May Out and About

May is a fun month for us.  A lot more time opens up from various homeschool activities ending for the semester, and the weather is so beautiful that new activites are added to the calendar very quickly!

Clay has been doing LOTS of yard work this month to save up for his Summer Camp in Pennsylvania.  He's nearly at the finish line, he's been working for 2 or 3 families every week doing mulching, weeding, building garden boxes, sanding and painting sheds, stuff he's good at and doesn't mind doing.

Most of Reed's classes and homeschool activities are actually lasting through this month, so he'll start Summer in June.  Until then, he's plugging along, mostly loving his Thursday homeschool classes - Art and Creative Writing.  He and I are also busy planning our trip up to New York this August (it will just be him, ZB and myself).  We had hoped to see Fallingwater since he's really interested in architecture, but looks like no little kids allowed.  So, we're still on the search of what to do between NC and Niagara Falls!  (suggestions??)

ZB kicked off the month by attending the Tiny Tykes festival - a fun little festival in downtown just for little kids.  We met some friends there and one of their favorite things was the little train.

Sweet Buddies (and I just love that her 2yo BFF is wearing the dress I made for Blossom at that same age):

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Our homeschool co-op ended the Spring semester mid-May, and will continue with field trips through the Summer so everyone can stay connected.  We had great fun visiting the Cradle of Forestry with that group this week.

We got a kid-centered tour of old-time toys and lifestyles from the days when there was a little town in this spot of the forest.  I had no idea that the Pisgah Forest was once all owned by George Vanderbilt (built the Biltmore Estate here in Asheville).  The land was all run down farms and clear-cut, and he wanted to reforest it, so started the first ever (in America) School of Forestry right there.  Pretty neat history! 

After taking the tour, they led our group to the pond where the kids used nets to find out what little creatures lived on the edge of the pond.  They found baby salamanders, dragonfly larvae, giant tadpoles and water beetles.  A favorite tool was these neat viewers that you could look into from the top with a magnifying glass, or from the side and view the underbelly.  ZB and Reed had a great time!

April Mash Up

Here's a catch up since I've last posted!
ZB's birthday was over her preschool's Spring Break, so they celebrated her "School Birthday" in April.  The teacher told her the story of the Rainbow Bridge, and how she used to be an angel, and how she had decided to come live on earth with her parents and brothers.  To get to earth, she had to cross the Rainbow Bridge.  She got to act out the story by running into my arms at the end!

Then we went outside and shared a treat, while ZB got to hear a snippet of what things she did each year of her life and light a candle for each year (and then blow them all out!).

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At our Homeschool Co-op Spring semester,  I was co-teaching a "Book and Cook" class for grade schoolers, and an "Exploring Animals" class for preschoolers.  We had such fun in both classes.  In the animals class, we learned about the different classifications of animals and focused each class theme around them.  On our amphibian day, we took a trip to a local pond to catch tadpoles.

 We even got a surprise by finding a baby snapping turtle!!

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Our co-op has started doing field trips, and one was to the Nature Center.  The older kids went off exploring on their own.  ZB liked to take her time and thoroughly explore each part!  Can't blame her - it's a great place, they even have a farm animal petting zoo.