Electives

While we haven't formally commenced our studies yet, Sela was chomping at the bit to go to PE with Mr. Hogle. At the end of last year when Nina let the cat out of the bag that we were considering homeschool, Mr. Hogle quickly found Sela and let her know she could still come for PE. I think this made her decision to homeschool so much easier. The kids all adore Mr. Hogle. She wanted to go the first day to see her friends, of course, but also because PE "spots" are assigned. I have no idea what that means, but I dropped her off at school for 45 minutes on Thursday and she came out just beaming. I think having this interaction with her friends in addition to all the other activities (art, activity days, tennis, cross country) where she sees friends is just the right balance.

The girls have been asking to take horseback riding lessons again. I don't think they want to seriously get into the sport (thankfully), but I think they just want to learn the basics and ride for fun. They just love all animals and have been visiting lots of the horses up and down our street lately. They got very excited when they found out that one of their babysitters was teaching horse back riding lessons. She lives right up the street and today they had their first lessons. Evan and Rollin got to ride at the end as well. Evan wailed when he had to get off. His love for horses can't be overstated.








We went to the library where I picked up a bunch of my nature study materials and some more homeschooling resource books. We ate lunch at PCC and then spent the rest of the afternoon at home. I sat on the porch all afternoon reading through my stack of books while the kids played. I find that rather than telling them over and over to go outside, if I go outside, they follow. And it was a beautiful day, not to be wasted inside for sure.  Rollin caught a firefly and a moth and we had fun looking them up in the Handbook of Nature Study, a book I will certainly be adding to my collection. It's fantastic for adding details to the kids' nature journals and for answering the many questions about animals, insects and plants that come my way. Not to mention there is beautiful poetry in the mix.