Fairies and Orcs

We are back to school and we have added so many things in this year.  Things that make this mama very happy that they are actually happening! Reading and math have always happened but homeschooling is supposed to be so much more than just getting school work done.  I am trying to offer a feast of ideas and expose them to the beauty of this world that God created.  I'm trying to ignite a fire not just check off boxes of completed work.

We have added morning time in which we all come together and sing, pray, do memory work and read good books together.  We then separate into bigs and littles and I work with those groups until lunch time.  After school work is done and if the weather is nice we all go outside to run around.  In winter there is not much to do on our fledgling homestead so taking inspiration for Pinterest I decided we would make a fairy garden.  

So what is a fairy garden and why would a family with four boys need to make one?  

• It is a spot that you make believe in and create a little world with sticks and stones and whatever else we can find or re purpose 
• It is where the fairies with their truth and light fight against the orcs and darkness of the world.  
• It is a place to keep their minds alive with wonder 
• It is something else to do with the long hours of our day   

So here is the beginning of our new imaginary world.  It only took a little help from me before their creative juices got flowing and they started coming up with their own ideas.  They have some birdhouses that my mom sent them to build and we are going to put them in the there as fairy houses.  

This is what we started with.  We used some wood from an old fence that perfectly made an arch as an entrance.  They had already made a pathway with rocks and sticks before I got the camera out. 

A dear friend passed down some of her mother's birds to me recently. I couldn't use them all in the house and these are made of resin and I though they would hold up to the elements. 

Barrett is laying shells (from Galveston) around a bird statue. 

Marshall went right to work making arches and pathways. He has a eye for aesthetics and construction.

Alright so it was my idea to hot glue the sparkly stones to the reclaimed wood.  But hey, as the only female presence I felt the need to pretty it up some.

From the other side of yard...  MORDOR!

They are working on getting all the green gone and making it look dark and dank.