Soccer party - thanks for asking Jen. It went well. Both the boys had a blast. NM was good and didn't get impatient when the other kids *didn't* want to play soccer. At some point, someone decided it was a good idea to dig a hole. "To hell" someone said. Well...okay. They didn't make it there if you were worried ;) J found another 4 year old to play with and they were cute, cute, cute! That age is all about imagination and play acting and it was fun to watch.

J is going through a very long phase of "everything must be right." I hope it's a phase. He can't stand sticky fingers, he can't stand that his sock may have a hole (he's finally wearing shoes over socks today) and I've put a limit on him: only one change of socks a day. Otherwise he changes them if they so much as get a drop of something on them. LOL. He's over changing his shirt all the time and that's nice.

This week has been one of our best weeks homeschooling. We've had no meltdowns even though we did eat things we weren't sure about at the soccer party. It was so rewarding! I was a bit bummed that I hadn't pre-planned and gotten together some of our reader books but it wasn't at all bad considering how well both boys did. I'm going to start J on a formal math curriculum soon, same one his older brother uses but at his level of course. He's zipping through the alphabet and a lot of things are starting come together in his brain. He's been asking for me to read Flat Stanley books to him even though they have only a few pictures. I'm glad that both boys can read (or listen to reading) for extended periods of time.

I'm working on some little flyers and things like that for church now. It's kind of fun and I like that church considers those important. We're small enough that we can have baby showers and invite all the ladies at church :) The shower is my next project and I'm excited about that one. Mom was one of my room mates at the retreat.

I haven't started working on my dress yet but I will soon. I can't find the pattern paper I had but I remembered I can use wax paper if I want. I have to put knitting aside for a little bit; my wrist and elbow are bugging me and that's not good. Opening the truck door or carrying a milk bottle in my right hand hurts and now and then, my wrist threatens to give out and I might drop whatever heavy thing I'm holding. Must go get ibuprophen. But I have the ruffle for Anna's tunic completed and I will start the bodice when I have at least an hour to focus on it. Once I get the first couple of repeats done, it's down hill from there, I think. I have hit a slump on it because I haven't found the right beads for it. I'll have to check Michael's since Joann didn't have the right color, not even close.

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We did :) Pics for family here.

Church was the first order of the day and that was very nice. We had a short little video that incorporated bits and pieces of Borne Identity and the Easter Bunny and Bunjee managed to tie in the titles of all three movies to the message and in a very good, non-gratuitous way.

We came home, had a snack, started cooking dinner (ham, veggies, potato, sweet potato bread, rice) and then the boys did an egg hunt. J had a small head start (I was sure 30 secs. was good enough) but it turns out he needed a little more time. They both ended up with about the same number of eggs so that was good. That was a lot of candy! And some toys, too. Can't just have candy. They were very good and only ate a few, the rest are stashed in the pantry. I can't believe they have the will power! They spent a lot of time putting the Legos together (of course). Later we had cheesecake (see below) then headed for Zilker/Town Lake so we could walk. Turns out the park is full on Easter Sunday but we still had parking and the path wasn't so crowded; everyone was picnicking on the grass or flying kites.

Spring is very much here and most of the trees that were grey and leafless not long ago are now covered with very bright green little leaves. The birds are going bonkers and we even witnessed a cardinal wooing a female. They have such a pretty song! The dog walkers were also out in force so we saw quite a few of those.

Now we're tired and I better be off. We plan to get up before dawn tomorrow and drive to Houston and stay for a few days. The joys of homeschooling and no ties to a school schedule*!

*Interesting, when NM and I chatted for a bit about the Houston trip this evening, he reiterated to me his routine and how he was going to try and stick to it while we were away. In the last couple of weeks, we'd hit a really nice routine and things have gone on so well. Last Friday, we started our vacation and the first things he said were "Oh, well, maybe I can still do some math and some cursive, you know? Just so we can still keep doing work (we didn't)." It's really apparent that a routine is really comforting to have and sometimes stepping out of it can be just as much leaving one's comfort zone as it is going off on a fun diversion.

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I'm not sure if you've heard recently, a court of appeals in California ruled essentially that most homeschools in that state are in violation of laws (certified private tutors are ok still). This ruling is going to affect many hundreds of thousands of kids who are home educated.

You don't have to be a Californian to show your support of parent's rights to determine what is best for their children in terms of education. While not all parents can---or want to---homeschool their kids, parents should have the right to have the option available to them.

Related news:

Response to Ruling of California Court of Appeal ‘Homeschooling is Illegal in California’

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IMG_5128

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More books came today!!! We got our schedule, notebooking materials and some more books to read. One of these days I'll get a list of our books together to share with you all.

Today the boys were soooo happy to snuggle on the couch and learn more about American Indian life with me. I think tomorrow we'll go buy some bamboo skewers and leather scraps and see if we can piece a teepee together. Maybe clay for an adobe, too.

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And there was joy...

Three of the packages we're expecting came. *squee* NM said "boh-ring!", J is claiming all of them for himself.

I'm a bit sad though because we have doctor's appointments for the next couple of days. Interruptions seem to cause difficulty!

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Here's a beef that I have with *some* of the schooling NM has gotten so far: it has made learning a chore, a burden, an amazing hurdle he'd rather turn away from rather than tackle. Coming to the decision to homeschool, for this reason, was a "no brainer." We've tried to spend the last week just getting to know each other again, in terms of learning and hanging out. We've had a couple of rough days, but that's no surprise really.

One thing I am emphasizing to him, with the materials we are using so far, is that I really don't care if he gets it right or not. If he misspells "beginning" that's ok. I'm not grading him, I'm not going to test him. If he doesn't get 432-287=___ then that's fine. What we're after, I told him, is the attitude. If he makes a mistake, it's ok. "Use your eraser. Cross it off. Let's figure out how to get to the answer." It's more about developing a good attitude towards his mistakes, profiting from them and learning in general.

He's enrolled in a robotics class that uses Legos (no surprise?). A homeschooling mom and her teen aged boys are teaching the kids how to do it. I asked NM yesterday what they did in class and he enthusiastically explained to me that they were going to break into teams and build robots to compete against each other then the whole class would be involved in competitions. His voice, as he spoke, had a decidedly upbeat tone to it, unlike earlier in the day.

I told him something that I thought was a minor revelation to him, but it turned out to be a huge one: "You know that's your science class, don't you?"

"Huh? What kind of a science class is that?"

"Robotics! That's a major deal."

"What?"

He was just confused. "I don't know what you mean. You're confusing me."

I have to admit to being a tiny bit sad that he didn't consider what he was doing in that class to be of much importance. But I just told him that robotics is branch of science and it involves physics and engineering. He said it was too easy to be science so I told him he is just good at it so it's just that easy :D

I'm not sure he was convinced. But I hope we've gone back down the path of "learning really is fun" and not "learning is frustrating."

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IMG_4639
Originally uploaded by Phisch

A story written and illustrated by J, after we all read The Boxcar Children.

The diamond caboose sits on a hill. Mommy's inside. NM is inside. And our dog is inside. And abba and J are inside. This is a little story about who is inside.

The diamond caboose fell down the hill! Almost. It broke when it fell down. Then we got out and drove to Austin.

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AVKO Sequential Spelling 1for Home Study Learning (Sequential Spelling, 1)

Don McCabe

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Ok. So the last couple of days went so much better. Prayer changes things, and don't you forget it, people!

By the way, the local grocery store doesn't have Mentos. Boo! I guess I have to hunt those down.

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