Letterboxing Adventures

Our family has recently taken up letterboxing as an activity. You may be wondering what letterboxing is. Well, these two website will give you a quick overview.

Letterboxing North America

Atlas Quest

It really is a lot of fun. Geocaching is the more popular right now, but if you need something more inexpensive to do...letterboxing is it. You never know where you will find a letterbox. We have discovered a great new place for hiking in the process. We figure that any time we go to visit family or on a short trip we can see if a letterbox is nearby. This is the last place we discovered. It's the Spring Valley Nature Preserve outside of Granville, OH. I had no idea this even existed.

Hey look! The bank were Beloved works helped create the nature preserve.

I don't have any pictures of us finding the letterbox. Didn't think about it, but I did snap this one of Little E playing in the creek. :-)

I didn't expect to find platform tennis courts in the woods either.

Here is a quote from the Granville website about the park:

Spring Valley, once a community pool and recreational area, is a wooded natural area preserved in 2006 as public land through donations from several local Granville institutions, residents and organizations. Located off of Cherry St/Rt 16, Spring Valley adjoins Salt Run Park for a combined area of 97 acres. Denison University students and Granville Middle School students worked together in 2007-08 to clear paths and build rock bridges, Several hiking trails are now completed. The park also includes two shelter houses (rented through Granville Rec), a platform tennis facility, paved parking and portable rest rooms. Future plans are still under development.

So, there you have it. A little info about our newest activity as a homeschooling family. :-)

Our Newest Neighbor

Yes, that's right. A baby snapping turtle is our newest neighbor. I don't know if he has a name yet, but I have been told he isn't an "Einstein." But more of a court jester without the hat. :-) Seems like Fred attracts all sorts of wildlife. He brought a hellbender for the children to see a while back. As long as he doesn't bring a snake back to keep. I think I'll be okay...but ask me again later...I may change my mind. :-) (Not about the snake part)

This is another great thing about homeschooling. Learning opportunities come from many different places and people.

Still Here

I meant to post about our trip to NY and such on this blog, but I decided not to. But you can find the posts on our family blog. There are three posts about our trip to New York. I hope to blog soon about things we are doing this summer. Trying to get ready for our assessment this Saturday for Big T. I know it's nothing to worry about, but I will feel better once I get past the first one. Hope everyone had a great school year! :-)

I *heart* NY

My lovely sister is getting married this Friday! I am so excited. They are getting married in Brooklyn with a reception in New York. So to prepare for the trip the children have been studying up on a few NY facts. I will have to post more about it when we get back. I should be packing right now instead of this. :-) Hope you all are having a great week! Blessings

What a Blessing!

I just wanted to share a little blessing. My future BIL blessed our family with his old laptop. Our other one is over 10 years old and can't handle the newer software very well. So with this new laptop it will allow the children more access to a computer (with supervision of course) and prevent them from ruining the desktop. :-D The children will be able to do some of their lessons (typing, foreign language, etc.) without tying up the desktop and we will be able to take more school work along with us when we take trips (which is not very often.) So THANK YOU to E for this very generous gift to our family. We will see you very, very soon.

Laundry Time

Yes, I consider this school. They are learning a new skill that they will use their entire life. First of all I need to explain. I will admit that I fall behind on my laundry. Not with the washing (I do keep up on that), but when it comes to folding and putting away...forget it. I tend to get distracted and it never gets done. Plus I have been hearing from Big T and Sweet E....I don't have any more socks......or....I don't have any more underwear, etc. (Just keep in mind most of the time they would run out of clothing items because they never made it to the dirty clothes basket. So they would never get washed.) So I figured they are old enough to do their own. They bring their laundry down, sort it, wash it, put it in the dryer, fold it, and put it away.

Big T washes his laundry and Little E's clothes too. (When Little is is 5 then he will do his own laundry. For now he helps where he can.) Sweet E is responsible for her own clothing. Sometime in the next year she will wash Special K's clothes too. Folding clothes is their favorite! Here is why...the "Folding Machine" (As Big T calls it.)

I am so proud of the children. They have only done this for 2 weeks, but we are off to a great start. They need prompted to get the laundry started and motivated to finish, but they do get it done and the do a great job. One more thing. Big T wanted a video taken so everyone could see how to use the Folding Machine. :-)

The Value of Home Education

I just wanted to link you all to a wonderful post I just read this evening. I think you all will enjoy it. :-D