Well, we are still here, resurfacing after a busy, busy autumn (it's not over yet, but one major obligation my children had is finished, so I feel a little freer). Annie is in the throes of Nutcracker rehearsals, and I'm driving her into the city 3-4 days a week, although fortunately my husband is able to take some of the weekend shifts!
Autumn here has been glorious this year. Although we've felt quite busy, the foliage is as beautiful as I've seen it in years, and much better than it has been the past few years. The gorgeous colors were probably at their peak about a week ago: flaming reds, fiery oranges, rich yellows. Every day when I'm driving my children to and fro I'm intentional about admiring the beauty of the autumn this year. It feels like a sweet gift. If I'm going to be in the car this much, I'm very thankful that I get to enjoy the beauty of the mountains in autumn.
So much is happening in our little corner of the world. This summer I embarked upon an accidental refresh of our kitchen. I began painting the cabinets (after 12 years, they needed it!!), fitting that job in here and there. I'm not quite done yet with the doors, but all the boxes and drawers are finished. Each door takes 4 days because my paint requires 24 hours of drying time between coats, and that's two coats per side--you get the picture. It's a process! But that project made me really come face-to-face with how shabby and worn our laminate countertops were--they were nearly 30, after all!--so we replaced them! I also got a new sink, which is probably my favorite part of the entire refresh. Our 28-year-old oven was persnickety at best, and dangerous at worst, so I did copious amounts of research on what to purchase in its place. I love my new range! The old dishwasher that sounds like an airplane landing is still here, because it doesn't not match and it still works, but my husband has already told me we can replace that. I'm holding off, since the last few months of every year are an expensive few months. The range is essential, but the dishwasher is optional! In any case, in my spare moments I've been working on picking out backsplash for the kitchen, since our 4" laminate backsplash was removed with the countertops (mercifully!). Let me tell you what: the options are vast and overwhelming.
Anyhow! Once I get everything finished, I'll post some photos and some details on what I picked. The sink is wonderful--a game-changer for me in this kitchen! I am really thankful for the new range, and I love, love, love my new countertops as well. They are a perfect fit for me--as they should be, since I spent months researching what to get. ;)
(Inserting a random photo from our vacation in Williamsburg, VA this summer: Mr. P and I after a waterfront dinner on the James River. It was so brutally hot, I can't even begin to describe the misery! But we had fun. And he's 3 years in remission!!)
We begin our 13th week of school today. That means we're a good 1/3 of the way through school, and Finn is actually 40% or more done with French and Spanish classes. We are taking the entire week of Thanksgiving entirely off (okay, except for music practice and one ballet class, but that's nothing compared to the usual). Finn's first year of high school is going well, but we're finding our footing for sure. Two language classes, even for a child gifted in languages? It's a lot! Math takes a big chunk of time each day, so by the time he's done with math, piano, French, and Spanish, we just fit history, biology, and literature in the best we can. I'm making peace with this. He loves his history readings this year, so that's great! We also love his literature--it is just going slowly since the languages, math, and music are so bossy and take up so much time.
Biology has been great. I had registered him for an online honors biology class, but at about 4 weeks in, it was clear that there were some teaching and organizational issues that were making the class challenging--and not in a good way. My husband and I had a long talk about it and convinced Finn to drop the class, which brought immediate peace and happiness into our home. But I was suddenly faced with the need to teach my son biology! I used the textbook we already had (the one we'd been using with his online class), purchased online access to its interactive materials, sat down with a stack of books, ideas, and the calendar, and created my own biology class. I'm rather pleased with it, frankly. He's loving it! We've decided to "dive deep" instead of rush through, since Finn prefers that approach. He can't take chemistry until 11th grade anyhow, so why not create a two-year biology course? This year I'm calling it Fundamentals of Biology: the basics of chemistry and physics as they related to biology, cell structure and function (including photosynthesis), and genetics. Next year we'll expand it out to study microbiology, zoology, and botany. I'm so excited! I found some great living books that he's reading alongside the textbook, and we're both enjoying this immensely. This feels like a very humane way to study the sciences.
(Now to find a good photosynthesis lab. Anyone have any tips??)
As for Annie, she's in 5th grade, and that's so easy. Do math, read a lot, write a bit. It's all going well. We love it. I love reading to her (Heidi right now, and The Storybook of Science). I love that she loves to read--she's a voracious consumer of literature! She's enjoying most of her readings from her history pick this year--Early American history through Beautiful Feet Books--and I am really enjoying Learning Language Arts through Literature, which I've never used before, but which is a super resource for me right now: it's open-and-go, involves formal instruction in things like punctuation, grammar, and writing, and has a strong Charlotte Mason flavor, but is quite easy to use, gentle, and flexible. It's perfect for us right now!
The biggest challenge I have with school this year is simply making sure Finn has time to do everything. He's a slow, deliberate (sometimes dawdling :)) worker, and we have to leave the house in the early-to-mid afternoon most days for ballet, music, or languages, so it's tough to find the time to fit it all in, but we're trying! And we're remembering that there's more to life than academics, like the long walks we like to take while Annie is at ballet. Those walks give me a chance to talk to Finn, to discuss Big Things in Life, and to build our relationship, which is--I'm reminding myself--way more important in these teenage years than anything he can get out of a book!
