This was a bonus week... kind of like that extra donut in a baker's dozen. We requested another week off before our in-home teachers return to have a couple of last hurrahs.
1) Two sleepovers for Big Girl
2) Kings Island for everyone plus extended family
3) Golf for Craig, Middle Kid and Uncle J
4) Errands, errands, errands
And now it's time...
As summer is winding down, we had a quiet week...
1) Kings Island for Middle Kid, Little One and dad
2) Oma's return to Europe
3) Prepping for vacation
4) Summer salsa and bread and butter pickles
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The following referrals were issued by the IAC in Bulgaria on May 9, 2023 in IAC Session 582:
1) US dossier from January 2015 referred a female child aged 1 year and 1 month with features in health status and a family history
2) US dossier from March 2018 referred a male child aged 3 years and 10 months with features in health status
3) US dossier from December 2021 referred a male child aged 2 years and 4 months with features in health status
4) Italian dossier from April 2023 referred three sisters aged 5 years and 4 months, 6 years and 9 months & 10 years and 7 months with features in health status and a family history
5) US dossier from May 2023 referred an identified waiting child
6) US dossier from May 2023 referred an identified waiting child
The following referrals were issued by the IAC in Bulgaria on May 16, 2023 in IAC Session 583:
1) German dossier from March 2016 referred a male child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status and a family history
2) Italian dossier from January 2020 referred tow brothers aged 8 years and 8 months and 7 years and 7 months
3) US dossier from March 2023 referred a male child aged 2 years and 7 months with features in health status
The following referrals were issued by the IAC in Bulgaria on May 26, 2023 in IAC Session 584:
1) Italian dossier from November 2015 referred two sisters aged 8 years and 4 months and 7 years and 4 months
2) Italian dossier from April 2016 referred two brothers aged 3 years and 3 months and 4 years and 11 months
3) Canadian dossier from August 2022 referred a male child aged 5 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history
4) Italian dossier from November 2022 referred an identified waiting child
5) US dossier from May 2023 referred a female child aged 16 years and 10 months.
1) Kings Island for Middle Kid and Little One with dad
2) Hiking and dinner with friends in Kentucky
3) A paid mother's helper gig for Big Girl assisting a friend with her 6 yo during the final weeks of another pregnancy
4) Golf for just Craig
5) Golf for Big Girl, Middle Kid and dad
6) Potato digging at a local farm for all
We're well over the mid-summer hump, but still going strong.
1) Kings Island for Little One and Middle Kid plus dad
2) Take Your Child to Work Day for the girls plus dad
3) Pickleball and lunch with grandpa for Middle Kid and dad
4) Cincinnati Reds game for both grandmas, the girls and Craig
The Ohio school year runs from July 1 to June 30, so our annual 900 required home education hours fall into this span... which means that Big Girl's high school U.S. Literature class with me has begun. I won't make any promises about posting everything we do in this class, but here's what happened in July thus far. I told her it was a warm-up.
Big Girl read The Giver by Lois Lowry and kept a list of words specific to the community described in this novel as well as some notes on theme(s). When she had finished the reading, we discussed The Giver in general and her assignment in particular.
Further joint discussion centered on a variety of topics including utopia vs dystopia, infanticide, euthanasia, active vs static characters, external and internal conflicts, euphemisms, open/ambiguous endings, and the themes of sameness vs individuality and conformity vs self-expression.
Next, Big Girl was assigned an essay. She had two topics from which to choose and decided to discuss whether the role of Receiver of Memories was an honor or punishment for Jonas. The essay went through three independent drafts which we reviewed together each time. The final essay will be added to her home school portfolio.
As a last discussion, Big Girl and I tried to find some parallels between Nazi Germany under Hitler and the dystopian community in the novel. We closed out our July warm-up by watching the 2014 movie version of The Giver and talking about how it compares to the book.
(Home education hours logged for this unit: 17)
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