Classical Conversations

This fall I took a huge leap of faith and enrolled our two oldest children in a homeschool group that goes by the name of Classical Conversations. It was a leap of faith, because when you are starting to learn about the Classical model of education, and all that it entails, it can seem pretty scary. I felt totally unqualified to lead my family in this model of education. I gave it a shot anyways. I signed us up and paid the tuition and fees, and thanked the Lord that at least I wasn't going to be a tutor for one of the classes. Then the director called and told me that she needed another tutor. I questioned her choice, and after she assured me that she had no one else to call upon, I accepted.

I have learned so much through this journey. I have amazed myself at what I have learned, and what my children are able to learn and retain. I am really using this year as a trial year. It is our first year venturing into Classical Education, and this has been a challenging year for other reasons, so I am working on keeping this year fun, retaining what we can, and planning on going at it with a clearer perception of what Classical education is and what it means to our family as we move into next year.

If you would like to see the blog of someone who has a much better grasp at this whole thing check out this website. I am so impressed with her materials and I refer to this blog for ideas on how to review the material we learn at CC.  http://halfahundredacrewood.blogspot.com/p/classical-conversations.html

Our Doggie

I don't know how often our dog has made it into the blog, but this is a picture that needs sharing. This is our dog. This is our beagle dog. This is our old beagle dog. This is our old, chubby, beagle dog. His name is Lou. When we were newly weds we adopted Lou from one of my coworkers who was moving to Florida. John wanted to name him "Lee" or "Jeb" but we finally settled on Lou. Later I came to find out that there is a beagle dog in the movie "All Dogs Go To Heaven" that is named Lou, but it is short for Loser. Nice.

As Lou grew he transformed from a wild and crazy puppy into the couch potato you see below. He has had a knee surgery and we know he suffers from arthritis. It does not stop him from hanging around the table or following toddlers with pop tarts to try to get some extra nourishment.

And when he sleeps like this, he snores. But we love him!

What We Have Been Up to Since OCT

Well, when life gets busy my blog suffers, but that is okay. I am not a professional blogger. I do have some catching up to do, and what better time to do it than right now. I will start blogging about some of the stuff that has been going on in Transue-land.

Up for Bid

One almost 8 year old boy. Special skills include cabinet organizing and dishwasher loading . . .

Also up for bid, three rowdy kitchen cabinet washers . . .

Not Me Monday Say Yes to the Dress Version

I do not watch the TLC show Say Yes to the Dress. I do not  watch it a lot. I do not check the Cable On Demand if I  miss a new episode. Well, Laura never watches with me and she has never dressed up her little sister. She has definitely not alsodressed up her little buzz-cut hairdoo brother (sorry, no photos of that).

Fortunately Megan is a willful participant:

Here Laura is layering two dresses onto Megan, who is standing on a stepstool. Laura has also added a decorative sash, and is arranging the dress to allow for the proper flow of the skirts.

I would never allow my girls to participate in such a vain activity, nope, not me.

Megan's Goose Egg

Megan fell down the (13) stairs onto the (hardwood) floor, and got a big 'ole goose egg bump on her head. We took her to the ER and THEN took a picture of her. Amazingly, it looks a lot better here than it did at first.

I brought along one of her new dolls, and it was a good thing because the doctor would first examine the baby, and then examine Megan, it worked out well. The baby got a bandaid, and so did Megan.

Afterwards Megan took good care of her baby, let her lay down, and put both siderails up on the gurney . . .very important for patient safety!

She was diagnosed with a concussion, but promptly discharged with precautions. We have been learning about Anatomy in homeschool-land, and discovering the amazing way that God made us. I think it is awesome that the part of the head the kids hit the most (the front) is also the strongest part of the skull (good thing). Praise God she was all right after such a fall!

Laura's Sewing Lessons

Laura has been taking sewing lessons, and here is link to the blog her teacher keeps. It has photos of her hard at work . . .or posing with her projects, whatever you want to call it.

http://icansewkids.blogspot.com/p/2011-scrapbook.html