School Pictures

These are our official "school pictures" for 2005-2006. I took them back in January in front of our (little red school)house.


Kyle- Grade 4

Bethany- Grade 6

Now... Where was I?

Since my last post (I can't believe how long it's been!) I attended our large homeschool convention and book fair, bought some more materials, had great intentions of finishing the school year strong, and.... not much has happened academically! You see, about 5 weeks ago I put my precious 12 year old on a plane for China to go visit some family friends. She has had the time of her life absorbing the culture, learning Chinese, performing in puppet shows, and making new friends. (You can read all about it on my other blog.) Meanwhile, all of the school I thought I would get done with my son and all of the school planning I had told myself this would be a great time to do... hasn't happened to the degree I thought it would. I wondered what was up until I read Kim at The Upward Call today, talking about how she was having trouble focusing because the "mom" part of her was with her daughter who was leaving for camp. That's it! I've been so excited for my sweet daughter. I've been soaking up the one-on-one time with my precious son, but I've had a distinct lack of focus for the past 6 weeks or so.

No "school" has happened, but some learning has: Kyle and I have reread Indian in the Cupboard while he and his dad have reread Gone-Away Lake. We've watched super hero movies (Batman Begins is our favorite!), gone swimming, worked on math (okay, twice), listened back through The Story of the World: Ancient Times cd's (schooly entertainment!). We lost the NBA title with the Mavericks, but won a World Cup game with Ghana. We met the Special Advisor to the President of Ghana. We ate Chinese food at least once a week. We talked to China every other day. We attended the funeral of my husband's sweet grandfather and saw the Alamo on the way. We started the French Revolution with the cast of Les Miserables and watched a History Channel documentary on the Kennedy assassination. We went to the library twice for big batches of books. Oh! And I sold my first-ever item on the WTM $ale and Swap board. Wow! Looking at it all in print, it looks pretty good! But, somehow I still felt like I've not been "all here." Part of me has been in China!

At our convention in May, I purchased the Institute for Excellence in Writing dvd's, which I've been watching little by little. I am formulating my plan for Language Arts for both kids. I ordered The Latin-Centered Curriculum and I've skimmed it, but I'm not sure if I completely agree with that approach for our family. (And my non-Latin-centered daughter might very well catch the first plane back to China!) I'm looking forward to spending more time in July wading through our new curriculum and blogging about general schoolishness.

Bethany returns Monday morning! I'm not sure if my focus will be back, but I know for sure part of my heart will be.