The 4H Camping trip!

We went on the 4H camping trip the weekend of the 20th-22nd and it was a lot of fun. The site was right next to the highway, so that did detract from the notion of “getting away from civilization,” but the scenery was lovely, and the creek provided hours and hours of free entertainment. We grilled, we chilled and we waded in the very cold water. We caught bugs, we made s’mores and we had a good time.

The site is run by a very eccentric 81 year old woman. It’s funky to say the least. The sites were small, and the office and bath house were something else. It looks very much like she owned the land for years and years and sometime in 1960 she decided it would make a great campground. Ahem. I wish I had pictures of her or the buildings, but I felt like snapping pics of her would be rude in a way.

Lonnie has now agreed that air mattresses or cots are must have essentials. Hee hee. With sixteen+ 4H families there, we had an awesome time making new friends and the kids had tons of playmates. All in all, it was a great time.

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Summer is in full swing

We are spending most of our days relaxing lately, so I haven’t posted to this blog since the 6th of June and I feel pretty bad about neglecting it.  :-(  We are doing a few “schoolish” things each day, but mostly we are playing in the sunshine and enjoying each other.  The sprinkler is getting a lot of use, and there are frequent trips to friends’ houses and the local library.  Ahhhh….summer.

Super-boy is still wrapping up his math book.  He is about to test on lesson 25, and then he has lessons 26-30 to finish before taking the final test.  That is my main focus at this point since our readings are essentially done for Year 1 of Ambleside.  We will be reading some of Parables from Nature and Trial and Triumph over the summer months on Sunday afternoons, since those books seem fitting for a Sunday.  Other than that, we will finish up listening to Alice in Wonderland, and read another literature selection in July & August.

In other news, I enrolled myself at Ellis College and began my first course yesterday.  I hope to finish up 11 bridge credits this summer so I can enroll in the degree program for a BA in English.

Right now I am working on making our homeschool schedule more streamlined so I will have time to focus on my own studies while somehow educating the kids, mothering them, being a super wife and maintaining our home.  Oh!  And I have those church commitments as well - leading a small group that seems to be floundering, and writing weekly devotionals.

Oh! I wish I had a…

video camera!

We did “King Lear” on Wednesday. Yes, that “King Lear,” the Shakespeare tragedy. We listened to it twice on Librivox.org, and then we all dressed up in costume and acted it out.

The cast of characters:

King Lear as portrayed by Super-boy

Goneril as portrayed by Monkey

Regan as protrayed by me

Cordelia as portrayed by DIva

Also, I took the brief parts of the Earl of Kent and the King of France. There are far more characters in the real play, but obviously, we use an adapted version.

The girls and I put on various dresses and outfits, and then we made a crown for Super-boy and put a red coat on him. The whole thing was a riot! Monkey had to poison me, so she mixed up a “deadly” drink for me and she actually laughed while I drank it. I died, and she kills herself and falls down next to me. Diva turned in a fabulous performance when it came time for her to be hanged, and Super-boy really did stumble in trying to drag Diva with him in the end, before dying of a broken heart. Alas, such tragedy! As we were all laying dead on the floor (very Kenneth Brannagh), all I could think was that I wish I had a video camera to record it all. Hee hee.

Learning updates

I have had precious little time to blog lately. Life has been busy, commitments are piling up, and the last thing I seem to have time for is updating this page. C’est la vie.

We are whizzing through our final term of the year, and I am amazed, as always, by what the kids have learned, and are learning. Super-boy is now learning cursive, and we finished our geography book, Paddle-to-the-Sea today. We were both excited to finish the journey with our beloved paddle man, and sad to say goodbye to him. Super-boy has begged me all year to read Paddle more quickly, but I knew that taking our time would be more enjoyable, and it was. I am glad I trusted those smart ladies of Ambleside Online and read it slowly.

I also had some suspicions confirmed recently that Super-boy’s math was a combination of 2nd & 3rd grade skills. I was thumbing through the book “What Your Third Grader Needs to Know” the other day at the library and a LOT of the math skills listed in that book are things we covered this year. Math-U-See Gamma arrived last week (along with Diva’s Primer book) and I was looking through it with excitement. Gamma jumps right into multiplication and division. My son is growing up. *sniffle*

Also, A Child’s History of the World finally decided to show up yesterday after just over 3 weeks! I was getting worried. I am already on Chapter 12. Next year is going to be great!

And, because the mailman obviously knew that I needed a boost yesterday, he delivered out caterpillars too! We are about to raise a few painted lady butterflies.

I will admit, these guys seems less than enthusiastic, but I wonder if that has anything to do with scanning procedures at the post office. I hope they perk up because I really don’t want to have to order more. I have my fingers crossed that we will be able to raise at least five and learn about the life cycle of a butterfly.

How can I disappoint these cuties??

Six Flags, More Fun!

On May 22nd, we ventured out to “homeschool day” at Six Flags America. OHMYGOODNESS, it was a blast. I think I was just as excited as the kids were. I had a hard time sleeping the night before, and I was nothing but butterflies and sweaty palms as I waited in line with Super-boy for our first big coaster.

(Here the kids are enjoying some tea cups! Whee!)

Super-boy, bless his sweet heart, is a daredevil like his mama. I think maybe Diva and Monkey are as well, but they were too short to really put it to the test. We all rode the kiddie coaster, and we all loved it. It was surprisingly fast and fun for a kiddie coaster. But then, Super-boy went on a huge white, wooden coaster called The Wild One, as his first “real” roller coaster. It was fast, rickety and had enormous hills. Woo hoo! After that, he went with me, very bravely, on a coaster called Mind Eraser. It loops, twists and goes lightening fast, all while your feet dangle. That’s right, my boy went on a suspended track coaster and had a fabulous time!

(Ice cream and funnel cake, OH MY!)

The girls went on a lot of the rides in the kid park, and some of the “family rides.” We all went on a few water rides that left us absolutely soaked to the skin, but it was breezy so we dried quickly. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I spent so much time on the rides with them, I didn’t get the chance. We are definitely going next year (if we are still here that is) and I plan to take pictures…lots and lots of pictures!

(This was right before we hit the shops and walked out. I think they must have been exhausted, but they just look grumpy, don’t they? Hee hee.)

Homeschoolers of Color

I promise to get pictures of our trip to Six Flags (last week!) posted very soon. In the meantime, a friend dug up this article for me, and I am sharing. My decision to homeschool my kids was strongly (that’s an understatement) influenced by the way the school district was treating my biracial son. Enjoy!

Home-schoolers of color
Worried about harmful labels and lower achievement, parents choose to educate their children themselves
By Cara Bonnett, Correspondent

When Dotty Barco’s oldest son, Caleb, began to struggle with third-grade math, she remembered the statistic she’d run across while writing a college paper.

According to the National Urban League, black male achievement begins to decline as early as fourth grade. Blacks continue to fall behind through high school, in test scores, grades and dropout rates. Fewer than half of black males graduate in four years.

“In fourth grade, African-American males drop to the bottom — we can’t find them anymore,” said Barco, a former public school teacher and mother of four boys. “I knew fourth grade was coming, [and] I couldn’t have my son be a part of that.”

That year, Barco pulled all her sons out of Vance Elementary School in Raleigh. She has been home-schooling them since.

He cooks!

This morning, Super-boy asked me if he could cook his own eggs and toast for breakfast. Naturally, I said yes! I was cooking quite a few simple meals by eight, so I am sure it’s past time for him to learn to make a few things as well. He has been making toast for a while, but he has never cooked anything on the stove, and to my knowledge has never cracked an egg before.

I wish I would have grabbed the camera a little sooner to catch all the action, but here he is, cooking his scrambled eggs. He cracked, mixed, seasoned and cooked them by himself and he was so proud!

Reviews are no biggie

I had my second review with the MCPS school system yesterday.  I wanted to encourage anyone in the homeschooling community in Maryland to seriously consider forgoing the “umbrella schools” and saving your money by reviewing with the county.  As long as you are doing your job as a teacher and educating your children, there is really nothing to worry about.  I even know unschoolers that breeze right through their reviews because they keep accurate records of what their children are learning and working on.

My reviewer, Mrs. W, is such a sweet lady!  She had saved the document on her computer from our last review and all she did was update in a few areas where things had changed from last time, like artists and composers.  She asked more questions about the Charlotte Mason method, looked through Super-boy’s portfolio and declared that it was beautiful, organized and that he is doing fantastic!  I must say, it is nice looking through that notebook and seeing all he has worked on this year and reading his narrations.  Some of them are so funny!

She said he is very busy and obviously getting tons of social time and she can’t wait to see what we are up to next year!  Hooray!  No more reviews until January of 2009, and I will be reviewing for Diva at that time as well.

Review today!

I have another county review today at 1:00. Most of you will not even be reading this post until I am done. I will update when I get back and let you all know how I did.

I am also sailing out of the Mommy Doldrums I was in. I have had a super hectic week and sometimes, especially when the housework is getting away from me and everything feels chaotic, I get really down. Now that weddings and writing and reviews are done (or almost done!), I can focus on getting myself and the house back in order. A super clean house always sets my spirits right.

However, the best medicine for the doldrums is to be with my favorite little people. Their laughs and silliness are the best cure I know!

Navigating the ‘Mommy Doldrums’

Doldrums:

1. 1. A period of stagnation or slump.
   2. A period of depression or unhappy listlessness.
   3. A region of the ocean near the equator, characterized by calms, light winds, or squalls.
   4. The weather conditions characteristic of these regions of the ocean.

I am sailing the doldrums of motherhood today.  Am I the only one who occasionally wonders what happened to my life?  I am doing precisely what I want to be doing, don’t get me wrong.  On a good day, I can rattle off a long list of all the reasons why I adore being a housewife, the glories of being a stay-at-home-mother, and the wonder of being a homeschooler.  I know I am blessed.

I just don’t feel it today.

Today, I miss the old me; the carefree me, the me who showered regularly, wore make-up and the latest fashions.  I miss being able to shop without stress.  I miss sitting in coffee shops to think and write in peace while sipping a latte.  I miss singing and performing.  I miss flirting, and actually having someone want to flirt with me.  I miss the me whose belly did not resemble a scarred, battered and deflated beach ball.

I am grieving the dreams I left by the wayside, and the life I left back at the fork in the road.

Tomorrow I will be better.  I will cook, clean, wash and teach with the best of them, and be truly thankful.

Today…I just can’t manage to be quite so enthusiastic.  My ship is stalled, and there is nothing I can do until I get that refreshing breeze of inspiration that fills my sails and resumes my journey.

It’s coming, I know it.  I’ll be waiting right here until it does.