I'm still here.

I've been trying to blog. Honest I have. I have some pretty good drafts underway as well. I'm currently obsessed with how Charlotte Mason visualises time. Why? Because I'm convinced that it is impossible for young children to grasp the abstract concept of the chronology of time without being able to see it. I say 'I' here rather loosely, of course, because since I've been looking into Miss Mason's methods for teaching history, I've discovered plenty of quotes showing that she discovered the very same things I have only a rough hundred or so years before me. Sigh, I never was an early adapter. It is very difficult to have an original thought, me thinks.

I'm also doing a bit of thinking about primary maths - why do people find teaching this subject so scary, I wonder. I've been considering the pros and cons of adding more maths and science to Jemimah's curriculum as she heads into AO6 and beyond. She comes from a long line of science boffins after all, and I want to ensure that we have the right balance of sciences and humanities.

I'm half way through a post listing our Booklist for AO5 before it is forgotten forever, and I plan on writing one about what has worked for us this year and what hasn't. I've also a draft post about how our independent schooling experiment went when I was in Europe and Jemimah was entrusted to the sole care of her loving but very busy Daddy. For a while I wondered whether they'd both be alive when I returned, but they not only managed admirably, but were still even talking nicely to each other. The school work was done as well.

There are other posts buzzing around inside my head, some of which might even see the light of day. Maybe. For now the hold-up is time. Or lack of it. I can visualise the chronology of time fairly well, I just haven't figured out yet how to slow it down.

In less than two weeks Jemimah will be on summer holidays. For two lovely months. I like to think now that I will have lots of lovely time to sit and talk to all of you. You never know, it may just happen. In the mean time, we are enjoying the fine spring days. The garden is a pleasure, and we're spending a lot of our time outside. We're counting the days until the pool is warm enough for this cold duck to swim. Jemimah will swim in anything, but it has to be pretty warm for me. She's gearing up for her end of year dance concert, playing basketball and training with the Development Squad, and working hard at her swimming lessons. She's been trying to get some horse riding in as well. We're finishing up our term's reading, and we've slipped in a few extra books for good measure. It wouldn't be our Peaceful Home without lots and lots of books now, would it? Some things never change.

Thanks for bring tolerant with me. I think of you all lots, and I will be back to talk about something or another very soon. I just need to discover more about that mystery called time. If I can visualise it then surely I can make more of it. Surely. The answer has to be there somewhere, I just need to keep searching.

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