Exit. Stage left, even...

SO this is our last night in the secret house by the sea. We have had some really great times here, but we all feel great about leaving this place. Our new home calls to us! "Live here!!!", it says. I agree...LIVE here. I , for one, welcome my new overlord...
The next post will be from the secret house a tad farther from the sea, but equally cool. :)
Forte

Mushroom Huntin'

Here is a glimpse of Grace's long-loved passion... Her Mushrooms! :)
The final picture is her at the door to her father's laboratory. Harbinger of things to come? Perhaps. For now, it is just where she gets to drink Cocoa and draw on the white board!

Moments Before the Move:)

This is a photo of some of the beautiful food we've grown this summer in our organic garden! Grace was very proud of this!

Grace is *really* enjoying her "spa" meal I made at her request! It is Large chilled shrimp, sliced apricot and butter/radiccio lettuce with carrots, olive oil and sea salt. The beverage is an antioxidant berry smoothie!

Grace and her kitty, wistfully gazing at the ocean at night. They looked so serene, I just had to snap this one. I think that's eh only thing we'll miss when we move. Then again, it is all right down the road! I think the full glassed-in porch with a couch, table and chairs and candles will more than make up for it!
We get the last laugh!
Forte

Back in the Saddle again...

I'm back to it! Carl, Grace and I packed up a bunch of stuff yesterday, and we really don't have much more to go. The house looks so neat now, with all of the boxes in a tidy row, standing at attention. :)
Carl and I have been offered two different houses here, so we need to decide between them. We will be moving to the first until the second becomes available, which shouldn't be long. One is "in the thick of things" and proximal to everything the campus has to offer, and the other is very private and up in the woods. The "tree" house, as I like to call it, is a free-standing house with a yard and a driveway. The "campus" house, is actually the entire ground floor of a victorian (read: BIG), but we'd be near to the campus coffee shop/bar and have access to the main road of the campus. (very pretty walk...)

In any case, I am slowly putting together a curriculum for Grace!

For History, Grace wants to study the ancients! We will be using unit studies for Mesopotamia-Greece so far, as well as attending History Club( NY History), Foreign Lands Club (Geography) and Mental Floss( Discussion Club).

For science, Grace has expressed interest in doing a comparative study of water samples from a pond, the ocean, a stream and the house. She would also like to do a comparative study of the biomes. We will take samples of the water every month and look for Microorganisms and content of each sample. She'll record the findings in her lab notebook. We will also be using a book called "Darwin for Kids" which is about, you guessed it, evolution! There are activities which go along with each of the lessons, such a creating a taxonomy! It looks wonderful!

For Math and Language Arts, we will be outsourcing! We are looking into a stepwise program here or engaging a tutor. We will most likely go with the tutor, as she came highly recommended from another parent. I'll have her evaluate Grace and begin accordingly. :)

Carl, Grace and I have also decided to start a Family Lit Club:) We'll be reading short stories of Mark Twain and Edger Allen Poe, as well as Swiss Family Robinson and the poetry of Shel Silverstein. Of course Grace will be reading many books for herself, and we'll just go where the wind takes us!

Grace will continue her music class and her Piano lessons. We are looking to add another art class like last year, but we haven't found the right place yet. It would be wonderful if we could find an artist willing to do individual sessions, as we are often gone to visit family and friends throughout the year.
This all may change, but that's the plan for now! :)
Now...ONWARD! To the New Home!!!
Forte

The Emperor's Senate Has Spoken

The Verdict is....
THUMBS UP!!!

Post-Free Week

I haven't posted in a while, due to Carl's ongoing job saga. We were slated to move to the Midwest in August, but it appears that has been suspended in lieu of staying here! Carl finds out for sure after a meeting on Thursday, but it appears to be "in the bag"... We are EXCEEDINGLY happy about the new development, as it means an extreme career advancement for Carl, as well as our own house finally! Cross your fingers for Carl on Thursday:) I'll post more when I can!
Forte

Two Feet, Two Levels

I've been thinking lately, novel I know, about Grace's learning style and her levels. It became apparent, after visiting several curriculum sites this morning, that Grace has one foot in the grammar stage, and one foot in dialectic/rhetoric stages. I am wondering how to "marry" all of that in a curriculum. The answer, it seems to me, is to either get stuff at the grammar stage and add the dialectic/rhetorical in, or the reverse! LOL That's the easy part. HOW is the hard part, right? I really like the idea of just letting her go and working on the grammar stuff as it arises, but I can't shake the thought that she's not filling in enough "holes". SIGH. I thought I had decided to drop her back a year in her core studies for that very reason, but I'm not sure she'll be amenable to that level without the "bells and whistles" of the higher-level stuff. That makes finding materials difficult, as there ARE holes, but she is also capable of some very impressive higher-level thinking. I suppose this is what they mean when DYS talks of children being in many levels at one time. I suppose I though we'd skipped that. ;)
Forte