Well, we’re gardening after all. At first it seemed we had neither the time nor the energy, but when I was reminded of the enormous value of gardening (health, exercise, mood, food, outside time, together time), we literally dug in. Isn’t that the way things always go? Until we see great value in an activity, we cannot make it happen.
On Saturday we watched A Comedy of Errors, part of Ottawa’s Company of Fools Torchlight Shakespeare productions. I usually enjoy watching Shakespeare, especially performed by this high energy group, but there are always a few issues.
Miss 12 played soccer with other homeschoolers, Miss 15 and Miss 12 participated in an official track meet (javelin and 300 meter race), we swam in our pool, we practiced soccer at home with our three new balls, and, after a long break, we are continuing our Rideau Trail hikes. (We walked about 5 km into Merrickville and saw some of the Rideau Canal locks in action. )
What else? Driver’s Ed practice. A bit of shopping. A bit of music making. A lot of music listening, with all of us hanging out, just focusing on different genres. Time with our bunny. Job applications. Popsicles. Friends. Lots of smells—basswood flowers, manure on nearby fields, and skunk at night.
As for school-type learning, well, we did very little. I started thinking about next year, set up a Math Score assessment for Miss 12, and have begun to read Minds More Awake: The Vision of Charlotte Mason, an upcoming book by Anne White of Ambleside Online.
I’m reading a wide variety of books that are all providentially linked together: Disciplines of a Godly Woman (full of wisdom so far, highly recommended); Mind over Medicine (some very helpful and valid scientific information mixed in with a lot of New Age dross; I’m still pondering what is helpful and what is unhelpful); 101 Top Picks (rereading this again and re-doing the questionnaires to help me revamp our homeschool for only two children next year); Redeeming Philosophy (fascinating and mind-blowing); Sex Matters (the teen companion to More than Just the Talk); Minds More Awake (about Charlotte Mason’s vision of education); and Taking God at His Word (currently a free download).
My most important personal summer goal is to clear my desk after several overly busy winters and summers. Each piece of paper represents a project that either needs to be done or to be consciously discarded, and each one is cluttering up my mind as much as my desk. There are other goals too, of course, but this is the big one just for me.
How is your summer going? Please comment here since my blog comment form is still not working.