Seven Times the Fun

The Huge Catch-Up Post

Oh my poor neglected blog; what a pitiable thing! How shall I even begin to recapture the thoughts and events that have taken place over the last two months???

NOVEMBER

The greater portion of November was devoted to writing as part of the NaNoWriMo writing challenge, which explains why there was no posting after November 10th. The point of the writing challenge is to write at least a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November. I know that seems like a ridiculous time table in which to write a novel; however, there is no stipulation that said novel had to be good! That said, I have to admit that NaNoWriMo is great motivation to "just do it," to just get out there and start writing and keep writing.  Well, I surpassed the goal of 50,000 words before the November 3oth due date (yay, me!), but my novel is nowhere near being done. I'd say it's probably about 75% finished. I just need a good climax, denoument, and resolution...and then I can start thinking about editing, fleshing out characaters a bit more, etc. Of course, I have more or less ignored my opus since the first week in December. It's OK, though, because I know I will come back to it once I get other long-neglected things in order!

Julia's art classes finished up for the term the week before Thanksgiving, so we weren't out traveling about as much as usual. Baseball conditioning for both John's high school and summer teams began in November.

DECEMBER

The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is busy and hectic for most people in the US; our family is no different. We celebrated three birthdays in that time period. Drew turned 9 after Thanksgiving, Matt turned 40 a week later, and we gained our third teenager when Lizzy celebrated her birthday five days after her dad's! It's hard to believe we are parents to three teens, although Lizzy has acted like (in a good way) and looked like a teenager for a few years now.

Anyway, because we like the birthdays to remain separate from "the holidays", we withhold from decorating for Christmas until the last birthday is celebrated. We do, however, decorate here and there for Advent. First, out comes the Jesse Tree banner, which is usually paried up with readings from The Jesse Tree, by Geraldine McGaughrean, though, admittedly, this year was definitely a slacker year. We then decorate the mantel with our collection of nutcrackers (one for each child, plus). The night before St. Nicholas Day, I pull out my santa statues and decorate the table and we hang the stockings on the chairs for the kids to find treats the following morning. Once again we joined friends at their annual St. Nicholas day open house, bringing with us some donations for their St. Nicholas hamper. They choose a family in need each year, gather donations of food and gifts, and then bless the family. I think it is a wonderful tradition and I'm happy we play a small part.  Christmas was full of family and fun, but went by in a blur.

December also saw the beginning of another basketball season for Drew and John. They are both playing in the rec league this year and having a blast. Drew's team continues to be very good for third graders. John's team is good also, but he's having more fun taking risky shots that he otherwise would get yelled at were he playing for the school. They're enjoying this time playing with their buddies and it is fun watching them.

A good portion of December was also spent fighting one illness or another for some member of the family. I started off feeling crappy with the UTI from hell. Then the youngest five in the family fell prey to some stomach virus. And it wasn't the kind where everyone was sick for one or two days and then we went on our merry way. Oh no! It lingered with one child, then a couple of days off, and then travelled to the next. I think, in all, it went through them in about 2.5 weeks. At least everyone was healthy by Christmas.

JANUARY

Matt and I went to our first New Year's Eve party in what seems like forever at a neighbor's house. We both had an enjoyable time, much alcohol was consumed, and the day after we were both reminded why we don't drink like that on a regular basis. Ugh. It has been a long, long time since I've had a hangover and it wasn't at all fun, although it certainly wasn't the worst one I had. I also have learned that alcohol and borderline hypoglycemia are not a good mix. I paid for it, so now I'll have a good reminder why it's best to do things in moderation! :)

Winter conditioning has continued for John's high school and summer teams and has started for Drew's summer team. We're all looking forward to baseball season starting again.

Over the past few months I have been watching lots of movies and reading a lot. It started out as "research", watching movies centered around medieval times. It then morphed into working through the Lord of the Rings, both the movies and the books. Lately I've been watching a lot of British stuff, mostly adaptations of Jane Austen's and Charles Dickens' books. I've decided to jot down books to read over the course of the following year. I intend to complete all of Jane Austen's books which shouldn't be hard as I've read three already (leaving three to go). The house is slowly being decluttered again, which isn't nearly as difficult to do after the first big decluttering....it's more like maintenance decluttering. :)

I'm also toying with the idea of implementing some sort of structure to the flow of our days. I get the same yearning every year. We'll see...

Boston (and other things)

I can hardly believe it has been nearly three weeks since I last posted! We've been busy with life, in general.  Matt has been doing a lot of travel lately with his new company (which bought out his old company).  He went to a kick-off meeting in Boston the week before Halloween...the whole week. We had planned some time ago for me to fly up ot Boston to spend the weekend with him and meet his boss and co-workers, which is exactly what we did.

I flew out of Cincinnati on Friday, 10/28 and enjoyed a massive amount of downtime without worrying about children (they were staying with their grandparents and great-grandma). Matt had a mandatory function that evening, but was able to meet me once I got to the hotel. I had room service and watched "The Help" and then met my hubby in the lobby for a Guinness once his dinner was over. There I met so many people he works with, whose names I don't really remember other than Noel, his Irish boss, and Pete, his "partner." :)

This was our view on Saturday morning from the Sheraton Boston Hotel. I have no idea what building that is, I just thought it was a neat view. The hotel is located near the Prudential Tower and Prudential Center mall, so we walked through the indoor walkway and ate breakfast at the Marriott nearby. Expensive, expensive, did I say expensive? breakfast buffet, but...oh well.

Since we were up and out fairly early, we decided to see if we could check into our other hotel. We checked out, had a cab hailed for us, and drove across town the the financial district to the Hilton Boston Downtown. We figured if the room wasn't ready, we could at least keep our bags with the concierge while we walked around the nearby historic areas. As luck had it, we were able to check in right away. The fun part about traveling with Matt is that he has rewards memberships with Delta and Hilton, so people are super nice to him to the point of nearly kidding his hind-end! ;) He even gets complimentary Guinness delivered to the room!

We (I?) decidede we'd walk the northern portion of the Freedom Trail. You can pay to have a costumed guide walk you through the streets of Boston, or do the free, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants version like we did. After getting a little twisted about, we found our way to Fanueil Hall and sat in on a brief talk about the history of the place, which just tickled my American History loving hubby to no end. Here is a statue of Samuel Adams.

There was all sorts of construction going on in this area of Boston, so it made following the trail a little more challenging.  For those who don't know, the Freedom Trail is easily followed as there are either painted red lines throughout the city, or a brick-paved trail on the sidewalks...kind of like the "yellow brick road" only red.  Of course, when Boston is in the midst of repaving some of the roads, it's easy to lose the trail without a map!

We thought we'd stop in and take a gander at Paul Revere's house, but since they didn't take credit cards and neither of us had enough cash on hand to enter, we passed it by, heading to the Old North Church. Somewhere along the way, we crossed over from Irish territory into Italian territory. It was getting close to lunch by this time, so we ducked into a little Italian restaurant that wasn't very busy.  The food was excellent. We then continued on our way to the Old North Church. Here you see a statue of Paul Revere on the way through a courtyard to the Old North Church.  Behind the church's gift shop was a neat little courtyard dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi.

As you know, St. Francis ("Frank") is our family's patron saint, so we just had to get a photo! It turns out, the museum gift shop was at one time The Chapel of St. Francis, built for Italian immigrants who were part of the Waldensian Reform movement. I found it interesting, since St. Francis was born after the beginning of the Waldensian movement in Italy during the Middle Ages.

Anyway, we headed into the church and lucked out that we hit the right time for a little teaching session on the history of the church. Most of us know the story of the church and its role in the American Revolution, but I was interested in the other facets of the church.

For instance, there are four angel statues surrounding the organ up in the loft. These angels were actually pirated, though now I don't remember the whole story. I just thought it was curious that the church had pirated booty as part of its decor.

The other thing that fascinated me was the pew booths that we got to sit in.  The booths were constructed to help keep patrons warm. The family would bring warmed bricks to set on the booth which would provide heat. They would also decorate the booths. There was a preserved booth that had wallpaper, cushions, and padded kneelers, though the one we sat in during the talk was unadorned.

I should mention that although our day had started out somewhat sunny, the weather quickly turned dismal. We were hoping that Boston would be spared the predictions of snow that the Nor'easter was bringing with it. It started sprinkling on our way back south. Matt wanted to see the Boston Massacre site, located near the Old State House. Somehow we got twisted around again (I swear, it was the repaving of the roads they were doing around the Old State House!) Matt had to find a bathroom, so we wound up in Bruegger's Bagels when it started to rain harder. We decided to head back to the hotel at this point. On our way back toward the Old State House, we saw the sign for the Boston Massacre site! OK, we saw it. We walked a couple of blocks back to the hotel and hung out until it was time to go to The Black Rose for supper and beer. We hung out with another co-worker and her husband for dinner and then the British contingent (who were heading back to England the next day) came and had drinks with us.  It was a great night with Irish music and Guinness. It only snowed a little bit in Boston; the next day (Sunday, 10/30) was clear and we had an uneventful flight back home.

Halloween this year was pretty low-key, with only three kids going trick-or-treating. AJ wore the Pooh Bear costume that we've had for about 14 years! I think all of the kids have worn it, so now it is time for it to be retired.

Connor dressed as a bag of garbage and Drew was a zombie. Their pictures didn't turn out as well...a little too dark.  All-in-all, I think what I spent was a couple of bucks on green face makeup, plus whatever two bags of candy cost at Sam's Club.

The neighbors in the cul-de-sac all sat outside, making kids go down the line of chairs to receive their candy. I honestly don't remember if we've ever sat inside and waited for kids to ring the doorbell...maybe in our very first house? Since then, though, we have sat at the edge of our driveway or in the cul-de-sac.

Other than the Boston trip and Halloween, not much has been going on. Our weeks have been peppered with visits to the dentist, doctors, and chiroproactor for a variety of us, so that has taken up the bulk of my time. Over the past couple of months I have been experiencing a variety of odd symptoms, so I finally went to the doctor to get to the bottom of my issues.  Blood tests were fine, though my thyroid number was a bit high; heart checked out just fine, which was a relief. He started me on a regimen of amino acid supplements right before I took off for Boston, and I was amazed at how quickly I started to feel better! So, I've been back a few times to check in with him. My official diagnosis, if you can believe it, is generalized anxiety disorder. I don't *want* to feel anxious, and there hasn't really been any trigger. I'm wondering, though, if it's not some odd pre-menopause symptom and if it's hormonally-related.  Whatever, I'm feeling much, much better; no more light-headedness or heart pounding out of nowhere. The only part that sucks is that the supplements are pricey and not covered by insurance. Pooh!

The kids are all healthy and none of the children who have had check-ups have cavities, so that's a first. Two more have a visit next week...can we go 6 for 6? AJ needs to be looked at...I know he has decay and I'm not looking forward to it. However, now that my outlook has generally improved, I think I will be able to deal with it and get it over with. ::sigh::

Basketball season has begun for Drew and John. They both are playing for Milford's rec teams this year. I was kind of surprised that John, the one who decided to go to public school in order to play for the school's basketball team, decided to not try out for the high school team this year. He wants to focus on baseball, so he's playing rec basketball with friends and taking it easy. It's kind of nice that he only practices once a week. Baseball conditioning started this week for John as well.

Julia's art classes are dwindling down...I think there are only two sessions left before Thanksgiving. Then they will break until January for the second session. Photography classes for Liz got canceled, so she's kind of bummed about that. I think we might order the 4H photography books that she can do on her own. Connor's 4H shooting sports hasn't met since October, though he will be going to a gun show with his papaw next weekend...so that should be fun for him. He's anxious to go shoot again and to meet with the other kids, but I don't think they have anything planned until the December Christmas party.

In my spare time (which is usually between 6 and 8am when the others are still sleeping), I have been writing a novel as part of NaNoWriMo. It is historical fiction set in Ireland during the time of the Norman Invasion (c. 1171). My intent is to have a book for girls that is set during Medieval times, along the lines of The Door In the Wall, by Marguerite de Angeli. The setting is a medieval abbey and the main character is a 14 year old girl who witnessed the murder of her older brother during an attack on her village by Normans. It's at the point where the plot is thickening a little; her father isn't who she thinks he is, so there's a whole back story there. I'm having tons of fun just letting the story run its course and come to life. I started with only a brief outline and it has taken a life of its own since then!

I think that's it. I don't believe I've left out anything significant. If I have, forgive me. Thanksgiving will be here before you know it, then three birthdays, and then Christmas. Sheesh!

Fallish Things

Half of this week was wet and cold, so we didn't do much outside of the home. 

Monday was the girls' monthly haircut and the weather was decent for that trip. 

Tuesday was Julia's art class.  During our weekly trip to the park to wait for Julia, the rain started. So, we headed back to wait for Julia in the parking lot of the teacher supply store where the classes are held.  Matt had a trip to Philadelphia and left that morning.  Drew had his first basketball practice of the season that night.

Wednesday was miserable, rainy, and cold.  So, of course it was a good time to bake!

If Lizzy isn't the one baking, then I try to have one or two kids work as my helpers.

It was my turn to bake, so Drew was my helper this time around.  We decided to make cookie bars, which is just using the Tollhouse cookie recipe spread in a 9x12 baking pan.  Of course, Drew wasn't happy unless he got to decorate with the fall sprinkles that we purchased at Target a while back.  I know, it looks kind of nasty here...this was the before photo that Drew insisted upon.  We forgot to take an after one!

Thursday was more miserable weather, but Connor was excited all day because he was going to his first 4H Shooting Sports meeting.  The meeting itself was a little dull, but after all the business was done, they got to shoot targets in the basement (pellet guns). Connor did well...apparenty had a nice "grouping", albeit a bit south of the middle of the target.  His grouping was all five shots in the same spot. I guess the pellets act a bit differently than a BB Gun. Still, not bad for his first time there.

Friday was finally cool, sunny, and dry, so we were able to go visit Shaw Farms to get our pumpkins.  They have a the place set up every year for their Fall Festival: cute little play houses for kids to play in, a corn maze, hay rides, farm animals to visit, and lots of pumpkins!  AJ liked the little houses the best.  There were a few school groups there, and it was kind of amusing to hear the teachers command their groups to "stand in line" while walking the few steps from the farm animals to the picnic tables. (Alrighty then!)

 

Saturday

This afternoon we carved our pumpkins. Here are Connor and John working on their "two-faced" pumpkin.  I purchased one of those pumpkin carving kits to attempt a fancier pumpkin this year.  It turned out OK, a "Kitty Bat." It will probably look better once it's lit up in the dark.

We had all sorts of sleepovers going on last night and today.  We shipped off two boys and gained one girl.  I think we made out on that bargain! :)

Here is my "Kitty Bat."  The carved part actually broke as I was shoving one of the carved pieces through to the inside of the pumpkin.  It rests nicely in the circle, though, so I won't complain too much.

You can see Drew's pumpkin next to mine and AJ's teeny-tiny one next to that.

 

 

 

Of course, I can't end this post without posting a photo of my handsome young man.  Tonight is his first high school dance...homecoming.  He and a group of his friends met at a friend's house for dinner and then went onto the dance.  I'm sure he'll hate me for it, but, oh well...it's my blog after all! :)

This weekend we wind up the fall baseball season.  Matt will be away all week at his company's kick-off meeting in Boston.  Luckily, I will be joining him on Friday for a weekend together, sans children.  We hope to do some historical sight-seeing on Saturday.  I've been to Boston before and hit most of the historical hot spots, but I don't think Matt has even seen them in spite of being in Boston several times on business.

Have a great Sunday!

The Joy of a Relaxed Life

At 15 minutes before bedtime (the time when we all go to our rooms...when sleep happens is up to the individuals) my two littlest ones (7 and 3) were playing "sale" (a shopping game made up on the spot). I thought it would be fun for them to have a little bit of play money, so I found this website to print some out: http://www.moneyinstructor.com/play.asp

We'll see if this story develops further in the morning.  Until then, I bid you "Good Night!"

It's Friday Already???

This is another week in review.  Be sure to check out how other home educating families spent their week at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

It's hard to believe the week went by so quickly, but it did.  I guess that's what happens when you've  got something going every day of the week. :)  Here are some highlights to our week!

Have I told you how much I love that we educate at home???  I looooove it.  On Saturday, Lizzy (12) and Connor (10) got out the National Geographic King Tut's Mask kit that we've had for ages.  It was nice to see them working together.  Lizzy was in charge of the mask and Connor took care of the the shabti--a kind of mini sarcophogus thing.  Not sure why Tut was made over to have pale blue eyeliner, but...well, there you go.  The freedom to do it their way, I guess. ;)

So, now Tut's mask is hung on the wall in the
"school" room (what should I call a former dining room that houses learning materials?), near the failed ziggurat and covering part of our cloud chart.  I couldn't find any push pins, so I resorted to hanging the mask over part of the chart!

In the evening, Drew (8) had two fall baseball games.  I stayed for the first game, but left for the second because the other kids wanted to go back home.  They played really well.  However, they lost the second game, which I think is the first game they've lost this fall despite playing against teams that are about two years older!

Sunday was the usual routine of Mass, CCD, and baseball.  Enough said about that.

On Monday, Julia (17) started work on this piece of geometric string art.  I found the instructions at Math Cat.  Since she has started the project, I have found a whole slew of interesting string art patterns--even earrings!  I know, it seems like of 70s...string art earrings.  But it's really cool how this tutorial shows that with just straight lines, you can create the illusion of curves!  Too cool.  I love this sort of geometry.  I hope that Julia shares this appreciation as well! Later that day we watched Sixteen Candles. Yes, Lizzy is still going through this 80's movies thing.  It has been a fun walk down memory lane for mom!

Tuesday continued with more of the string art and art class in the afternoon.  We didn't visit the park this week but nosed around Target instead.  We bought some cheap little window gels in fun fall/Halloweek shapes.  I think only a few of them have survived the week.  We also purchased some fall sprinkles, which looked like they'd be festive atop some baked treats.  Cate (7) also discovered her sister's old inline skates, so she has been wearing those around the house, learning how to maintain her balance.  She's doing pretty good, I think.  Connor figured out how to fix one of his fishing reels, so that got him pretty excited.  My shoulder was killing me, but I was lucky enough to get into the chiropractor in the late afternoon, which was blessed relief!

Wednesday was a slow sort of day.  Connor practiced guitar and has been pretty set on learning the basic chords I printed out for him.  Oh, how I love the internet for immediate resource gratification!  I just plugged "basic guitar chords" into Bing, came up with some images, and printed them out for him!  Awesome! :)  I had a doctor's appointment (new doctor, a holistic practitioner, yay!) for a physical and EKG.  The heart is fine, but I need to keep an eye on my blood pressure.  I will get the results from my blood draw on Monday and hopefully figure out what is going on with  this light-headedness.  I'm suspecting bouts of hypoglycemia (since starting Weight Watchers) which I hope to fix through figuring out just what sorts of things I need to eat to feel better. Blech.

Thursday, with its gray weather brought with it weather headaches, so I thought it would be a good idea to just chill and watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Later in the day, Lizzy and Cate made iron-on transfers of one of their favorite teen singers, Cody Simpson.  Lizzy had baked a cake the night before, using the fall sprinkles as decoration.  It was very colorful and very tasty (yes, I tested a very small piece).  She really enjoys baking, and I enjoy the fact that she can do it now with only minimal guidance from me.  Very cool.

 

Today, Friday, was a gorgeous day for a field trip to the Salt Festival at Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky.  Today was the school day event, so there were lots of buses and lots and lots of kids.  We planned on arriving a few hours after the start of the event and got there a little after 11am.  The field was filled with tents of all sorts, with people dressed as pioneer reenactors, folks selling crafts, jewelry, wooden toy weapons, etc.  We first encountered this gentleman who walked around fiddling.  I like his braided beard. :)

I had made the mistake of telling Drew that there was a herd of bison in the park, so while we were meandering around the tents and people, he kept pestering me to go see the bison.  I stood as firm as I could, since I knew some of the kids were actually interested in listening to and meeting some of the people there.

 

 

Connor had the pleasure of listening to a pioneer man talk about the three weapons he would use to defend himself on the Kentucky frontier: his war club, his tomahawk, and his gun.

Here he is showing his war club, which got passed around.

The guy with him shot off his "muzzle loader" rifle, which was really loud.  The tomahawk got passed around as well (it had a leather blade cover tied on it).  The tomahawk was surprisingly light.

Of course, the pièce de résistance was being able to actually handle the rifle.  Connor is our marksman in the making (thanks to his papaw), so he couldn't wait to get his hands on it!  Although it is heavier than the rifle he has used for target practice, he still had no trouble sighting it right. :)  He starts 4H Shooting Sports next week.  We're all excited about this new part of Connor's life, but I can bet we're not as excited as he is!

 

 

After we had had our fill of the festival (which really didn't have a whole lot to do about salt), we drove over to the part of the park where the bison herd is located.  After a bit of a walk, we found the herd (and a bunch of herds of school kids, lol).  We hung out for a while and got to learn a bit about bison from the ranger working there.  I was really pleased that Connor was eager to answer the questions that the ranger (naturalist?) asked of the group.

Here Connor (wearing #7) and AJ (3, red sweatshirt) are listening to the naturalist tell about the herd.

One of the bison cows got really close to the fencing.  And although the ranger/naturalist warned the group not to get too close to the fence, some didn't listen.  The result was the cow got a little huffy and kind of rammed the fence.  After that, people were a little more careful!  Anyway, what I thought was interesting was how this cow's horns were really worn down.  What look like ears in this photo are actually her horns.  I should've asked if they were worn down naturally or if she needed them taken down a bit because she has a tendency to get huffy!

 

And of course, no field trip would be complete without the obligatory group photo (notice Cate's Cody Simpson shirt)! Some of them don't look so enthused. This was taken outside the visitor's center, by the diorama of prehistoric animals that used to live in the area.  We topped off our visit by getting some trinkets at the gift shop.  Inside the visitor's center is a fossilized mammoth/mastadon skull.  We weren't too excited about it, since we've seen a similar one at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  We headed back home around 2pm and picked up some ice cream to enjoy once we got back.

This evening, I drove Liz out to the grandparents for her "only child weekend."  They've been wonderful, hosting each of our children for a weekend alone with them!  It has been great for the kids to get some one-on-one time with their grandparents and great-grandma.  I will probably see Liz tomorrow, as I'd like to get to the marching band competition that my neice and nephew are in.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Weekly wrap-up

Ah, I'm working ahead a little so that I don't forget to be a part of this week's Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

This summer I planned the year's schedule to include "mini-terms" which last about 5-6 weeks and then take a week's break.  My purpose in this was to avoid any "fizzling out", especially during the months of February and March, since those are good months for homeschool burnout.  Why would a relaxed homeschooler/borderline unschooler need a break every 6 weeks or so?  Hmmm...good question.  I guess, in part, it's to keep things fresh, to switch gears, to maintain an intentional approach to being with my kids.  I think it is easy for us to fall into a mode where we are all doing our own thing, and that sometimes leads us to be a little selfish with our time and/or resources.  The result in this household is bickering.  So, it's good for us to take a little break from the usual routine, get out and about, and put a stop to the selfishness and bickering.  This week was my "planned" break week, so we took our planned break.                                                                                                             

Monday was a lazy day at home. I don't remember anything notable, so I'm guessing nothing spectacular happened.  Our only regularly scheduled outing is on Tuesday afternoon, when my 17yo daughter goes to her art class.  During that time, I take the other kids to a nearby park to play, followed by a stop at a local gas station to buy drinks and snacks.  It's something they look forward to. This is an especially good thing for Drew (seen here), since he has bundles of energy that needs to get worked out.  I often wonder what people think when we're out and about during the middle of the day.  I mean, all the people at the park at that time were either moms or grandparents with preschool aged children or babies.  And here I am with my loud, energetic mob of school-aged kids!   The kids were really happy to see the same lady clerk at the gas station when we stopped for snacks.  She is always so pleasant and nice to the kids, especially for a young woman.  I hope we get to see her every Tuesday when we stop for snacks!

 

Wednesday morning was calm and sweet with my 7yo dd pulling the 1-2-3 Draw book off the shelf to draw a couple of things.  Then she took another book off the shelf that we got when we were in TN this summer.  It is a cute little book with magnetic words.  She did all the prepared pages and decided to move to the kitchen to dump all the words on the table.  Then she spend some time creating her own sentences (blurry cell phone picture).  I joined her when she asked me to listen to her read her creation.  Too fun!  Then she let me have a turn, playing with some rhyming words that I set apart.  It was a good time, even the 3yo joined in.  Around lunch time, the oldest girls and I watched Vivien Leigh in and old movie, Caesar and Cleopatra.  It was kind of corny, but I enjoyed hanging with my girls.  Later that afternoon I shared a great moment with my 8 year old son.  Just when I thought he wasn’t doing anything, or spending most of his time playing video games or watching TV, he surprised me with a question about Columbus Day and that led to about 15 minutes of discussing various things!  In giving a brief answer about Columbus and the “discovery” of America, I pulled out my trusty globe sitting in front of me on the desk.  I showed him the various routes some prominent explorers took. That led to discussing who we know from different continents and countries, how far they have to travel to see their friends and families, back to explorers and why they all seemed to live short lives.  That led to a discussion on how we have better access to medicine, clean water, and an abundant food supply. Back to the globe again and a question about if all the land masses on it are on the earth, which I said, yes…the globe is a representation of the earth.  That led to talking about how many planets there are and their names (as well as a song on YouTube). Then back to maps, finally looking at the map of the US in the dining room to see where Arlington, TX is. Why? “Because that’s where the Rangers are.” Of course. Baseball rules in this house!  We then took a trip to the video game store since he wanted to trade in some games and get a newer game to play with the money he got out of the bank.  On the way there, all of us in the van did some mental math, trying to figure out how many months old each of us was!  Great fun!

Thursday was another lazy kind of day.  My 12 year old daughter's first photography class has been postponed because they don't have enough students registered for the class.  If her class doesn't get cancelled, then this will be our other regular weekly event, though it will be taking place in the "after school" hours in the late afternoon. Since we spent much of the day not doing anything of much interest, and because there was some bickering going on, I decided to take the gang to another local park for a little nature walk. I had hoped that the Pawpaw trees were still bearing fruit, but we were too late.  This park has a great little nature trail, though, with lots of Pawpaw trees and usually some interesting fungi (we weren't disappointed, as evidenced by the giant puffball).  After our walk, we headed across the highway to the playground and pond.  A nice little break.  Once we got home, the 7 year old had a mini breakdown about not going to school like all her friends, which mainly happened because she was bored, not because she wants to go to school (she was waiting for her friends to finish their after school homework). She perked up when I got out the clay and showed her how to work it in her hands.  She created a little family of people, which we then baked in the oven.  Oh, how I really like Sculpey clay!

Friday, today...what a wonderful day, weather wise.  Another slow-to-start day with Cate working with the clay in the morning.  It was a day I thought would be perfect for fallish things, but it went downhill when I tried to do a leaf chromatography activity with the kids.  We tried the experiment two different ways (rubbing the leaf right on the filter and crushing the leaves in rubbing alcohol to make a solution).  Neither one yielded spectacular results, so I was majorly disappointed.  Perhaps we should try it again, really macerating the leaves and using acetone nail polish remover???  We did get results, but they are so faint that it is hard to distinguish between the different colors of green, yellow, and orange.

 

So, after the kids went back to doing their own thing for a while, I decided we should get out of the house once again.  We decided to go to Sharon Woods since we hadn't been there for a while.  Fortunately, I remembered to charge the camera and take it along, so Lizzy was able to get some photos.  The kids played for a bit on the playground, and then we went for a short walk to check out the bridges and the creek.

We stopped for snacks and drinks on our way back home and encountered yet another really cool store clerk.  Our total was $19.79 and I said, "That was a good year." The gentleman asked if the kids knew where he was in 1979 and then shared a little of his story.

Drew guessed that he was in California, and he was right!  He told us he was studying Marine Biology in order to teach that subject.  Then, he decided he didn't want to teach.  So, after years of work and business, etc. he is now going back to school to work on his PhD in Geology!  I would've loved to have talked more with him about how my brother studied geology in college and how it is the only science I remember from high school.  It just goes to show that you can't assume that just because someone is working in what seems like a dead-end job, that they are dead-end people.  Here was a guy working in a gas station who has a college degree or two and is pursuing another. 

I love when we encounter people who are willing to step outside themselves and share a little of their lives with strangers.  It makes our world more interesting.  My oldest daughter remarked, as we were getting in the car, "That was so awesome, how he talked with us like that!" So, thank you, Mr. gas station man...you made our day!

This weekend will be baseball, church school, and church.  Not sure what else we will do.  Possibly take in the play that the high school drama club is putting on, or perhaps just chill at home.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Growing Without Schooling

One of the pioneers in the homeschool movement in the US was John Holt.  Holt authored several books showing how children can be trusted to learn what they need to learn when they are ready for it.  This philosophy is one which drives most unschoolers today.

Recently, the Growing Without Schooling archived newsletters became available to read online for free.  These newsletters were among the first lines of support for home educators who started out in the 70s and 80s.  The newsletter was published through 2001, I believe.

As I was perusing the GWS archives last night, I came across some helpful publications that are also available to read online for free as well.  The first is" Teenage Homeschoolers: College or Not?", the transcript of a speech given by Pat Farenga.  The other is "Unschooling Math", which outlines how some unschoolers have learned math in "unconventional ways."

It's good to think "outside the box" every once in a while.  :)

Enjoy!

Another Week in Review

The weeks are just flying by...it's hard to believe we're already in October!

So, let's see, we started last week by our regular Sunday routine: Mass, "church school", and whatever else.  It should have been baseball,  but the double header game that was scheduled was canceled.  The girls and I went to see Julius Caesar, which I posted about last week.

Monday was back to the grind with assignment sheets written out for the older kids, as well as the younger kids getting back to writing their Christmas lists.  Lots of good fun there.  Tuesday was Julia's art lesson and taking the kids to the park while we waited for her lesson to be over.  I went to the library that night and picked up some books relating to homeschooling, high school, and college.  I also picked up a few books to "strew" for Julia, in particular March: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks. This novel tells the parallel story of Mr. March, the father of March girls from the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  She was happy I remembered her saying something about it and has been reading it happily.  I also picked up a biography on LMA and a couple of Jane Austen-related reads, in case Julia is interested in going in that direction again.

Wednesday I was hit with a cold, so I decided to lay low for most of the day.  I was kind of glad I went to the library the night before, so I could just sit and read.  I was also glad the girls had their assignment sheets to work from.  Thursday I was still feeling kind of icky (though not sneezing all day long), so I planted myself in the recliner again, and things went on around me as usual.  By Thursday evening, I was feeling much better, so I went next door to a jewelry party my neighbor was having while the girls held down the fort. :)

Friday we decided to just scrap any work plans and just hung out. Saturday Connor sold some video games to buy a new-to-him previously owned one.  He had counted out all his change beforehand so he knew how much cash he had to work with.  Once he sold the games and got store credit, it turned out he only needed to spend the two paper dollars he had and a little bit of change.  I was kind of grateful he didn't have to go about counting out his change on the counter! :) Drew had a baseball game Saturday night, but I decided to stay home with the little ones.  It was so cold and I was afraid my ears would succumb to the congestion in my head and I'd wind up with an infection.

Yesterday, Sunday, was our whole routine over again.  I co-teach the three-year-old class at our parish and our more experienced lead teacher wasn't there.  We thankfully have a teen helper, plus the lead teacher's daughter stayed to help out as well.  Three of the children wanted to be with their parents, so we were busy comforting them for the first 15 minutes of class.  Needless to say, I was a little stressed.  However, once we got busy with songs and stories, they calmed down and joined in the fun. 

And that brings us back to today, which was another non-work day...I guess you could say we had a 4-day weekend! :) 

Unschooling Moments

All days in our house are usually pretty relaxed. Last week we were a little more relaxed than usual, so much so, that the oldest girls asked for assignments to be written down for them again. Silly me, I thought they'd prefer choosing how much to do, but instead I think it left them feeling a little bit clueless. :\

So, today started back with Julia working from her assignment sheet of chosen topics (Latin, math, reading for history and chemistry, starting a chemistry project--at left).  Lizzy didn't get up until after noon because she has started coming down with a cold and wanted to rest.  She still worked from her list and then settled in to watch a movie that came in the mail from Netflix. (She is big into 80s movies right now and really likes Patrick Dempsey!)

After getting their fill of playing on Toontown, the younger kids all decided that they needed to make the upstairs bonus room more wide open to play in.  They set to cleaning up and moving around furniture.  They also agreed among themselves that Monday would be their cleaning day and that anyone who made a mess was responsible for picking up after themselves!  Lots of practical life skills going on with that whole project.

After lunch I took some of the kids to the bank and grocery store.  Julia and I discussed some Austen-esque things (books and movies), sparked by her comment that she researched after watching "Lost in Austen" that Pemberley is not a real estate in England (we both wondered after watching the movie).  This then led to talking about "fan fiction" and how Julia's writing has changed over the years.  

She deposited her birthday check into her savings and decided she wanted to get some cash to spend on herself, so she completed that transaction.  We shopped for groceries and discussed various shopping and nutrition related things while shopping.  Drew brought along his own money to spend, so he covered some mental math while figuring out if he had enough to buy the things he wanted (plus tax!).  After grocery shopping, Julia asked to go to GameStop to check out some Wii games.  She wound up buying a Mario game while we waited in the van for her.

Once we got home, the kids gathered upstairs to watch Julia's new game.  A few of the kids decided to discuss Christmas lists, which inspired them to get to writing things down on paper.  Lots of internet research, reading, writing, and math going on there!

That's just a snippet of our day which shows that learning happens all the time...not just when the books are open!

Et Tu Brute?

Pardon the fuzzy photos, taken with my cell phone around dusk.

Sunday night Julia, Lizzy, and I went to watch Julius Caesar, performed at Keehner Park in West Chester.  It was the last performance for their summer "Shakespeare in the Park" tour.  We all enjoyed the performance and our favorite actors in the play were the guy who played Caesar, the guy who played Antony, and the gal who played the Soothsayer.  Each actor played several different rolls, both big and small.  It sprinkled just a tiny bit before intermission.  Then, about five minutes into the next act after intermission, it sprinkled a little more heavily.  It was heavy enough to clear out about 75% of the crowd.  They even put the play on rain delay for about 10 minutes. 

Here are my two girls who were a bit reluctant to have their picture taken.  Yes, Lizzy was most reluctant.  At least Julia cracked a smile.

Once the play started up again, we moved out from under the shelter (we originally started out at the top of the audience seating area, then moved when it was raining).  It was much more enjoyable being closer up.  Plus, we didn't have to listen to the rudeness of other attendees close by.  Everyone who was there after the rain really wanted to be there.

 

We were left questioning if their in-house productions make a bigger deal of sets and costumes.  Not that the sparse set and costuming took anything away from the free show, but they didn't add anything to it either! Perhaps we'll have to pay for a show and find out sometime in the future! :)