last day of summer school

Yesterday was the girls' last day of Summer School. I had signed them up back in April, and then as our summer schedule seemed to be filling up too quickly, I almost cancelled, but it turned out to be a really good thing that we stuck with the plan. The girls each loved the two classes they took.

Alyssa took an awesome US History class, called From the Sugar Act to the Constitution. I love History, and it was very cool to see her so excited about this class! On their last day of class, the students performed a skit.

She played the role of horseman alerting the colonists of the British arrival in one scene, and Molly Pitcher in another.



I loved the props and signs they made!



Alyssa's History teacher was really nice, she made the class so fun for them! Alyssa's second class was a Public Speaking class, that she also loved. She worked on putting together both a prose and poetry piece, and got to create a funny infomercial with a group. It made her interested in joining a Forensics Team next year in Middle school, which we have come to find out that if we lived in just about any other part of the country, it would be called a Debate Club or team.



I thought Alyssa looked like Raggedy Ann in this costume. I don't have any summer school pics of the younger girls because their classes didn't have an open house on the last day like both of Alyssa's did. They came running up to me with the tie dyed shirts they made in Art and Rebekah's was still dripping wet with dye. Both Emma and Rebekah took an art class, Emma also had Problem Solving and Critical Thinking (a lot of Math games), and Rebekah had Getting Ready for Kindergarten. They were all great classes.

Sometimes I feel kind of mean for making them go to summer school, but we have always thought that summer is such an important time for the girls to take the German language stuff they learn all school year and apply it to English. This has been especially true for Rebekah this summer, throughout summer school and also just in our day to day activities. She has come home from summer school telling me about a story she heard that morning in English and tell me, "Guess what, I know this one in German too!" Learning a second language at such a young age has been an amazing opportunity for the girls, but from time to time, I get the feeling that small portions can get lost in translation. The classes that they take in the summer are much more laid back than regular school year work and especially as they have gotten older, the class options are a lot more fun. Best of all, I love seeing the girls making connections between the two languages as they experience school in a completely different setting.