Simple pleasures

It was just a beautiful day today... not too warm, but not cold and rainy (as it has been off and on lately). The kids got their math lessons done (about the only "sit-down" school we're doing right now) and then I decided we needed to get outside and enjoy the day. I worked a little... weeding a flower bed, but the best part of the day was wandering through the big pasture into the gully where we sat down and wrote/drew in our nature journals.

I started the journaling for the kids... to help them really see what's around them. I think it's valuable for them to observe something closely enough to draw it. But I think I'm probably the one who enjoys it the most. Today the kids were done writing and drawing in their journals pretty quickly, so while I finished they ran and slid down the steep sides of the gully. By the end of our "nature walk" they were dirty, sweaty and happy.... and I was refreshed and ready to get back to real life (the life of managing meds, documenting symptoms, and trying to teach around my kid's "differences").

Just for fun I've been reading to the kids about William Shakespeare. I don't expect them to become Shakespearean scholars... but I think everyone should have at least some experience of Shakespeare. We read a couple picture books about Shakespeare's life, and then talked briefly about some of his more well-known works. In one of the books it talked about him writing using a quill pen. Neither of the kids knew what that was... so I pulled out a quill pen and ink set the kid's Granny had picked up for them a couple of years ago, and we tried our hand at using it. (We ended up a lot of respect for anyone who can write legibly that way!)

Tomorrow night we are going to an "Astronomy Night" coop class through our homeschool group, so for the next few days we'll be reading about the constellations and tomorrow night during the class the kids will have the opportunity to look through a telescope. I can't wait... I love the stars and hope to learn right along with the kids!