Ahhh school is starting....

I guess you could say that the next school year is upon us. Its hard for me to go along with this since I don't really take an official break from homeschooling in the summer. But alas, it is time to be more structured in the learning instead of the allowance of the reading of fluffy candy books all day. Although, it will really be hard to put down those fluffy books. (I finished Austinland the other day..what a delightful story! Nothing substantial in it, but it was a yummy book. I just downloaded book 2 the other day. But I won't read it during school time, I promise!! at least I'll try not to.)

 To start things off this week I gave James a challenge. I gave him a package of straws and a roll of tape. Then we brought out the BIG Shakespeare book. The challenge was to have him build a structure that would support the BIG Shakespeare book. However, he could only use the straws and tape.

 The purpose of this exercise is to help him learn how to think outside of the box. Any kind of structure won't work. He had to fail and try a few different ways to finally get it to work.

 And it did work!!!

 When I raised the ante and added the GIGANTIC green dictionary, the structure didn't hold. We ran out of time that day, but I know if I give him that challenge again he would figure it out.

 For Luke, I dragged him to a town hall meeting with Senator Mike Lee. I'm a big fan of Mike Lee. He knows the constitution and was even quoting it that night. He had some great ideas on how to get the economy going and to get the budget balanced.

 Afterwards, Luke wanted to ask him some questions. So he did! There were many people there wanting the senator's attention. Luke asked his questions and they were answered very well. Luke has mentioned that he aspires to be a constitutional lawyer, and if this is what he chooses, then he met some great people that night that gave him a good idea of what to do to get there.

These are the books that Luke has chosen to read/study before Christmas break. He has his work cut out for him, but I'm excited to see what his brain comes up with! Woo!