We've reached the end of our school year! Isla finished up her first grade year accomplishing so much. Her main goal this year was to learn how to bake all on her own and she did! She can bake her famous chocolate chip cookies completely on her own. As soon as she lost teeth this year, her reading really took off. Reading is not easy for her and I'm so proud of the hard work she's put in this year. She is one of the brightest, smartest kids I know and I love her ability to learn and grow in every area of her life.
Ewan's main goal for his preschool/kindergarten year was to start to learn to read. And he did a great job with learning his letters and sounds, pre-reading skills, poetry, phonemic awareness, and handwriting. He is such a good builder and designer and I'm always amazed at his creativity and engineering skills. He is a sensitive, snuggly, sweet boy with a love for learning!
Eleanor started our school year being the trouble-maker and class clown and ended the year being the best student! She is the one that is asking everyone to come to the playroom so we can start school, she asks me what we are learning about every day, and she soaks up every single bit of information the older kids are learning about. She is so funny and silly, but really serious about things that matter to her. She is convinced she'll be reading next year because she already knows how to write Q, S, L, and H :)
Our co-op had their first ever end-of-year-showcase, which turned out really sweet. All the kids memorized a poem and then shared what they learned this year. Each family runs their homeschool just a little bit differently, so it was fun to see what everyone was up to this last year.
We have had such a great year. We plan on doing 1-2 days of school a week this summer... mostly on the days we aren't busy :) So far, we've been doing that by the fire in the mornings or in the apple tree or on the front porch and I just love it!
The May weather has been so extreme this year. When we haven't had a freeze warning, we've been outside! We have spent a lot of time in the garden getting everything planted for the season. And we have started harvesting the first things- radishes, green onions, and lettuce!
When we aren't gardening, we are somewhere else in the yard chasing birds, digging up worms, climbing trees, swinging on swings, sitting by the fire, or running around with friends.
We have missed so many great co-op events with sickness and travelling, but we finally made it to the most recent one. It was a boat regatta! Everyone brought a homemade boat and we raced them down the creek. Eleanor won in her division and the kids had a blast overall. It was so fun to cheer our friends on, to see everyone's creativity, and to be a part of such fun camaraderie.
Oh! And Ewan and Isla both conquered the monkey bars! They have been working hard to do that and finally made it and all their friends were so excited for them. And my mom joined us for co-op and got to meet all of our friends. It was a good day!
And to make sure we got a May trip in, we headed to St. Louis for a super short trip. We went so we could see Michael's Aunt Cheryl and Grandma Fred, but we did some fun things along the way too.
We started out with lunch and an aquarium visit at Union Station, which we hadn't been to since Eleanor was about 7 months old.
After that, we went to the famous Gateway Arch. We rode the original tram to the top and saw the Mississippi River and downtown St. Louis (Eleanor did NOT like the tram ride). After that we visited the Arch museum where the kids earned their first ever junior park ranger badge. Apparently, the Gateway Arch is a national park and now we are determined to earn more badges around the country!
The next day we made sure to get some donuts because apparently that's our new tradition when we travel. Then we visited the Missouri Botanical Gardens, including a 2 acre Children's Garden. It reminded us of the Morton Arboretum which was a lot of fun, but the field trips and crowds of kids was not so fun.
And that was the end of the trip. There were a couple mishaps along the way, but overall it was a short and sweet little trip. And likewise, the first half of our May has also been short and sweet too :)
And now we wait for summer, which is just around the corner!
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