Hello, again.

Well, well, well...  Where were we?

Sarabelle has just finished her first year at college.  Proof that an eclectic education doesn't completely screw you up.  She's happily pursuing a degree in communications and working on the local radio station.  Next year she will have a regular show of her own and will be the station's music director.  She established the first strings ensemble at the college and has been invited to join the city's community orchestra.  This month she is New York City interning at a major record label and basically living her dream.

Grice has finished all her dual enrollment college classes for this year and just has a few more weeks of her last high school class:  Algebra 2.  She was inducted into the college's honor society and is on track to graduate high school next year with her full Associates degree.  We're trying to pin down a university for her to follow her interest in zoology.  More proof that this works.

And I'm still homeschooling Elle.  For our spine, covering American history, we're reading Howard Zinn's A Young People's History of the United States.  We're using Saxon Math 5/4 and plan to jump ahead to the 8/7 book when we finish because, according to the great State of Florida, she should be in sixth grade this year.  Though, if you have been following the news of the horrendous state of our educational system, Florida is apparently no expert on that subject.  Easy Grammar Plus, which is suitable for high school students, was a good follow-up to the First Language Lessons series.  Elle wanted to work on her spelling, so I picked up an appropriate level of Spelling Workout, and since she likes workbooks, Building Thinking Skills was an easy way to start working logic in.  We were nearly through Latina Christiana I when I came upon William Linney's Getting Started With Latin and his continuing education website:  http://www.linneyslatinclass.com/ and changed course.  Again.  I was comfortable with the religiosity in the Latina Christiana/Henle progression, that was how I learned Latin, but now prefer to skip that and move on to purely secular studies.  And especially ones that can be done without purchasing another series of books.  The lessons are very short -- Charlotte Mason's 15 minute suggestion is in play for my little Miss Short Attention Span --  and so far it is all repetition, but Elle likes it and is feeling pretty confident in her abilities.

In other homeschool news:

I've had to drag out my copy of Queen Bees and Wannabes for another reading.  Elle has been taking ice skating lessons this year.  The group of three girls her age were welcoming at first but have turned into a bunch of mean girls.  Since the group is predominantly Christian, her lessons have become less about skating and more about hypocrisy.

Thanks to the current political atmosphere, I have discovered I am a feminist.  And an angry one at that.  Elle has had the benefit of overhearing the podcasts and news reports I listen to and has a grasp of current events that probably rivals most of the adults she knows. We've been to a few local Occupy events, protesting Citizens United, etc., and Elle really likes these as I count her participation as a full school day.

With my ability to work remotely, I am beginning to plan a summer trip up to Boston.  It may be evolving into another Colonial America/Revolutionary War road trip.  Elle was too young to get much out of our last trip other than correctly identifying George Washington in the Capitol's Rotunda.

Our little town recently announced plans to build a marine research and tourist attraction just three blocks from our house.  It will be a great boost to our local economy and just imagine the opportunities for a high school aged homeschooler...