Summer Solstice

June 20-23 is Summer Solstice. I’ve always enjoyed celebrating the seasons and it’s something I love sharing with my children.
Here are some links and ideas for activites and rituals that can be used with your own children. If you know of any others, feel free to share in the comment section.

Go outside:
Go outside and experience the summer. Watch some sunrises and sunsets together as a family. Make it a special event. Prepare a special meal for the occasion. It doesn’t have to be fancy, perhaps just a special treat. While the kids may be on summer vacation, many of us still have to work. Nevertheless, try to take some time to spend a day under the sun at the beach or the park. Summer weather is the perfect time for outdoor activities. Help your children get in touch with nature. Look around you. What’s different? What birds are in your area now that weren’t there a few months ago? Which flowers are blooming? Go hiking, explore, and learn about your local wildlife. Visit a farmer’s market and pick up some seasonal fruits.

Make solar images:
Bring the outside in and let creativity flow. Making round, golden shapes that mimic the sun is a wonderful, old tradition. You can help the kids make wreathes decorated with flowers and bright ribbons. Make little suns out of clay from your local craft store. Use toothpicks or chopsticks to make rays and happy faces. Make suns out of paper plates, construction paper, or paint wooden disks. The possibilities are endless and the only requirements are that they be round and that colors evoke the sun’s radiant splendor. Hang them around the house afterwards.

Have a bonfire:
Midsummer celebrations have traditionally included bonfires to keep away bad spirits and to encourage fertility, purification, health, and love. Having a bonfire in the backyard makes for a great family evening. Play drums and other instruments, sing songs, and tell stories of the sun, the Gods, and heroes. Burn the remnants of your Yule tree or a Wicker Man that you’ve created out of dead branches tied together with cotton twine. If your fire in small and your children are big, they can leap over it for good luck.

Play with fairies:
Midsummer is a great time for fairy magic. Older children interested in divination might enjoy being introduced to a tarot deck with a fairy theme. Smaller children will get a kick out of building a fairy shelter. It’s easy and fun. All you need is a small box that is open on one end (a shoebox will work). Paint it or decorate it with ribbons and whatever you can find in the yard — sticks, feathers, flowers, leaves. Place it outside and leave out some milk or honey for the fairies. Little kids always get very excited to find the offerings gone and the fairy house turned upside down from their wild parties. You can also leave a small gift for your child as a thank you from the fairies — a shell, a flower, a pretty rock, or perhaps a small trinket that had been “lost” around the house (everyone knows they faeries love to play tricks).

Decorate the altar:
Cover your altar with flowers and other greens. Roses are symbols of the Goddess at this time of year. Add fruits of the season, images of the suns, sunflowers, and other symbols of the summer.

Let go:
Letting go of things and people is never easy and it doesn’t have to mean you’re getting rid of something. It’s another step towards change and growth. If you’ve been putting off your spring cleaning, now is a good time to do it. Give away the items that you and your children have outgrown — toys, clothing, books. Give them to friends or donate them to charity. Just as the Sun King begins to lose his strength, the summer solstice reminds us that nothing last forever. We are part of a constant cycle of life and death. It is the Wheel of the Year.

A solar summer solstice project

Celebrating the sun

Solstice ideas

Scroll down for recipes and crafts

Related Tags: summer, summer solstice

Kennedy Space Center

We just got back from a three day mini-vacation to Cocoa Beach (in Florida) and the Kennedy Space Center. If you read this blog with any regularity, then you know that my youngest daughter Jacqueline has a passion for space and that passion was one of the reasons we went. My husband is also a space cadet (LOL) and the two of them enjoyed themseves very, very much.
Some of the cool highlights was Jacqueline meeting and taking her picture with John Blaha, watching the two 3-D imax films, the moon walk simulation at the Astronaut Hall of Fame and all the cool stuff we bought at the reasonably priced gift shop.
We went a day early and stayed at a place called Wakulla Suites, which is right off the beach. Nice place, heated pool, lousey beds. LOL
When we were leaving KSC, they told us we could validate our passes for the next day and come at no extra cost. If we had known that ahead of time, we would have booked an extra night at the hotel. The next morning, after changing our mind several times we decided to go back.
If you have a chance to come this way, I highly recommend it. We all had a great time.

Day 117

If you’ve been planning on sending a submission to Unschooling Voices (the unschooling carnival), don’t forget to do it before July 1st, which is when it comes out.
I’ve received some really great entries so far! Here’s the details if you’re interested in participating.
Queana is working on distributing it via a podcast so that should be exciting! She’s going to be contacting those of you that submitted a post to get your okay. In the future, we’ll probably ask that you give your okay when you send in your submission. I’m looking forward to it!

Related Tags: unschooling voices, unschooling carnival

Day 116

We finally made the slime I blogged about last month. Billy did it with them last night. It came out so…slimey!! The kids loved it! I bought neon food coloring so the colors would be nice and bright. If you haven’t done it yet, please do and let us know how it went.

A few blog carnivals, that we participated in, were posted in the last couple of days. First is the Carnival of Family Life, where I blogged about our time capsule that we did earlier this year.

Next is the Carnival of Homeschooling and my post on deschooling for parents.

And last, but not least is the Country Fair. You’ll find two of our posts there…one is a typical unschooling day and the other one is about our mentos geyser.

Day 115 (Giving back)

When it comes to giving back, I’ve always prefered helping in a personal way, rather than just writing a check. In the past, I’ve sponsored a child and donated food to homeless shelters. Here are some current ways we’re giving back and helping others.

Cimion was having yogurt one day and read that 10 cents will be donated for each pink lid that is mailed in. He rinsed his lid and saved it in a baggie and asked us to do the same. So far he have about 25 lids saved and we’ll be mailing them next week.

While surfing the ‘net one day, I came across a site called
Make a Child Smile. They feature three children each month that have life threatning illnesses in the hopes that people will send them a card or letter. I showed my kids and they thought it was a great idea. We’re finishing up our letters to the featured children for this month and will be sending them out this week.

I was cleaning out a bedroom closet last week and realised we have to many blankets. Now that we live in Florida, 15 blankets is just a bit to much. LOL I called our local Humane Society and asked if they could use them. They said yes, they did and I asked what else they needed. The woman who answered said dog/cat food, bowls, towels and newspaper. My kids decided to take some of their money and buy some food and chew toys and donate them when we bring the blankets. Shawna also wants to ask them if she can spend some time with the animals there, giving them some love and attention.

It doesn’t take much to give back, and it seems we get more than we give when we do.