Good morning HomeSchool families!
I'm a little slow getting this letter out. Larry and his colleague Scott were driving home from leading a Forest Service training last week and they were part of a 4-car accident on I-40 in Arkansas. Larry was taken to the emergency room in Little Rock. Their federal government van was totaled. They are both OK, and returned to work today despite being stiff and sore!
Last week in HomeSchool we did the monthly chemical water quality monitoring test on Little Noonday Creek. Our creek is surprisingly clean and healthy, with an average pH of 7.0 and an average dissolved oxygen level in the springtime of 8 ppt. After the monitoring, our group of 10 did a Creek Cleanup and collected 5 bags of trash from the log jams along the creek. The most common items we found were plastic bottles, glass bottles, baseballs, softballs, golf balls, plastic detergent containers, plastic cleaner spray bottles, paper cups, drinking straws, and foam pipe wrappers. The most unusual item was a pair of pliers.
We visited the chicks in their coop down in the garden. They are growing up but are still easy to catch and hold, thanks to being handled by dozens of kids each school day. We added compost and mulch to the holes in the concrete blocks of our spiral garden and planted flowers and herbs in each one. We water and weed the spiral garden every time we are in the garden. So far, it includes marigolds, coreopsis, moss rose, lemon balm, fennel, and mint. We need 47 more plant to complete the spiral! If any of you would like to add flowers or herbs to the spiral, feel free. The gate to that part of the garden remains unlocked. You can get water from the large white cube by the chicken coop. Large blue and smaller red watering cans are nearby. Turn the blue handle to the left to fill a watering can. Be sure to turn the blue handle back to the right quickly to conserve water. If you have time, all of the garden plants could use a good watering whenever you are there.
We found a new tree that is perfect for climbing across the creek. We ate frozen fruit bars. We sang the Choo'n Gum song and the Floating Down The River song. We played with the school turtle one more time and told him "Goodbye". He will be living with his forever family: Travis, Candace, Major, and Pipor Parks. We each shared what we are going to do this summer and where we will be for school next year. There were lots of hugs all around!
Dates to remember:
Wednesday, May 22, 5:00pm: Middle Grades "Houses from Around the World" exhibit moves to Gritters Public Library. If you live close to the school, be sure to visit Gritters to see our houses during the next month.
Thursday, May 23, 7:30pm-9:30pm: Older Girl Scouts meet to help lead the Sunset Frog Walk on Noonday Creek Trail.
Tuesday, May 28~Thursday, May 30: Girl Scout Caving and Camping Trip to Tennessee.
Thursday, May 30: Ollie's 8th birthday.
Tuesday, May 28~Friday, May 31 and Monday, June 03~Friday, June 07: Summer Camp at The Garden School.
Tuesday, June 11th, 3:30pm-5:00pm: Girl Scout meeting at the school to receive Drinking Straw Campaign materials and instructions.
Tuesday, July 9th, 3:30pm-5:00pm: Girl Scout meeting at the school to submit results of Drinking Straw Campaign and receive final awards.
Wednesday, July 10th, 3:45pm-5:00pm: Ki Sonya leads Archaeology Dig outdoors at Kennesaw Public Library. Four assistants needed to help set this up at 2:30pm and assist kids in the dig!!
Friday, July 12th: Mike's 7th birthday.
Saturday, July 13th, 10:00am-1:00pm: Hiking with Prancer at Pettit Environmental Preserve. Text me when you arrive!
Saturday, July 27th: Cooper's 10th birthday.
Quote from a child: 1st student: "Look! Those two butterflies are stuck together!" 2nd student: "Shhhhh. They are on their wedding night."
Quote from Rusty Berkus: "There is no prescribed way for everyone. There is just your way for now, until you choose another. There is no one to compare yourself to, and no one to compete with. There never was. When the Rose and the Lotus are side by side, is one more beautiful than the other?"
Thank you all for a memorable year, and thank you for sharing your sweet and smart and talented children with me! I look forward to seeing them stretch and grow!
Ki Sonya
