ice skating

A Look Back at Milano Cortina 2026

16 days of glory go by very quickly, and the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics have sadly already come to an end. Here’s a quick look back at all of the fun we’ve had!

Of course we had to stop by the Olympic Spectacular outside Francis Olympic Field at Wash U in St. Louis…just last month, (future) Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu visited these same rings!

Chickadee and I made our favorite edible Olympic torches:

And we cooked a ton of (very delicious) Italian food!

  • Biscotti
  • Zuppa Pavese
  • Frullato di Frusta
  • Italian Bread
  • Carbonnade à la Flamande
  • Insalata di Arance e Finocchi
  • Radicchio in Padella
  • Limoncello Spritz
  • Crostata di Ricotta e Visciole
  • Marinara
  • Basil Pesto
  • Ravioli
  • Zeppole di San Giuseppe
  • Italian Grilled Cheese
  • Peposo
  • Creamy Polenta
  • Italian Limonata
  • Sporcamuss
  • Pork Milanese
  • Antipasto Salad
  • Seltz Limone e Sale
  • Panna Cotta with Berries

We also picked up a few Italian treats from the store:

There were crafts:

And a girls’ outing to go ice skating:

We had fun keeping track of the medal count at the end of every day…here’s a final look at our chart:

I love the Olympics, both winter and summer, so much, and I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with myself now that they’re done…but I’m already looking forward to L.A. 2028!

2025-26 School Year–Week Twenty

We started the week with our every-Olympics-year pilgrimage to the Olympic Spectacular in St. Louis:

And then we got down to our regular work. Chickadee graphed more quadratic functions in algebra. We read about General Franco and the beginning of WWII in history. She continued to read As You Like It. In religion, we spent several lessons discussing the Lord’s Supper. She started a new chapter about waves and sound in science, starting with mechanical waves. We continued our study of the US Constitution, taking a closer look at Article One and the legislature. But the highlight of the week was the Olympics, learning about Italy thanks to Rick Steves’ Europe, and our outing to the skating rink!

We also did a small craft. I found a cute unfinished cutting board, which seemed like the perfect item to paint in the colors of the Italian flag since Italy is known for its great food!

Here’s a look at our current medal chart:

We’re looking forward to more Olympics fun next week!

2024-25 School Year–Week Eleven

Hello November! We’re solidly in my favorite time of year in terms of weather, holidays, and school events!

In logic, Ladybug was introduced to the either-or fallacy and generalizations. She finished book one of A Tale of Two Cities. In psychology she learned about the effects of different types of drugs. She started reading The Lively Art of Writing, a book that was foundational to my high school writing career. In religion we discussed the liturgy and John Chrysostom. She continued to read Understanding Exposure…there are going to be a few great opportunities for photography on field trips in the next few weeks! In social studies she read about women’s rights in A People’s History of the United States.

Chickadee learned how to calculate percent decrease and increase in pre-algebra. She read about Isaac Newton, John Locke, and the Enlightenment in history. In science she started a chapter on geology, learning about catastrophism, uniformitarianism, and the different types of rocks. She read “The Monkey’s Paw” for analysis in writing…always a dangerous proposition, but especially good for Halloween week! We only made one recipe from The Wizard of Oz: The Official Cookbook this week, but it was a good one…the “Mountain Climber,” a blend of citrus juices (orange, lemon, and lime), combined with a lovely spiced simple syrup that tasted just like fall!

We visited the ice rink for the first time since last winter, and both Ladybug and Chickadee did a great job staying upright…I don’t think they wanted to leave!

We’re hoping for another field trip next week…and probably one the week after that, too! It’s great time of year to be outdoors!

2023-24 School Year–Week Nineteen

Well, we made it to February, my least favorite month of the year, and a February with an extra day to boot! Before we said goodbye to January, though, we did something really fun we’ve been planning for a while…we went ice skating! Ladybug especially loved it, and while I never did make it out to the center of the rink, I did do several laps around it, and I even let go of the wall occasionally! It was a lot of fun!!!

On to the schoolwork. Ladybug identified functions, domain, and range in pre-calculus. She finished her three-year-long grammar curriculum, ending with the difference between active and passive voice. She continued to read “The Paradiso.” In physics, she finished the chapter on momentum with angular momentum. She also finished the chapter on macronutrients in health. In history, she read about Louis IX.

Chickadee converted customary and metric measurements in math. We read about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the Babylonian captivity of the Jews in religion. In science, she had a brief overview of the endocrine system before taking a closer look at the central nervous system. We continued reading The Hobbit. In grammar, she learned about restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. She read about the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and Suleiman the Lawgiver in history.

I don’t know how I’m going to top the fun activity we had this week, but I’m going to have to find something to do to make February more enjoyable!