Colonial Living History Day

Last Friday PW & I spent the afternoon at a Living History Day.  The main theme for the day was around the time of the Declaration of Independence.  The group who puts this on does a remarkable job.

There were 7 stations that we visited including:  candlemaking/beekeeping, games, gunsmithing, music, agriculture, woodworking, and a battle re-enactment.

There were lots of hands on things for us to incorporate into the learning.  We will be excited to go in the spring, when we will have had some time to read up on this period of time for PW to truly appreciate the day.

It will also make a wonderful pre-cursor to going back to PA in  May or June.

I will post some pictures in a day or tow.

Honey Harvesting

One of the joys of homeschooling is the freedom to make a field trip go beyond the trip itself.

Last week we went on a honey harvesting trip.  We got to meet with a beekeeper and watch him extract honey from the hives.   He had some learning materials available and we had taken a few books out of the library before the trip and read up on bees.

After the trip, we headed back to a family's, in my homeschooling group, to make lip balm with beeswax that was obtained at the beekeepers house.  It was a fun project and now each time PW uses his lip balm he talke about bees.

He also talks about the bees whenever we open the honey we purchased as well.  PW went from not being fond of bees to yesterday saying "Mom, we should think about having more bees in our yard.  It would mean lots of pretty flowers and maybe some honey."

Wellspring School

So I've made our school name - Wellspring School

I used to work at a bookstore called Wellspring, which has since closed but have always taken the verse it was based on to heart.

Proverbs 4:23

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (NIV)

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life. (KJV)

I started to realize that teaching at home is much about the matters of the heart, not just the feeding of the mind. Thus, Wellspring School seemed very appropriate.

As I have been chatting with my neice, who is also homeschooling, I am reminded that this journey of homeschooling is teaching me much more about myself and my own character. Now the challenge for me is what to do with those teachings. In some cases they are very much my character flaws and sometimes there is the blessing of knowing that through the weakness comes blessing.

Well, off to see what my character will reveal today.

Summer Vacation

Though PW & I have been able to get away a few times this summer, hubby, Kevin finally had a 2 week break from school that allowed us to take a family vacation.

As seems to be our tradition, Kevin's folks joined us for the trip. We travelled through the SW corner of Colorado and were hoping to complete the San Juan Scenic Byway over the course of the trip. This would include Black Canyon of the Gunnision National Park, Telluride, Mesa Verde National Park, the Anasazi Heritage Center in near Cortez,CO, Durango and the Silverton Railway, Silverton, Ouray and little trips out of Ridgeway CO.

We hit rain and knew it would be around more than a day so after doing the Durango and Silverton Railway, and a side trip to Pagosa Springs, CO. We did not complete the rest of the scheduled trip and instead headed to Moab Utah where we did Arches, Canyonlands and Dead Horse State Park.

PW did great on this trip. He really enjoys being outside.