We haven’t been doing school these past two weeks, but we’re still learning.
We’ve seen a baby cowbird being cared for by it’s surrogate parents, a pair of house wrens. We’ve had cowbirds around for years, and we knew they laid eggs in other birds’ nests, so we figured it was a matter of time before that happened in our own yard. {Read more about these “parasitic” birds’ habits here.}
We’ve observed countless chipmunks and a family of bunnies.
We’ve been watching our garden grow. {Several varieties of tomatoes and peppers, plus a cantaloupe, a romaine lettuce plant, and a few potatoes I probably planted way too late.}
Kathryn has been reading interesting posts on Wonderopolis, studying her favorite astronomy sites to learn about when and how Venus would cross in front of the sun this week, and playing a few educational games on my iPad.
Lindsey and Kathryn have both been reading up a storm.
They’ve watched me refinish furniture (this cabinet and the table below); even though they haven’t really assisted, they have seen how much work it is and I hope that will help them appreciate this sort of thing more.
We’ve been watching our caterpillars turn into chrysalids, and waiting for them to emerge as butterflies.
We’ve been trying to figure out why our ladybug larvae were eating each other, and watching them turn into pupa, and we currently have two that have become adult ladybugs — or more correctly, ladybird beetles.
Kathryn studied for and aced her oral Hebrew exam, which included sight-reading, vocabulary, and speaking the language. Now she’s studying for her upcoming final exam over all the Biblical history she’s learned this year in her bat mitzvah classes.
Ken and Lindsey have been taking a conversational Spanish class at church.
We’ve watched a few episodes of “How It’s Made” from The Science Channel.
We watched Princess Ka’iulani, a movie about the Princess of Hawaii when it was an independent nation, and then shortly after it was annexed by the U.S. in 1898.
My favorite thing this week was…
Today we celebrated my almost-birthday (it’s tomorrow) with a tradition of lunch at my favorite tea room. This is the tenth year I’ve celebrated here.
Linking today with:
- iHN’s Homeschool Mother’s Journal
- Kris’ Weekly Wrap-Up
- Rachel’s friday favorite things
What a great week! I love it when learning just happens! A tea-room birthday sounds wonderful!
All Things Beautiful recently posted..Suminagashi: The Art of Japanese Paper Marbling
Well Happy Birthday tomorrow – and I agree with Phyllis. I love the tea room tradition for your birthday! Lots of fun at your house with things growing and changing and refinishing.
Tricia recently posted..Alphaphonics and More Learn-to-Read Resources
Happy Early Birthday! Have a Wonderful Birthday Weekend!
I hope you have a wonderful birthday and that God blesses you with many more years of love, health and happiness!
It sounds like you had a whole lot of learning going on–so maybe you were doing school and didn’t even realize it, lol! 
(that’s the best type!!) 
Have a great weekend! Many blessings, Lisa
Lisa recently posted..Homeschool Mother’s Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up June 8
Happy almost birthday! I love that idea. I hope your garden grows abundantly!
Penny recently posted..A New Member of the Rogers Academy
Happy almost-birthday!
Kris @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers recently posted..Weekly Wrap-Up: The One on Birthday Week
How neat about the parasitic bird nesting, what a great learning opportunity! Hope you have a great real birthday!
Paige recently posted..The Rest of the Big Road Trip and Giveaways
Happy birthday! Looks like a great week! I never knew that about bird nesting.
Eddie – The Usual Mayhem recently posted..One of THOSE days.
Happy Birthday!! Looks like you had a relaxing, reading kind of week. I love those!
We did the ladybug thing last year… ours didn’t last very long. We were pretty disappointed. It turned out, though, that my son used it as a place to keep all the ladybug we were finding inside the house!
Enjoy your weekend and your birthday!
Mary recently posted..Physics for The Grammar Stage ~ Review & Giveaway
Happy Birthday!
We did the lady beetles last year. They weren’t what we expected. LOL
Giggly Girls recently posted..Weekly Wrap-Up: The One With a Show
Love times like those! We haven’t been doing school…but can’t claim to have been learning much more than how much FUN summer is.
Hehe-_I have bigger plans after the boys have settled down a bit. ENJOY, you’re an awesome mom!
monica recently posted..MAHALO
Bah…the internet at my comment.
You guys have been busy! Congratulations Kathryn on your tests!
I think I have the same table as you…it was my parents when they got married 32 years ago and now it’s mine. Can’t wait to see what you do with it!
Happy Birthday! Many, many blessings in this next year.
Jess recently posted..Why it took me more than 3 months to finish an 850 page book…
Happy late birthday! I like the tea room.:-)
Thanks for all the birthday wishes, y’all!