School Wind Down

The school year may be winding down, but summer activities are gearing up. I'm so close to the end of the year that I can see the more relaxed schedule coming my way, but I can't enjoy it quite yet. Science, grammar, Latin and math stand between the Artist and her summer. The Engineer has some math and reading yet to complete.

This summer we have lots of plans. Swim lessons will begin some time soon I hope (waiting on the pool folks to call me back). This is always a child favorite.
The Engineer is looking forward to playing T ball. Earlier this spring when we had a few warm days he was able to practice some. I do hope it warms up again soon.

The Artist will be participating in a reading mentoring program at the library. This weekend at the mentor orientation we should learn more about it. I think she will enjoy reading to younger children, especially younger children who are not her brother!
Over the summer the family will keep up with piano lessons, our German program, and the Artist will have a typing course. Knowing the two of them, they will spend the rest of their time reading and bike riding (for her) or playing basketball and riding scooter (for him).

Some Assembly Required

The Artist's biology project in coming along nicely. It is time consuming to wait for one color paint to dry before handling a piece to apply the next color. The Artist says the model is fun to work with because it is fun to paint. She also likes that putting the skeleton together is like completing a puzzle. Just wait till she gets to put the organs in! She said so far she has mostly learned the names of different bones. There were some she knew before the project. I'm glad she can see her own learning.

We made one error on the project. The Artist asked my opinion on some confusing directions, and I see now that I misdirected her. I had her paint one of the clear plastic parts that should not have been painted. Now that the part is good and dry I'm going to try using a little nail polish remover to clean it. I'm not confident that will work on the acrylic paint though. I'm afraid I'll end up giving my fingernails a workout scraping the paint off the plastic fragment by fragment.

The Need to UnClutter

When I returned home from New Orleans I had the opportunity to go through our clutter of travel toiletries. I finally had the will to throw out lipsticks I have not worn in ten years and combine a bunch of half used mini shampoos. I consolidated and straightened and organized. Now I've whetted my appetite and I'm hungry for more.

The house has too small a linen closet so I'd like to add a shelf to the upstairs bathroom to help with some of the closet clutter.

My office (read that as a room in the basement that I use as a storage place for everything I don't want to deal with now) is a grand mess of knitting, home school, gardening, art supplies, hand me downs to go to others, and outgrown clothes to keep.

Rick and I have had a cluttered attic on our radar since Christmas. It needs attention.

So does this blog. Homestead Lutheran Academy has turned into a crazy conglomeration of knitting, homemaking, cooking, and miscellaneous writings ill-fitting under the name of a home school. You may have been scratching your head and wondering about that. Me too.

Around nine and a half months each year school is a big part of my time and energy. And there are thousands of things that can be related to home schooling in daily life. So I don't think I'll be running short of inspiration while keeping this space for school, education and child related writing. It is unlikely that I'll have paid posts on this site.

Now that summer vacation is coming I look forward to writing more often and about other things, especially knitting. The state of the home, family events, the garden, stuff I'm interested in, and things that tickle my funny bone will be posted at

Insert imaginary fanfare here--

Picking Up Pen and Needle.

Since I traded in my boss for a younger model (became a mom) I've not been paid to write, so I look forward to sticking my toe in the water again to see if it is worth a dive or if I've forgotten how to swim! You're all invited over -- come and visit!

Summer Fun

There are things to enjoy in the South that are rather foreign to northerners. Rick and I enjoy waking up and going out on the deck to check the crab traps.
The jet skis gave a thrill to Rick and me, and the Artist who elected to ride in the tube with her cousin and friends on the way out to Lake Ponchartrain, but behind Daddy on the jet ski on the way back home. And in the evening, what says "New Orleans" more than a drive through daiquiri shop? But once again, the photo eludes me. My brother and I went out to bring back frozen treats for everyone. We were directed to the closest daiquiri shop rather than the closest drive through. So you can see an interior view instead. There were about 12 machines churning the daiquiris of various flavors. I guess I'm not alone in preferring the White Russian, two machines were devoted to that flavor.

Visiting Family

We had a wonderful whirlwind trip to visit family in Greater New Orleans. On this trip we had lots of family visit time and we saw very little of the city. In fact, only what we could see from the highway from the airport at 1 a.m. and to the airport, in daylight.

I was happy to see very few homes and businesses with blue tarps. Few enough that I could count them on one hand. And all the junked cars that had been stacked beneath the freeways two years ago are gone. Nor did we see any all-of-our-possessions - sized stacks of rubbish on the curbs waiting for the trash collection.

Still, there are countless homes and apartment buildings that are vacant and in great disrepair, waiting for demolition or major reconstruction. Often they sit adjacent to new buildings boasting "Now Open" or "Newly Renovated" signs.

There were still loads of RVs and trailers around, but my family seemed to think these were largely recreational in use now, no longer a primary living space for most people. I did not see many of the little white FEMA trailers.

In my cousin's neighborhood there are still a handful of homes that are not yet made livable again. But this is the exception there. Once I commented to him that it seemed like there were more boat houses now than I remembered from before. He answered that when everyone built back, they built back better.

We attended an eight grade graduation ceremony and party and a confirmation and party for my cousin's daughter. When I look back through my photos I see that I don't have many that would be all that interesting unless you know the folks personally.

Rick and I are relieved the Engineer enjoyed his first flight. We'll be flying to California later this year for a wedding.

Back in Town

We got back in town after midnight. What a wonderful trip! Newsflash: It is cold in Greater Cleveland (compared to Greater New Orleans).

Biology Project

The Artist is working on a biology project right now. I have plastic guts spread all over the table in various stages of painting. And, it seems, there are hundreds of little pieces of the Visible Woman model waiting for assembly. We're hoping she will look like this when she is done.
I had one of these models when I was little. I remember putting it together with my mom, but I do not remember having to paint the pieces. Maybe Mom did it, or maybe the pieces came already painted. In any case, I was fascinated by it.

Mom must have thought it was a good learning tool too. When I saw that she had purchased a Visible Woman model kit to be a birthday or Christmas gift for the Artist, I knew we would use it for science class. This past Christmas, that was the gift from her grandma that I selected to wrap and put under the tree for the Artist.

The booklet that accompanies the model is loaded with great information. It goes over each body system in great detail. It might be rather dry by itself, but because it refers to the model and the Artist has a connection with that physical object before her, it instead becomes fascinating to her.