October 2020 School Pictures

This year I set up a photo studio in the kids' room and took some school pictures. Tommy is 11 in 6th grade. Lily is 8 in 3rd grade. Clara is 4 in Preschool.

We are in our seventh year of homeschool and still going strong! This year has brought some unique challenges with COVID, but we are adjusting. We still meet our homeschool friends each Friday afternoon, but this year we wear masks and stay outside together. The kids are able to participate in OMSI classes online each week. They even get to do blacksmithing and ceramics classes on site at Trackers! They wear masks, ventilate the rooms, and stay 6 feet apart. This is our new normal and we are trying to deal with it.

One day every week I take the kids on a long outside adventure. We go on a hike or play by a river. It's important to me to get the kids out, rain or shine. This winter I'm even planning to take them to Mount Hood to go sledding a few times!

Tommy is super interested in bladesmithing this year. He may even be getting some sharpening equipment for Christmas! He loves playing the Xbox with his friends and creating contraptions out of boxes and recyclables. Tommy loves our cat, Candy Corn. They snuggle on the couch during screen time and in his bed at night. He is growing into such a funny and responsible teen. He helps out around the house and helps me with the girls so much!

Lily continues to be interested in art, fashion, animals, and writing. She is always making lists of things and writing stories. She loves to listen to story podcasts and to read books on her phone. She recently got her ears pierced and looks forward to coordinating earrings with her fashionable outfits. You can always find Lily drawing, doing a puzzle, or making up a game by herself. She has become such a good friend to Clara and such a responsible cat owner.

Clara is our little spunky one. She has so much energy and creativity that it's hard to keep up with her sometimes! She always has an idea of a project to do or a science experiment to test or a contraption to build. She loves to do art by cutting up paper and gluing it back together in different orientations. Clara is so social and wants someone to play with her all day long. She loves to play outside with the frisbee or a soccer ball. Clara keeps us laughing with her candor and her interesting perspectives. She loves fiercely and physically, which results in a lot of admonitions from us to be more gentle.