• Books and Reading - Homeschooling - Uncategorized

    AmblesideOnline Year 8 in Review

    May 28, 2025 - By 

    Here we are at the end of another school year and the end of another stage in our homeschool journey. My son is completing AmblesideOnline Year 8 this week, and that means that next year he will enter high school and be in what Charlotte Mason called Form IV. Every new grade level and form comes with new challenges, and at the beginning of every year I feel woefully inadequate and unprepared for what is coming. Yet, at the end of the year, I look back and am amazed at what we managed to accomplish and how my children have…

  • Homemaking - Uncategorized

    May 2025: What’s in the Garden?

    May 21, 2025 - By 

    This month’s garden update is perhaps not as impressive as I would like. It turned out that many of my seedlings from last month’s update did not fair well, although I am not sure why. They were already looking a little sad before I set them out on the porch to harden off. And many did not survive the hardening off precess very well. Aside from the zucchini squash and kabocha squash, I am not sure any of the seedlings will survive now that they have been transplanted out. But it’s not the end of the world. At this time…

  • Homeschooling - Uncategorized

    Recap of Our AmblesideOnline Year 4: The Second Time Through

    May 14, 2025 - By 

    As we wrap up our school year this month, I am looking back over the year and reflecting on progress made and things I might want to work on changing as I plan ahead for next year. My daughter is about to finish AmblesideOnline’s Year 4, and this is my second time guiding a student through this year in our homeschool. Before beginning to write, I scrolled through some of my old blog posts and realized that the last time I recorded anything about our AO year, it was a 4-part series about Year 4 as I was in the…

  • Homemaking - Knitting and Crochet - Sewing and Crafting - Uncategorized

    On the Needles, May 2025

    May 7, 2025 - By 

    This month I decided to combine my sewing and knitting update into one because, truthfully, I have not been doing a huge amount of either lately. I just have one project that I am really enjoying working on right now, so let’s start with that first! As I mentioned in my last knitting update, I haven’t felt like working on my winter projects since the weather started warming up. So I was already in the market for a new cast-on to reignite the knitting mojo. Then I stumbled upon this locally produced alpaca and alpaca-wool blend yarn in a thrift…

  • Books and Reading - Uncategorized

    The Reading Report, Vol. 27: Spring Reading Progress

    May 1, 2025 - By 

    Happy May Day, reading friends! I am happy to be back with a new reading update today. I really wasn’t sure what I was going to write about this week when I realized that it was almost a new month, so I just waited until today so I could justify writing about books. These monthly round-ups are not only my favorite posts to write, but they also keep me accountable to stick with my goals! Looking back at last month’s “reading refresh” post, I am pleased to report that I did, in fact, get back on track with better reading…