Last Day of school

The foundations group for Ft. Myers Classical Conversations

Yesterday was our last day of CC for this school year.  It was bittersweet.  Nicole really enjoys going to school every Tuesday. She always wakes up, runs out of her room and yells "It's school daaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!"

We are leaving our sweet group next year and joining a new group much closer to home.  It was a difficult decision that I labored over for nearly 2 months.  I really enjoy the people in our group but it just made more sense to be in the group that is literally minutes from our house.  And....right now, I have plans to tutor next year.  That will be exciting.

Back to yesterday.  Unlike most schools, the last day went just like normal.  We went through all of our typical schedule.  Mr. Jackson introduced new material, the kids played games and learned new movements, and we had the grande finale science experiment.

Mr. Jackson teaching the kids their science memory work

Nicole is writing a "V" for volts

Learning their history sentence

For the past three weeks, the students have been paired up and they have been working on an egg protector.  They could use up to 50 Popsicle sticks, 12 napkins, and 20 rubber bands.  As a team they came up with a plan and design to make a contraption to keep their egg from breaking when dropped from ten feet high.

Nicole and Anders working on their egg protector

 Nicole worked with a little boys named Anders in her class.  I helped guide them as they got started last week (both missed the first week of this experiment, so they had to work fast).  They built two small triangles about 5 Popsicle sticks high.  then they wrapped their egg in all of the napkins allotted to them, gently placed it between to the two triangular pieces and held the top and bottom on by a bunch of rubber bands.

Nicole and Anders

Dropping their egg from 10 feet high

Did it break?

What do you think?  Do you think their egg broke?

Patiently waiting to see if it broke

Nope...it sure didn't!  It was kept perfectly safe.

NOOO...it didn't!  They built a great protector.

They were excited!

As a reward, they got to pick a piece of candy and an Easter egg out of a gift bag (I  just want to note that I did NOT steal her candy!  I did take a bite of the chocolate bunny...but it was with her permission.  I must have a bad reputation when that is the first question the grandparents ask when they find out Nicole wins chocolate:).

We had a pot luck buffet lunch as celebration.  Then, after lunch, we were all invited to stay and listen to the older group, Essentials, do their final presentations.  Essentials is a writing program for ages 9-12.  This year, they each picked a famous person that lived during the mid-evil times, researched that person and then tried to dress like them and do a 5 minute presentation about their person.  They did a wonderful job!  I learned so much about people we mentioned in history sentences this year but did not know their story.  It was so encouraging to see these young people do such a wonderful job researching and presenting their person.

The Essentials group before their presentations

It has been a great first year of Classical Conversations.  I am happy we were able to be a part of the Ft. Myers group.  We will miss our friends our next year, however it will be exciting to make new friends again. 

Nicole's little friends- Rebecca, Abigail, Ruby and Nicole (and Banner, Ruby's brother:)

We are not finished learning though!  I am exciting for this summer. We will be finishing the My Father's World curriculum that we started in the fall but put on hold through CC time.  This will be a fun, lighthearted study that I know even Hannah will enjoy.  I hope I can write one post a week on our adventures through My Father's World.  Until then...

Grace and Peace.