Beach Camping

Every Wednesday for the last 6 weeks I have been doing an outdoors class with CHAT. These classes are used as incentives for kids who participate in our reading program. Last weekend our class culminated with a trip to False Cape state park where we used the skills we had learned in our class.We packed back packs and went on

our way planning to spend two nights camping out on the beach. Arriving after dark we ran into some trouble getting into the state park and ended up just sleeping out in sand dunes. The weather was relatively nice so even though we had practiced setting up tents in the class we didn't even use them.

I was impressed with all the kids for not complaining even though we asked them to sleep on sand without tents. The night got pretty cold and wet with the dew but the sunrise over the ocean was well worth it the following morning.

In the morning we had the kids cook

pancakes on camping stoves which was something else we had practiced

in our class. Although the first few tries were rough I was surprised that

by the end these mostly middle

schoolers could make a pretty good looking pancake.

After breakfast we got all our gear loaded up and went for a hike.After breakfast we got all our gear loaded up and went for a hike down the beach. Thankfully we had beautiful weather. I even got to take a little swim.

We walked about 6 miles that day, which was a huge accomplishment for some of the kids. I think it was the farthest they had ever walked in one day. This time we made it to the state park and spent the night again sleeping on sand under the stars.

The kids had a great time. They don't get many chances to go somewhere to just have fun for a whole weekend. And with 4 chaperons and 6 kids they all get individual attention which they so desperately crave.

I was thankful for the opportunity to go but the weekend but the weekend really wore me out so i couldn't help cathing a few zzz's on the way home.

Halloween celebration

For Halloween we had a big neighborhood party.

There were carnival type games in our backyard ( to the left) where you could win candy.

I spent most of the night in our haunted house. We transformed our basement into a pretty horrifying haunted house. I have never heard so many kids cry before, but they really l

iked it. They like to claim afterwards they they were never scared even though they were screaming in fear. Here are two kids running out they were so afraid.

Kids inside enjoyed face painting and arts and crafts

with cupcakes and cookies.

Overall a great Halloween celebration

Pumpkin Experimnents at CHA

The day before Halloween and lab day at Church Hill Academy we couldn't resist doing experiments with pumpkins, here is the grand finale.

A few students were very interested in this chemical reaction and asked if it would work inside a car gas tank. I am hoping that experiments like this will get them interested in science, but some of them may be too interested now.