April is National Poetry month, so we spent some time doing Poetry Tea Times. We used our fancy dishes, had fancy food, and the kids picked favorite poems out of books we had at home and found at the library. We had a nice combination of beautiful, thoughtful poems, poems about nature, silly poems, and even some about pets. Tatiana joined us for one of our tea times which made it extra special. Nolan also wrote some of his own poems that he shared with us.
Simon has been LOVING puzzles and has gotten really, really good at them, even this very difficult US one! He knows where so many of the states go, and always picks out "South Wakota" to ask when we're going.
Tati and Elsa came to celebrate Simon's birthday with us! They made delicious and adorable dinosaur sugar cookies.
We saw the sun for the first time in ages! Simon didn't have a helmet that fit, so he decided to use his SWAT team helmet from the dress up bin.
It was a COLD and CLOUDY spring, but finally enough snow melted to bring out the bikes and outside toys.
Simon helped me make chocolate chip French Toast bake.
Nolan wrote a paper comparing and contrasting broccoli and cauliflower. I love his personality when he writes!
We measured Miles! We used standard and non-standard units, using a ruler, tubes of chapstick, q-tips, and a scale.
We used our magic egg coloring machine to dye Easter eggs. This thing is such a good invention and makes the kids completely self sufficient at coloring eggs!
Both Nolan and Olivia were runner-ups in the YMCA coloring contest.
We started meeting some other homeschool families at the Hodag Dome every Tuesday morning. It has been wonderful meeting some other wonderful kids who are homeschooled, especially so many who are the same ages as my kids.
We went to the library's open craft time to make May Day baskets for homebound seniors. The kids helped make different flowers and baskets using the stations that were set up there.
We recently purchased tickets to see the Okee Dokee Brothers at the Blue Ox Festival in Eau Claire this summer. We've been getting ready by listening to their albums and I stumbled across one of my favorite songs, Sister Moon and Brother Sun. It is so beautiful and I love how the lyrics paint the picture of the creation story. Since we've been talking about poetry, this was a great example of how words can create pictures. We also talked about Navajo culture, which was the inspiration of this song. The kids did such a beautiful job on these that I sent them on to Joe and Justin, using the email address from their website. I wrote:
Joe and Justin,
We have listened to your music since our oldest son, Nolan, was born in 2012. All 3 of our kids have grown up listening to your albums...you are the soundtrack to their childhood! My husband and I both have music degrees, and we so appreciate the quality of your lyrics, your musicianship, and your inclusive ideals. It is such a rarity to find those things in children's music. Thank you.
One of my favorite songs you have written is "Sister Moon and Brother Sun". It makes me tear up every single time I hear it. The story is so simple and beautifully written. We are homeschooling this year due to covid, and spent our morning illustrating the lyrics to these beautiful verses. They had a blast and wanted to share their drawings with you.
We will be there to see you in concert at the Blue Ox Festival in Eau Claire, WI this summer. We have seen you two other times when you've performed in the twin cities and each time it was magical.
Thank you for sharing your stunning music with us and the world. We are very grateful.
The Ory Family
Eric, Tiffanie,
Nolan (9), Olivia (6), and Simon (3)
Can you believe they wrote us back?!
| Mon, Apr 25, 1:31 PM (11 days ago)
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Hi Eric, Tiffanie, Nolan, Olivia, and Simon!
Aww - so glad you enjoy that song. We love that one too! And thanks for being fans too!
Yes! We're really looking forward to playing at Blue Ox! See you there!
Keep up the great art-making and homeschooling! Thanks for showing us your work!
Take care,
Joe
We went on a Briar House date with the Vadis girls.
Last year, Mama Robin made a nest on our light above our patio door and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to learn more about robins and watch the nestlings grow and thrive. We were ecstatic to see our little friend return and start building her nest in the same spot! We can't wait to see what happens!
We read a book about Vivaldi's Four Seasons and listened to it as we illustrated it with oil pastels.
Nolan read a book all about the state of Wisconsin and made a poster to teach us about all he learned. Olivia worked on a poster too. Hers was all about her favorite places in Rhinelander.
Olivia has been working really hard in gymnastics and has improved a lot!
We've been learning about the different instruments of folk music and I was able to bring out a snare drum for them to explore, courtesy of my Grandma D.
We made our own acrostic poems about trees on Arbor Day.
We attended Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA. The kids had snacks, bounced in the bouncy house, visited the different booths, and planted their own lettuce seeds.
