Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Ah...Summer!


Summer
By Christina Rossetti

Rushes in a watery place,
And reeds in a hollow;
A soaring skylark in the sky,
A darting swallow;
And where pale blossoms used to hang
Ripe fruit to follow.


This is officially our last week of Term 3.  The girls have been working through their End of Term Exams and finishing up their readings.  The boys, well, they just keep doing what they do every day : D 


We have a few other end of school activities this week too.  Tomorrow we host our Little Keepers "Welcome Summer Tea" and can't wait.  Another was very appropriately done at the park today.  Our Canterbury Tales literary club had the most relaxing afternoon under a most pleasant clear, sunny day.  Two of my children brought a book and the Rossetti poem to share with the group. Afterwards, they all headed towards the bushes, trees and stream to play.  Here is a glimpse of the perfect start to summer days:




The children also helped me set up our nature study area this morning.  We're very excited about our summer theme and can't wait to share it with you soon ; )

8 comments:

Collette said...

That sure does look like a lovely start to summer! Books and blankets in the shade - perfect. :)

Is your Little Keepers group the same as "Keepers/Contenders of the Faith" ? Just curious!! (Something I've been looking into for my family next fall...)

Charlotte Mason in the City said...

Nice choice - Christina Rossetti is one of my favorite poets to read with the kids.

That quilt pattern also happens to be one of my favorites! :) It looks so inviting in the grass. Enjoy the start of summer, and pat yourself on a job well-done this year.

Jenny said...

Hi Collette, yes it is. My girls have been in Keepers for several years. Our older girls decided to move on and so I agreed to continue the group with the younger set. We used the Little Keepers manual this year.

My boys joined Contenders two years ago as well. They also enjoy the group very much and look forward to their monthly meetings. It's led by a dad and two moms; there are power tools involved sometimes : O

O.k. so I'll give you my CM bent on why I enjoy this group: HANDICRAFTS, HABITS and VIRTUES. The kids have really enjoyed their projects over the years.

Jenny said...

CM in the City it is nice to see you again. Rossetti has been sweet :-D.

Unknown said...

Great job, Jenny! :) I'm having a hard time finishing up things and feeling a little "behind" as we took time off with baby Phoebe's arrival. It's hard to keep minds on the books with kittens, sunshine, & camping calling their names! :-) What is your literary club? Just a get together about good reads? Or something CM related? Sounds just LOVELY! I love the quilt also!

Can't wait to peek at your nature study area and I love your bloggy background print...pretty! :)

Blessings!
Amy

Collette said...

I'm excited to hear that you've been using & enjoying the Keepers/Contenders! I found their website last spring & have been looking over the handbooks; we're planning to start a club with the families in our homeschool group next year....None of us has heard of the group before - so it is very encouraging to hear the recommendation of someone who has used the program. :)

LOL....and I have to agree with you! Those three things are very much what attracted me to the program, too! Looks like it would be very easy to integrate the program into homeschooling. :0)

I hope you'll post some pictures of your tea - sounds lovely!
Blessings,
Collette

Jenny said...

Hi Amy, Canterbury Tales is a group that started two years ago for the 5-6 age group. They shared picture books, Aesops Fables and even a touch of poetry with a few smallish assignments. Well, some of the kids are still going strong and are know 8-9 years old. Slowly this group evolved from being read too to sharing their own readings with thoughts of contributing their own work to a portofolio type that our leading mom will hold. I can't say that the mom that started this was CM influenced but she is a lover of good literature herself. Thus a great little group for us : D

Unknown said...

How neat! Thanks for sharing, Jenny! :)