The Start of the Summer Degree Program

So I put together a Summer Degree Program for the boys to do this break.  It's just a little something my mom did for us when I was young that proves she was one great mom!   It's a packet of 'degrees' they can earn like Art, Music, Science, History, etc.  There are so many challenges, required and optional, they pick from to finish the degree and earn a prize.

So, to start, the boys chose 'Engineering and Architecture' and "Physical Education."  We spent two weeks with library books on both subjects and we played at the Rec Center playing wallyball, racket ball and doing swimming lessons.  We also played tennis, frisbee golf,  ran a mile on the tread mill, played catch, went to Jordan's baseball game and had some fun!

For Engineering, the boys studied up on different styles of architecture, identified them around town, looked up famous buildings and built lots of stuff out of various mediums.

Hyrum started out with this lovely detailed castle complete with garden, drawbridge and canons.

He found a picture of a mosaic pathway and recreated it with foam squares, made clay statues, a bird bath and waterfall plus little trees and plants around. He was very proud of it!

Weston created a roly poly park with a slide, monkey bars, swings, a spinner, plants and even covered the outside walls with colored tiles.  Then he caught some potato bugs to play on it.  They were satisfied with the work, I think. 

Our next building project was taken from one of my favorite memories- when my mom had Wendy, Grandma Norviel came to stay with us.  One day, she broke out a box of matches for us to build cabins and teepees in the sand box. Then we burned them down- how fun is that?   So, I gave the kids some matches and said- "go burn stuff!"

Here's an example of what we built.

 The construction crew at work in the desert.

And burn it down!  If you ever need something to keep some kids entertained, this one comes highly recommended. :) 

 Next project was designing marble slides.  After a whole roll of masking tape and many different designs, this is Weston's creation:

They also drew blueprints of what they want their houses to include inside (Weston's imagination takes over with projects like this!)

So far, it's been fun!  Next couple weeks is Art school...