In Oria, we are mainly in a small town and rural area. One of the main features of living in such a place is the cats and dogs everywhere! Here at Shepherd’s Rest, they alone have three cats – Patsy, Livvy, and Evie – as well as four dogs – Taffy, Saffron, Lucky, and Ivy. The girls are completely obsessed […]
We love learning about the history of the places we visit. And we were incredibly intrigued when we learned that the earliest evidence of human life was found less than an hour away from here, in Orce. Some friends we met here earlier in August went there and we decided we would love to go there ourselves. We drove out […]
In summer 2022 we read the entire series of Harry Potter as a family and watched each movie as we finished the corresponding book. The girls LOVED this series, and I’m pretty sure it’s still their favourite book series to date. A particular favourite of Katia’s was Hedwig. She has since gotten a stuffed Hedwig and lots of other owl […]
The Spanish lifestyle (combined with the Spanish heat and lack of AC) has been a real struggle for Jon and me to adjust to. We are trying our best because it is important to us to live authentically in each place we visit and live temporarily. But it’s been hard here! Everything is closed from 2 p.m. until around 6 […]
This is a term we had never heard until January 2023 when another mom at the girls’ school told us what we were planning to do sounded like worldschooling. She told me to check out the Facebook group. Not being much of a Facebook user, it took me a couple of weeks to do so, but the information in that […]
We have managed to start up a weekly tradition here on Sundays. The girls look forward to Sundays the most, and say it’s the “best day ever!”. We get up and head up the big, steep hill up towards the cathedral. When we get to the top of the hill, there’s a little café. We stop there so Jon and […]
Here in Oria, there is a little shop for everything. Sometimes for multiple somethings. We go to the grocers to buy most things, including wine and beer. But you aren’t going to find fresh baked bread. For that, you go to the local bakery. You aren’t going to find much for fresh or frozen meat at the grocers. For that, […]
Daily hikes have been more of a challenge in Oria due to the heat, but on Monday, Katia and I woke up bright and early (if you consider 07:30 early) to tackle the mountain up to Castillo De Oria (Castle of Oria). It was also a good reason to have a daddy-daughter day while Micheka and Emmeline spent some time […]
We have been adjusting to a much different lifestyle here in Oria, Spain compared to our lifestyle in Tabuado, Portugal. Both locations are great, but for different reasons and in different ways. While we were spending time alone, just the four of us in Portugal, here we are in a very social worldschooling community. We wanted a place for the […]
Already arrived in Destination #2: Oria, Spain. After our fun, exploratory day in the Douro Region, we stopped in Bragança, Portugal on August 1 for a few hours to check out the old castle/citadel and the walls that surrounded the original small town. The castle is now a military museum, and all four of us learned a lot about medieval […]