A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

 Today (Friday) was good. A Wild Day. We went to the lake. It was supposed to be a cool morning and hot afternoon, so I planned a hike and then playing at the beach. But it was hot in the morning too, so we walked about a mile and called it good. Lola loves her "egg hat."  How she wore it while we sweated our way through this walk, I'll never know! We wandered off the main trail to follow the disc golf course through the woods. And somehow, on the way back to the beach, we came up with the game of stomping on one another's "shadow brains."  Disturbing, but fun!   Hike #25 of 52:  Smithville Lake 53.96 miles + 1 = 54.96 miles We took only these pictures . . . none at all while we were on the beach.  We chose to leave the phones utterly alone and play together. Though when Beowulf was trying to turn one of our big blue tubs into a boat, I sure wished I had clean hands and a camera on! Oh!  How those kids worked at balancing and floating! There were more probl

It was definitely a first-week-of-school kind of week. Lots of good. Lots of hard. Lots of questions. Lots of meltdowns. Lots of chocolate. What's working? Elevenses:   Taking a note from British book settings, I decided that we could stretch our mornings with a substantial snack and a later lunch.  We all like it, though Ladybug did say to me last night, "It seems like our school mornings are much longer than our playtime afternoons." She's right!  I read The Blue Fairy Book aloud this week--just a few pages each day--while we ate our snacks. Morning Mini-Walks:   Inspired by Jennifer at Bookish Family , as well as reports stating that kids are more ready to concentrate and learn after a bit of outdoor exercise, I've wanted to start our days with a walk for years.  We're finally doing it. Our walks are between 1/3 and 3/4 mile, depending on the morning.  We're outside for 20-30 minutes only.  Some kids point out interesting natural sights--a spider on a

  Nature Angel painted this card and finger knitted this chunky blanket for her friend whose father died.  The viewing and funeral were this weekend.   Monday We unpacked the sorting boxes and packed up Nature Angel's and Little Princess' school crates with their textbooks and supplies. Everything is ready but a lens for the camera to replace the one that was dropped one too many times and won't focus anymore. We had summer school and quiet time. I helped Mister Man sort through his treasure drawers.  They were overflowing--we couldn't close them.  We recycled/threw away what he could bear to part with. "Mom, did you know that sometimes when I get rid of things, I feel sick afterwards?" he said. "That's because you're just like your Mom and Dad!  We all think we need things to be happy, but too many things become a problem.  It's important for us all to learn the difference between keeping a few special treasures and just keeping stuff."