Ordinary Life

" Everyday is a School Day (And That's The Way We Like It!) "  is our intended mentality, but our reality includes new back-to-school activities  every now and again.  It helps us pretend that we aren't weird home schoolers every day... only most of them.  It also gives us a window of time to measure progress for our required annual review.  One Year Ago:   Now:   I took a lot of photos intending to hopefully luck into a few good ones to share, but to haven't found the necessary time or focus to sift through or edit photos, so here we are, squinty eyes and all...Scroll quickly....

Dear Ms. Ann M. Martin  &  Ms. Laura Godwin, Please imagine for a moment that you are four years old and your mom has recently finished reading " The Meanest Doll In The World " to you. One fateful day, you walk into a thrift store with her. There, in the midst of clothes, shoes and well-loved toys is a dollhouse as tall as you are. (Remember, you're 4... )   But it isn't just any dollhouse, no. It is THE dollhouse. You know this because 'KATE' is spelled across the roof in bright red vinyl. (You can't actually read yet, but you're working on it. Your mom tells you what the letters spell but of course, you already KNEW this was Kate's house the moment you spotted it.) Your mom believes it must be destiny because... I mean, what are the odds? So she texts your dad, because it cost TWENTY-FIVE dollars! (Twenty five dollars that will prove to be only a small down payment in the grand scheme of things... have you ever looked in a minitures c...

There's just something special about Walt Disney's Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. It is my favorite park for several reasons, and it seems to me one of the most fitting monuments to the man behind Mickey Mouse. At its inception, Walt said of EPCOT:  "EPCOT will be an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise." Ingenuity. Imagination. America.  I think that's all of it in a nutshell.  Walking through the park makes me nostalgic. Not only for past visits and childhood adventures, but also for the strong broth of a certain philosophy, spooned to me steadily f...

Our Fall Term started last week. We rearranged our classroom. Started with coffee, of course...  Rye insisted she wanted "real" coffee in her cup... ... I think she liked it.  First Period: Individual Grade Photos FISHER KAI Fisher is in Jr. High now 6th-ish Grade LOGAN ALEECE   Logan is finishing Jr. High 8th-ish Grade CHANDLER BRICE: Chandler is a Freshman (& not very fond of having his photo taken)  2nd Period: Group Photo  AFTER SEVERAL ROUGH DRAFTS... ALETHEIA FIRST DAY FALL TERM 2014-2015   3rd Period: Group Work    A peek into one of our favorite classes: Rubber Pencil 101 (and a video about Earthquakes)  Pre-3 runs simultaneously in the same room:  Weather gal : Fidgets have been added to each desk space~ a listening aid, believe it or not:  A Book Butterfly: Riley in her " Music Appreciation " tent..a.k.a. naptime: She now says " I hate music appreciation! "  There were many other things not pictured, like a lesson...