A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Outside, Drawing, and Reading

It doesn't really feel like we had a "summer" in one sense, and it's still hot (over 100* for the next 10 days here), but alas, summer is drawing to a close.  More and more people are making back to school (or not) decisions and posting about plans.  

I'm super grateful that Zach sends me a picture when he and Eli get together to hang out.  It does my heart a world of good to see my boys together.  I still miss them, but I know they have each other to meet some of that "family" need.  

We have these cool storage clipboards that we carry colored pencils and sketch paper in.  
I had the girls take them outside to draw what they could see.  Hoping to build observation skills and get them to take more of an interest in nature this year.  
We've been talking more about trees and leaves and such when we do get out lately.  
I'm not much of an artist, so I'm hoping we can all grow in the area of drawing this year.  

And when we do go out, guess where we're going?  
Our libraries have streamlined the curbside pickup process, and they're starting to move books from branch to branch, which is awesome.  
I printed copies of the first few pages of the very extensive reading list our curriculum provides, and I've been requesting a few at a time, along with other things.  We can have 60 books on hold at a time, and every time we pick up a few, I add some more to our hold list.  
The girls usually read during Quiet Time in the afternoons, but they will soon have a portion of schoolwork assigned then, as well.  
We did something different the other day.  We ventured to a local park for the first time in ages, and the girls brought their clipboards.  We walked along a trail, past a creek, where I pointed out cat tails, dragonflies, dry grasses and lush park lawns, bird sounds, and more.  Then we sat and drew for a bit, before walking back to the van.  
This was a good experience, and one that we will hopefully repeat on a regular basis (until it gets too chilly), once we establish a weekly school routine.  


 One of our library books was about drawing birds, and Hannah created this cardinal from the directions it provided.  I'm impressed!  


If your curbside pickup is two bags of books instead of dinner, you might be a homeschooler!  

3 comments:

  1. I totally agree with your final sentence!

    Hannah did a good job on her cardinal. And the girls look so cute with their feet crossed with tension as they concentrate on their drawings. :)

    I guess our states mixed up their weather--usually we're at 100 degrees this time of year, but we're only in the 80s!

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    1. My son in Texas sent me a picture from their pool, and I was a bit jealous!

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