Fall is finally coming: the breezes are cooler, the leaves have put on their golden colors, and pumpkins are peeking out from neighborhood windows! Our homeschooling has undergone a few changes to adapt to interests, changing schedules, and preferred ways of learning. My son is in 7th grade and going through 'the changes' that young people go through as they near their teen years. He is trying out his independence and wants more control over his learning, so we are going to try a new system. I will do his weekly lesson plans, as usual, but instead of laying out a daily plan every morning for us to work on, he will get the whole week's lessons and do them on his own. He will choose how much he wants to do and work at his own pace. I will be around as a facilitator and we will still do bible studies together, as well as read-alouds (even though he reads from his choice of material which is currently White Fang) and various projects. We will also view some documentaries together and perform science experiments together when he likes. For the most part, he will be working at his own individual rate. If he gets it all done by Thursday, then he has Friday off for free time! This allows him to not only explore more of his interests, but it is also teaching him how to plan work schedules, how to study more effectively, and how to organized his time/manage his learning. I am excited to see how it works out but also a bit sad that as he grows older and becomes more independent, it means my role changes and he won't need me as much. No more fun little projects or unit studies, no more little boy curious and wide-eyed about the world; my little boy is growing up. Thank goodness I have my 5 yr. old grandson to enjoy those times with! :) My son still needs me, but now I will be guiding him on his journey to manhood. He is quite the leader on his football team and in church. Though I know we will have our rough spots from time to time as he struggles through that unknown territory, I know he has a heart for God and we can both look there for guidance and wisdom.

Wow! Summer has kicked off with a blast! It's hard to believe that it is almost the end of July. I've been working on my book and it's almost ready to send to press! It will be exciting when it comes out this fall! Next month, I will start publishing excerpts from it on my blog just as a little freebie for everyone! On the homeschooling side, I've been looking at and putting together our curriculum for this coming year. We love the eclectic style-we just seemed to fall into that category. We love nature and the outdoors and narrating, so Charlotte Mason style fits us there; we love using real books to learn about history and people and places, then doing activities and such surrounding what we're learning, so unit studies fit us in that aspect; we also want to learn how the world fits in with our Christian worldview and so we apply that with the help of Apologia Science, among other great Christian books. To help pull all this together, we will also be studying Latin roots of English grammar, writing, math, French and Spanish languages, art, music, culinary arts, life skills, computer technology, and a plethora of sports and other areas/activities that we are interested in pursuing! (We just learned kayaking and went out to the Channel Islands and Ventura Harbor on a couple of different weekends!) My son just returned from camp at Hermosa Beach with over 100 other Jr. & Sr. high schoolers. They went as part of our church's youth summer program and had a great time. He said there was a fantastic speaker from Georgia and it was just a really life-changing experience there. Of course, he also got stung twice by a jellyfish! All in all, he says he can hardly wait for the winter camp that comes next and takes place in the mountains! Our community football league starts up tonight! My son will be starting quarterback and hopes to play all season-he was injured last season in the first week when several guys sacked him and his ankle was badly twisted. Thank God the heat wave we've been having seems to have cooled down a bit; I think it's only in the 80's so far!