It's been a whole year.. a year of choosing to unschool. The oldest and I really chose, the younger two pretty oblivious to any planned changes. I *think* that's a good thing... they have been known to say, "We can do school whenever we want!" this year. Perhaps since our commitments outside of the house haven't changed much, our routine seemed about the same.
Interestingly, I don't see that much has changed ~

there are still many creative hours...

most of them spent right here, at my favorite place in the house.
I thought we would step up our read aloud time this year, but
honestly I think it was about the same.


I thought that at the end of this year, my anxiety level would have gone down.
You know.. all the thoughts that we have as moms, "is this enough?"..
"am I doing it right"...

but those thoughts haven't changed this year.. those little tidbits of worry still hang about in my mind.

Yet there is not much I want to change.

I still wanna watch them explore

and grow into their talents

and delve into their interests.

And I can say that I really trust that all will fall into place as needed.

Ask and it shall be given unto you,
Seek and you shall find."
As you submit to Christ in all you do,
He’ll cleanse your heart and mind -
Satisfying your hungry soul each day
With manna from above,
Revealing to you His will and way,
And His unchanging love.
"Knock and it shall be opened unto you" -
God’s grace and power receive.
He’ll give you joy and life anew,
And all your fears relieve.
As you stand on firm foundation -
Christ, the solid Rock,
There’s assurance of salvation,
And blessings when you knock.
So, "Ask and it shall be given unto you,
Seek and you shall find."
His peace will, surely flood your soul,
And heal your troubled mind.
~Connie Campbell Bratcher © 1996

keeping it real
Originally uploaded by hsmom2luge

It is a very messy table, but we have so much fun just sitting together and exploring. Believe it or not I was reading aloud from a math dictionary at the time..
Grace was dotting glue all over a page & I pulled out food coloring.
Soon Parker had a Kandinsy inspiredpiece.

ya just can't plan good stuff like that folks!