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Showing posts from March, 2021

Note Speller

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This was a beautiful moment I wanted to capture with a picture. Avril is helping Adele with a page of a new Note Speller book assigned by her piano teacher. The girls often help each other throughout the day like this. And by helping the younger sister/s, the older sisters reinforce and review their own knowledge.  Homeschooling is a very nurturing environment.   

The Wind in the Willows

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Dwayne was traveling for a few weeks and we did not want to continue reading our current read-aloud,  The Wheel on the School,  while he was gone, so we started a totally new read-aloud in his absence, The Wind in the Willows . The girls and I loved it immediately. Rat, Mole, and Badger became our fast friends and we started referencing them in conversations right away.   I am very familiar with CS Lewis at this point in my life. As I was reading this book at particular moments, I wondered whether Lewis must have read this book, too. It reminded me of him. I checked the timeline, publication date, etc. and found that it was, at least possible for Lewis to have read this book.  Then I inquired of my literary friends and many confirmed that CS Lewis loved this book and even reread it many times.  No wonder the characters in this book felt like old friends to me all at once!  Next to Willy Shakes, Jack is my oldest literary friend. Jack knew and loved these characters long before I ever m

The Perfect Lasagna

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In a very conscious and deliberate effort to bring more excitement to our weekly meals, I have been attempting to make "the perfect lasagna" for the last few months.  I will take my family's feedback like "not enough sauce, too much cheese, etc." and apply it to the next lasagna I make and I have been averaging one lasagna every one or two weeks.  The other day, everyone loved the lasagna I made. No one had any complaints, only praise. Everyone said it was "perfect." As I sat there hearing their feedback, the realization dawned on me that I had finally succeeded and made the perfect lasagna according to my family. But, I also realized that that day, I had used what was left in two different brands of sauce jars and I was not at all sure how much of either sauce was actually in the jars. I had even used a portion of plain tomato sauce to fill out the dish and make up for what was still lacking in the jars. So I realized there was little to no way I woul