This week we’ve been on vacation with my In-Laws, who are always so happy to be a part of our homeschool adventures! They’re retired and live on the road in their motorhome and travel throughout this beautiful country of ours. This month we’re staying at my Mother-in-law’s sister’s home. Aunt Susan is vacationing in Cypress and we get to stay in her home in Southern California. In between our days at Disneyland, we have been spending some time in the garden. Aunt Susan will come back and find a lovely display of colorful flowers planted in pretty clay pots that are placed sporatically around her patio which over looks a calm and beautfiul lake.

Since gardening has been on my mind I thought I’d take you on a tour of some of our fellow garden-schooling families here in the blogosphere.

We begin enjoying Nature Day With Kim at ‘In The Potter’s Hand’, as shares about Making Bird Feeders with her family. When gardening, it’s so nice to hear the birds twittering and tweeting as they fly about your yard. Even Michele at Simple Living has shared how she makes her yard an oasis for birds to gather in her midst.

Once you have your yard full of feathered friends, you can join Harmony Art Mom and read about her Nature Study of Flower Parts then begin your adventure with your own flower study.

For some extra fun, for those little guys who aren’t interested in flowery gardens and feathered friends, you can visit Nature Momma as they hunt for Frog Eggs! And if that isn’t fun enough, head on over and find out what happened to Sarah Joy’s children when they encountered a squirrel. Although their face to foot confrontation is a serious situation, I couldn’t help but share it with my family tonight. I think about how comical it could be if told from her son’s point of view.

Garden-schooling can be so much fun, for any age! Here are some tips I’d like to share with you.

Decorate your area- Where ever you decide to set up your very own gardening station, make it unique by adding your own special flare.

Care For Your Tools- Take the extra time to clean all your tools once you’re done with your day. Even if you’ll be back out tomorrow, it’s worth it to have everything clean and ready to go.

Water Pots- You can make water pots out of many things, even old tea kettles. So keep an eye out at yard sales to find unique old cans to be used in your garden. I hope you have enjoyed this edition of our Tuesday Tour. Have a great day!

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It’s May, and it’s the time of year when the weather is finally getting warmer to stay, many of us are planting our gardens, and our children are finishing up another official year of homeschool. Time for us to go through our old papers and plans and put time and energy into planning for the next year. For some of us that means unit studies to plan through the summer or vacations, anything to learn! The carnivals will also continue through the summer, so take a look at what other homeschool families will be doing as the year winds down.

Leave me a comment and tell me your homeschool plans for summer. If you’ve posted about it already, leave your link in the comments so we can visit it!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Carnivals

I am a bit partial to this first carnival. First of all, because Amanda and Jocelyn created it and run it, and second of all, because Amanda is such a sweetie! She is hosting The Homesteading Carnival #49: My Mama Edition. You have to see it. I am blessed to have such wonderful children who are also my friends.

Henry Cate, of WhyHomeschool, has announced the Winners of the Carnival of Homeschooling images contest. Frankly, I am partial to this one on the left, because Jocelyn designed it. Henry posted the codes for the winning icons, so go grab one if you like!

Other carnivals of interest are:

The next edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling will be at Mom is Teaching.

Last week’s Carnival of Homeschooling is at Melissa’s Idea Garden.

The current issue, from April 28, of the Charlotte Mason Carnival is up at The Family Zoo. The next issue, May 13, will be at The Heart of Harmony.

The 3rd edition of the Canadian Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival is up.

The Carnival of Education, the current issue, from May 07 is up at Bellringers. The next issue, on May 14, will be up at Instructify.

The Carnival of Mathematics, May 02 issue, is up at Teaching College Math Technology Blog.

The Carnival of Learning in The Great Outdoors, May 05 edition, is up at 10,000 Birds.

The Active Learning Carnival, Apr 07, is up at Active Learning Blog Carnival. The next issue will be Jun 14, at Active Learning Blog Carnival.

Thank you for joining me for Memo Monday! Have a super week!!

Welcome to the May & June 2008 HSBA Saturday Swap!

We had 8 sets of swappers last time. Here below are some swap gift links that were sent in to showcase from the swap. Don’t worry if you haven’t gotten your present yet - but let us know if you think your swap buddy forgot you! This time we had an international swap and it may be a little late getting in. If you haven’t gotten your swap gift, feel free to drop us a line - we’d like to know of any problems you have. As fun as the swap is, we have had a few ladies who haven’t gotten their present after they signed up and mailed one out. We hate to be the bad girls, but if you don’t mail a swap present, you won’t be able to swap in the future. If you need a little extra time, that is understandable - but please just email your swap buddy or let us know so the experience is fun for all.

We hope we will have some past swappers and some new swappers join us for the next swap.

Here’s the schedule:

SIGN UP: By May 18th (Sat.)
PAIRED UP: By May 22nd (Wednesday)
MAIL SWAP: By June 21st (Saturday)
POST PHOTOS: By June 28th (Saturday)
EMAIL LINKS TO ME: By July 5th (Saturday)
NEXT SWAP: July 12th (Saturday)

This sign up is for one swap gift and you have two months to get it out, get it posted, and email us the link! Our next swap won’t be until JULY. Be SURE TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS with these dates!

MARCH & APRIL SWAP HIGHLIGHTS:

Dawn and Cindy swapped.

Nerdmom and Amy swapped.

JoAnn and Cocoa swapped.

Beckie and Heidi swapped.

Amanda and Lori swapped.

Sprittibee and Jacque swapped.

Judy and Jaynee swapped.

Judy and Dianne swapped.

I know you already know what a SWAP is… but in case you need a refresher…

Check out our past SWAP Posts here at HSBA. Chances are they will answer all of your questions and more. Oh, and if you swapped in the past and forgot to send in your link, it isn’t too late! We would love to add your post showcasing your swap gift to our past posts. People still like to click back and see all the gifts, so by all means - share!

PAST SWAPS:

October 2007 Swap (Intro)
November 2007 Swap (October Highlights)
December 2007 Swap (November Highlights)
January 2008 Swap (December Highlights)
February 2008 Swap (January Highlights)
March & April 2008 Swap (February Highlights)

We hope you’ll join in the fun! Spread the news and ask your homeschool friends to join. You have until Saturday the 18th to leave a comment here with your email. I’ll contact you and send you a questionnaire!

Here are some basic rules for every swap:

1. Don’t offer to participate and sign up if you can’t get the gift in the mail on time. Now that we are giving you 2 months, this shouldn’t be too hard!
2. Don’t spend more than 5-10$ on your swap gift (not including postage). You will end up making your buddy feel like they didn’t give enough to you.
3. Get to know your swap buddy. Pray for them! Send them a Bible verse! Email them! Etc.!
4. Do NOT share your swap buddies’ personal information (last names or addresses) with anyone else.
5. Make sure you post a photo and ‘Thank You’ for your swap sister - thanking her and linking to her blog.
6. Email me a copy of your swap post link so I can showcase it for the following month!

Suggestion: Please make sure you take extra care when packaging your gifts if they are breakable or fragile. Two or three times now we have had swap gifts damaged by UPS and the Postal Service!

Who’s in???

~ This swap post is now OPEN ~

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