May was for Play!

Can May really be over? The weather's been teasing me; if it's almost June, shouldn't it be hot already?? (Not that I'm complaining!)

We began the month with our last Homeschool Skate Day of the year. They'll do one more, but we'll be at Vacation Bible School next week. It's been so nice to see this event grow in our community! We're really grateful for supportive local business owners!

A new geography puzzle kept 'em busy one morning... 

A solar car kit was a birthday present. Eldest was quite focused on the technical construction. It worked -- the wheels spin as long as it's in the sun!

Sometimes we just lie around reading. Even Littlest picked out a chapter book at the library to "read" to himself. (He's also starting to read to me from the Bob Books!)

And then there was the obstacle course-fort...

And the Saturday I heard hysterical laughing outside, and went to see what was so funny... That box entertained them for more than two hours, nonstop! And then it got left out in a freak rainstorm that night.

 


Eldest spent last week learning how to ride a bicycle!!

Middlest let him borrow his bike to learn on, since Eldest has never wanted one until now. He braved scraped ankles and bruised knees, and went through more band-aids than he's ever used before. (Middlest is the one who's always covered in band-aids.) We're so proud of him!!

Somehow I thought we'd do more school in May... but with weather this beautiful?!!  The boys were itching to be outside even more often than they were itching from allergies.

So, they did a lot of experimental physics this month...

And some chemistry, too...

We did lots of other things this month, too, like start seedlings, go berry-picking, and visit an alpaca farm. But I left my camera battery at home in the charger that day!

How have you been enjoying spring?

By the river on my 36th

I'm hosting a playdate this afternoon... which means I get to catch up on a little blogging! April has been one busy, beautiful month. I had a birthday, Eldest had a birthday, and then, of course, we celebrated Easter. There's nothing more beautiful than that.

On my birthday, we drove out to the river with my mom, my friend Catherine, and her boys.

"It has come, the Spring!"

"...Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like? You don't see it in rooms if you are ill."
"It is the sun shining on the rain, and the rain falling on the sunshine, and things pushing up and working under the earth," said Mary...

...She unchained and unbolted and unlocked, and when the door was open she sprang across the step with one bound, and there she was standing on the grass, which seemed to have turned green, and with the sun pouring down on her and warm, sweet wafts about her and the fluting and twittering and singing coming from every bush and tree. She clasped her hands for pure joy and looked up in the sky, and it was so blue and pink and pearly and white and flooded with springtime light that she felt as if she must flute and sing aloud herself, and knew that thrushes and robins and skylarks could not possibly help it...

...The afternoon was even lovelier and busier than the morning had been. Already nearly all the weeds were cleared out of the garden and most of the roses and trees had been pruned or dug about. Dickon had brought a spade of his own, and he had taught Mary to use all her tools, so that by this time it was plain that though the lovely wild place was not likely to become a 'gardener's garden,' it would be a wilderness of growing things before the springtime was over.

 --Frances Hodgson Burnett, "The Secret Garden"

Mary and Dickon and Colin have been our literary inspiration lately.

On cool, grey or rainy mornings, we've been reading "The Secret Garden," studying botany, playing The Ladybug Game, continuing our Roman history, and trying to get started on a little spring cleaning.



Outside, we've pulled weeds, planted two avocado trees, three blueberry bushes, six rose bushes, a few lavender plants and lots of pansies, and watched our happy chickens scratch for bugs.

We've finished the first two chapters of "Exploring Creation with Botany," learned about angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (conifers), studied the parts of a seed and their role in germination, identified the difference between monocotyledons (petals in multiples of 3, non-branching veins) and dicotyledons (petals in multiples of 4 or 5, branching veins), and collected samples for their notebook pages.

Tulip: angiosperm, monocotyledon

Western redbud: angiosperm, dicotyledon

Today I've been laid up in bed ala Colin (with a bit of food poisoning), but tomorrow we're hoping to get some summer veggies in the ground. It should be another lovely, sunny, warm spring day.

How are you enjoying springtime?

Little things... big blessings

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."   --Helen Keller

I'm borrowing this quote from Suzanne at Privet & Holly.  It pretty much sums up why I felt so... antsy, stuck, unmotivated in January. And guilty. I felt guilty for having such a good life and not doing more to affect the larger world. *Sigh*

Yes, silly of me, very silly. Fortunately, I got over it. I'm sure I'll get around to changing the world eventually. In the meantime, I have kids to raise, friends to visit with before they move, laundry to fold, books to read... and a blog to keep up with!

The devil wanted to remind me of what I'm not doing so as to distract me from my current responsibilities and blessings. But the Lord reminded me that the little things do count. The point is to find Joy in them!

And I have lots of potential. I don't have to do Everything. Right. Now.

Plus, the sun came out!!

Spring has sprung in California! Apologies to those of you in colder climates. I'll feel guilty about that, too -- until July, when you're experiencing a lovely, warm, green season, and we've dried up and hung ourselves from the A/C vents.

 

In the meantime, let's make the most of every moment... whatever the weather.