More milestones for Granny in the past week: I drove several times, after not having driven at all since before Christmas. I shopped for groceries. I cooked a couple of meals. And I took Shelley to buy summer clothes, coming home with an armful of new things for myself as well. This week I'll have my new shoes "corrected" to even out my leg length and that will make walking a lot easier (and safer!). And I'm beginning to think about some summer travel....getting outside of my bedroom has made me want to spread my wings even farther!

At Granny's House we're getting ready to welcome Kristen, Molly, Wes, Henry, Carrie, and Liam (and Dave on the weekends!) to our home for the next couple of months. Dave is in training for a new job in the DFW area, and the family is preparing for a move soon. But in the meantime they will share the summer with us and give us a little more closeup time with the kids before they leave San Antonio. We're looking forward to the controlled chaos once more :-)

There was sad news from the northwest corner of the homeschooling world this week...Sono Harris, wife of Greg Harris and mother of Josh Harris and Alex and Brett Harris, is nearing the end of her life on this earth. Sad for us, but a time of rejoicing for her as she is anxious to meet her Savior.

I've made a tremendous amount of progress on school planning in the past week. All books and software are either here or ordered; most lessons are entered into Edu-track; my list of biology supplies is about complete and I'm getting ready to order those; I've read through my teacher materials in most subjects to get familiar with them; and I've completed a tentative weekly schedule. Yep, we could start next week if we wanted to. (I use the word "we" only in the royal sense.) I'm way ahead of where I usually am at the end of June...of course, I will admit that our school here has a rather low enrollment this year.

On my wish list for next year is this contraption that might make it possible for me to garden! I can't be on the ground, of course, and I can't even lean over too far, but with something like this I could grow a few herbs and vegetables and get the satisfaction of a garden without endangering my fragile joints. Of course, we'd have to place it so that it doesn't get fried by the south Texas sun since we have very little shade on our lot. But I think I'd just stick with the hardiest plants and hope for the best.

On Friday I finished Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling. If you can overlook atrocious writing and editing and Gatto's occasionally irritating cantankerousness, this former New York Teacher of the Year has some sobering and disturbing thoughts about compulsory (and not just public) education.

All around me are unfinished projects, so I'm going to snip this off right here and get busy. I hope you have an exhilarating week!

Labels: Books, Family, Food, Health, Homeschooling