Classical Homeschool Curriculum
A Homeschool Community for Classical Educators
Our 4H group of teen/tween girls learned out how to decorate gourmet cakes! They had an absolute blast and learned a really wonderful skill that they’ll carry through their whole life long! 4H is an organization that has been around since the early 1900s as a way for children to learn life skills outside of school. At HLSPV, while we pursue a rigorous classical education, we also make time to learn life skills such as baking, knitting, gardening and more.
Today at the American Heritage Festival we witnessed a re-enactment of a Revolutionary War skirmish. 90% of the battles that took place in that war were small-scale skirmishes much like we witnessed. As a mother, my perspective observing is much different than what I would have felt when I was younger. Seeing these young men fall on the battlefield brought tears to my eyes. I felt silly knowing that it was all pretend. Why do I get so emotional! I tried to subtlety wipe my eyes lest anyone see me Read More …
The Liberty Festival is put on by We Make History and it’s been on my bucket list for a long time to take the kids. I believe it’s so important that we teach our children the grand history of this amazing country. So many young people have forgotten what the great men of the past fought and died for. If we don’t teach them how will they know? How can they ever comprehend the words of Nathan Hale as he was about to be hanged: “My only regret is that Read More …
The Renaissance Festival is always a fabulous time. This year the Cardinals (our homeschool nature and culture outing group) went together on the elementary student day. The festival often has adult type humor so the student day eliminates that and adds a lot of educational type events that wouldn’t be there. Some of the vendors even had reduced pricing knowing that kids don’t come on field trips with endless amounts of money so that was really cool. But on a downside, many of us noticed that some of our favorite Read More …
We laughed until we cried! This was so incredibly well done. It was hilarious. The actors wore modern costumes and used modern accents and allusions to bring the play to a understanding we all could appreciate, but the words were all Shakespeare! I’m a very traditional person but I found I didn’t mind the modern costumes or allusions in the least. It actually really helped us understand the language better. I really liked how we all could “get” the jokes because of it. And also, I think just the fact Read More …
The day was beautiful! Altogether there were 18 of us homeschoolers out on the lake fishing, canoeing, and enjoying the mild February weather that we call “winter” out here in AZ! My son was even bold enough to jump in and give it a go…it was so very funny. He got about 5 steps in – took a 1 second pause and then did a quick 180 and high tailed it back! It was still just a little bit too cold! It felt like ice water. But for some reason Read More …
This concert was truly wonderful. It is also so amazing that it is free! While not as big as the Phoenix Symphony it was every bit as incredible. The talent surpassed any and all expectations and it was very family friendly. They played quite a few familiar songs – many of which show up in movies and cartoons. They are always about a 2 hour performance and that was a little long for my 2 and 4 years olds, but no biggie, we just stepped outside and they played. They Read More …
Art is one of those things I absolutely love but don’t make nearly enough time for. There was a time where I was intentionally doing watercolors and oil painting. Every Saturday I’d make me (and the kids) do a little free art time. But then we moved and my paints got packed up and stored. But more likely it was my routine that got packed up and stored. And like most things, life gets busy and it gets put to the wayside. For a short few years of my life, Read More …
The book above was a recommendation by the docent that gave us the tour and I absolutely loved it. Such an easy and delightful read. Vanished Arizona is about a New England woman who marries an army man and they are stationed out here in AZ to control the indian “problem.” This was while Arizona was a territory and the indians had been forced onto reservations, many didn’t want to go, they would hide in the mountains, etc. They could be very violent to pioneers and military alike, so the Read More …
The Sears-Kay Ruins hike was just what I was hoping for. A short hike (only 1.6 m round trip–enough that a toddler could walk it holding my hand) with lots to explore and look at and plenty of space to run wild and free. It delivered on all accounts. It was an easy 45min drive from my house in Paradise Valley. But once you got there it was felt like you were in the middle of nowhere. The city was nowhere to be seen and we really got to experience Read More …