I thought I'd post a few pictures of our "school room" (also known as our family room),  even though it's still very much a work in progress! The room contains a couch, a coffee table, our flat screen TV, two recliners, a rocker, a small bookshelf, our geography cabinet and two sets of Ikea Trofast workboxes. What it does not include is a work table, which was initially part of the room, but later removed.

Last year the kids did at least half of their work at the couch, so I figured we really didn't need to have a big table in the room. The school room is connected to the dining room, so there's always the option of using the dining room table when needed.

Every year, there seems to be one subject that I lose my head over. This year it was geography and I spent a good portion of the summer collecting vintage geography games and resources (some of these can also be found on my Pinterest geography board). Ironically, geography was the one subject that I didn't need to plan this year since we'll be using the Geography and Culture Task Cards from Creek Edge Press.


This is probably the ugliest couch ever, but the kids are rather hard on furniture, so I wanted something super inexpensive and durable. It was only $24.99 and looks brand new, though obviously vintage, so it seemed the perfect solution for now.

Behind the couch, to the right of the workboxes, is a huge closet with shelves to the ceiling (there is a staircase on the other side of the wall, so this is the under stair storage area). It looks a mess in the photo below, but is actually fairly well-organized - the left side is mostly games (new and vintage) and the right side contains shelves full of my favorite clear plastic shoeboxes from The Container Store. All of our arts and crafts supplies are stored in these boxes. I have two additional cabinets in the garage which contain extra school supplies, science items, and general overflow.


We two have boring blue recliners, flanking either side of a little table and small bookshelf (see below). The line in the paneling, toward the top of the first picture, is actually a ledge that runs halfway around the room - quite useful for displaying things!


One of the nicest parts of the room is that nearly an entire wall is a sliding glass door. Since wood paneling tends to be dark, I appreciate having such a wonderful source of light in the room! Below is the view onto our patio - and a table so that we can do lessons outdoors when the weather is nice.

It's been a crazy summer with our BIG move from Kansas to Oregon, but now we are (finally!) settled in and starting to think about the upcoming school year. First, a little about our new (old) house.

I knew from the start that I wanted house from the 1950s, with as many original features as possible (tricky, since we're renting now). Since I'm obsessed with all things vintage, my goal was to find a house where my various collections would fit in nicely.

Prior to our move, I spent months studying every single post at Retro Renovation, pouring over images on Flickr (and yes, even Ugly House Photos), and collecting decorating books from the 1950s and 60s. I also sold or gave away nearly every piece of furniture that we had so that we could make a fresh start.

And then finally, we found our house - a charming, spacious 5-bedroom 1958 [semi] ranch-style home in gorgeous Lake Oswego, Oregon. The number one selling point? The original pink American Standard bathroom (see: Save the Pink Bathrooms). I also adored its massive kitchen, numerous large windows (including two with tiled window seats, perfect for reading!), the woodsy backyard, and yes, even the original wood paneling in the family room. After jumping through numerous hoops, the house was ours and we commenced our move.


Now, as I've said, we're mostly settled in and loving our new home. There are a few "issues" here - the internet doesn't work well in the downstairs bedrooms, no matter what we do (and we've tried everything!), our lovely pink bathroom isn't exactly pink after all, but more of a peach-pink (very hard to color match, though Land's End does make towels in a very similar shade!)...also, the toilet is missing its matching pink seat, but just today I found a replacement solution here. Oh, and our yard is so shaded that I'm afraid I'll have little luck with roses here (I'm dearly missing the 50+ rose bushes I left behind in Kansas!).


Nevertheless, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It blows my mind just how beautiful it is here! We're still working on new (old) furniture, but the kids' bedrooms are done, thanks to Ikea, and the family room/school room is mostly finished as well. We found a great Danish modern dining table that will seat up to twelve people (!) - and are now waiting on a set of chairs to materialize. Sadly it does not match my very traditional-looking china hutch, but Danish modern is the look I was orginally after, so that's what we got. I've been scouring thrift stores and vintage stores almost daily to find the perfect furnishings, plus all of the little extras (like pinch pleat drapes for all our windows) and that has been both thrilling and frustrating. Fortunately, the house has tons of storage space (closets everywhere!) and for the first time ever, we all "fit" without being crowded for space.

I've always had a passion for old cemeteries, but this post and this by artist Laurie Beth Zuckerman has me especially eager to explore New Mexico's cemeteries!

From Elizabethtown, we'll drive another hour to Taos where we'll spend the night.

The High Road/Taos


Day two will begin in gorgeous Taos. In the morning, we'll visit the Hacienda de los Martinez Museum, followed by the San Francisco de Asis Mission Church, an adobe church built between 1772 and 1816, and the most photographed and painted church in Taos. We'll spend a bit of time exploring the shops located around the historic Ranchos de Taos plaza before moving on to the tiny chapel, Nuestra Senora de San Juan de los Lagos del Rio Chiquito (Our Lady of Saint John of the Lakes) in Talpa.

From there, we will drive about 30 minutes through the Carson National Forest to the Picurís Pueblo at Peñasco, home to another beautiful church: San Lorenzo de Picuris.  Next up will be Las Trampas where we will visit the old mission church, San Jose de Gracia, which is still an active parish. After Las Trampas, we will head to Nuestra Senora del Rosario, built in the early 1800s and home to many well-preserved old santos. This will be followed by the much-anticipated Chimayó.

In Chimayó, a small community nestled in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, we will visit the Santo Niño Chapel and Santuario de Chimayó, an important pilgrimage site often called the "Lourdes of America." I will also want to stop at the El Potrero Trading Post (aka 'The Vigil Store') for some light shopping. Leaving Chimayó, we will briefly visit Iglesia de la Santa Cruz de la Cañada (church), on our way to the ancient Puye Cliff Dwellings.

I am sure that the kids will be sick and tired of old churches by the time we're finished, but hopefully they will learn a little and won't be *too* bored. This entire trip just happens to tie into our history studies next semester perfectly, so at the very least it will (hopefully!) bring the history alive for them.

A few fun facts about Santa Fe: "Santa Fe" means "Holy Faith" in Spanish. The city was originally occupied by Pueblo Indian villages during 1050 to 1150. Spanish colonists founded the city sometime between 1607 and 1610, making it one of the oldest cities in the country. Santa Fe, a haven for artists, boasts more than 300 art galleries and dealers. At nearly 7,000 feet, Santa Fe has the highest elevation of all the state capitals in the country. (Source)


The Turquoise Trail

Last weekend we became the owners of an adorable German Shorthaired Pointer puppy named August (or "Gus"). He stole our hearts immediately with his sweet laid-back demeanor and charm.

Unfortunately, less than 24-hours after getting him, he became very sick. I rushed him to the emergency veterinary clinic on Sunday where he was diagnosed with Parvo (as it turns out, one of his litter mates died of Parvo last week). He has remained at the animal hospital, on IV fluids and medication, ever since. We are hoping for a full and speedy recovery!

UPDATE: On August 22, 2009, we received a phone call from our vet saying that Gus had passed away.

Well here it is July, when I'd hoped to start our new school year, and we're not quite ready yet. It's been another rough month, but after some delays I finally had surgery a couple of weeks ago and following a rather nightmarish "adjustment" period, I seem to be on the road to recovery - hopefully my shunt won't pose any further problems (fingers seriously crossed!)!

Fortunately, despite everything, I've been steadily piecing together a plan for next year and doing a lot of reading. Since I'm passionate about the Middle Ages, I've been avidly researching all sorts of things and the results have been exhilarating - as far as history goes, it's going to be a wonderful year (or at least I hope so!)! I've decided to break from the traditional four-year cycle just a bit by devoting an entire year to the Middle Ages (AD 500-1400), There's simply too much to cover otherwise - especially when you consider that we've still got to get through Ancient Rome!

For everything else, here's my list in progress:

Language Arts

• English: Rod & Staff Building Christian English, continued from last year.
• Reading: Undecided. We have CLE Light Units from last year to finish, but I'm thinking that we may switch to the Faith & Freedom Readers from Seton, and/or their Reading Comprehension and Thinking Skills workbooks. I'm still working on our literature selections for the year.
• Penmanship: At a recent homeschool convention, my daughter selected Rod & Staff's Penmanship for Christian Writing for herself, however I've yet to find anything for the boys. I'm thinking they will most likely use CHC's Handwriting Level 4 and a little of Writing Can Help 5B: Scripture Handwriting. The latter includes instructions for a simple Versal script and designs like those used by monks to adorn scripture, which will be perfect as we study illuminated manuscripts.
• Vocabulary: English From the Roots Up - This was an impulse convention purchase, but I haven't yet decided if we'll actually use it.
• Spelling: Finally I've found a simple spelling/dictation program that I think I'll love: Spelling Wisdom.
  

Latin

• Latina Christiana I
• Ludere Latine I
• CHC's Little Latin Readers
  

Math

For Math, we'll finish up our Singapore books from last year, then progress to the next level(s).

Science

• Classical Astronomy: Signs & Seasons
• Botany: Jeannie Fulbright's Exploring Creation with Botany
  

Electives

• Art Appreciation: Seton's Art Through Faith, CHC's Learning to Appreciate Art and Art Masterpieces: A Liturgical Collection, plus several Sister Wendy art appreciation books.
  
• Home Economics: CHC's Sewing with Saint Anne, See and Sew: A Sewing Book for Children...more TBA.
• Japanese: Japanese has been requested by 3 of the kids (and I wouldn't mind learning myself!), but I'm still undecided. If we do pursue it, we'll use Genki with Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure, Kana de Manga: A Fun, Easy Way to Learn the ABC's of Japanese, Japanese in Mangaland and/or Kanji in Mangaland as supplements.
• Computer Programming: TBA

I suppose it's obvious by now that we've been taking a bit of a break, trying to sort everything out. This past month and a half has been nothing short of a disaster, so we've been forced to take time off from formal schoolwork while I re-evaluate and piece together a plan for the future. At around the time of my last post, I got very sick...my pseudotumor cerebri symptoms became severe, which made getting out of bed nearly impossible and I had a terrible reaction to two of the medications I was given, which made things even worse. Finally, I am now off of the medication and had been doing much better - up until last week. Yesterday I met with a new doctor and the end result is that I will be having surgery next week to place a Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt. I've already had some minor vision loss and the shunt will ensure that further loss is prevented and ideally eliminate the majority of my headaches. The purpose of the shunt is to drain the excess cerebrospinal fluid from my brain to my abdominal cavity, where it will be harmlessly re-absorbed. While it is a common enough procedure, the very thought of it fills me with anxiety, so I'm trying NOT to think about it!

While I was very sick, we did get bits of schoolwork done as I was able, but not with any real consistency. Then, my husband was laid off and I had to start working extra hours since my income is now our sole income. Lately I've been struggling to find some balance and am throwing myself into plans for next year, though I know we need to wrap up this year first! I'm tentatively thinking that we'll start back to school next month, though I have no idea if this is realistic given the need for recovery time. The only thing I am sure of at this point is that the kids need to be doing more work independently. Our current system is entirely too "teacher-intensive" and while I do love the teaching aspect, I also need a back-up plan for the times when I'm unable to. This post, in particular, on the WTM Forums was very inspiring, but really I've been all over the place trying to figure out what to do and am not much closer to a solution than I was weeks ago!

When I think about how we do school, I'm left feeling largely dissatisfied as this past semester was not what I had envisioned when I made the decision to homeschool. In the past few weeks I've explored a number of things, delving into a study of Democratic and Free schools (in particular, The Albany Free School), unschooling and various other forms of holistic education. While I really can't fully embrace the idea of unschooling, I'm intrigued by many of its principles. I suppose I would have been considered an unschooler during my final year of high school and it was the one thing that made me absolutely passionate about learning. But no, I truly don't think it would work for my kids - at least not now. Finally, I arrived back where I started and am hesitantly considering more LightUnits for next year as well as some other small changes. I am still determined to create my own history curriculum, but that has been rather slow-going, so we shall see!

I decided that I'd better do a quick post so that I'm not completely overwhelmed by Friday. I know that I've been whining the past few weeks, and I'm so sorry, but this week really takes the cake. My headaches have returned full-force and my new medication for them makes me so tired and nauseous, it takes tremendous willpower to get out of bed - and stay out of bed - each day. I have been exceptionally unproductive, which is completely distressing (especially so since I'd made some ambitious plans for our school week before I knew this was coming!).

The good news? I've read some anecdotal evidence that PTC does affect memory and the ability to concentrate. My husband always teases me for being so "scatterbrained" (and yes I have been lately, badly so) but at least now I have a logical explanation, LOL. Anyway, the way it's been going can't work long-term, so I desperately need to find a "Plan B" or we'll never get any schooling - or work - done!

Anyway, without further ado, here's a small part of our week thus far...mostly just some fun stuff. Over the weekend (before "The Headache"), we baked 3 types of bread. Here's Maddie kneading her dough:

She also (finally!) spent days playing with the Quadrilla sets she received for Christmas and became quite proficient at building all of the various configurations:

Elon spent the night at his friend's house again and found a new creek to explore, bringing home more treasures:


Also, the new fairy house arrived! Here is Maddie, carefully cutting away the bubble wrap:

Even the giant box it arrived in proved loads of fun...all of the kids took turns taking "bubble baths" in the packing peanuts:

Finally, the new house. A few pieces broke off (including a piece of the stained glass in front, but we couldn't find it), but for the most part it was intact, so we were happy.

It's a bit smaller than our custom house had been, thus a little crowded, but Maddie feels that the fairies are quite pleased with it (and happy to have a new home!).

Lastly, our wheat grass has been growing like crazy! Even though I started it very late, we had a full basket by Easter Sunday. I'm not as certain about the other seeds I planted, I think the wheat may be choking them out, though you can see below that one has started growing:

The boys were totally impressed by the roots...this is from the seed I started in a terra cotta saucer:

Here's Elon trimming the grass (a job he loves!):

Rest assured we have had actual school every day this week, but I'll have more on that tomorrow.