Day 4 / 103 - Ballet Boot Camp

In January of this year we began looking for a dance school here in Beckley.  My daughter had had a six month hiatus from dance and was once again eager to don her dancing shoes.  After asking around, I was introduced to Jerry Rose's Dance Theatre School.  After our first visit, I knew that we had stumbled in to a goldmine.  Hands down, this is the best dance school I have ever come across!  Mr. Rose, and his wife, were both former professional dancers who have brought their skill and talent to their hometown of Beckley.  His resume is impressive.  They have trained countless dancers who have gone on to perform professionally all over the world.   I am so thrilled for the little amount of time my daughter will get to be a part of this school.

Last weekend, Dance Theatre School hosted a Ballet Boot Camp, an annual training camp with guest faculty from several professional ballet companies across the nation and students from a five state area.  My daughter was eager to attend and spent an intense seven hours each day improving her dance techniques and refining her skills.  She loved it!  Another high point for her this summer has been the purchase of her first pair of pointe shoes and learning to dance on her toes.

I'm assuming this will not be our first post about Dance Theatre School, because we are looking forward to being even more involved with their programs this upcoming school year.

Day 3 / 103 - Duct Tape DS Case

I'm beginning to think I could label this summer as "The Summer of Duct Tape".  My children have been fascinated with it, and have created with it, for some time.  But this summer, they've taken their duct-tape-creativity skills to a new level.  They are spending time making more day-to-day useable items, like this DS case my son crafted last week.

Day 2 / 103 - Trigonometry Camp

I feel as though I should start this post with a joke about homeschoolers spending their summer breaks attending math camp.  :)

Last week I was part of a Classical Conversations Parent Practicum where I helped align parents and new CC tutors to the classical model of education and helped equip them with our organizational methods.  As I spent my days with the adults, my children spent their days in Trig Camp.

Granted, my children are 11 and 9, so they did not walk away from a three day camp with a course credit in Trigonometry.  They did, however, become well versed in some of the terms needed to understand the concept, and could now quickly define for you sine, cosine, hypotenuse, or the Pythagorean Theorem.  They played many games to practice their math skills.  Above all, they left with a desire to learn more about the subject, which is how I define true educational success.

Day 1 / 103 - Camp Powhatan

July 1st seems like the perfect day to begin recording our home education activities for the 2013 - 2014 school year.

Our son just returned from a week at Camp Powhatan, a Boy Scout camp located about 100 miles south of Beckley in Virginia.  He spent a full week at the camp, and it was his first time at an overnight camp.  Aside from letters, we had no contact with him the entire week.

Needless to say, he loved his time there.  He was the youngest scout from his troop attending camp.  When we dropped him off, he seemed quite nervous.  However, like the outcome of most summer camp stories, when we visited him at the end of the week, he did not want to leave.

While at camp, he was part of the Brownsea Island Adventure program which is designed to help younger Scouts learn the patrol method and develop basic Scout skills.  He learned essentials of Scouting (knots, first aid, survival, etc.) and completed many of the requirements that will advance him in rank through interactive lessons and daily competitions. 

He said his favorite time was always in the evenings where large pick-up games would occur -- soccer, ultimate frisbee, and capture the flag.  We picked him up Saturday morning, and he has spent the past two days catching up on sleep.