We try to follow a traditional school term simply because logistically it's just easier.

We started right after Labor Day which, for me, is one of the saddest holidays in the year. In North Dakota it marks the end of the all-too-short summer and though Fall is absolutely fabulous in the Upper Great Plains, it also heralds the coming of winter. I do not like winter; it is long and cold and it is really hard to work on one's California tan!

Its only positive aspect is that we must be inside much of the time which is good for homeschooling (well, to a point anyway!). And I will begrudingly admit that winter blizzards have a stern kind of beauty to them and it's hard to beat the crisp crunch of snow underfoot when the thermometer reads 25 below zero. And the moon glinting off crusty snowbanks is a sight to behold.

My homeschooler this year is 15 and a 'sophomore' or however one wishes to label him. He is smart, witty, artsey, and kind. It makes the teaching pretty easy although I admit to some anxiety about Algebra. We're only on lesson 10, but so far so good.

We are also tackling Spanish this year and are already rolling our r's and n-ing our tilda-capped n's. This is going to be fun...I think.

I cannot express enough gratitude for Apologia Science; this year is Biology. Dr. Wile has written traditional-style textbooks in such a way that it is both interesting and user-friendly. We're lovin' it!

We're taking a stab at British Literature this year. A lot of pessimism present in these poets and novelists which was surely a result of the times. Some wrote very beautifully-even the things that were horrific about a move from agrarianism to industrialism. Hard times!

I am grateful for the opportunity to play a part in the education of my grandchildren. It is part of a godly legacy that I wish to leave behind, one that will bear fruit long after I am only a memory.