The end of summer fun...

Today it almost seems like summer is over. Even though its not officially over until September 23. The beginning of school seems so much like summer is over and fall is beginning. With all the children around us going back to school within the next 2 weeks it really seems like our summer has come to an end.
The other day we went to the wading pool for a playdate only to show up and find out they closed the day before for the end of the summer season. So disappointing and our summer is over :( Today's post is a collection of our summer fun... enjoy these pictures......

Mops homeschoolers celebration of completing Kindergarten...



A friends birthday celebration

Samantha at the end of VBS... she loved VBS

Freetown state forest wading pool.. we went here many times this summer

A little summer school :)

Samantha enjoying the food and music at Soulfest Gunstock New Hampshire

Hiking in the mountains New Hampshire


Measuring herself Santa's village NH she has grown so much too...

toasting marshmallows our camping trip NH

Having fun in the river behind our campsite

Art in the park

Bowling fun with Mommy and daddy

Look I can do it!!! She finally has been able to climb all the way across this she was so happy she was brave enough to do it.

Riding her new bike a good friend gave it to her since she had outgrown her old one.


I hope you enjoyed a peak into our summer fun. Its been a great summer filled with good times, great friends and lots of learning experiences.

It's official

Well it's official. I typed out our letter of intent to homeschool Samantha. Put it in an envelope. Handed it to Steve....... then he hand delivered it to the superintendent of the Fall River school department! What a big weight off my shoulders. Now to wait and see if we get a response or if she does what most Fall River homeschoolers say she does... no response.

We are going to start our school year next week. On Tuesday Sept 6. I can't wait. I have been preparing all our work. Putting things in order and organizing supplies. So here is to a wonderful year in first grade at the Mathias homeschool!

Ivory soap experiement....

So I have been wanting to do this for a while. I kept forgetting to get the soap. Samantha and I have talked about how things change how something can go from being a solid to a gas or liquid. How doing many different things to something can change it. Our questions were...

Why is it the only soap out there that floats in water? Internet search... because when they make it the mix air in it BUT if you cut it open you will not see any air pockets

I next asked Samantha, her friend Charlene and her mom ... What do you think will happen when we microwave it for 2 minutes?
Sam thought it would melt
Charlene thought it wouldn't change
Charlene's mom thought it would explode or melt.

So here is what happened...



I am very embarrassed to say my microwave needed cleaning really bad... good thing we put soap in it


Ok so what did we do after this.. We waited for it to cool. We discussed the results. We were a little surprised to feel it and find it crumbly. We had thought it would be soft. It definitely looked like a big cloud and soft. Then we made soap playdoh! You rip of a roll of toilet paper really small. Mix that with the soap and some hot water. Keep mixing until its feels like stiff pudding. Then have fun!





Later today we will try this again and make some bath paint out of it.

We survived Irene

We were very lucky when it came to hurricane Irene. By time it hit us it was only a tropical storm. Samantha was very nervous about this hurricane. Even though we tried to calm her and comfort her until she experienced it for herself I knew she would worry. Once she learned Daddy had to work she was very worried. She didn't want him to drive in it. She wanted him home to protect us. Sadly he was told he had to work.

So to prepare for this....

We bought some yummy snacks and stuff to eat without cooking. Samantha liked the chunky peanut butter. LOL Oh and the oreo's were a big hit. She went to the fruit stand and picked out a giant carrot, tomato, 2 apples and 2 peaches.

We planned on playing games and doing crafts. We had our camping light ready, our flashlights ready and candles in case we got desperate.

We let her sleep in our room on an air matress on the floor.

So our day went like this:

Bright and early she wakes and asks So is the storm going on? She runs to the windows and looks out. She then asks me to open all the blinds so she can see what is going on.

Daddy leaves for work Sam worries until he calls and said he made it there safely.

Samantha goes on my laptop for a while since we still had power and she watches the news reports. She didn't want it shut off. The wind and rain is very heavy and strong. She now sees that the trees aren't falling on our house (silly me for telling stories of the hurricane in 1991 dropping a tree on my parents house)

About 11 am we lost power... for Samantha the fun begins. LOL She seems to think with no power we get to have lots of fun. LOL We play with paper dolls. With all the outside flowers in my house dropping their pedals all over the place we put them to good use. We press flowers to make pretty flower pictures. We were surprised to see what colors came from what color flower. Not always what you would think. White flowers pressed green, deep red turned purple, pink turned reddish and peach made cranberry color.

We braved going outside to see how windy it was... this was done when it slowed down for a bit.

We then painted rocks we took back from our trip to New Hampshire.

Next onto mask making. Yes her mask came out creepy looking.

Then a friend popped in minutes after our power returned!!! They did some arts and crafts for a while. Then we did an experiment with Ivory soap.... Did you ever wonder why ivory soap floats? What do you think might happen when you put the soap in the microwave for 2 minutes???? also what will you do with it once your down experimenting... I will post those pictures and answer the questions later...

Pictures of our day....

The ick factor....

Samantha and I have been taking care of my sisters creatures while she is on vacation. We go there and feed them and give them fresh water. Ok so these creatures are lizards. Yes creepy lizards. That we have to feed live crickets and worms too. Not one of my favorite things to do. Samantha has been helping me. Now I don't know if I call everything she has done help....

The day she helped me with the worms I thought she was going to have a melt down over feeding the "baby" worms to the lizards. We ended up taking one very tiny and in her eyes cute worm home. Now I draw the line at many creepy animals as pets. We have 2 cats and 2 mice and that's really all I want. But she was pathetic, begging me not to feed this worm to the lizards. She could have won and academy award for the most dramatic acting ever. "But Mommy" I heard, "You just don't understand. This worm is more than a worm to me, I love her, she is beautiful in my eyes. Mommy we can't let it be fed to a lizard. It has life." Yes so that day we came home with that teeny tiny worm in a cup to live in my home in a plastic container filled with potting soil and crumbs for food. The next worm feeding day I should have know not to take her with me. We came home with 4 "friends" with one of them being a "Mommy" for our tiny worm. But I can't complain too much.. she still picks up the gross worms and puts them in the bowl for me to dump in the tanks for the lizards.

Now I really draw the line at the crickets. My sister has about 4 or 5 now running free around her house. They are not coming to my house. Those things creep me out worse then the worms, worse then spiders.... have you ever tried picking one of them up to feed it to a lizard? No well then you just don't get how creepy they are. I had dreams about them last night. It took me forever to fall back to sleep I felt like I had them crawling all over me.

As for a learning experience out of this... I wonder who learned more. Me or her.... hmmm its a toss up. She was fascinated by watching them eat the crickets and worms. Me I learned never take a sensitive child along to feed live creature to other creatures... You never know what you may come home with.

Can you believe....

that its almost the end of August? Where does the time go? We have been having a busy summer.

With the end of summer comes the beginning of a new and exciting school year. Can you believe Samantha is now a first grader!!! Guess what? I finally decided on what curriculum to use. LOL I purchased it all so there is no turning back now. I think if I tried Steve would have a fit. LOL I have spent way too many hours trying to decide. Then changing my mind. Then changing it once again. We do have many fun things planned this coming year. But first here is what we are using...

Math- Horizon's Math
Phonics- Abeka
Spelling- Spelling workout A
History- History for little pilgrims / Road Trip USA
Grammar- Free program that I downloaded so long ago I don't even know who its by.
Science- Abeka

So its all been purchased and all but 2 books have been delivered so there is no turning back on what we use. I am at peace with these choices too. No more second guessing myself. I am excited about this school year. Samantha seems it too. She keeps looking at all the supplies I have bought (yes I do purchase way to many things :) ) They have taken over our dining room, much to Steve's dismay.

As for the fun activities planned...
A trip to Plymouth Plantation, the Easton Children's museum (Thanks for free tickets!), I purchased discounted tickets to the Museum of Natural History & Planetarium, Some nature walks, Swim classes again and many more fun things that we will think of during the year.

What I am trying to find is a good program for art and music. I feel that even the public schools are lacking in these and so is our homeschool. We tried learning the recorder with our Mops homeschooling friends. But due to many outside issues we only had a few lessons. Maybe when she is older it will be more appealing.

Well here is to a new school year!