Remember, Remember the Eleventh of September

Eight years.

Has it really been eight years?



No matter how much time goes by, the horror one feels when watching the video is nearly just as fresh now as it was then.

Today we will be praying for the families of the victims in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C., as well as for the brave men and women fighting this evil.

Watch and remember.

Kindergarten Open House

It's Open House time for friends and family of the " ______ Classical Academy. "

(On good days we're the "______ Classical Academy." On the tough days I refer to our school as the "________ Juvenile Correctional Facility" or the " ________ Home for Wayward Boys.")

We've nearly finished our first week of school, and today is our kindergartner's time to shine. Colson officially begins school this year, though he's been tagging along with his older brothers for most of his life.

And, yes, your eyes do not deceive you - Colson is missing a couple of teeth. As always, there is a story that accompanies their disappearance, but that is a blog for another day.

Here is the lineup for Colson's school year:

Math- Colson began Singapore Math's Primary Math 1A last spring, and this fall he's finishing up 1A and moving into 1 B. Math is one of his favorite subjects, I think because there are workbooks involved. Workbooks seem to make everything more important.

Music- Colson is over halfway through the primer level book of Faber's Piano Adventures. He's excited because once he finished this level, he can have a "real" piano teacher. (As opposed to just having me be his teacher.)

Penmanship- Colson loves to write. Give him a list of words, and he will happily copy them. This year we're beginning Handwriting Without Tears and will work on improving his speed and fluency in printing.

Reading- Colson is working through "Phonics Pathways." (This is the same book I used to teach Braden and Brogan to read. Fantastic book. Thank you, Delores Hiskes, for writing this thorough teaching tool! ) Colson is almost ready to begin reading stories from the Pathway Readers basal series. These two resources have helped to create other voracious readers in our home, and I'm confident Colson will be joining them this year.

Coming soon: Third and Eighth Grades!!

Botanical Gardens

Last month we visited the botanical gardens at a large university several hours away. We chose the hottest day of the summer to do so, I think.

The gardens had sort of a dinosaur theme, which the boys loved. Brogan looks terrified of the T-Rex skull, don't you think?


The garden staff buried giant bones in the children's garden. Children could play archaeologist and find the bones buried in gravel beds. Brogan and Colson had a great time digging up bones, and then then re-burying them for the next family.



Grandpa had the right idea: Just wait in the shade until the kids were ready to move on!


Brogan and Grandma played on the stone seating.





It was hot. Not only was it hot; it was HOT. Upper 90's and high humidity hot. We happily lingered in any shade we could find.


I love this picture because every person in it is looking in a completely different direction!