visuals

I am finally getting to downloading all of our pics and doing something with them.  I'm a documenter by nature--I can't do anything without taking a picture, writing about it or drawing it.  But finding the time to organize all this data is my weakness.  Somehow I thought home schooling would allow me more time for this, but I haven't quite been able to accomplish that--YET.  There's one of my goals!

I just want to share these pics with captions for now.  The photos begin during our last family trip to NH over Labor Day weekend, because what I am finding more and more, is that successful home schooling for us is more about expanding on and delving deeper into things we already do as a family vs. trying to imitate some model of what school "should" look like.  Hope the learning shines through with these visuals!

 sunflowers we planted at Grumpy's last spring..we dissected them last week and identified 

parts of a flower

 exploring and hiking in NH

 we each painted rocks (water-based, all natural pigments, of course) and left them hidden around the forest in appreciation of all the beauty this day offered us

what the heck is this????  well, it's our Golden Mystery Snail sticking out some very long and worm-like appendage that we have yet to identify.  you don't want to see this first thing in the morning--yuck!

 Street Art scavenger hunt in NH last week with Uncle John--soooo cool!  Seven took about 50 pictures of sidewalks, street lamps, and blank brick walls, and when I asked why he wasn't taking pics of the street art instead, he replied that he planned to upload and print his pictures and then use markers to draw on his own street art...(a current work in process!)

 ok, ok--kudos to me--is this cake cool or what?  Snake Cake as requested by Seven for his 

birthday party

 apple picking and grasshopper hunting

 Four pooped out as Seven continued his endless search for grasshoppers

 nature journalling at a local museum (giant sea sponge and turtle skull featured center)

 hands on alligator exploration

 exiting from swim class this week

 if you look closely (my macro lens isn't working) you will see Seven's finger touching the wing of a beautiful firefly this morning at nature class ( a home school class we are taking at a local 

wildlife sanctuary)

 Seven found a leaf hopper (pictured here), tons of grasshoppers, a cricket, a bright green & orange caterpillar, wasps, and many, many bees.  Their first day began with some interactive "get to know you" activities that included making nature collages and up close observations of specimens, such as a bird-eating tarantula, praying mantis, and moths.  Seven was less than thrilled with every aspect other than "searching for bugs and sketching" (direct quote), but the class is amazing and made up of about 20 home schoolers with two wildlife expert teachers.  I was so impressed with their care and attention to establishing the group as learners and including the kids in the process of defining expectations for behavior.  I am hoping once he settles in, Seven will allow himself to enjoy this experience!  And I look forward to dropping him off for a bit and taking Four for hikes through the woods while we wait!

at home, smashing strawberries for strawberry jam--canning summer goodies is part of our "Farewell to Summer" celebration this week

Looking at all of this reminds me of all we are doing and how meaningful each day is....