A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

 We were going to keep our gentle routine this summer.  We really were. And we kind of are. But I'm also saying yes to other activities when I can, and that means our routine is really something that we're only falling back to when there's nothing else happening. I'm grateful for the safety of routine. I'm grateful for the joy of spontaneous outings. Morning Meeting never goes anywhere--no matter what fun is on the schedule. We're almost done with the New Testament portion of our Egermeier Bible Stories .  Likewise, we're almost done with memorizing/reviewing The Living Christ .  It looks like we'll be simultaneously starting a new memorizing project along with another set of New Testament stories. We are still reading at least a few nights a week.  We've made it to the Australian coast in In Search of the Castaways .  One night we spent a long time poring over Google Maps as we found the place names mentioned in the book.  (And to think I worry tha...

 I feel the need for change. It's been a good year.  A quiet, easy school year, in which we worked to avoid putting pressure on ourselves to accomplish much and to still notice all of the learning we were capable of doing. That's still the mode we're in, but I can feel the nudges to organize our school efforts a little bit more intentionally for the year ahead. And it's time for me to start writing yearly assessments. I've begun making a no-limits-anything-goes brainstorm list of all of the things I wish we could do.  It contains enough stuff to fill a school year many times over.  Soon it will be time to stop adding and start paring it down to what is really doable. In the meantime, we're doing what we can when we can because summer schedules for everyone are filled with special activities that are simultaneously interruptions and blessings. The teens and I are almost done with The Mystery of History volume 2.  All we have left to do is one lesson, the final r...

  Beowulf is the perfect picture of how we all feel after last week . . .  even though this picture of him is from last Sunday night. What a week! Monday was busy from morning to night as we got ready to send Ladybug, Little Princess, and Nature Angel off to Girls' Camp--along with Sir Walter Scott. First, we found out that our day off was not really a day off because Li'l K and Stretch needed to be cared for, and their grandma was out of town.  So they came over and went with us to our church Memorial Day celebration and pancake breakfast. They ate a ton of pancakes and fruit, and then they made friends with as many teenage girls as they could . . . all of whom were delighted to make their acquaintance. We stayed longer than we should have because the kids were so happy playing outside.  But eventually, we returned to our responsibilities.  Mine were doing the shopping, prepping meals, helping Ladybug pack, and refreshing Ladybug's hairstyle. The next morning a...