Season’s Greetings!
Lately I haven’t had much time to blog, so I’m trying to write an occasional post that will update you on the state of our homeschool. If there’s anything you’d like me to expand on, let me know.
My eldest son is in 6thgrade now, which many people consider middle school. But when I was a kid in Las Vegas, it was the last year of elementary school, so that’s how I’m thinking about it.
I also thought I’d better start thinking about next year now because it’s going to be different. It’s going to challenge him. And as I began to think about what I wanted to do, especially regarding literature study, I realized it might be easier to think about the next six years AS A WHOLE. So that’s what I’ve been doing lately. I’ve been thinking about my son’s junior high and high school years – 7ththrough 12thgrade. I haven’t made any hard and fast decisions. But in the fall I began reading about requirements, making lists of books, jotting down ideas, and looking at possible resources. It is not so overwhelming when you start as early as I am starting. It is giving me time to really think about what we’re going to have to do and what I need to do in 7thand 8thgrade to prepare him for high school work.
When I start a project like this, it’s hard to think about anything else. It’s rather consuming, but in a good way, I guess, because it needs to get done. As we implement my plans, I will be sure to write about them here, but, of course, that is a long time coming. If it seems like good material for a blog post, I may write about my thought process on this. Would that be something you’re interested in reading?
What else have we been doing?
In November, we were fortunate to get to use my aunt’s timeshare, and we spent a week on Ormond Beach, Florida over Thanksgiving with my in-laws. The best part of that trip was the birds, which we actively sought out for my little birder, but on this trip, we didn’t have to go far. The birds were not afraid of people on that beach! It was quite fun. You can see some photos I took here.
My little pianist has been very busy. He performed at a retirement home and in a festival in October, a local recital for area teachers in November, and then at his teacher’s studio recital in December. I’m very excited that we were able to put videos of these last two performances up on his YouTube channel, which you can see here. This one is especially fun and short. (If you haven’t already, I would love it if you subscribed to his channel. He would be thrilled to get more subscribers!)
We are also planning future events in 2019 and beyond for our young musician and looking at ways of giving him new musical, educational experiences that will serve him on this road long-term. The possibilities are exciting, but financially, it’s overwhelming and frustrating. We will do everything we can to squeak through and give him and his brother the best of everything.
I have, of course, been getting ready for Christmas, and while I am not someone who needs or wants to go overboard in her preparations, there is still so much to do! Thankfully I have finished and mailed off the Christmas cards, and I think (I hope) all the presents have been purchased. Still need to do some wrapping!
Tomorrow is the winter solstice, and I haven’t given it much thought either. I like to celebrate it in a small way each year, so we’ll figure out something together, I am sure.
I have also – and this goes along with my obsessive lesson planning – been thinking about how to plan our foreign language lessons better. I think I have finally come up with a plan that might make my life easier – if I can follow through. lol. I don’t know. When it comes down to it, there is just no easy way! But if I figure something out that works, I’ll be sure to share it with you.
So as you can see, we’re plugging along, and I am in the midst of planning EVERYTHING. It’s too soon to write about most of it, but if you have any questions, I’m always happy to try to answer them!
Also, I’d like to thank those people who write me e-mails occasionally. Usually it’s someone new to homeschooling who has a lot of questions and uncertainty. I love to hear from anyone, though. I try to help as best I can, and I always appreciate the feedback I get. If there’s something you’d like for me to write about on my blog, don’t hesitate to ask that too.
Whatever holiday(s) you celebrate, I hope that they are a peaceful and happy time for you. I hope you’re sharing them with people you love. Wishing you a warm and safe 2019.
Mama of Letters 
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