Flickr, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.....
So we read a children's version of A Midsummer Night's Dream for book club today. We illustrated the poetic verse describing where Titania sleeps in the forest, (these girls are into fairies!) and then we planted some flowers and made little signs letting saying things like "Titania please sleep here" and "Fairy bed flowers for Titania" etc etc....
Through the beauty of flickr we were able to look at the Gardens of Stratford Upon Avon, to see the kinds of flowers Shakespeare might have been thinking about when he wrote. We also were able to see the tomb of Shakespeare, and his monument.
While I am raving about the benefits of tech, I have to add that I was able to find and download Mendelssohn's Wedding March from Midsummer night's dream (itunes!) , and that we listened to it as we crafted and planted.
Fun fun! Through the beauty of flickr, we were able to go
Another group of monks from a different monastery worked on a sand mandala at the Indiana Museum of Art. We went to see it after K's violin lesson this week.
This one had more monks working at the one time on the mandala. I imagine that it would be an activity of the highest team work, to be working with a larger group of people on such a fragile thing. The slightest bump from your friend's hand could mess up a lot, ya know?!
These monks were also very friendly. There were many monks milling around, (they all seemed to spell in and out of the circle of the ones working with the sand) , and they all were very kind to K and L. They asked names, chatted, played with them a little, it was very sweet to hear the halting English, yet my kiddos and these monks seemed to understand each other just fine with smiles!
The chicken- not Ava! My planning for keeping chickens this summer has been jump started by our dear friends. They keep urban chickens, and they also have a dog. Roosevelt the poodle has tried to eat the chickens one time too many, so the chickens are coming to live with us.
They wil retain their names, and the children will retain visitation rights! It will be this weekend sometime...
I am going to be honest and say that I feel a little understudied. Still. Rob spent so much time reading and learning about bees before he even got started. He read bee message boards, subscribes to the American Bee Journal, and belongs to the Indiana Beekeepers Association, where they have workshops and meetings and such. He has been learning so much, and I feel like I still have a lot to learn about chickens. However Jusytn is reassuring me about these feathered friends, and how easy they are to take care of. I will be learning on the fly.
K is soooo excited, and I have to admit, I am too!
We had a spur of the moment birthday celebration when we learned it was N's birthday on Tuesday! She came over to play during preschool and it was a lot of fun!
I have a secret stash of celebration supplies, pinwheels, pretty napkins, birthday candles..... just for this kind of impromptu party! It was fun to make a special morning out of it! K and F are singing Happy Birthday to N in the middle in this photo.
K looks a little protective of those cookies, doesn't she?!
So, on the subject of climbing..... we went with friends to Holliday Park on Tuesday. It's a big park with playground equipment that defies description. It's wild.
So there is one part of the playground that has a giant spiderweb around a pole kind of a thing going on. I have never seen anything quite like it except for at Holliday park. It's really tall. And it wobbles a bit too.
Tuesday was the day that my three year old decided to try and make it to the top. I didn't really think that he could get all the way up there by himself, but he did. Not only did he do that, but he felt comfortable enough to LET GO WITH BOTH HANDS IN ORDER TO WAVE AT ME!!! No kidding, he was standing up there, making me nervous enough with him just being up there, then he lets go with both of his hands! If someone had been wobbling the thing at the time, we would have taken a tumble for sure. All the mothers in the area took a gasping breath and time slowed as I yelled from the ground for him to put his hands back on the cables. I ended up climbing up to him to help him down. (skirt and all) The one thing that is OK in all of this, is- do you see the girls? K and A were very protective of him being up so high. Smart folk.
I couldn't not blog a photo of K too! I still have her in a full body harness for anything else she does, but the guys at the gym were handing out seat harnesses, and it made sense for all the kiddos to be the same. I think at her age, she is almost ready for a seat harness of her own.
We had a fun Monday..... went indoor climbing with our friends up at Climb Time. All of our kiddos had a great time climbing the walls. The mamas only got to complete one route each, because the wee's were having so much fun! It felt like the time we went was a really great time too- it was not busy at all. Our kids had the run of the place and all the easier routes to themselves. Plus all the bouldering and running around like a crazy monkey anyone could ever want! Perfect for my little monkey!
You may be forgiven if you thought this blog was turning into a bee-keeping blog, instead of a homeschooling blog!
There is so much bee-related activity happening in our neighbourhood right now! Even within the circle of our homeschooling group! Two families began their beekeeping journey in the last few weeks, and we have about 3 more families considering it!
Rob has been swarm capturing like mad, and Jamie and I are learning all we can to feel confident swarm capturing next year! Things have slowed down in the last few days, but for a while there, it was kind of crazy.
It's all so interesting though. There is so much to learn here, and not only are the kiddos interested, I think it's valuable for them to see their parents growing new interests, and learning new things. Beekeeping is definatly an example of life long learning in our family.
