Easter 2018

[Yes, Easter was almost a month ago, but I’m slaying the perfectionist-procrastinator demon today and just posting anyway.]

We had a lovely, low-key Easter celebration with my family. We had a bunch of things going on just before and just after, so it was a simple dinner. This year we also enjoyed the company of my best friend, Char, and her family. It was barely warm enough for a walk after dinner, but we got out there and enjoyed the fresh air.

The three girls are getting so big! I love their cousinship (it’s a mix between friendship and sibling rivalry—ha!).

First Day of School ~ 2017

We survived our first full day back to school. I even managed to snap a picture of all four kids before we headed to our Classical Conversations community this morning. (I actually snapped a bunch of pictures, but this is the only one that kind of turned out…)

This is our EIGHTH year with Classical Conversations.

Levi is in 10th grade, Challenge 2.
Luke is in 8th grade, Challenge B.
Leif is in 6th grade, Foundations and Essentials.
Lola is in 1st grade, Foundations.

Two middle schoolers and a high schooler. That is mind-boggling.

I’m tutoring Essentials for the third year.

We’ve been homeschooling for a decade.

Luke and Levi have actually been back in class for a couple weeks, but this is the first full normal week for them.

Lola had a rough day today. She was testing boundaries. Where is that line? What happens when I cross it? I’m hoping that she feels her questions were sufficiently answered and doesn’t need to ask them again next week.

Last week was packed with activities and appointments. Levi and I attended a day-long philosophy workshop at Gutenberg College on Friday. Saturday was our annual trek to the Renaissance Faire (pictures forthcoming).

I’m completely and utterly unprepared for this week of lessons at home.

But onward.

Merry Christmas ~ 2016 in Review

Merry Christmas from the Scovel family!

Whether you are friend or family, long-time blog friends (coming up on a decade!), or new blog readers, welcome! Here is a quick 2016 in review. If you want to skip the year in review and read the current family update, scroll to the bottom of the post!

January

We continued with our family homeschooling project. We began when Levi was four, and his 14th New Year’s birthday kicked off our year, so it has been a decade of learning and growing together. We were in the middle of our 6th year with Classical Conversations, a homeschooling group that meets once a week. Sometimes it is fun; sometimes we just survive. [Levi was taking a break for the year and usually spent Mondays with Russ and a to-do list.] I tutored the Monday afternoon grammar, writing, and math games class. I continued my own education, reading Flannery O’Connor with my Scholé Sisters and contemplating Parallelism and Rhetoric. 

Russ continued working for Symantec full time (often at home, sometimes driving to Springfield, and occasionally traveling out of state) as well as working on many computer projects for various people and coaching the Lebanon club swim team every afternoon (and swimming as often as possible). All three boys attended swim practice almost every afternoon.

February

February was full of more homeschooling and self-education, an ambitious reading list for the year, and a vacation to Great Wolf Lodge (I think this will become our February tradition).

March

In March, I had conversations with the teenager and we spent spring break at the coast (pictures here, here, here, and here).

April

We finished up our formal homeschooling (with a school year in review here) and commenced spring/summer break, which we kicked off with a hike at McDowell Creek Falls and a trip to the Oregon beach. I was a guest on Pam Barnhill’s Homeschool Snapshots podcast.

May

We met up with online friends at the Oregon Coast and hiked with a big group of friends at Silver Creek Falls. My niece turned one, and my family gathered for Mother’s Day. Luke turned 12.

June

We visited the secret garden at Belknap Hot Springs and hiked with friends at Tamolitch Blue Pool and Triangulation Peak. We hiked at Drift Creek Falls and played on the beach for Father’s Day. I attended a weekend homeschooling retreat in Seattle. And we helped Ilex and Drake celebrate their college and high school graduations. I attended a CC Practicum in Portland for tutor training.

July

We spent time at the river and hiking and swimming at McDowell Creek Falls. We communed with skunks and snails. I spoke for three full days at our local Classical Conversations Practicum. We ended the month with a glorious camping trip with friends and family.

August

I spoke for a day-long Truth, Goodness, and Beauty seminar in Seattle and attended a workshop another weekend (also in Seattle). We visited a local flour mill and a monastery. We traveled to the southern Oregon coast for a weekend swim meet and spent some time in Winchester Bay, where Russ and I lived when we were first married. Russ competed at the Masters Swimming Summer National Championship. Levi broke his foot. Leif turned 10.

September

We began a full and challenging school year, and our 7th year with Classical Conversations, Luke’s first year in the Challenge program, and Levi’s first year of high school. We particularly enjoyed our morning time together. We attended the Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire. Russ began coaching and swimming at the local YMCA with the boys. Lola started a tumbling class at the Y. Leif and Luke began piano lessons.

October

Lola turned 6 on the first day of October and the rest of the month was a blur. We tried to keep our momentum in schooling, but the freshness had worn off and it was just work. Homeschooling and swimming. That’s about it.

November

Levi joined the swim team at the local high school. He was thrilled to ride a school bus for the first time in his life (to and from swim meets). I was tired. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and enjoyed our traditional Green Friday.

December

Levi attended a winter formal with a friend. He continued to swim on the high school team (until the end of February). Luke and Leif performed at their first piano recital. We are currently on a much-needed long winter break (from almost everything, including blogging and even reading), and we’ve been exceedingly lazy, though we did enjoy ice skating with our friends at The Oregon Garden and the boys swim daily (Levi has had early morning practices every day through the school’s winter break). We had a wonderful Christmas dinner with Russ’s parents last night and we will spend Christmas Day (tomorrow) with my family.

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And that sums up our year!

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Currently:

Russ continues to work full time for Symantec in Springfield, though he usually works from home. Work trips, computer projects, and year-round daily coaching and swimming keep him hopping!

Parenting, homeschooling, and tutoring consumes most of my time. I hope to get back to blogging at the beginning of the new year.

Levi turns 15 in a week. He has an exciting and FULL second semester of 9th grade ahead of him. He’ll continue in the Challenge program with Classical Conversations—studying debate, economics, American literature and composition, music theory, math, science, and Latin. In addition, he will be taking a weekly online literature class (on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings) and attending a 4 day leadership camp in March. His homeschool year ends with a formal protocol event (which I have photographed before, but he is just now old enough to attend). He will finish out the swim season at the high school and then return to swim daily with the team at the Y. He gets his braces off in a couple weeks and will be studying for his driver’s permit (ack!!). He is also finally old enough to take lifeguard training next month and will probably work as a lifeguard this summer (he has been impatiently waiting for his dream job).

Luke and Leif will continue homeschooling, swimming, and taking piano lessons.

Lola will continue to homeschool and learn to swim.

[Obviously, Levi is the one in our family with an exciting life. Ha!]

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We hope you all have a lovely Christmas Day and a happy New Year!

The Walk

It was incredibly dark and rainy for our Thanksgiving celebration yesterday, but the weather cleared at just the perfect moment and for just long enough to go on our traditional after-dinner walk. It was still dark and gray and it sprinkled on us a smidge as we were on our way back, but we were thankful to stretch our legs and our lungs in the cool, damp air.

Lola decided to use a Queen Anne’s Lace as an umbrella. I don’t think it worked well. But I am incredibly thankful for this darling love.

Gather

We gathered those eggs. Next up: making butter.

Lola Colette

The Students of Mt. Hope Academy ~ 2016

Thinking of our first school picture photo session for these kids (well, three of them) here at Mt. Hope Chronicles just makes me want to sob. They were 5, 3, and 1 that fall. Now they are 14, 12, 10, and 5—the oldest is a nearly 6 foot tall freshman and my baby doll is headed into kindergarten!

You can read our basic plan for the coming school year at this link.

Merry Christmas 2015 ~ From Our Family to Yours!

Yes, we finally snagged some family pictures in between rain storms. Nothing like the last minute…

Have a very merry Christmas, friends!

Green Friday

We had a string of beautiful, frigid but sunny days this past weekend! We took an abridged Green Friday (okay, it was really late Saturday afternoon) walk with Holly and Ivy. [Yes, Levi is now a smidge taller than I am, and his feet are definitely bigger! Leif has passed Luke up in weight, and he’s so close in height! Luke is getting tired of people asking if they are twins. Poor kid.]

This girl. She has me wrapped around her little finger. I guess it’s a good thing she’s so ornery sometimes. It brings me back to reality. Ha!

It Has Begun

Monday marked the first day back to Classical Conversations and our first official day of the school year.

Not only was it our first official day of the school year, but it was my first day of tutoring Essentials, Lola’s first day in class at CC, Leif’s first day of Essentials, and Levi’s first day not at CC (long story, but I’ll share more about that in a later post). Luke is the only one doing the same thing this year!

It was a long but good Monday. By the evening I was feeling the effects of straddling multiple seasons of childhood. I spent the morning in Lola’s class with other four and five year olds. (Oh, my. It has been a while since I’ve hung out with a group of four year olds. Quite the culture shock.) Afternoon was spent teaching English grammar and writing to my 4th and 6th grade boys (and thirteen other 9-12 years-olds plus ten parents, so I have twenty-five people sitting in my class!). Then I spent the evening trying to read The Iliad and study up on Introductory Logic so that I could discuss both with Levi the next day. Whew!

After an extraordinarily lazy summer, we’re all adjusting to going to bed earlier, getting up earlier (I am not a morning person, but I’ve been up by 6:30ish every morning this week), and generally being more diligent about simple tasks like doing morning chores, cleaning up after ourselves, and making dinner.

Apparently my body is having difficulty adjusting because I, the light sleeper, slept through my alarm for 30 minutes Wednesday morning and then fell asleep sitting up that afternoon. Goodness.

I won’t say it’s been a super productive week since we’re still working out the kinks and I have more organizing and prepping to do. We had a few various errands and I hosted my Schole Sisters Hamlet group yesterday evening (which meant extra house cleaning—you know how it is). Levi spent Thursday afternoon and evening studying and hanging out with his best friend, and he’s with a close group of four boys this afternoon for a Bible study.

I’m praying I can get more organizing done this weekend and next week we’ll be in full swing.

[I’ll let you guess which child was not enthusiastic about Monday morning.]

Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire

After eight and a half years of blogging, I have to wonder if y’all are getting tired of seeing pictures of the same events year after year. Ha! We first attended the Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire when Leif was one, and we’ve attended many years since—even when I was almost nine months pregnant with Lola!

The faire is held in the middle of nowhere on a huge field in a valley surrounded by stunning forested hills. Most of the faire is in the open field, but part of it is in the forest. That’s where we started out.

We visited the Pict settlement. Lola didn’t want to get too close to the head.

But she loved getting her face painted.

My new favorite addition was the timeline fence that bordered the whole forest camp.

The kids’ favorite activity was rat-catching. They purchased rat-catching licenses and received a plastic bracelet. Costumed players with rat masks roamed the faire, and the kids had to find and catch them (the rats tried to elude capture). When caught, the rats would tie a ribbon on the children’s bracelets. This year a new ribbon was introduced: the big black ribbon with skulls on it. This meant that the (fleas on the) rat had given the child the plague and they had to return to the home-base to get cured. I think only Leif contracted the plaque (twice). The kids were also given a little scavenger hunt paper and they had to find various spots and ask for stamps on their paper. When they turned in their paper, they received a necklace with a tiny rat charm.

There were many different performance stages at the faire with various performers (music, magic shows, plays). Luke and Leif spent quite a bit of time at a small stage where a single guy was reenacting Harry Potter. Leif was excited to be called up as a volunteer.

And, of course, the jousting tournament. The audience watched from the hill.

The morning weather was perfect, in the 70s with a nice breeze, but it was getting quite hot by the time we left in the early afternoon. I always feel sorry for the knights jousting in 90 degree weather, and they had another performance late in the afternoon.

[Not] Back to School

This was our fourth annual [not] back to school hike. This year, my parents, Holly, Ivy, Shannon, Ben, Rilla, and Sweden all joined us. The weather was perfection at 80ish degrees.