as cozy as spring

Walden and an Apple Cider Doughnut

Walden tipped the scales.  I love being at home and don't travel easily.  I'd been promising to visit my sister(s) for years.  The deciding factor in doing it now was that we spent the last several months reading Walden and became so interested in the rise of American literature in the mid 19th century.

My sister encouraged the children to wade in the clear, chilly water.  I'm so glad they did.  I was foolishly worried about sand filled shoes and was fully prepared to spoil their fun.

I was warned that it wouldn't live up to my expectations.  Admittedly, I don't remember Thoreau writing about an ice cream man/hot dog vendor who also sold coffee in the parking lot, but the pond was beautiful.  And frankly, we had six hungry children with us.  And me.  I needed the coffee.  So the hot dog vendor was kind of nice.

After visiting Walden, we made our way to a storybook dreamy apple orchard.  My son, who is lukewarm about apples, was climbing up the hill, a half eaten apple in both fists.  Apples were tasted and passed around, "This is the best apple I've ever had."  Repeat.

I have just now recovered from my own apple cider doughnut disaster to try a real one.  And oh.  It was heavenly.

 

We also managed to fit in a visit to the Old North Bridge, the Minute Man National Historical Museum (very cool), and a drive by Orchard House.

And that, my friends, concludes the super awesome homeschooling field trip portion of our trip.  There was so much more to it than what I've written here and I could go on for weeks.  But I need to get back to lesson planning and laundry.  I'll leave your with a self portrait.  

Do you see me?

The Freedom Trail

Early morning in the Boston Public Gardens

I had a wish list of places to see and things to do before we left, but this was complicated by the fact that I had no independent means of transportation and the fact that there were children involved. :)  High on the list was to walk The Freedom Trail, a two (or so) mile walk highlighting historical spots.  My brother-in-law took us into Boston and dropped us off at Newbury Street and we made our way from the public gardens to the USS Constitution - and back again.  I didn't know where I was going most of the time and was remarkably adept at losing track of the trail itself.  But we did it.  There was no whining from the children.  There were no frustrated tears from me.  I'm very proud of myself.

Favorite sights along the path:

I found the burying grounds fascinating.  My children found them spooky and refused to linger.

I have an oddball photo of my daughter grinning gleefully in front of this sign.  Yay for the Boston Massacre!

Eating cannolis from Mike's Pastry in front on The Old North Church.  At least, I had a cannoli.  My children had cupcakes.

My son ran down the path yelling, "The British are coming!  The British are coming!" which made everyone laugh. I think he really thought they were.

His favorite sight on the trail was the USS Constitution.  

After returning to the public gardens, we sketched and painted 'round the pond, walked to the library (wow) and met up with my brother-in-law again.  Success!

Boston in the Fall

We had a whirlwind week. Truly. Our list of sights to see was ambitious(!) but we managed to see it all and then some (huge thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for facilitating our travels around the area).  I was awestruck by the history, the beauty, the tiny treasures hiding in the New England woods.  But none of it compares to the wonder that is family and if I'd spent every bit of the last seven days in my sister's kitchen, it still would have been an amazing vacation.  I'll try to capture a few of the highlights later on this week.  Right now, I'm going to go spend some time with my husband.

Postcard from New England

We've spent the last week visiting family and trying to see as much of Boston (and the surrounding area) as we possibly can - having the best time.  Be back soon with loads of photos!

Love,

Jenn

Kindergarten, Week 4

 

Learning to rhyme.

I don't regret our purchase of the Memoria Press Kindergarten program, but four weeks in and we are finding ourselves in need of a little enhancement.  I thought buying a prepackaged curriculum meant I could just do what their lesson plans said and call it a day.  So for the last three weeks my son's school day ended at about 8:15 in the morning.  It just wasn't enough.  So I'm back at the drawing board trying to liven things up a bit with games, picture books, and _________  (can you kindly fill in the blank?).

 

And preparing for a rather amazing field trip.

Hunting Wildflowers

New Field Guides:

Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern Rockies - This probably isn't the most comprehensive field guide I have, but it is the most charming.  It's beautifully photographed and illustrated and written in a more narrative style than is typical for these kinds of books.  It's fun to just sit and read.  I think there a few more regions available in different titles.

Southern Rocky Mountain Wildflowers - A more typical field guide, but still slightly better than what I've owned in the past.  Clearer descriptions and nice photographs will make this one a must have on hikes.

I'm planning an extensive, year long study of mountain life zones this year combining our trail maps, photographs, lots of printables from the US Forest Service site, and our own very happy memories.

OK - moving on, as I do, to yarn.

Do y'all remember last summer when the fabulous Dani at Sunshine Yarns created a color inspired by one of my photos?  She turned this adorable little mushroom into this gorgeous yarn:

Well, she has done it again!  She asked us to submit photos of our favorite summer places and activities on Ravelry.  My favorite summer activity is hunting for wildflowers in the mountain forests.  I think I've mentioned this before. :)  So I submitted, naturally, a photo of my favorite find, the oft mentioned monkshood.  And she turned it into this, "Hunting Wildflowers":

Isn't it so, so pretty?  I'm thrilled.  She combined my obsession with wildflowers and my obsession with yarn.  It sold out in about 3 seconds and even I almost missed it entirely (though I think Carmen managed to get some!)

And in roving too!

 

Just so dreamy.

No white flag

July is a hard month for me.  It seems to stretch on endlessly, unbearably hot day after unbearably hot day.  I tend to get a little lethargic and depressed, staying in the AC and watching awful TV.

But this month!  I had a plan and it's gone fairly well*.  We started the month camping in a cool mountain forest and I'm pining for that in the worst way now.  I decided not to let the heat keep us indoors now that we are home and took the children canoeing yesterday.  It's been on my list o'things to do for literally years.  I loved it.  Loved it.  I spent yesterday afternoon on the computer searching for canoeing/camping trips for this autumn.  So I'm hoping some of you, my friendly readers, will have some suggestions?  I can travel (my sisters are choking on their chai tea lattes right now because I say I can travel but I usually won't.).  

* I still have sewn in a zipper but the month isn't over yet. 

Keep your eyes wide

In the third grade, my teacher asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up.  I immediately answered 'house wife'.  At sixteen I was asked the same question.  I answered 'taxonomist'.  Both lucrative career choices.  Obviously I landed dream job #1 but I am still quite enthusiastic about plant identification and photography.

 

Mountain Bluebells

I spent our week in the mountains hunting flowers and mushrooms.  The mushrooms were nearly nonexistent due to a dry spell that preceded our visit.  The flowers were plentiful, if a bit different than the array I am used to seeing in August.  

 

Heartleaf Bittercress

I had to emotionally brace myself for the possibility I wouldn't find my beloved monkshood.

 

Monkshood

But I found it, growing all along the mountain stream.  

A new-to-me, and apparently rare, find was the Calypso Orchid.

 

I wish I had taken better photos of this beauty.  My family is patient with my incessant picture taking, but there are limits.

I've spent the last week scribbling down names and websites to help in identification and yesterday I stumbled onto the US Forest Service site.  Amazing.  It's bursting with information and coloring pages and please go check it out.  You can search by region.  They have guide books they recommend.  It's ideal for nature study with children.  I'm going to need more printer cartridges.  They have coloring pages or books for so many of the flowers we found on our hikes.  I could really not be more excited about that site.  Go, go, click the link!

This was all a very long way of introducing our "science" for this year.  It will be heavily inspired by our own adventures.  Add in Apologia's Exploring Creation with Botany.  We went through this book a couple of years ago.  I liked it then but I just found the accompanying Botany Notebooking Journal and it's brilliant.  My daughter learned some from the text, but I think she was too young to learn and then apply her knowledge.  I don't mind repeating textbooks one little bit, so this will be our foundation.

I try a general science text almost every year and usually abandon it.  Science seems to be the one thing we unschool despite my partiality towards classical curriculum.  We live it, enthusiastically.  

 

Shooting Star Columbine
 

Day Five

Hunt for monkshood growing beside the mountain stream.

Rejoice!

 

And on our very last night, a campfire.  Roasting hot dogs for the children and my husband.  Me?  I just had s'mores.  Being the only one in our family who likes s'mores I had to eat enough for everyone. 

 

I wore my S'more socks because I like things to match like that.
 

Read aloud from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by firelight. 

And then when the children fell asleep, my husband and I stood and held hands by the fire, unable to tear ourselves away from the sparkling night sky. 

 

Day Four

Forage for our mid-hike snack.  Raspberries in August, wild strawberries in June.

Conquer the fear of the ski lift (so proud of my little girl) and play disc golf on the mountain top.