Summer Learning Stuffs...

Before I jump into my blog post, I just hafta say that I had a fantastic Saturday morning! Lemme go back...

When the hubs and the eldest were coming back with dinner Friday night, they saw a little dog in the road. We live in the country so coyotes, larger animals and even hawks are serious concerns when it comes to smaller animals. The poor thing looked starved and like he had been that way for weeks. We were really surprised that a dog his size (small) had managed to survive out here long enough to look that way. The guys couldn't even imagine leaving him out there once they saw him, so in he came. Once in, we noticed that he was blind. If not completely, pretty severe. We gave him a comfy pillow, some water and some food. We kept an eye on him and decided that if he made it through the night, we would take him to the vet and foot the bill for whatever treatment he needed, or the hubs would stay there with him if the only option was putting him down.

Yesterday morning, he was still chilling and had eaten a little. So Walter and Bailey left for the vet. Braeden and I stayed here, hoping for good news and waiting on a phone call. When that call came, it was most emphatically NOT the call I was waiting on.

As soon as the vet saw the dog, she recognized him! He isn't starved or abandoned, but he is being treated for diabetes...which explains the lost vision and how thin he looks. He had obviously gotten away from his owners and coincidentally was scheduled for an appointment THAT MORNING for a check up on his diabetes. Knowing that he not only has a family, but a family that is willing to go through treating a dog with what could be a fairly debilitating illness (we have heard of many pet owners who, while sad, opt for euthanasia instead of treatment for things like that), was absolutely fantastic!

I cried. Bawled like a baby. Snot everywhere kinda bawled. Just made my day! :)

Okay, back to the blog post...

I know I've said before that we technically school year round, but I have also said that the summer months are usually lighter for us. So we aren't on a break, but we are taking it easy. They may work on their T4L a little sporadically, but the two subject areas that they have to work on every day are spelling and reading.

This summer, the spelling part of that has actually been cool for them. Using VSC has worked out wonderfully and they love that they can do so many different things, like take their spelling test online, without having to crack open a workbook. Some days, thanks to the handy dandy iPad app, they do their spelling and vocabulary while kicked back on the sofa. :D

For reading, they have both really tackled that with smiles this time around. Last summer, Bailey was reading voraciously while Braeden was looking at me like I had asked him to lick the floor of the bathroom anytime I asked him to pick up a book. :/ 

We knew about some reading programs that our local library did, and we knew about the one from Barnes and Noble, but a few weeks ago, I found a forum post highlighting some other free summer reading programs that we didn't know about. Ones that are great motivators, especially for my wee one (like the one at Chuck E Cheese)! While they have to do some reading on their own, as a rule, we don't mind finding programs like these that reward them for reading a little more than what we ask of them, lol.

If anyone knows of any more summer reading programs, please feel free to comment below and let me know! I don't know that there could be an instance where there were too many to choose from. :)

Outside of spelling and reading, the boys are going to work on archery and pottery. We found some traditional bows a couple of weeks ago at Academy Sports (they had a compound bow, but didn't like it), as well as a good target to shoot at. So far, this has been the most excited they have been to leave the comfort of the A/C for anything.

The pottery thing is something they have both asked about, so we have been checking into prices at a local place called Good Dirt. We are looking forward to trying our hand at this as a family, and I think the boys have even decided that they want a pottery party for their birthdays...Good Dirt offers parties where the kids can all come and get together and make something to take home. Nifty.

That's about it for our summer. At least that's what we know of. Things change all the time around here, so who knows what we will end up doing and working on.

Tell me...what are some of the things YOU do over the summer, to keep your kiddos' little minds active? :)