Gearing Up For Another Homeschool Year

We are starting a new homeschool year. 

Adele (shown above) will be in 9th. She'll be doing Bible, Pre-Algebra, Introductory Logic, Rhetoric, Mock Trial, American History, Latin, and Physical Science. 

Avril will be in 12th. She'll be doing Bible, Calculus, Rhetoric/ Senior Thesis, Mock Trial, World History, Latin 4, and Physics. 

We're starting a Classical Christian co-op with a group of close friends and families from our church and/or previous co-ops- a very exciting endeavor. 

I'm teaching the Mock Trial class that includes a large group of students from 7th-12th, Rhetoric/ Thesis class for high school seniors and one junior, and the Ancient Literature class for 9th-12th graders. 

My husband Dwayne is in the Circe Apprenticeship, so he's teaching a Lost Tools of Writing class for a large group of 7th-9th graders. 

Landscaping Cont.

Little by little, we are landscaping our yard. 

This year, we've added extensive drainage and natural stone steps leading down the steep hillside to our meadow. 

Now we can easily stroll down the hill and into the lower part of our property out back. 

Next spring, we will be ready for plantings including dogwood trees and lilacs! 

Spruce Lake 2026

We went camping at Spruce Lake again this summer. 

Our good friends have been going on the same weeks in August for 40+ years. Their parents and siblings still come. Their siblings invite friends, too. So it ends up being a large group. 

It's like the 1980s; The large group of kids heads off in the morning and we often don't see them again until lunch, maybe not even then, and then they disappear again until dinner. Final curfew is 10:30pm, so they definitely come back then, ready for showers and bed.

We build and sit beside the fires, read, percolate coffee, roast our food, pitch in for community dinners, enjoy the lovely weather, play put put, swim, chat, play board games, hike, etc. 

It's a lovely way to end the summer. 

Deck Days of Summer

We've so enjoyed our back decks since we added the new outdoor furniture this summer. 

Family members have been able to sit for hours sipping coffee and chatting, reading, crocheting, playing guitar, watching and listening to the birds, even napping! 

The lower level of the deck might be everyone's favorite spot since it remains shady throughout the day and most of the time, there's a lovely breeze blowing through. 

The gold finch love my sunflowers. They are so stunning, I don't even mind that the birds destroy the flowers as they eat the seeds. 

My Own Smashbook Continued

Sometime ago the girls attended a friend's birthday party where they started a smashbook with their friends. They were led to understand that smashbooks are similar to scrapbooks in the sense that they are books where you put photos of life events. But smashbooks are different because they don't have to be extremely neat like scrapbooks. The pages can be "smashed" like a collage. 

The girls had a great time making the first few pages of their smashbooks at that party, and they continued this form of scrapbooking at home after the party for many days and week. 

It looked so fun that I decided to start a smashbook of my own. I did a few pages then the season changed and I couldn't find time for doing anymore pages. 

Fast forward this summer. 

I've been adding collages to my smashbook this summer as I listen to podcasts. 

I'll print pictures from my phone in various sizes, cut them, arrange them, and combine them with other souvenirs that are flat enough to go into the smashbook.

I've managed to make smashbook pages for all my major life events up through last summer.

It's been a lovely way to use my summer leisure time, reminisce, meditate on all the ways that God has blessed us and been faithful through every season. 

I'll see how many more pages I can get done in this season before life picks up again and I have to put my smashbook down for other things. 

It's Wonderful!

All three daughters are home doing some combination of work and/ or homeschool or college. 

It's wonderful to have all my girls at home again.

What is especially wonderful is that I have so much help with dinners now. 

Each girl plans a meal, adds grocery items to the shopping list, and takes responsibility for one weeknight dinner. 

Wonderful!