Friday, October 11, 2013

Summer Learning- the real scoop

Summer learning always begins with lots of great books.
We didn't advance three grades over the summer as I had hoped.  In fact, I think we may have lost some academic ground.  Now that we're in full swing in the new school year I find myself reminiscing about our past summer.  I had big plans, but instead this summer came to be termed "The Summer of Her Boyhood."  Someday I'll write more about that- the idea that there's a special, fleeting time in a girl's life where she is free to just be herself, to be wild and untamed and romp and play to her heart's content.  Grace Girl turned 7 and Baby Rain turned 3 this summer. It was a fantastic, wild romp of a good time.

So, here are a few things the girls learned from our big wild summer:
  • Grace Girl and Baby Rain invested in long-term projects and enjoyed the outcome of hard work.
Playing in the Sunflower House

  •  Sure, she can't spell worth a darn, but check out those waterfall-fairy charming skills!
Hiking at Horsetail Falls in the Columbia Gorge
  •  Maybe Grace Girl's measuring skills are rusty, but she understands "scale" in a whole new way!
Making friends with the Sea Lions at the Oregon Zoo
  • Baby Rain explored the language of math through music and rhythm.
Exploring music, costume and art


  •  We missed some reading lessons, but Grace Girl's learning to communicate in new ways.
  • Found a snake at a wilderness lake on her first backpacking trip



    •  We backed out of gymnastics and didn't do sport camps this summer, but we stayed in shape the old-fashioned way- hiking, running, climbing...what a view!
    • Wilderness wildflower meadow romping near 3 Fingered Jack


      •  Grace Girl learned about physics, gravity and force!
      • Oregon Coast wave jumping
      • Baby Rain deepened relationships with the people that matter most.
        • Beach walking with Daddy
          •  They may be a little wild and untamed- ok, maybe more than a little- and I'm so glad.  May they never forget the wildness of their own souls.
          Wild summer days- camping on the Little Santiam River 
          My prayer for our new year is that each adventure would bring learning, and each cause to learn would be a glorious, swashbuckling, fabulous adventure.  Yes.  I said swashbuckling.  Because it's a great word.  Go ahead.  Say it out loud.  I dare you.

          May the road always rise to meet you...