Journal Categories
Journal Tags

Entries from September 1, 2012 - September 30, 2012

Saturday
Sep292012

Windy City

We're in Chicago for what is becoming an annual birthday visit. We came into town last night and enjoyed true Chicago deep dish pizza for dinner. Then today we had a late breakfast at our favorite local place before spending the rest of the afternoon at the Field Museum, per Calvin's request. Egypt, Tibet, the Pacific Islands, biodiversity, evolution, and Extreme Mammals—we did it all. Afterwards? Pool, football on TV, relaxing, and great dinner.

Tomorrow? Zoo time.

Friday
Sep282012

Field trip

Homeschool group fried trip! The space we rent as a group was not available this week, so one of our moms organized a field trip to Wiard's Orchard, a local apple orchard and pumpkin patch, family owned for the past 125 years. I remember visiting when I was in high school, and many times in college. Sadly, as with so many other locations in Michigan, their entire apple crop was destroyed by the early March heat and subsequent frost. Their solution was to bring apples in from their family orchards on the west side of the state, which mean that we still got to take home Michigan apples, we just didn't get to pick them.

While there we also went on the hay ride, played mini golf, tried out a variety of play structures, and consumed the obligatory cider and doughnuts. Fall splendor.

Thursday
Sep272012

Mid-week

So far this week we've...

constructed with everything we had at hand,

done math with the help of a robin,

started a love affair with the roll playing game genre,

practiced yoga (?) and spelling together,

and gone in search of fall.

Jon and I woke up as usual every morning this week, dragging ourselves out of bed and into the day as quietly as possible, since we hadn't heard from the munchkin down the hall yet. But do you know where we found him each and every morning? Sitting at his desk in his office, creating. He wrote and illustrated a play one day, he drew pictures of myths another day, and he brought us declarations of a child's love another morning. I love this, that he is driven by his own intentions and his own desires and creating in his own individual way. It is a gift of homeschooling that we are able to approach everything so as to meet those desires. Our son is a character, as all children can be, and I love that his individuality has not been hampered by peer pressure or the like (or by the early arrival of the school bus, for that matter).

I'm sure all homeschoolers have their moments of doubt, and I would be lying if I claimed to be any different. Following an unconventional course can be hard. Rarely is it met with outright approval, more likely it is met with skepticism, argument, and judgement. But researching, contemplating, deciding, and then taking the path that you believe is right? It's priceless. It's worth more than all the approval in the world. And I am reminded at least once every day of why our path is the right one for us, be it by the robin at the table during math, the yoga moves during spelling, the games during lunch, the meandering hikes after, the lazy Lego play in the afternoons, and that's all the reward I need for taking the road less travelled.

It's a beautiful life.

Wednesday
Sep262012

In search of fall

Sunday
Sep232012

Raining on the parade

It feels like we've had just a handful of rainy days over the past two months, but one of those rainy days did a number on our little village's summer festival in August, and another of them rained on the neighboring community's fall festival yesterday. Timing is everything.

We had a nice time anyhow, and it was fun coming home for our first afternoon of warm soup in snuggly warm clothing. Fall is upon us.