Maitlyn's New Glasses

Maitlyn got her first glasses a week ago. (Carole Joy Seid would not be happy with us. . .) For our friends far away, we thought we should post some pics so you could see how incredibly cute she looks. (And the impromptu photo shoot netted some pics of all the Harkey girls, so we're sharing those with you, too.)

What we're learning in school

Here's what I love about homeschooling. . .(Yes, I am a complete nerd.) I get to learn all of those things that I either wasn't taught or wasn't taught well or just didn't pay attention to when I was a kid.

So, this year, among other things, Maitlyn, Elspeth and I are going to study an overview of Creation through the Fall of Rome. We are going to read great literature set in the time period. We're going to make cool maps. We're going to overview the whole Bible historically and study the cultures of the various Bible places. We'll study ancient Egypt for three weeks while we're talking about Moses, for instance. And we'll study Ancient Rome when learning about the early church. I am going to learn so much! Maybe the kids will pick up a little something too.

Next week, we'll be reading (what I mean is I'll be reading aloud and the girls will be listening) The Golden Goblet, finishing up A Place In the Sun and making Egyptian Paddle Dolls.

And in science, we're going to start doing some fun experiments on our rock collection that we bought at the Discovery Channel Store closing sale.

We're looking forward to our first meeting with our homeschooling co-op next Friday. There we'll get to make Egyptian clay pots, go on a Nature Study outing to the new Botanical Gardens and begin our Presentation class (where Maitlyn and Elspeth will learn to speak in front of a small group, starting with Show and Tell and expanding with other skills from there).

Amelia's Favorite Song

So, if you know Amelia, you know that she has just about the happiest disposition ever granted to a person. She is a ray of sunshine for sure. Sometimes a very loud ray, but a ray nonetheless.

Since Amelia is our third child, she doesn't get the over-attention that our first did. (You who are parents understand this phenomenon.) Well, I am sure that I taught Maitlyn many, many songs via individual instruction by the time she was 21 months old. I probably drilled her on them to be sure that she knew enough of them. Poor Amelia has just had to learn songs the hard way, by hearing them on CDs, by hearing her sisters sing them, etc. Well, this week, I did take the time to teach my little ray what I feel is her life song--If you're happy and you know it. It suits her well and she does the motions with gusto. Perhaps you could witness her in concert soon.

Nothing Exciting

After waiting so long to post, the pressure is on for me to say something really exciting. But sorry, I can't come up with anything.

During the past few weeks, we've said farewell to some good friends (with more farewells to come, I'm afraid).

Also, we went to a reunion of college friends from our campus ministry. On the surface, it didn't seem that anyone had really changed much, but perhaps we just didn't get much below the surface. One of my friends shared briefly about surviving brain cancer. That was pretty cool!

I did wonder if people thought that we had changed. Did they get below the surface with us? I don't think so.

Let's see, what else can I say. . .we're starting school on Monday. Perhaps soon there will be amusing anecdotes of the Harkey homeschool to share with the blogging world. Let's hope so.