So, many of you might be wondering how the school year has been going so far.

It’s been a very busy school year; but what year isn’t? 😴

I’m having a good time teaching some new history classes and am excited to teach basic research skills. 🏫

My upper-level students have enjoyed my supplementing a few episodes from Ken Burns’ “The West” – they’ve even learned a few of the background songs like “Mining is a Hard Kind of Labor” and “Hard Times Come Again No More” ⚒

I’ve got two new cross country runner and their progress has been amazing 🏃

This year has proved extra-special, too.

First, I received an amazing gift. Their family renovates old homes and found an old scrapbook. Not knowing what to do with it, they gave it to me, saying it had some stuff from Catholic history and WWII.

This scrapbook is *full* of newspaper articles, but there’s two pictures I want to share right away: the surrender of Nazi Germany and coronation of Queen Elizabeth II!

Second, I had a group of students ask if I’d cook them lunch if they paid for ingredients. They were supposed to go out to eat but chose this instead. I loved cooking for them and they really enjoyed the food!