Category: homeschooling

Serendipity beetles

After a little school work, we decided to go to the mountains. We went hiking and exploring.

I was hoping it would be an inspirational moment where we would talk about educational goals. We just played in the stream instead. And THEN we saw…

some ladybugs.

There were many ladybugs.

We saw ladybugs in the trees,

ladybugs on the ground…

and they were irresistible.

So, today we climbed rocks and found serendipity beetles.

It was a good day.

Sorting

We went rock hunting yesterday. After 10 minutes in the sun, we decided to count and sort our collections. We could only take two. It was hard to choose.

Sorting and prioritizing are good life lessons. If only excess commitments were as easy to fling back as little rocks! Just like those little rocks with their sparkling crystals and mineral deposits, each commitment is enticing in some way even after it’s been cast aside.

School starts on Tuesday. We are in full-sorting mode. Who will drive to seminary? And home from seminary?  Are you sure it’s not too far out of your way? Which children can I watch during German classes? Will Medieval (I *just* learned how to spell that correctly. Shameful.) History be too much on top of U.S. Government classes? You have room in your schedule to teach Timothy piano lessons? You want us to move our piano lessons so someone can take Latin? No problem. But I’ll need to shuffle park days once a month.

More than ever, life requires some cooperation among friends to make it all happen and some brave culling of activities.

I’m excited for the school year to begin. The books are arriving daily.

Becoming

Paige has finished her 8th grade work.  We celebrated her accomplishments at the public library on Saturday. While honoring these accomplishments, we hope to make it clear that we are most proud of the young woman Paige has become in the process of her education.

She retains that sparkle that we’ve always loved in her countenance and the grace in her demeanor. We know that she will do very well in her high school studies.

Curing the Burnout Monster

An unfinished chess game is the perfect metaphor for how I view the school year tonight. It began with great plans and intentions but we’re rushing to a hollow ending, punctuated by the little ping you hear when you kick an empty can. WARNING: you have just been exposed to the effects of the burnout monster.

I have 5 days until I call the school year finished. Can I conquer this monster? Can I look at the year objectively and the see the truth in what we have accomplished?

I think objectivity is one of the first things to fail when I am weary.  To get my objectivity back, I need to fill in my spreadsheets with scores and figure out grades. Maybe I need a teacher fairy to tell me if I can go to the good teacher ball. (You know, the ball where I have new contact lenses, a haircut, and a few extra hours of reading time each day.) Can this little teacher have a guilt-free summer break, please?

And can I get a little assertiveness fairy, too? Are you clapping your hands? Do you believe? Truly, a little glittery fairy to give me courage to face a lurking task and the teacher fairy to look over the kids’ projects would be just the thing.

Frescoes, an electroscope and piano surgery

Our piano tuner came today. He tunes our piano twice a year. That’s more often than I get an hour to myself. That’s more often than we eat tuna. Actually, I never serve tuna.

(Back to the story) I barricaded myself in the school room to appear to be holding school, even though that’s impossible when a piano tuner is pounding on the piano keys and tweaking the long strings. It’s like living in Professor Higgins’s house hearing Eliza Doolittle’s vowels over and over.

(Back to the story) Midway through the tuning, he stopped. He went to his car for additional tools. The next thing I knew, the piano was in pieces all over the room: keys, hammers, you name it… everywhere. He’s only taken the piano apart one other time and this is always disconcerting. Somewhere in my head I am entertaining questions like, “What if he forgets how to put it back together?” or, “What if he forgets a piece?”

I decided we had to take drastic action. So as to not appear concerned, I decided to teach science in the kitchen, directly across from him so we could keep an eye on him and the poor dismembered piano. We built an electroscope and I tried to sound engaged and scientific. That’s my new word with Daniel, “Daniel,” I say, “You need to act engaged in what I’m asking you to do. No more slumping over.”

Here is the electroscope (which I keep trying to type, “spectroscope”):

It’s actually very cool. Trust me.

After the surgery on the piano (sigh… there were wood shavings on the floor!) he put the piano back together and I snuck a picture. It’s not every day that you see a grand piano taken apart. All is well. The keys are resting evenly in their piano bed.

And though we didn’t have a stellar school day, we did build an electroscope, read about frescoes and Pompeii, and finished our work later in the afternoon.

Overdue

I am late wishing you all a Happy Mother’s Day. We made these hand prints yesterday. Paige’s hand was too big for the mold. These turn my heart. That little fluttery feeling is about the best thing about being a mother, next to the kisses from babies, giggles, homemade cards, and fingerprints on my door frame from little ones looking for me in the dark.

It was so nice to talk to my mom, the temporary mother of 180 missionaries.

These library books are overdue. We try to max out our library cards so we don’t have to go as often. I think they are an impressive sight, stacked in the entryway and ready to go.