Project 365, week 12

Confessions of a less-than-perfect homeschooling mother 2/11

Today was a great day. Today we all got up a little earlier than usual, and by 9am Calvin had already practiced the piano and the breakfast dishes were all cleaned up. Today we finished work in spelling, math, grammar, and history all before 11am, then made Valentines and read books. Today was a gymnastics day, and after that we sorted books at the library, and after that we went to a Valentines exchange party that turned into a play-as-many-varietals-of-tag-as-possible party. Today we finished all of our chores before Jon got home, and all the learning items on our checklist. Today was an awesome day.

But...I forgot to make dinner.

A little (too much?) help from my friends

We are nursing colds around here and have been pretty well stuck in the house, but when you're learning at home there's no worry about make-up lessons, and there's plenty of tea, warm blankets, and snuggles...like this drive-by licking that took place during a serious building session in the afternoon sun.

Project 365_2013 week 1

I haven't been getting the camera out as often as I used to. I know that's hard to believe, but life has been busy, and I've felt either uninspired or unaccomplished on the photography front, so for a while getting the camera out has felt self-defeating. But I miss the joy of taking and having the pictures, so it's a goal of mine in 2013 to try and get back to my former camera-toting self. To get myself started I am going for another 365 this year, or a photo a day. I found a 365 community that posts a technique for each week, and a subject for each day. I won't be following those guidlines for each and every shot, but it's there to fall back on for those days when I'm feeling particularly unsinspired, or we're still in our pajamas at five when the light is quickly fading.

So, here's week one of 365 in 2013.

day 1, subject: resolution (phone shot)

day 2: new beginnings

day 3: repetition. For me, a favorite book I love to reread, and the repeating set of matryoshkas that sit in front of it (that's my Russians shelf)

day 4: fur

day 5: colorful food

day 6: with words (no match)

day 7: movement. Calvin's first gymnastics class (phone shot)

2012

The end of the year makes me both nostalgic and hopeful. I long to look back at the days that have gone by while also heaping upon myself great, or insane, goals and wishes for the coming year. So here's a look back at some of the things that we did this past year, which has served in part as a reminder of all those wonderful things, but also as a reminder to myself I get back to it, since the past month or so has been a little slack around here.

Happy new year.

January 2012: Snap Circuits, Legos, and lots and lots of books, and we were just closing up our look at human evolution and venturing into human migration and the history of civilization. Calvin started classes through our homeschooling group on Friday afternoons, and toward the end of the month we went to Disney World.

The North American International Auto Show

February 2012: I comment on the strangely warm weather in several posts, longing for snow. When it finally came, it was for only the second, and what would be the last, time all year, and there wasn't much of it, but we built a snowman. We were out of order, getting an overview of world civilizations before starting at the beginning. Calvin had an MIR, went to his first true musical, and started getting an allowance; we adopted Iris, and our blog images got bigger.

March 2012: We said goodbye to our Dachshund, Moose, with a lot of heartache. Warm weather came early, and with it a tornado that hit the neighborhood nextdoor. We went museuming. Calvin was in his first stage play, he fell in love with the My Father's Dragon trilogy and read it umpteen times, and he filled in his first journal, prompting what is probably my favorite post of the year.

April: Spring. There was fascination with the Titanic, and a museum visit to appease, but mostly history took us to ancient Egypt. There was a big Lego sorting and organizing project, and art.

May 2012: a month of travel, to Holland (Michigan) and Chicago. Plus Calvin performed in his second play (The Wizard of Oz), and we completely alterred our homeschooling approach.

June 2012: Most notably, Calvin turned six. The rest, like his mid-year recital, or learning about gravity, or taking a quick trip up north, was just icing on the cake. Oh, and we raised butterflies.

July 2012: Camping on Lake Michigan, biking around Mackinac Island, watching the fireworks in Harbor Springs; swimming at Independence Lake, hiking, biking, and playing in the sprinkler; three trips to the zoo, two to the Natural History Museum, and one to Greenfield Village; the Rolling Sculptures Auto Show and the Ann Arbor Art Fair. How were we ever this busy?

August 2012: To Niagara Falls and Stratford! Were we ever home this summer? In other news...it was hot.

September 2012: No first day of school here, just good old standard homeschooling. What? Another trip to Chicago, and football season arrived, along with some cooler, wetter weather.

October 2012: Time just flying by. Back from Chicago, headed up north; book reviews, a science experiment, a trip into history; and of cousre, Halloween, my favorite time of the year.

November 2012: An election, one final trip to the zoo for the year, and Thanksgiving.

December 2012: It wasn't that long ago, but it had Calvin in one play and watching one play, a trip to Greenfield Village for Holiday Nights, a winter piano recital, and all the usual trappings of a holiday season, even snow.