Bud has been in a homeschool chess clue that he absolutely loves. We tried for year to put him in the schools clubs but the area we were in showed little no interest. When we began to homeschool and heard of Coach Phil doing everything online we were a go. It's been interesting to watch him learn to lose. His first semester in he was lacking skill and foresight and lost most of his games. I was afraid that this would discourage him but he pressed on, borrowing books from the library, doing extra lessons on chess.com. Slowly he got better and won his first tournament. Coach Phil actually lives just 20 min from us so he brought the trophy over personally and they played a game. Bud was thrilled beyond measure since it motivated him to clean the house like he has never done before!
Bug loves art and had a hankering to go. Thankfully they have a day free of charge on the second Saturdays of every month. Along with it seeing the museum's exhibits they have art stations where the children can try their hand mimicking some of the work they see. Pumpkin came along and had a blast doing her own artwork. Bug enjoyed it too but was dying to spend some time gazing at the art around her but Punpkin was impatient to keep moving on. The West Valley Homeschool have organized a field trip to their with docents to accompany us. I have the three other munchkins farmed out and hope to go with my girl and fill her love of art.
Pizza Hut has a program for homeschoolers as they complete their personal reading goals the kids can earn a free personal pan pizza every month. For Bud who devours books like candy I required him to read biographies or history. He grumbled his complaints but was almost always drawn into the stories of characters like Benjamin Franklin or the horrors of Pompeii.
I love how Bubby snuggles with our respite Mary.
The coop continues to be lots of fun and when we had our spring break the kids missed their friends a great deal.
The Peoria library had a ladybug release day which we managed to attend along with hitting the free first day of spring promotionals. Bubby was thrilled to eat ice cream two times a day and practically inhaled them. The other kids enjoyed it more slowly as they watched the ladybugs we brought back home clear out of aphids. They've checked almost every morning, hoping they'd stay.
AZ Fish and Game had an expo that we decided to attend. Bud was particularly keen on doing some archery. The girls loved the tent with all the skins of many animals with models of their skulls.
We found a deal on Groupon for a kids riding camp at the Witte Stable for Arabian horses. We jumped on the deal and since our schedule is so open we took whatever day they had open. Bug was ecstatic! You could tell that a few of the kids came from wealthy families and were repeat visitors and while we can't afford to do this regularly, Bug treasured the experience and the memories.
While she was off having her fun I took the other three to a lunch out at Culvers!
