Little Strawberry Elephant: On to Botony and Irish Saints and Heroes!

E's Botony block has been so much fun! I bought this book last month, and have learned quite a bit about painting and drawing. We've been trying different techniques; it is both frustrating and intriguing for E. My painting is the top one, E's the bottom.

I bought mushrooms to taste...neither child is a fan.

Seaweed! I have fond childhood memories of running along a length of beached kelp, popping the floats. Such a lovely sound. My kids don't know kelp, but they remember the feel of Chesapeake Bay seaweeds from summers past. Slimy, thick, and hairy, ha!

E and I took a walk in the woods to find mushrooms, lichen, and moss. We were both amazed at how many varieties we found! Moss with starry leaves, moss with fern-like leaves, moss with round leaves. Lichen with bumps, lichen with flat petals, lichen that appeared to be just a scar on the tree.

Plus these mushrooms in the snow! Hardy little things.

So far so good! The approach of Kovac's Botony is serving us well.

E now prefers that I give him the form already complete, allowing him to figure out how it was drawn.

As for e, she and I are reading The King of Ireland's Son. The King of Ireland's Son is not a story I would have chosen to read, and in fact chose not to read it when E was in second grade. It has not been holding e's attention like Where the Mountain Meets the Moon did, so to be honest, I'm not sure we will finish it. That's awful, isn't it! I know there is value in finishing what one starts, and lessons in the story itself...but the garden is calling, and she is chomping at the bit for Trickster Tales!

We might just finish out this month of Ireland and call it good. We have learned a dance to Irish Washerwoman, how to say hello in Irish, and to sing Einini, a sweet lullaby. e discovered that while the English version of her name means 'peace' and is feminine, the Irish version means Ireland...and is masculine. Oops. Luckily, she was appeased by seeing her name so often in Irish poetry. However, don't be surprised if you see her spell her name differently. Six letters is oh so much more pretty than four letters.