Curriculum Sale Score!

I got some awesome books at the co-op curriculum sale. 

Adele has been begging for a new handwriting book, but she just finished one, it's the end of the school year and the beginning of summer vacation, so I wasn't highly motivated to purchase a new book yet. 

But when I saw all the Draw Write Now books for sale at the co-op curriculum sale, I jumped on them. 

These are not my favorite handwriting curriculum, because these books do not show students how to form each letter, etc. 

But Adele #1. already knows how to form letters in print and in cursive from using other handwriting programs #2. just needs a program that will allow her to review her letters #3 really wants to do handwriting #4. loves to draw and color #5. can use these all summer for fun. 

So these books will work as a perfect solution for our needs right now. I'll likely purchase another handwriting book when the school year begins. 

I also picked up a set of the Charlotte Mason books! 

I have these books on Kindle and have been reading them for years, but I had been thinking how much I wanted to purchase them in print, so the timing was providential. 

Bookmarks

As a year end gift, Adele made her Classical Conversations classmates and teachers a bookmark with their silhouettes on the front and their names on the back. This was totally her idea and she worked on it diligently for the last few weeks during her free time. In the end, I helped her laminate them for they'd be a little more sturdy. 

The Whole Beautiful Journey

I had been collecting pictures for her graduation slideshow. Looking at hundreds, this is the one that made me cry. The Lord powerfully led us to Classical education literally confirming it was the path for us through visions and dreams. I don't talk about that much, because it's supernatural, mysterious, odd, but precious, and I have cherished the truth of it in my heart all the time, especially once I started seeing the fruits of this education. So, when she was little, we read the children's versions of the myths together for the first time, and that's when we painted this apple "for the most beautiful." This last year of high school in Challenge 4, we read all three epics together with her classmates: The Illiad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid. She even translated significant portions of Virgil from the Latin. This kid loves thousands of books, but says The Iliad is her all-time favorite. So this is the image that captures it all for me, the whole beautiful journey the Lord has led us on, so I came undone when I saw it.

Our Challenge Protocol 2022

Protocol is a special opportunity for Challenge students to learn etiquette and have opportunities to experience beauty and culture. 

In years past, our Challenge groups have gone to a symphony or watched an opera then they've dinned together at a very formal restaurant. 

But here in Connecticut and so close to New York, as we were planning this year's Protocol events, we were still facing all variety of known and unknown vaccine mandates, covid testing procedures, mask mandates, and ticket policies that may or may not offer refunds, so we decided to avoid all complications and just make our own culture/ host our own event. 

So the Oliveira's hosted parents and students in their private home for a murder mystery dinner event with a 1920s theme. It was something I would have never thought to do, but that's exactly why I'm so glad for community. It was so fun, and now we all have some amazing memories with our seniors to reminiscence about. 

Bouquets of Beauty

We've been keeping various, sundry bouquets on the table, and we get so much simple joy from them throughout the days. 

The importance of beauty has been on my mind again, since I recently read "The Enchanted April" and listened to The Literary Life Podcast's that went along with the book. 

We were already in the habit of keeping bouquets anyway, purchasing flowers at the grocery store all winter, but the recent bouquets are actually a combination of purchased flowers and flowers blooming in the yard like daffodils, since it's finally spring in New England. 

We've also gotten more creative, even indulgent, adding sprigs of scented rosemary, grape hyacinths, dandelions, and unnamed wildflowers (or are they herbs?) to the most recent arrangements. I actually like the effect some of these unknown, unnamed flowers bring. Some of them will drop seeds or blooms creating a romantic effect on our table top. 

    

Teaching Writing Structure and Style

We've used Teaching Writing Structure and Style in our homeschool (with the support of Classical Conversation's Essentials program) with all three of our daughters for over seven years!

At the end of each year, our Essentials tutors collect all the essays a student writes into book. These books have become a treasured keepsake in our home. My daughters will often read each other's essays from when they were in Essentials. 

My oldest daughter's Essentials books:

My middle daughter's Essentials books:

My youngest daughter's book from this year. (She has two more years in Essentials, if all goes as planned.) 

It's summer break now and we aren't writing any essays for a few months, but as a review for next year, I've been leisurely watching/ listening to the Teaching Writing Structure and Style instructional videos online using my IEW Premium membership. My youngest daughter and I also watched a webinar on Advanced Stylish Techniques, and she diligently took notes for future use. 

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Our current read aloud is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 

We took a break from reading books aloud during Lent, because we were reading larger portions of Scripture aloud each night instead. 

Earlier this year, we decided to reread the Narnia books, since it had been several years since we'd done so. 

It turns out that we'll probably finish rereading all the Narnia books just in time for our oldest daughter to leave for college. 

That wasn't part of the plan, but there's something very sweet about the timing of it working out that way. 

These books have been formative to her; she'd testify to that. 

They have been formative to our entire family culture. 

So this will be a sweet, fitting send-off for her.