Teaching spelling the easy way

Two years ago, I began a spelling book with B. while she was in first grade.  Within a few months, it became clear that we were wasting our time:  even though each week she completed a lesson and successfully spelled all the words in it, several weeks later she would not remember how to spell [...]

Update on Swimming

Well, at half-way through the lessons, it is obvious that neither B. nor D. will actually be swimming by the end of them.  However, they are both much more comfortable in the water now, and particularly more comfortable stretched out in a swimming position.  B. looks like she might be pretty close to having beginning [...]

Crash Course in Swimming

B. and D. started swimming lessons today.  The lessons will be an hour a day, five days a week, for two weeks.  It’s hard for me to believe that B. and D. could actually be swimming in that short of a time, but we’ll see.  They both learned to ride their bikes in a really [...]

Going back to college

After eight years since my last college class, I’ve gone back to college, this time as a freshman.  I’m taking Latin along with the freshmen here.  Even though I’ve already had two years of Latin in college, and some of the other students had had a year or two of Latin in high school, the [...]

What we’ve been up to

Since our visitors left on Tuesday, we’ve been planning school for this fall (yes, still planning, even though we’ll be starting in just over a week!), picking cherries, making cherry jam, peach jam, peach wine, and pear butter.  And last of all, we’ve been getting sick.  Yes, again.  For the third time this summer!  So [...]

Summer Class Begins

Today was J’s first day of teaching a summer grad class on the Synoptic Gospels. As is typical of summer classes, it will be short (three weeks) but intense.
This would make a logical point for us to begin some homeschooling, and I had originally intended to do that. Instead I have discovered that [...]

Elevation Observations

The elevation here is around 5400 feet above sea level, which in theory should mean we will see some difference in how things cook and bake.  I haven’t done a lot of baking yet – just corn bread and an apple spice cake – but haven’t yet seen any difference there.  Probably it makes more [...]

On doing it all

What do you do when you just can’t get everything done anymore?  You stop trying, of course.  We have stopped doing homeschool for this year.  Note that I do not say we have finished doing schooling for the year.  We haven’t come to the end of the track; we’ve simply come to a screeching halt.  [...]

Learning the Lingua

Lingua Latina, that is. My husband learned recently that one of the classes he will be teaching this fall will be a Latin class. This particular Latin class not only teaches Latin, but is taught in Latin. Which means that the professor has to be able to actually speak Latin, not just [...]

Current Read-Alouds

Proverbs (Hoping that if we read through it enough times, maybe it will all sink in by the time the kids are grown up.)
A Pattern Language – two patterns each night, one from the city section, and one from the individual building section.
Anne of Green Gables (David says he hates this one; B. says she [...]