During our two-year home school adventure, we (not just Natalie) learned how to do a lot of different things. We spent time making things: a garden, a quilt, recipes, scarves, a schoolhouse, a newspaper. One thing I know is this: making things is fun and it is also empowering. The middle school years are an ideal time to spend time creating things with our hands, engaging with different people, learning new skills, trying different languages, being in nature… How creatively and kindly we approach these years helps us imagine who we might want to be in the world. And it also makes us more open to trying new things in…