Open House: Grade 2

Welcome to the second grade portion of our Open House.

Brogan is our star student, and I cannot tell you how pleased we are with his progress this year!


Reading: Brogan's reading has taken off. He will finish the three Pathway Readers basal books for second grade, and is beginning to read chapter books in his free time. (Shorter books like Magic Treehouse.) He has been tearing through Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes comic books. This winter he decided he wants to read a little bit in his Bible every day (just like Dad!), and it is such a blessing to see him hunkered over the pages!

Math: Brogan worked through Singapore Math 2A and B this year. He's *much* better at doing math in his head than I was prepared for, so he's been tearing through this book.

Spelling: I'm a big fan of methodical spelling workbooks, and Brogan is working through MCP's Spelling Workout B.

Memory Work: The AWANA program materials makes up Brogan's memory work this year. Brogan is in his last year of Sparks, and has finished his book. He went on to recite a complete review of his book, and is working through the supplemental workbook.

Grammar: We're using "First Language Lessons" for grammar. I'm not a huge fan of this book, but it is a gentle introduction to grammar and is good for 1st and 2nd grades.

Music: Brogan began piano with a "real" teacher this fall and is halfway through his Level 1 book. He's also learning a few simple hymns. He really enjoys playing songs that other people with recognize. Last month, he got to "help" his older brother play songs for residents of a local care center. Brogan played "Joyful, Joyful" for them.

Speech: This month Brogan began weekly speech classes at a local elementary school. He has worked through all his previous articulation issues, and has only the "r" sound left to conquer.

Typing: Brogan's coming along with typing. It's one of his favorite subjects, I think, because it doesn't seem like work. I'm using a Spongebob Squarepants typing program.

Tomorrow: Open House- Seventh Grade

Open House- Preschool

Welcome to our Open House!

I really should have done this last September, when school started. But that month was so chaotic, and then it slipped my mind completely.

So here we are in March, practically the end of the school year. I'll be telling you what we did this year, rather than what we were going to do.

In my state, we are required to name our school, as we are technically an unaccredited private school. So our official name is: Veritas Classical Academy.

Yes. I know. It's bland. And boring. But I thought it would look better on a diploma than " ________ Juvenile Correctional Facility" or "________ School for Wayward Boys."

In our school, Colson is still a preschooler. He's begin kindergarten this fall, but it'll look a lot like what we're doing now.

(Sorry. He was having a bit of a wild hair day.)

Reading: We're using "Phonics Pathways" for reading. I used it with Braden and Brogan, so it's not so intimidating now. Colson's currently working on blending short vowel words. (cat, bed, doc, etc.)

Math: Colson's about halfway through Singappore 1A. We keep it pretty low-key, and only do a few minutes a day.

Music: We're working slowly through the primer level of Faber Piano Adventures. The rule at our house is that you may have a "real" piano teacher after you've finished the primer level with Mom.

He also does a few minutes of speech with me daily, and practices writing one letter of the alphabet each day.

It's a short day for Colson, but he's only 5. He loves being the first one done with school.

Thanks for visiting our preschool! You'll find the second grade class here tomorrow!

The Best Years of Our Lives

I had never heard of "The Best Years of Our Lives" until last month. M.'s brother is working his way through one of the AFI's Top 100 movies lists and recommended this film.

Wow! How had I never heard of this movie before? We loved it! Loved it! There were so many great characters, and I loved watching the relationships between them.

Below was one of my favorite scenes. (There were many favorite scenes!) A daughter discusses her wishes to make a very poor relationship choice. She knows it's a bad choice, but is convinced it's okay because her motives are pure. Her parents tell her that her choice is foolish, and she rails against them with the timeless "You're old and don't understand!"




If you've never seen "The Best Years of Our Lives," click over to Netflix now and add it to your queue!

Wonders of Modern Medicine

I think M. may have already called my doctor to request this new pharmaceutical drug for me.



FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful

Ode To Joy

Brogan just learned to play his favorite hymn on the piano.



I have nothing witty to say at this time.

Eyes Wide Shut

I had my doubts about our plans for Saturday night.

M. and I had plans to go to our church’s-dinner-and-a-movie night. I was excited to see the movie again, but – call me crazy- I wasn’t really sure that “Fireproof” combined with Mexican food would be promoting marital harmony.

Braden and his friends watched the movie with us, while the smaller children watched a short movie and played in the nursery.

Near the end of the movie, a friend came and asked me to come with him. Apparently, Colson had somehow cut himself and needed me. I went to the kitchen, where the people in charge of the nursery were helping to clean him up and calm him down.

I was taken aback by what I saw. Colson sat on a counter, his face covered in blood. His hands and arms, and his neck, chest and stomach were also covered. I couldn’t even see where the wound was!

Slowly, we got him calmed down, and he explained that they were playing a game, and he was running and hit himself on the corner of a counter. As we cleaned his face, I could see a deep puncture just under his right eye, on his upper cheekbone. It wasn’t very large, but it was deep, and bled a lot.

Once M. and I got the boys home, we decided to take Colson to a doctor. His wound wasn’t large, but it was deep and didn’t want to stop bleeding. We were thinking that he might need a suture or two.

At this point it was 9:30 p.m. The two places open were the urgent care, and the ER. This situation didn’t cry out “Emergency Room” to me, so I drove to the Urgent Care.

The PA there cleaned the wound and determined that a suture probably wasn’t necessary, but we needed to close the wound so that it could heal without much scarring. She, along with a nurse, held his wound closed and applied Dermabond (sort of like superglue) to hold the wound closed as it healed.

Colson was calm and held very still … until several drops of the Dermabond rolled into his right eye. It stung, and he did what any of us would do – he closed his eyes shut to keep out more of the glue.

Unfortunately, in doing so, his eyelids glued shut. At this point, in pain and in a panic, Colson started screaming. The PA left the room to find out what to do, and I held a soaked washcloth over Colson’s eye, hoping that the water would help keep the Dermabond from setting firmly. (Dermabond does not like prolonged exposure to water.)

The PA and the doctor called the local opthamologist who agreed to meet us at his office. We fashioned an eye patch out of gauze and some stretchy tape, and followed the doctor’s car to the opthamologist’s office.

By this time, it was 10:30 p.m. Colson had been up two and a half hours past his bedtime, he hurt, and his eye was glued shut. As I carried him into the opthamologist’s office he observed, “This is your office? Hm. Nice place.”

Thankfully, the opthamologist was wonderful, and very patient with a scared, hurt, and sleep-deprived preschooler. He even offered to give him a piratey-looking eye patch to wear! After the exam, and a brief attempt to tease the eyelids apart, he determined that Colson’s eyeball seemed to be fine, and we would just have to wait for the glue to wear off on its own.

So, here is Colson the following day.


His eye is already starting to blacken. He has both eyes closed, because he hasn’t yet learned how to wink. So he’s not able to keep one eye closed while opening the other eye. However, when he wears the patch we made, or holds a washcloth over his right eye, he’s able to open the left eye easily.

Thankfully, by Sunday night the glue had worn off enough for him to open his eye. He’s still got it covering his lashes, but that’ll wear off eventually. He’s healing nicely, and loves the attention his black eye gets him from others.

Last night we went back to the Urgent care center to visit the PA. Colson wanted to say hello, and I wanted to let her know that he was okay.

I came home and told my husband that he should be very proud of me.

I resisted the urge to lecture the PA and remind her that she had violated the most important rule in medicine:

First, glue no Harm.



(Ba DUM Bum!)

Why, Yes! There IS a Pill For Everything!