~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ Ginny at small things

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Good morning … it’s only 64 here right now (0615) and low humidity and autumn is definitely in the air … at least for today. But it is the first week of September … so we’re right on schedule.

September brings school buses and schedules and sports (esp college football) and fiber festivals … all learning ops! And we love it all.

As you can see, we finally started school yesterday — including science and history. For science, we’re actually doing two programs:

1. On Tuesdays, we’ll use the Natural Science Through the Season (as the spine; as well as using Apologia’s Botany course) book which takes the students thru the year, starting in September, with lots of activities and ideas for learning about the natural world. This is a wonderful reprint of a book that includes great resources (updated with suggestions for newer books to use) and interesting classroom ideas that easily translate to the home-school or co-op.
2. On Thursdays, we’ll turn our science focus to nutrition and sports medicine/fitness. We’ve got Helen Miller’s Nutrition and Fitness: 50 Lessons and Exercises. This leads us gently to start studying human anatomy/physiology by the end of the year and into next year.

As far as history, I’ve mentioned a few times that we’ll be studying the Middle Ages. The book we’ll use for the “spine” is Dorothy Mills classic: The Middle Ages. We’ll supplement this book heavily … with Bauer’s Story of the World and Famous Men of the Middle Ages and others … but this is a fun read that makes the Middle Ages really come alive. I love history and hope that our way of learning about the Middle Ages will help Kit and HotRod love it too!

On the knitting needles? I just finished a cabled-pillow cover that I’ll be using for a cable-class at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival coming up the last weekend of September. I am teaching a 3-hour class on cables … and will lead the students thru making this or a simpler, hat version (which you can see cast-on and started). Students will also be told how to make this pillow top into a purse or cowl. This class is scheduled for 1-4 on Saturday afternoon … a perfect time for learning the intricacies and techniques for cabling!

Helen’s Choice (the shawl I was working on last time) is done, blocked and photographed — the design is in tech-editing so should be available right soon now available on Ravelry and Craftsy for immediate download! Here’s a sneak peek at the finished shawl: