Keeping up

It's been a long time since I've posted. We've had quite a few things going on, but the biggest issue was discovering out computer was badly infected with several trojans, some malware and adware. It took us about a week to get it all cleared out. This was actually quite good - with the stuff the computer was doing, we had thought the hard drive was going, and that it would need to be replaced. Buying STOPzilla is a lot cheaper. *L*

I guess, technically, our school year is over. We've had our year end facilitator visit already. That's always a blast. We've never had a facilitator in any of the other provinces we've lived in, so we weren't sure how it would work out. We had a different facilitator at first, but it was difficult for him to visit all the families he had because of the distances involved, so we soon had a new one that lives closer to our area. We're really happy with him. He's a great guy, and the visits are always a lot of fun. Every visit, we learn a bit more about him, and he's had a most fascinating life. We really look forward to these visits - something I greatly appreciate, having heard some horror stories from other families involving their facilitators.

This year, the girls decided to make portfolios to show him. Other than giving them a few ideas of what to put in then, then taking the girls out to get a few photos printed, Dh and I had nothing to do with putting these together. Eldest put hers together first, then helped Youngest do hers. I was actually escorting the facilitator to our apartment (necessary, since we're on a secure floor that requires scanning a key-card in the elevator) as Youngest was having a sample of her stories printed out. Although I was able to see what Eldest put together earlier, I didn't see what Youngest had until the facilitator did.

It was interesting to see what they put in. They included lists of subjects of interest that they are studying. I expected things like art and writing related subjects, whoever they got more detailed and specific. For example, Eldest included her interests in the fields of psychology, anatomy and architecture, as well as mathematics - specifically chaos theory. Youngest's list included her studies on mythology.

So the visit went very well. We got our paperwork done for this year, as well as what we needed to do for the next school year, and we won't see our facilitator again until the fall. Not that it changes much in what we're doing. Actually, once the weather gets more pleasant, our summer will probably be busier than the school year was. As I write this, the girls are watching a dvd. They just started the second disc in another Great Courses set. This one is on Dark Matter, Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe. Like the geology set we've borrowed before, these are simply lectures by university profs with added graphics to illustrate their subject matter. The prof is talking about quantum mechanics at the moment. And quarks being bound together with protons and neutrons. And something about neulceons. And force fields. I been doing other stuff, so I've missed too much to know what's going on, but the girls have been quietly sitting on the couch watching it for most of the morning, though Eldest is working on another drawing at the same time. They want to finish it off because it needs to be returned tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll find part 2 of this course.

Just what every 15yo and almost 12 yo does in their spare time. ;-)