• Kittens were born on May 1.  Can you imagine a better day to be born but May Day?  It just sounds sweet.  We decided to let our cat have one litter of kittens, for educational sake, and planning on keeping the kittens. Mama (that's me) said, "I'm hoping for just two."  The kids, of course, wanted larger numbers, like 4 or 6 (gasp).  Thank God, there are only 2 kittens.  We're even one short, since we have four kids.  But that's just fine with me!

• Starting in mid-April until mid-May, we were either out of town (Orlando!) or had company here - Nana and Popo visited for a couple of weeks, then our college friends and their 5 children met us at a beach house on Pleasure Island (Alabama Gulf Coast). 
  

• My FreeHomeschool group that I founded last September has really grown by leaps and bounds.  There are over 1,000 members now.  As a result, a lot of great homeschool items are posted daily for free (shipping is often requested).  I'm so glad that it has helped others.
  

• At the beach (Gulf of Mexico), we did some fishing from shore.   Between our friends and whoever was holding our pole, we caught 3 stingrays, 2 crabs, and too many catfish.  All were thrown back out, after being inspected closely for education's and curiosity's sake.  We learned that catfish have very sharp fins (I think that part is their fin) and  you have to watch out when you hold them.  The stingrays are very gentle.  You only have to watch for that one small spike on their tail.  They are not at all aggressive, so it was easy to free them and let them go back into the surf.  The crabs were caught with a regular fishing pole when their claw got caught on the line.  They looked like they were truly caught red-handed! 

• There have been so many busy days lately....I don't even know where to begin in telling you about them.  These children truly have an idyllic childhood.  It is not perfect, as we are not in heaven (of course), but it is idyllic.  I think a child could have an idyllic childhood in the inner city as well as here in the country, if only the child is allowed to play.  "Let the children go out to play!" Charlotte Mason says.  I agree. 
  

Posted by Anonymous

Lori,
Thank you so much for starting the FreeHomeschool group. It has been a blessing to both give and receive. Great idea! Hope you have a wonderful summer. :)
Mrs. C
http://riverbend-ramblings.blogspot.com

Posted by moreofhim

Oooooo - I wanna come and grow up in your house! What wonderful things you've been doing!! Isn't homeschooling wonderful and I just love the Charlotte Mason way of doing things. I hope you have a blessed Memorial Day weekend and have lots more fun! God bless you!

Posted by ReneeM

i left a response on my blog, but just in case you weren't back to read it :)

yes, we had considered that. (sundown to sundown) Bryan works nights and various days of the week. The only day he has off every week is Monday, which is why we chose that day. Sunday evening is pretty busy feeling with leading worship and then getting the kids into bed, often by myself since Bryan is at work. Although... hmmm... lots to think on and pray on as we explore this! :)

There are some great books written on this... some are in my wish list at Amazon! :) I got one from the library by Marva Dawn, I think... "Keeping the Sabbath Holy" It was fairly good.