11th and 7/8th grade ended.

I want to make this place my memory keeper again. Everyone is on Instagram right now, but I miss all this space for ramblings. I miss slow pace of blogging. I want to write things down somewhere.

Another school year has passed.

Last year around the same time we were on a crossroads about what to do about our school situation. A program we were relying on wasn’t working anymore, we were torn between several options. We ended up biting the bullet and withdrew both kids out of the program.

Here’s how it all turned out:

1) My Junior decided to only take his classes at the community college. It was not cheap even with a stipend from the county. But he appreciated the freedom of choosing his own classes, rather than seeking an approval from the school. He’s still trying to figure out if he wants to work on his Associate degree at the same time with his high school diploma, but in the meantime he’s getting all his High School AND transferable college credits in. He took 6 classes this school year: Japanese 1 and Japanese 2, College writing, College Algebra, Modern American History and College Algebra-based Physics. First semester was a bit of an adjustment, but he managed to finish it with an A and two Bs. He found his rhythm in the second semester and got all As!

He took a PSAT in the fall and SAT in the spring and did well on both. He is planning to take SAT again in the fall just to see if he can improve his score even more, and ACT later in his Senior year.

He produced a podcast and gathered an audience for it, his podcast now is in season 2.

He continued with his choir and karate (for which he got his 1st dan black belt in the fall).

Overall it was a very good year for him. He wasn’t as stressed. As I expected, being in the mixed ages/walks of life group benefited him enormously. He wants to do the same next year.

He has talked to an academic adviser at his college and has to figure out his fall schedule in the next week or so. He’s 3 credits away from fulfilling his minimum graduation requirements for High school. He has no idea yet which colleges he’ll apply to, we are encouraging him to take all the time he needs to feel comfortable about his decision.

2) For my daughter we did a mix of 7 and 8th grades this year. She was mistakenly taken to 2nd grade straight from Kindergarten in our former program, and this lost year was always kind of lost. We both feel that she should not accelerate towards High School. She is my social butterfly and I was worried she would hate being only at home, but she did really well. We started with quite a formal curriculum (Bookshark for language and science, Singapore for math etc.), but towards the end of the 1st semester we shifted to something I can only call “mindful unschooling”. She has taken over her lesson planning and followed through with all her goals. She has asked for math tutor and is now having those extra lessons. She became a wonderful baker, really gifted and meticulous. It’s amazing to see her passion blossom. She got a tour of a professional bakery in one of Denver’s luxury hotels and is now even more empowered to take on more complicated bakes.

In addition to all of the above she also had her choir and karate, and participated in our local homeschool group’s Roots and Shoots projects. We are both ok with her staying home for at least one more school year, but anything can happen of course. After so many years of being more or less in control of the majority of our life, I am forced to learn to let go, trust and go with the flow. It’s not easy at all.

In the midst of everything, life goes on.

It was not an easy spring. A lot of heartache due to the war, having family on both sides of it. Covid finally got us after 2 years, not badly but with lingering side effects…work kept us busy and we are doing our best to keep each other sane. We mine the mundane for small joys, counting our blessings even if the anguish never leaves us completely. I found an absolutely delightful book by Sophie Blackall, it is called “Things to Look Forward To” , it proved to be such a comfort, and I will be keeping it on my bedside for a while.

Summer holidays are officially here. It’s hard to believe that next school year our son will be Senior and on his way out into the wide world. I want to hold on to every moment we have with him.

As always commitments pile up – a choir tour, festivals, but I hope we can find pockets of time to just be.

Postcards of Summer 2020

School year starts tomorrow and Summer 2020 is coming to a close for us.

There is no doubt 2020 is the year of confusion, fear and doubt and many face challenges that they don’t know how to deal with.

For our family, all the anxiety about work and schooling aside, was one full of wonderful memories and new discoveries.

My husband being on furlough with one of his employers and on shorter hours with another, despite the financial anxiety, turned out to be the best thing that happened for our family, as he was finally able to spend more time with us and de-stress in the nature. We all realized how wound up we were and how much stress we were carrying inside.

We were on a stricter budget, and due to everything being closed it was easy enough to maintain.

Our choice destinations were open spaces, state parks and, for the first time ever- camping.

Here is what we did this summer:

1. Mt. Falcon Park

easy and moderate trails, incredible vistas

2. Staunton State Park, this is one of our absolute favorites to visit, it has both easier and harder trails, we love spending time by the creek, but this year we also strolled on the meadow trails.

 

3. Maxwell Falls trail. We parked on the lower trailhead and it took us well over 1,5 hours of intense hiking to get to the falls, which were beautiful and refreshing. It is a very busy trail and a popular local spot.Many thanks to my lovely friend Natalia at Raising Gen Eco for recommendation.

 

5. Roxborough State Park, another favorite of many many years. It’s very close to our house and its stunning beauty never fails to amaze us.

 

6. Genessee Park, lovely overlook for the bison herd and nearby mountains.

7. Deer Creek Trailhead in Bailey, CO. We chose that trail randomly, just to see if there’s something new to us and not too far away from our house. We were amazed by the beauty, lovely little waterfalls and pleasant hike.

8. Grand Lake, Shadow Mountain Reservoir and Lake Grandby. A lovely day trip that we had back in July.  We didn’t have any plans and just enjoyed time by the water.

9. Golden Gate Canyon State Park, another beautiful spot that we haven’t been to in a while. It was a funny day as we chose a trail that was mislabeled as moderate on the trail app and ended up being actually the hardest, and involved climbing over boulders. But the views were absolutely worth it.

10. Shrine Mountain Pass was one of the most beautiful places we visited this summer, incredible abundance of wildflowers, gorgeous views. A little challenging with the elevation.

11. One of our most favorite spots this summer was a little swimming hole near Lair O’ the Bear park. Kids loved the little pool of water and the stream.

12. The crown of our summer is no doubt three days we spent on Lake Grandby at Arapahoe Bay Roaring Fork campground. It was our very first time camping and we didn’t know what to expect and ended up having a wonderful time.

13. As a final hooray for the Summer 2020 was a boat excursion on Chatfield Lake with my husband’s friend from work. The sunset on the water is the whole different level of happiness.

 

Now we are ready to start our school year. It will be most interesting with D. being a sophomore, and taking all of his classes except Russian at our program. It’s strange not to be his main educator anymore. C. is going into 7th grade and is taking cores at the program with my extended support. Here’s to a good school year!

 

Our Bookshelf: Sleepy time books

My children are getting older now, the oldest is now in his last year of middle school, and the youngest in her last elementary grade, however we all still enjoy a good picture book. I, as an illustrator, especially relish them.

Over the years we collected some favoritesthat were a part of our bedtime ritual for many years. A couple of new ones joined the “sleepytime pile” lately. I want to share them today.

1. The Man in the Moon by William Joyce– beautiful story, stunning artwork, this one is one of the longer books we have. Children always adored it and moved on to The Guardians of the Childhood series when they got older.
2. When the Sky is Like Lace by Elinor Lander Horwitz and illustrated by Barbara Cooney, this book is absolutely magical, calm blues and grays and sandy yellows of whimsical illustrations always left an impression. We still are on the lookout for lacy sky and quote this book when it is.
3. If Your Monster Won’t Go to Bed by Denise Vega, illustrated by Zachariah Ohora- this is the latest addition to our collection. It’s a playful and hilarious recipe for putting a monster to bed. It is not so much of a calming book, but definitely a favorite already.
4. Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski– this is an absolutely brilliant book, especially for reluctant sleepers, illustrations are magical with delightful textures and details.
5. Once upon a cloud by Claire Keane– this is not so much of a direct sleepytime book, but sweet color palette and calm dream-like text is a winning combination for a bedtime read
6. Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger is another classic and is a huge favorite we followed the process of winding down and welcoming a good night’s rest along with Grandfather Twilight and his companions.
7. A Poem for Every Night of the Year edited by Allie Esiri is a delightful collection the older kids would appreciate, we so enjoy completing our day with a poem and maybe even a short discussion.
8. I Don’t Want to Go to Bed by Astrid Lindgren and illustrated by Ilon Wikland, this book is another longer read as we follow a little boy that doesn’t want to go to bed but has a chance to peek at  forest animals’ getting ready for bed through the neighbor lady’s magical glasses. Illustrations are absolutely adorable.
9. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by Jerry Pinkney– this is one of the most gorgeous books that we own. Little chipmunk has an adventure and finally settles in for the night.

 

 

 

Goodbye Summer- Hello New School Year!

We are saying goodbye to another summer. Last summer of my son’s tweens, as he’s turning 13 tomorrow. Last school year was incredibly busy, and quite stressful for us with intense extra curricular activities. But the summer was sweet (but short).
We hiked,played with friends and visited new places in our state. We made lovely memories.

 

 

Colorado National Monument

 

Rocky Mountain National Park

Golden Gate Canyon State Park

This week we have started school at home and at the homeschool program my kids attended for many years now. D. started grade 8 and C. started grade 5.

This school year at home will be different for us as D. will take all of his core subjects at the program and I will support and supplement at home, which is completely new, as it used to be the other way around. He wanted to take Algebra and Physical Science and I wanted to make sure that he gets the best possible instruction. I don’t mind these, but they are not my favorites. He also takes English there, US History and STEAM. His classes are twice a week.

C. still goes once a week to the program taking English, Colorado History, Science and Coding there, most of her school is done at home.

Both kids continue to sing with Young Voices of Colorado, D. is now in advanced male choir and considers Music Theory Exam in the end of the school year. C. is in second level of training choirs.

Both are still doing karate with D. being a junior black belt and C.- solid green.

At home my goal for this year is taking a calm approach (1st week was a failure in that term) . We are trying out Book Shark Curriculum for Language Arts and Science/History. Singapore math for C., D. is doing Saxon for the first time in the program (we used to do Singapore with him). We continue doing our Russian lessons, and D. is taking Spanish in addition to that. He is very excited.

My plate is full with my illustration work  and the commitments I made for volunteering at children’s choir.

It will be a very very busy year. I do miss the early grades and the lovely slow days we had.  But I also welcome the challenge of having a full schedule and measure our time to do both work and play. I hope we can spend enough time in nature, will have more read-alouds as a family.

 

Here’s to 2018-2019 school year, out 10th year of homeschooling.

Book Review: What We See in the Stars by Kelsey Oseid

Beautiful books are my weakness, space books too. These two weaknesses of mine are perfectly combined in a new book by Kelsey Oseid    –“What We See in the Stars: An illustrated tour of the night  sky”. Kelsey is an American illustrator and amateur naturalist.  The book talks about the space and is breathtakingly beautiful.

The book is split into a few sections-  the one talking about the Constellations by far is the largest. I love how the author talked about origins of Constellations names. The facts about the Milky Way, the moon, the sun, the planets and other celestial bodies follow. The artwork throughout the book is stunning.

Overall impression: 5 stars for beautifully presented facts on space. My children can’t put the book down, it definitely became a treasured past of our home library.

I received this book via in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

BOOK REVIEW: How to Set a Table by POTTER

Who doesn’t love a cute home decor book, bonus points for practical tips. How to Set a Table by POTTER book promised to offer an exciting range of possibilities to add to one’s dining experience. I was surprised to find the book on a smaller side, quite compact and under 200 pages long.

The information touches many aspects of shared meals: it mentions casual dining, weekday breakfasts, formal dining, buffet-style entertainment and even birthday picnic. It is however quite concise: an occasion and approximate setting mentioned and not much else. A tip on etiquette is likewise included but only one per occasion. I did appreciate the info graphics on types of basic dinnerware. Formal dining has nice tips on arranging of plates and glasses. The photography is lovely and images are abundant – plenty of eye candy here.

Overall impression: I think it makes a cute little gift. The book is very pretty to look at, it has this delightful linen cover that I just loved. It won’t teach you everything you need to know about table etiquette, but I thought it was a nice and pretty cheat sheet with enough occasions included.

I received this book via Blogging for Books in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Board Game Review: Rewordable

I am always on a lookout for a new board game. My kids adore those that involve language. Rewordable is a project by Allison Parish, Adam Simon and Tim Szetela. It is a card game aimed at 2-8 players aged 8 and up. I thought it will be a nice addition for our homeschooling needs as well.

The rules and set up is pretty straightforward, there is a deck of cards and tokens. Three cards go into a pool and each player gets 5 cards. Words are then created and tokens received. We played half a deck at out first round and it took us about 30 minutes to get through it. It was three of us me, an adult, a 7th grader and a 4th grader. All three of us had fun making up words. It was definitely not as easy as I thought at the beginning as one gets a letter or a suffix or a syllable and has to get creative with that. My 4th grader had a bit of a trouble at first, but then got into it and had tons of fun.

Overall impression: fun and quick game, perfect for a classroom or a quick round with family and friends. Rules are easy to follow. Cards are made of a sturdy material which is nice for those little fingers that won’t stay still. I definitely recommend it.

I received this game via Blogging for Books in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

January 2017

Already a month into 2017. January sure went by fast. Yet at the same time it was a month of adjustment, rather than new beginnings.

We went back to doing school after nearly a month-long break. Kids went back to their extracurricular activities. I went back to my work and had a very productive month. Life moves in measured paces more or less, with a crazy day here and there of course.

 

We went to see Star Wars the Power of Costume in Denver Art Museum, and we absolutely loved it, such a large and thorough exhibit. Local people, if you haven’t yet, definitely go and take a look, it’s on until April.

D. did three days of World Peace Game with our homeschool group. It was such a valuable experience for him and made him think about current events more.

School was mostly “getting into the swing of things” and hopefully it will be better in February.

Gray and white cold days, splashes of color of mundane things – the combination seemed comforting somehow

 

 

My favorite moment was probably playing with Excentric Cinema book by Beatrice Coron. Kids had so much fun moving shadows and making up stories

I ended up making one of my own papercuts out of black paper and it worked too

 

Kids read (beyond a pile of re-reads):

D. read Pax by Sara Pennypacker and White Fang by Jack London

C. read BFG by Roald Dahl and Amazing Animal Stories by Quentin Blake

Mama read Spaceman by Mike Massimino and absolutely loved it

 

I have opened a bookstagram  with most of our reads. Come and take a look. I have a Litsy account under the same username too.

So this was our January. February looks quite busy, but it is also shorter. I hope to keep the measured pace and not give in to the crazy moments.

 

 

Goodbye November +Advent Calendar

November is over. And thank goodness. Somehow it turned out to be so much more stressful than I was hoping it would be. There were quite a few shocks close to heart and there were and are a lot of things to ponder and re-evaluate.

What have we been up to:

-Lots of field trips: We went to Denver Art Museum and saw Glory of Venice and Japanese Fashion Exhibits. We went to Denver Museum of Nature and Science and saw Extreme Mammals exhibit, as well as Mummies (D. loved it so much, C. on the other hand hated it, “too many dead bodies”, I must say it was interesting but I didn’t enjoy it as much for the same reason). We went and listened to an awesome Drums of the World performance by Colorado Symphony. Even got to do Mannequin Challenge with them. We took a tour around Denver Center for the Performance Arts. D. and I did it once when he was in the first grade, but we had an awesome guide this time around and, since I am so much more in touch with my artistic side now, I achieved new levels of appreciation for the backstage workers, designers and craftsmen.

-The weather was fickle, with winds, first snow and some icy rain. But plenty of sunny days too.  We were busy with extracurriculars too- both kids had a dress rehearsal for the choir concert (C. can’t wait to debut, I unfortunately will have to chaperone and watch her from the backstage instead of the audience), both participated in karate tournament. C. did extremely well, was brave and endured long waits. D. did well too, but he also got hurt, not seriously but enough for me to consider taking him to the ER. He was ok in the end, very thankful for that.

-Also thankful for friends that we were finally able to have over for dinner, thankful for everyone being overall okay and even husbands medical concern isn’t serious and very treatable.

-We have two intense weeks ahead of us, two concerts for each of the kids, tournament training at karate, I will most likely cancel our mid-year testing, I don’t think kids will handle 4 hours and then a long rehearsal all in the same day. We all need rest.

-As usual I have made an advent calendar for kids, they ask for it and really look forward to simple activities we do. The list is pretty much the same as last year, the only thing I added is “grant each other’s wish” (with a reminder to keep it realistic and kind)

Kids read a lot in November: D’s favorite was “Marvels” by Brian Selznick and C. loved Grace Lin’s “Starry River of the Sky”. I am hoping to do a little book advent as well as the one with the activities we’ll see how it goes.

Hopefully, December is kind to all of us

Goodbye October+ First Week of November

October is over, whaaat?

That was one crazy month. Even though we didn’t have a particularly heavy schedule life seemed busy.

What have we been up to in October:

-We had guests: D’s godfather and his wife came to visit and spent nearly a week with us. We were so happy to see them and their visit gave us the longed-for opportunity to take a small break in our studies.

-I received kids’ MAPS test scores and was pleasantly surprised to see how well kids did, especially C. who tested as a third grader (to have her sip the grade was a spontaneous decision and I am still questioning it from time to time),  D. did wonderfully, but he almost always does, good job to both of them.

-Studies at home went well for the most part. We hardly had time for much besides core subjects for some reason, I am glad kids take science and history at co-op, this way at least  there they got their electives covered. They did lots of art on their own. But that would be my major goal to get beyond core in November.

-C. had her choir camp, D. was working very hard in Concert Choir and helped his friends there learn a song in Russian. They sound really good, can’t wait to hear them at the concert as well.

-We all got through a stomach bug, that makes it two times we got sick this school year. Something needs to be done.

-The weather was gorgeous, we got to see some amazing colors. The trees are getting bare now and we are ready (well, almost ready) for winter.

First week of November was loaded with things to do and thoughts to process:

-C. is heading to her first karate tournament next week, so she’s working very hard on learning her forms and practicing sparring. D. is going too, but it’s his 10th, so he’s more relaxed this time around.

-We went to Denver Art Museum

-Just a handful of practices remains for choir before the big concert. Looking forward to that a lot.

–I finally opened my Etsy store, YAAAAY! I have put a few cards out already, so come and check it out.

 

What my kids read in October:

C. read “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” by Brian Selznick and it took her all month to get through the book, but she loved it

D. read

The Archer’s Goon by Diana Wynne Jones,

Call of the Wild by Jack London, and

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

There were also tons of re-reads, which I didn’t keep track of.

Mama read:

Across the Universe Trilogy by Beth Revis. I read quite a bit of Young Adult novels this year, not just because they’re fun, but also to add to D’s “to be read” pile, this trilogy, although it was fast-paced and interesting read will have to wait for a couple of years.

 

Plans for November:

We have A LOT going on outside of home. I will need to try and balance it out so our school at home doesn’t suffer. But personally, I hope to reach the level of calm that will support me throughout the winter months.The past weeks were anything but calm, there was anxiety, there were struggles with children and general uneasiness about certain matters. Health wasn’t the best either, especially for kids. I crave the sense of calm and simplicity, so I will work on that this month.  I am already preparing for our December celebrations and hopefully will make an advent calendar slowly instead of at the last minute like past years.