Time for our first moment of posting here what used to go up over at the other blog, in this case the periodic general update. Enjoy.
[For those who never read at Greencastle: We have a green castle in our backyard. It is for this castle that our homeschool was named. And hence the name of the ol’ homeschooling blog. And thus why I refer to what is going on ‘at the castle’. Because there really is a castle. ]
School: December devolved into unschooling by mid-month. All good, but it was an abrupt return to the routine after the new year. For this spring the big push will be penmanship, walking, math, penmanship, math, penmanship, math, ack — science! — and a holding steady on all the rest. That walking bit mostly about the Bun, now five and not a strong hiker. The current routine is to do our first hour as a group (as per the fall: weather calendars, penmanship, ASL/French, religion), then head out for a walk in the neighborhood. Enthusiasm varies.
In a change-up that is going well so far, I’ve been giving the kids a snack after the walk, and doing read-alouds during that time. Which solves two problems — children getting hungry before lunch, and not wanting Mr. Boy to miss out on the girls’ read-alouds, because a lot of the books I read really are good for older people too. From there, back to the same old schedule: send the girls out for a break while I work with Mr. Boy, then he works on his own while I alternate between girls on reading and math. Andabelle (now 3) is very happy to be allowed to draw and play with math blocks during this time. On a good day, we’re done by lunch — yay.
SCA: We haven’t done a whole lot, but we’ve had fun doing it. I’m slowly becoming less laughable as a rapier (fencing) fighter, and am nearly fully-equipped. Fun sport. Aria & I went to a 12th Night event this month that was heavy on the dancing (yay!!), and the baklava. Oh my goodness I have never seen so much baklava in one place — and it never ran out. I was floored. Just floored. Difficult to believe I’ll see a feast like that again in this lifetime.
Speaking of which: Death still packs a fair sting in this life, even after accounting for the vast and unfathomable richness of the next. Please pray for the repose of the soul of my grandfather, Hank Holder. Thanks.
Latin Watch: The boy and I are learning to conjugate. Very slowly. We’ve been stuck in chapter six for over a month, and no end in sight. It’s that ugly moment in learning a language where you can’t cruise anymore, you have to stop and force yourself to work work work. I need to carve out some time to work on that.
Annual writing binge: Why yes, it is winter, I do have tendonitis. Not helped by the encouragement of the SuperHusband, who went and got me my own computer for Christmas. And I’ve been neglecting the blog while I’m at it. Nothing publishable at this point. I write the way other people knit: it is a vacation, not a vocation.
Around the house: SuperHusband and Mr. Boy have been renovating the castle yard, so that it begins to look less and less like barbarians own the place. (Barbarians do own the place, but we are trying to conceal that fact). Landscape timbers, flagstone walkway, new fence across the back. I moved some ivy already, and soon I will get to put in a bunch of plants. Yay.
–> There are, by the way, no ‘before’ pictures. You don’t want to know.
Everything else: I think normal. Mostly the goal for the spring is to hold steady on regular life. That should be plenty.