The Almost School Photos

Yesterday I decided to capture our school photos. Granted yesterday was messed up. Neither one of us slept enough Wednesday night so we were a little...um, punchy, silly, apt to break into random bouts of giggles. Did I mention I love homeschooling? But still I tried to take the photos.

The elusive 11 year old. My first attempt to snap an action photo. Z is quicker than the camera. Notice the half eaten cookie and the fingertips on the table.

My next attempt had Z running from the room, notice the legs in the bottom left. He decided this was an apt (aptus in Latin, as we are learning that word this week) time to start a camera war and pulled his phone and started attacking me with clicks. Since I had on no makeup and I'm sure my eyes were swollen from not sleeping, and the hair, well let's not mention the hair, I have not seen said photos. I will probably bribe said child to delete photos at some point.

My final attempt was snagged from under the table, yes under the table. You will see Z's foot. My precious only child now has a foot slightly bigger than mine. He wore more rollerblades (don't worry they are boy's skates, nothing hot pink for sure) when he went skating the other night. You can see his cute smiling face in the background. I like smiles during school.

Thinking about it just now I have posted lots of pictures of Z. He is currently in the heading, shown from the back walking down a path. He's in the sidebar at the beach. Tigger recently found a photo of Z and him at a NASCAR race when Z was little. It is precious. I'll have to scan it and post it. But Z has grown so much (1 1/2inches in the last 4 months) and in so many ways since that photo. Perhaps it is fitting for our school photo to be feet. I see a lot of potential in those feet. I have a lot of hope for the future for those feet. I'm excited for the journey he is on and I feel blessed to be guiding him down the path.

Friday Art

Artist: Z
Date: August 14, 2009
Medium: Bic Marker w/yellow paint for road stripes
Size: 9 x 12

Our Classroom 2009 - 2010

Continuing with the not back to school blog hop, here is our classroom in it functional state, that would be kind of messy. My desk is on the left, Z's desk on the right. The three clocks are set to London time, local time (CST), and Sydney time. It's nice if you are having a bad day to know that it is almost over in you were only in London.

This is the library portion of the room. Bookcases from Target, comfy chair courtesy of my parents. This room was originally a dining room, but we are blessed with a nice eat in kitchen so we never actually eat in this room, unless we're doing lunch while doing school. That will probably happen today. We have those "TGIF, this was a long first week of school" thing going on today.

This is basically the view looking back from the library portion of the room. Our former dining room table serves as our work area. It's big and knicked up and a well loved table. It's perfect. I may bequeath the table to Z once he graduates, if the table lasts that long.

These are the baskets were Z keeps his working files. The cabinet underneath holds a plethora of tools. Probably one of my favorite Hobby Lobby 50% off furniture deals I ever bought.

This is a closer view of the bookcases. I was able to rearrange the classroom and really play up the red wall. The shelves are full and don't tell but the middle case is full of math, history, and science books for high school. We aren't there yet, but I hope to read through most of them over the next several years for my own self-education. Anyway they look pretty sitting on the shelf (tongue in cheek smiley here).
So that's our classroom. I truly like the set up we currently have. We also have a big picture window that is wonderful, but distracting. I have an uncanny need to rearrange at least once every six months, but I'm not sure how to top this arrangement. Well see what the future holds.

Tomorrow the Adventure Begins

It's a jungle out there! Tomorrow we start our sixth year at Wakefield Academy. This is me preparing for the adventure by re-reading The Latin-Centered Curriculum. My well loved copy now has tape on the cover. Maybe I'm hiding a little bit as I realize I know have a middle school student. AAAHHH!

I am quite excited to see where years journey takes us. We may not know the adventure ahead of us, all we can do is prepare and head out...

...and seek the beauty that may be waiting right outside our own back door.

Another Road Continued

Pancakes anyone?

Just a pretty shot.

Some color in the forest.

Another Road Less Traveled

Some more views from our hike today. This time the entire family went.

A dead tree and a big hole. Z has a size 6 shoe for comparison.

Tigger stopping to get a drink. Did I mention it's sticky humid today? Shortly after this his bike blew a tire and he walked the bike back.

The Road Less Traveled

Today we found the road less traveled, it's just minutes from our house. Z and I hiked for almost an hour.

Then we stopped to view the swamp. As creepy as it looks there was an air of peace. We've been reading Percy Jackson and Z said it reminded him of Pan, without the humming dodo bird.

We did not see Pan, but my heart did momentarily stop as we spotted wild alligators. Yes there were two. We were above them on a dock. They were hanging out with lots of turtles, just sitting there with little heads above water. I've seen one other wild alligator since we've been here, but none so close to home.

The dragonflies are plentiful and we spotted this unusual one, we called it Batman. Dragonflies are so friendly, this one stopped and let us check him out up close.

We hiked and we sweated. It was nice.

Curriculum for 2009/2010

Thanks to Darcy for putting together this August Blog Hop. I've finally finalized our plans, which is great considering we start school next week. This will be our second year use The Latin-Centered Curriculum as our model, which worked wonderfully for us last year. Every year we do a theme. The theme for this year is The Journey: Treasure Quest. It seems fitting for what we have planned for the year:

Latin - Latin for Children B. We're looking forward to furthering our Latin this year and checking out the cool new DVDs from CAP featuring Supra Vir.

Writing/Grammar - Classical Writing Aesop & Homer for Older Beginners. Homer recently underwent surgery in my house, yes that's a scalpel in my hand. I unbound the workbooks and put them in a binder to make them easier to use.



Math - Math, math, math. Normally science is my wishy-washy subject for the new year. It has been math this year. Now my plan is to finish Life of Fred Decimals & Percents and then move into a 1972 Dolciani pre-algebra program. I also have Singapore CWP 5 to supplement.

Logic - The Art of Argument. If ever a child needed to learn how to argue it would be mine. Z is a master of negotiation and hence this is part of the molding into a young man that I deem necessary.

History - Famous Men of the Middle Ages is our main text. We will also use "the Story of the Middle Ages" and many historical books to fill in this fascinating time of history.

Science - Science Matters, which is a book I reviewed a few weeks ago. Absolutely fascinating, I think any parent who is confused about science should make this a must read.

Literature - We will read about King Arthur & Robin Hood as our main texts. I've chosen Roger L. Green for King Arthur and Howard Pyle for Robin Hood.

Geography - This is a continuation of our world geography study from last year. In year two we will focus on Asia, Africa, Australia & Oceania, and Antartica. Lots of As in there.

Religion - we will focus on the history of the church for this period. Z will also do a short study on Proverbs for boys and I have some fascinating Louie Giglio DVDs to expand our horizons.

Art/Music - we will study one period, genre, or artist each month.

I'm truly looking forward to starting back next week. Z is not as excited, but I can't wait to see what new adventures this year will hold.

A Boy and His Cat

Speedy, protector of Z. Check out those eyes! They certainly say don't mess with the sleeping child.

Again, those yellow eyes cautioning me to be wary around Z. Perhaps he thought I bought all of those notebooks for him. Yes, we have a cat that likes to chew paper. At least it forces us to pick up all the school papers. Silly cat.

Z rewards Speedy with a hug.