Good morning!

A bunch of other Iowa writers and I spent the weekend without Internet here:

http://prairiewoods.org/

It's a retreat center run by nuns, a spiritual place, and I'm about as spiritual as a sledgehammer. Still, it was a lovely couple of days with lots of laughing and stories and good writing talk, and plenty of bacon for breakfast.

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If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you've already heard about this, but homeschool boy and I raised a butterfly from an egg, and on Thursday it emerged from its chrysalis. We were both amazed and elated. Here are pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22581660@N07/sets/72157607074676961/

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It's a new month at the homeschool, which means new study units. Exciting! We're continuing our Middle Ages unit from last month. Theo is writing a NOVEL about a boy named Roald who is becoming a knight (it's thinly disguised Alanna fanfic with a boy protag). This is from a kid who couldn't write half a sentence for his school assignments! So fun. We're also moving on to swamps for our nature subject and astronomy for science, and we'll read a bunch of Middle-Ages related texts, like Kevin Crossley-Holland's Arthur: The Seeing Stone and Avi's first Crispin book, Cross of Lead. In September we studied how boys become knights; this month we'll imagine life for a peasant boy; plus we'll study medieval castles and towns and villages.

Some fun!

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At the retreat I got some ideas about starting places for my next book. Have much to ponder...

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Did you have a good weekend, yourself?

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