And I Wonder What My Kids Are Thinking...

Really this should be called "Confessions of an Idiot". For real. So often I roll my eyes, sigh deeply and ask in the most exasperated tones, "WHAT are they thinking?" So I guess today I had a little reminder about what they are thinking. Nothing at all. There IS no thinking when we do some things.

For example:

Is this something you do when thinking about it?

Do you see the great globs of mud in her hair? In her armpit? Everywhere? Know where this mud is going to go when she gets in the shower? Do we really need mud in the septic tank?

So my little story is this:

Our dear friends lent us some books by P.G.Wodehouse, a very find author and read by people of equal merits. Except for me, of course. So I gave myself my little treat of a handful of chocolate chips and began to immerse myself in British humor. Coming to the end of a chapter, I decided to see if I could write with the tip of the chocolate chip. So I wrote a lovely brown "A" at the bottom of the page. And then I thought, "I bet I can lick that right off!" and proceeded to mash brown chocolate smudges on the "A". And then it hit me: this book belongs to someone else!! Really, WHAT was I thinking? I'm not in the habit of writing in books, even books of my own. Certainly I'm not in the habit of writing with FOOD in books, or licking it back off. And just to reassure you, I have ordered a new but exactly the same copy of this book, so that our dear friends can enjoy an un-licked-by-Melita version of P.G.Wodehouse.

I have no words of excuse.

On another vein, we have some evidence of successful school mornings. =) This makes me feel a little less dumb and perhaps even you will feel less shocked and more forgiving. Instead of feeling like calling the authorities that yet another idiot is homeschooling their children.

And another activity that took place today: Desert Fishing.

Lucas really gets into his casting, complete with the weight getting caught in shrubs, very similar to fishing in water! =) Now if only he could catch something...

We will be camping this weekend, hopefully with not too many stories of my incompetence to relate. Instead, I hope to dazzle you with our camping prowess! In the meanwhile, have a great weekend!

Swingin' with School

Tonight I feel encouraged. This week has been a very good week for homeschooling! I have the right materials, I have the right approach and I even have the right timing! I have all of these things by accident and lucky chance, but you can bet I'm not letting them get away!

Our school week begins to pile up quickly. Julia is at her Montessori class three mornings a week. We spend Monday's at Explora where the kids can do Science of all kinds all day. We pack a lunch and play on the playground at noon. Then back inside for more hands-on stuff! I never have to say "don't touch!" or "get down!" or "don't break that!". It's very refreshing. It is also a very worthwhile day spent for their education.

On Thursday's we are trying out a new thing; volunteering at Wildlife West, a last line of defense between animals who cannot be released into the wild and death. Today I brought the boys, and it was very amazing and creepy the way the two cougars watched Aidan. They couldn't take their eyes off of him! And they'd follow him around as much as they could with a fence between us. We are learning (and it will take awhile!) how to feed the animals. We go with two other senior feeders and learn the ropes. It takes a year of consistent following to become a feeder yourself. The non-contact animals go into an "air-lock" while the feeders clean their cages and put out the proper diet. We got to go into the bear cage and look for scat. Yay! =) Also, javelinas, bobcats, and cougars. Some of the contact animals are racoons and wolves. Yes, WOLVES!!

But the thing that is giving me the most joy is that when we are just at home doing the "regular thing", we are having fun! We will add more but for now we are working on language arts, writing, reading, math and sign language. Each one is a small segment packed with pith, interest and work. Once, Lucas began to express weariness with writing, but only had two more words to finish! As I pointed this out, he quickly got back to work and finished up. I love to see the effectiveness of small, packed lessons. While I collect the materials and prepare for the next lesson, they get a small break to play or snack or whatever. Then back to something fun. The math is very cool, very hands on, very reasoning and concept oriented. All my kids like it when it's math time; therefore I do as well.

Chores have suffered, I must admit. But I spent four or five weeks getting a good chore system going and I don't mind if it slacks off for a while as we get a good school rhythm down. I am keeping the kitchen clean, this is a miracle and causes my husband to caress me more often. Kitchens are my weakness, as my family and friends know all too well. I hate doing dishes! But I love a clean kitchen, so what can I do?

All in all, I'm happy about school, I'm happy about feeling more competent, more motivated and more successful! It is hard to justify homeschooling when you aren't sure what in the world you are doing!

The curriculum I'm using right now is:

Math: Making Math Meaningful, by David Quine

Reading: my own "expertise" with Guided Reading + Phonics

Lang.A and Writing: Susan Wise Bauer of The Well Trained Mind fame

Sign Language: American Sign Language DeMYSTiFieD, by Kristin Mulrooney, Ph.D.

Science is Explora, of course, and for Geography, I'm just starting with map and globe basics for now. We'll delve into history a little more fully in a few months.

Julia has been dazzling us with her Montessori prowess with the binomial cube and now the trinomial cube which her teacher says she's close to mastery with! Today she copied a complete sentence of her own narration, which was more than I expected of her. I was so proud! She told me tonight that she wants to go to school forever at Miss Beths. =) I was happy to hear that! All in all, things are coming together in a way that leaves my doubts behind and that is a very nice place to be at.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Toes & Arches

I see that I'm going to have to move away from the "match two words" for titles, but I like this one, so I'm leaving it. I like pairing up words, especially when they lead a person to believe the topic is Podiatry when instead the subjects include a sister visit and a trip to a National Park. Ah-ha! For indeed, these last almost two weeks, we have been embroiling one of my sisters and her husband and children into our family life and you can only IMAGINE how glad they are to be home again! Marian, on the other hand, doesn't have to imagine.

Our picasa web albums will show the story in pictures, at least the story that leaves out spousal tiffs, moments if indecision, heat and thirst(mostly) and instead shows the smiling visages of two happy families having an unforgettable time. =) I think my favorite picture of the more "realistic" view is this one:

You may need to click on this one to enlarge it, but I LOVE the "in the moment" facial expression of Shane's yawn and Calysta's trudge, especially. This was our last "hike" and the kids were getting pretty tired! But I am ahead of myself.

Mike and Calysta got to our house on a Tuesday, two weeks ago, today. We hugged and exclaimed, drank each other in with our eyes, then waved goodbye holding their two sweet babies while Mike and Calysta headed back out to Santa Fe for a night away. We very responsibly took care of their children, allowing Cora to dine on a glass bead. Needless to say, I tried to take over the task of going thru diapers once Calysta got back, but had some difficulty. Instead, she gave me chocolate and flowers and thanked me for my "help".

Isn't she sweet?

So we did a few things, including a teeny bit of shopping and a pedicure, after which I rudely told Calysta I did not like French pedicures, and for my punishment, scraped my conservative nails on my shoe and wrecked both my big toenails.

We did got to Explora, and there are pictures of that, too. It is an incredible science museum for kids, hands-on and I confess that parents love it, too.

Eventually, Mike and Calysta had to leave, so we left with them. We went to Moab, UT, stayed the night in some little cabins and went to Arches National Park! It was really hot, but SO amazing! And Papa's who can't be glued to their laptops do indeed have fun with their kids!

At least you know we don't pretend. This is WHO WE ARE!

Cora, being the child of two responsible and fair-skinned parents, found the sunscreen and reapplied a refresher dose and rubbed it in:
We roasted brats, chicken and hot dogs at Mike and Calysta's cabin on our last night together. There's never enough time to chat, though, even though we had over a week together!
Calysta and I had a little adventure: She found a black widow spider next to our porch one night. So I appropriated her flip flops, smacked them together a few times to make sure they contacted each other VERY well, had her shine the flashlight right on the spider and WHACK! Two things happened. I dropped the flip-flops and jumped back and the flashlight ran out of batteries. For real. It just turned off. So I yelled to Calysta "turn it on! turn it on!" As if she'd turned it off because she lost interest or something. I raced inside, got more batteries because we wanted to know if I'd killed the spider(it was dark) but turns out the flashlight only takes very special batteries, not AA's. So I tried to use my phone light, while Calysta guffawed. Eventually, we decided that a small dark blob was the dead spider and I mashed it into the dirt just to make sure. Next time I pack spray!

Arches was lovely and eventually I'll figure out how to link our Picasa web to this website. I have LOADS of pictures on there!

Thank-you for coming, Calysta. Thank-you, Mike, for being willing to spend all that vacation on a sister-in-law and family. We loved having you! And you were great camping companions, too. At the very least, we can meet again sometime, I hope! =)