The first weekend of the month was Easter and we attended a simple and
beautiful Good Friday service in the sanctuary of our sister
church, Vienna United Methodist. We were able to bring our friend
Nancy, who has been
in a residential home for some time now. Her sister-in-law no longer
felt she could look after her at home after she had a fall following an
epileptic fit. Her medication has now been adjusted and she is doing
really well and enjoyed getting to church again. She was also
able to
join us again on Easter Sunday, when another family brought her.
Easter Sunday Service very busy, with the children performing a play
entitled "One Morning in
Joseph's Garden", which was adapted from the book by one of our teens,
Alison. They
also sang for the church too. In Sunday School class, Lorna read the
Easter
story and then the children made felted eggs.
As part of Jack's anatomy and lab credit we took a trip to see
BodyWorlds
II at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. It was an amazing
exhibit, once you had got used to the idea you were viewing the
plastinated(TM) bodies of real people.
Although
Jack had taken some persuading to go, he felt it was a worth while
part of his education. If you haven't see it, take a look at the web
site.
Lorna and Phil attended a talk on polypore mushrooms and decay, by the
New Jersey Mycological Association.
We conducted our first
workshop of 2010, having established Wise Owl Workshops as a registered
LLC. The workshop was aimed at teens and covered how to create a flower
project - something the local school requires all 7th graders to do. It
was held at the local
library and we were quite pleased with the turnout.
Despite the day being wet, eight people, ranging in age from 8-70+ also
joined us for our second workshop - a "Wild
About Flowers" Spring Walk, which we ran for PPL, a Pennsylvania
Power Provider. The rain stopped just in time, and we managed to
see and identify many
native wildflowers on
this preserve, including columbine, and dozens of Jack in the Pulpit
flowers.
Phil received two fresh packages of bees this month and has been busy
establishing his new hives. He also took a webinar on queen rearing.
Fingers
crossed for honey.
Jack has been exceptionally busy with his homeschool program. He
started the month by spending a day at the County Courthouse with the
Monday
homeschool group; researching the history of farming in our township
and
researched the deeds of various township farms. The group were ably
assisted by our genealogist friend, Jodee. Jack also started an
excellent writing course
(http://www.oneyearnovel.com/)
which will involve him writing an adventure novel over the next 12
months. He loves
it and it has provided him with the structure he needs to complete the
task. OYAN
also offers helpful webinars too as part of the course, and Jack has
been able to interact with other authors at various stages of the
process.
Jack completed his final classes of Musical Performance, and a
playwriting class, both at the Growing Stage Theatre. Lorna and Phil
were
delighted with both of the final performances and
he has really enjoyed these classes. He hopes to return again in the
fall to both these classes and also the black light puppetry class,
which
sadly didn't get enough interest to be viable for the Spring.
The historical discussion group hosted by Curator Andy
Drysdale of Shippen Manor also finished for the summer. The children
are
finding this approach to American History both compelling and very
stimulating. We can see how their confidence has increased as they have
entered into the discussions. (The photo was actually taken in March
and the basement of Shippen Manor is unheated - hence the hats and
coats!)
The month finished with a tree planting session at a local NJ Audubon
site, which they have recently purchased. It is a beautiful site, but
the invasive plants are really choking the woodlands and we are
hopeful our effort to celebrate Arbor Day will help establish more
native trees in this location.
