October Schooling

I love fall - the crisp, cool air, nature's beautiful changing of colors, hot apple cider and pumpkin-carving. We haven't gotten around to the pumpkin carving yet, since we tend to do these things at the last minute. Especially since I don't like rotting pumpkins on my front porch.

Last year's pumpkins - you can guess which one is my husband's...

October seems to have flown by - and the encroachment of Christmas decorations in every store only makes me want to savor this season all the more.  Could we please pass some kind of law that states anything related to Christmas can't be displayed until after Thanksgiving?

September Schooling

As many of you know, I had surgery in the middle of September.  Fortunately, everything went well and I'm getting closer to being 100% recovered every day.  Meanwhile, the schooling continued - while taking advantage of the beautiful early-fall weather whenever possible...

One boy even built a replica of Leonardo daVinci's clock...

Vacation at the Lake

Every year we try to carve out a week for a family vacation - usually at the end of the summer once everyone else has gone back to school.

There's a little out-of-the-way place we like to go to in Michigan which holds childhood memories for my husband and has quickly become a spot our own boys love.

New Adventures

We officially started our new school year this week, while continuing to enjoy the beautiful weather.

This week's focus was mostly on "finding a groove" with new school materials and our new co-op.

Kickin' Off the New School Year

This year we are fortunate to be participating in a local chapter of Catholic Schoolhouse.  I think it will be a really great experience for all of us - we'll make new friends and the boys will gain some classroom-type experience.  They'll also do things like art and science labs - or "the stuff that easily gets pushed off the list when left to my own devices."

Our first week was a field trip to a pottery studio, which ties into our studying the Middle Ages this year. The boys had fun painting pottery, and we all enjoyed meeting the other families.

I don't have the finished works of art to share yet, since we had to leave them to get fired and glazed - but we're excited to see what they look like!

~ Dori

Back to Blogging

I'm going to have another go at this blogging thing. Obviously I failed to keep up with posting about this past year. What can I say - I am an imperfect human being. But when I look back at my more successful years of blogging, I'm so happy to have the record of our adventures. It's also a reminder of how quickly time passes - which is why I'd like to do better at documenting our school year this time around.  My oldest is entering high school (ack!) and my youngest isn't much of a baby anymore (sigh).

For the last few weeks I've been thoroughly absorbed with planning our new school year and purchasing books, as well as filling orders for my Etsy shop.  I'll be having surgery in a couple weeks, which adds to the challenge of starting a new year. As my husband reminded me, though, our school year is whenever we say it is - and we usually go year round anyway.  While I've been busy planning and crocheting, the boys have been enjoying some lazy days of summer learning.  In between bike rides and playing at the park, they've each been spending quite a bit of time pursuing their individual interests. The oldest worked his way through several Great Courses that we got from the library - including programming and baking.  The 12 year-old has spent a lot of time teaching himself CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) and the 10 year-old has created many, many things out of duct tape.

Summer went been super fast, but we are looking forward to our next adventure - some of us more than others, of course.

~ Dori