Kid update - July 20

Wild Man has been taking swimming lessons for the last week and has two weeks left to go. He was going to repeat Level 2 again since he wasn't real comfortable in the deeper water at the end of last year's lessons. This year, though, they moved him to Level 3 on the second day. A few days ago, he tested for the lifeguard to be able to swim on his own in the deep water and go off the diving board. Now, his entire swimming experience is jumping off the diving board and swimming back to the side. He loves the jumping!!

Ga'hoole Girl took summer dance this last week. She had jazz for 45 minutes, a 45 minute break (because she didn't want to do ballet), and then tap for 45 minutes. The turnout wasn't great this year, but it ended up being good for Ga'hoole Girl. Her jazz class was just her and a 17 year old boy. By the end of the week, they were learning to do lifts together. She was also the youngest in her tap class - but definitely one of the better tappers. She had a blast in her classes, but has been exhausted all week. The whole family went last night for their open house and enjoyed watching the classes and watching the kids learning new combinations. Next semester, Ga'hoole Girl is ready to move up to the teenage tap class - EEK!

So, this week is more swim lessons for Wild Man. He and I are also going to get serious again about reading and spelling. Ga'hoole Girl will be going to GirlTech, a morning day camp at Fox Valley Tech where she will get to do everything from learning basic welding, to computer animation, to lean production design. The camp is designed to help middle school girls experience technical career-type activities. Besides that, I imagine both kids will want to spend some serious time at the pool.

In August, we start our study of the Olympics - ancient and modern. We are going to add in some geography study by studying the countries that the athletes are from. I'm ordering our DVR tomorrow and hoping we get it in time for the Olympics. We will also continue our Sonlight work, Wild Man's physics book and electricity experiments, and start Ga'hoole Girl's Food Science course. Of course, the third week of August is the Fair, so we'll have to take a few hours each day to go see the exhibits and ride some rides! It looks to be a fun rest of the summer.