arizona trip, part 2.

lest you think it was all play and no work on our vacation, i'll have you know that i did pack up our school stuff and we did do schoolwork there at the house, too.  two whole times!

see?

additionally, phil had brought back this highly educational item back for mikey from salt lake city.  they learned all about excavation from this fossilized dino egg. 

they pretended to be archeologists while practicing the life skills of cooperation and teamwork.

throw in patience and forbearance when the other little sister wanted to "help".

ok, so their efforts lasted all of five minutes before they called in the big guy for help.

which turned in to an exercise of patience of different kind as this excavation was much harder and took muuuch longer than any of us initially thought it would.

but finally, sweet success!

and a new friend for the green lizard toy allie brought along in her backpack.

the kids were even treated to a special guest lecturer who taught them all about the inner workings of the human body.

the kids were fascinated.

and stayed on task the entire time...

well, at least i'd like to believe they learned something and had a bit of fun while doing it.

extolling the virtues of the ribcage and sternum.

mikey wanted to add the skin to our poster.

and we finished up by making ball-and-socket joints!

and that my friends, is homeschooling, done the tsai family way.  :)

next up, the ultimate vacation field trip!

arizona trip, part 1.

so right after phil returned home from his big test (we just heard three days ago that he passed! praise the Lord!) we packed up and hit the open road for our much-anticipated family vacation.

eight-ish hours later...

we ended up in a vacation house in scottsdale, arizona!

i originally wanted to do an rv trip, but phil decided it'd be too much work at this stage in our lives.  (and i kinda have to agree.)

then i suggested a cabin in a forest somewhere.  phil didn't think that would feel like much of a vacation, what with 'roughing it with the mosquitoes' and all.  (he did have a point there, too.)

so then he threw out the idea of renting a vacation house where we'd all be comfortable for about the same price as my suggestions would have been. (see?  this is why i leave all the planning of fun family stuff and date nights to him.  why mess with a good thing?)

he found a place big enough to have epic nerf gun wars everyday.

and even outfitted each member of the family with his or her own gun for the daily battles.

but the best part of the vacation house?  the pool out back.  hands down.

we actually didn't go out and do too much else in arizona because nothing felt better than being in the pool during the upper 90/100 degree days.  which worked out perfectly in letting the younger kiddos get their naps in while everyone else got lots of water time.

mikey even got brave enough to jump off the diving board into the water.

as long as daddy was there to catch him.  and he always did.

he even got pretty close to learning how to swim, too.  as long as daddy was within arm's reach.

they wanted nothing more than to spend every waking minute in that pool.

this one got brave enough to float around by herself and loved it.

it was this one's first time in the pool but found it a bit too cold for his liking.  he much preferred hanging out on the king-sized bed inside the air-conditioned house.  hmm, where have i heard that before?

remember being a kid and spending countless hours in a pool just playing and playing?  yeah, i'm glad we got to give our kids that experience.

they also got to experience the pure awesomeness known as...

cannonball!

and when the pool got just a bit too cold, there was always the spa to warm up in!

we also picked up a slip 'n slide on clearance at target for seven bucks. 

another tsai kid favorite.

and when they were finally ready to come back inside, there were movies to enjoy on the big tv.

and grilled meaty goodness, too.

and that, my friends, is vacation housing, done the tsai family way.  :)

oobleck.

hello hi, i'm still here!  thank you guys for praying for phil and his test and i'm sorry to have left ya hanging there for a bit.  we just got back this past weekend from a family vacation and it takes a good week to recover and get back into a more normal routine.  or maybe that's just me.

so yes, phil got home safe and sound after his test and said it went about as well as he could hope for and now we have to wait another month before the results come out.  the thing is that it's graded on a curve, so there's no telling how it actually went which is good and bad- good in that there's no use worrying about it cuz it's over now, but then again, bad because the temptation to worry over it still remains.  therein lies the fight to trust in God's sovereignty and be at peace because he is in control, even over this exam.  in any case, really, thank you for praying for us!  it was GREAT to have him back and to celebrate, we packed up and headed right back out for a long awaited family vacation.

but, more on that later.  first, i've got to get to this post that i've long been meaning to finish.

homeschool.

i might have mentioned a time or two that we've ventured into the world of homeschooling this year.  and it seems that when i do a thing, i go whole hog and jump in over my head.  so not only am i starting off with one homeschooler, but three, and a nursing baby to break the camel's back.  or something like that.

and so, because this is our first year, and because i'm already having a hard enough time juggling just the basics of daily life, i decided to go way easy on myself and use a complete curriculum for mikey and allie.  there are things i love about it- it is biblically based, no planning on my part, all that's needed is right there, we can jump right in whenever we have a chunk of time to get to it, the kids are learning what they need to know.  and there are things that i don't love about it- it's pretty much all workbooks, it's not the most exciting thing on the block, it somewhat limits our ability to be flexible about adding other things in because i'm a bit ocd about keeping us on my visible-only-to-me schedule.

so while i'd love to explore the other options out there (and have one or two approaches i would be interested in IF we were to continue on), i know for this year i have to keep it simple in order for it to work for everyone.  so i'm calling this our "nuts and bolts" year.  our year for laying the groundwork, a solid foundation if you will, for each of the kids.  keeping it simple because i know the end goals i'd like each of the kids to meet.  namely, to learn letters, numbers, colors for lauren, to learn to read for allie, and a stronger phonics base and more fluency for mikey (because his kindergarten teacher was more intent on pushing them way ahead and skipped over the basics which was what k was supposed to be for!)  but above all, for us to have the time to grow in our knowledge and love for the Lord and to honor him in our work, our relationships, our service, everything.  and we have to keep it simple and keep close to home because i still have a little one who nurses every few hours and needs morning and afternoon naps, too.  at least that's what i tell myself at three o'clock in the morning when i start overthinking everything once again and doubting all the decisions made so far.

and that's where we are right now.  limited in our ability to go out as freely as i might like so even trips to the library can feel daunting and ends up being very irregular in occurrence.  limited in the time i have to plan great units, or gather resources, or even read up on the teaching approaches i'd like to read up on.  limited in the amount of energy and focus i have to get any one thing done.

i think you get the picture.

so what i have decided to do is stick with our basic curriculum for four days a week as that is really helping us lay the solid foundation and fill in the holes from mikey's kindergarten year.  and later in the afternoons, we all cuddle together around a great read-aloud book with no other expectations beyond just enjoying the story and the time spent together.  and i've decided to name the last day of the week, 'fun fridays!'.  original, i know.  that's the day we break away from the regular schedule, and delve into something more hands-on.  i figure i can handle one day a week of extra planning and preparation.  usually, it's a science or art or cooking project.  additionally, two fridays a month are academy days where we go meet with other homeschool families in our school which the kids are enjoying, and another friday is a playdate/fun learning time with some other homeschool families from our church.  so that day remains flexible and yet learning still occurs!

we've managed a couple of field trips, an academy day, and a couple playdates so far.  but our very first 'fun friday' back in the first week of september?

well, that was all about the oobleck!

the learning objective?  to see how much fun we can have with stuff we have sitting around in the kitchen.

oh okay, the precise objective was to answer the question: can you mix two substances together to make something that is a solid and a liquid at the same time?

what do you get when you mix two parts cornstarch...

with one part water and a little food coloring?

why, you get oobleck, of course!  which you mix neatly with a chopstick if you're this girl.

or you mix not so neatly if you're this girl.

in any case, you get oobleck: something that is solid and liquid at the same time.  or if you're my nerd brilliant husband, you get a viscous elastic fluid.

and when given the green light by mama, you abandon the chopstick and dive right in.

while the mama tries her best to ignore the giant mess she will have to clean up shortly in favor of letting her kids enjoy the process of hands-on learning.  it's a fine line, i tell ya.

but hey, you only live once, right?  have at it, kids!

inaugural 'fun friday' = success!

then we took a little break to enjoy some berry smoothies...


and dove right back in to do a little color experiment (review for mikey, refresher for allie, new for lauren).

we started with the primary colors- blue, red, and yellow. (equal parts cornstarch and water, and food coloring drops as needed)

then mixed and matched til we had ourselves a rainbow of chalk paint!

which we promptly took outside...

and let everyone paint to their hearts' content.

they painted til every last drop of paint was used up.

and when asked if they could also paint on the walls?  the answer was YES since it all rinses clean away with water!

priceless.

who knew cornstarch, water, and food coloring could combine to create a fun day o' learning that the kids still talk about today?

it's good stuff, i tell ya.