Classic Hilton's

Whew.  That's just about all I have in me at this moment. Just a tired yet contented sigh. We are about halfway through our second full day of school. To date we have logged about 45 days. Field trips, camps, workshops, and historical readings throughout the summer mean that we are in great shape at the start of our year. Tuesday marked, not so much our first day of school, but our first day diving into our full time fall term schedule. The one where we make formal education the priority of our day, including pre-school two days a week.  We made the decision to homeschool back in March. That's when I started dreaming and planning. Over the last five months I have planned and prepared and freaked out and planned more. Then I had a reality check and planned less, raised hope, lowered expectations and then raised and lowered them again. Some necessary refurbishment of our home threw the house into chaos the last two weeks of August, and naturally it took longer than anticipat...

I am excited. September 15th is coming. God has been preparing my heart and my head for this day for a long time. September 15th will be the official first day of school for the Hilton Home Academy. I've been practically homeschooling for three years now (via university model schools and cyber school), but for the first time we are official, registered with the district as homeschoolers and I am 100% in charge of how and when and why and what we will study. Whew! It takes me forever to process any given situation, which is why I didn't start homeschooling right out of the gate. But as I look back over our educational journey, I see how each administration worked for our family at that particular time and place and how they have contributed to shaping my hopes and dreams for our family.  There are a few resources that have played a significant role in my Plan-making. A Well Trained Mind  by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer - INVALUABLE! This book walks you through the class...

Every time I've had a newborn, I have chosen a song that belongs to them. There is nothing particularly special about this little ceremony, it is simply that in my heart, this song reminds me of my sweet little newborn.  For my dear firstborn I chose So This is Love  from Disney's Cinderella. This song's sweet lyrics perfectly captured how motherhood deeply changed my understanding of what love looks like. So much more than flowers and romantic gestures, love is about sacrifice, and motherhood is the very picture of pouring out your own life for the sake of another.  So this is love, hmmm, so this is love. So this is what makes life divine. I'm all aglow, hmmm, and now I know, the key to all heaven is mine. My heart has wings, hmmm, and I can fly. I'll touch every star in the sky. So this is the miracle that I've been dreaming of. Hmmm, so this is love.   My bundle of non-stop energy Grayson gets a swingy "Glee" version of Dream a Little Dream of ...

It has been two years since I last published something, though certainly not since I've had something to say!  My brain is simply brimming over with thoughts that I want to get out, but for the moment I want to reflect on where we are versus where we have been. My hope in the coming months is to write more regularly and to capture our homeschooling journey on these pages. Perhaps they will be a comfort to a mom in similar circumstances or an inspiration to someone who wants to homeschool but doesn't know where to start. Or maybe they will just be a personal record of who we are and what we're up to at any given point in history and someday my great grandchildren will find it and get a better sense of who they are!  We moved to Pennsylvania about 15 months ago so that Ray could work as an actor in Moses  at Sight and Sound Theaters. It was an incredible experience that has led to many wonderful changes for our family. He was blessed with a second contract to be in the ...

The message at church yesterday was from Mark 11, when Jesus cursed the fig tree (not because of the lack of figs, but because of the pretense  of the leaves). So because we are very hands on and like the experiential element, during our worship and response time of communion, we had the opportunity to eat a dried fig.  My time of communion was exactly what I needed it to be. I took the time to pray over the coming week - one that I was feeling overly anxious about, not because of anything bad, but just all the details. I took the bread and the juice, and I thought about how Jesus poured himself out for me; how he humbled himself, becoming less than a servant. Broken. Selfless. Then I thought about my role as mother and wife, and the life I have been called to. I read somewhere once that motherhood is the perfect picture of that sacrificial love because every day you are dying to yourself in service of your children's needs. So during my communion with the Lord I prayed, sub...

My adventures at the Orange Conference, Day 1. *Note this and following blogs will focus largely on my experience at the event, not the teachings. Those will come later! So I've been feeling very grown up lately. I was invited to attend the Orange Conference. Orange is the ministry philosophy behind our preschool - college ministries and I adore it! Anywhoodle...grown up feelings. So I drafted a small army to cover me at work (aka take care of the three kids, dogs, and house), and last night attended the opening session of the conference. I met up with a couple other volunteers from Cumberland, but before that I checked in, walked around, viewing the exhibitors, and had a cup of coffee. See? Very grown up.  Then we got seated, the conference started, and I was immediately transported back to high school! We opened with slammin' rendition of DC Talk's "Time Is Tickin' Away". Balloons fell from the ceiling. Orange balls were tossed into the audience (and I...

Big things are happening in our house these days!  Grayson's ever expanding vocabulary now demonstrates his growing comprehension of the world around him. For example, at first he would say "punky" (monkey) when we said it, purely mimicking  Now he can point them out in pictures (photos and drawings), by sound, and even by silly behavior. He knows when he is telling a joke and how people relate to him. Today he got in the car after school and told me, "I jump!". It was the first time he's told me what he did at school (as opposed to answering the yes or no questions I usually ask him).  Madi is crawling! I was waiting to announce this for when she starts doing the traditional hands and knees crawling, but I'm not sure that day is ever going to come, and the point is that she is mobile! She roles and scoots and has now officially mastered the forward motion! She is now capable of seeing something she wants and successfully going after it!  Meanwhi...