Homeschool, Affectionate and Other Things

The school year is again upon us and this year, my husband and I made the decision to homeschool.
Since my first daughter was born, people have always asked whether or not I would homeschool because I, myself, grew up homeschooled.
I have historically avoided homeschooling simply because I know the amount of time and dedication that it takes. But as time has gone by, and as we've had some experience under our belts with traditional schooling, it's become a more attractive option for our family.
I have a few friends and family who very successfully homeschool and because I know very well what to expect, it hasn't been a scary choice for us.
In fact, it's been incredible seeing things come full circle as my daughter now uses the same curriculum that I used growing up.  One of the exciting things about the Calvert curriculum is that everything is mapped out for you (the teacher).  It comes with most of the supplies you'll need and offers wonderful support from actual teachers with the school that are just a phone call away. Her 2nd Grade year is looking like it will be full of fun and a pretty challenging.
One MAJOR difference between my daughter's homeschool experience and mine, is that my daughter will have so many more resources available to her, with the ever changing world of technology.  I, as her teacher, will have wonderful, internet based tools as well, for teaching and tracking progress that my mom never had available to her.  One of these tools I've found and have begun implementing is the Homeschool Tracker, which allows you to keep track of grades, progress, attendance (yes I'll know if she's there lol), and most importantly to me, print out transcripts and GPAs at the end of each year.
It is incredible to me how far the world of homeschooling has come since I was school aged and how the homeschool network has grown!  When I was growing up, we belonged to a support group of about 10 families.  The group for our county alone has over 170 members!  And let's just talk about the online community!  A friend of mine turned me on to this amazing blog that is so full of great information!  One of the things I found here that I plan to use is Family Time Fitness.  It was always hard when I was growing up, thinking of different physical activities...I know my kids can run around like banshees, but I don't know a lot about meaningful physical development for young children and I hope that this will help!
Avrie is so excited and on fire about learning, more so than she ever has been with traditional school and I'm so excited for her!
As I said before, schooling is a full time job and so, with that being said, my knitwear design has slowed down considerably, but I have been ready for the change for a long time and am embracing it fully.   I feel that God has blessed me with a portfolio that has allowed me to follow some of my dreams as well as helped me to provide the type of home experience I've always dreamed for my children. 
That's not to say that I won't be designing any longer, but that you'll most likely be seeing many more accessories and small projects with releases being spaced out quite a bit more.   I have a few larger projects that have been in the works for awhile, that are just waiting release.
I have just released a new pattern, Affectionate, the first of a few, new, upcoming hat patterns.
I've been dabbling with combining patterns, changing charts and working with textures and shapes...even a little colorwork.
I knit Affectionate with the silky, wonderful, Western-Sky-Knits-Magnolia-dk--mcn, which is just heavenly!  It was a perfect marriage for the stitch pattern in this hat.  The fabric is squishy, soft and full of drape that steam blocked out into an amazing fabric.  Treat yourself to this stuff, you won't regret it I promise!
Readers of my blog can get a 20% discount for the month of August on my new Affectionate pattern by entering the code Dandiday at check out on Ravelry.

Affectionate

This week seemed to be a big week for new hat releases and I was honored to be featured on the Ravelry top 20 list, this time around with Thea Coleman.  Thea also released a collection of accessories that features some amazing hats.   I have a hard time imagining that there are knitters who haven't heard of Thea, but if you haven't please check her out!  You will fall in love with her design work and she is one of the sweetest designers around.

Hmm, lets, see, in other news, I've been spinning quite a bit lately and have just reopened my Etsy shop!  All of my patterns are now available for instant download (THANK YOU ETSY!) and
keep your eyes peeled for some handspun goodness to be popping up very soon!

Now that the knitwear design has slowed, we've been spending a lot more time in the kitchen as well.
My herb garden has been a little explosive this summer with all of the rain we had earlier in the season, and so we've been making lots of goodies in the kitchen.
I think I'll be doing a video blog soon about some really wonderful cookbooks I've discovered and share some of my favorite recipes...we shall see....

Delicious chicken and herb, corn chowder.