Weekly Wrap Up – The One Where the Kids Go To College

Yep, you read that right, college.   Our local community college has a summer youth program called “Learning Can Be Fun”.   There are various classes, topics etc.  Each set of classes last Monday through Friday for one week, for 4 hours a day.   (Older kids have the option of all day classes.) Olivia and Lindsey both received scholarships to attend this year and they had a wonderful time.

The first day of college….Lindsey looks a little TOO ready to join a sorority don’t you think?

Olivia’s class was “Pioneers and Prairies”, based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life.  I was really impressed on day one to see her instructor dressed in a handmade outfit that would have been pretty standard on the prairie.  (And NO I didn’t have my camera.)  Olivia learned what pioneers families experienced as they traveled across the frontier, homesteading new territories, farming the prairie land and settling towns and cities.

During the week, the class made a log cabin from pretzel rods and peanut butter, an apple pomander with LOTS of cloves, corncob dolls, bead necklaces and paper dolls (Sunbonnet Sue and Sunbonnet Sam).   They also learned to play old fashioned games, like hide the thimble, hopscotch and storytelling.   There was a taste test of period foods as well; and we all know how Olivia is with new foods, ‘nuff said.

 

Lindsey’s class was “See It, Sing It, Sign It”.   The class description asked “do you like to let your imagination run wild?”   So I knew this was the right class for her.  Using familiar stories, the kids painted props, sang crazy related songs, learned sign language and then acted out specific parts of their story.  The goal was to develop a love for storytelling. 

The class worked on learning the sign language alphabet.  Each child made their own ABC/sign language poster using a stamp set.  They also made t-shirts with their names in sign language.

On the last day of class, the group did several songs in sign language, and performed 4 little mini-plays.  “The Three Little Pigs”, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, “Five Little Ducks” and “Billy Goats Gruff”.   Lindsey had acting parts in the first three plays and was the narrator of play number 4.  Unfortunately, we had to divide and conquer, so I didn’t get to see any of these.  The husband did take photos, on our old camera…but I can’t download them for your viewing pleasure.

But here is a sneak peak from earlier in the week.

Thursday night, I helped the girls to make thank you cards for their instructors.  They enjoyed themselves, and the instructors seemed quite pleased with their little treasures as well.

Early in the week we participated in the Celebrate Urban Birds study hosted by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.  To read more about our experience, and to get information on how you can participate, click here. 

We also went to a minor league baseball game here in town.  Olivia was greatly annoyed to learn that there were no girls on the team.  So it gave me a good lead-in to explain why I’m moving her from baseball to softball in the spring.   If I can’t get “Coach David” to move to softball, we may have a mutiny on our hands! 

Be sure to visit the Weekly Wrap Up!