A Year of Great Memories

Although we will continue schooling some throughout the summer,I find myself getting into the summer mode.  This has been our first year of official homeschooling and I am having a hard time saying good-bye to it.  It was such a wonderful year.  Perhaps some of our highlights will help you remember why you homeschool, give you some ideas for your own children, or just give you something to do so that you can continue putting off the laundry and dirty dishes.

Our first field trip of the year was a trip to Lake Superior.  What fun it was to go in the fall, missing the crowds and competition for the best camping spots.  We explored several of the small museums in the area, searched for shells along the beach, and biked along many miles of beautiful lake shore.  It was geology, geography,  PE, wilderness survival class, and history all wrapped up in one glorious, adventurous weekend!

 Making bird feeders:  We melted Crisco with a variety of nuts, bird seeds, and dried fruit, then poured the mixture into paper cups and stuck in a Popsicle stick while it was drying.  We left the concoction out overnight, then peeled off the paper cups and hung the feeders up for the birds.  Lesson learned:  don't hang these feeders from the deck railing because a mob of hungry raccoons will wake you from a dead sleep in the middle of the night as they clamor about the deck devouring your tasty bird treats!

Learning about Africa.  Here the kids enjoy some time in our "African hut".  We read many great books about Africa while locating different African countries on the map, did some fun crafts related to our studies, and spent a lot of time praying for those less fortunate than ourselves. 



Playing a variety of musical instruments at Northwestern University in St. Paul, then attending a free concert of Peter and the Wolf.

Reading, reading, reading.  I truly believe that a young child could learn all they need to learn through interesting and well-written literature.  What fun we had with our books this year!!!

   Celebrating Las Posadas with friends. 

We read Tommie DePaola's book, The Night of Las Posadas and created our own search for the Christ child, just as they do in many Latin American countries.  This was our final celebration during our unit study of Christmas Around the World.

What fun we had knocking on the doors of friends' houses and asking for a spare room for the birth of the Christ child.  (My son and daughter were dressed as Mary and Joseph.)  As each family refused our request, they too joined us in our search.  Our final destination, our own home, found my husband ready to play the part of the sympathetic innkeeper.  We were finally let in from the cold and enjoyed a meal of tacos and, of course, a birthday cake for Jesus.

 

 

Doing art projects in our pajamas.  Here Sierra creates a colorful montage with paint and legos.  We love not having to worry about getting paints on our clothes or about finishing the project in a certain amount of time.  A project like this would normally take Logan about 15 minutes to finish, while Sierra could easily spend the greater part of a morning getting it just right!

Doing schoolwork with a little help from Grandma over the phone.

 

 

 

Learning about Antarctica in our igloo made of milk jugs.

Being able to take time off for the birth of a new baby sister.

Field trips in the backyard during those early spring days that could so easily have been spent in a desk in a classroom.

Dressing up during our unit studies.  Here Logan plays the part of a rich lord of the castle during our study of Europe with a focus on castles and knights.

Being able to run with really great ideas the kids come up with themselves - like this map.  "Hey, Mom, can't we make our own map so we can hang it up on the wall and draw pictures on it of the places we study?"  Now, why didn't I think of that?!  We now have a good-sized, child-created world map hanging on the wall with continents and oceans labeled and pictures of favorite characters and book events drawn in on their spot in the world.

Oh, it is so hard to stop this trip down memory lane!  There was the field trip to the little, local airport; the impromptu castle project made from boxes and bottles found in our stash in the basement; the hours of snuggling on the couch with fabulous books; really fun math related activities.....but this has to stop somewhere.  

Thank you for taking this little trip with me.  My hope is that some little part of it inspired you in a small way.  If not, at least you got to sit and relax for a little while.  Now back to that laundry.....