The Learning Room - SWVA

08/28/2026

It’s almost pumpkin patch time!!

Opening September 12th!!!!!! It’s almost corn maze time!!!!! We are excited to get the season started. This will be the 10 year anniversary of the corn maze!! This couldn’t have been possible without everyone’s support year after year!!! We hope you come enjoy all of your favorites along with some new things throughout the farm!

08/27/2026

❤️

08/27/2026

Join us as we honor the women who braved the Virginia frontier with courage, resilience and an unbreakable spirit during Heroines of the Virginia Frontier.

📅 Sept. 12
🕛 Various activities and demonstrations from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
🎟️ Free (standard parking free applies)

Across Virginia, women ventured into the wilderness to establish new homes and new futures. Follow the hunter’s trace to Martin’s Station and meet the women of Powell’s Valley as they celebrate the heroines who helped shape a new and free nation.

Learn more: https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/event?id=2026-01-13-09-23-24-265414-hjt

08/25/2026

Maybe homeschooling wasn't part of your plan. Maybe your child has been in public or private school, and now you're wondering if homeschooling might be a better fit for your family.

Or maybe you've already decided—but you're staring at the big question: Where do I even begin?

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲.

Join HEAV online September 14–16 at 7 p.m. for How to Begin Homeschooling, a FREE live online course designed to help you understand the basics, ask your questions, and take your next step with confidence.

Come with questions. Come with doubts. Come wherever you are in the process. You don't have to have it all figured out to take the first step.

✅Register today: https://bit.ly/4zxWkuk

08/24/2026

What I wish someone would have told me about ADHD when we first received a diagnosis 3 years ago:

ADHD isn’t just about movement and hyperactivity, it also includes working memory and executive functioning skills. What does that even mean?

Working memory is taking something from short term memory and being able to retrieve it for use. Think multiplication tables or sums of 10 for math. Listening to a short story and being able to retell it.

Executive functioning skills is being able to prioritize tasks or follow a process. Again for math, think of the process of long division. Or being able to complete a homework task.

When I first received Jackson’s ADHD dx, I went from therapy office to therapy office begging for help to understand ADHD. Each time they focused on his fine motor skills and emotional regulation. Not so enticing for a 9 yo boy 🙄 I eventually gave up and we floundered for a while.

After a few years, I think I’m starting to find the way. I made an earlier post about how I setup Jackson’s desk area to help with his executive functioning skills. As we get going in this school year, I have been pleasantly surprised with the amount of memorization and retelling that has been utilized in The Well-Trained Mind and in My Father’s World Ancient History. Another good workbook series for working memory exercises for younger children is Developing the Early Learner.

It is so hard to figure out what gaps your child needs to work on, and even harder to find a curriculum to support them. I hope this helps someone else’s journey.

*1st picture-The Well-Trained Mind text
*2nd picture-Activity from MFW Ancient History, drawing a map by listening to a story and then retelling it

08/22/2026

I have been putting off making this post…partly because I’m still waiting for Haley’s full evaluation report and partly because I don’t want to disappoint everyone.

But I also want to be real. Life with special needs kids sometimes requires making changes to your life and your expectations.
Haley’s diagnosis was not a surprise. In fact it was a flood of relief to finally have a professional see and understand what we’ve been struggling with for years. Autism in girls presents very differently. Haley can look you in the eyes; she could use full sentences by the time she was 18 months old. She does very well one-on-one, which is why professionals in the past would downplay our concerns. But get her in a large, noisy group, or with peers her own age, and the dynamic drastically changes. Now we know why.

My task is now to organize and structure our home and schedule to ease her disregulation. Her body craves SOOO much sensory input. That’s why she’s always bouncing and crashing.

All this to say… I will not be hosting any group classes or activities for some time. It could be a year, it could be 2 years, it could be only after my kids graduate. I might be open to hosting a Christmas party…we’ll have to see how things go. This is hard for me because I know Lee County, Scott County and the surrounding areas really need a strong homeschooling group, but for this season, I am not the one to lead it. Of course, the Library will still be open.

The Lord laid this verse on my heart: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” Luke 15:4

Haley is my one.

08/20/2026

It’s time to make competence ordinary again…

08/18/2026

If this is your first year to homeschool, let me prepare you for a few things.

You are answering the call to discipleship. It is a wonderful and amazing gift to be able to raise children, and the responsibility for their hearts and minds is huge! As you embark on this new way of life, remember that is IS a way of life. It is a marathon, and not a sprint.

You may expect perfect little pupils and a 1950's-storybook-day. Sometimes you'll get that and sometimes you won't. Your kids may love the curriculum you chose. Or not. They're kids.

There will be sick days and water-heater-leak days. There will be amazing moments of learning, and there will be tears during math. One day you'll think homeschooling is the best decision you've ever made, and the next day you'll wonder what you were thinking.

This is all very normal, because this is parenting. Now you're parenting with school supplies!

Remember, more than little school students, you are nurturing hearts and souls. You are raising the next generation. As home educators, you have the gift of time on your side. Parenting isn't always a breeze, and neither is homeschooling. It's a commitment for the long-term.

Remember this when the day doesn't go as planned. Remember the big picture. Take a deep breath. Pause and pray. And then do the next thing.

https://nickitruesdell.com/the-most-important-thing-in-homeschooling/

{Art: A Young Girl Seated Reading before a Window (1914) by Karl Harald Alfred Broge}

08/17/2026

So apparently, when you’re angry at your beans because they’re a big mess and you’re ready to rip them all out… THAT’S when you harvest your green beans 😳

08/17/2026

Step back in time and discover the strength, courage, and determination of the women who helped shape Virginia’s frontier.

Join us September 12 from 10 AM–4 PM as we travel the hunter’s trace to Martin’s Station and into Powell’s Valley, honoring the women who built homes, raised families, and helped forge a new nation.

Come experience their stories and celebrate the unbreakable spirit of the women of the frontier. ❤️

📍 Wilderness Road State Park
📅 September 12 | 10 AM–4 PM
🚗 Standard parking fee applies.