The Revolution will not be danced!

 That was the title of the dance piece that my son choreographed taught to 11 other dancers and performed himself at college.  At  almost 12 minutes it was the  longest piece in the evening performances. They had asked that he shorten it to 10 minutes.  He refused and said that if he had to shorten it he might as well not perform it.  They looked at the outline of the piece and let him keep it at that.  The piece is about racial injustice and is very emotionally hard hitting--especially for a mom watching her son portray himself from the afterlife after being a victim of racial brutality.  Luckily, I knew what the theme of the piece was and what he was trying to get across.

What I did not expect was the maturity of what he created.  It's not just a proud momma here.  It was the best piece that night.  Both nights his was the piece that got a standing ovation.  His narrative was clear, the choreography was excellent as was his use of the stage.  He trained his dancers well--and boy his dancing has also reached new levels. He had mixed his own music, chosen the cues for the lighting tech team, and helped his team of dancers build props.   Is it weird to cry tears of joy while also knowing part of the tears are from the fear that I feel for all my kids when they are out in the world and I am not there with them?

His local dance teacher who started him on this journey at age 5 came to see it as did 4 other people from our city dance school.  My wife and I and his sister were there.  On the previous night good friends from church drove out to see it. 

He has been told by several instructors that he should enter the piece in several festivals that are upcoming.  He is thinking he may indeed do that. Today when I drove him back to school after a short home visit, he said that he has always known he wanted dance to be his career but wasn't sure what that could look like.  Now, at this moment, he said he wants to be a "dance storyteller."  I can see that in a lot of different scenarios.  For instance, working with kids and helping them dance out their traumas.  Creating dance stories for different life situations, dancing out news stories for social justice programs.  It could literally be anything, and of course right now, he does not have to pin that down.

He has been asked to teach a hip hop workshop this month at college for the dance club that is on campus. He has been hired to dance in another students division three project, truly he is growing so fast as a person and an artist that it is hard to keep up with it all. Our home schooler is thriving there.

Easter is the end of the month and while for our house hold that is not a religious holiday in the way it is for my Christian friends, we honor the rebirth of life and the onset of spring. I asked him to invite home any friends who might want to come for dinner.  So far we will have 5 friends plus the 6 of us plus my mom.  I am thinking a buffet style meal and have asked him to find out people's favorite foods so we can be sure that there is at least one thing everyone likes available to them!

Recital 2022!

 Yesterday was recital.  And prom.  A double header of emotional exhaustion and fun for our family.  This guy in the center played Aladdin in the recital production which is both theater and dance.  To say he shone would be an understatement. Yes, I am biased.  But he is so good at this.  It leaves me with my jaw hanging down.  The combination of theater and the dance.  It is so fun to watch and so so good.  This was a big year.  The school almost closed; a combination of the pandemic and a tragedy in the owners life.  But the love that KC and his class have for her was a big part of what made her hold on and try to rebuild.  They would literally do anything for her. He has danced there since he was 5 and he is now 18.  He dances all disciplines.  He taught a boys hip hop class-a first for the school.  He choreographed two duets for himself, one with the young woman who plays Jasmine and one with the young woman who played the genie.  They were fabulous and showed a lot of maturity in his craft.  The lovely young lady to the left in this shot is his sister Elisabeth. She too, has grown so much in her dance abilities this year. 

From the high of the performance it was home to scramble around and get ready for senior prom. Most readers know that we are homeschoolers.  Homeschoolers constantly get the question "but how do you socialize."  Well, fear not!  This guy was taken to prom by not one but TWO lovely young ladies.  I am not posting their picture as I don't have the ladies's permission but they looked amazing.  One wore white, one work black and KC wore both!  They have been friends for years and had a wonderful night together.  More dancing and he was exhausted when he got home.  

Today is a Youth Group party to say farewell to an Indonesian exchange student who has been part of the group this year.  To say this was an emotion packed weekend would be an understatement!

Nearly 16!

In April, KC turns 16.  He is such a busy guy, embracing life fully and chasing his dreams.  In addition to homeschooling, he works part time at  a local market and at the dance school.  He volunteers in one of the classrooms at church fairly regularly and attends youth group weekly.  And he dances.  4 nights a week, and more as the march towards recital begins.  He has a leading role as The Beast in Beauty and the Beast and is extremely excited.

Since December I have been asking him how he sees himself celebrating 16  It's a milestone birthday and I would expect that he might want a bit more than a family birthday party.  He said he had been making a list of people he wanted to invite. He was up to 43 people.  Note to self:  Produce list of friends the next time someone makes that "socialization" comment about homeschoolers!  I said we could do that if we rent a hall (or the function room at church) and bring music and food.

So that was an option.  But I think he became a little concerned that he wasn't quite ready to host that much on his own.  (obviously we would be there but there is more involvement in making sure one's guests are having fun.)

I checked in again in January.  He had a couple of experience oriented venues that appealed to him but were far beyond our price point for the number of people he wanted to invite.  Today he came to me and said if he trimmed the list to 25 people could he do a dinner at a restaurant.  That feels "grown up" to him and he feels all his friends (who are diverse and who don't all know each other) would get along and enjoy a meal together.


So that is the plan---now to get him to pin down a date.  This requires checking rehearsal schedules with his dance school!

Mellow post yoga posting

Today was back to work but in some ways I still feel slightly like I am in vacation mode.  The dance school and Scouts don't resume until next week, so re-entry was definately easier than it would be otherwise.  Homeschool work got done quickly; I have a boat load of work at my job but I always do.  I can go in early tomorrow and whack down a fair bit of that. 

Because there was no taxi service needed from me to get kids to and from dance tonight I was able to take an evening yoga class.  Hopefully in February my instructor will start Saturday classes again. Those are my favorite as i enjoy starting the day with the practice.  But for now, she has evening ones in a new location that is super convenient to my house.  So I will normally go on Monday evenings but took advantage of the free night tonight for a class. 

It is different doing yoga at night.  Opening my eyes after the final meditation to find the studio essentially in full darkness is a new experience for me.  But I am so glad that her studio has reopened and that yoga can once more be part of my life on a weekly basis.  I know people do yoga in solitary practice at home.  I have a great mat.  But I don't have great body sense and can not tell if my body is properly aligned. Since I have scoliosis it is important that someone see when I am rounding a back that should be straight or listing to the leeward when I think I am straight and tall. LOL

What I do at home is my on line exercise program which is great for calorie burn and cardio.  Exercise and keeping my body supple and fit remains important to me.  It helps that I enjoy it too!  It releases stress and keeps me more mellow.

I didn't make official resolutions this year, but I am making an effort to be more intentional about doing things that are good for me--whether that is emotionally good or physically good.  I think as parents many of us get so used to putting the kids first that the habit of self care is easily lost.  I don't need days at a spa, I just need a bit of time each day to move my body and/or enrich my mind.

This has been sort of a work in progress resolution over the past several years.  The first thing that I made a priority was to do more pleasure reading. Several years ago I realized that all my reading was either for work or for homeschooling.  I have made reading goals for several years on Goodreads and last year read almost 50 books.  It is fun to keep track of my progress and it is fun to find new authors.  I am a total Kindle lover.  Being able to down load a book from the on line library is the best thing that ever happened to this busy mom!  So this year, I hope you all find something that you enjoy doing, that makes your spirit sing, or heals a tired soul.

The Value of LIfe

So I am reeling a bit here.  I mentioned the Hart family murders in the previous blog post.  In the town just next to me yesterday a 6 year old girl was killed by her parents and her 9 year old brother injured by them as well.  A few towns over, an infant was killed. 

I can't imagine how or why these things happen.  I really believe life is sacred.  I don't really mean that in the religious sense.  I am a UU and a pagan.  My religious beliefs are probably pretty much outside the main stream.  However trusty dictionary.com defines sacred thus:

secured against violation, infringement, etc., as by reverence or sense of right:
properly immune from violence, interference, etc., as a person or office.

That sums it up pretty neatly for me.  Children deserve always to be immune from violence, to be protected and safe, to have the possibility that is every young life viewed with reverence.

Somehow we have lost that as a society.  It spreads across all demographics, all levels of social class.  As we gathered to begin celebrating my youngest son's 14th birthday I was mindful that there is a child the next town over that will never turn 7. Everytime violence is perpetuated against a child people try to make sense of it.  In the case of the Hart family much has been written about their adoptive family status, the fact that they were homeschoolers,the fact that they were a same sex marriage.  The abuse and murder in my area was by biological parents,though apparently also homeschoolers.

I watched my kids laugh and celebrate this weekend.  I gathered with friends and had the joy of holding and feeding their new baby while we visited and chatted.  These times fill me with peace, with hope, with joy.

I think as a society when we lose those feelings, when we stop valuing the youngest and oldest among us, we are truly in dark, and scary times.

Adapting to Fall schedules

Although fall has seen a real ramp up of our schedules I have counted myself lucky as things seemed to start in a staggered way.  Rob's first week of school was only 2 days and homeschooling that week was only 4 days due to the Labor Day.  The second week he had his regular 3 days of classes and we added Girl Scouts.  Next week, we will add 2 of the three dance nights and church school.The week after that will have everything full time.

It is sort of crazed--my google calendar and our home wall calendar are color coded so I don't forget who needs to go where and when. But it is  good.  We are adapting, week by week.

This weekend we have our last camp out. It is a gathering of our church friends and family at a conference center in Maine.  I tent there because it is less expensive than the dorms and because it allows Chet a quiet space to be if the excitement of so many people begins to spiral him out of control. It isn't really "camping" per se as we just sleep in the tent but it is a lot of fun and we all look forward to it.

It will be cold and it might rain, but we don't care. We will have fun and then regretfully will pack away our gear for the last time.  Fall is really truly here when the tent gets stored!

Improving Spaces

The big reveal!  Or at least an attempt at it!  The work room we just renovated is pretty large and oddly sized so it is hard to figure out how to best take pictures.  The room is sort of in 'zones.'  Above is the craft zone. This is an old particle board armoire that K and I used to use for clothing about 15 years back.  With wire shelving and painted the same cheery red as our front hall, it is a great way to store the craft supplies. There are bins that were repurposed from a toy storage set up that the kids no longer use and two bulletin boards were added to the side.

 In the second shot you can see "my" zone.  I finally have a really functional computer center.  I have two lovely shelves (also in the same cheery red to carry the color punch through the room.  These are mounted on a door we do not ever open.  In a les cost concious world we would remove the door and dry wall it but this is the save a penny version not "This old house!" LOL  Everything I need for correspondence and bill paying and filing is at my fingertips and it is so so easy to keep neat.  Behind my area starts the homeschool area with the big bulleten board for kid art.

 This shot gives a good view of the color we painted the paneling.  I call it barely yellow, but the color on the can says "full moon."  It is such a wonderful change from the totally dark floor to ceiling paneling we had before.It is scrubbable paint and it also covered the paneling beautifully with just two coats and a coat of primer. We did not fill in the grooves of the paneling and the result is somewhat reminiscent of bead board.  In the corner is a bookcase we got surprisingly inexpensively and it stores all the homeschool curriculums for the kids. On top of it are 3 red knick knacks that we grouped there (things we all ready owned just relocated) to carry the accent color through the room.

KC's "new" homeschool desk.  This was my desk growing up so truly the only new thing here is that it is new to him and the light on it.  Lighting is still wonky in this room, so table lamps are important. The cool thing about this light (aside from the fact that it was not expensive) is that it also has a built in pencil holder.

I did not take a picture of the piece work area, which is also newly organized and takes up a smaller portion of the room.  I think that it probably always could have but we did not realize it.  Originally when we started doing piece work in this room, we had to have baby gates up to keep the littles safe. The gates came down a few years ago but it did not occur to us to look at the space in any way other than the way we had been using it before.  At some point (tax return time?)  I am looking to purchase a small laptop table for my wife. They are very inexpensive and I would also like a small but comfy chair for when we are teaching or reading to the kids.  I also have plans to repaint a few wooden tv tables that we have (have not exactly decided how yet) and use them as end tables. They would be helpful but easily folded up if the room needed more space for the piece work at a given time.

School Days!

Yesterday we started homeschooling for this year.  KC woke up extra early and came bombing down the stairs while I was on the computer. YAY!  I start grade 3 today, he said proudly.  He is an avid learner and a kid who can unschool very successfully.  For instance, this summer he decided he felt like doing a report on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  He had me help him find his resources and went to town.  He has also worked on teaching himself some of cursive writing so when K went to start that class withhim he was ahead of the game there as well.

Rob is easing into homeschooling, doing 3 of his classes and not adding the rest till we return from our Labor Day weekend camping trip.  He is not loving the start of school--at least allegedly, but most of that I think is teen posturing as he did the work well and without complaint.

Lissa technically does not need to officially school yet as she is kindergarten aged.  However she has time to practice writing her letters, some math with me and some reading with me.  I have been worried about teaching her to read.  KC essentially taught himself.  At about 4.  Lissa has more issues understanding letter sounds and with retention of sight words.  I have been stressing a bit over the fact that she seemed to have that challenge and also zero interest in the written word.  She loves being read to, but has never been one to  "read" a story to her toys for instance.  KC did that all.the.time.  However, I found that the old chestnut of Dick and Jane appeal to her. They are "chapter" books which has a certain cachet to her.  They are repetitive so that she is memorizing the sight words.  She has improved markedly and so school is going very well here so far!

High Summer but I'm thinking Home Schoolin'!

We're eating fresh local corn and our tomatos are starting to ripen in our garden.  The days are long and lots of them are hot. I am loving every minute of it.  But there are signs.  Signs that the wheel is turning and that inevitably, fall will be arriving.

First, there is Fantasy Football trash talk in our house!  Rob and I compete against each other in the NFL Fantasy football. We never wind up in the same league so it isn't exactly apples to apples anyway, but it makes fall a lot of fun.  My "draft" is tonight at 8:30  His is on Monday night.  We have been researching our players, sharing notes, talking about who is on our "excluded" lists etc

And then there is homeschooling preparations.  I decided that I was unhappy with the English Lit curriculums I could find and I have decided to do what I did for Chet--build my own curriculum.  Last night I chose the books that I will work our year around.  I have classics--The Scarlet Letter and Grapes of Wrath  Both of these will be if not interesting reads for Rob per se, interesting in looking at societal issues that are key to these works.   I have several plays, Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun.. I have fantasy and sci fi :  Dragonsong  and Farenheit 451.  I have books written by African Americans, Black Boy  and I Know why the Caged Bird Sings.     I have books from a list specifically geared toward high school males, Feed  which I have not read and Sunrise over Fallujah  which I have also not read.  There are others too, but it was so much fun cherry picking books.  A book is a treasure to read and an even bigger treasure to share.  I am looking forward to lots of sharing this year.

The Theater comes to the monkey bars!

Monday night I was doing Lissa'a hair after shower and she suddenly burst into hysterical tears.  I could not understand her through the sobs but it was something about camp and not wanting to go.  I finally got her calm enough to tell me what was up and she said there was a play and she had a part and she did not want to be in it.

I promised that K would check on this before she dropped her off at camp and that we would make sure that she was not in the play. We had signed her up for playground camp, not theater camp and we knew she did not want to be in a play. Right now Lissa has a strong aversion to performing in front of people.  She does make an exception for dance class (I gave her the opt out clause for recital but she said she can and will do the recital) but in general she hates feeling on display.

K talked to the camp counselor and came home and called me at work and said the skit was last week and not to worry.  Lissa came home yesterday with a notice from the camp staff. The entire recreation dept is combining with the theater camp to put on a production of 101 Dalmations which will be performed at City Hall next month. This would allow every child to experience the wonders of theater camp.  And Lissa had a part.  For real?  Do these people have ears?????

I think the theater is wonderful. I think exposing kids to it is great.  Mine are going to see Mary Poppins the musical in September.  But I believe in children doing things when they are ready for them.  It is a big part of why I homeschool.  Lissa does not want this and emotionally, she is not ready for it. Sigh.  I can see that today a phone call is in order!

Socializing and Mice

Yesterday was a busy day.  Usual errands in the a.m. followed by a visit from my SIL from 11 to 2:30.  Then a bit after 3 we had to head out to a BBQ.  KC and Lissa used to go to this really neat music program and their teacher Mike was throwing the BBQ  Mike presently lives in China with his new wife and baby A.  They come back once a year and spend a month or so with Mike's folks and the BBQ was their last chance to gather with family and friends before they head back to China in two days.  Mike invited us because KC emails him every other moth or so with questions about what life is like in China.  (have you seen pandas?  do you do tai chi? do you have noodles for breakfast?)  Mike loves the questions and said he would invite us to the BBQ  In one of those odd 6 degrees of separation things, Mike's dad is someone I know very well from work.  Mike also was the person who recommended Rob's piano teacher to me, so I told Rob that Joe would likely be there as well.  However, we went to this knowing that we would likely only know those 2 or 3 people.

Truthfully that would never bother me. I can and do talk with anyone.  What impressed me is that the kids did great.  There was a bounce house and a lot of other kids and the littles played very happily with everyone for more than 2 hours.  Rob stayed close by me but did talk with people.  I used to get the "s" word thrown at me a lot when we began homeschooling.  Like somehow this was going to make my kids freaky fearful little folk that would not have a friend in the big wide world or a clue as to how to make one. 

I think in a lot of ways it has worked just the opposite.  I am not sure that KC would have a lot of friends in public school. Although he is a loving and gregarious little boy, he loves things that are atypical in our society.  Sparkly dress up stuff for imaginative play.  Ballet.  Yes he also loves to break dance and play baseball but I know that he would have issues if he shared the less traditional interests on the playground.

 Rob also shows more assurance and has a great abiility to start and maintain peer relationships.  Last Thursday he was late coming home from the park.  After 15 minutes I had gotten in the van to go check on him.  (mostly because I know he does try out bike tricks and I didn't want to wonder if he was lying there with a broken ankle!)  I saw him walking home with a friend. He was pushing his bike so that they could walk together and they were engaged in an obviously happy and animated discussion. I just turned a corner and headed home on a different street so as not to embarrass him.  Rob apologized for the late return when he came in and said he and  his friend had gotten involved in talking about trading cards.

So I don't worry too much about socialization anymore!  LOL

Later in the evening the kids were having popsicles in the backyard and KC came flying in the house to tell me that Blake had caught a mouse.  Blake is the DOG!  A Brittany Spaniel.  A BIRD dog!  From a champion bloodline if we want to get down to it.  But Blake?  He wants to be a cat!  And he had indeed caught a mouse.  I guess the whole dang family marches to their own drummer don't they?

Ni Hao!

My son Rob's Facebook account says that he speaks Chinese.  I cracked up the day I read this and asked him what Chinese he knew.  He knew three phrases from a kids cartoon. LOL  I laughed, he laughed, and I forgot about it.  But apparently a nugget of interest in a language was growing.

Recently he requested "Chinese for Dummies" an audio CD set, from our local library.  He has been listening to them, making his own Chinese to English dictionary. . . and teaching the words to KC.  I could hear them practicing last night while I was sitting in the bathroom doing Elisabeth's hair.  For me it was such a magical moment. 

One of the reasons I homeschool is that i want my kids to know not just the basics but to love learning. To be inquisitive and to take the time to explore the things that interest them.  I have always felt unsure about Rob.  He has not really evidenced a great desire to learn anything other than sports stats (which have become a big part of mathmatical learning) so I was just gleeful to hear this.

Of Compound Words and Suffixes

KC and Rob tend to not give up schooling even when the school year is really over.  And while part of me longs for a bit of respite, most of me sees huge benefits to them.  Without a certain amount of structured time, all my kids become a bit rudderless and more likely to have behavioral problems. For them there is a fine line between enough "down time" to feel relaxed and to foster creativity and having too much which leads to spiralling into negative behaviors.

So we are in "homeschool lite" mode for the summer which means about an hour or so of schooling daily with rotating subjects.  Most recently, KC has felt drawn to working on his language skills.  This past week the concept of compound words and suffixes were introduced.  To help him have a better grasp of them, I used his artistic skills. For suffixes, I drew a picture of a little bi plane.  It was pulling a banner with the suffix 'ing' on it and "fly" was on the body of the plane.  He colored it in and then thought up other words to make with suffixes.

Compound words were harder for him to understand. So I had him draw a picture of himself, Rob and Lissa.  Then on his shirt he wrote "every" a plus sign on Rob and "one" on Lissa.  Then below them the full word without the plus sign.

It was fun, even for a slightly fried teacher! LOL

Homeschooling Happiness

There are days when the title of this post does not match my personal feelings.  I am typically teaching high school algebra and first grade math by 7 a.m.  That would be while I do the breakfast dishes, make Chet's lunch and get ready for work.  Yup, all about multi-tasking! LOL  Then I move on to high school English and pass KC off to K who does all his other classes.

So by May I am soooooo ready for a break.  Yup, it is the homeschool teacher who starts humming "no more teachers, no more books. . . "  Then Teach realizes that it is the last day of May which is the last day of the sale at Oak Meadow where we buy our curriculum.  Teach hurriedly confers with associate Teach and with High Schooler on electives and orders curriculum.

Because Oak Meadow ships remarkably quickly on June 1st the new curriculum arrives.  And after supper, the kids beg to open the box and see what the new school year holds.  We do, and they ooh and ah over literature options, craft supplies, new recorder music and even math. LOL And then they utter these words. . .

"When can we start?"

And that makes my heart sing. Because I always want my kids to want to learn. To love learning.

Homeschooling KC

I love homeschooling.  It is a good thing, because the schools in my community are over crowded, over burdened and fundamentally incapable of effectively teaching  children who have different needs.  Different learning styles?  So what, they have to teach to the test and to the myth of "no child left behind." 

But this post was not really intended as a rant.  It was more about how fascinating it is to me to watch how differently kids learn.  Now I think I have mentioned before that in many ways KC is an easy kid to teach.  He taught himself how to write.  He essentially taught himself how to read.  I take credit for reading tons of books to him and playing with squishy letters on the floor when he was a baby. The rest of the credit pretty much goes to him. 

He is great at math, he wants to "get" stuff, so he will make himself practice as a general rule. He loves science and poetry.  And since he reads above grade level, I thought spelling would be a cinch.  Hear that sound of screeching brakes?  That would be the educational train de-railing!  LOL  That's right, my son who can read and comprehend a good  year or two above his school grade is the.worst.speller. on.the.planet. 

The first week we did spelling words we gave him 10 words.  Age appropriate first grader words.  We practiced them with copying, finding them in word searches, filling the correct word into a sentence.  He did all of those things wonderfully.  And wrote 8 of them incorrectly on the first quiz. 

Thankfully the other benefit of homeschooling is that such a situation doesn't carry social stigma.   But Kirsty and I spent plenty of time figuring out how we could teach spelling words differently.  KC is a chatterbox so I decided to have him also spell them orally to me in the mornings, and to say them aloud as he wrote them. This improved things greatly.  Quiz scores became about 80 to 85 per cent accurate.  We have a "train" of the words that he has correctly spelled in railroad cars going around the top of our dining room and there are steadily getting to be more box cars on the train. 

However though this was better than average, and definately better than where we started, we continued to hunt for the holy grail of successful spelling.  Kirsty hit upon it one morning as he was struggling to remember how to spell  "table." T-A-B-L-E she sang as she walked through the dining room.  He sang it back, swaying a little with his body as he did.  Ever since, we sing the words that are hard to him.  He loves music and it resonates for him in a way that nothing else seems to.  I noticed today when he did his quiz that the two words that were hard for him this week he sang softly to himself as he wrote them. The others, he could just say and write.  And his quizzes have all been 100 per cent correct since we did it this way!

Book Reviews

So I don't really read as much "big people" literature as I would like at this point in my life.  I do read more than I did 2  to 3 years ago, way less than I did 5 years ago. But life is a continuim.  I will have more time for this at other points in my life.

What I do read a lot of is kids books.  For obvious reasons. LOL  And I have decided that I don't need to apologize for that.  I am going to embrace it.  Because I love reading to and with my kids.  I love sharing the magic of the written (and spoken) word with them.  Each week, between my 4 kids we haul away about 30 books from our public library.  And they are generally all consumed within a week.  Yes, consumed.  Like the necessary food for the spirit that they are.

Of late, we have found some truly exciting reads.  So for no particular reason other than my love of these books I share some titles:

Skulduggery Pleasant   This is a middle school book series about a skeleton detective. (yes you read that correctly) and his young female human assistant.  They are very busy saving the world and the universe from all manner of evils.  It is witty and enjoyable to read even if you are an adult.  There are 4 books in the series.  We just ordered book 4 tonite on line through Amazon as Barnes and Noble did not have it and none of the libraries that we have borrowing rights to had a copy.

The Rangers Apprentice Series  Another good middle school and up series.  Rob and I read these aloud at night and are eagerly awaiting the next book.  The author lives in Australia.  He has a special place in my heart because as a homeschool project I had Rob write to him a few years ago and explain what he liked about the books.  John Flannagan wrote back!  Rob still has the letter. The series is about an orphaned boy in a medievil-ish sort of time who learns to be a Ranger.  Rangers are sort of the king's "special forces" and they help out in all sorts of escapades through out the kingdom of Aruleun and beyond. I loved that the book inadvertantly brought home that people who love you are not always related by blood and the idea of working hard to become good at something that you really believed in.

The Chiru of Tibet  Until a couple nights ago I don't think I knew about the Chiru. They are amazing creatures that live (duh) in Tibet. Their fur is extremely warm, but in order to get the fur the chiru must be killed. They can not be shorn like sheep because Tibet is so cold they would die if you shaved them.  This is the true story of a man's effort to document the secret breeding grounds that the chiru have visited for ages so that this could become a protected area. There is a beautiful rhythm to the language used in the story and there are pictures in the back of the real people involved.  Real is very exciting to 6 year old boys!

The Art and Science of a snowflake  Here in our corner of New England we haven't really had a big snow yet.  (I think that will change soon) But snowflakes have always fascinated us all.  My kids make paper snowflakes in such quantities that you usually can't see out our windows in winter because of the white lacey beauties that adorn them.  This book is written by a scientist who takes pictures of actual snowflakes through a microscope.  The pictures are truly stunning, especially when he puts colored lights behind them and takes a shot.  There are clear explanations of the actual ways that snowflakes develop.  I don't think KC got all of that data, but he understood enough to be entranced.

Planning for busy

This week has  a fair number of appointments which we adults find exhausting but at least it gets the majority of them done really compactly.  Tomorrow Rob has his ocular pressure check.  I am always nervous about these.  We have been blessed to be able to control the glaucoma with only drops for many years now and I always worry at the back of my mind that something more invasive will eventually have to happen.  After his eye appointment, K is taking the gang into the Big City to the aquarium.  We bought a membership when we went this summer as it would allow multiple visits for our large family for less than the price of a day pass.  This is also a great carrot to hold out to KC and Lissa who are stuck sitting in the doctors office watching their brothers eyes dilate!

Wednesday, we have 3 dental cleanings, back to back.  Oddly enough my children adore going to the dentist.  I am really dentist phobic due to some hideous experiences in my youth.  I go, but never with a happy smile on my face and joy in my heart! My kids make pictures for the dentist, cookies for the dentist, can't wait to pick out their new toothbrush from the dentist.   Clearly I am being a good parent and requiring that they develop their own phobias and not take the lazy way out and piggy back on mine!  LOL

Rob had a great time at the hockey game last night.  He told me there were several "good fights"  with a big grin on his face.  He knows that is my beef with hockey; that violence is not just condoned but almost expected.  I don't mind that he went, and I understand the teen boy mindset, I just look at it differently and figure its good that 2 people who are positive influences in his life express divergent opinions.  (his godfather and myself)  He is of an age where he has to start making some choices on his own and I know that doing that is really stepping out of his comfort zone.  I wasn't like that; I was making my own choices from a very early age.  But he needs baby steps and I am all right with that.

Representing on the homeschool front!

It is funny, I just wrote on someone else's blog the other day that I don't get a lot of static over homeschooling anymore.  In many ways, it is more mainstream and less "weird" in the eyes of the larger society.  No longer the sole province of jumper wearing, Bible verse spouting moms, I know so many more homeschoolers now than back 10 or 15 years ago when I was schooling Chet.  The times as they say, are changing.  (and I need to add a disclaimer that I harbor no ill will against the jumper wearing women mentioned above)  I haven't been asked about socialization in years.  I haven't been asked about curriculum unless it was by another homeschooler who wanted to compare notes.  I just haven't been questioned.

Today my kids were invited to a friends Halloween play date.  I brought the 3 youngest.  Though Rob is by far beyond the age of the play group, he isn't really good being left home.  My personal theory is that his PTSD issues surrounding trauma and abandonment kick in and they invariablely lead him to make poor choices.  So I just bring him where ever I go and he never ever complains.  Every few months, I try a few minutes at home with just him and Chet. Thus far, I still am getting proof that this is not something he is handling well.  But I am waaaaaay off topic.

My friend's mom was there, and as luck would have it, she is a retired public school teacher.   She sat down next to KC and asked him how old he was.  He happily replied that he was 6 1/2 

"Oh, you must be in first grade then!  I used to teach first grade."  (oh sweet goddess I think to myself) 

"Yes, but I go to homeschool," he answers.

(pause) " Ah,  . . . homeschool.   Well, have you learned to read a little bit."

"Oh yes!  I all ready know how to read!"  (I bit my tongue bloody to not interject that he has read 7 Magic Treehouse books all ready.

"Um, I see.  . . . (another pause)  Well can you do a little math?" 

KC actually grins.  "I love math!  I can add and count to 100"

"OH!"  (genuine surprise)  "Well then what is your favorite class?"

"That's easy, I LOVE playing the recorder!"

Meanwhile piano music was wafting out from my friends living room.

"Who is playing the piano?"  someone asked.

The answer was Robbie, who has been studying piano only since September.  Yup, I guess we represented!  LOL

I am weird!

Actually I almost typed my title line wrong.  My fingers hit the keys "wired" instead of "weird" and since I have NOT had coffee yet ,I can but long for the feeling of the typo.  LOL  But weird was really what I meant.

I have a strange age breakup in my friends, because we really have 2 generations of kids in our family.  The folks I became friends with when Chet was little have kids all grown up, sometimes grandkids and definately lots of empty nester type things going on.  I am still friends with them but I sort of feel a disconnect from them--and I am sure they feel likewise about me.

Then there are the folks I became friends with when Rob, KC and Lissa came into our lives.  They are all younger than I and we don't match age wise but we share the same interests, challenges and joys of parenting. In many many ways we mesh really well.  But there are some disconnects here too.  It may actually be a function of the fact that age wise I am an older parent.  I have experience to know how fast a child grows up.  Even when I feel "pull my hair out" frustrated I often remind myself  that whatever the issue, it is only for a season.  They grow and change literally before my eyes.  Even issues from trauma and abuse change in their presentation.  Those with disabilities don't change as quickly or in as predictable manners but they do change.  The way they are able to handle their issues change, my understandings of them change.

Some of my friends have said things like "thank goodness X is finally able to go to school.  It took forever for me to get my errands done".  I have friends who have bemoaned how long it takes to take a walk with littles.  And the reason I am weird, is that I love that!  I don't know if it is a function of embracing a homeschool mentality but all the time we spend together feels precious.  I don't want to waste it in "hurry".  I like doing errands with my kids and adore taking a 40 minute walk that goes around our block, collecting treasures. (right now we are looking for things to make fall wreaths.) I worry that when they are grown, I'll forget to look at fall leaves with the same wonder, or run out on the porch to share a rainbow or a sunset.  Wonder is the greatest gift our children give us.

More reasons to love homeschooling

KC adores recorder class.  He also seems to have a real affinity for reading music and learning the notes. He will often practice twice a day.  Not long practices, just grab the recorder and sit down and play 4 or 5 little songs.  Then he might noodle around and make up his own song and then put it away.  Often this is done for my benefit because I am washing the dinner dishes and might be bored. LOL

Anyway, we just discovered that the curriculum only teaches 1/2 the notes to first graders.  The recorder book ends without learning several notes.  So I called the company and for $10 I can get the second grade recorder book which will allow him to continue learning notes and making new and beautiful music.