Well...Hello There!

It's been so long that I am not even going to bother trying to "catch up" but instead will just start fresh, and share what's going on!

...The Girl...

A retrospective of fifteen years

She turned FIFTEEN this month! Can you believe it? She's studying math, writing, ancient Chinese history, environmental science, and baking at the moment. Her plan, as of now, is to start at the local junior college next fall, or sometime soon thereafter, entering the culinary arts program with a focus on baking and pastry. Eventually, she'd like to start her own bakery-café, but will spend at least a couple of years working for someone else to build experience.

In the meantime, she paints frequently, still loves sculpting, and still enjoys documentaries. She's also taken up archery. She helps cook dinner nearly every night, and on the nights I work late, she is always the one to pop a casserole in the oven and make a salad, although she and The Boy did make a veggie burger dinner together last week!

...The Boy...

Happily fixing his aunt's car

The Boy is enrolled in his first automotive class at the local junior college, and absolutely LOVES it. He's working toward becoming a fully ASE certified mechanic, and also dreams of having his own shop one day. He's also studying math, Russian, writing, environmental science, nutrition, and ancient Chinese history. He's rebuilding a 1972 Chevy pickup here at home as well.

Still loves reading, art, and science fiction movies! His ankle, injured from parkour a couple of years ago, is looking more and more like it will need surgery, so we'll be working toward that for summer. He'd love to get back into fencing by late fall, ankle permitting.

...Me...

I'm still working at a grocery store, and at the local university. A month or so ago though, I came to a huge realization. I'm a decent teacher, but I'm not a great one. I'm simply not passionate enough about it. And students deserve someone passionate, and absolutely dedicated. I know a lot of people who are... just not me. Where I do really shine is in administrative work (aka secretarial work). And there are some good potential opportunities coming up at the university. I'd like to work there, at the junior college, or for a good nonprofit.

I am still working on my Master's degree as well. I had plans to tackle my thesis over winter break, and then the kids were sick, and I was sick, and then we all got better, and then we got sick again. Added to the unfinished thesis are the facts that I still need some foreign language under my belt, and I need to take the literature comprehension test. So that I don't kill myself over the next few months, I'll be paying for "project continuation" units over the next year; taking French over next fall and spring, taking the exam next spring, and working on my thesis throughout.

...And in Other News...

We fixed our leaky roof! The family room has been getting increasingly bad over the years, leaking so heavily last year that the room semi-flooded during the heaviest storm. But we put on "peel and seal" roofing, and it actually works! Our next major project is the kids' bathroom plumbing, which leaks like crazy unless we replace washers every two weeks. We're going to get a conversion kit to change it from an old, two-knob set-up to a single knob set-up. And we need to re-do the shower surround at the same time. Fun times!

M sadly lost his job last fall, and has been going through some health issues. We are working toward solutions for both, but it might be a while, which is part of the reason I've been putting in about 50 hours a week, and not working on my thesis. I'm exhausted most of the time, but the kids are really helping me hold it all together.

So, to finish things off for today, here are a couple of random pictures! The first is a drawing I did last night of an orchid from a book on orchids. It was the first time in years that I actually sat down and just drew, and it felt fantastic, and I am mostly pleased with the sketch. The second is a picture I snapped when leaving the university campus a few weeks ago.

And Then the World Turned Upside Down...

My world turned upside down this week, though in a very good way! If you've read this blog for a while, you know how thrilled I was to be hired last fall by the local junior college (I love that place) as an Instructional Facilitator for the English department. And now things have gotten even better!

First, let me fill in some background here... I have been working on my Master's in English Education and Rhetoric forever. Well, forever since 2012. I only take one class a semester toward it because in addition, I work as a secretary, an instructional facilitator, a reader/grader, and a tutor. I know, crazy, right? And then I wonder why my house is always a mess. My goal, for years now, has been to teach at the local junior college. But, with the fact that my MA seemed ever elusive, and we needed money through lean years, that goal seemed impossible.

Until now.

Last week, I almost offhandedly applied for what is called a Teaching Associate position at the local university (where I am working ever so slowly on my MA). The Teaching Associate takes on one class section of English 100A/B—basically a remedial let's-get-you-up-to-college-English-class—for a year, with no more than sixteen students. I was late in applying. All my recommendation letters were actually directed at a career in teaching high school, which I was prepared to do through an intern program. I planned to work as a high school teacher until I could finish my MA, figuring a teaching credential and the classroom experience could only help in the long run. At the same time, I knew this wasn't what I wanted to do long term. My insides quaked a bit at the thought of teaching 4-6 classes a day, with 25-30+ students in each.

But....

I don't have to do the intern program. I don't have to teach in a high school just to teach. The university offered me the position! AND, the junior college wants to keep me on. And it looks like I may be tutoring a group of homeschoooled high-schoolers once a week in literature and writing! More on that later....

This means that: I will be giving notice as a secretary. I'll be writing a syllabus and choosing texts. I'll be working fewer hours total per week (and earning a little less money, but M has a good, solid income now, and we know all too well how to live on a budget). I'll be steadily moving forward to my dream career, and have a little more time with my own kids. The house might even get cleaned! I'll be a teacher this fall!!!

I'm also submitting my first article (a book review) for publication in an academic journal, so wish me luck with that!

Hope your week is as awesome as mine has started out to be!

Where We Are, and Where We Are Headed Next...

Since we are getting closer and closer to the end of the year, I thought I would share where we are at with homeschooling, and what our next big plans are!

The Boy

He is doing so well with TabletClass Algebra as his math text/program! As he's currently on chapter 2 out of 14, I doubt he will finish by the end of June, but in September, we will just pick up where he leaves off, and move on from there.

In writing, I have sort of dropped the ball... a lot. However, I am taking steps to remedy this. I have accepted that as an English tutor/teacher-to-be, I am not good at following a pre-written curriculum. I am much better at putting together assignments myself. So I am going to just work with him on the steps of writing various types of essays, though we will continue to use books like Writing With A Thesis for examples and refining. His first essay, an expository one, will be at least 5 paragraphs, and we'll be starting that today. I plan to have him read a least one sample essay, brainstorm, work on an outline, then a rough draft, and a final draft. In between all those fun steps, he'll continue with freewriting, etc., a la the Brave Writer Lifestyle. After the expository essay, we'll move on to a persuasive or descriptive essay. 

Next year, we'll continue essay writing, with at least one research paper, and various short essays across the curriculum.

The Girl

Our current approach to math—using Math Essentials and filling in any weak spots with Math Mammoth's Blue Series—is working quite well. She likes both programs, which is a rare find here, and is making nice progress! We'll continue on with this for next year's math (pre-algebra), and then decide where to go from there. I might have her try out the free pre-algebra lessons offered by John Zimmerman, the amazing TabletClass guy. Our primary focus the rest of this year is getting her up to full speed on multiplication, division, and fractions.

She does some writing/freewriting, and I should have her doing more Brave Writer Lifestyle activities, but our main focus is spelling, since that is a major weak spot. She spells very phonetically, which can be interesting, but not necessarily easy to understand. I bought a Spelling Workout workbook at a lower level than her reading comprehension, and she's flying through it, doing an entire lesson in a day. I assume we'll slow down as she moves up through the levels. 

Next year, we'll add in written narratives, and the beginnings of essay work.

Both

Downton history, while we haven't read/watched everything on my list, has been a huge hit! That said, I think next year we'll simply aim for watching series, documentaries, and movies... a visual interest-led approach. That is because we have decided we need a year that focuses more on science, which brings me to my next point.

Science has been largely interest-led this year. The Boy is reading a couple of books on black holes, and other cosmological phenomena; The Girl has practically memorized entire animal encyclopedias. We've watched documentaries, done an occasional small experiment, but we haven't really dug too deeply into science this year. I would like to finish out the year with some anatomy and nutrition, but we'll see. 

Next year though, both kids will be doing biology, The Boy because it's a science he has not focused on previously, and The Girl in order to broaden her horizons past animals. I'm looking at either Life on Earth (which looks fascinating, but is an iBook and therefore more difficult for me to access), or something along the lines of Exploring the Way Life Works, or maybe even a (gulp) textbook (this one, or perhaps this one).

OR, we'll be doing the Big History Project with extra science, primarily biology. [Personally, this would be my number one pick]

Literature has not been great this year either, mostly because I did not put enough emphasis on it, and I failed to make it a cornerstone of our education. The kids do read a lot on their own—right now I've got one enmeshed in the world of Harry Potter, and the other one millions of miles from here with The Martian—but at read-alouds... well, I'll just say it: I've sucked this year. I am working to remedy that a bit though. We're finally wrapping up A Wrinkle in Time, and then will either read A Wind in the Door, or something entirely different.

For next year, we are toying with the idea of a lit study based off of another favorite series of ours, Once Upon a Time. We would bring in everything from Alice in Wonderland and Pinocchio, to the Grimm fairy tales, Peter Pan, the legend of Blackbeard, and so forth. 

So,  biology/Big History  interest-led science and literature would be the main focal points for family studies, bolstered with math and writing as individual activities. Plus, The Boy may well take another junior college class.

So yes, we're still aiming high, and falling a bit short. 

It's March!

image courtesy of bestcalendartemplates.tk

...Plans for March...

...Holidays...

March 4 is a most important day. Why? Because this little one will be turning 13!

March 11, Johnny Appleseed Day

I think we'll have to make something with apples, of course! And maybe, for old times sake, read a lovely copy of the story (perhaps this one?).

March 14, National Pi Day

Obviously, I will have to make a pie!

March 15, Ides of March

Well, it certainly feels like spring around here! Maybe a Roman style dinner, with olives, bread, cheese, etc.

March 17, St. Patrick's Day

We always celebrate this one, as both M and I have Irish heritage, especially me (I'm nearly all Danish, Scots, and Irish, with a few other things thrown in the mix). We'll wear green, have an Irish dinner, and bake some soda bread!

March 20, Vernal Equinox

I love spring, so I'm happy to celebrate it! We'll plant some flowers, and have a spring themed dinner—I'm thinking an asparagus frittata, and a big salad. I always do first-day-of-spring baskets for the kids too, since they get Easter baskets from my mom when the time comes. And of course, we'll have to try balancing eggs on end!

March 27, Easter Sunday

We have a big midday dinner at my mom's after she goes to church. She usually does lamb, couscous, etc. I bring homemade hummus and pita chips, and the kids get Easter baskets!

...Other Plans for March...

The Girl and I will be going to my cousin's baby shower next weekend

We have lots of gardening work to do, including the actual building of our raised beds by mid-month!

I get a week off from both my jobs and college!

More decluttering. We did not get to clothes over the weekend, but have high hopes for this Saturday!

...What Else We're Up To...

M's new job, at a wholesale [plant] nursery, is working out fantastically so far. He loves being outside much of the day, working with plants, and soil. He's working 9+ hours a day, and probably 5-6 days a week. Definitely a big change for our household!

In homeschooling, we're plugging away. The Boy is doing very well with the change in algebra programs, and The Girl actually really likes Math Essentials (though she's iffy still on Fred). We watched the first episode of World War One: The People's Story, and it was very well done! We're keeping up with most of our history reading, and science reading, and are making good progress with finishing A Wrinkle in Time. The Boy is thinking about doing a math lesson while he's at my mom's on Mondays, to help make sure he hits the goal of 4 lessons a week, and then The Girl and I can tackle math on Monday evenings while The Boy is at fencing.

It's all about making things work!

Putting My Foot Down...

In the interest of actually making progress this spring, I am putting my foot down, laying down the law, making a stand... whatever you want to call it! I am purposefully trying to keep the scheduling very, very simple, and allowing for super-jam-packed-bare-minimum days.

image courtesy of movemequotes.com

Our school days:

Sunday (half-full day)

Monday (bare minimum)

Tuesday (full day)

Wednesday (bare minimum)

Thursday (full day)

Friday & Saturday: catch-up/make-up

On a full day, we will do:

Math

Language Arts

Literature

Read aloud from the Afternoon Basket

Documentary or Downton Abbey

On a shorter day, we will do:

Math

Literature

 Language Arts

And as time allows, read aloud from the Afternoon Basket

And on a bare-minimum day, we will do:

Math

Literature

Basically, my goals for each week are as follows:

Five math lessons per child

One Lively Art of Writing lesson (The Boy) / One spelling lesson (The Girl)

At least five chapters per week from our lit choice

One science project/observation each week

At least two chapters from our history read aloud each week

At least one chapter each from other rotational readings

I am hoping this is doable. I'd love to actually feel like we are really moving forward.

Now, having planned all that, I will say the most important things to me are (in order from most to slightly less important) MATH, LANGUAGE ARTS, LITERATURE

Everything else is just gravy!

Tuesday Musings...

I meant this to be a Monday Musings post, but ran out of time!


...Outside My Window...
We've had plenty of rainfall lately (yay!), but are getting a few days off, for everything to soak in and dry up a little. The fields have gone from a brown so dry and crispy that it looks like it might spontaneously combust at any moment to a rich, rich green. The skies are still and gray; it is chilly out. Little pools are forming here and there, and that's where the egrets gather.

...Around the House & Yard...
M has been hard at work, between rain showers, building my patio, and some planter boxes. We'll have a really lovely seating area by mid spring! I still have olives to pick, and then trees to prune—apple, olive, and cherry. After M finishes the patio area, we'll work on raised beds for veggies. And I need to work on the front yard design a bit more.

It looks like we'll also have a pretty decent-sized plumbing project coming up... the bathtub faucet won't stop dripping. I was able to stave it off for a while with new washers every month, but that's not working as well anymore, and the plumbing is so old that it is hard to get replacement parts. We'll have to tear out old (cheap) tile, and look at relining the shower/tub walls too.

...In the Kitchen...
We had a very lean couple of weeks food-budget-wise, which was actually good in that it got me really planning and thinking again, rather than just cooking whatever popped up in our minds. On Mondays, I work back-to-back jobs and attend a class (teaching writing to ELL students), so that will officially be our crockpot night! I also have to plan out packable lunches for The Boy, when he's off on his internship all day once a week.

...In Our Homeschooling...
History, through Downton Abbey, is going very well! At the rate of 2, and sometimes 3, episodes per week, we'll finish up all six seasons by the end of our school year in late June. We'll be working on finishing up the Romanov book over the next 3 weeks, and I have some movies and documentaries planned along the way. I'm trying to not overdo my planning this time!

The junior college, well... that didn't work out as well this semester. The intro to engineering class turned out, from the syllabus, to be an intro to the field of engineering—research on types of jobs, how to work toward getting them, etc. I am sure it would be a very useful class for a potential engineer, but it is not what The Boy is looking for at the moment. So he's taking a semester off from college, to focus on his studies at home, and his auto rebuilding. Also, last semester, he was so overwhelmed that he missed a few months of fencing, which he doesn't want to do again.

And we're seeking out a science focus for him. The online robotics course he found intriguing has a lot of higher level math, and he's just not quite there yet. We'll find it.. possibly biology (though that might be good for both kids for next year) or just an overview of science?  And he found something! Imagining Other Earths, from Coursera. It is both introductory and self-paced, wich he's happy about.


The Girl is doing pretty well with her dinosaur paleobiology course, and we're making progress with spelling. Math is going very well with both kids! And we're actually doing math 4-5 times a week!

...Reading and Watching...
Besides the Romanov book linked above, we're still reading A Wrinkle in Time, and we just started The Royal Road to Romance (which sounds cheesy, but is actually a fabulous travelogue from the 1920s). I'm reading The Death of Artemio Cruz, along with my students; various articles on  multilingual literacy and writing for my own class; and A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeline L'Engle for fun. The Girl is still deep in the world of Harry Potter, and The Boy has just about wrapped up Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. 

Besides our Downton Abbey habit, The Boy and I are finishing Lost soon, and the kids have started watching The X-Files.

...Crafting...
I finished up another scarf, so I am in between knitting projects. The Girl has been doing a lot of clay crafting, some stop-motion, and plenty of painting recently. The Boy is working on landscapes in Blender.

...On the Agenda...
Fencing, derby (full practice schedule starts up the first week of February), college (for me), plenty of work, car repair internship, etc., etc., etc. We're always busy! Next week should be a little calmer though, as I don't have any scheduled doctor's visits for my dad (I have two this week... regular doctor and optometrist). I also want to check out Mango Languages, as our library offers access to it for free!

Speaking of my dad, we moved him this weekend. He's still in the same independent living facility, just in an apartment that is much closer to the dining room, and activity rooms. It took us (me, my sister and brother, my mom, The Boy, and The Girl) 7 hours to pack his one bedroom apartment up entirely, move it all, and unpack it again. Phew! We're hoping that between the move, the exercise classes he's started, and the physical and occupational therapy, he can stay where he is for a while to come.

I hope your week is good! I'll leave you with a nighttime picture I took of one of my mom's trees starting to bud out.

Miscellany...

...I am...

trying out new recipes

finishing up Dracula for my Gothic Lit class

working too many hours

suffering from shingles or hives, to be determined -- thankfully it's in a limited area, and not spreading... just very, very itchy

enjoying working with students, despite working too many hours

realizing that without derby practice after Thursday, we'll have two more nights at home

...The Boy is...

doing exceedingly well at the junior college (with a curve adjustment due to a number of low scores on the midterm in his Machine Tools Tech class, The Boy scored 109%)... he also finished his first tool, which is a drill gauge, handmade from beginning to end

designing a synskin (fiberglass, or shoji, paper) lamp—which will be hung in the living room—for his 3D art class... here's his working model

 also reading, and really enjoying, Dracula, so we can discuss it

fencing here and there—being sick a couple of weeks ago really threw him off, and when he did fencing last Friday, he tired easily, and was really sore the next day

plugging along in math and writing, considering NaNoWriMo (young writers version)

spending spare moments playing Car Mechanic Simulator

...The Girl is...

slowly devouring The Marvelous Land of Oz

jumping ahead a bit in math

designing and developing a new comfort harness for dogs—she's hoping to launch her own (Etsy?) business by the age of 14

finishing up another season of roller derby, with plans to go back when it starts again in January

thinking about taekwondo or karate in the meantime...maybe...maybe not

reading about amphibians

working on her cooking skills

learning to play poker with M's help

...We are...

still watching Lost and having very interesting conversations about bits and pieces of it

laughing at The Worst Cooks in America

enjoying our October line-up of movies... we've watched Edward Scissorhands, Dracula, The Corpse Bride, and Sleepy Hollow so far, all with great success, although I will say The Boy enjoyed Dracula more than The Girl

trying to get history and science done—I really need to either get a handle on this, or just let go and trust unschooling these things

enjoying card games

looking forward to Halloween 

Recipe: Make Ahead Breakfast...

This week, I tried a new make-ahead breakfast, high in protein, low in sugar, and it has a little fiber. You can get 4-6 servings from this (see below).

QUINOA EGG BAKE

Ingredients

1 teaspoon butter or cooking spray
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
2 whole eggs
8-10 egg whites
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups packed baby spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 cup finely shredded romano or parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-by-8-inch glass or metal baking dish with butter/spray; set aside.
2. Put quinoa into a fine-mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear; drain well.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and quinoa. Stir in spinach, then pour mixture into prepared dish.
4. Cover tightly with foil then jiggle dish gently from side to side so that quinoa settles on the bottom in an even layer. Bake until just set, about 45 minutes.
5. Remove foil and sprinkle top evenly with cheese. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, until golden brown and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes more.
6. Set aside to let cool briefly, then slice and serve. 

Servings

4 servings = 305 calories each, with 25 g. protein, 5 g. sugar, and 2 g. fiber
6 servings = 203 calories each, with 16.6 g. protein, 3.3 g. sugar, and 1.3 g. fiber

I reheat mine in the toaster oven, set on convection bake, at 350, for 15 minutes. That gives me time to make coffee, get a nice plate set out, etc.!

Comparisons? No Thank You...

It hit me today that, with very rare exception (i.e. maybe once every few months), I have left all homeschooling message boards/forums. Why? Because when I do go on such boards, I automatically start comparing our style of education to those portrayed, and that often leads to feelings of panic and inadequacy. I've come to realize I don't miss those feelings, and that in fact, comparing what we do to what others do is like comparing apples to oranges.

Realistically speaking, we are far, these days, from the classical education end of the homeschooling spectrum. We don't quite fit the "standard" definition of the other end—unschooling—either. Hmmph. I guess labeling doesn't work?

I used to frequent the message boards/forums for ideas, for book lists, for reassurance that I was following the "right" path at the "right" time. Now it feels like trying to do this...

 

Maybe the error in on my part though. Maybe I need to look at use of such boards in a different light. Sometimes there are gems hidden in there, like long threads on how unschooling works, or books that delighted someone, projects that brought something to life for a child.
 
Do you like homeschooling message boards/forums? Do you find them helpful, or overwhelming? Has your view of them changed over the years?

Block One of the Fairy Tale Project...

The Girl and I vastly enjoyed watching Cinderella over the weekend, so we are starting our fairy tale studies with Cinderella.

The plan at this point is pretty simple... she'll read selections from the following list, at the rate of 2-3 books a week, and I will be reading to her from a longer version.

Cinderella Stories for The Girl to read:
Domitila (Mexican)
Adelaida (Cuban)
Smoky Mountain Rose (American, Appalachian)
Little Gold Star (Spanish American)
Perrault's Cinderella (French)
The Orphan (Greek)
Egyptian Cinderella (Egyptian)
The Turkey Girl (Zuni)
Persian Cinderella (Persian)
Yeh-Shen (Chinese)
Korean Cinderella (Korean)
Angkat (Cambodian)
Anklet for a Princess (Indian)
The Golden Sandal (Middle Eastern)
The Way Meat Loves Salt (Jewish)
Abadeha (Philippine)
Tam and Cam (Vietnamese)
Cendrillon (Caribbean)
The Salmon Princess (Alaskan)

And the longer version I am reading aloud, with amazing illustrations (I love Arthur Rackham):

Besides that, we'll watch a few movies, such as Ella Enchanted, Ever After, and likely the original Disney version. We'll be discussing the differences in the various versions, book and film, and I may use a guide to discussion (or I may not!).

School's Out for Summer!

Well, sort of. We still have a lot going on! Both kids have come up with some plans for their summer months...

The Boy:

Finish reading

And then read

 

[I love Edward Gorey's art....]

Take a four hour (free at the library) class on

Go to a car show or two with his best buddy

Take another workshop at the library on printing with a

And then there is The Girl

She gets a couple of library workshops with friends too...

And she has fallen in love with a book...

To be followed by ???

And of course there will be beach days

And river-swimming days

And hiking

Movies, a few good books (we're planning to read Holes next -- I understand it is very good, and we enjoyed the movie!), a few random field trips to be determined, some general laziness when we're not doing yard work, or home repairs. They're keeping up with their math over summer as well, but are off of all other "official" homeschooling until fall!

 I'm also planning to read some "unschooling" books from the library, among them HomeGrown: Adventures in Parenting Off the Beaten Path, Unschooling, & Reconnecting with the Natural World; And the Children Played; and a couple of David Albert's books.

Do you have any fun summer plans? I did read this great blog post yesterday, which got me thinking about little ways to add some fun.

Woods and Wildflowers...

We spent our Memorial Day out in nature, at Armstrong Grove State Natural Reserve. The ridge-top hike was very peaceful, though the lower redwoods area was very crowded with people from out of town, out of state, out of country... we will have to go back again on a quieter day! Still, there were quite a few moments of loveliness...

Current Interests....

The Boy, thanks to a game on his phone, has become deeply interested in the world of immunology... disease, pathogens, epidemics, pandemics... so he's decided to make a little study on the subject, and related topics.

He's starting with:

which certainly looks intriguing!

And, for a little more historical perspective:

 And then for fun, if he likes, he might also read:

This last is purely for fun, as he enjoys Asimov's writings.

And The Girl is wrapping up her study of animals for the year, as we are down to the last two chapters of her main book: 

She'll be looking through: 

and 

We also plan to finally dissect our owl pellets, and then frogs, as the grand finale to animal studies! 

She liked the textbook well enough that we are moving on to another from the series:

To which we will add a few "fun" titles:

and 

In the meantime, math is going well... The Boy is doing, on average, two lessons a day in Life of Fred Beginning Algebra. The Girl finished up LoF Butterflies and is starting Cats today. The Boy is talking about writing a story, from a first-person perspective, about a pandemic, while also working on his essay about Ford and Chevy. The Girl is still enjoying poetry, so we read and discuss it, and she's continuing her work in Writing Skills. We're continuing our journey through [local] California history -- about halfway through the book -- and both kids have requested medieval times (especially British) next, so we might read:

I'm not sure if we'll get to this before or after our summer break!