A gentle start to the school year

At the end of August and beginning of September we had some other lovely beach days with friends. We are hoping to squeeze in at least one more, though the weather has definitely changed. (We had to turn the heater on last night for the first time, just to get some of the chill out of the air!) This has been a wonderful beach summer for us!

Isn't this gorgeous? A mere 15kms from home.

We got to ride a pedal boat for the first time with our friends J and J. We loved it!

Fina continues to practice her acrobatics and death-defying stunts:

This was her first time up to the top of our rope climbing structure. It must be a good 25 feet up.

On September 2, a Juno-award winning band, The City Harmonic, came to give a free concert to students at dad's university as part of their welcome week festivities. It was Fina's first rock concert and she LOVED it (though it was a bit loud)! She especially loved the "playing with beach balls" bit.

She got to meet part of the band. And got their autographs on the beach ball!

We had a "not back to school" bonfire with weiner and marshmallow roast (as one of our clan had her first year not in public school). We were at the park waiting for them and when they showed up, Fina ran over to them and it was this beautiful moment of family where we have no blood family.  I got this pic from afar, but it warmed my heart then and still does now.

Our outdoor playgroup is still going strong. We had a lovely summer (thank you lack of mosquitoes) with them and had very large groups at time, with upwards of 30 people, which was great.  The kiddies have now gone back to school, so we are getting back to our regular numbers, but it is so much fun!

I had the incredible privilege of going to the Blueberry River Homeschool Delightful Living Seminar. Nancy Kelly from Sage Parnassus (a highly respected CMer) was our speaker. It was just wonderful!

Even our seminar venue was gorgeous!

The conference was 400kms south of us, in Menahga Minnesota. I went just with my friend E. The kids all stayed home with their dads. We spent two nights in the Park Street Inn B&B in Nevis MN. The most charming place ever, with wonderful breakfasts and a very gracious hostess!

The seminar talks were inspiring and encouraging and it was so great to be in a room with 50 other CM parents. We got to meet some lovely neighbours from the south and it was beyond words. That part of Minnesota is incredibly lovely! These huge pine forests are gorgeous. We could not pull ourselves away. The pine smell wafted into the vehicle as we were driving through, even through closed windows!  And MN is the land of 10,000 lakes. Such beautiful scenery. We got in a lot of time outdoors as the conference was only from 8-3 on Saturday.  Wandering around local spots in Nevis, including a tiny little beach that our kids would have LOVED! We took a jaunt in Park Rapids, and again the view is breathtaking.  And we got to spend a few hours in Ithasca State Park. It is an incredible place! This is the first US State park I have visited, but if they are all like this, it is an incredible resource. Even just the visitor centre was lovely!

E and I crossed the Mississippi! 

The headwaters of its 2200 miles of river are in the Ithasca State Park. 

What a blessing to be able to take part in such an event. We have already been begging the organizer to hold it again next year. It is wonderful to have a CM community that is so close to us, geographically. Yes, I am thankful for the internet that unites us from afar, but seeing real people face-to-face is priceless.

While in Nevis, my friend E and I went to the local catholic church for Sunday eucharist. The pastor, who we assumed was from India, told how he had just returned from the canonization of Mother Theresa (which we thought was quite cool). We had the chance to speak to him after the celebration and he told us that she had been his parishioner years ago, he had been her pastor.  Incredible! And now he is in a small town of 1300 people. Just incredible.

*****

Fina has been doing a lot of reading! Right now she is making her way through Plenty of Fish by Millicent Selsam. It is very sweet.  She has also continued to read various other easy to read type of books. It is going very well.

We took a quick walk through all her recitation pieces. Yup, she's still got it! We read our next poem from Now We Are Six.

We are finishing up our year one book of catechism. We went through lesson 22 - the Good Shepherd and forgiveness and sins.

Nature Study on Monday. Awesome!

A friend asked Fina if we had started schooling. She said no.  Ha! See how I snuck that in there? Just because we hadn't done "math."
Learning how to read; reciting poetry and Shakespeare; catechism; nature Study, free reads (we are reading Little House in the Big Woods): all good ways to do school!

We also did a more scheduled school day today. I will make a new blog post for that.

Thanks for coming alongside us!