A little update

Hey everybody!

I wanted to let you know that I will be getting on sometime in the next couple of weeks to update on all of our goings on.

We went on a road trip at the beginning of April that I need to post about.. but we were robbed on that trip and my camera cord was among the things in my backpack that were stolen so I had to wait for  a new one to download the pictures. 

It has arrived now so I will hopefully get those on here soon. 

It has been crazy busy around our house over the past month as we have been finishing up school and beginning plans for a new school adventure. 

I will be homeschooling this next year. 

Nothing huge happened at school. The girls weren't bullied. In fact they had nice classes. 

Abi, especially, had a really nice class. 

But for many reasons they have both been really unhappy. 

Last year at this time they both were saying they didn't want summer to come because they loved school so much. 

This year they didn't like it but we kept waiting for that phase to pass... and it didn't.

Throughout the year Maddy would call home so frequently from school with a tummy ache that I am on a first name basis with the nurse... which came in handy when Maddy got hurt last week and they already knew her so well. 

She would beg to not go to school. When this happens it is very concerning.. wondering if something bad is going on.. etc. But as far as we have been able to find out there wasn't, she just didn't want to go. 

Abi, hated school. The only good thing she could say about it was that she had a really good friend and the librarian was awesome. 

Like I said, I kept waiting for this to pass, for things to get better. 

They never did. 

I have been concerned the whole year as I watched my kids lose their passion for education. 

It broke my heart. 

I prayed and prayed about it and talked to Doug (he was decidedly anti home schooling). 

I felt like it was the right decision but was questioning myself. 

Then one day Doug came home and said he thought it was too. WHAT?

That made the decision pretty clear. 

After that things just kept happening. 

I was worried about what I would teach. I found a book about Charlotte Mason and realized her methods were what I liked most. 

Then I wondered how I would put together a curriculum that would be good enough and then I found a woman that has created the most amazing curriculum that is exactly what I was looking for- not only Charlotte Mason but pulls a lot from it. 

It is open and go. Easy. 

Then I found out she had a convention for her curriculum where I could see it in person before buying it and get 10% off and it just happens to be 10 minutes away from my house...

and I went back and forth on whether I wanted to spend the money for it but then decided to just do it. 

Then about half an hour later I got a call from my sister's good friend that just so happens to work for this company and she cancelled my order and then gave me a code to get the friends discount for the convention at less than half the price. 

I am so excited for this new chapter in our lives and I know now that it without a doubt the right decision for us. I know it won't always be easy and I don't know if we will do it permanently or not... but for now it is right. 

I have been converting part of our playroom into our schoolroom and I will share pictures of it when it is completed as well as more info on our schedule and curriculum as we get closer to school time. 

We will be doing a year round school with more time off in winter than in summer because that is when we always wished we had more time off since we are "cold weather people". 

So we will be starting in July and having 6 terms that will be 6 weeks and then have a week long break after each with a longer break in Novemer- January. 

Then it will go until June next year where we will have another short summer break. 

Anyway, I hope to be on again later this week to try to update April and May

A Year with Maud: Anne of Windy Poplars

There were a lot of things I loved about Anne of Windy Poplars but it fell a little flatter than the rest for me. I think it felt a lot like filler until Anne and Gilbert could be together. But there were still things to love!

Some of my favorite moments: 

"Have you ever noticed how many different silences there are, Gilbert? The silence of the woods... of the shore.. of the meadows... of the night... of the summer afternoon.. all different because all the undertones that thread them are different."

" I was alone but not lonely. I held a series of imaginary conversations with imaginary comrades and thought out so many epigrams that I was agreeably surprised of myself."

" I hate to lend a book I love... it never seems quite the same when it comes back to me."

The character of Nora cracked me up... like when Anne said, 

"I've always liked washing dishes. It's fun to make dirty things clean and shining again."

"Oh, you ought to be in a museum," snapped Nora. 

There was one passage with a description of an oncoming storm that I thought was beautiful..

"A veiled hush had fallen over the world. All the young breezes that had been whispering and rustling so importantly along the Dawlish road had folded their wings and become motionless and soundless. Not a leaf stirred, not a shadow flickered. The maple leaves at the bend of the road turned wrong side out until the trees looked as if they were turning pale from fear. 

A huge cool shadow seemed to engulf them like a green wave.. the cloud had reached them. 

Then the rain, with a rush and sweep of wind. The shower pattered sharply down on the leaves, danced along the smoking red road and pelted the roof of the old forge right merrily."

We meet Katherine Brook in this book. She is all prickles and then we really get to know her. 

" I want to travel... I've always wanted to go and find it... I want to see the Southern Cross and the Taj Mahal and the pillars of Karnak. I want to KNOW, not just believe, that the world is round."

I relate so much to Katherine in that moment. 

So, overall I enjoyed this book. It is written in mostly letters to Gilbert so it is very different from the others. 

A Year with Maud: Thoughts on Anne of the Island

I enjoyed Anne of the Island. 

Again, it was like visiting an old friend. While it doesn't land in the top Anne books for me, it still was fun and entertaining for the most part. 

One of my favorite parts is when Anne is able to visit the home of her birth parents. 

I had completely forgot about that happening. 

She is given letters that were written between her parents and it is the only thing she has ever owned that belonged to her mother. 

Other notable moments and quotes from this book: 

"It is never pleasant to have our old shrines desecrated, even when we have outgrown them."

"We mustn't let next week rob us of this week's joy."

When Ruby is dying I really appreciated the exchange she and Anne had. 

"I think, perhaps, we have very mistaken ideas about heaven- what it is and what it holds for us. I don't think it can be so very different from life here as most people seem to think. I believe we will just go on living, a good deal as we live here- and be ourselves just the same- only it will be easier to be good and to follow the highest. 

All the hindrances and perplexities will be taken away, and we shall see clearly. 

Don't be afraid Ruby."

There is the character of Aunt Jamesina in this book and she can be very funny. 

When Anne is speaking to her of Phil...

"I can't understand her- she beats me. She isn't like any of the girls I ever knew, or any of the girls I was myself."

"How many girls were you, Aunt Jimsie?"

"About half a dozen, my dear."

And of course my favorite part of the entire book is when Anne and Gilbert finally confess their love for each other and we get those wonderful words that the movie used for the end of Anne of Avonlea, 

"I don't want sunbursts and marble halls. I just want you."