May in Our Home
May went by in a whirlwind. Between commitments, papers to write, a birthday party to plan, and a curious, mobile baby, I did not have much free time.
We enjoyed a break from our homeschooling commitments, and replaced those with playdates with friends at the park. Our CC class has gotten together several times, and I have really enjoyed getting to know the moms better. I wish we had had more time together earlier in the year, but this is great, too.
Speaking of CC (or Classical Conversations), we helped host one of CC’s free, three-day Parent Practicums. For the past two summers, we have traveled to Austin or Waco for these practicums, and while they were great learning experiences, we were all exhausted at the end after staying in a hotel for three nights. Turns out, even with getting to sleep in your own bed, it can still be exhausting! I helped coordinate the nursery (ages birth-four years) during the event. It was a wonderful experience. I spent most of the month of May planning and preparing activities for the classes. The picture above is what my living room looked like many nights. The threes and fours learned the continents and oceans. One of the activities they did was this little felt puzzle:
I feel like it was a success judging by Sugar. She learned the continents and the oceans fairly well, so hopefully the other kids did, too.
After the practicum, we celebrated Sugar’s fourth birthday.
We harvested onions, broccoli, green beans, zucchini, and a few tomatoes from the garden. I spent a few mornings battling a ladybug-like beetle that had killed and covered the broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and brussels sprouts with eggs. It was nasty, but I think I got rid of it by pulling infected plants and leaves, picking off the beetles by hand into a bucket of soapy water (very tedious, but very satisfying), and spraying the rest of the garden with insecticidal soap and neem oil.
Other than that, we spent a lot of time at the park, splashpad and pool. We were doing well about continuing with school for the first few weeks of the month, but since the practicum, we haven’t been as motivated.