Lessons from the Tenth Week

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Time flies when you are having fun. Indeed, it applies to us this school year. Some days fun eludes us, but, overall, we can say with certainty this year has turned out better than the last.

Kids on a trail

Ijams trails

Just last week, my son exclaimed, “I love this new way of doing math!” He was referring to how we skip around the page, not doing every single problem in the chapter. I observe him solve the first few exercises to make sure he got the concept, and then I assign certain problems or exercises as I see fit. Continue reading »


Ijams Nature Center

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In Knoxville, a rather large city, there are many places where you can experience nature in a surprising way. Ijams Nature Center is one of these places but it is one of the top places, as voted by local residents. We have wanted to go to this 304-acre urban greenspace for some time, but something always prevented us from actually making it over there.

Ijams Nature Center

Ijams Nature Center

Finally, a friend invited me over there. She has three daughters about my children’s ages and we all loaded up picnic food in the cars and went to visit after church. The place is free to visit, but there are paid activities inside. We just wanted to let the kids walk around and experience the nature. They have play areas made out of natural materials – branches, leaves, or wood. It’s called a playscape. Continue reading »