Thoughts from Amy and homeschool updates

Our Garden Route trip was truly fantastic. Michael has given you a good overview. It is a beautiful part of the world and we saw amazing birds, animals, and vegetation. We took notes and are using our "field study" as part of a three week biology unit on birds, nature, and plants. We are using the Boy Scouts Merit Badge requirements as our curriculum. These merit badges are a really good resource. They give you a great overview of topics to complete. If you are interested, you can find them at meritbadge.org

It is hard to say what a favorite part of the trip was. Overall, my favorite part of this year regardless of where we are, is just the amount of time we have to be together. We completed a very long hike along the Indian Ocean coast along serious cliffs and boulders. It was a great family accomplishment. As a mom, it is really nice to watch your kids helping each other along the way. The elephants were amazing, even when they were charging our car, and we weren't sure they were going to change direction. They did, but it was like a huge, scary game of chicken that we would have lost. We just sat there, wondering what would happen and at the last minute, they finally swerved.

We enjoyed canoeing, hiking, and camping in almost perfect weather for two weeks and will remember it always. We are planning our next big adventure which will be from May 25-June 10. We will be going to the east coast of Africa and spending time in the Drakensburg mountains, Durbin, and the St. Lucia Wetlands/beach area north of Durbin.

Prior to leaving my mom will be with us from May 11-20. She couldn't talk my dad into coming, so she is braving it alone. I am proud of her because she does not like to fly, but We will take her to Pilanesburg Nature Preserve to see the big animals. She will also be doing a Dickens, "Great Expectations," unit with us as she spent 25 years teaching high school English.