Cave Adventure

This past week we had the awesome opportunity to take a tour of a cave on the Yokosuka Naval Base. It is a man made cave, built in WW2 by prisoners of the Japanese. Squidward and the Princess loved their little headlamps I got them and Zombie Boy led the way as the oldest child in our group. The cave is a huge underground maze, very cold and quite creepy. There were many Geji-Geji bugs (the creepy Japanese bug that are long with many long legs) but overall it was a great and educational experience. I couldn't imagine having to work and live down there! This has now sparked an interest in caves in my children and it looks like we might be doing a summer unit study on caves... that is, if I can find some for us to visit in Japan :) This Military homeschooling family loves adventure!

We are on the downswing of school this year. After getting our standardized testing results, we haven't been doing as much since all three kids are at or exceeding their grade level goals. Over the summer, I want to refocus on unit studying. I love unit studies because the kids learn so much without even realizing they are "in school"!  Caves are number one on our list and we are still thinking of what else to do. I was thinking about possibly something fishing or water related since that is such a big industry here in Japan. I just want to put away the books for awhile and have fun! We studied hard this year- schooling though our move as well as the holidays and I think we all deserve some free time.

I have also been researching different avenues of learning for Zombie. This upcoming year will be his eighth grade year and then he will be a high schooler! There aren't as many resources for this age for homeschooling so I am not sure what route we will go down. I have considered a distance learning school and asking him if he would like to take extra curricular classes or sports though the base high school. I just want to be sure that he has every opportunity as other kids without sacrificing his happiness of being home. As long as he is learning, given support for increased responsibility, and has assistance with big things like SAT writing help then I am happy. Thank goodness I still have time to think about all of this and come up with a plan!