Please, Dear Fairy Goddess, please please please please breath some sweet breath of fall down our way. All the good folks I know have really had a tough summer. Thinking of the year turning a marker, taking time to celebrate the impending equinox with Fairy Circle, sitting here under the full -not quite harvest- moon and just plain begging. Please. Let fall fall down on us. We need a chilling wind, a little moisture, and the sweet baby's breath of change.

And while I sit here and I beg, the kids are building excitement. Excited and happy to resume the classes they so enjoyed last year. We will get back to weekly play dates in the park with our excellent and earthy unschooling community. Henry will rejoin Aikido next week. http://www.aikisky.com/pics.php Next month the ancient history and art classes will begin, starting with Native Americans. These are the classes lasting TWO HOURS where the kids sit working on their projects while the teacher reads to the kids about the culture at hand. And we get to participate in a sheep to shawl event run by a local mom from her farm. I am going to post the invitation here. It is such an excellent example of what you find in the homeschooling community. Folks creating learning opportunities for all the children who care to get involved. Folks who are not making money but simply contributing to the atmosphere of inquiry:

"Now that everyone has their fall schedules planned out, here's something to add to the mix! For those of you who don't know me, I raise sheep on our farm in Snow Camp, and am a handspinner. I'd like to organize regular get-togethers ( I don't want to call this a class) for parents and kids who are really into fiber arts or crafts, sheep, or handwork. We would meet at our farm two afternoons a month, (from Sept. through April), and go through the steps from shearing the wool from a sheep to turning it into a shawl (or potholder!) We'd observe the sheep being shorn, then skirt and wash fleeces, dye the wool, card it, learn how to spin yarn on a hand spindle, and then crochet or knit it into a finished product. Depending on the month we'll also have hands on learning about the care of sheep and goats including hoof trimming, worming, breeding, etc. And in a week when there's not a lot going on, we can do handwork with hopefully those more experienced ones teaching others less experienced how to knit and crochet.

I see this as having a core group of 8-10 kids (and unlimited adults) with a min. age of 7 (8 is even better) because of the motor skills needed. And because a lot of the stuff we'll be doing is labor intensive, I'd need good parental involvement. The cost would be minimal - koolaid dye, soap, etc. Sibs would be welcome to hang out to play (or watch) as long as they are well behaved, or well supervised if not! Let me know if you have any interest!"