Veronica Boulden

This is a picture of a pot my middle daughter cleaned with hot soapy water. She's learning to clean up after dinner and do the dirty dishes by hand.  She doesn't always get it right at this point in the process. Notice there is still a bunch of stuff on the edge and outside of the pot.  Nevertheless, I actually put this pot away in the cabinet just as you see it and I'll use it that way the next time I need it. For me, it's good enough for now.  Another time, I might rewash it myself. Another time, I could show her how to do a better job and make sure and get the edges and the outside of the pots, too.  But for now, I just put the pot away like that. I like giving my daughters real jobs that they can grow into.  The trade off is the jobs aren't done perfectly right away. But they are thriving with real responsibilities, learning how to adult before they have to be adults. So they deserve the dignity of real jobs poorly done.  

 Our family came up with some Classical Valentine greetings for Valentines Day this year. These could go on candy hearts or cards.  

I keep flowers on the table as often as possible now.  I don't spend a fortune. This bouquet was five dollars and it'll last for weeks. Beauty is becoming more and more important to me the longer I homeschool Classically.  

My middle daughter is in her last year of Essentials.  It's very exciting. She mastering English grammar only to continue grammar study with Latin next year in Challenge.  I am really looking forward to taking another daughter through Latin.  That sounded sarcastic, but I'm actually totally serious.  It's been amazing to watch my oldest daughter totally master the grammar of language by studying Latin for five years. Now I see how that mastery of language grammar has allowed her move into the rhetorical stages of language, now doing original translation, poetry, and essay writing with ease and joy.  

I am directing Challenge 3 this year, so that means I am leading the group through Chemistry.  My daughter is in my class and she is getting Chemistry credit through the CC Plus program. I'll often preview labs at home before community day to ensure I understand the concepts and the procedures.  Sometimes my daughter will help.  This one was particularly interesting to the both of us.  Using a butane lighter, we measured pressure, volume, temperature, and moles of butane to confirm the ideal gas constant in the ideal gas law. That included several conversions such as Celsius to Kelvin and milliliters to liters and grams to moles. I am becoming a pro at conversions of all sorts.   

We've had days and days of snow, and it's just piling up.  Most of the girls' exercise comes from playing outside. The specific exercise depends on the season.  We hike in spring, swim in summer, etc. For now, they are sledding down the hill ad tracking back up, taking winter walks in the woods, and digging tunnels.    

We took a winter's walk around Putnam.  Ice covers the pond and the wind makes an eery sound as it whips over the surface.  The girls threw stones onto the ice and they slid and make odd vibrations and echoes.  If you listened closely, you can hear the ice shifting and creaking.  As we came inside, Adele said, "Mom, I'd like to try and paint that landscape." So I left her downstairs at the arts and crafts table to do that.  I promptly came upstairs and made some hot tea.