End Of Year Celebration

To end our school year I organized an End of Year Celebration with some fellow homeschooling families. This is only the second year doing this and it grew a lot this year, I am hoping that by the end of next year it will be even larger.... as we all (children & adults) loved it. It was a wonderful way to put a close to the year or simply award your child some recognition on accomplishments they worked hard on throughout the past year. This was a a nice approach for homeschoolers who followed various calendars - it was not assumed each family was 'ending' the school year as some were awarding reading awards, special class awards, workshops certificates, art awards, musical talents, etc. A wonderful mix!!

We invited all the students to bring along some of their work from the year to share.  There was such a variety of work displayed, everything from display boards of art work to Lego creations, photo montages to portfolios of work, sewing samples and penmanship work, live music and singing. The variety of work was wonderful and really offered a great show to enjoy for both the kids and the adults.

After we all enjoyed time viewing the kids work we viewed a slide show of the year as a group and kids were then invited to share their work. This offered them a chance to do some public speaking (which was so much fun!) and some did musical pieces... so much talent! To finish out the evening each family then brought up their students to recognize their year.

I did Holly's award, recognizing her First Grade year. She had an amazing year filled with so many activities and field trips, classes and group experiences, math and art, science and nature club, reading to many books to count, spelling and writing, projects and cooking... the list is endless! Holly has grown as a student and we are so very proud of her. She is now heading to second grade this coming fall -- another wonderful year ahead I am sure!

It was a wonderful evening and I am looking forward to watching these kiddos grow through the years and see their wonderful accomplishments!

Sewing Group

Each month we have been meeting with a wonderful group of homeschool friends for a sewing group. This is a group of young ladies who are learning skill from Mrs. Dawn. Each time we meet they start a new project and develop new skills.

This particular class for April the girls are started a small 9 patch doll quilt. What started as a mini sampler size has now turned into something a bit larger as the girls all voted to make a nine patch quilt created of nine patch patches.... otherwise known as a LOT of hand sewing. They will work on it over the entire summer and share their finished product in September. Holly is breezing through it. She is loving this class, learning a life long skill and bonding with some friends over a new little hobby!!

Nature Center with Homeschool Group

We have been enjoying many outings and get togethers with a new homeschool group in the area. It has been a lot of fun for Holly to enjoy some new friendships with children who are enjoying school in the same manner she is and it has been nice for me to meet some other parents who are also on the homeschooling journey. I am learning a lot, making some new friendships and looking forward to upcoming times with them all.


This past week we recently met up with some folks at the Tacoma Nature Center at Snake Lake. The kids all enjoyed some free play in Discovery Pond and then we hit the trail around Snake Lake. The kids all stopped along the way in search of small critters, fallen logs and new flowers. I learned our everyday stroller is not a good option for this trail... oh well, we made it!

After our walk we visited over lunch and then headed into the actual center for some fun. One of the moms knew that they feed the snake indoors every Friday... the day was Friday. Yay! She talked with the gal and they agreed to feed the snake as well as they brought the snake out for a small lesson, bringing it out close to the children - great observation! After the lesson our little snake friend chowed down on a mouse. What a great impromptu lesson!

Outdoor Play

I realized the other day I don't share the more laid back parts of our learning -- unstructured, natural outdoor play! We enjoy a ton of this... in which I tend to put on our personal blog. However, I wanted to include that we enjoy a LOT of outdoor park play, natural play and sport play. As the weather is turning to a more comfortable temperature I will include more of our play over here at this blog. In the mean time, yesterday we enjoyed outdoor play at a favorite local park with friends for a couple of hours - it was a great, messy day!