I now have a grandson and therefore a valid excuse when I skip blogging for a month or so! Our little boy, let's call him Peanut, was born on February 6th. Since then things have been a little out of sorts around here, but hopefully they will start settling down soon. While I've been out helping my daughter with Peanut, the boys have been working fairly independently. Dad has stepped in to take on EM's science and JT's math, so I mostly organize the schedule and make a list they can complete on their own. We still do our history reading together, I help both boys with their writing work, and I work as a part-time chauffeur getting them to their various lessons. The rest of their subjects they can handle with little help from me.
JT took a practice SAT book using the latest edition of the College Board's practice book. His score in the reading portion was above average, in the math section he was close to average, for the essay, let's just say, he needs more practice. We plan to do the other three practice tests and use Khan Academy's SAT material to help him prepare to take the test next year. We also need to take the time to sit down and fill out the application for the community college where he plans to take a few classes next year as a dually enrolled high school student.
JT and I are also discussing plans to do some hiking. We both recently read the book, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, and have become enthralled with the idea of hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail. We are working on a plan to begin some training hikes this summer and look at doing a longer overnight hike to prepare for an eventual 10 day hike on the Shenandoah National Park portion of the trail. EM and my husband are not as interested in this endeavour so they would follow along as support staff and stay in more comfortable facilities. All of these plans will depend on what the podiatrist says when I go for an appointment in April to see why I am having foot pain.
The rest of our schooling seems to be going quite well. EM is enjoying his pottery wheel class this month, JT continues to enjoy fencing and drumming. Both are doing plenty of reading in their free time. I'm thinking once things settle down with the new baby, we might need to take a short vacation. I'm feeling the call of the road again! And why bother homeschooling with a flexible schedule if you aren't going to use it to enjoy life and get out to see the world?
