“Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars?” -Nora Roberts

I’m turning into a flower geek, thanks to one of the nature guides I bought from thriftbooks. This one by Reader’s Digest is just fantastic. I have it on a table on my porch and I’m enjoying taking my tea out there and perusing all sorts of random knowledge and great illustrations about wildflowers. I even finally identified one of our backyard “weeds” as spiderwort!

happenings

My mom came for a visit and we loved having her here. We are not-so-subtly working on our Granma Moves to North Carolina plan. We took her gallivanting, we perused cute little shops, and she even came to one of my SilverSneakers classes!

Kathryn and I got our first sea turtle nest assignment of the season. This will be our third year volunteering, and we’ll still have our training parents with us on this nest but they’re calling it “our” nest, and once we finish this one, we’ll be graduated as official nest parents! Read more about what volunteering as a nest parent entails.

I ran another fun trail race last weekend. It was 6+ miles of running up and down hills through the woods, through oozy mud and over roots and rocks. I absolutely loved it. And my big victory: I ran the entire thing! That’s the first time I’ve done more than 3.5 miles without stopping to walk, so I spent the rest of the day high-fiving myself.

homeschool highlights

On one of our recent beach days, Kathryn had some great finds. We had just been talking earlier in the week about how we’d never found a shark tooth — and then she did! Based on our research, it’s a sand tiger tooth. The striped thing is a delightfully tumbled smooth bit of shell, but we have no idea what the two toothpick-looking things are. They make me think of something a native islander might’ve made into sewing needles. Maybe sea urchin spines? Any other ideas what they might be??

We need to do our end of year testing (required to have on file but not turn in) but I haven’t done that yet. Next month. I need to write up a summary as well. Scout’s school ends this week but for everyone’s sanity I hope to be a bit more structured this summer in activities for the kids. Not necessarily educational but that’s always a happy additional to whatever else we end up doing.

what we’ve been reading: our faves

My recent favorite:
The Red Tent – Anita Diamant

I haven’t read as much this month because I’ve been diligently working on my certification as a Nutrition Coach! However, I’ve got a big stack of my books waiting on me and I’m {thisclose} to finishing my certification so I’m about to reward myself with a reading spree.

Kathryn (age 17):
The Burning Maze (Trials of Apollo #3) – Rick Riordan

He’s one of her favorite authors!

Jem (age 9):
The Henry Huggins audio collection

He’s loving these stories that remind me of the Opie-focused episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. Good small-town adventures of a boy and his dog set in an era before helicopter parenting became the norm.

on the blog {in case you missed ’em}

• Paddleboard adventures: overcoming fear
• One year ago: When life is out of sorts
• Two years ago: Using Apologia’s Marine Biology in a relaxed homeschool
• Three years ago: The Siren Call of curriculum catalogs

Come link up (or just visit) at Kris’ Weekly Wrap-up.

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »