Pizza on the Beach, First Day of School, and Delusions of Youth.

Blogging has been hit or miss the last couple of weeks, as we tried to wring every last drop out of summer (Oh, and prepare for a hurricane that decided he'd rather not join us after all).  Our annual Pizza on the Beach took place last week, as we officially closed out our summer festivities with friends (we may still sneak to the beach on nice days, just because we can!). 

Last year, it was cold and windy and we shivered while scarfing up our pizza.  This time, it was HOT and the kids were able to swim and sun and dig in the sand to their heart's content.  We've had a beautiful summer here and part of me is sad to see it go.  But I love fall and all it has to offer, so I look forward to hot drinks and crisp air and the scent of cinnamon.  As much as I love the craziness of summer, the return of some sort of structure and routine has its merits. 

And so we began our school time again yesterday.  Yes, on Labor Day.  But only the fun stuff; pancakes and listening to The Magician's Nephew via Radio Theater on CD.  Today we began our Narnia unit study, Further Up and Further In, as well as independent work.  I really need to write a post detailing our curriculum choices for this year, as I have had some interested. 


Last month I found a solar system wall stickers set on sale at Borders for 98 cents.  My youngest has been excited about it since I brought it home and we finally decorated the hall with it this morning.  He spent a good amount of time exploring the KidsAstronomy.com site and we loosely tied the study of our universe into Uncle Andrew's statement about possible worlds beyond our own.  Sometimes unit studies can stretch the application, but hey, it worked for us!  And allowed my 13 year old to introduce his younger siblings to the never-ending Uranus jokes.  Yes, I'm sitting on it.  'Cause I haven't heard that a million times since I was 13.  ;-)

With my two oldest graduated, my sophomore is the only one working completely on his own this year.  While we work through our Narnia study, he is using Sonlight Core 300.  His schedule seems to be quite heavy this year, but I think he'll be okay and will really enjoy the Sonlight.  This seems to be a good fit for his personality and learning style.  I do miss having him join in our unit studies though.  These kids keep growing too quickly.  Which I can't understand, as I'm still 18. 

Snort.