Our kids generally don’t participate in summer school, partly because we move to the cabin, and partly because it gives us an opportunity to revisit the stuff we loved most about our homeschool experiment. Although I’ll only expect a flexible few hours per week of sit down work, I think it will be enough to keep skills fresh and maintain interest at the same time. It also provides just enough schedule to keep us all on an even keel.

For the past few weeks I’ve been asking the kids what they’d like to study this summer and here’s what we’ve established so far.

Craig – fifth grade next fall

Cooking! I purchased a Rachel Ray cookbook for kids and that will be the mainstay of Craig’s cooking curriculum. Cooking is one of the few topics that covers just about every subject area — math (measurement), reading (recipes), science (duh) and social studies (ethnic foods).

Read aloud – probably continuing The 39 Clues series or the sequel to Chasing Vermeer.

Darla – seventh grade next fall

LOST – character and plot analysis with emphasis on foreshadowing, symbolism and writing techniques. I’m excited about this one. She was interested in watching with me last season, but LOST isn’t a show you can watch just an episode or two. So we purchased the first four seasons on DVD and we’re going to analyze the writing on the show. It’s a superb example of plot weaving and character development.

US State and Capitols - we figured out this past year that she missed this part of the curriculum during our move from one district to another. This will be a chance to fix this gap in the curriculum.

Darla reads like a fanatic, so she’ll dive into whatever books she wants. And she’ll volunteer all summer at the local library, to organize the weekly storytime.

Both kids

Learn to play Backgammon (critical symbol in LOST.)

We will also do math practice with brainteasers. And we’re joining the Science Museum of Minnesota again, so will attend the Titanic exhibit, as well as inundating Collector’s Corner with all of our Utah finds and the new discoveries we’ll surely make on biking field trips this summer!

Here I’ve listed some of the specific titles of the books we’ll use. I’ll periodically add to this list as we discover new lessons we’d like to learn. What are you doing for summer homeschooling?

On our way to Utah last month, we went through Southern Colorado to get to Mesa Verde National Park. The beauty of travel field trips is that you get to walk around and crawl into awesome spots that you’d otherwise only see in books. Mesa Verde is a perfect example of this. We visited Spruce Tree House, which (after the park entrance fee) is a free self-guided tour close to the museum.

The American Indians that lived here left more mysteries than they did answers, and archeologists still dig to find out what became of these people. Here the kids are using the grinding stones the Indians used to make flour. The sand in the stones mixed with the flour, abnormally grinding their teeth down with age.

Of course our kids had to test the foot and hand-holds that had been carved into the cliff face. These cliff dwellers must have had very strong and lithe bodies to climb the rock walls.

We even climbed down a ladder to enter a “kiva” built like a basement, and which housed the fire that would keep extended families warm throughout the winter. Spruce Tree House, the third largest cliff dwelling, was constructed between AD 1211 and 1278 by the ancestors of the Puebloan peoples of the Southwest. The dwelling contains about 130 rooms and 8 kivas (ceremonial chambers,) built into a natural cave measuring 216 feet wide. It is thought to have been home for about 80 people.

Southern Utah Series:
Bryce Canyon
ATV and Antelope
Zion National Park
Zion Canyon Family Adventure, Part II
ATV Trails
Mesa Verde, Colorado
Grand Canyon, Arizona

My girl had her first major haircut a few weeks ago. At age 12! She cut off a foot and donated it to Locks of Love.

Going…

going…

Gone!

Her hair was so long that it’s still long after removing a foot, but it was a big step for her. She’d thought about it for a long time before cutting it. Of course, I sniffled a bit with the last snip, but the most shocking part is that after the hairdresser cut a few layers, her light blond hair was totally gone. It’s darker now.

Some little girl is going to get some beautiful hair to use while she recovers from chemo…

Zion, Part One is here.

Once we reached the Zion Canyon floor, we found a place to park (difficult, even on a Tuesday in early April) and took a shuttle bus which would carry us to several stops along the Virgin River, which cuts through the Canyon.

While there are many beautiful hikes along the shuttle’s path, my husband and I knew which point would be the most memorable for our kids, since it was the reason we have always claimed Zion is our favorite national park in Utah: Hiking up the Virgin River to the Narrows.

Hiking the Narrows can be dangerous because of flooding — after a rain, the water rushes through the narrow canyon with such force that it can kill those who venture there. But there wasn’t any risk of rain, and although the river was higher than it was when I’d hiked it in the summer 20 years ago, what concerned me most was the frigid temperature. It couldn’t have been much above freezing.

But with a high of nearly 80-degrees air-temperature in the sun, the kids convinced us both we should go on the adventure that would surely create the most memorable journey of our entire trip. This well-worn path directly across from the starting point shows that many have hiked up the narrows. But at this time of year, most are wearing wetsuits.

We followed a pair of Germans as they zig-zagged across the river, so we could watch and see how difficult it might be (we ended up crossing three times up and three times back.) They’d gone without shoes and it seemed hard on their feet, so we left our hiking boots on, a risk to the boots, but not our soles. Although the rushing water reached just above our knees, it came with enough force that the kids were eager to hold Dad’s hands and cross together. As usual, I’m left behind taking photos of the backs of heads;)

A grand site, isn’t it? The only way to get the full magnificence of it is to hike into the Narrows.

As we returned to the starting point, we could see all the Zion visitors watching us. The German we’d followed up he river said,

“They are the tourists, we are the explorers!”

It’s a story our kids will tell their kids…

Southern Utah Series:
Bryce Canyon
ATV and Antelope
Zion National Park
Zion Canyon Family Adventure, Part II
ATV Trails
Mesa Verde, Colorado
Grand Canyon, Arizona

During our stay in Southern Utah last month, our cabin was located only about a half-hour’s drive from Zion National Park. This was by design, since it was our favorite stop two decades ago when my husband and I last visited the area.

These shots taken through the windows hardly do it justice, as we drove in toward the East entrance of the park. But clearly, the terrain looks much different from the rock formations we saw the day before at Bryce Canyon.

The kids liked the tunnels we went through on the way – this one was a short tunnel before the mile-long one that many visitors miss because they come by way of I-15, rather than State Road 89. We had to wait for a while before entering the mile-long tunnel because a motorhome was coming from the opposite direction, and was too wide to allow on-coming traffic.

After the tunnels, we seemed to go down, and down, and down. It’s understandable how they came to the term “Grand Staircase”. Zion is in the center, with it’s peak the altitude of the bottom of Bryce Canyon, and it’s canyon floor the highest altitude at the Grand Canyon.

Yes, we meandered down the canyon to the road wayyyy down there!

Be sure to stop by later this week to see photos in part two of our Zion National Park family adventure!!

Southern Utah Series:
Bryce Canyon
ATV and Antelope
Zion National Park
Zion Canyon Family Adventure, Part II
ATV Trails
Mesa Verde, Colorado
Grand Canyon, Arizona