Did you know?

• That a marshmallow will look exactly like a marshmallow.....forever? Bobby made a Christmas ornament with a marshmallow more than a couple decades ago. Still true to form, it is unmistakeably marshmallowish to this day. Uh, yum. Go ahead and classify that tasty little tidbit right under *highly useful information* ☺
• This week we resume regular schooling activities. I'm looking forward to it after all our vacationing. We had our fair share of nasty colds during the break, which kept us home a lot laying low.  
• The 4 big kids also begin basketball. God bless the person who put Jayla and Onyx on the same team and Tyden and Meadow on the same team. Practices will be 2 evenings a week with games on Saturdays. ((I ♥ M.L.))

School update: Our 6 oldest were admitted to a homeschool program for next year at one of the local charter schools. They use Core Knowledge curriculum (which is what I use too) and will be taught hands on science, art, music, PE, critical thinking, math reasoning, and some language arts including one novel a semester and some essay writing. It is one day a week. J,O,T & M will go on Tuesdays, the kindergartners (F & S) will go on Wednesdays.
This is good news! The enrichment class they were participating in was purely extra, fun, and social - it did not offer me any assistance in meeting their educational needs. (It was not working out well for them anyway so we decided to opt out at the beginning of November.)
With this new program, they will have a uniform and be in full classes with kids their own age/grade.

I believe this type of help is exactly what I need to be able to continue homeschooling, and loving it. Figuring out what to do with school next year has been a really tough decision for me - when you have a family the size of ours, there are so many factors to consider. Each child has unique, individual requirements and interests academically, emotionally, socially, developmentally, spiritually. I also must realistically evaluate what we (I!) can reasonably accomplish in a day/week/year. I feel a sense of relief that they were able to get into the program and I think it will do a good job of accommodating the needs of the children and myself next year. My homeschooling heart rejoices.

Thank you for ALL of your valuable input on the subject of school. I am grateful to you if you shared your perspective. I learned a great deal from your insight and experience. I appreciate it so much.


Don't you love the way Flint has his hand on Clover's back in this picture? Sweetness.

I was SO happy to see Raggedy Ann back! I may or may not have let out a blissful squeal right inside Target just before I purchased this yarn haired beauty for my baby's birthday. Pure Nostalgia.

I'm going to take this busy week off blogging as we find our rhythm again.
Thank you so much for reading.
See you soon!