Update, and fun at the convention

It has been a busy weekend. I didn't have internet access from Thursday night to Monday, so I just lived life instead of blogging about it, but I will try to do some for you now.

On Sunday, the four of us spent some time visiting Gramma, doing some yard work for/with her, and went to a party at the B family's home. We picked strawberries and rhubarb, and had wonderful crisp made from same. We also enjoyed smoked salmon and oysters (not me, I do not like them!).

On Thursday, we learned a lot about world views, and I had a wonderful philisophical discussion with some wonderful ladies. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and felt so energized by the conversations we had. Self-education can really be delightful.

On Friday and Saturday, the keedunks and I went to The WHO convention. It was a lot of fun and very informative. The kids listened to Jim Weis speak twice (without me- while I was listening to another speaker- and they behaved beautifully! Yay!), and I got some insight into creating homeschooling contracts with tweenagers, and accessing the community a bit more in your homeschool. I saw many people that I knew, and felt very reassured just being in the company of so many families who have made the same decision we have.

I spent a bit of money, but it was all on books for our next history cycle. We will be using History Odyssey for the Ancients time period. I bought as many of the books as I could find there. That way, I won't have to fork it all over in August, rather making the purchase of over $400. in books in increments. Some of the books (I won't link to them, but they are all described at the History Odyssey site.) I purchased were Greek Myths by Olivia Coolidge, Theras and His Town by Caroline Dale Snedeker, The Boys' and Girls' Herodotus by John S. White, and Modern Rhymes about Ancient Times- Ancient Greece, by Susan Altman & Susan Lechner. These are all required reading for one or the other children (and myself) for our ancients history course starting in September. I also have purchased the following books, at my local used curricula store, Homeschool Potpourri. These titles include The Aeneid and The Illiad both translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Plato's Republic and Last Days of Socrates, and The Epic of Gilgamesh by N.K. Sanders. I still have several more books to buy, but this is a goodly chunk of them.

I also purchased a few things from BrimWood Press, by the woman who taught the class on Thursday, and led our discussion that evening. Good stuff. I may write about them later, but in a nutshell, they support our history work.

Today the kids focused on cleaning their rooms thoroughly. It only took all day, and a couple of temper tantrums, but it got done, and they do look much better. Remind me to tell you a story about room-cleaning tomorrow. We will focus on tidying up the house this week, as next week we will be on vacation, and the week following that is the start of our summer term- you know, the one where I have to push them really hard so we can finish our books from this year and start on time in September. I hear-tell from the Principal-dude that he is giving me a teacher inservice day either at the end of this week or the beginning of next so I can prepare for our summer term. I need it!

That at least does it for a re-cap of the weekend. I just wanted to let you know I was still alive- Dy called me today a bit worried as she hadn't heard anything from me in a week! I am here, I am here!
TTFN,
LB