A Happy Ending and a New Beginning

My son and I have spent the last three months working hard to finish up our homeschool year.  I have had a lot experiences and thoughts to share, but I lacked the motivation to write about them.  Sure, I started to write a few blog posts, but I couldn’t bring myself to publish them.  I’m not quite sure why.  I’ve had a lot to talk about.

I planted some seeds for a garden this spring.

I think I bit off more than I could chew with the amount of seeds I planted this year.  I tried to give away some plants, but none of my friends were interested.  Maybe, if I overplant again next year, I’ll open up a booth at the farmer’s market.  Why waste good food and herbs?

Then I prepared my container garden.

This is one small pool of many on my deck.  You should see them now!

We took a field trip to Colonial Dorchester in Summerville, SC to learn a little history.

I entered a photo I took from that location into a photography contest benefiting a local environmental charity organization.

“Peace on the Ashley”

I won a prize, and it was put on display at a local art museum.  My picture will go on tour around the state.

This honor thrilled me.  My art is hanging in a museum.  I still can’t believe it!

We created our own field trip to an old plantation home to see a Civil War reenactment.

The confederate line sweeping the battlefield.

We experienced the 2nd annual Highland games and enjoyed some Scottish food.  We opted for the trio with haggis, shepherd’s pie, and peat smoked BBQ.  Yum!

We took a field trip to the gorgeous Florence library and found the South Carolina room.  While the library tour was certainly fantastic, the most memorable part of this trip was the “mystery” cemetery we found on the way home.  We did some research and found that it belonged to an old church founded just before the civil war.  When the church moved, the graves stayed except for some Civil War soldiers that were moved to another cemetery and memorialized in their new resting place.

We had some swimming lessons.

Time to dry off.

We went to the fair.

No, we didn’t actually go on this ride.  No thanks.  But, we did go on the ferris wheel.

We made it through state mandated standardized testing.

The calm before the mental storm.

We celebrated with ice cream.

Oh, yeah!

I went to a friend’s house and got bit by a dog.  Yes, it hurt.  No, I didn’t see a doctor.  Yes, it’s fine.  It could have been a lot worse.

The swelling wasn’t so bad.  I was lucky.

We went to an Earth Day festival.  Nobody showed up.  (I couldn’t believe it.  More on this later.)  The band still played even if it was just for us.  Thanks for being good sports Sideways Derby.  I thought you rocked.

By the time we got to the festival, most of the vendors gave up and went home.  Maybe it was the choice of weekend.  Maybe it was complete apathy from our community.  I don’t know, but this saddened me to see an empty festival upon arrival.  But, the band was great!

Our yard was loaded with wild blackberries, so we made blackberry honeysuckle jam.  It was delicious!

We love our wild edibles, and we are definitely making this again next year.

We went to the Rivertown Music and Craft Beer Fest in Conway.  I was more interested in the farmer’s market than the beer, so I didn’t bother with that part.  But, we did run into a celebrity of sorts.

Hello, Mater!

We traveled down south again and visited the Audubon Center at Beidler Forest.  I just love the swamp, and there were plenty of cool critters and plants to see.  It’s a nature lover’s paradise.

On a trip to Fayetteville, we stopped at South of the Border for a stroll through their reptile exhibit.

From there, we continued on to the Airborne and Special Forces museum.

Fantastic museum!  It’s a must-see in Fayetteville.

The next day it was time for my son to fly.  No, really.  He did remarkably well his first time indoor skydiving.  It looked like so much fun I just might join him next time.

Mom, I’m flying!

So, between our field trip adventures and school work, it’s no wonder I haven’t written a new post in over three months.  But, the stress of the school year is over, and we finished it off with a bang.

The last official school day offered a trip to Columbia for field day.  Memorial Day weekend traffic was a bear, but we made it to Saluda Shoals park to meet up with our teachers one last time for the year.  The Saluda river was high from recent rains, but it was beautiful along the trail.

From there we left for Landsford Canal.  The Rocky Shoals Spider Lily was in full bloom, but alas, the Catawba river was raging as well.  The lily display wasn’t quite what I had hoped, but the canal trail was an amazing hike.

By the end of our second hike of the day, we were ready for a rest and moved on to my parents’ place in North Carolina.  We both found ourselves a little sore when we finally got out of the car, but the tiring day was worth it.

So, we’ve had a busy 3 months.  We have been on a lot of adventures, and tried some fantastic food at various locations.  Now it’s summertime, and we have so much more planned.  It should be interesting.