Homeschool Adventures

This month we have certainly had adventures of the homeschooling variety. We went to Loveland Castle the first weekend of June. For this trip I only took Jon and Trinity. Leah gladly stayed home with Jonah which saved my sanity and kept Leah happy also. It was a happy reunion with Sir Humphrey and the Knights of the Golden Trail. Sir Fred also assisted in training our scouts in chivalry & jousting skills.
We arrived around 6pm and set up our new tent that I found at the Christmas Tree Shoppe. It was so easy to put up compared to our old one! Definitely glad I conceded on purchasing it. Little Jon was able to help me put it up and we were quickly settled, with our dinner out & ready for the show.

Ours is the little red one in the middle

Sirs Humphrey & Fred

View of the KOGT from above
"Knights of the Golden Trail"

Sir Humphrey introduced himself then along with Sir Fred put on a silly comedy show. Then called some of the parents up to teach manners, chivalry, & jousting techniques.  Afterwards all the kids went up to the stage area to face off and show what they learned. I paired up with Trinnie. We both lost fairly quick. Then Sir Humphrey gave all the kids certificates of Master Jousters.



Next up on the agenda was the castle tour. Sir Harry spent over 50 years of his life building the castle. It's amazing the skills the man had- several degrees, fluent in several languages, notary, Cincinnati Public School teacher, and of course master builder. I'm leaving out a lot, but Sir Humphrey is very knowledgeable about all things Sir Harry and Loveland Castle.  He shared with them battle techniques and showed how to use them throughout the castle. The stairs were built as a defense mechanism, and the roof was outfitted with a fireplace  to heat materials to pour on intruders.
My favorite room in the castle is the Chapel with it's 2 stone tablets with the Ten Commandments carved on them. The Chapel is also the room that contains some of the most interesting rocks. Throughout the castle there are rocks from all 50 states and many, many countries that Sir Harry received from travelers.
The rest of the evening was spent at our own pace of exploring the gardens & castle. We did gather 'round for "business" of handing out patches earned by some of the scouts, that was soon morphed into a time of singing and skits by everyone. We also had a nice campfire (though not at the big fire pit of previous years due to zoning) but nice enough for s'mores.
Jon said his favorite part was "all of it" Trinnie's favorite part was being on the roof, "just sitting & takin' pictures" So here's a few more pictures of just that...

The gardens from above. Trinnie took this one.

My princess in her castle.