Springing toward Summer

The boys were amazed.
We were 300 feet below the earth in Meramec Caverns.

One week of spring break wasn't enough. So we took two. One of the wonderful things about homeschool is that we can make those kinds of choices.

Denver loved wearing Papa Dale's baseball cap.
He can't wait to see a game this summer!

It isn't as if we didn't learn anything over our extended break.  John Robert traveled with the Montessori class to colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.  He went on tours, attended a witch trial, and visited a battlefield among other things.  Upon his return, the boys and I traveled to Missouri where we visited friends and relatives. They played with cousins, rode bicycles with Papa Dale, shot bows, shot skeet, went swimming, toured Meramec Caverns, rode four wheelers, ate Imo's pizza, and narrowly missed two tornadoes and a newsbreaking hailstorm.

Hanging out with buddy Jackson
 at Imo's Pizza in Farmington, MO.

But now we're back. None of us were looking forward to the return to homeschool. Much to our surprise, though, it has been a lovely day filled with laughter and new thoughts.  

Science homework?  Oh, yeah.

We listened to more Lemony Snickets.  We played the tower game in math-- a puzzle requiring patience, logic, and attention to pattern.  Reading and geography were a breeze, and history is filled with adventure as we learn about early North American explorers and the British colonies.

Yangtze River

North America

Just when I'm getting ready to throw in the homeschool towel, we have a day like this-- full of silliness, laughter, and wonder.  

Color leaps forth in Georgia right now.

As the boys and I walked through a park this afternoon, we laughed at the ducks and Spencer expressed amazement at the lush, varying shades of spring green mixed with the explosion of color from azaleas and wisteria.

The world looks . . . and feels . . . new today.  Ahhh . . . .