Bonny Glen is going to be quiet today (the blog, not the place, nor the state of mind), but I’ve been blogging the move over at the Lilting House. The packers are here now. Their names are Fred and Eddie. I love that so much.

Well. That’s pretty nifty, I must say. But what a pain, and yes I know complaining about keypad typing makes me an old fogey. I know all the kids are doing it these days. Maybe I have finally found the secret to keeping my posts short!

Maybe I’ll just have to live-blog our cross-country trip in haiku. And add the capitals later, because that shift key business is a knuckle-buster.

Does this really work? Whose thumbs can take it?

Rick Riordan, author of the popular Percy Jackson novels, has decided to homeschool his eleven-year-old son.

"I was sure he’d be ready to run for the hills by now, but nope. He tells me every day that he loves home-schooling.

"Some
of the things he’s done so far: He has learned the basics of geography
and designed his own continent, complete with maps, a narrative
reflecting the five themes of geography, and a bar graph showing
immigration patterns. He has begun writing a short fantasy novel (His
idea, amazingly, not mine – I would never wish my choice of professions
on anyone unless they were truly determined and a little crazy!). He
spent a morning studying minerals with his grandfather, a retired
physician who has been itching to share his love of science. He takes
walks every morning with his mother. He reads about twice as much as he
used to, and sometimes even reads more than he’s required to. Gasp! I
am teaching him guitar and he’s learned seven chords. He’s taken a
pottery class at a local art studio. In English, we’re doing a unit on
Norse mythology. He’s watching his own stock portfolio and learning to
invest. And of course, he still has his friends over to play in the
afternoons."

I just got so happy reading this. Yes, yes, this is why we do it! The meaningful connections: with science, music, literature, history, art, finance, geography, and most important, people. Time to take long walks with mom, time to compare notes about the maddening joys of writing with dad, time to explore grandpa’s favorite subject with grandpa himself.

Rick expresses some of the concerns many new-to-home-education parents have, but it sounds like the whole family has embraced this new adventure with gusto, and I wish them great joy.

…more baby photos in the family album.

(And yes, those are Wonderboy’s shorts she is wearing. Such are the perils of assembly-line diapering.)

Me: Well, I just got the Carnival of Homeschooling up at Lilting House.

Jane: Ooh, can I proofread it?

Treat yourself to another hilarious Carnival of Kid Comedy. Kim, our dedicated hostess, just had baby #8 and didn’t miss a beat!

While you’re there, scroll down and read more of Kim’s blog. She cracks me up. That Daddy-long-legs piece is a hoot! AND creepy, which is one of my favorite combinations. The idea of a thousand daddy-long-legs (hmm, I’m working out the plural here and can it really be daddy-long-legses?  Daddies-long-legs? Ha!) clustered together in a big hairy ball is the stuff of which nightmares are made. :::shudder::::

Typepad was down for much of the day yesterday and a bunch of us lost posts…I’ll be back later in the day.

Three months old! I am pink all over!

"We need to call Jake and wish him a happy birthday!"

What I said about thirty times the day before:

"We need to call my sister today and wish her a happy birthday!"

Saying isn’t doing. Doggone it. Note to self and husband: MAKE PHONE CALLS TODAY.

My piece, The Quiet Joy, is up at Catholic Exchange today. It’s that post I wrote while I was pregnant about feeling the baby kick while putting Wonderboy down for his nap, when he was signing his God blesses. I think I’ve gotten more feedback about that post than any other I’ve written.

Also, I forgot to mention that I had a piece up at Edspresso the other day. It’s a broad look at the range of curriculum options available to homeschoolers nowadays; Edspresso addresses a wide audience—anyone interested in school reform—so this piece was aimed at people who might not be familiar how much we home educators have to choose from.