What we've been up to....

Yesterday we attended our monthly Princess Academy group. My girls really like it, even though they don't say much yet. It is run by Donna, who I contacted during the summer when I was trying to decide how I was going to go about this homeschooling adventure. She was very kind and met with me to give some of the benefit of her wisdom. I have appreciated being able to learn from her and participate in the Princess Academy with my girls.

There are several things we do while there, one of which is a book discussion. This month the book to be discussed was Anne of Green Gables. I have never read it myself, so although we have the movie version, we also undertook to read it. A problem surfaced, however, when I got a sinus infection and couldn't read because I a) sounded like a toad and b)coughed up my toenails whenever I used my voice too much. Enter NetLibrary. I was so happy to see that I could download the audiobook version and we could stretch out on my bed and draw and listen to someone else read to us. I imagine we will make use of this again. It frees up my hands to be able to work on things as I listen as well.

We loved the book and tried to identify our favorite parts. C couldn't pick, she loved it all. H liked the part where Anne is floating in the barge to Camelot and it sinks with her in it, leaving her stranded on the piling of the bridge. S couldn't pick either, but I think she has had a harder time comprehending what she's hearing. She's still pretty young.

We gathered at Donna's home and we began making hats on our hat looms for charity while Donna's daughter spoke to us about Rising Star Out Reach and the woman who started it. She shares with us each month about a woman of virtue. I find her 'vignettes' very inspiring and when I asked the girls if she inspired them as well, they all said yes! I am currently reading The Small Woman, about Gladys Aylward. This is the woman Julia spoke about at our first meeting in Sept. If you're curious about her, see if you can find the movie, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, which is about her. It stars Ingrid Bergman.

After the vignette, we eat lunch, which is a potluck. It's fun to see what everyone brings, we try to make it tie into the story we have read. I asked C what we should take and she thought we should have raspberry cordial, I laughed and said maybe we should add liniment cake and plum pudding with 'mouse' sauce. We ended up googling 'Anne of Green Gables recipes' and we found a website with lots of recipes mentioned in the books. We made Mrs. Lynde's Lemon Biscuits, which turned out to be sugar cookies. Since I didn't want to take only dessert we stopped at Costco and picked up a case of Clementines to take along. While we ate, we talked about what we thought of and learned from the book. I sometimes think I do not know how to think deeply. They mention things I never saw until they point them out to me. I think I must still just read for entertainment, rather than seeking for wisdom and truth. After eating, the girls all went back to the living room and continued working on their hats, while we cleaned off the tables and prepared to leave. It's such a good time, and I'm glad my girls like going and that they are losing a bit of their initial shyness and starting to interact with the other girls. H told me yesterday that M(Donna's 9yo daughter) is one of her new best friends. I had to smile, cause she finds best friends wherever she goes.

Today we started a small unit study on Thanksgiving. We will probably be working on it for the next few days at least, if it keeps their interest that long.

Next month's book is Little Red Buckets. I need to see if I can get it at the Library.

Tonight I will be attending PALMS (Provo Area Leadership Mentoring Society). I hope I have anything worth saying. I tend to just sit and absorb what I'm hearing. It's really so great to be able to meet with others who are striving to improve their own education as well as their families and share. I'm thankful to have a group close by that makes it convenient for me to attend.