Triceratops, Classical Conversations Unfolds, & Growing Up

 Confirming the suspicion that some days homeschoolers go to school in a bathrobe...

 Diligently working through math at the school table....fully dressed. :)


This morning I took a shower with a Triceratops.  Some of you might not feel comfortable being so intimate with a three-horned reptile, but every time I look at this guy in my bathtub I only think one thing: "Please don't go, please don't go...."

When I see that triceratops there I remember the last time my littlest 6 1/2 year old Eli took a bath in our tub.  He brought in two hot wheel cars, a plastic crab and Mr. Three Horn.  Life is full of lasts for us as the boys grow up.  I wonder at how much longer the plastic dinosaurs will be played with, how soon they'll be tossed into my donate bin and gone.

The flip side of this, however, is that I'm fully enjoying (and appreciating) how the boys are growing up and maturing.  There is more conversation here, there are more make-believe games played and longer hours are spent in the basement over Lego designs of their own.

I have so much more time to invest in maximizing the boys' education, learning more about Classical education and rearranging my brain.  I'm even getting new opportunities in our CC community to share what I'm learning and so, so passionate about.

It's amazing to see the unfolding of what we've been doing with Classical Conversations over the last three years.  Memorizing, memorizing, memorizing, rinse and repeat!  It's not at all be tedious and in fact, the boys have gotten better each season at memorizing.  In fact, Joe has begun memorizing facts from encyclopedias on his own....could this be a little touch of a love of learning?  One of my greatest goals!!

At any rate, school is going beautifully, we are ALL learning so much.
Speaking of school....it starts 4 minutes ago.  More soon!!  Until then....some pics from February!

 Making progress on the stairs, I'll have to post another more recent photo soon!

 Usually Thomas is all tucked away in a basement box...but for when we have smaller train-loving friends to inspire us...

 The new view from the Living Room, now that the wall by the front door is gone.  My mom was here this weekend and we were pouring over paint colors....what to do?  What to do??

 The boys use some serious teamwork with our friends from Classical Convesation friends from Oregon at OMSI.

 They couldn't figure out the last blocks!  After all of this, the whole thing collapsed and they gave up!

 They can all tell you the first 12 elements of the Periodic Table, by Atomic Number, Element and Mass...memorized!