Friday, August 6, 2010 4:44 p.m.

We made an exciting purchase last week, and because of it, there is going to be more music in our home, and less time for me to be online.  But I think it will be a good trade-off.

Until now, our children have only been taking formal violin lessons, but in the back of my mind I felt that they needed some exposure to piano skills in order to lay a better music theory foundation.  All the violin teachers we have had, though well-meaning, have not been especially effective in laying this foundation.  Combine that with the fact that our kids are still officially "Suzuki students", and there has been a dearth of sight reading instruction.  Miss S, our current teacher, has attempted to close that gap with our kids, especially Sweet Girl, who is younger, but even she hasn't offered a systematic approach to teaching sight reading.  In addition, I have noticed that the most effective teachers of the violin are also skilled piano players, at least to the extent they need to be to accompany their students.  So this has been on my mind for awhile.

Recently I began to do some research on digital pianos, since we didn't want to deal with the management and upkeep of an acoustic piano, and we were aware that digital pianos have come a long way over the past twenty-five years in imitating their acoustic predecessors.  We perused the local online used piano marketplace, and quickly saw that most sellers expected to recoup too much of their initial investment on account of the piano being "lightly used", "gently used", "hardly used", or simply never used.  There is simply no market for used pianos these days.  Truth be told, the pianos have advanced so much that a new digital piano at the low end is superior to an older more expensive piano, like a Clavinova.  We tried out a few in the music store, and settled on a Yamaha.  It turns out that some of their models have just been discontinued, and the stores are just getting in the newer (year 2010-2011) models to replace them, so it made sense to try to find a discontinued model.  Rather than purchasing one through Craigslist, a new discontinued model would come with a warranty.

I am happy to say that we did find a Yamaha Arius YDP-140, at a great get- it- off- the- showroom- floor price and although it is far from "top of the line", it is definitely all that we wanted in a digital piano.  It has six voices (we felt that too many voices would simply distract our kids) and its amplifier is not all that powerful but it is still plenty loud for our house.  One of the best features is that it can be silenced simply by plugging in headphones.  This is a big benefit, since my only chance to practice might be after the children have gone to bed.

So I am picking up where I left off several years ago with the Alfred Adult Piano course books, and I am helping the children to be beginning students with the Alfred books for Late Beginners.  Sweet Girl, especially, has had much enthusiasm for sitting under my teaching.  Chips tends to be more impatient with the learning process, especially in the beginning when everything appears so simple to him.

Sweet Girl practices during Chips' violin practice, thanks to headphones.

We are happy to finally have a piano in the house, it definitely feels and sounds like many acoustic pianos I have played, and it is bringing more music into our home for certain! 

Chips looks quite sure of himself in front of the keys.

Thursday, August 5, 2010 4:29 p.m.

Those boxes don't look like much from the outside, but there are a lot of good things inside them.  We don't typically begin a new school year until January.  However, I do order the next year's curricula in July when Calvert is running their discount offers.  This summer's discount was particularly good for us, since for the first time we were able to order a re-use package for our youngest, Sweet Girl.  I think we ended up saving about $330 or so this time around.  The boxes seemed to arrive here only two days after I ordered them.  In other words, we weren't even expecting them yet, and when we returned from errands one day, UPS had come and there they were.

It is always an exciting time when our Calvert boxes arrive, even if we won't use the contents for awhile.  Sweet Girl will be in third grade come 2011.  We really enjoyed Calvert's third grade when Chips completed it, and since then they have actually added a new social studies textbook, entitled Communities.  So the course will not be exactly the same; there will be something fresh and new for us this second time around.  I remember well how Chips enjoyed reading Smiling Hill Farm toward the end of the third grade year.  What a sweet book.

This is my first chance to see the sixth grade package that Chips will be using next winter.  It is one thing seeing it in the catalog, but quite another to actually open and see the contents of the books.  In short, I am blown away by sixth grade!  I don't know if this is because I am amazed that my child has become this "big" already, or because I can't believe how much they pack into their sixth grade course.  Surely not all kids cover this much material in sixth grade??? !!! ???  I know I didn't.  Whatever, it is obvious that he will be learning a ton!  First of all, I cannot believe the amount of social studies that will be covered: two very substantial texts, one for ancient world history, and the other for eastern hemisphere geography.  I never remember learning geography to this level of detail, certainly not eastern hemisphere, and I never had a serious ancient history course until high school.  Secondly, I am amazed by the language arts book.  This will be a serious writing and grammar course for sure.  Finally, the literary selections are truly impressive to me.  The very first reading book will be the unabridged Swiss Family Robinson (which we recently completed as a family read aloud, so I am fully aware of the complexity of its language), then Anne of Green Gables, another substantial work of literature. Next up, Theras and His Town, which I suppose will mesh with the history course, then King Arthur and His Knights (which I never read) so this will be a first for me for sure.  Coming after this is a fun book that I did read as a youngster, The Phantom Tollbooth.  There are also several poetry collections, including Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost anthologies.  There is more that I could say about the sixth grade course, but you get the idea.  I know it will be a productive year!

Having said this, I am mindful of our time schedule and how I will be able to fit it all in. The suggested Calvert schedule says that I should be able to get lessons for both children accomplished between the hours of 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., give or take.  We do typically start at 9:00 anyway (I can't manage to make it happen earlier) but we have not been able to go more swiftly than the time Calvert suggests because my kids are so challenged by the material.  So I fully expect to need until 2:00 - 2:30 each day.

For those of you readers who don't homeschool, yes, the hours between 9 and 3 are full of work, but then there is no homework to worry about, and no work to do on the weekends!  Now that alone is worth a million bucks.

I know I posted a month or so back about my scheduling approach to teaching two children with Calvert, especially since I do consider Calvert rather teacher/parent intensive (to do it well).  Well, I have had to change our approach recently to keep things efficient, and I hope to post more about that shortly.  For now, we carry on through the summer.... Chips on lesson 106 and Sweet Girl on lesson 117.  Might as well.  It is truly hot, hot, HOT outside!

... and I can hardly wait!


Wednesday, August 4, 2010 9:11 p.m.

I see I have a new reader from Rapid City, and another reader from Nebraska,  so this encourages me to report on our upcoming camping vacation trip out west.  I mentioned this several months ago, and the entire idea seemed very surreal at the time, but as it gets closer, I am beginning to believe that it is actually going to happen!

But, not in a covered wagon.  Rather, in our homemade Sprinter van conversion! 

We are planning our departure in early September, traveling and camping all the way in our van.  A couple of years ago, Self-Reliant Man designed a rough conversion of our Freightliner / Mercedes Benz Sprinter van to enable us to camp inside it, and I must say it is very comfortable.  It sleeps all four of us comfortably, and over the time we have improved upon the original design by creating a raised sleeper / storage unit for Sweet Girl (who actually slept on the van floor in the earlier days).  You can read more about our conversion in this post from September 2008.

Anyway, we are getting pretty excited about this trip.  I have to say that while my mind has been all over the place, Self-Reliant Man has been extremely focused on preparing for a smooth trip in all the details.  Meanwhile, I have made all the campground reservations and printed out various maps and documents from the Web about the places we are going to see.  And now, here is the list of the places we are going to see!

Day 1: Drive north to Forsyth, Georgia and camp.
 
Day 2: Drive to Mammoth Cave area and camp (in Kentucky).

 Day 3: Visit Mammoth Cave and relax some.
 
Day 4: Drive on to Montgomery City, Missouri, and camp.


Day 5: Drive on to Onawa, Iowa, and camp.

 Day 6: Drive on to Badlands National Park area and camp (in South Dakota)

Day 7: Visit Badlands and drive to Rapid City and camp.

Day 8: Visit Black Hills, Needles Pkwy, Iron Mountain Rd, Crazy Horse Monument, Mt Rushmore and then drive to Devils Tower area and camp.

 Day 9: Visit Devils Tower and then drive on to Billings, Montana and camp.

Day 10: Drive Beartooth Hghwy to Yellowstone National Park northeast entrance.  Visit park and drive on to West Yellowstone and camp.

Days 11 - 14: visit Yellowstone National Park.

Day 15: depart Yellowstone, drive to Grand Tetons National Park, visit and stay in Dubois, Wyoming.

Day 16: Drive on to Cheyenne, Wyoming and camp.

Day 17: Drive on to Estes Park, Colorado.  Visit Rocky Mountain National Park and camp.

Day 18: Visit Rocky Mountain National Park.

Day 19: Depart Rocky Mountain and drive on to Oakley, Kansas and camp.

Day 20: Drive on to Kansas City, Missouri and camp.

Day 21: Drive on and visit St. Louis Gateway Arch.  Drive on to Marion, Illinois and camp.

Day 22: Drive on to Chattanooga, Tennessee and camp.

Day 23: Drive on to White Springs, Florida and camp.

Day 24:Drive home.

Our own peaceful pasture.

Whew!  What an itinerary.  Self-Reliant Man has been planning all the details for vehicle maintenance, meal ideas, car games for the children, establishing camp set up and tear down duties for everyone, and creating a routine within the trip.  I have been in charge of creating a three ring reference binder for the entire trip and making all the reservations.  In addition, I have documented all the Cracker Barrel restaurants that we will pass along the way.  There are hardly any after we get past Missouri!  We also have several simple camp meals planned for breakfast and supper.  Only weeks left, and we are ready to hit the road!!  Hooray!

p.s. Guess I don't need to pack our camera.  We've already got photos of every place, right?

p.p.s. We are going to call it the Glory of God's Creation Tour, and the children are documenting everything for their homeschool end of year oral presentation project.

July 31, 2010 10:18 a.m.

Yup.  That's us all the way.

As you know, life in the 21st century calls for an endless supply of batteries, especially AA and AAA batteries.  At our home, we charge our kids 25 cents a battery (or about half of what we had to pay for them).  In this way, they are more careful about turning off things to conserve battery power, about using the rechargeables, and waiting for them to recharge again before using the device (instead of just putting in four fresh new batteries in the meantime).  Batteries are a controlled commodity in our house.

Recently, Chips has gotten into the hobby of collecting and rehabilitating digital watches.  He gets them mostly from thrift stores for a couple of dollars each, although he is currently saving money to buy a special new one.  All of these watches consume batteries, and these batteries are expensive.  But since the cheapskate parents haven't been ponying up for new batteries, he has had to be resourceful about watch batteries.  This has caused Chips to be on the lookout for potential batteries around the house.  He has removed batteries from old Happy Meal toys.  He has removed batteries from old musical greeting cards.  When he is interested in wearing one watch, he will steal the battery from another for the day.  As a result, for months he has never needed to purchase a new watch battery.

Chips is learning ways to be economical and resourceful, all because we are too cheap to supply him with free batteries.  It certainly makes toys that don't require batteries more attractive.  He says it is "fun" to find new ways to power up his watches.  I say it is a good thing, too.

 July 28, 2010 5:18 p.m.
 
Outside my window... cloudy and dreary this afternoon, with distant rumbles of thunder.  This is fine with us, as it has produced a bit of much needed rain, and it has cooled the afternoon off to 77 degrees.  It was 97 degrees a couple of hours ago, so this is much better!

I am thinking and praying... for a dear friend and her family, as she fully expects her mom to pass into glory this week.  Praying for numerous mercies to be poured out on her and her family during these painful days.

I am thankful for...  my husband's good and steady job, and the fact that it still allows for a simple commute and for my husband to spend a lot of time with our family. 

I am wearing... Tan capri lounge pants, athletic shoes, and a light blue music camp T-shirt.

I am remembering... the day we moved into this house, six years ago this past Saturday, and how far we have come since then.  We were struck by a hurricane three weeks after moving here, and I am thankful there hasn't been a repeat of that experience in all this time.

I am going...  to a music store tonight to check out a digital piano.  We did some research and found a piano at a very low price.  We have been using a 12 year old keyboard for several years, and an upgrade would be great.  I want the children to get a fair amount of skill with the piano.  Not necessarily to be advanced, but at least to be able to read the music and know how to play the notes satisfactorily.  Their primary instrument is violin and we plan to keep it that way, but we feel that some knowledge of piano will serve them in their musical future, even if they should become violin teachers.

I am reading... nothing except the Bible in the morning,my copies of Practical Homeschooling magazine, and homeschool curriculum catalogs.  I go through this fever every summer, checking out other homeschooling material, but always returning with confidence to Calvert.

I am hoping and praying... for a miracle in a certain person's life.


On my mind... my friend who I mentioned at the top of this post, going through a very rough time now.

From the learning rooms...  Chips just finished his fifth grade test 100 today, and we dropped it in the mail.  Sweet Girl completed second grade lesson 111.  I am striving for a more efficient way of teaching the children together, and the past few days have seen us completing our lessons sooner than usual.  Yippeee!

Noticing that... the days are getting shorter than they were, because my dog barks for me to go out and walk him in the morning, but his "alarm clock" has been going off later now than it did a month ago!  So instead of 6 a.m., I am walking him at 6:30.  Another yippeeee!



From the kitchen... it is going to be Spicy Sloppy Joes and chips today.

Around the house... is enough clutter to truly give it that "lived in" appearance.  But that's because it is lived in!  Just within a 20 foot radius I see footwear, books all over the place, magazines, sheet music, cups, packaging, a small screwdriver set, a violin shoulder rest, a scrapbook, and a can of Lysol.  Gee whiz!

One of my favorite things... is listening to my children talk to each other about the books they're reading.  As they discuss the antics of the story characters, there are giggles aplenty.  It is so neat to see what joy good books give to them.  Sweet Girl has the best belly laughs when talking to her brother about what is going on in her books.  By the way, both of them are turned on to the Hardy Boys right now, and they have a lot of fun talking to each other about the characters they both "know".

From my picture journal......

Sunday, July 25, 2010 8:51 p.m.

Our church and teaching elder were featured in the newspaper today.  I thought it was a pretty well-researched and balanced article, although it is possible that some of the quotes could be taken the wrong way.  Nevertheless, it was exciting to see this article today.  The video link does show a bit of the interior of the church sanctuary, a beautiful structure that was just completed a year ago this month.

Thursday, July 22, 7:21 a.m.

This month, I finally took the time to go get a physical exam. Twice I got established with a primary care doctor, only for him to leave the practice for various reasons.  So it has been four years since I had a standard physical.  I had been going for my annual gyn exams, but they never included general lab work.  So this month I finally visited an internist near our home who was recommended by a friend.  This friend has never steered me the wrong way when it came to recommending good doctors, and she definitely did a good thing for me this time.

This doctor is very nice, he takes time to talk, he is not too busy, and he is thorough.  In addition, he has three children and his wife homeschools them.  What could be neater than that?

So, this Tuesday I was called back into the office to discuss the lab work that had come in, and this is what I found out: I am severely deficient in Vitamin D.  Not just a little bit.  Vitamin D levels are supposed to be between 50 and 100, and I am at 9.  So he prescribed megadoses of Vitamin D for me for the next two months.  100,000 IU per week for the first month, and 50,000 per week for the next month.  He told me that vitamin D deficiency is associated with bone, joint, and muscle pain, or diffuse aching, and higher risks for various cancers.

I keep all my lab work records, and I looked back at previous results I had.  A doctor has never ordered a vitamin D test for me before.  This is the first time.

Two days later, after I took the first megadose, I really think I feel a positive difference.  For years I have been living with diffuse aching throughout my legs and joints, especially my knees.  I thought it was a normal consequence of getting older, general bone fatigue after a busy day.  Yesterday, I was very active and busy, and I didn't notice this coming on at all.  So far today, things seem good.  I am excited to see whether the vitamin is actually helping alleviate something that I thought was just "getting older"!  If so, then this doctor is a gem.

I recommend asking a doctor for a vitamin D test when getting a check up.  I did some reading online, and this condition is more common than ever before, especially in the northern climates.  The main source of vitamin D is UVB rays from the sun.  The only common food sources are fatty fish, and some dairy foods to which it has been added.  Nonetheless, the food sources are inconsequential, as they contribute such a small dose per meal.  The UVB rays can supposedly provide all you need within 15 to 30 minutes of skin exposure, more if you are dark-skinned.

Now you would think someone like myself, who lives in the "Sunshine State", would not have this problem.  The truth is, I go outside every day, but I have always been careful to avoid sun, or to wear sunscreen.  Also, most of my time outdoors is before sunrise, and after sundown, because the sun is HOT and INTENSE here.  Here's another surprise: sunscreen blocks UVB rays; therefore sunscreen blocks what can be your only reliable, free source of the daily dose of vitamin D you need.  So while I was slathering on sunscreen to protect myself, I was also depriving myself of the only adequate source of this nutrient.  (The doctor told me I would have to eat fatty fish morning, noon, and night to get enough right now, and there is no way I am doing that!).

You have to be careful with vitamin D supplementation, though.  It should be supervised, and preceded by blood work, to be safe.  But the amount you get through sunshine is sufficient and self-limiting, preventing your body from accumulating toxic amounts (your skin doesn't convert what your body doesn't need).  Hey, I think I'm on to something.

Ask your doctor, busy mom!

July 15, 2010 10:33 p.m.

I have to write about something that makes me very proud.  It is about Chips.  Chips (and Sweet Girl) have both been having a great time at Music Camp and at VBS, both offered through our church.  Chips has been receiving some pretty neat compliments, and I want to share them here.

1. The Chief Musician of our church saw me twice last week (during Music Camp) and commented about Chips.  He had been teaching him in a small tone chimes group.  He said that he really enjoyed Chips, that he has a great smile and that his attitude is positive and very refreshing.  That pleased me.

2. This week, the lady who taught Chips' class at VBS (who happens to be the pastor's wife) told me that she really enjoyed having Chips in her class because he is such a willing participant.   That comment made me feel good, too.

3. Yesterday, another mom came up to me and told me that on the way home from VBS the day before, her 11 year old son told her that he really liked Chips a lot, because "he is really nice, he really loves Jesus, and he always tries to do the right thing".  The mother followed up by saying she was thankful that Chips was in her son's life, that as a peer, he was a good Christian witness to her son.  All I can say about that compliment is WOW!  What better words could I possibly hear?

We are still pretty new to this church, but people are starting to appreciate our son as they get to know him.  Chips isn't doing anything unusual at these events.  He is just being himself.  Very cheerful and happy, very engaging, and enjoying everything he does, big and small.  He also loves to engage adults in conversation at every opportunity.  It is so wonderful to see him growing in Christ in this way!

VBS is this week.  Therefore, I am two tired.  Two tired to right a decent blog post write now.  Maybe tomorrow. ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Whew.  And I thought this wood be an easy weak!

July 9, 2010 10:19 p.m.

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have blogged.  So many things have been going on, and we are so out of our normal routine, as well.  I suppose this is one of those posts that call for photos and captions.


Let's see.  What's this again?  Oh, Chips is always coming up with his own experiments in electricity.  This one was an LED connected to two button cells and two magnets.  Voila!  The LED glows, but unfortunately my camera flash was too bright to show it.


World's longest lasting Christmas Wreath.  I thought that July 2nd was long enough this year, what about you?  I have to say it still looked good, though.  The children helped themselves to the decorations, but the rest ended up in our fire pit.


After six years, we finally put our Black Forest cuckoo clock back on the wall.  This clock was a wedding gift to us from my husband's uncle.  Self-Reliant Man cleaned up the insides and added some lubricant.  Now we enjoy the chiming very much.  It is quite a novelty to the children, since they don't remember it when it was up in our previous house.

 We witnessed the transformation of four monarchs this month.  My husband's boss's boss went on vacation and couldn't tend to them, so he gave them to us.  All four of them matured healthy and whole, and have since flown away somewhere, to the great satisfaction of our family.


I can sleep soundly at night, now, knowing that if all h*** breaks loose, and the End-Of-The-World-As-We-Know-It takes place, at least our family will be set for toilet paper for awhile.  Who knows?  We could probably barter a roll for a tank of gasoline.

 A month ago, we went to visit my MIL.  Here, Chips is sharing his musical gift with a small audience at her nursing home.  It was very calming...


... and it's a good thing I felt calm, because I met up with a space alien that evening at the campground pool!


Our dear friend from church finished up our mother-daughter apron set.  We are using them often together.  Aren't they great?


Self-Reliant Man wanted another Stetson for Father's Day, and he got one.  How 'bout that?  He was a very pleased man.  So was Chips a pleased son.

Highlight of the Month Award goes to Self-Reliant Man's prize for twenty productive years with the company.  He selected from a catalog of gifts that included consumer electronics, an air compressor, jewelry, home decorating items, a propane fire pit, and THIS.  He chose (without my influence at all) this Premium Belgian Waffle Maker.  Wow - what fun!  So friends, for the next several months if you come to visit me, you're getting waffles.  Don't believe it? Then just try me.  Self-Reliant Man now happily makes all kinds of huge, perfect waffles......


.... and Chips chips in his cooking expertise.

 The results are a crunchy and fluffy culinary delight!


Finally, we just completed a week of Music Camp at our church.  There were sixty campers ranging in age from 5 to 13.  They all experienced chorus and Orff classes together.  They also got to select one of the following instruments to learn during the week: classical guitar, harp, or tone chimes.  Our kids did tone chimes, and they loved them, perhaps more than anything else.
But Orff class was a close second.  That looked like a lot of fun.  I would have loved to participate, except I had other duties to tend to during the camp.


Sweet Girl played a metallophone.


Chips played the bass xylophone.  It was a very memorable week for them!

 June 28, 2010 5:42 p.m.

WARNING: This might be a boring post!


A couple of posts ago, I mentioned something about the loose schedule we have for completing our lessons each day.  I also mentioned that Chips decided to try to do his work independently last week, so I will update you on how that went.

On a typical day, we begin at 7:30 by working on memory work in the book Training Hearts, Teaching Minds by Starr Meade.  This book teaches, explains, and facilitates the memorization of the Westminster Shorter Catechism at the rate of one question and answer per week.  We are up to question #51, and we go back every day and review a third of the previous questions, so that they always remain fresh and available in our children's brains.  We then read Scripture and have a shared prayer time before beginning the duties of the day around 8 o'clock.  The children complete their morning chores, and we try to have breakfast around 8:30.

Our goal for beginning Calvert is 9:00 each morning, although we don't always begin that early.  Depending on how the morning goes, we have been known to begin as late as 9:45.  At this time, I sit down with Chips, and "roll out" all his subjects for the day.  This includes teaching what needs teaching, reading aloud what needs reading aloud, and discussing what needs discussion.  I then write down in bullet form all the independent work tasks that he needs to accomplish during the remaining part of the morning / early afternoon.  Then I "cut him loose".  He completes everything on the list, and at some time in the afternoon I sit down at the table and check all of his work.  Once this is done, we go over the discussion, comprehension, and critical thinking questions that pertain to the Reading, History, Geography, and Science assignments from that day.  Chips is in 5th grade.  The "rolling out" period takes between 45 minutes and 2 hours, depending on the activities (longer if there are more read-alouds and science experiments)

After rolling out the subjects for Chips and cutting him loose, I jot down the day's objectives in a work log I keep for our local homeschool county requirements.  Chips' independent work time is a large block of time during which I turn my attention to Sweet Girl.  Sweet Girl is in 2nd grade, so her work does not allow for a big block of independent work time like her brother's level.  So I pretty much work my way through the lesson plan for the day in the order of the lesson manual.  There is much more oral teaching, discussion, and working through things on the dry erase board with Sweet Girl's lessons.  When we get to a place in the lesson where Sweet Girl is supposed to do something (i.e. "seat work") I will take the opportunity to step out of the room and do something that needs doing around the house.  Her seat work chunks usually last less than 10 or 15 minutes, so I can't do much during those times.  I might use these snippets of time to test and check on the pool water, to transfer or fold laundry, to tidy part of the house, to plan dinner, to tend to the dog, or to check Facebook.  I forgot, I dropped Facebook, but I will still take a few minutes to check on email, online news, or blogs.  Anyway, I work steadily with Sweet Girl with the daily hope of finishing up by 1:00.  I wish I could say this happens every day, but it doesn't. Some days, not even close.

Nevertheless, when 1 o'clock rolls around, we do break for lunch, finished or not finished.  Then we head out the door to any afternoon lessons or appointments of the day.  If there aren't any, we go back to finish up what we left undone before lunch.  If there are no appointments, we are usually done by 2 or 3, including checking and discussion.  Then I put all the books away in their place, and store all the written (unbound) work pages in a hanging folder that is set up for each child.  Then I feel like I have really accomplished something for that day!

Now Calvert's daily lesson load is not always the same.  Some days are lighter, and some days are heavier.  On the light days, we finish unexpectedly early, and I can go about the rest of the day feeling no guilt because I know that we have, in fact, accomplished an entire lesson.  But those heavier days can be rough going, especially as the late afternoon comes around and my patience dwindles.

A bloggy friend commented on a previous post with a reference to her children planning out their outings, which included planning out their use of public transportation to get to and fro.  Or whose parents will drop off and whose parents will pick up.  Living as we do, out in the country, makes our situation somewhat different.  First, there is no public transportation out here.  Second, we don't live that close to anybody with whom we share activities and social life.  Everybody lives about 20-25 miles away, so it would be a true hardship to ask a parent to deliver our kids back home.  I have found that one afternoon activity can cost us a whole afternoon: typically 60-90 minutes in travel time, and 1-2 hours for the event or appointment.  When I return, it is often immediately time for me to begin cooking dinner.  We often complete cleanup of dinner around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m.  Then, and only then, can I return to check the work and discussion questions.  If there are many things to correct, it is possible that 9:00 can arrive without my having put Calvert to bed for that day.  Those are not happy days for me, but I have to remind myself that I would be living the daily evening crunch if my kids were in a brick and mortar school.

Speaking of brick and mortar school, I have often heard mothers of children in those schools remark to me that they could never do what I do every day.  I have to disagree with them, though, and tell them that I think I have it easier than they do.  When they look surprised, my explanation goes something like this: "you can't control the relative workload in your days like I can.  When yours are in school, life slows down for you a little bit, and that part of the day is pretty calm.  However, after they get home, you have the daily evening crunch.  You have everything to do in the limited space of a few hours: interact with the children, provide afternoon snacks, supervise their homework and often help them to do it, prepare, eat, and cook dinner, prepare for the next school day, get the children cleaned up and in bed by a reasonable hour, and you have to get them out on time the next morning.  This can be a stressful rhythm, living by someone else's schedule!"  At which these moms often have to agree.

Anyway, about Chips.  Last week, he wanted to try taking on the responsibility of accomplishing an entire 5th grade lesson by himself.  So he took the lesson manual, read it, and accomplished almost everything he was supposed to.  I have to say he did a pretty good job that day, only missing one activity that needed doing, but otherwise completing everything.  After he was through, I sat down and checked his work, I asked him discussion questions about his reading material, and found things to be fairly okay.  However, when the next school day began, he wanted no part of it.  I said "Why not? You did pretty well yesterday," to which he replied "It was too hard".  So we are back to our regular routine (described above).  He is a young 5th grader, so it will be interesting to see how he feels about it when he gets into 6th grade.

 June 24, 2010 11:12 p.m.

Please pray for a friend of a friend's family.  Their little boy, Christopher, age 4 was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer last fall, neuroblastoma.  He really needs a lot of prayer.  You can read more here and here.  Thank you!

 June 24, 2010 2:09 p.m.

Sweet Girl wrote this in her Composition Notebook for Calvert 2nd grade today.  She had to imagine herself in thirty years, as being famous, and write a paragraph to explain why.  She wrote this page, and included an illustration.  Can you read it?

 June 23, 2010 11:01 a.m.

We're out of sync with the rest of the world!

Summer has a full grip on us these days.  I mean, it is as summer as summer gets.  Long days, stepping out of the house at 6 a.m. to walk our dog, feeling the humidity envelope me and getting soaked feet from the heavy dew on the grass.  In addition, I have to be more vigilant when walking under the oak trees to make sure I don't walk into an orb weaver web.  They are difficult to see until the sun's rays begin to illuminate them.  The cicadas are still making noise at 6 a.m., too, which is the truest reminder that we are in the throes of summer.  So there it is.

By now, all of our homeschooling friends are on summer break.  I am starting to wish I were, too.  As many of you know, we are year 'round homeschoolers, and due to the climate of our state, we plan on getting more school accomplished in the summer than we do during the cooler seasons of the year.  The brilliant rationale behind this is because right now it is too darn hot to do much else, with the exception of swimming.  The plan sounded so practical, and some of my friends would comment on "what a good idea" it was.  But as the children get older, I find that we are out of sync with the world, and summer is not so simple as I expect it will be every year.

During the traditional brick and mortar school year, all of the outside activities are kicked up into full gear.  We are out of the house doing P.E., music, field trips and other activities so that we end up just managing to complete four Calvert Lesson-days per week per child.  Some weeks even less.  So it becomes all-important for us to do a full five lesson-day per week schedule during the summer, when most activities have ceased.  However, here's the deal.... when it comes to social days, visiting one another's homes for play dates and such, everybody is too busy to fit them in during the traditional B&M school year, and they are only free for such gatherings in the summer.  But summer is when we are trying to get most of our school done.  So we are out of sync, and again we are not fitting in those five lessons a week.  In fact, every Friday this summer, there will be a get together that will prevent us from doing school.  It is great, because I prioritize friends and getting together, but we are out of sync with the world, even the homeschool world.  Also, since there are fewer activities at this time of year, I have chosen this time to schedule all our medical, dental, and eye doctor checkup visits.  Then, subtract a week of Music Camp, where I volunteer, another week of VBS, and a few days of standardized testing, and before you know it, summer is gone.

So in a way I am busier these days than I expected.  Not what I expected from summer.  The cicadas I expected, the schedule I didn't.

Well, I won't be complaining this fall when our family takes a 23 day vacation trip (sans schoolbooks)!  But I'm afraid we won't be getting as many days off at Christmas time as I am used to.  Oh well.  Complaining about the trivial stuff, I guess.

So, why do I have time to write this boring blog post, you might ask?

That leads me into a discussion about Calvert.  As I expected, I find that teaching Calvert 5th grade, and Calvert 2nd grade, in the same year makes for a pretty teacher (mommy) intensive year.  I look forward to, and wonder, what it will be like next year when Chips is in 6th grade with Calvert.  For 6th grade, Calvert writes the lesson manual to the student, thereby giving them an opportunity to begin true independent study.  While I have heard of Calvert parents who haven't been able to pull this off with their 6th graders, I am holding out hope that we will when that time comes.  Then I will be able to concentrate on my 3rd grader more, earlier in the day, and hopefully have more efficient school days.  We shall see.

Which brings me to today, and why I have time to write this blog post.  Chips came to me this morning and said he wanted to try to navigate the lesson manual himself, today.  He wanted to go through each subject and teach himself the material, working through all the homework as he goes, no mommy needed.  I looked through his assignments for the day and said, "Okay, let's give it a try".  He might be on to something, and I don't want to squash his desire for independence in this area of life.

I will write my next post with a discussion of what my daily Calvert schedule has looked like up until this point.

June 15, 2010 6:52 p.m.

If you are like me, you are severely myopic.  Which is not great when I am swimming under water.  When I go swimming, if I plan to keep my head above water, I will keep wearing my prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses, but I have to remove them before going under water.  My eyesight has been so bad for so long that there was never a time in my life when I could see clearly under water.

Then, I found out about these inexpensive prescription swim goggles.  They are made to fit all sizes, including children.  I cannot believe the price, either.  Just $7.95 plus shipping.  So I purchased two  pair, one for Chips and one for myself.  My eyes are so bad that I had to specify a diopter value of -7.0.  No, the prescription is not perfect, especially when you have astigmatism, as I do.  But it is certainly good enough for swimming.

Anyway, they arrived this week and we both tried them and they are fantastic!  A whole new world has opened to me; I can actually see clearly and sharply under water for the first time in my life.  I highly recommend these goggles, and consider them my great find for 2010 (so far).  Chips is very satisfied with them, too, and his diopter value is -2.5.

UPDATED: 9:37 p.m.


Photo added and comments at end.


June 11, 2010 4:18 p.m.

Teachers, if you want to win the hearts of your students, don't try to be Mr./Ms. "easy fun" teacher, and don't be an "easy mark".  Instead, love your students enough to push them to be work hard and reach their potential.

Chips had a composition to write this week for lesson 81 of fifth grade Calvert School.  He was to write about somebody he admired.  This is the result:



       Miss Svetlana is my violin teacher.  She is kind, amazing, strict, and is one of the best violin teachers I know.  Miss Svetlana is seventy-two years old.
       Miss Svetlana is very kind, but is really strict.  I have noticed that she does not say, "Good, good!" all the time, or else the student will think he is perfect and stop working hard.  My playing always has something wrong and Svetlana will find it!  She has a good sense of humor, too.
       Svetlana came from Russia at fifty-eight years old and learned to read, speak, and write in English!  She teaches about forty-two students.  My sister, C____, and I both get chocolates after the lesson.
       I admire Svetlana because she came from Russia and learned English, and can play violin so well.  I also admire her because she is so very dedicated to her students.  Svetlana is the best lady I know besides my mother.

As a mom, I must add my own thoughts to Chips' composition.  I recently wrote a letter to this lady to tell her my own thoughts and feelings about what she has done for us.  From the first day we entered her home, nearly four years ago, she set a tone for the duration of the lesson that was all about the business of learning the instrument, very little small talk, and an atmosphere that fostered seriousness during lesson time.  Until this time, our children had never set foot in an environment quite like hers.  Chips was six at the time, and we did have our concerns about him.  He didn't seem to take anything, or anybody, in life seriously.  Not a bit.  Now you might say "he was only six" and while that's true, we noted a marked irreverence and distractibility about Chips that didn't seem typical for his age.  He also had very "busy" hands, needing to keep them engaged in unrelated and exploratory pursuits at all times while awake.  He had already been through three years of violin lessons with another teacher, and it was a good thing that teacher was tolerant of very young kids' antics, because Chips had a million of them to display.

But from Day One of entering under Miss Svetlana's tutelage, all that changed.  There was something about her that commanded Chips' respect immediately.  She wasn't harsh, or mean, but she was quietly serious and focused and kept a subdued tone about her lessons.  For a long time, she even refrained from small talk with me, considering every minute of the lesson as precious and not to be wasted.  She was creating an atmosphere, and it worked.  As Chips grew and matured over the months and years that followed, we were amazed at his level of focus while working with her.  Nowadays, she can keep Chips engaged in highly-focused, intense lesson work that can last for up to, and over, a solid hour.  I marvel when I see him working with her.  She keeps him extremely busy every second.  He hangs in there, listening, doing as she asks, and never even speaking, for the entire time.  This is nothing short of a miracle, and it will definitely serve him well for all his life.  It is this, alone, that is worth millions to us, never mind the violin playing.  She has taught him to focus on a task for an extended period of time, to work hard, and to be truly excellent at something.  For that, I am forever in her debt.

Sweet Girl is learning, too, although she is somewhat more wiggly than most of Svetlana's violin students, especially other girls.  Miss Svetlana and I do have our laughs about her level of gross motor activity during lessons, as every little bitty break in the work results in Sweet Girl practically climbing over the furniture and camping out on the floor.  Oh well, she is still growing.

Both children, Chips and Sweet Girl, adore Miss Svetlana.  More and more each year.  Enough said.

June 8, 2010 9:50 p.m.

I just quit my Facebook account.  Or to use the proper term, I deactivated it.  For awhile I have had the gnawing feeling that I need to disengage from my virtual world somewhat.  Then I read this article in the NY Times yesterday and I found I could relate somewhat.  No, I am not nearly as bad off as some of the folks used as examples in this article, but I have been feeling the mental effects of too much "virtual" in my life.  It was time I curtailed it some.

Not to mention the fact that Facebook has had a deleterious effect on the content of this blog.  Oh horrors!   I had gotten used to writing up life in little snippets of under 200 characters or so.  My writing had lost much all of its reflective quality.

Oh, and not to mention that I have been feeling uncomfortable with the parallel nature of my mental life.  I don't want to think and do things in parallel anymore, or at least I want to minimize it (some is unavoidable when you're a Mommy.)   I want to become sequential again.  In fact, it has been getting more difficult for me to concentrate on tasks that are sequential, and I have had to go out of my way to pause and think about what I am doing as a step-by-step process so that I can stay focused.  I thought it was due to aging.  Maybe yes, but after reading this article, I see it is also possible that my virtual life has had something to do with it.

I can totally relate to the experience (cited in the article) of interrupting my own absorbing, important, and often urgent task because I caught a headline out of the corner of my eye such as "Man Found Dead inside His Business" and I had to stop what I was doing and check it out.  It is getting more difficult to filter out the unimportant and irrelevant.  Scary.

Have any of you ever tried to deactivate a Facebook account?  First of all, when you try to do it, you are given a guilt trip: large photos of six of your Facebook friends telling you that they will "miss you".  HA HA HA!  That's funny!  Then you are asked to give a reason why you are deactivating your account.  When you select a reason, it quickly flashes a suggestion as to how to improve your Facebook experience so that this reason is no longer a problem to you.  Again, HA HA HA!  It also reminds you that your Facebook lifestyle eternally awaits; all you have to do is say your email address and password, and Abracadabra, your account and all your Facebook friends can be restored at any time.  Whenever you come to your senses and decide to return.  This is too much, my friends.

Facebook.  You can check out anytime.  But you can never leave.

 June 5, 1020 6:27 a.m.

So sad today about Pensacola Beach.

Pensacola Beach, of all places.  It is hard to believe.  Gooey sticky tar balls that you can barely wash off your hands.  White powder being transformed into a yellow globby cake, coming in with the suddenness of a single morning when beach lovers discovered it on their early morning walk.

Will this beach ever be the same in our lifetimes?

We knew it was happening; after all, the media have plastered this story all over the place.  I think part of me was hoping that this was subject to some of the same hype that the MSM has applied to other stories, especially since this pertained to "Big Oil".  We were hoping it wasn't really as bad as they made it sound.  It was out there.  Somebody else's problem.

But as quickly as a wave crashes onto land, this story became reality when it started affecting one of our famously pristine beaches, and the first beach in our state.  All in the suddenness of a single morning.

We just spent Memorial Day weekend in Pensacola, but we didn't go to the beach.  We were visiting my MIL in her nursing home.  During some free time, we met with Self-Reliant Man's uncle, a beach lover, who had been there.  We asked him if he had seen any oil, and he shook his head vehemently while uttering a staccato "No!"

Five days later, it has all changed.

Memorial Day weekend may have been the last weekend that Pensacola Beach was clean.

And you all missed it.

This fills me with anger and I don't know where to direct it.  In fact, I am surprised at my reaction to this.  I guess I am more of an environmentalist than I realized.  Now, as reality hits, I do find myself wondering if it really could be carried around our coast by the Gulf stream.  I find myself wondering what would happen if a typical summer tropical storm or hurricane -- you know, the kind that hits that part of the gulf nearly every year -- were to bring about a big storm surge right now.  I am wondering when, and where, it is going to end.

It is unspeakably sad.

Saturday Morning Update:  As daylight hits the Gulf Coast, they are now reporting sheets of oil coming ashore at Gulf Shores, Alabama, just to the west of Pensacola and Navarre.  Residents of the area are in tears.  I'm afraid it's over, folks.

 June 1, 2010 5:07 p.m.

The title of this post might seem mysterious until I tell you that on Wednesday of last week, I began to wear an orthodontic retainer, after not having visited an orthodontist in 29 years.  Now those of you who remember what it is to experience orthodontics need no further explanation.  But for the rest of you..

It all sounds so simple, you see.  You are handed an innocuous looking clear plastic devices that presumably is custom made to fit.  You are told to simply "wear the retainer 24/7 for two weeks, only removing it to eat.  Then after two weeks, you may wear it only at night.  Any questions?"

"Oh no, of course not," I think to myself; after all, how difficult can that be?  But as I smile a reply, I can't help noticing that this plastic device seems to not quite fit as comfortably as I expected it to (hoped it would).  So, I usher my children out the door and we head home.

Except that a few hours later, I realize that I have become short-tempered and grouchy and my sinful nature is becoming more evident than usual.  And as hour after hour wears on, I realize that this darn contraption is exerting forces on my teeth that I would prefer not to have to deal with.  And when dinner time comes and I remove it, I feel my teeth instantly move back into their normal places and say "ahhhh..."

Only to have to put it back in after dessert.  And wear it at night.  And then, homeschool my kids the next day, reading aloud to them and teaching myself to speak correctly again.  That was not one of my magazine photo picture perfect homeschool days, I remember that much.

Well, now here it's been six days since the torture device retainer has been placed, and I have to say that my teeth now know their new places, my bite has been altered as it needed to be, and the retainer apparently has done the trick.

Oh, and apologies for grumpy mommy/ wife have been delivered all around.  Now I remember why I didn't miss this particular part of my teenage years.