Wakefield Walk, State Park Style

We opted to visit the State Park that is literally five minutes from our house. We haven't been there since last year and they have opened many more things since we were there. Including the walking bridge over the swamp. It goes to a nice walking or biking trail.

These are the deer we saw from the car on our final tour around the park. They were not afraid of us at all.

This deer stood still as a statue but never took her eyes off of us.

I love the silvery look of these trees. I just finished reading Percy Jackson and expected them to turn into some sort of monster at any moment.

There is a turtle in this photo. What do you call a group of turtles? A pod, a clutch, seriously I don't know, but there were a bunch huddled here together. They were quick to grab the bread crumbs someone was tossing them. Amazing to watch.

This is a view from the river which is on the opposite side of the road from the swamp. This was our view for our picnic. The cool breeze coming off it was nice and Z and Tigger enjoyed the boaters that came by. It's a no wake zone so they checked out every boat.

It was a nice afternoon. We walked over a mile on the trails. We plan to go back and take up some hiking and biking.

And So it Begins

Today was our final day of school. We decided to stop today as the public schools got out at noon and Z wanted to play with his friends. So we are done. Our fifth year of homeschooling wrapped. I love the flexibility of homeschooling as we've had to run around with Tigger for the last few days as his truck was in the shop. He came home around lunch today so we could go pick it up for hopefully the final time. He was singing Alice Cooper's summer anthem.

The car ride home gave Z and us time to talk. I remember someone once advising that talking with a teen or pre-teen boy was sometimes best done in the car. There is something honest and freeing about conversation that happens in the car. I find that to be true.

Yesterday he finished math in record time, he completed his reading assignment and asked me to read more from The Lightning Thief. Percy Jackson is a great series to start at the end of the year.

We'll take a few weeks off from everything but reading and then we will start a light summer schedule where FLEXIBLE is the key word. I'm most concerned about keeping Latin, math, and reading fresh in his mind. Well, mine too.

You know what I'm doing tomorrow? Me either! Sleeping in is as far as the list has gotten so far.

The Final Countdown

This school year is coming to a close. We have two more weeks. I'll make a formal wrap-up later but I was thinking of some of the things we have learned this year, intentional or otherwise. We are done with most of our formal lessons and these final two weeks are going to be about wrapping up some loose ends and hopefully having some fun.

Z has been great this year. Eleven is such a wonderful age. I see him growing, literally everyday we wakes up looking just a smidge different. I have small hands and we have always compared hand size, now his are almost bigger than mine. I wear a size 8 shoe and his feet are almost as big as mine. His abs are great (I can't recommend an exercise ball highly enough) and he has finally started to outgrow some of his favorite clothes.

His learning has changed this year as well. My reluctant reader is reading consistently at a much higher level than the beginning of the year. He wrote this year. Those four words are music to my ears. CW Aesop B helped him find his creative side. It also helped find his compassionate side. Many of the models involved Aesop's Fables or fairy tales that involved some animal getting injured because of their folly. Moral tales, right? Z changed every story so that no animals were harmed in the rewrites of his models. I don't have any problem with that.

Nature came to our door many times this year. Nature walks sometimes didn't involve leaving the house. Most of them were cool, except the snake on top of the garage door. That one still has me glancing up at the garage when I walk under it.

Memory Work has been a no-brainer for Z. He doesn't even call it a subject. He has great aptitude for memorizing and we'll continue with it over the summer.

Latin, ah Latin. It has been my favorite subject this year. I have been well pleased with our choice of using Latin for Children. It moves at the right pace for us. This weekend we were using our Latin skills to help him understand the meaning of the names of certain Transformers. Z never balks about doing Latin.

We've been goofy as well this year. Most have been subtle word plays based upon my inability to speak clearly without the proper amount of coffee in my system. Some funnies this year have been:

• the transient (ie: homeless) verb, instead of the transitive verb. Z now calls the transient verb our friend.
  
• Oprah instead of the word "ultra" in Latin. It's part of his memory work and he always smiles as he mis reads the word
• Augustus Caesar reminds Z of Augustus Gloop from Willy Wonka. We both have that silly song stuck in our head. (Johnny Depp version)

I'm hoping these final two weeks are stress free and happy. Maybe a few goofy moments thrown in for good measure.

Wakefield Walks

This is the giant dirt mound Z discovered in the carport. A creature has been digging under the shed. We did a google search and decided it was an armadillo burrow. Tigger is going to deal with it this weekend as we don't want it to undermine the foundation of the shop.

This little guy was walking up the driveway. Z and I removed him to a safe place so Daytona would not find him. She was out on her cable.

He was very curious about us and didn't go into his shell until I picked him up.

A nice little pose to show off his neck and really long back claws.

In honor of the outpouring of nature that continues to flow around our yard, I composed a little poem.

Nature, nature come to me
and we shall take a walk with thee.
Abundant life outside the door
Never searching anymore.

New Title Photo

I feel like changing my photo as much as I've been changing my hair color lately. Which has been twice recently. My hair has natural red highlights and after putting blonde highlights on, they came out copper. I knew it'd be red, but not this red, but it's okay for summer.

Anyway the latest photo is from one of my favorite places, my back yard. The hammock was a gift to my dh last Father's Day. The trees were placed just the right distance apart. In a nice twist when we put the dog on her cable she can sit right beside us yet not get tangled in the hammock. You can lie outside and rock gently and listen to the birds chatter. It's a great place to take a book and read. Sometimes I pretend to read and simply zone out. If there were a ocean breeze rocking the hammock it would be perfect.

Classical Insights

Keeping tabs on Homer

Yes, I tabbed each day and each skill level. Different color pen for each day and each writing project.

Reading Latin will keep you balanced.

Even Atlas needs a little cushion from time to time.