{The Week} Summer Days of Learning

In our life...

The Lord is leading our family in a new season of freedom, purpose, and direction. I will share in the coming days all of the good things the Lord is working out through His grace in our lives.

The first day of summer, I woke up early and watched the sunrise over the field behind our home. I snapped the photos with my iPhone. I am enjoying iPhone photography so much that one day I would like to expand my knowledge base with other digital cameras.

I love the early mornings. My niece and nephew arrive at 7:00 a.m. each day, so the early mornings are a quiet time for me to gather my thoughts, pray, and plan for our day. My goal time to wake up each day is 6:00 a.m., but I love when I have enough rest and have the energy to wake up at 5:30 a.m.

In our homeschool...

This fall we will enter our 15th year of homeschooling. Each year, I change things up a bit depending on the needs and interests of our family. Some years, we take a full summer break. Other years, we continue summer learning in an intentional way. This year, we are having a summer camp (with friends) covering weekly themes. 

So far in June we have worked on:

• Week One - Space Week
• Week Two and Three - Oceans Week
• Week Four - Amphibians Week

Some of the ways we enjoy summer learning:

• Spend most of our time outdoors (6+ hours on good weather days)
• Explore lots of books on our themes
• Create lapbooks on our weekly topics
• Work on hands-on projects outdoors (painting, drawing, etc.)

Other themes we plan to cover through July include:

• Dinosaurs
• Farm (4-H)
• Insects
• Vacation Bible School

I have a few other themes that we may choose from according to where the kid's interests lead.

One overall theme that we are working on each week is Community Gardening. We are participating in a community garden this year, rather than planting at our home, due to an upcoming move that we have this summer.

The kids planted a few of their favorite seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

So far we have planted:

• 24 Zucchini plants
• 16 Bell Pepper plants
• 13 Tomato plants (assorted heirloom varieties)
• 3 Cilantro plants
• 3 Basil plants

We are growing produce for our family, friends, and the local food bank where our community garden is located. Some of the garden plots are still vacant, we still have plenty of seeds, and we are considering taking on more plots for a service project this summer.

The kids love to dig in the dirt, but their favorite thing is collecting all of the unusual bugs in the garden. They will be real surprised when they meet the Tomato Hornworm, which looks like an alien. I do not like picking the hornworms off of my tomato plants, but I have a feeling the kids are going to love it!

Some of my happiest childhood memories are of the times I spent with my parents and grandparents in their extensive gardens.

I have a simple philosophy of childhood: Muddy and wet kids are happy kids.

How is your summer going so far? I pray you make a lot of great memories!

Blessings in Christ!

Linking Up:

Trivium Tuesday

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

Collage Friday