Finn Cooks Coq au Vin

Finn had an assignment for French class: make a French dish.  So he chose the New York Times coq au vin recipe. Which, of course, had a million steps, including lighting the dish on fire (I was not part of this escapade; if I had been, I would have moved that wooden spoon!). 

But let me tell you: it was so, so good!  I've had my share of coq au vin in restaurants, and this one rivaled the best.  The one thing that my husband and I agreed upon was the fact that the flavor wasn't quite as deep as we typically get, and I attribute that to the fact that we didn't use a robust-enough red wine. But no matter.  It was still absolutely delicious. 

Merci, Finn!

Annie's Al Fresco Spanish (+Azaleas)

 This is our week in Charleston, and I've never been more grateful for technology. Thanks to it, my children can be in Charleston and still (sort of) keep up with schooling.  

Here's Annie doing her Spanish class by Facetime, backdropped by early-blooming azaleas. It was eighty degrees today and we just couldn't resist!

We head back to the chillier mountains tomorrow because my husband has a live interview Friday afternoon from our schoolroom and I need to be there to provide both a laptop and moral support!

Tonight my Dad ate his entire plate of food.  Again. This is an answer to desperate prayers and I am thrilled to sit and watch him eat.  A CT scan today seems to indicate that the tumors are shrinking after only two rounds of chemo.  Given that fact, and the fact that his only side effects thus far are a little fatigue and some thinning hair, we're calling his cancer treatments so far a smashing success.  They buy time--that most precious commodity. 

We are thankful. 

A Cardigan for Baby Jack & A High School Education

 Last year I knitted my first-ever cardigan, a labor of love for my cousin's baby, who lives down the lane from us. I wished for tractor buttons, but all I could acquire at the time were cars.  It worked!

I'm not a great knitter, but this went alright.  I used the Verde Cardigan pattern, learned some new skills, and am very pleased with this project overall. It took a while (I sometimes knit in fits and starts), but was worth it both to create something small and warm and cute, and also to feel like I had Made a Cardigan.  Who knows what's next?  I could make a sock! Maybe even two socks!

{see how the pine is bleeding through the paint on my dresser? my dad painted this piece a million years ago. maybe I'll repaint it someday, but I sort of like the "character" these occasional spots provide!}

Actually, what's next is that I'm knitting a hat for my husband that I need to finish before spring comes. :)  Then I think I might move onto pink legwarmers for my Annie, who does many, many hours of ballet per week and would probably appreciate cozy legwarmers.  

We are finishing up one week at home and heading back to Charleston to be with my Dad tomorrow, for the next week.  I'm so thankful for the flexibility to do this! And I'm also thankful because prayers were answered.  He was so very sick in January, and has felt better and better--in spite of two rounds of chemo so far (3 days each).  Amazing.  Last week when we were there, he ate a big seafood meal one day, pizza the next, and Chinese food one night. I was floored, because when I'd last seen him, he was barely able to eat any solid foods at all, and was disgusted by the thought of food.  This alone has felt miraculous to me. 

In the midst of all of this, I'm trying to plan for Finn's schooling next year.  He toured a local private school--and it's not going to be an option.  So we've whittled it down to a local hybrid school (3 days at school, 2 at home) or just doing school-at-home with more online content, because he enjoys formal classes so much.  I'm hoping we can land the plane on this decision within the next few weeks.  Class registrations happen in March, so we have to get it all sorted out now!  One thing is for sure, though: he'll be taking French 3 for college credit next year.  The boy loves French! He'll probably also continue with Spanish 3, but it's a lot of work to learn two languages, and it takes time away from other subjects that he's also wanting to learn (like science!).  So we'll see.  I sometimes wish Finn were the type of child who liked only a couple subjects and didn't like several, so that we could easily narrow down his studies and focus.  But he likes everything.  He's reading a math book for fun in his spare time, studies languages voraciously, is itching to do more science, could talk about politics all day long....frankly, the only thing he doesn't truly consume with gusto is literature, but he does enjoy novels when he reads them--it's just that he's too busy learning about everything else under the sun. How does one homeschool a child like this? I'm at a loss most of the time.  I have to remember that my public school education isn't the gold standard (I barely recall much of what I did in high school, and frankly, much of it felt like time-wasting and game-playing just to achieve a grade).  Deep breath! We can do this!

As for Annie, she's basically spending most of 5th grade doing ballet, working through her math book, or reading enormous quantities of books.  She reads for hours a day, and since she's spending so much time reading (history, science, and loads of literature), I do very little hands-on homeschooling with her.  I think reading is the best education. :) 

February is almost over!  Spring is on the way. I'm so thankful for this, and for my Dad's continued improvement.  Praise be to God for His mercies and graces.  Amen!

2021 Reader's Journal

It's already February and I haven't posted my 2021 Reading List yet--but I finally have time.  Let's just say things have been busy; I calculated that I spent half of January in Charleston! 

I read some good books this year.  I can't believe the new year is already here, though (and we're a month in, actually--feels like January 3rd to me, still).  I am putting my favorites at the top here, and then placing an asterisk beside other books that I'd recommend! 

Ordering Your Private World (Gordon MacDonald)

I appreciated this book so much that I read it twice, and I think I need to read it again this year. It's a solid book on establishing your priorities and making sure your focus stays where it should in your external life AND in the interior life you lead....right up my alley.  So much good, inspiring, honest wisdom here that I highly recommend it, and will be giving it to my children when they are older. 

Extreme Ownership (Jocko Willink and Leif Babin)

What do two Navy SEALS have to share with a housewife from the rural mountains?  Everything. I appreciated this book so much. It's written and marketed for business owners; Willink and Babin run a consulting company.  However, I found it to be widely applicable to my own life.  If you run a home and especially if you have children, you do need to have strong leadership skills ("owning" the things that are within your sphere) in order to keep things on track, and the wisdom that these men bring from the battlefield into "normal life" is so useful.  I also liked Discipline Equals Freedom....it's so true. ;)  

A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)

It will be hard for me to write about this book without gushing.  Although it sometimes feels written in the direction of selling the movie rights (and no doubt, it would make a fabulous film and I'm sure someone has already bought the rights!), it's still just so good.  It follows the life of an aristocrat in Moscow who is sentenced to house arrest for LIFE in the Metropol Hotel.  The way he lives, handles his life, manages his time, treats others, and ultimately raises a child is all so inspiring.  I listened to it on Audible, but my husband gave me the book for Christmas, so I actually finished it on paper (going slowly because I didn't want it to end).  Towles is a skillful writer with a perfect sense of timing, propriety, and tone.  This was the best book I read this year, and since I also read Jane Austen, that's saying a lot!

Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)

I was stunned by this book.  Chinua Achebe's writing is spare and elegant but perfectly evocative.  I envy his writing.  I'm so impressed by his masterful use of the English language.  It is set in 19th Century Nigeria and gives a look at the culture of the area at that time and the slow infiltration of Western influences.  There was so much here that was distressing and disturbing, but also beautiful.  Reading about some of the customs of the Nigerian clans of the time was riveting to me.  A Gentleman in Moscow was my favorite fiction book of the year, but this was a close second.  

Long Live the Queen (Bryan Kozlowski)

Bryan Kozlowski has such admiration for Queen Elizabeth and a superb knack for assimilating the information he has about her and putting it together into a highly readable, enjoyable form.  I am an unapologetic fan of the Queen myself, so I was naturally drawn to this book and wasn't sure what to expect.  I found it totally delightful, inspiring, and fun.  Another one that I listened to and then decided I should own in paper form. :) 

1.  Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace (Christie Purifoy)

2.  Free to Be Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Story of Women and Law (Teri Kanefield)

3.  The Joy of Decorating (Phoebe Howard)

4. Deep Work (Cal Newport)-- which I'd started on Audible in December 2020.  I must say, I don't recommend it for Audible listening, though (deadly boring audiobook), but the content of the book is quite good. One of my college acquaintances was featured in the book--surprise!--so that was very cool. I had no idea! 

5. Before We Were Yours (Lisa Wingate)*--I read this book in record time, it was so absorbing. Based on the true story of Georgia Tann, a child trafficker and child abuser in the mid-twentieth century who ran the Tennessee Children's Home Society, it was an incredibly compelling story.  It's also terribly sad to know that thousands of children and families suffered at the hands of this money-hungry, evil woman. 

6.  Ordering Your Private World (Gordon MacDonald)*--I read this one twice; LOVED IT

7. The Winter Garden (Kristin Hannah)* --I had never heard of the siege of Saint Petersburg even though I studied Russian Literature for a full semester in college.  It was fascinating. And sad. 

8. Can You Drink the Cup? (Henri Nouwen)*

9. Bella Tuscany (Frances Mayes)* -my relaxing, wandering read of the year. I love her observations on life in Italy. I read a lot of this poolside on our vacation at a resort in Williamsburg in the summer, lazily watching my children float the lazy river while meandering through the Italian countryside in my mind. And it was my top read for "before bedtime relaxation."

10. The Practice of the Presence of God (Brother Lawrence*) -a classic, a re-read

11. The Joyful Mysteries of Life (Catherine and Bernard Scherrar) 

12. My Life in France (Julia Child) (Audible)-I loved this book and it inspired me to take my cooking a little more seriously--at least for a little while :)  But the best parts of the book are her tales of life in France! Finn will enjoy reading it in a couple of years. 

13. Girl with a Pearl Earring (Tracy Chevalier)

14. Extreme Ownership (Jocko Willink and Leif Babin)*

15. Younger Next Year (Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge)-in short: EXERCISE every day!

16. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) (Audible)--Finn and I are reading this together--we're not done yet! But I love it so far. Another review next year, perhaps ;) 

17. A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles) (Audible)*

18. Persuasion (Jane Austen) (Audible)*

19. The Right to Write (Julia Cameron) --I haven't finished it, but I LOVE this book so far.....

20. Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual (Jocko Willink)*

21. Whiskey in a Teacup (Reese Witherspoon) --I thought I'd hate this book, but it's just very cute, and since I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Southerner, so much of it was laughingly familiar to me! Monograms, manners, music--yes, yes, yes

22. Broken Horses (Brandi Carlisle) 

23. The Power of Less (Leo Babauta)*

24. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)*

25. Long Live the Queen (Brian Kozlowski)* (Audible)

26. How to Homeschool 9th and 10th Grades (Lee Binz) (Audible)

27. Looking Backward (Joyce Swann) 

28. Harvard Schmarvard (Jay Mathews)*--a good book on college admissions with a neat list of 100 "hidden gem" colleges in the back. I'm sure I'll be re-referencing this book a lot in the coming years!

29. Cool Colleges (Donald Asher)--another good book that focuses on nontraditional colleges that may appeal to students who are super bright and have taken a somewhat "unique" path to education...ahem, homeschooling.  It's a book for the "hyper-intelligent, self-directed, late blooming and just plain different" and I have to say that all of those adjectives apply to my Finn. 

30. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone--JK Rowling (audiobook)

31. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets--JK Rowling (audiobook)

32. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban--JK Rowling (audiobook)

33. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire--JK Rowling 

As you can see, I'm also reading the Harry Potter series for the first time (well, I've read the first 3 books aloud to my children, but we re-listened on audiobooks, and I'm now reading The Order of the Phoenix myself, which is #5). The books get better as you go along, I think; I really didn't love the first two books, but The Prisoner of Azkaban was quite good, and things definitely start to get fleshed out and more involved in The Goblet of Fire.  But I don't think these books are for young kids!  I appreciate stories about the war between good and evil because I believe it mirrors reality--it's just that Rowling sets that very real war in a very make-believe world with wizards. 

Plus plenty of Mary Oliver poems, The Bible, my devotional (Streams in the Desert, my all-time favorite)....etc!

Books I Read to or with my Children:

1. The Mysterious Benedict Society--Trenton Lee Stewart (January 2021 Book Club Choice--Annie)

2.  Little Women--Louisa May Alcott* (obviously one of the best books of all time :))

3. The Children's Homer--Padriac Colum* (it took us half the book to get into it, and then we enjoyed this retelling very much!  Well-written!)

4. The Trumpet of the Swan--E. B. White* (one of Annie's literature books)

5.  A Wrinkle in Time--Madeline L'Engle* (February 2021 Book Club Choice--Mr. Pauley)

6. The Velveteen Rabbit--Margery Williams (read this to Annie b/c we realized she'd never read it.  I can't read it without crying! I love this book. It's among my top favorite children's books.  Such a timeless message.  I am grateful for it--because I am getting "shabbier" and better-loved every year....and thus more real. ;))

7. The Wind in the Door--Madeline L'Engle (February 2021 Book Club Choice--we all read A Wrinkle in Time the first week of the month since it's so short, so we added another book!)

8. Macbeth--William Shakespeare* (wonderful, of course)

9. The Witch of Blackbird Pond-Elizabeth George Speare* (a book I LOVED as a child and didn't really remember; I had Finn read it for part of his literature this year and I re-read it, and loved it just as much this time as I had 30 years ago!)

10. My Side of the Mountain--Jean George (March 2021 Book Club Choice) (I liked it a lot) 

11. Peter Pan--J.M.Barrie (a read-aloud for school....we didn't really love it, actually!)

12. Miracle on Maple Hill--Virginia Sorenson (I read this to Annie) 

13. Heidi--Joanna Spryi (I read this to Annie) 

14. Something Greater than Gold (about Eric Liddell, the Olympian and missionary--we enjoyed it so much)  

15. Li Lun, Lad of Courage--Carolyn Treffinger

16. Nory Ryan's Song--Patricia Reilly Giff (good but a little too sad)

There are so many things that I read with my children that don't make it onto this list: poetry books, snippets of devotionals, tidbits from here and there, certain school books (I'm reading The Storybook of Science to Annie this year, for instance; or any of our beloved Genevieve Foster history books that I read....)

Perhaps this year we will pick up with our family book club again.  We petered out last year when one of the children picked a Roald Dahl book because (I know this is heretical for a lot of fans of children's literature, so I apologize in advance!)  I loathe Roald Dahl stories.  Alas.  Maybe we'll get going again, though!

                                                           *                                      *                                  * 

So that's it! My 2021 Reader's Journal. 

Here are my previous years' journals:

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

Happy New Year, and happy reading!

Fear Not

 "Fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Isaiah 41:10

This verse has been in the forefront of my mind lately.  So much is happening, and has happened, here! 

Very late on Tuesday the 18th, my Dad landed in the hospital yet again with hyponatremia--this time it was critically low and he was almost admitted to ICU.  I spoke with him on Wednesday, and quickly packed my bags, made plans for my children, got myself in order, and left at 7am on Thursday morning for Charleston.  While I was en route his liver biopsy results finally came back and he was given a diagnosis that surprised everyone--even the oncologists.  He doesn't have colon cancer that has metastasized to his liver (which was the initial assumption); he has extensive small cell lung carcinoma. SCLC is the most aggressive type of lung cancer.  The oncologists told him his diagnosis on Thursday afternoon and started him on chemotherapy *that night.*

I stayed in the hospital with him for five nights.  For some reason, God has gifted me with the ability and desire to be a very useful person in the hospital. I can sleep virtually anywhere.  I can survive for a while on very little broken sleep.  (I can't do that indefinitely, mind you!)  For whatever reason I have a huge heart for taking care of all the little details of life (lets put this IV tube over here, and you can sit this way.  Let's call the nurse for a bit more of this.  Let me get you that.  Here, I'll put socks on you.  etc) for someone who is ill and suffering.  Time and time again I've found myself in this role. 

The first chemo treatment was at 2:15 am.  My father slept right through it, but when I heard the nurse come in and start putting on her PPE, I was transported back to the days of my husband's chemo. I remember it all so well. I stayed awake.  

He was released last Tuesday in much better shape than he had been the week before. His sodium had gone from 117 to 130, and he was a completely different person--perkier, steadier, less fatigued, less confused.  My Dad is supersmart, so seeing him suffering from mental confusion was extremely disconcerting to me.  It's amazing what the restoration of electrolytes can do! SCLC causes hyponatremia--so it all makes sense now. 

I had that week in Charleston in the hospital to think long and hard about the entire situation.  There was a lot of processing.  There were a lot of tears. There was a lot of gazing out over the Ashley River, thinking things through. I had a really good talk with my Dad during the night of his second chemo treatment--about faith, about fears, about family, about suffering.  He's ok, at least for now.  But this is hard.  

Right now my plan is to live in Charleston 1/3 of the time: about one week out of every three.  Most of the time I'll be there with either both children or my husband and children, and we'll stay in a hotel (my parents' house has one bathroom, and a cancer patient doesn't need to be sharing bathroom space all the time with 4-5 other people!).  From where I live, it's a roughly 8-9 hour drive.  We are going to do Facetime Spanish classes and Zoom ballet on our weeks down south.  I'm going to try to squeeze in as much love and laughter and care as I can.  After 2-3 cycles of chemo (3 days on, 21 days off=1 cycle), he'll have a CT scan to see if the cancer is responding.  And we'll work from there.

I wish I had time to write right now about all the things the Lord is doing during this time in our lives. I wish I had the time to write about how I KNOW He goes before us, how He has paved the way, how He is in all our tomorrows...but I don't have time right now.  

For now I'll just say that my biggest prayer right now, other than a nice long remission for my Dad (SCLC doesn't typically go into remission easily or for long) and stable sodium levels, and safe travels to and from Charleston in the coming weeks and months, is that this time in our lives will be a time where God helps us all grow in mercies, graces, faith, love, charity, and gentleness. Pray for my Dad, my stepmother, my aunt, my uncle, my children, my husband. 

The day I left for Charleston our contractor came in and demolished our bathroom.  Next time I post, I'll post a little bit about that. Going through a total bathroom renovation at the same time as this diagnosis is interesting timing (to say the least!), but I trust that it's all unfolding the way it should.  

Fear not, for I am with you. 

Yes, He always is.

A New Year & New Prayers

 Two months make a difference. 

It's hard to know where to begin when I'm such a sporadic blogger! From Thanksgiving on, I was a pretty busy girl. Annie was in The Nutcracker, and I was working in the dressing room, and I don't even want to begin to describe that job.  Hectic doesn't even begin to touch it.  I was never in theatrical or ballet productions as a child, and I do not thrive on the backstage scene. In fact, I detest it!  All that hurrying and waiting and drama and rushing and quick changes and managing crises...it's completely antithetical to my normal way of living.  But it proves that I love my Annie because I want to be physically present for her backstage, at least while she's getting used to the routines of large ballet productions.  But whew.

My sweet and beloved uncle died of cancer on December 16th, a few days after The Nutcracker ended. My father had been helping to care for him during his last weeks. I was sadly unable to go to my uncle's funeral because my husband had a CT scan and doctor's appointment at UNC that I had to attend (and my uncle lived several states away--not near UNC!). My husband's scan was clear--three years in remission, praise the Lord!, but the day after my uncle's funeral, my stepmother notified me that my father was very ill.  He was hospitalized in Georgia with severe nausea and hyponatremia. He was released Christmas Eve, spent a couple days recovering, somehow managed to drive himself back to Charleston (by the grace of God alone, I'm sure), and was predictably readmitted to the hospital at MUSC on December 28th.  I had been beside myself when my Dad was in the hospital in Georgia, and once he was back to Charleston, I threw all our stuff together in suitcases and we left town a day before our anticipated travel date (we always spend New Year's in Charleston) so I could get there and be by his side.

While we were on the road I called my Dad to tell him we were on our way, and he gave me the devastating news that the doctors thought his symptoms were caused by cancer in his liver. 

Thus began our time in Charleston. He was released from the hospital on New Year's Eve.  Our four-night planned trip turned into ten nights.  We stayed and stayed.  I would have stayed longer, but my husband had to get back to work and Finn had to begin rehearsals for a play he's in this winter. We exchanged gifts, but I don't remember what I got.  The time passed in a slow haze of tears and anxiety, of nausea (he is very, very sick), of waiting and waiting for the liver biopsy to be scheduled, of trying to wrap our minds around the situation.  And then I caught a head cold. Which ended up not being a head cold, but The Virus I had somehow successfully managed to evade for the past 22 months.  We have absolutely no idea where I got it, because I'd had no contact with anyone outside our own little family circle.  

Praise the Lord that no one else in our family caught it.  And it was truly nothing worse than a very mild head cold for me.  But it was just so stressful.  My Dad was (is) incredibly sick, and to add to that, I suddenly had to worry that I'd passed an illness on to him that might end up delaying his biopsy even further.  

I'm recovered now--the worst part for me was that I was very tired for a few days at the very end.

We are home, cloaked in snow.

Annie turned 11 the day after we got home. 

Dad is still extremely sick.  His biopsy was on Thursday.  Although the official report is not back, we now know that he has metastatic liver cancer.  

And just like that, my whole life has shifted.  It's so strange how that happens. We are waiting now on the full pathology report, on the oncology appointments, on more news of how extensive this is and what the doctors recommend.  We spent about 3-4 weeks in Charleston in 2021.  I suspect we will spend much, much more time there this year.  My mind tries to plan ahead (school?  how can we continue ballet?  what about piano?) but in reality, I simply must continue to wait and see what the treatment plan will be.  

In the meantime, I'm praying that my father's nausea will subside so he can get adequate nutrition (losing 20+ pounds in a month is not healthy).  He's on four different anti-nausea medications right now and nothing touches the intractable nausea.  It never leaves him.  Will you please pray for him? Please pray that the nausea can somehow fade or be controlled, and please pray that God will lead us to the right plans, and please pray that we see His mercies and graces throughout the coming days. 

There have already been so many, but that's for another post on another day.

*  *  *

"Fear not, for I am with you,

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

-Isaiah 41:10

Autumn 2021: Kitchens and Curricula!

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!