2nd Week of School

Our second week of school went pretty well!  My goal this year is to have one day a week for nature study.  We pretty much do more than that anyways, but, I want to intentionally learn something new and have the kids work on their nature journals.  That doesn't mean we have to go somewhere, we can even do it in our backyard.   This week we headed out to Seven Islands State Birding Park.  We didn't see many birds but we had a good little hike and then studied the sunflowers that were everywhere.  We had a great time together and learned quite a bit.

Eastern Leaf Footed Bug

This is typical for Ethan...bug net and insect field guide.

June Bug

We sat inside the barn to do our reading and journaling.

Moses was more interested in working on his ninja skills than journaling.

Silly boys!

Pretty girl.

We saw lots of Indigo Buntings.  We heard a Bobwhite the whole time but could never spot it!

First Week of School 2014

This week the 3 big kids were able to attend a week long day camp at Fort Loudoun State Park.   This was such a wonderful experience that I could just gush on and on about it and not do it justice.   The rangers were in character and uniform and I think they had as much fun as the kids.   Throughout the week they learned to march and follow all the commands they needed to know to be part of the King's army.   They learned to do laundry, extract bullets, pull teeth, they followed a naturalist through the woods, they were ambushed while on a hike, spent time with some Cherokee, etc, etc, etc.    On the final day of camp, the parents were on the inside of the fort armed with water balloons.   We watched as the kids came marching in formation down the hill around the fort singing and following commands. They stayed in formation, with huge smiles on their faces, as we blasted them with balloons.  As the came around to the rear gate they stormed the fort and broke through a large banner with French soldiers painted on it...and of course, we used the rest of our ammunition on them.   It was so much fun!    They then fired the cannons and some large gun for the kids.   I was so impressed and we definitely hope to do it again!  This was the best first week of school ever!   The kids are geared up and ready to hit the books tomorrow.