frankly and explicitly discusses sexual reproduction. It’s something I’ve always been very open and honest with the kids from a young age. They are very aware and know quite a bit about that topic in detail! It was something I never wanted to keep secret from my kids, and always answered all of their questions honestly and in a much detail as they wanted. As a consequence, they are very nonchalant and not embarrassed  or scared of talking about sex with me. It’s just not a big deal.

Started Great Courses Plus– The Other Side of History- I decided to purchase a membership to the Great Courses Plus- a website where you can stream lectures on a variety of topics. The kids and I both thought this course would be the best to start with. We’ve been learning about ancient history for almost a year now. This course is really good because it focuses on the lives of the everyday, ordinary people living in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome.

This is also not a series aimed at children. It’s definitely an adult oriented lecture series, so it also doesn’t shy away from adult topics. I’m fine with that for my kids, but I wanted you to be aware so you could make that choice for your family if you chose to watch any of these videos.

Hell’s Kitchen– Alexa and I enjoy watching this together when Jared is at gymnastics practice at night.

Toy Story 1-3 and That Time Forgot

Netflix A Series of Unfortunate Events- This TV series is SOOOOO good! Alexa and I read the entire Series of Unfortunate Events books together about two years ago. I had always been a bit disappointed with the movie based on the first three books, so I was REALLY excited when I found out there would be a TV series. The cinematography is spectacular, the acting and directing so good, and it sticks to the atmosphere and main story of the book which I appreciate.

Ninjago Season Four

Young Justin Seasons 1-2

The Justice League Season 1

Games/Puzzles/Kits/Activity Books

Exploding Kittens: A Card Game About Kittens and Explosions and Sometimes Goats

Rat-A-Tat-Cat

Writing/Spelling/Grammar

Reading Detective® A1

Sequential Spelling Level 2 Teacher Guide & Student Workbook, Revised Edition

Math 

Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology

At Home Fun

Alexa has been very into drawing: Mastering Manga with Mark Crilley: 30 drawing lessons from the creator of Akiko– Ever since Alexa saw a how to draw Manga video on YouTube last November, she’s become a bit obsessed with drawing, especially all things Manga. All she wanted for Christmas was drawing books, markers and pens.

We even paid for her to take an online course about how to draw Manga taught by a woman who used to draw professionally for Disney. It was through the website Crafty. The course was $30, but we bought it for $15 on a Black Friday deal. She was able to upload her drawings, write back and forth with the teachers, and look at the drawings of other people in the class.

Lots of nerf gun games- While Alexa wanted nothing but drawing things for Christmas, Jared wanted almost nothing, besides Legos, for Christmas other than nerf guns. He even talked me into an hour long nerf gun battle the week after Christmas! He regularly has battles with Steve and can’t wait to have more with friends when they come over.

Out of the House Activities

 A lot has happened with the kids sports-wise since I last posted a living and learning update. Jared has continued with gymnastics and is now on his second year on team. He is doing exceptionally well. Last year he won first place all around at state for his age and level. This is a more challenging year for him. He’s had to push himself even harder, which is good. He has an incredible work ethic in everything he does. Gymnastics takes up a large chunk of his time and will continue to do so more and more each year. For now he practices 10.5 hours each week at the gym.

Alexa has decided to quit gymnastics after taking lessons for 5 years. Her heart is just not into it anymore. She has decided to take up swimming instead. So starting this month, she is in advanced swimming lessons. Her goal is to move to non competitive swim club in a few months and then to try out for competitive team in the fall.

Weekly: 10.5 hours per week of gymnastics for Jared

Alexa started new swimming class for 45 minutes per week

Our year started out on the 1st with our annual tradition of taking down the tree, decorations and Christmas plates. It’s always a little sad  

This year at our homeschool co-op on Mondays we started something new. We used to do a family science hour every single week, but it started to get a little old, so now we do one week of Geography Club where we study and learn about a different country or continent each month, one week of History Club where we study and learn about a different history topic for the month- sometimes related to our geography topic- and we still do family science once per month, too.

At the co-op we also have a monthly book club and a monthly art time. For the book club, I tried to work it where the book we read went along with something else we were discussing that month. For example: this month we learned about Greece, read a book about Greek myths for book club and then visited a Greek museum later in the month, too.

Geography Club at co-op topic: Greece

• Colored Flags of Greece</li>
• Found Greece on the Globe and talked about the other surrounding countries and oceans/seas
• Greek Mythology Bingo Game – I found this fantastic BINGO game that a homeschool mom created on her website and gives away a copy for free!

Book Club: We discussed the book D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths

History Club topic: American Indians

• Each family researched a different tribe and then shared what they had learned. We talked about the similarities and differences within with various tribes
• We also played several American Indian games I had found online.

Family Science at co-op topic: Wind machines

-The kids created pinwheels with card stock and attached a pencil onto which they tied a string and created a pulley system. They tried out their wind pulled by blowing on the pinwheel with a hair dryer while trying to pull up a small cup full of marbles.

Meet the Masters art at co-op: March Chagall – Our co-op has a homeschool version of this art curriculum which we use once a month. We listen to a power point presentation on the artist’s life and then do an art project inspired by the artist.

Squid Dissection Lab at the Shedd Aquarium- Probably one of the most interesting and fun things we did this month was to dissect a squid at the Shedd. One of my friends set up this fantastic experience. Both Jared and Alexa were a little skeptical of how much they would like the dissection part, but both were so excited by the end. The Shedd did a great job in engaging the kids, and they learned a lot. We also were able to watch the aquatic show and go through the Wild Reef exhibit and see the sharks.

Gymnastics “Windy City” meet for Jared held at the UIC Pavillion- Jared took 6th place all around at this meet. He was disappointed in how he did, especially since it was the first time he fell off the high bar during a meet. But I think there were close to 50 boys in his age and level, so I tried to tell him 6th places wasn’t bad.

Artists’ trading card club: Winter Edition- Once per quarter we get together with friends and the kids trade artist trading cards. These are cards made out of heavy paper or card stock and are 2.5” x 3.5 “. You can make your own cards, but I usually just by these Bristol cards off Amazon. For this quarter, the kids created winter themed pictures by drawing, painting, using cut felt, coloring, …using pretty much any material and medium they wanted. Afterwards the kids built towers and played with each other til we had to go home.

Twins birthday party- We celebrated my twin nephew’s turning 3 years old. Lots of fun! My sister and I especially had fun watching old home videos for hours, as well as laughing and talking with my mom.

Sleepover for Jared at my Mom’s house while Alexa was in Wisconsin– Jared wanted a special sleepover time, too, so he slept over at my parent’s house. They had a great time together and did things like: walking  up and down the stairs that are specially built into the side of a small hill near my mom’s house, swimming at the indoor college pool, having dinner at Culver’s, and watching a movie together at night.

Vertical Endeavors climbing wall with Steve While Alexa was in Wisconsin, we took Jared to the indoor climbing wall where he climbed with Steve. It had been quite a while since we had been here!

National Hellenic Museum in Chicago My favorite exhibit at the Greek museum was- Sweet Home Chicago: A History of America’s Candy Capital which looked at the famous candy stores that got their start in Chicago, both Greek and non Greek. The kids loved dressing up in the kids’ section and running on top of the roof, where we had a fantastic view of downtown Chicago. We went to lunch with everyone afterwards to Greek Islands for some gyros and spanakopita .

Mitchell Museum of the American Indian This is a small museum in Evanston that you can easily go through in a few hours. I really like it because there are lots of great hands-on things to see and do. Jared especially enjoyed playing the hand games there. They also have a wigwam teepee set up with a pretend fire that all the kids loved playing inside.

Playdate with a friend for Jared

Playdate with a friend for Alexa

Travel

Alexa went with a friend’s family to Wisconsin for three nights this month – It was not easy at all, but we said goodbye for three nights to Alexa when she went with a friend’s family to Wisconsin. This was the first time she slept overnight for more than a night without us or Jared. Despite a rough first night of homesickness, Alexa had a great time and was so glad she went. Some of the highlights of the trip included: swimming, celebrating Christmas with her friend’s extended family, hanging out at the cabin resort’s activity center (air hockey, coloring, Clubhouse cafe), going tubing, watching the movie Sing, drinking at the hot chocolate bar, sharing her own bedroom suite in cabin with her friend.

On the Computer, Kindle, DS, or Wii

Roblox – lots, and lots of RoBlox!!!!

Story of Seasons – Nintendo 3DS– DS game

Youtube Lego review videos

Youtube Seri! Pixie Biologist – anything about animals and nature

~Some links are affiliate links~

Photo Credit: gordsam

What were some of your favorite activities from January?

A few months ago I posted a review of a life-changing book I read recently titled UnWorking: Exit the Rat Race, Live Like a Millionaire, And Be Happy Now by my friend Clark Vandeventer.

Today’s Clark’s back answering my questions on how to design a life that involves two or more passions, how to know when it’s time to make a change in your lifestyle design, how to build the life of your dreams and still have enough money to take care of your family, and more.

Enjoy!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and let my blog readers know how lifestyle design became such a big passion for you?

My career got off to a fast start and I was probably the oldest 25 year old in the world. Then I faced a string of failures that led me to moving my wife and then two kids into my in­laws garage. It was an embarrassing time for me personally and I retreated from many relationships, but what I did love about that season of my life was all the time with my wife and kids. When I thought about going “back to the grind,” I thought about all of the time I would be sacrificing with my family. I wanted to be a full­time breadwinner, but also a full time dad. In the garage I started to realize the best way to accomplish that was to not get a job, so I started learning then how to make money on my terms through jobs I could do that were designed around my life instead of getting a job and designing my life around a job.

Your family’s financial resources come from having a patchwork income. This is something many people find fascinating…including me! So many people are told to settle for one career or job because it is the only way to have financial security or to be financially independent. What advice do you have for someone who has 2, 3 or even more very diverse passions and she/he doesn’t want to focus on just one?

I would say keep going! Lots of people will tell you to focus on one thing and take that one thing as far as you can, but I think that’s bad advice for two reasons. First, let’s assume it makes good financial sense to go all in on one thing. Still, is life all about financial sense? Life should be lived to the fullest and when the end comes do you really want to look back at your life and wonder what could have been if you hadn’t given up on that thing you loved? Second, I actually don’t think it’s a good financial decision. If you get all of your income from a job, that means that if you lost that job, you’d lose all your income. Where’s the security in that? If diversification is such a good idea for retirement, why not bring that idea into your thinking about income all throughout life. By having several “patches” of income, I can lose a patch and the effect won’t be devastating. If I lost one of the larger patches, sure, it would hurt, but I wouldn’t be destitute. I could survive on my remaining patches until I replaced the old one.

In UnWorking you write about how your vision for life isn’t set in stone but will always be changing and evolving. How has that been true for your family? How do you know when it’s time to make a change in your lifestyle design?

Two years ago we moved out of the house we’d been renting in Lake Tahoe, put all our stuff in storage, and entered a season of semi­nomadic living. After travels in Thailand, Malaysia, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and a road­trip across the United States, we’ve decided it’s time to settle again. All that stuff is coming out of storage and we’re moving into another long­term rental in Lake Tahoe. This wasn’t a result of the lobbying efforts of any one member of our family. We were all ready. I think this is because we’re all on the same page as a result of truly living a shared life and being in sync with one another. In my book I talk about how my wife and I have maintained a shared vision despite drastic changes in our life since we first met. It’s the result of lots and lots of talking. And lots of wine!

But for today, I’m sharing a review I’ve written about the book UnWorking: Exit the Rat Race, Live Like a Millionaire And Be Happy Now. A few months ago I found out that my friend Clark Vandeventer from the blog Family Trek had finally finished writing a book all about how to design your life and live life to the fullest. I knew this book was in the works for some time, and I was excited to finally get a chance to read it, especially after I found out I had been included in a chapter about education!

I’ve always been amazed at the wonderful experiences Clark and his wife Monica have created for their family. They travel extensively, spend weeks and weeks skiing and taking their kids to the beach. They do interesting work. And they love spending time together.

So I’m thrilled to share some of my thoughts with you today about the book. I really enjoyed reading it! It’s a fun read and an incredible resource for anyone interested in designing their ideal lifestyle.

In a few weeks, I’ll also be sharing an interview I did with Clark where he shares more tips and ideas from his book so look forward to that.

So….on to the review!

In UnWorking, Clark Vandeventer mentions writer Mark Manson who wrote a piece titled 10 Things Most American’s Don’t Know about America. In it Manson defines being wealthy as “having the freedom to maximize one’s life experiences.”  And maximizing your life experiences is exactly what life style design is all about.

I’ve read quite a few books on lifestyle design. Your Money or Your Life, the 4 Hour Workweek, and The Art of Nonconformity. They have all richly added to my life and taught me to look at the world through a lens of creativity and making the most of every opportunity.

And now I’ve read another book that deserves be shelved right along with those I’ve mentioned above.

I have known Clark through his website and other social media for years now. I’ve been able to track his life through words and pictures for quite awhile.  But hopefully that gives my opinions even more credibility because I have seen his family’s ups and downs. I’ve seen the difficult choices and tough work they’ve had to do in order to create their ideal lifestyle.

And I’ve seen the incredible, amazing things their family has been able to do because of their deep belief that living a life that you design based on your individual/family purpose and interests in life is worth it all.

But this book is different from the others lifestyle design books. In a way, this unassuming book written by a new and relatively unknown author resonated with me far more than those more popular, well-known lifestyle design books.

Why? Because Clark Vandeenter, author of UnWorking is someone I can relate to. He’s at a point in his life where I’m at now. He has kids, his kids are living and learning in this world outside the school system, he enjoys a life of long-term travels and fills his days with things that are meaningful and important to himself.

What makes this book so special and different is Clark’s story. Yes, this book does give many important and helpful tips towards designing your own life, but he sprinkles those actions steps over the course of telling you his story: where he started out and where he is now. And it’s his story that allows you to see that if he can do it, if he could overcome so many setbacks in his life and now have the freedom and choices to live epicly, it’s possible for you, too.

He doesn’t sugar coat things. In fact, he’s very real about how hard you need to work towards designing a life that is richer and more meaningful than anything else you have ever known. The focus and intensity it takes to create this epic lifestyle drives most people away from even trying. But if you have the courage to pursue this idea of lifestyle design, Clark is a great coach to lead you in the right direction.

I’m going to end this review with a few of my favorite quotes from the book. If you like what you read, just know that this book is crammed full of more excellent bits of wisdom and advice.

“I’m trying to take a more direct path to happiness. Rather than making as much money as possible and then buying all the happiness that money can buy, I’m doing the things that make me most happy and then figuring out a way to make the money I need to sustain a life of my own design.”

“I’ve discovered that for me, it’s all about achieving and maintaining the freedom to have choices.”

“In establishing your own tenants for achieving and sustaining the life of your dreams, the important thing is to give yourself a framework that will allow you to achieve your goals broadly, acknowledging that what you want long-term may subtly change.”

And my absolute favorite quote…. “While society tells us to buy more stuff to be more comfortable, I’m hoarding experiences instead.”

Highlights from the month: A week of climbing camp at an indoor climbing facility near our home, going to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair exhibit at the Field Museum, reading thorough many of the Series of Unfortunate Events books with Alexa and speculating on the mystery, countless hours of epic Star Wars Lego battles, and getting in as much pool time, bike riding and park play as we could during these last few weeks of summer.

Books – Together

 The Story of Jean Baptiste du Sable

Jolliet and Marquette: Explorers of the Mississippi River

The French and Indian War

Read more sections from Chicago History for Kids

The Gathering Blue – ( a Giver series book)

David’s Adventure at the Chicago World’s Fair

Alexa’s Reading List

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Bk #5 The Wide Window

#6 The Ersatz Elevator

#7 The Vile Village

#8 The Hostile Hospital

#9 The Carnivorous Carnival 

Jared’s Reading List

Ranger’s Apprentice Bk 1: The Ruins of Gorlan – still reading this with me out loud

Skimmed through pages of The Lego Book and The Lego Playbook

TV/DVDS

Connecting Worlds: The Story of the Chicago Portage – this is only about 2 miles from our house- a place where we often bike -so it was very interesting and relevant for us to learn about this

The Era of Colonization by Schlessinger Media

The Last of the Mohicans – A Children’s Animated Classic DVD

Episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Spent lots of time watching this with Steve

Episodes of Master Chef

Episodes of So You Think You Can Dance? 

Episodes of Sherlock (The PBS show) Fantastic show BTW!

Daddy Daycare

Tarzan and Jane

Tarzan II

Tarzan

Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Noah

Games/Puzzles/Kits/Activity Books

Minecraft Homeschool– 7 Wonders of the World -ended during the third week of this month

This month we started by studying the art of sculpture, looking at its ancient beginnings and observing and discussing several famous sculptures from Egyptian time until now.

Then the kids had to create a sculpture in the Minecraft environment that looked exactly like the skin of their Minecraft character in the game. They also voted, one vote per day for a week, for their favorite Minecraft sculpture of pixel art entered in the Minecraft Artprize contest.

We had been going strong with this class for most of the summer, but the last two weeks we basically skipped. The class was 12 weeks long and a lot of work to do in the midst of a very busy summer filled with other activities, including trying to spend as much time as we could with friends and family who attend school and won’t have as much time to be with us after the middle of August.

It was a good introduction to Minecraft, and the kids said they’d like to take a Minecraft class again in the future. But since it’s a lot of work and there are several other things we’d like to do instead in the fall that will take up quite a bit of our time, we’ve decided not to sign up for a fall class.

Writing/Spelling/Grammar

Sequential Spelling Book 1 Lessons 101-111

Editor in Chief series by The Critical Thinking Co – Beginning 1– and did Mini Review Lesson 3-4, Review Lessons 1-4, Lessons 5-6, Mini Review 5-6, Lessons 7-8, Mini Review 7-8, Review 5-8, Review Lessons 1-8, and Lesson 9

Marvelous Math 

Life of Fred: Jelly Beans Lesson 6-16

I noticed the kids were having some problems with remembering the steps in 3 by 3 digit multiplication and long division since we never do worksheets for these problems, so I asked if they would just do one example of each problem before we do our chapter of Fred.

There was some balking at first, and I said they didn’t have to do this, but I explained how in any type of work there is a certain amount of practice needed to reinforce skills so they become second nature. How that by practicing until something becomes second nature allows your brain to work on more difficult concepts. They went with me on this and wound up saying that doing the practice problems wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be.

At Home Fun

Inside: Lots of jumping and flipping on the bed, wrestling games

Jared loves his pretend play and will do this for hours by himself sometimes. He’s also spent countless hours with Steve this month setting up dozens of Lego sets in the garage and having “epic battles.”

Had a resurgence of puzzle play this month. The kids said they want to put together all the puzzles we have in the house.

Steve helped the kids make parachutes with thick napkins, yarn and Jared’s soldiers. Then they’d drop the soldiers from the second floor window. Sometimes Alexa would drop the solider and Jared would try to hit it with his nerd rifle on the way down.

One night when I was sick Steve and the kids made a frozen pie with vanilla yogurt and lemonade concentrate.

Sculpting with Sculpty Clay and Playdough 

Outside: Pretend games in the sandbox, nerf gun sniper riffle, chase with Jessy

Out of the House Activities

Weekly: Library Visits, Grocery Shopping, Church, Gymnastics

Several vet, dentist and orthodontist appointments -I’m going to get Invisalign, so while I was getting my impressions taken, the kids went up with Steve to his office (dentist office is in the same building), and hung out with him there for awhile. We took a short trip to see the coy fish, too, in the building’s lobby.

Pool with Grammy – last outdoor pool day of the year But they just constructed an Olympic sized pool at my Mom’s work in the rebuilt fitness center, so I’m hoping the kids can go there once a month during the winter months.

Centennial Beach in Naperville with my sister and her family, and my mom – This pool was created out of a quarry, so it’s like a beach in that the water level gradually deepens from the “shore” line.

The kids spent time swimming (Jared was the only one to go down the water slide) and playing in the sand. Of course they talked my mom into buying them an Icee afterwards!

Took a walk with Jessy to several parks where she swam in a creek for the first time

BBQ at Steve’s boss’s house – Steve’s boss has an annual BBQ at his house each summer. He has it catered by Famous Dave’s. When we first started going to these BBQ’s our kids were the youngest kids there. Now they’re becoming the oldest! But Jared and Alexa played a little bit with the 2 and 3 year olds and also enjoyed playing with the dog,too.

A week of Climbing Camp at Vertical Endeavors- The kids LOVED this camp! They went for one week from 9-1 each day and played games, climbed walls-often climbing over 30 times in a day- and had a special pizza party the last day. They even gave each camper a tee-shirt when it was over. Both kids want to do this again next year. Of course until then they’ll have their monthly homeschool climbing day to look forward to.

Field Museum – I took the kids to see the latest exhibit at the Field Museum -The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. It was fantastic! We learned so much about the origins of the Field Museum, saw exhibits originally displayed at the fair and had been placed in storage until now, and played with some fun interactive exhibits.

Family bike rides and walks – We rode to a park close to home one evening  and played tag for awhile. Of course the kids often enjoy short rides with Steve after dinner while I clean up. One afternoon this month when I was sick, Steve also took the kids to a small nearby splash pad.

 A Brookfield Zoo day with friends- We try to get in as many zoo days as we can before the cold weather, so we often meet up with friends there.

Family Night at my mom’s work – I think this was the 4th or 5th year we’ve gone to Family Night at the college where my Mom works. My 96 year old grandma was there, too, along with  two of my nephews who were spending the night at my mom’s. It was pouring rain that day, so the bouncy houses were set up inside as well as several carnival type games such as ping pong toss, make the basket and ring toss.

Morning at park playing hide and seek – This was supposed to be a homeschool park day, but everyone else cancelled out because of the heat, so the kids and I had an hour long hide and seek game throughout the entire park. I don’t usually like playing hide and seek, but even I had fun! And afterwards both kids said it was one of the “best moments of our lives.” You can’t beat that!

Evening at Grandma and Granddad’s – Date night for Steve and I so the kids spent the evening with grandparents playing the game Survivor, going out to eat, visiting the climbing park, and picking out something from the “grandma store.”

Weekend with family – One Saturday evening we had Steve’s sister and her husband over for dinner. It was a really relaxing, enjoyable time spent talking, roasting marshmallows over the fire pit (until the mosquitoes came out in full force), Alexa and her aunt playing Final Fantasy together, Steve, Jared and his uncle playing frisbee in the back and trying to keep the frisbee away from Jessy and ending the evening watching funny dog videos on YouTube.

The next afternoon we had Steve’s parents over for lunch and just hung out talking afterwards for awhile.

On the Computer, Kindle, DS, or Wii

 Kindle: X-Men, Wonder Zoo

PC Games/ Websites:  www.lego.com

DS: Final Fantasy ( watching lots of walk through videos on YouTube)

Wii: Lego Star Wars, Super Smash Brothers Brawl 

Photo Credit: gordsam

What were some of your favorite activities from August?

To give you an idea of how much I love to read: I set my Goodreads Challenge Goal this year to read 125 books. I’m actually one book ahead of target now at 82 books read so far this year.

My favorite genre is fantasy, but I’m a pretty eclectic reader. When I’m not in the mood to read fiction, I’m usually grabbing a book about writing or the business of writing because, as I’m sure you might have guessed, my second love it writing.

The problem with my two passions is that my first passion, reading, requires little creative effort on my part. 

Reading challenging books is not always easy and definitely not a passive act. A good reader is constantly visualizing, imagining, and linking things they’re reading to prior knowledge. I’ve been open to many new ways of thinking and introduced to so many creative worlds and ideas through books.

But…..

Writing on the other hand is hard. Ultimately, though, its more rewarding. Having a completed essay or story in front of me has a much higher payoff than finishing the last chapter of a great book.

So if writing ultimately brings me greater reward, why do I find so many excuses to put it off and often reach for a book to read instead? Why do I fool myself into thinking that I just need to read one more book on the craft of writing before working on my own novel?

Because……

Creativity is hard work!!!!!!!  Anything worth having in life involves hard work.

 Here’s a short list of things I’ve accomplished in my life that required  A LOT of hard work:

-giving birth to twins. That pretty much speaks for itself, right?

-planning for an almost three week trip to Europe. Months of hard work for an unforgettable experience.

-losing 35 pounds, maintaining a three days a week HIT program pretty regularly for almost two years now. My reward?  Being in even better shape now than when I was in my late teens

It’s true that to achieve great things you need to make greatness a priority. You need to give it time, attention and hard work.

But hard work is HARD!!!!!

It’s so much easier in the moment to do things that are easy and that brings an immediate reward. It takes a level of maturity to understand that the things that are necessary but are mundane, boring or even downright difficult will bring deeper and longer lasting satisfaction in the end. 

So is it possible to achieve a balance between creative input vs creative output?  Can you make sure that short term creative thrills are balanced with the hard work of daily dedication towards the creation of a meaningful project?

 Here are a few tips that have helped me in my quest to achieve this balance:

 1) Use creative consumption to fuel your creative projects or to increase your skills. Sometimes when I read a fantasy book, I take notes. I’ll outline a book as I read it and look at how the author builds his characters and constructs his scenes. I’ll watch Youtube videos of lectures by my favorite authors.

Think of ways to deliberately study those people you admire as you consume their art. Let your mind become actively engaged with how these people you admire create their art.

 2) Get yourself into a habit of creativity. No matter how I like to be spontaneous in my life, if I don’t build certain habits and routines into my life, I just won’t accomplish anything.

Lately I’ve been creating the routine of writing a half hour each day/seven days a week. For example, with this essay, I put on the timer for 30 minutes and I wound up writing the first draft of this almost 1,000 word essay in just over a half hour.

It may not seem that much but even a half hour a day adds up if you do it consistently. Maybe you can only fit in 10 minutes a day.  Or one hour three times a week. That’s ok. The key is consistency.

For me that consistency also means I try to write at the same time each day. For me this happens right after I eat lunch. If I’m out with the kids during that time, then I do this as soon as I come home or as close to that time as possible.

You’ll train your body and mind to expect to work creatively at this time each day. It’s the same way with exercising. I find it much easier to exercise if I do it around the same time each day.

3) Actively practice your creativity through creative exercises. Professional musicians still practice scales. Golfers still try to perfect their swings. Direct practice in your area of creativity- practice that is separate from the creative project you are working on- is essential to becoming a master of what you do.

If you’re a writer, set aside time to to specifically work on constructing better sentences. Invest in books on writing exercises. If you’re an artist, set aside time to develop and perfect new drawing techniques. If you love to sew, push yourself to learn advanced skills. Keep learning and practicing.

* In the month of September, I’ll be doing a series of essay about how to help your kids (and yourself! ) develop and expand the habit of creativity. 

Photo Credit: winifredxoxo

How do you find balance between consuming creativity and producing creative works?

Some highlights from the month include: a day trip to Great America, a 5 day trip to Kansas City, Missouri for a family wedding that I was a bridesmaid in, lots of Minecraft building, a 3 day Star Wars Lego camp, and a 5 day Vacation Bible School where I was the Bible teacher for all 5 groups throughout the day.

Books – Together

Inkheart -finally finished this!

Read more sections from Chicago History for Kids

Coyote in Love with a Star

The Potowatami 

The Giver – The kids and I LOVE this book! We’ve had hours of discussion based on the themes from this book.

Alexa’s Reading List

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Bk #3 The Wide Window

Bk #4 The Miserable Mill 

Bk #5 The Austere Academy 

Jared’s Reading List

Ranger’s Apprentice Bk 1: The Ruins of Gorlan – still reading this with me out loud

Darth Vadar and the Lost Command Star Wars Books Volumes 1-5

TV/DVDS

 Episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures

Episodes of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic

Episodes of Master Chef and 24

An episode of Monk

Episodes of The 100

Episodes of Lego Chima

The Haunted Mansion

The Lego Movie

Jumanji 

Muzzy Spanish

Oscar’s Oaisis

George of the Jungle II

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

The Dragon Pearl

Games/Puzzles/Kits/Activity Books

*Besides his regular assignments each week, Jared spent quite a lot of time on his own playing in Minecraft this month. He also spent many extra hours designing his building and sculptures than was required.

Minecraft Homeschool– 7 Wonders of the World –

This month the class focused on Architecture. They started with exploring unusual buildings of the world. Then they moved on to tall buildings. We read several very interesting articles about record breaking skyscrapers currently being built or planned in China and Saudi Arabia. Then we watched a YouTube video featuring a Google street view walk through of the tallest building in the world to date – the Bahj Kalifia in Dubai.

In the Minecraft environment the assignments were: 

-to build one of three buildings – either the Bahj Kalifia in Dubai, or Sky City or Kingdom Tower – two buildings that will beat out the current record winner for tallest building in the world.

-watched the 5 part series Could You Be an Architect? on YouTube and then looked at 3 hotels built in unique locations around the world. Then the kids had to design their own hotel in a unique location and design an activity for the guests at their hotel to do

-looked at several building that are considered beautiful and then had to create a their own beautiful building

-They had to create a Minecraft work of sculpture of pixel art for a contest where the other students vote on their top 5 favorite sculptures or painting from each class.

Writing/Spelling/Grammar

Sequential Spelling Book 1 Lessons 99-100

Editor in Chief series by The Critical Thinking Co – Beginning 1– and did Mini Review Lesson 1-2 & Lesson 3&4

Lego Star Wars Camp –  This was a 3 day long camp at a local college. I’m putting this here because, on the first day of class,  the kids had to do quite a bit of script writing. They learned new terminology: characters, props, dialogue, scenes. Then they spent the next three 2 hour and 45 min long sessions filming their video. 

I was so proud of the hard work they put into creating this little two minute film. It was not easy for them and stretched them creatively. Both kids said they’d like to do this again in the future. In case you’re interested, here’s the YouTube link to the film they created.

Marvelous Math 

Life of Fred: Jelly Beans Lesson 2-5

Travel: Kansas City, Missouri

We spent 5 days in Kansas City Missouri at the end of the month for a family wedding. I was a bridesmaid so didn’t spend as much time with Steve and the kids as I would have liked, but I was so happy to be a part of the wedding.

The kids, as usual, did a great job traveling. We caravanned with Steve’s brother and two of his kids on the way down, stopping for food and ice cream along the way. On the night we arrived, I went to a Bachelorette party while the kids stayed back and played with their cousins.

The next day we helped set up the church and gym for the reception. The kids were a big help setting up chairs and tables. That night was the rehearsal and dinner.

Steve’s 93 year old grandmother slipped and fractured her hip at 3 in the morning the night before the wedding as she was getting herself a glass of juice. I was the only one to hear her cry out and moan, so thankfully I was able to wake up Steve and his aunt. She was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and had emergency surgery soon afterwards. She’s doing fine now, but I think it will be a long road to recovery.

So, the next day was pretty hectic to say the least. I needed to leave early for the church which left Steve is charge of getting the kids ready for the wedding. After the ceremony and a cake reception in the gym, we headed to a park to have a dinner cookout. We all had a great time! The kids played at the park, there was a short volleyball game and lots of great conversation.

The next day all the cousins went to Krispy Kreme in the morning to watch them make the donuts- and of course to buy some! Then there was church, picking up ribs for lunch, and an afternoon at the hospital with grandma. At night we played cards and hung out. Then the next morning it was a long ride home, unpacking, starting laundry and getting ready for Steve’s cousin and his new wife to arrive the next day.

At Home Fun

Inside: Jared showing me new Lego Club magazine and catalogs, Playdough and dinosaurs, pretend store

Helping get ready to leave on our trip and for company coming- cleaning up dog poop, straightening, vacuuming and dusting, cleaning windows, packing

Outside: One afternoon Steve put out the pool and kids played in there with Steve and Jessy.

Playing Jessy lion chase, making pretend animals homes

Out of the House Activities

Weekly: Library Visits, Grocery Shopping, Church, Gymnastics

Pool with Grammy three different afternoons – they usually also go to the park next door to the pool to play tennis. Jared helped cut down tree limbs for money.

4th of July – We started of the day at a parade three blocks from our house. They kids got more candy thrown at them from people in the floats than they get on Halloween! Then family came over in afternoon and hung out. Jared created Kick me signs he put on everyone, which then inspired the uncles to create their own Kick me signs back There was also  basketball and football play, too.

After dinner we walked over to a kids’ party at local park next to where they light off the village fire works. It turns out there wasn’t much to see:  a tight rope for the kids to walk across, face painting, root beer floats. We walked back home and watched the fireworks from our front lawn.

Vacation Bible School – ( 5 days from 9-12) This year I wasn’t a group leader in Jared and Alexa’s group. They’re getting to the age where they’re fine without me being there, so I decided to be the Bible teacher for all the groups- something I liked a lot better!

The theme was International Spy academy- perfect for Jared’s spy obsession! Every day the kids learned a new “spy technique.” Some things we did: made prints of our fingerprints and studied the three different types of prints, looked at 5 dollar bills and talked about how to tell a real bill from a fake, discussed how to find clues, and worked in teams to crack codes. Of course I would also tell one Bible story during this time, too and we’d learn a new Bible verse every day, too.

During the other time periods of the day the kids also did:

Crafts: I Spy bottle, Morse code, briefcase out of a pizza bottle, collage, a Trinity necklace

Games: Spiderweb, Obstacle course, Water Balloons, regular balloon game

Workbook Time: Learned new verses, coloring pages

Snacks

At the end of each day, everyone gathered in the auditorium to sing songs and watch a skit.

K-9 Dog Demonstration– This free program put on by our summer’s library reading program was so interesting! Several police officers came in to talk about how they acquire police dogs and the training that takes place. They brought in several dogs and demonstrated some training techniques they used. Then the kids could come up and pet them afterwards. Alexa, who loves dogs, really enjoyed this program.

Dinner at Uncle & Aunt’s House – We went over to Steve’s sister’s house for dinner one evening with the kids. When the adults were talking, the kids sat talking with us to for a little while and then played games on the Wii. Alexa also spent about a half hour with her aunt playing Final Fantasy- a game they both are pretty obsessed with!

Great America – Every year the kids and I earn free tickets to come here through the Read to Succeed program. We had a great day weather wise.

Family bike rides and walks – We rode to a park close to home one evening played tag for awhile.

Alexa’s eye appointment – No more eye patch!

Birthday party for Andy – We met at my Mom’s house to celebrate my brother’s birthday. Wd had a BBQ and then Steve and the kids played on the slip and slide in the back yard, we took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood (Jessy had her first experience seeing a horse), and just hung out talking.

Taking Jessy to the Vet – Jessy developed a growth on her eye. Thankfully, it was just an eye infection that cleared up with antibiotics.

Having family stay at our home for 5 nights- Steve’s cousin married this month and, because they didn’t have a lot of money for their honeymoon, they stayed at our house for 5 nights while they visited Chicago.

We were able to hang out with them quite a bit while they were there- taking several bike rides, going out to eat, hanging out talking and even going down to Fullerton Ave Beach to watch them participate in a volleyball tournament.

On the Computer, Kindle, DS, or Wii

Kindle: Plants vs. Zombies II, 

PC Games/ Websites:  www.poptropica.com, www.lego.com, https://www.coolmath-games.com,

DS: Pokemon Conquest, Final Fantasy ( watching lots of walk through videos on YouTube)

Wii: Lego Star Wars

Photo Credit: gordsam

What were some of your favorite activities from July?

If your kids are like mine, you’ve heard this phrase sung in your house no less than 50 times in the last month. With a son who owns no less than 60-70 Lego sets, I guess it was inevitable The Lego Movie would become a favorite at our house.

Not that it’s not a cute movie. It is. And, I’ll admit, the theme song has a pretty catchy tune as well.

But….. Have you really ever listened to some of the lyrics?

Side by side, you and I gonna win forever, let’s party forever

( And my personal favorite) Everything you see, or think or say is awesome

You know that moment when you go from brainlessly singing the lyrics of a song to actually thinking about them? Yeah. That happened with me a few weeks ago.

As I started to listen to the lyrics the kids were singing, I started to feel uncomfortable. At first I thought that was silly. It’s just a cute kids song, right? Why should it make me feel like something’s wrong?

It gradually came to me, linking together with something else that has been bothering me the past few months.

See, I believe in the core philosophies of unschooling- which is to say that I believe that if learning is not connected to a child’s life in a meaningful and purposeful way than that learning is not ever going to be deep, lasting, or have any impact on their lives.

And I wholeheartedly still believe in that.

But some assumptions, discussions and writings I’ve read or heard discussed regarding unschooling have been bothering me. Specifically the two ideas that everything a child does or enjoys carries the same level of learning weight, and that time spent say watching favorite TV shows is just as impactful or valuable as say learning how to write better.

I just can’t buy those ideas anymore.

I will not argue that you cannot learn valuable things on TV, even “fun” TV shows like Lego Chima or My Little Pony. I still believe that. But I don’t believe now that all things are equal.

If everything is “awesome,” just what does awesome mean anymore? If every kid is handed out a #1 trophy at their gymnastics showcase (something that happened to my kids this past winter), what value is placed on excellence and working hard?

In the end, I don’t think kids are fooled by that. When my son first saw his #1 trophy he was so excited- and then his face dropped when he looked over at the kids next to him and saw they all had #1 trophies instead.

“Why did they say I was a first place winner,” he asked me “when that wasn’t true, Mom?”

I’m all for rewarding kids for putting in hard work and effort. That alone deserves recognition. But why couldn’t those trophies simply have been blank? Why do so many adults seem to think kids need labels like #1, winner, or amazing on everything they do?

Also, is it just as valuable to spend 20 hours watching your favorite TV show or playing games on lego.com as it is to learn how to write better or read better or get better at learning how to create and follow a budget? Is is just as “awesome” to say you watched 3 seasons in a row of a TV series as it is to say you created your own video that you posted on YouTube?

These are questions I’ve been deeply considering lately. I’m not coming to you today with answers, but rather with bits and pieces of ideas to question, too.

 Before moving on a few disclaimers:

 I’m not saying that I disapprove of watching TV or playing video games. If you’ve read my posts long enough, especially my monthly learning wrap-ups, you can see that my kids spent a fair share of their time doing those things. And I agree that there are valuable lessons to learn through those medium, too.

And, before it’s brought up, I also think there are special circumstance where it’s valuable for people to spend long periods of time in more passive forms of activities. Sometimes it’s necessary for emotional reasons.

Now back to our discussion

What I’m struggling with lately is the imbalance of time spent in activities that have our kids consuming rather than producing.

And not just producing any old thing either. I’m talking about producing something of great value. But how is that something of value determined? Is it the same for everyone? I’m coming to believe that it’s not.

I think there are some universal similarities. For example, I think if you are providing something that enriches the lives of others there’s usually great value in that.

But isn’t someone who plays golf 20 hours a week because he is a professional golfer going to gain more value in producing a perfect swing than is spending 20 hours a week perfecting the perfect cake batter when he doesn’t  really like to bake?

Isn’t a child who wants to become an author going to gain more value from spending 30 hours a month working on writing a novel instead of spending 30 hours conducting chemistry experiments they have no interest in?

What you spend time producing is highly individualist. What you produce and create is going to be unique to you. To require people, especially children, to create or produce the same output as other children diminishes their uniqueness.

Yes, I do believe there is a certain set of skills most every child will need to be a successful adult regardless of what they choose to specialize in or contribute to the world, but the way they learn those things, how they do those things, and the time and place they do those things are also highly individualistic.

So back to my discomfort in a child who watches TV for 20 hours instead of producing or creating something of value – and value as defined as something that is unique and meaningful to that child- something that showcases their unique set of interests, talents and abilities.

What becomes of a person who spends far more time consuming than producing? When they come to the end of their lives, who will be more content, someone who has consumed many things, or someone who has contributed much to the world?

One of the lyrics in The Lego Movie is : Everything is awesome when we’re living our dream.

 Is that always true?

I don’t think so. I think there is often times of great discouragement when we’re living our dreams. We want to give up because it’s hard to create something of excellence. It’s not always a fun and easy path to follow.

It’s a great disservice to tell our kids that everything will be awesome when they follow their dreams because when things get hard and it’s no longer fun, they will start to question whether dreams are even worth following.

The video games, endless texting and social media will look really good when they have to learn how to grow and strengthen their creativity muscles.

 These are a few ideas and questions I’ve been wrestling with lately. How do you feel about these ideas?

Photo Credit from Flicker by  Bill Toenjes 

We had the opportunity to do some more travel again this month. We took a 4 day weekend trip to St. Louis to see Steve’s cousin’s family. It was so nice seeing everyone again and checking out some new places in the area we had never been to before.

On the way there, we stopped off at the Cahokia Mounds for a few hours. After looking over the awesome displays in the visitor’s center and watching a brief film, we climbed up to the top of Monk’s Mound. It was so impressive to climb to the top of the tallest prehistoric man made structure north of Mexico.

And what made the visit even more memorable was seeing the earthen burial mounds at Cahokia in the same year we had the privilege of seeing burial mounds at Stonehenge in England, and Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland. It made our readings and studies much more meaningful than they would have been otherwise.

The kids have also really enjoyed their Minecraft Homeschool class this summer, too. It was a challenge in the beginning to understand how to navigate in the environment, but we are finally finding our groove and have learned so many fun new things, too.

Some other highlights include: an all day hike at Starved Rock State Park, a two day cousin sleepover, attending Brickworld 2014 (a Lego convention), and several zoo days.

Books – Together

Inkheart – still working on reading this together during lunchtime and before bed.!

The Ice Age Tracker’s Guide

Read more sections from Chicago History for Kidsr

Illinois Native Peoples

Alexa’s Reading List

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginnings

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room

Jared’s Reading List

Ranger’s Apprentice Bk 1: The Ruins of Gorlan – started this 

TV/DVDS

 Ice Age Death Trap: Uncovering Mammoths, Mastadons, and other vanished beasts (PBS)

Cahokia Mounds: Ancient Metropolis

Episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures

Episodes of Once Upon a Time

Episodes of Master Chef and 24

Episodes of The 100

Episodes of Lego Chima

Frozen

The Lego Movie

The Haunted Mansion

1 episodes of R.L. Stein’s The Haunting Hour

Muzzy Spanish

Games/Puzzles/Kits/Activity Books

Minecraft Homeschool– 7 Wonders of the World –

Every week there is a Learn It section and Quiz before you begin the weekly build assignment.  Some things we did during our Learn It assignments included:

-read several pages about the Grand Canyon and geology from the National Parks website

-watched several clips off the National Geographic website and Smithsonian website about coral reefs, climate change, unethical fishing practices and the ocean.

-watched several clips about how volcanos are formed. Read several webpages about Paricutin, a fairly recent volcano that was born in the middle of a Mexican cornfield.

-read a long National Geographic article about a scientific team’s journey to Mount Erebus

-This was a really fun one! We watched a 5 minute video made by an architect who explains his process of designing a building using the questions, what, where, how and why. And we looked at 50 of the most unusual buildings in the world. I’d highly recommend checking out this link if you get a chase. Some of these buildings are incredible! The Minecraft building assignment this week was to take one of these 50 building designs and replicate it in the Minecraft environment. Alexa chose the Pickle Barrel building and Jared chose the Asian Bank or Robot building.

-learned how to build in the Minecraft environment. Their first assignment was to build a structure that blended into the canyon landscape. Second assignment: build part of a coral reef: Third assignment: build a farm, cornfield and volcano: Fourth assignment: design something made out of ice like an ice castle or cave.

BrainPop videos – I’d been eyeing the Brainpop and Brainpop Jr. subscription package for several years now. We have enjoyed watching the free videos at these sites for the past 2 years, but I’d always balked at the idea of spending so much for a subscription.

But I broke down and bought a year’s subscription for $75 when I saw this great deal from the Home School Buyers co-op. If you haven’t checked out Co-ops website yet, you need to! You can often find resources 50-80 % cheaper if you’re lucky.

We haven’t watched too many Brainpop videos yet, but did look at one on the Ice Age so far.

Lego Heroica

Writing/Spelling/Grammar

Sequential Spelling Lessons 95-97

Finished their Kumon Cursive Words book!

From the Digging Deeper section one week in Minecraft Homeschool, they “wrote” a paragraph about what they had learned from either the videos we watched or websites we read from. I typed down their sentences as they said them out loud.

We also started the first book in the Editor in Chief series by The Critical Thinking Co – Beginning 1- and did Lesson #1 on Capitalization. I’ve been debating whether this is a good thing to try with the kids or not. I don’t want to rely too much on workbooks- organic learning is usually more effective and long-lasting in my opinion-but I do know that with many grammar and punctuation learning, working through a system can speed the process up, if your child enjoys that type of thing. We’re giving the first book a try and see how it goes.

Marvelous Math 

Life of Fred: Ice Cream Lessons 18-19 & Life of Fred: Jelly Beans Lesson 1 – hard to believe that we’re on the last book in the Elementary series already and the kids just turned 8 a few months ago! We have 3 books to go through in the Intermediate series before beginning the 5 books in the Before High School Mathmatics series which includes: Fractions, Decimals and Percents, Elementary Physics, Pre-Algebra I with Biology and Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics.

Travel: St. Louis 

 Cahokia Mounds – I wrote quite a bit about what we did here in the beginning of this post. We have started reading a book about the History of Chicago, and there’s a chapter about the Cahokia Illinois tribe, so it worked out perfectly to visit this site while we were so close to St. Louis. If you are interested, check out the link. If you leave near this site, I’d highly suggest visiting.

We spent about half our time in the St. Louis area just hanging at Steve’s cousin’s house. They have 5 kids so needless to say, the kids had quite a fun time playing! They: jumped on the trampoline, made a “water slide” by running the water hose down the playground slide in the backyard, made bracelets with rubber bands, watched Frozen and The Lego Movie, played checkers, played “school,” and rode bikes and scooters around the blocks surrounding the house.

Indian Camp Creek Park The first full day we were there, we went to a cute little spot with a playground and a long creek. Steve’s cousin was so kind to put together a little kit of a sand bucket, a plastic container to put bugs and little fish in, butterfly and fish nets and sunglasses. The kids spent several hours catching little bluegill and crayfish, and splashing around in the creek. We ate a picnic lunch there, too, and spent a little time at the playground before heading home.

Grant’s Farm – The second day we spent most of the afternoon at this cute little animal park. You enter the park by tram, passing through acres of land where deer, elk, and horses. Once inside the park you could pay to buy baby bottles and feed the goats, buy snow cones, ride a carousal, hand feed camels, and check out some of the other animals in the park including an elephant, parrots, and baby chicks.

At Home Fun

Inside: Built lots of structures out of chairs, pillows, sheets and blankets, made up lots of new pretend games – I can really see a difference in these pretend games vs. the games they’d played when they were 5 and 6- more of a concern with complicated rules (less running around in the beginning and more sitting down and world-building first – very interesting!)

Other pretend games: Built with the Cootie bugs and made up lots of stories with them, also (and they spent days and days on this one) placing lots of figures in the sandbox and having a giant war with them. Play dough has also had a big comeback in our house – lots of sculpting going on.

Alexa decided to make chocolate chip cookies by herself one afternoon. Besides getting out the ingredients and answering a few questions about measurement, she did everything by herself!

Steve, Alexa, and Jared had a big water balloon fight in the backyard one evening.

The kids have also been great about helping me straighten the house throughout the month and organizing and getting rid of toys in their playroom they no longer want anymore.

I spent some time being target practice for Jared and his 60 foot range Nerf gun rifle. It really stings when you get hit! Playing sniper is one of Jared and Steve’s favorite things to do. Jared puts on a backpack and run up the ladder of the treehouse, takes aim (the rifle actually has a working scope) and fires at Steve while he’s running. Jared’s actually really good at this. I guess I should be proud that he’s such a great shot, right??!!!

Alexa bought a pair of “spy glasses” a video camera inside a pair of sunglasses. Lots of recording, downloading and watching.

Outside: Swinging on the swings, playing with Jessy in the backyard

Out of the House Activities

Weekly: Library Visits, Grocery Shopping, Church, Gymnastics

Homeschool Group:  We went to one park day this month.

Cermak Aquatic Center with friends – One day the kids invited over two friends to go to a small waterpark near our house. Before going, they played for a while in the backyard, and also played with the Sculpty clay and Snap Circuits for awhile. They wanted to take their lunch up to the treehouse and have a little picnic up there. It was so cute! Afterwards they played for 3 hours at the pool. I enjoyed the kids when they were little, but it is so nice to have times when I can read for several hours at a time without interruption. Ahhhhh!!!!

Brookfield Zoo day with grandparents – This was our first zoo day of the year. We took the tram around the whole zoo- jumping on and off at several of the stops. Our animal highlights: the tiger, bears, sea lions, reptile house and living coast. We ended the day picking up Chinese food and eating at Steve’s parents house, with his sister and brother -in – law joining us.

Brookfield Zoo with a friend – Had a really fun day – went to Hamil Family Play Zoo and played veterinarian, pet a hissing cockroach, sat in on a Zoo Chat and pet a skink, went to the Reptile and Swamp houses, played in the playground, ate some Dip n Dots and played for almost an hour in the splash pad.

Annual Naperville Riverwalk with my mom and sister – Walked about a half mile from my sister’s house to a gorgeous walk along the river and stopped by picnic tables for lunch. My mom brought milk weed pods and the kids loved blowing the seeds around. Then we walked to the playground where the kids played on the equipment- in the sandbox and climbing trees. Afterwards we walked to a create it yourself yogurt shop. Then we walked back and hung out watching the kids while my sister and brother in law went to see a house.

Starved Rock State Park – We drove an hour and 45 minutes away to a beautiful state park and spent most of the afternoon hiking up and down canyons, up to beautiful lookouts over the river and saw several small waterfalls.

Brickworld 2014 – First time attending this Lego convention. We saw very impressive exhibits. There were some creators who have been working on their exhibits for over 10 years, spending well over 10 hours a week in building and spending over $35,000. Besides looking at all the great Lego displays, the kids had a chance to build for themselves and also play for a while with a remote controlled Lego car.

Swam with Steve at the pool near my mom’s town – My mom usually takes the kids to her pool once a week during the summer, but they had never been there before with Steve. I’m always a baby about the cold, and as it was cloudy and cool, I sat out the whole time, talking with my mom and watching the kids slide down the waterside and dive off the diving board.

Two days at Grammy’s house – Alexa did dishes and watered plants, played video games, Legos, went swimming at the outdoor pool, and my mom took them out to eat one evening, too.

Splash pad and Oak Lawn Children’s Museum – My sister’s 2 oldest boys came over this month for a 2 day sleepover. After picking them up and coming back home for lunch, we headed out to find a splash pad and playground. At home before dinner, the kids had squirt gun fights and nerf gun shooting outdoors. The next morning after breakfast and before heading to the children’s museum, there was lots of Lego play and pretend games. Alexa did a great job the entire two days taking car of her 3 year old cousin.

The next day all the kids slept over by my Mom’s house. I met my mom at the children’s museum where we ate lunch and hung out for a few hours before I dropped them off at my mom’s house. They drew a railroad track with chalk in garage and pushed their cousins in strollers around the track stopping at different “stations” along the way. They also played pingpong, made English Muffin pizzas, had a “snowball” fight with white cloth balls, and watched the Lego Movie and The Incredible Journey.

Father’s Day – This year our anniversary happened to fall on Father’s Day. To celebrate, we had the kids stay over at their grandparent’s house. While they were there they made  a card for Steve and bought their own presents for him at the dollar store,played hide and seek and told ghost stories with their aunt and uncle, and watched a movie. Steve’s parents brought them to church the next morning.

After church we all went back to Steve’s parents’ house and ate lunch there. After hanging out for a few hours, we then went to my parents’s house to spend time with my dad. While there we watched American Ninja, played badminton in the back yard and watched the kids put on a little gymnastics show.

Attended a wedding –  The kids went with us to a wedding ceremony for friends. Later my brother came to our house to watch them while Steve and I went to the lunch reception. They played the Game of Life with their uncle, picked up something to eat, played with Jessy outside and started to watch a movie together.

On the Computer, Kindle, I-Phone, or LeapPad Explorer 1

PC Games/ Websites:  www.poptropica.com, www.lego.com, https://www.coolmath-games.com, www.avirtualhorse.com,

Nintendo DS- Final Fantasy 

Photo Credit: gordsam

What were some of your favorite activities from June?

Most of May we weren’t even home, so the rest of this learning log won’t be as long as previous months. As I posted last week in a special Travel Edition of our Learning Log, we were in England, Wales and Ireland from April 26th through May 12th. Here’s the link in case you missed that post and would like to check it out.

I’d say besides our travels the other highlights from the last half of May were: starting our first ever session of Minecraft Homeschool and attending a really fun workshop at the Oriental Institute in downtown Chicago where we worked as a group to make small Mesopotamian mud huts, looked at early Mesopotamian artifacts in the museum and made small clay replicas of those artifacts.

Next week I’ll bring your our June Unschooling Resources and Adventures. I have a lot to share with you! It was a busy month with yet another trip as well as lots of out of the house adventures. See you next week!

 Books – Together

Inkheart – still working on reading this together during lunchtime and before bed. We often miss days doing this, plus the book is 538 pages, so it’s taking a long time to finish this book!

Ice Age Giants

Alexa’s Reading List

The Subtle Knife – she read a few chapters from this book

Jared’s Reading List

not much this month

TV/DVDS

Episodes of American Idol & 24

Episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures

Episodes of Once Upon a Time

Games/Puzzles/Kits/Activity Books

Minecraft Homeschool- 7 Wonders of the World – I was surprised at how much the kids, especially Alexa, wanted to do this Summer Camp when I first presented them with the idea. The first official day of the 12 week camp is the 2nd of June, but we could do the Orientation Lesson and Quiz and also the Learn It section  of the first week’s assignment.

To give you an idea of what we did for the first week of the camp in case you are thinking of signing up for this in the fall:

-read several pages about the Grand Canyon and about Geology from the National Parks website

-built their own building that had to blend in with the Grand Canyon environment within the Minecraft world.

Sticker Dolly Dressing Around the World from Usborne

Muzzy Spanish – We decided to learn some Spanish over the next 9 months before we go on our next big adventure to Costa Rica.

730 Easy Science Experiments with everyday materials

-Made our own paper straws

-Tried to make our own water trombone using the paper straws we had made. That was pretty much unsuccessful But when we watched this YouTube video and used plastic straws it worked perfectly!

-We also unsuccessfully tried to make a straw balance scale. But we did really enjoy watching this Bill Nye video on YouTube about balance.

-Bending a straw without touching it (discussed light refraction)

Chicago History for Kids – We’re starting a huge multi-year unit study (one we are creating ourselves) about the History of Chicago. I am so excited about all the fun things we’re going to be able to do! In fact, I plan to write several posts about how we’re putting together the unit study and how you can do this to for your own area.

For this month we just started reading the first chapter together called Chicago Before Chicagoans. We discussed several topics including: the Ice Age, Glaciers and Moraines, and the Cahokia Mounds right outside St. Louis Missouri (which we are going to visit next next month!)

Writing/Spelling/Grammar

Sequential Spelling Lessons 89-94

Still working on learning cursive with their Kumon My Book of Cursive Words book and are almost finished

This month Alexa decided she wanted to write her own novel She wrote her first “chapter” (about a half page typed) without any help from me.

The kids wrote occasional notes back and forth to each other over the past few weeks.

Marvelous Math 

Life of Fred: Ice Cream Lessons 11-17

At Home Fun

Inside: Building with Legos, pretend games, making “soup” by pretty much dumping every single spice I have into a pot of water!, setting up a pretend bakery and bookstore

Alexa is still into watching music videos on YouTube and listening to music on ITunes

Outside: Lately Steve and Jared have been putting together Lego sets inside the tree house, shooting bow and arrows in the backyard, playing chase with Jessy, swinging, practicing on their skateboard

Out of the House Activities

Weekly: Library Visits, Grocery Shopping, Church

Homeschool Group:  Just went to one park day this month

Went to free day at Blackberry Farm- The first time we came to Blackberry Farm when the kids were 5, the kids spent at least an hour just floating leaves down this little stream that runs down the center of the farm. When I reminded them of this, they spent time doing this again. There is also an “adventure” playground there with a small zip line. They also went on a short pony ride and checked out the farm animals before we went on a 20 min paddle boat ride together.

Registered for the Summer Reading Program at the library.

Kids’ went by my mom’s house one day this month: Video game playing with my dad, visited an area called “The Stairs” which is a huge hill with 125 stairs built into the side. Also played tennis at a tennis court.

Memorial Day – Both our parents and well as my brother and grandmother came over to our house to hang out. We watched the DVD and saw pictures from our Europe trip. The kids also played around in the little swimming pool and had squirt gun fights. They also set up a drink and ice cream stand to serve all the family that day- something they were SO excited about!

Oriental Institute Museum – By Our Birdhouse homeschool workshop – We arrived early in the morning to do the self-guided audio tour for a few hours and then walked a few blocks away for a picnic lunch on the green area in the quads (University of Chicago).

Then we attended the 2 hour workshop which featured Mesopotamia architecture and culture. We went on a guided tour of part of the Mesopotamia section of the museum, discussed what made a structure a home, made our own Mesopotamia model homes of straw, mud and water, then built a clay roof for the larger Mesopotamia home the older kids had built, and finally made replicas with clay of some of the artifacts we had seen in the museum. We will definitely be coming back to one of these workshops in the future. Very well done!

First family bike ride of the year! We rode at a forest preserve near our home for a few miles. Steve also took the kids on a few shorter bike rides in the evenings.

Biking on the bike path next to Lake Michigan and the Lincoln Park Zoo – We started off the early afternoon with a picnic along the lake. Then we rode bikes along the lakefront next to the beach most of the time. We went pretty far too, riding from Lincoln Park Zoo down to a little past Navy Pier when me bike got a flat tire So, I had to ride back, clinking and clunking away – very embarrassing! After we put the bikes back in the car, we went into the zoo for about an hour.

Went to the movie theater together and saw Divergent

Computer Games/Websites/Electronic Games

 PC Games/ Websites:  www.pbskids.com, www.wikipedia.com, www.shepherdsoftwear.com

Nintendo Wii:Skylanders Swap Force

Nintendo DS- Final Fantasy 3 

Photo Credit: gordsam

What were some of your favorite activities from May?