Farewell to Summer 2013!

We had a fairly quiet Summer with some hot days 

which drove us indoors to area museums.  But all in all, we had a pleasant time with plenty of learning experiences and fun. 

A couple of little ones from our Early Learning Circle practice there understanding of 

numbers using a scale and gemstones

A Summer day in the shade working on the collage for 

our food pantry collection boxes.  My favorite part of our food pantry project is that it is a kid led idea.  I look forward to future projects that reflect growth and consideration.

  

 Our Summer Solstice Fun included a special treat 

and some felt angel making. 

It was a comfortable day and lots of fun for all!

From our annual July York Beach trip!

Along with our usual Summer creature friends we found quite the cicada in the heat of the Summer! 

Keeping cool at the Virginia Historical Society.

What a fun day! We gutted pumpkins, learned how to use a rocket stove, and dried pumpkin seeds...eventually.  We had some road blocks--hopefully next year we will have more success.   

“By seeking and blundering we learn.” 
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Many of our Fridays are spent with the Froebel School of Williamsburg.  Well worth the drive to spend the 

day learning and exploring together.

Our annual trip to the Lake Rawlings Quarry--we are voting for it to 

be bi-annual next year!

And some of us make the trek to North Carolina for Autodidact Radical Gathering of Homeschoolers, a great opportunity to meet with like minded folks and enjoy the freedom of a 

community in the great outdoors.

Our last day of Summer happened to be chilly and wet, 

so what did we do?  

We went fishing!!!

Most of us were really wet!

One of us 

caught a fish!

One of us found a snake skin!

Want to join in the fun?

To learn more click here or keep an eye on the calendar and send us an email or call us so we can give you a proper welcome!

melanie@alifeoflessons.com or 804-476-4158

How We Spent Our Spring!

Want to join in on the fun?

Click Here for more details and registration.  Always feel free to check our calender and visit us for a day or two and see if our tribe is a good fit for your tribe!

If you have any questions please email melanie@alifeoflessons.com or you may call (804) 476-4158.

We started Spring with a trip to Montpelier--the home of James Madison.

We added a new class to our program--Learning Circle.  Some of the younger children were requesting a group learning experience for their ABCs and 123s.

                                             Lots of Spring Crafting for all ages--grown ups too!

Squeezing in some woodworking--one of our favorite days--hope we get to do more!

                                      

Several Celebrations--Including Birthdays and May Day!                                                

                                                                        We tinkered our way through some fairy and gnome houses!  

We even did some metal tinkering.

                   Discussed taxonomy of birds and made bird feeders                                            for them--even though we observed that the                                                  squirrels were quite fond of the treats.                                           

                                                     

We also spent some time studying Well Dressing and the society behind it--we were inspired to make our own sketches with seeds and found objects.                                                                     

       We discussed doing an actual Well Dressing next year.

We are lucky enough
to have a current herpetologist
and an aspiring one in our tribe
 to educate us all on safe interaction with snakes
and other little critters.

 

                                              
We don't get many 
pictures from our Enrichment Circle, but we were lucky enough to have a few little ones with us one day who kept themselves occupied with photography. 

Look for us around town, we are 

starting to rent booth space as 

a fundraiser!  We are selling 

products made by our families.  

                                                                                                               We had such a great time, can't wait until our next event.                                     

Thank you Gallmeyer Farms!

At our quarterly swap meet!

                                                           We also have added a regular PE time to our days, the kids love the organized playtime led by our energetic leaders!

Our rainy days were not wasted either, plenty of indoor
playtime together.

To top it all off we always find time for siesta time! No sleep required just some in-breathing.

More About Our Tribe: 

Our tribe gatherings offer families a full day outdoors, year round, in natural settings.  Introduced in the fall of 2008, our group started with about ten children spending the days on organic farms, in the forests and wild places, or out in municipal parks. Our families are engaged in a rhythm that includes circle, funshops offered from its members, story, gardening and some child-led activities. The motto for the class is, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices.

We will start the day with preparation of space and snack, we begin with an opening verse to greet each other and the world followed by a seasonally themed verse for the younger children and usually a seasonal poem for the adults and older children.  Sometimes we have a song or stretch. Then we have announcements and explain the funshops and work of the day. 

 What are funshops?

As an eclectic mix of homeschoolers, we like to call our workshops--funshops instead.  That is an important part of the co-op/tribe experience--I do not teach everything, members bring something they know or want to know to share with the group.  Sometimes it is an ongoing project, often there is gardening work, sometimes a simple craft, letterboxing, fire building, photography, yoga, etc.  As to embrace sustainable learning, we want to stay away from boxed lessons and worksheets and explore the world together--we as adults have passion to explore the world, so let's explore with our children.

We finish the day with lunch, free play, and exploration (wee children are welcome to nap on site or head home to their cozy nap nest). We will finish up the day at with a share circle (show and tell) and a closing verse.  

What to bring:

--potluck snack to share (finger food only please)

--your water bottle

--your lunch

--appropriate layers

--nest supplies for little ones

--something to sit on

--bug and sun screen

--supplies for funshop (if it is your turn)

What is the cost?

If you want to just visit when it works for you there is a $5 (*trade value) fee per family 

per tribe gathering.

If you would prefer to join our co-op, we will have extra registration forms ready and would like to have them completed at that time.  (there is a $20 (*trade value) registration fee per family) NOTE: I could only access the registration forms by right clicking and copy/paste link

If you want join the tribe but the timing does not work for you, please keep an eye on our calendar or look for us on Facebook.