Year Eight

I so long to still label myself as a blogger.  From Day One, I have enjoyed capturing the day-to-day moments of my children's life and learning.  I have had much fun walking this educational journey with them and sharing that journey with others.

Reality is, this year I ran out of time.

The photo above is a list I made on April 24th in hopes to 'catch up' on my blog.  I still have the first post from this list in draft form on my site.  All summer I have intended to organize and upload pictures with written summaries of our activities because we have done some pretty incredible things this year.  Plus, over the past year, I have learned much about homeschooling teens and the preparation for what comes next. I wanted to share that with others.

However, if you missed a post earlier in the year, I also started working.  My job has been what my family, and myself, have needed for some time.  It has been a huge blessing, a healthy transition, and it has provided us with many educational opportunities to post about.  But, as many of you know, during this season of life, one can only do so many things well.  I can work and homeschool teens.  I can blog and homeschool teens.  I cannot work, homeschool teens, and blog well.  Something was bound to give.

Four months have passed since I created the above list.  Because we are starting yet another academic year tomorrow-ish, I've decided that in order to homeschool, work, and blog well, I need to restructure how I maintain this blog.  I still want some sort of memoir for my children, and I still want to document our journey [even though North Carolina doesn't require it].  I still desire to encourage other homeschoolers with the discoveries we make along the way.

Three years ago, I wrote a post on some simple ways to maintain a homeschool portfolio throughout the year.  I have revisited that post myself for some new ideas and a fresh vision for documenting our journey.  My homeschooling has always reflected Socrates wise words: Better to do a little well, than a great deal badly.  Do less.  Do it well.  Keep it simple.  I need to implement that wisdom into my blog maintenance for the future.  Blogging will happen, just less of it.  That's ok.

And someday, when the time is right, I will return to 2017 and post all of the pictures and all of the stories I can remember.  It is the year we memorized Shakespeare, resided almost permanently in the Middle Ages, got a pet rabbit, visited Alaska, mastered mathematics, [so. much. math.], learned to take standardized tests, and opened checking accounts for our children [this has been a HUGE WIN, and I do need to share more about it].

Our son ran a 5-minute mile, spent two weeks at the Boy Scout Jamboree, and built two different award-winning Rube Goldberg devices for the Science Olympiad.

Our daughter taught herself sign-language, danced at UNC's School of the Arts, and memorized 18 different poems [including works from Carroll, Whitman, and Stevenson].

Both have logged countless hours volunteering for the YMCA of Greater Charlotte because it truly is a family affair.

And Friday afternoon, we picked up a seven-week old Weimaraner.  Eeeek

Year Nine is shaping up to be great.  I can't wait to keep you updated.