We've done so much moving about in the last year plus.  It is nice to know that many of our dear friends are not far away - on the other side of their computers.  This computer thing has a number of disadvantages but many advantages as well.  I like that I don't have to find a stamp before sending a message AND it is so easy to write something and edit it - no more erasing or rewriting entire letters/notes.

The season is changing here so that puts all of us in a different sort of mind set, I think.
Today is the 5th anniversary of the terrorist attacks so it has been a solemn day in most respects for many Americans. We still do not have television so the children have not been exposed to most of it though. Allen made a point of talking to them about all of it. We could have watched some live CNN on the computer but opted out of it. The three older children still remember watching it 5 years ago live. Our pastor preached on Sunday about really loving our neighbors and what that means....and how that included our enemies. This was an excellant reminder for all of us.
The four older children had AWANAS begin last night. They were *all* so excited about it that we spent most of the morning working on their memory verses. They all said from memory John 10: 1-15 (yes, even little Suzannah said it) to their respective leaders....I was so proud of them for memorizing all of that. For myself, I got boggled with the repetitions of I am the door and I am the good shepherd and always had to have the cheat sheet in front of me. Good thing *they* have young brains that memorize things easily.
Since the last time,  we have caught two more snakes...and let them both go after looking them over. A proper turtle habitat for Mrs. Horatio got built (she will most likely hibernate by the end of Oct or early November so we built her a very nice "house" too). Let's see...and we now have two little dwarf Russian hamsters named Lola and Mae. They are quite cute and comical - especially when trying to get on the wheel at the same time or attempting to run in different directions on the wheel. Chloe's skin appears to be handling the hamster fur ok. This is encouraging. We may branch out and get a guinea pig after hermit crabs (I have told Mitch that he could have crabs for about 3 1/2 years but we traveled so much in Canberra that we never got around to it. So, they are next on the pet waiting list). Besides, I found a great cage at the op-shop two weeks that would be just right for a guinea pig

Chloe begins an online geography course tomorrow evening and then the following week starts a one day a week classical school program for homeschoolers. The Classical Cottage School was begun by a couple of moms who wanted to teach their kids Latin and a few other subjects that they didn't know themselves. They got together and rounded up a teacher. That was several years ago. Now there are at least 180 homeschooled kids taking classes once a week at a church that they are renting. It is hike for us : it is over an hour drive time to get there. She will take Logic, Progymnastic (a writing course), Omnibus, Spanish, Shakespeare, and help work on the yearbook. A lady from our church is going to take her this year. If all works out as we expect (but we are not taking anything for granted! ) the younger children - even Hudson - will follow Chloe's lead. Hudson would take an art class and have a read aloud time (and I am hoping that they offer language classes for the very littlings too). The other children would take a variety of courses as well BUT I am not sure what my goals are with them. IOW, I *do* have schedules and lessons plans mapped out for ALL of them until they are at least 19 years old LOL! So, this will be a major thing to relinquish most of that. The school stresses that the parents are the real teachers and the school's teachers are there just to tutor in these courses. We will have to take the assignments given and run with them, so to speak. If I chose to opt Chloe out of anything, I have been told that I will be able to - and the teachers will be *fine* with that. The teachers of this school are primarily other homeschool moms/dads. I went to the welcome meeting and was quite impressed with their standards both academically and behavoirally (that is a word, right?). ANYWAY, we are doing this because we are wanting to make sure that Chloe is adequately prepared for the college that she has selected. Of course, paying for it will be a whole 'nother ball of wax!

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