Veronica Boulden

Norah turned sixteen earlier this month.  (And of course, since she was born the day before my twenty-fifth birthday, that means I turned forty-one the next day.)   This photo was taken after her birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, her choice.    

 It's Avril third year of Essentials.  That makes it my sixth year, because her older sister, Norah, went through three years of Essentials, too. This year, Avril's handwriting her own keyword outlines and rough drafts on notebook paper. In previous years, I scaled her work by helping her with all or some of the handwriting and typing. Back then, she dictated everything.  Now after she handwrites it, I edit the rough draft.  Then she adds dress ups, etc. using the checklists and vocabulary cards.  Then she types her paper and prints.  I edit it one last time, and then she retypes and prints her final.   She's doing every analytical task of every sentence now. We scaled this work in previous years, too.  She only did a few tasks of a few sentences the first year. Last year, she did more sentences, but still not every task.   She's diligently practicing charts and I can tell she's likely to remember every detail of every chart by the end of this year.  In previous yea

It's week six of graduate school. I transferred my articles and notes from a very, very full one inch binder to a new three inch binder today to make room for what's still to come.  I finished my essays early this week, so in the last day, I've read a novel, one that wassn't assigned, and I even found some moments to blog.   Perhaps this post will serve to remind me of this very, very busy season someday.  I have little to no margin right now with everything I'm doing. I homeschool three daughters, one of which submitting some of her work for college credits and therefore, needs more support. I direct Challenge 3. I am in my third year of the Circe Apprenticeship, and I'm taking an EDUC and an ENGL class.  This pace is certainly not sustainable. I'm doing my best to sleep enough and eat right, but there is no time for exercise or for any healthy leisure.  I'm planning to take only one class at a time from now on. I realized I am in no hurry to finish my

A spider made its web right across the outside of this window almost as if it were framed there. I tried to get a photo of the web, but the camera couldn't capture it.  I thought the girls looked beautiful, too, looking up at the web, so I captured their beauty instead.