Taking the "home" out of homeschooling...

I often think the name "homeschooling" is misleading, because all the homeschoolers I know are on-the-go much more than they are at home. It is definitely true for us at any given time, but we've had lots of special opportunities come up lately. We've been dashing from one great activity to the next for about two weeks straight, starting with the field trips to San Antonio and Brenham.

The morning after we returned from Brenham, Avery had the chance to take a 4 hour writing seminar with bestselling author Julie Kenner. In addition to being an author, Julie homeschools her two little girls, and offered up this unique opportunity to our homesschool group. As an aspiring and avid writer, Avery jumped at the chance. I sat in on the seminar, and I was so impressed! Julie taught the kids all about the world of publishing, and went into depth about the mechanics of writing and editing books. Avery and her friend Maya were enthralled, and each took pages and pages of notes. Each participant also submitted a writing sample to be critiqued, and the feedback has been very helpful and interesting to Avery. Julie compared Avery's "ominous" writing style to the Series of Unfortunate Events books, which Avery has not read yet. She's excited to get her hands on one, so she can see for herself!

Just two days later, we were lucky enough to see the storyteller Jim Weiss perform. I've always said that I'd be willing to listen to Jim read the phone book, so hearing him tell fabulous stories from history and literature in person is an amazing experience. As if that wasn't enough, we also got to stay after and attend a 2 hour storytelling workshop. Nothing like learning from the master himself!

Just a couple of days after that, Avery and her friend Maya spent the afternoon with my aunt Lisa, another published author. She took the girls to lunch then back to her house to see her office and learn the tools of the trade first hand. She described what she does to research and plan a book, and showed the girls story boards that she uses to plan plots. Avery and Maya were able to ask questions and Lisa gave suggestions for problems that came up in the girls' writing. How inspiring!

In addition to all of these special activities, Avery and Maya are taking a writing class about heroes in literature. It has been such a great experience so far. Not only is it fabulous material taught by a wonderful teacher, but it's been a great chance for the girls to learn time management and responsibility. Maya's mom and I have turned it completely over to the girls, and they're learning how to manage assignments and preparations on their own. Each girl had a bit of a rough start learning time management and organization, but they're figuring it out on their own and Avery has now discovered the benefit of reading and starting her essays before the last minute. (This is a lesson that I should make an effort to learn too!)

We also took a field trip with our science co-op to see the dinosaurs at the Texas Memorial Musuem, and yesterday, we met up with them to see dinosaur tracks by the San Gabriel River in Leander. The kids had a blast frolicking in the river and came home completely soaked.

Oh, and I missed a hilarious photo opportunity when our Shakespeare group got together on Friday and staged Shakespearean swordfights -- complete with fake blood! They hid ziploc baggies full of "blood" in their clothing, and pretended to slay each other, splashing blood everywhere. I think it was just as fun to watch as it was to participate!