As I write, it’s evening and the girls are in their matching pajamas. The sun is setting and I just observed a hummingbird fly by the window, a pink cloud floating behind it.

It’s hard to believe it’s been over three weeks since I last posted. While not much of significance has taken place, I’ve been feeling busy.

For a number of reasons, we’ve settled on a decision to homeschool our daughter for kindergarten. Still, I’m trying to outsource! A few weeks ago, my daughters and I visited a homeschool co-op. It was really lovely. It felt just like real school, except the classes were small—there were four children in the current kindergarten class—and the teachers were relaxed and peaceful. The way it works is, it meets once a week, from 9 to 5, and all of the mothers with children attending also attend and help teach. There is a curriculum in place and for kindergartners that curriculum includes Literature, History, Colorado History, Spanish, Free Play, and Art History.

Currently, there isn’t anyone else signed up for kindergarten for next year, but the director said my daughter would be welcome to join the first graders, which we plan to do. The other children were all so sweet to her, complimenting her drawings and asking her what she liked. I’m so grateful that we found this group and I’m looking forward to being part of it. The mothers are asked which subjects they would like to help with and I said any, but that I would love to help the high schoolers with writing.

I also have my daughter on a waiting list for another homeschool enrichment program, which I really hope she gets into. That one is also one day a week, but the children are dropped off for the day and parents aren’t required to volunteer, though they are welcome to. They take twelve students per grade level and give classes in Art, Music, Hands-On Science, Cultures of the World, Physical Education and Performing Arts. After spending very little time researching, I’ve already been amazed at the resources offered to homeschooling parents in my little mountain town. It’s been so encouraging.

My own mother was a very academics-oriented kindergarten teacher at one time and has been asking me what other curriculum I am planning on using. At this point, I really don’t know any specifics. However, I am interested in Charlotte Mason’s theories and I have a whole stack of her books, which I purchased at a second-hand book store, years before I had children. I should probably start reading them!

In other news, I’ve started taking care of a little boy a few hours a week. He is almost three, but just as tall as my almost-five-year-old. Also, he outweighs her by at least ten pounds! We affectionately call him Brother Bear.

My kid sister (so grown up, now!) is getting married this month, so I’ve been doing my small part to contribute, choosing shoes and dresses for my little flower girls and getting their passport cards in order, as my sister is getting married in Canada, like her sister before her. Oh, my goodness—their passport pictures are the cutest thing ever! We’re making the drive to Alberta and hoping our finicky car survives the trip.

Other than that, I guess it’s just been the daily tasks of mothering that have been filling my days. In the gaps, I’m still preoccupied with the KonMari method of tidying and, after a year and a half, I’m finally starting to feel like I am nearing the “click point” she writes about. Indeed, I like to think I will arrive at perfect order soon, but it may be that I will always obsess. I imagine I will always be sensitive to space and objects.

I’d like to get back to the creative endeavor of blogging, as life allows. I enjoy this space and I’ve missed it.