Three States I Would Like To Visit by Avonlea

There are three states I would like to visit someday. It would be exciting to go to new places. The states I would like to go to are: Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine.

The first state is Vermont. I enjoy snow and there's lots of snow in Vermont. Next, is Massachusetts. Cape Cod in Massachusetts has beautiful scenery. Lastly, is Maine. I've seen pictures of Maine's beautiful fall leaves.

I would like to visit these three states someday. I would like to travel to Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine because their beauty makes me gasp.

The Children's Hour by Annie

"Between the dark and the daylight,

When the night is beginning to lower,

Comes a pause in the day's occupations,

That is known as the Children's Hour."

*Longfellow

This poem has been making the cinnamon roll circuit of my mind lately and has finally arrived in the middle. The middle being where action takes place.

There was little I needed to revamp for school this semester, fall went very smoothly (despite a very thorny Rose). The only curriculum things I altered were spreading a week of grammar out to two weeks (filling in with more journaling and poetry), and adjusting a few things on Avonlea's checklist. Avonlea really loves languages and cajoled me to let her take Spanish. She also is very interested in calligraphy. So I bought a Spanish course and a calligraphy book and gave her free hand in them.

The only major change I added was the addition in my day of a Children's Hour. I ask things of my children all day. They, for the most part, obey without grumbling. So many times when they ask me to do something with them I have a legitimate excuse, "Sweetheart, my hands are covered in chicken grease right now," "I don't really think a bike ride in 30 degree weather sounds appealing," "I hate monopoly." etc. So....I told them on Sunday night, that I am setting aside 3-4pm every day for them. NOT for their education, NOT for their nourishment, NOT for their laundry or dust-balls, but for THEM.

So this week, Avonlea, Grant, and I finish afternoon school, get the babes out of quiet time and discuss what we are going to do with our hour. The first day we played sardines (like hide and seek) for the whole time, Tuesday we played red-light green-light, mother-may-I (which I discovered they had never heard of), and duck-duck-goose. Today, they wanted to bake brownies.

So for one hour, I am theirs exclusively.........and it's the best spent hour of my day.