Books, books, books

Next week is our last week of the school year. We are just about done with everything except History, Math, and Language Arts. It's definitely been an interesting year!

For history this year we studied the Renaissance, Reformation, and early Colonial America. It was great learning about the many explorers that sailed uncharted waters and explored new lands, like Cristobal Colon, Vasco de Gama, and Ferdinand Magellan. We also learned about the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

What fascinated the kids the most, though, was the art of the Renaissance - Raphael, Michelangelo, and of course, Leonardo Da Vinci. They loved seeing the pictures of these and other artists and learning about the different styles that made them famous.

What I loved was playing a game a couple weeks ago where they had to match names of people we learned about with what they are known for (Reformer, King or Queen, Artist, Writer, etc.) Names like Ulrich Zwingli, Mary Tudor, and Nicolaus Copernicus were matched up correctly, and I was so happy to know that what we learned stuck! The cool thing about the style of learning we are doing is that we will come back around to the Renaissance in a few years, so what we learned will be further explored and it will cement it for them even more.

For literature, Gabby read Anne of Green Gables and Avonlea, The Pilgrim's Progress, The Bronze Bow, Midsummer Night's Dream, and Julius Caesar. Caleb read Peter Pan (unabridged), Charlotte's Web, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (before the movie came out), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Hoot. Paul read some great picture books like Caps for Sale, Make Way For Ducklings, the Little Bear Series, and Akimbo and the Lions. He's now a great reader and is reading chapter books!

Overall, we had a great year! I'm really looking forward to next year for so many reasons, but I'll write about those next time.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

See Ya-owl Later

We have been watching a nest of owls that we discovered in early spring. For a while it was just the mother owl, and on occasion, the dad was there. Then we were told the owlets hatched, so we checked it everyday waiting until we could see baby owls. The proximity of the nest was out of range for my camera, so I couldn't take a good picture of it.

Soon we saw the owlets sitting up in the nest. It was funny to watch their little heads bob around and look at us as we drove by, gawking at us as much as we were gawking at them.

Yesterday, we discovered one of them had left the nest and was perched on top of this trailer that was in the parking lot. It was there in the morning, and then again in the afternoon, in the exact same spot.

Then today, it was gone. The nest was empty. I'm kind of sad that the whole excitement of it is over. Maybe we'll get lucky and they will return next year. But they will be missed.