“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

Charles Dickens

These two weeks after fall break have flown by! The students started off with a mask project where they decorated masks and wrote either a paper or a work of fiction about their masks. There was also plenty of Halloween prep with ornament-making.

We spent most of that week, though, preparing for our big event, which happened on Friday, the 21st. We were so very proud to host Mr. Robert Perry, who is a tribal elder of the Chickasaw Nation, and his dear wife, Annie. We had several homeschool families join us, and we served light hors d’oeuvres and created a fire where everyone could make their own s’mores. Mr. Perry told wonderful folktales about “the little people”, and ended by embodying the character of Piominko, a Chickasaw leader of the 1700’s.  The event was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended, and we all benefited from Bob’s presence and learned so many things we had not known about the Chickasaw– and the history of the very ground we were all standing on. We have hopes to host more indigenous “history-telling” events in the future. 

This past week- the 24th-28th- was a bit of a roller coaster. It has been an absolutely gorgeous autumn here, more beautiful than I can remember. The maple trees and tulip poplars have showered the farm with their golden leaves. We have been enjoying the mildest of weather and even planted some fig trees that were gifted to the school from special friends.

Through all of this beauty, though, we had a heavy loss- Ozuwie, our beloved pet toad, crossed over the rainbow bridge. My daughter was pretty devastated. The other students were very kind and did their best to commiserate, which definitely helped. They buried Ozuwie in our little pet cemetery, which includes the graves of two of our chickens. Such is the circle of life.

We had great joy, though, in celebrating the birthday of one of our students. We threw her a big party that included dress up- in kimono- a high tea (thanks, Sunflower Cafe, for the delicious gluten and allergy-free goodies), sparklers, and general fun and mayhem. You can never have enough chocolate, right?