Junonia by Kevin Henkes

While on a date with Drew for our anniversary, we went to Barnes and Noble. While there we were looking for books/ workbooks for Emma's first grade year. As we were walking around I noticed a familiar item on the front of a book. 2 months ago I probably wouldn't have taken a second look but after our recent trip that included Sanibel island, shell capitol of the world, we did some learning about shells. On Sanibel island there are 3 shells to be known as the elite 3. The most elite of those 3 is called the junonia shell. This book is called Junonia, by Kevin Henkes. I picked it up wondering if it was about Sanibel island. As I was looking at the cover I told Drew that if it was about Sanibel that we would be buying it right there and then, so I skimmed threw and found the words Sanibel Island. :) after Drew made sure that we couldnt buy it for less online, we bought it. I started reading it last night with Emma and we continued today. 2 chapters in and I think it's cute, as well as its keeping Emma's attention and teaching her the names of other shells. Score!

Life Has Been A Whirlwind

Now that we are coming close to the end of Emma's Kindergarten school year, we have to look back and evaluate how we did. Lots of things happened this year to take the focus away from Emma and homeschooling. Of course holidays can be a big distraction, but it's the unplanned events in life that really knock you off of your seat. With the very unexpected passing of Drew's father in mid-January, we were truly thrown for a loop. Now being 4 months since he passed, it is still difficult but we are trying to focus a majority of our attention to homeschooling again. Of course, since my last post the kids have been learning and we haven't been neglecting them, but we just haven't put all of our energy into their education. Children are always learning by the thing they do best, living life.

Some ways that Emma has been learning is by playing on the computer or watching educational shows. We also read with her of course. As most of you probably know already, we just took a 2 week road trip. The purpose of the trip was kind of a memorial to Drew's father, but also turned out to be very educational.

We tried to stop at as many national parks, wildlife refuges or national forests as possible. We also did some other things, like going to a Butterfly conservatory, some state parks, the clearwater marine aquarium and the Miami Seaquarium.  

One thing we did that I had fun with was getting a National Park passport stamped at the various national areas that we went to. Overall our trip was very pleasurable. Yes, even driving about 4500 miles round trip with 3 children ages 6 and under.

Now we are starting to plan the upcoming school year. Hoping to do lots of hand-on activities, one of which will be volunteer work for Emma. We gave her a few options, Presque Isle, the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, the zoo or a farm. Emma chose a farm and more specifically to help with horses. We are in the process of getting that planned. I love her love for animals :)

Have a great summer!