Update

I didn't really intend to go some three weeks without blogging. The holidays came and went in no time flat and I took a two-week "vacation" from normal life to get everything for Christmas ready as well as doing a hyper-focus on getting all my ducks in a row.

Ducks still not quite in a row but we had a great Christmas. The whole December season was not everything I hoped for it to be but it was great, a memorable season we won't soon forget.

We did a lot of stuff this Christmas season. Not hardly a fraction of the stuff I anticipated but it was still fun nonetheless. I'll be "back-blogging" about them real soon (writing a new blog but with an old date to put it in the December archive).

This past week we've actually been doing some school (hurray!). Would you believe that we went the entire month of December and a large part of November doing no bits whatsoever? And no, I did NOT plan for us to take the entire holiday season off.

It's not like Hunter wasn't learning things throughout that whole time and it's not like I stopped teaching him, as I'm always teaching him something. But as for organized, planned topics to cover? Nada. So it's nice to be back into the flow of a schedule again.

We still read a lot. We learned Christmas songs and read poetry and retold the Christmas story. We learned about Hanukkah and actually celebrated it. We did our countdown to Christmas (most days) and he learned a lot of numerals, and although he doesn't know them all yet as the countdown didn't go nearly as consistent as planned, he got a really good introduction and has had a lot of practice doing mental math.We did multiple other things that I can't even remember, and as always did lots of talk, talk, talking.

And now, after one week of schooling into the new year, we're slowly getting the hang of it. We did lots of bits this week and I have spent a ridiculous amount of time planning, making materials, and researching information. We're praying for Chad. We're learning the bones of the skull, dinosaurs, art by Paul Cezanne, great composers, elements of the periodic table, the last set of state map outlines and flags, and music by Vivaldi. We're reinforcing (playing lots of games with) the numerals 0-9. We're still working on memorizing the first few chapters of Proverbs and are learning about Abraham and ancient history. Our main focus is our science of the week, which is about the sun. We're going to spend the next two to three months studying astronomy (we could study it for much, much longer but I have to contain myself and remember - this is just an introduction to the world of astronomy, we do not have to cover everything right now!) Once we're done with astronomy we will be doing an earth science curriculum made for 8-12 year-olds called How Does God Do That? by Paul and Danielle Harris.

There's so many things going on. Hunter has been obsessed with puzzles, his knight suit, and his "baby" monkey (previously known as simply "monkey" but has now taken on the status of an infant). He's been learning how to button his shirt, loves to vacuum, and is always full of surprises, saying the funniest things constantly.

I've been crazy busy, spending as much time as I possibly can attempting to get ahead in lesson plans, get finances in order, organize files, and keep up with household duties. In the meantime I've still been behind on most of these thing (especially household duties), haven't been online hardly all (haven't been active in the forums), and still have a lot to do with the article I'm supposed to be writing.

It hasn't exactly been the best week, as, like I mentioned before, my ducks are not even close to being all in a row. But I CAN say they are much closer than they were a month ago.

So, I just wanted to sit down on here for a few minutes and let you all know that, Yes! We're still alive! And yes, we had a great holiday and a great new year and I hope you all did too! I'm looking forward to a great year of learning, discovering, and sharing all of our adventures with you all! May God bless your year and your children and, as always, happy learning!

"I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope."

Psalm 16:7-9

Hunter is 3 years, 9 months old