Hi Friends!
I want to share something really fun today! This past month we have been doing the 30 day free trial of a new-to-us video platform called PureFlix! I really like that this platform offers faith based kids shows that I can't stream from Netflix or Hulu. They also have a whole page dedicated to homeschool resources!

In our new house we do not have a TV so we rely on watching shows on our laptops. We prefer this because we watch so much less TV than we did before and we can be more intentional with our choices when we choose to watch something. The other day I surprised the girls and set up the their play stand as a snuggly movie nook...

That is Claire's serious movie face. If the music is even mildly thematic she gets a little stressed. Movie watching is serious business! Haha! 

Don't forget the popcorn! 

While browsing options on the homeschool page on Pureflix.com, I had an idea to make a Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Match-up! Some weeks were harder to find something for than others! Some of these choices are a bit more than what my girls are ready for but they would be great for older students! 

Week 1- History: The 10 Commandments
Week 2- History: The 10 Commandments
Week 3- Timeline: Israelite Exodus and Desert Wandering- Moses
              Geography: Hebrew Empire- Nature of the Holy Land
Week 4- History: 7 Wonders- The Great Pyramids 
Week 5- Geography: Egyptian Empire- Egypt
              Science: Invertebrates- Metamorphosis: The Design and Beauty of Butterflies
Week 6- Science: Vertebrates- Creeping Things and Flight: The Genius of Birds
Week 7- History: Hinduism and Buddhism in India- India 
Week 8- Timeline: Augustine of Hippo- Catholic Heroes of the Faith: Augustine
Week 9- Geography: China- The Peoples Republic of China
Week 10- Timeline: East West Schism of the Church: Christian Story
Week 11- Geography: Byzantine Empire- The Travel Guy: Rome and Amalfi  and Athens, Greece
                Geography: Byzantine Empire- Drive Thru History: Ancient 
Week 12- Timeline: Marco Polo's Journey to China- Famous Explorers 
Week 13- Science: Geosphere- Awesome Science 
                Science: Geosphere- Xploration Awesome Planet 
Week 14- Timeline: Protestant Reformation- Martin! God Loves You
Week 15- Timeline: First Great Awakening- Great Awakening 
                 Timeline: Jamestown and Plymouth Colony Founded: Drive Thru History: America
Week 16- Science: Kinds of Volcanos: Fire Mountain: The Eruption and Rebirth of Mt. St. Helens
Week 17- Geography: Madagascar- Madagascar 
Week 18- Timeline: Darwin Published the Origin of Species- Evolution vs. God
                Science: Ocean Floor- Xploration Awesome Planet: Ocean Exploration
Week 19- Science: Ocean Zones- Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin
Week 20- Timeline: Billy Graham- Gathering of Souls: The Billy Graham Crusades
Week 21- Timeline: WW2- Corrie Ten Boom: A Faith Undefeated
Week 22- Timeline: M.L.K Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement-
                 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: A Historical Perspective 
                 Science: Weather Fronts- Xploration Awesome Planet: Extreme Weather
Week 23- Geography: South America (East)- Amazon: Secrets of the Golden River
                 Science: Clouds- Clouds
Week 24- The Presidents- The Presidents: From Politics to Power

Math Weeks 1-9: Learn Your Times Table

I have a dream of taking the girls backpacking in Europe after our last time through Cycle 2 (in 2023 😲) so we want to start learning a bit of French! Everyday Language Series: French 

There are so many options for Science! 

Curiosity Quest

Discover Science 

Do You Know? 

Kids Cooking for Kids

Inside Things

God of Wonders

LifePac: Science Experiments 

NASA: The Complete Story 

The Flood Geology 

PureFlix isn't just for kids! They have lots of movies including October Baby and Beyond the Mask! Beyond the Mask was made by a team of 400 homeschoolers! Check out Robert Bortins (CC's CEO) review of the movie! 

*Please note: It's summer and we are looking forward to Cycle 1 and not currently in it yet, so I have not previewed each of these movies. Please be sure to check that they meet your families entertainment standards and your childrens age appropriateness before watching anything from this list! Some of the videos that I selected are a bit above my girls level. 

You can try Pureflix.com for free for 30 days! 

Anacortes Getaway

This past week we went to Anacortes to attend a 3 day Classical Conversations Practicum. Anacortes isn't really that far away for us drive to each day, but I thought it would be really fun for the us to get a hotel with a pool and stay in Anacortes during the Practicum! Two of our CC friends also stayed at the same hotel! 

This years Practicum theme was Latin Grammar. Which I must confess is still a little bit over my head. I tend to view it as one of those things that I will tackle once we get there in the Challenge (Middle and High School) years. 

On our first day we were eating lunch outside and saw the most amazing rainbow that I have ever seen! The photos just don't do it justice! It actually had a double rainbow portion too! 

At bedtime our first night we read from our current read aloud (The Wind in the Willows), read a few devotions from Indescribable: 100 Devotions for kids about God and Science, then watched Youtube videos about some of the cool creatures and things mentioned like the Mantis Shrimp, Blob Fish, Corpse Flower, the biggest flower in the world, and videos about baby sloths getting potty trained. It was a really sweet night with my girls that ended in independent reading time by flashlight. 

Pool time! The second day of Practicum the Agnew girls came back to our hotel to swim in the pool! 

After pool time we headed to dinner with the Siedenburgs to a yummy Seafood and Chowder restaurant...

After dinner we drove out to Cap Sante Point to let the kiddos burn off some energy! The view is so gorgeous and the kids loved climbing on the rocks... 

Okay everyone look directly at the sun and smile! 🤣🤣🤣

They saw an eagle...

This was by far the smallest Practicum that I have ever attended. It gives me hope that next year I can plan one for our city! I always thought they had to be hosted by huge churches! 

The girls loved this surprise left by the hotel... 

 I also want to add that while our hotel was not fancy nor was their continental breakfast fancy, they did offer homemade granola and homemade overnight oats parfaits that were topped with that granola and were super delicious! 

Bookstore time at Practicum is my favorite. I love this sweet little homeschooling book called Lily Stays for School. Claire LOVE LOVES it and has read it to me over and over again! I wish we had this book when we first started our homeschool journey! 

Day three the campers come in and show all of us parents what they learned over the week! 

The evening of day 3, Daddy came to stay in the hotel with us! We loved Cap Sante Point so much the night before that we had to take him there to do some more exploring with us! 

CC is over for the summer, now what?!

This motley selection of pictures is all that I captured at our end of the year ceremony for CC this year...

Crazy {excited, nervous about talking in front of so many people, excited} Director with balloons...

How cute are these {2 Helium HE 4} Periodic Table balloons?! 

I just had to order them since we memorized the first 12 elements in the Periodic Table this year! 

Since Cycle 3 has an American history focus we set up a patriotic photo booth! 

My sweet girls! They put up with a lot being the Director's kids! 

My awesome tutor team! These ladies are the best! 

So, now that CC is over for the summer are we done with homeschool for the summer too? 

NOPE! 

We are going to continue with school through the summer and hopefully catch up on a few things that we missed during the CC year because I was preoccupied with CC things. Our days also just seem to flow better when we have a rhythm! I am constantly changing up our school days to see how they best work for us and right now I am trying out a Monday-Thursday rhythm of protecting our "school hours" by not planning any playdates, appointments, or grocery shopping trips during that time. Fridays are for nature walks, friend playdates, and going out to have lunches with Daddy at work. We have also finally honed in on a good morning time routine! I'll share more details about morning time and what curriculums we are using in my next post! 

We are actually doing more school now than we were during the CC year! I have taken the month of May completely off from all CC Director duties. I even set up an auto reply on my CC email and had Brian change my Facebook password so that I wouldn't be tempted by all my CC groups on there. I have been doing a bit of planning for next year for the girls. As a CC Director 

I spend a lot of time planning for other peoples children (and my own since they are in the program) but it has been so nice to take this month and be solely dedicated to planning for my own kids. If you are a CC Director, I HIGHLY recommend that you implement a month off after CC finishes! It has definitely saved me from being burnt out and I feel ready and excited to tackle the upcoming year... in June of course! :)