Special Discount on My Gym in Lake Mary

My Gym in Lake Mary is offering a Groupon today that is good for up to 74% off regular prices! The two Groupon options include:

- $39 for a kids’ fitness package for one child (a $150 total value)
- $69 for a kids’ fitness package for two children (a $225 total value)

Each package includes the $75 registration fee plus a four-week membership with one weekly class and unlimited members-only free-play sessions (a $75 value/child).

In case you're not already familiar with My Gym, the facility offers active classes for kids 6 months through 9 years to develop coordination, motor and basic sports skills in a fun, play-based environment.

SPARK Lake Mary Grand Opening / Open House

SPARK Lake Mary Open House

Join SPARK on Saturday, November 3rd from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to celebrate the opening of SPARK Lake Mary!!!

~ Free sample art, science and voice classes ~
~ Instrument petting zoo featuring drums, piano, guitar and more ~
~ Free chair massages for parents ~
~ Used curriculum sale for homeschoolers ~
~ Food, fun and raffle prizes for everyone ~

Raffle prizes will include massages, jewelry, spa products, health/wellness products, gift cards & more! Get a raffle ticket just for coming and earn extra by RSVPing on Facebook, sharing on your Facebook wall and bringing friends to the event!

SPARK offers a wide variety of innovative enrichment offerings, including music/voice lessons, after school care, preschool classes, homeschool classes and camps. Current enrichment classes at our Lake Mary location include art, drawing, voice, drama and science lab.

After school pickup currently available from Heathrow Elementary, Lake Mary Elementary and Galileo School for Gifted Learning (others available on request).

Music lessons available for piano, guitar, drums, violin, saxophone, voice and more!

This is a free event, but please click here to RSVP so we know how many people to expect.

SPARK Lake Mary
100 Waymont Court #110, Lake Mary, FL 32746
www.sparkec.net

Homeschool Open House at SPARK!

SPARK Family Enrichment Center will be hosting an open house on Friday, August 17th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. 

Kids can preview some SPARK classes while parents meet the instructors and learn what is planned for the upcoming year for the existing Winter Springs location and the new Lake Mary location that opens on September 4th.

For those interested in music lessons, the event will also feature an instrument petting zoo so students can try out different instruments and meet several of SPARK's music instructors.

While the kids are busy having fun, moms will enjoy free chair massages by Motherlove Massage and great raffle prizes including gift cards, free SPARK classes and prizes from Usborne Books, Jewel Kade, Gifts for My Mom, Close to My Heart and more!

SPARK will also be offering exclusive specials on fall classes. There is no cost to attend the open house, but they are asking for RSVP's so they can know how many families to expect. RSVP here, then check out their fall homeschool schedules for Winter Springs and Lake Mary.

SPARK offers homeschool enrichment classes for all age groups - including elementary, middle and high school - along with music lessons and private tutoring. They also have a Facebook group just for homeschoolers to share ideas and get the latest info on SPARK classes.

Summer on the Cheap

As hard as it is to believe that summer is nearly here, we are winding up our school year and making plans for some down time in the next few months. Since many others are as well, I thought I'd share a great guide that my friend Regina put together in preparation for the launch of her upcoming blog, Motherhood University.

If you're looking for ideas that are big on fun but easy on your wallet, check out Summer on the Cheap, a comprehensive guide to inexpensive summer activities in Central Florida. Each section covers a different type of activity, including indoor/outdoor, educational, museums, recreation, arts/crafts, dining, VBS, classes and summer fun at home.

To receive your FREE copy of Summer on the Cheap, send your e-mail address to MotherhoodU@gmail.com or enter it on the Motherhood University website.

Homeschool Geography Fair

The kids participated in a geography fair with our homeschool group earlier this month. We almost passed on the event only because I had just enough time to finish our regular curriculum by the end of the month and didn't want to get behind. But in the end, I opted to throw the schedule out the window in favor of a (virtual) trip around the world.

It turned out to be a great decision, because this ended up being one of our favorite projects of the year! Noah opted to learn about France, while Ava chose to study Morocco. Here's what we did . . . 

Our first project was to make a flag for each country, and I found this fun collage art project. Here's how they turned out:

Noah's Flag of France:

 

Ava's Flag of Morocco:

 

Next, we moved on to making a salt dough map of each country. This took a few days, during which I heard the sentence "This is the best day of school ever!" quite often. I have to admit, it was a super-fun project!!! I'm going to do a separate post on the process, but here are the results:

Map of France:

  

Map of Morocco:

 

Next, we started working on our display boards. Here's what they included:

France: collage flag, facts about the flag, Tour de France info & pictures, detailed map and location on world map, fun facts about France, French landmarks, French products, French language and pictures of the geographic diversity of France. My mom is a photographer and has traveled extensively throughout France, so it was cool to be able to use so many of her original photos to show France's geography.

 Morocco: collage flag, facts about the flag, fun facts about Morocco, detailed map, location on world map and map of Africa, info on the Strait of Gibraltar (including a picture of Ava's dad sailing through it!), her interview with a friend who is from Morocco, the Arabic alphabet (and the phrase "Ava welcomes you to Morocco" written in both English and Arabic) and some pictures from our visit to Casablanca.

Noah loves to build, so he found tiny building kits for the Eiffel Tower and Mont Saint-Michel. I promised to buy them as long as he wrote a paragraph about each landmark. Once that was complete, he selected one of Grandma's photos of each, and I Photoshopped his paragraph onto it. We printed them out and displayed them next to the models he built.

Eiffel Tower:

 

Mont Saint-Michel:

 

A few days before the fair, we took a trip to EPCOT so each of the kids could visit their countries. They each introduced themselves to a cast member (Noah used his tiny bit of French) and asked a few questions about that country. Noah bought himself a beret, and Ava joined in with the bellydancer to show off her shimmy.

Noah in France:

Ava in Morocco:

 

 Finally, the kids each made a dish of food from their country to share at the fair. Noah became quite the pro with the crepe pan, and Ava loved her couscous:

French crepes:

 

Moroccan couscous:

The day of the fair, the kids dressed the part! 

France: Noah wore the Tour de France T-shirt Grandma brought back when she caught the last stage of the tour in 2010 (along with his EPCOT beret). 

 Morocco: Ava wore a bellydance costume from her most recent performance:

At the fair, the kids shared what they learned and took a "trip around the world", getting stamps in their passports from each of the other countries represented. 

Currently, they are both already planning for next year's fair!!!

Dr. Jane Goodall in Orlando

World-renowned conservationist, Dr. Jane Goodall, will be speaking at Rollins College next Thursday, April 19th from 7:30PM to 9:00PM at the Alfond Sports Center.

From the event website:

"In her speech, Making a Difference, Dr. Jane Goodall, will bring her audience into the world of the Gombe chimpanzees, from her early observations and experiences to the latest news and stories from the field. She will also discuss the current threats facing the planet and her reasons for hope in these complex times, encouraging everyone to do their part to make a positive difference each and every day."

Dr. Goodall's visit coincides with the release of Disney's new nature film, CHIMPANZEE. Visit her website to view the movie trailer and download the CHIMPANZEE Educator's Guide, which includes over 100 pages of lessons and activities targeted to grades 2 through 6. These lessons explore the topics of biodiversity, living things, ecosystems and the environment with interactive  audio and video clips from the film.

Awesome Art

My youngest seems to be a budding artist and especially loves getting creative with clay. She's been taking weekly art classes at SPARK Family Enrichment Center for a few months, and it's so much fun to see what projects she comes home with each week. The theme for the past six weeks has been Animals Around the World, and this is her cat sculpture from the final week.