How Summer is Going, or Changing Expectations

I had all these good intentions of spending quality educational time together with Cornflower this summer. We were going to read poetry and essays and Shakespeare, practice dictation, do some writing, and finish the last four chapters of her biology textbook. So far, all we've done is kept up with biology. It's only mid-June, but I'm already thinking I may use my beautiful summer plans as a basis for our together work in the fall, and allow summer to be what it should be-- a relaxing of requirements so she can rest a bit. She's entering high school this fall. This may be her last restful summer for awhile.

I never feel like I do enough with Cornflower. She is my youngest, and I have this perpetual sense that she's gotten short shrift.  When I'm thinking rationally, I'm pretty sure that is not the case-- at least not anymore. But the guilt has become a habit that is hard to shake.

She has been painting her room this week.  She did some babysitting for a friend and earned some money which she used to buy paint in exactly the color she wanted. For the past five or six days, she's spent all her spare time thinking about her room and painting and arranging it.

And this is part of my insanity.  This girl has been painting her room all week and I'm fretting that we haven't read Shakespeare.  She is making exciting strides in piano practice, and I'm upset that we aren't working on writing.  She is volunteering at the library, and I'm sad we aren't having poetry teatime together.

The other day, I mentioned that it didn't look like we were going to follow the (beautifully laid-out and posted in the kitchen) summer schedule I had made.  She said consolingly, "Yeah, I'm really sorry you went to so much trouble to plan out stuff we aren't going to do."  Little stinker. ;)

So I've decided to switch gears and make new plans. I've been wandering the house this week like a lost soul, trying to figure out what to do whenever I'm not working in my music studio or tidying the house or making meals. Because I laid all these plans and we are not doing them and I don't feel right forcing them on my daughter.

Today is my day for starting over with new summer expectations.  I can't keep wandering the house picking up odd socks and wondering what I'm supposed to be doing.

It's weird having almost-grown kids.

Adventures in Algebra*

"A fish starts at a depth of d feet below the surface of a pond.  While searching for food it ascends 4 feet, then descends 12 feet.  Its final depth is 15 feet below the surface.  

What was the fish's initial depth?"

Before we deal with d, let's draw a picture.

Wait, we need a shark.
Never mind that it is a pond and not the ocean.
"Fish are friends, not food."

At this point, I stopped taking pictures, because equations are serious business.  I assure you, the problem did get solved.  The fish's initial depth was -7 feet.

She wrote the algebraic equation after she figured out the answer.  She is an immensely practical person and sees no reason for a variable equation if she can figure out the answer in her head.  But she is learning that if she wants to move on to the next question, she has to show the work in algebra language.  

d + 4 - 12 = -15

*It is really pre-Algebra, but that wouldn't make a pretty alliteration.

Morning Walk

The trees are greening

Warm enough for flip-flops, cool enough for blankets

What are you, Mom, the paparazzi?

Yes, I am! One never knows how long these lovely everyday days will be around.

We'll pose, then.

"Now make a fist. Slowly ease it up underneath your chin...
this is looking really good."

Did I mention they also rescue stuck basketballs?

Daddy's home!

Actually, he is just leaving...

The Warrior Poet and his truck

And a beautiful baby tulip

Overbooked

The ice came and conquered this weekend's schedule.

Almost every moment this weekend was filled, and every single activity was cancelled due to weather.  I am glad of that.  From Friday to Sunday we had co-op, drama rehearsal, Christmas party, an outing to a play, cotillion, church, orchestra performance, and a Messiah sing.  (We were also given opportunity to attend/work at least three more events that we refused.) The ice annihilated those plans in one quiet night, and we gratefully settled into a weekend at home.  (Okay, I settled gratefully.  The kids were disappointed but quickly got over it.)

This level of activity is ridiculous.

Why do I allow it?  Parents these days (myself especially) feel like kids need so many opportunities in order to be well-rounded. What should I do to safeguard our time?  Is this just the way it is with older kids?

 I cannot believe that a smile and shrug is the solution.

What is the limit?  How do you know when to say no?  How do you know *how* to say no?

My excuses:

1) We aren't as busy as others.  This is an insidious excuse.  It compares us with others and finds that we are further along in our relinquishing of activities.  Because we are closer to balance, we are okay.  But comparison is not how we are to make decisions.

2) We are at home so much of their education.  They need these activities to learn to interact in formal social situations/work together in groups/produce music, etc., that cannot be done alone.  This is legit, so the question becomes how *much* of this is needed?

3)  I get tired of being the only one instructing them.  I love having other teachers come alongside and encourage and admonish, adding their voices to mine.  I gain strength from this.

4)  They love people and get stir crazy at home.  You should see how they look forward to their time with friends.  They just love their friends so much.  And these are good kids.  I like the people they work and play with.  We should invite people over more.  Then we could stay home and the kids could still enjoy their people.

5) Kids need many opportunities in order to become well-rounded.  How much of this is true and how much is a lie of the ever-increasing competitive, measuring-stick-happy society we live in?  Two things-- this is easily carried to ridiculous extremes, as illustrated by this essay written by a bright and snarky high schooler.  This kid has our number.  Weak as we are, we need more young people willing to declare the emperor has no clothes.  The other thing is a quote from Charlotte Mason, which I have hanging on my wall, and which is not enough to keep me from sacrificing my children on the altar of busy-ness:

We are steadfast to the affinities we take hold of, till death do us part, or longer. And here let me say a word as to the 'advantages' (?) which London offers in the way of masters and special classes. I think it is most often the still pool which the angel comes down to trouble: a steady unruffled course of work without so-called advantages lends itself best to that 'troubling' of the angel––the striking upon us of what Coleridge calls 'the Captain Idea,' which initiates a tie of affinity. -- Volume 3, page 212

I look at my kids.  They will not have everything.  No matter what I do, they will not have everything.  What are the most important things?

6) I hate saying no to my kids.  I would rather they make right choices themselves.  I talk and talk, trying to lead them to no on their own.  This sounds good, but I mainly do this because I hate saying no.  And it does not always work.  And sometimes we need to bump up against a 'no' so we can get used to submitting to a superior when we disagree.

As I look at the graveyard of this weekend's opportunities, I still do not know which of them should have been refused.  Probably the orchestra performance, which was optional, and they had already performed once this week.  We could have skipped the Messiah sing, which only comes once per year.  I would hate to skip that.  Soul food, you know.  If I had said no to the Christmas party, I might have had a revolt on my hands.  Cotillion happens every month, but only once every month, and they love it.  Plus, they are learning etiquette and manners, the almost-forgotten grace of accepting the help of a gentleman at table and on the dance floor.  Church is a non-question-- of course we would never skip church.  The play outing was sister time for one of my girls and her oldest sister.  And the rehearsal was a requirement that only comes twice per month.  You can't skip rehearsals when you are in production.  We could have said no to the entire production, of course.  But it is only once every two weeks.  Feeding the drama monster with an activity once every two weeks... seems like a nice compromise.

And that is how we arrived at the activities.  It's so easy to reason these things out.  Sheesh.  I still have no answers.

Everything was cancelled this weekend.  The girls have slid, put together puzzles, played darts, renewed friendships in the neighborhood... also watched movies, pinned things on Pinterest, visited their friends online... and we had time for their father's birthday dinner, which had been squeezed out by the above activities.  That we had squeezed out their father's birthday is unforgivable really, but his work schedule has been so unpredictable that we weren't sure when he would be available anyway.  And this is the postmodern, fragmented life.  I want to fix it and make it whole.  I don't know how to do that.

Travel

I am going to the Charlotte Mason conference, oh yes I am.  Aravis wanted to attend as part of her graduation gift.  Perhaps I will blog some about it.

We left from church Sunday afternoon and drove to WestTennessee.  The next day, we drove into East Tennessee and Aravis got to visit friends she has loved for years and never met.  The visit was too short, and I forgot to take pictures, but it was still worth it.

Some beautiful people in Kingsport, Tennessee opened their home and their hearts to us, and we have been visiting with them the last day or so.  So many great conversations have already taken place, I feel the conference has already started.

This morning, we will complete the drive into Virginia.  They tell me the conference is exceedingly edifying.  Even if it is not, I have already been fed.

And here is a fabulous post by Cindy on school planning.  Just because it is restful and now is a time for rest and renewal.

Where We Are

(It is tiresome to read someone's apology for not posting and resolution to write more, so I won't say anything about my hope that I will be a more dedicated blogger this summer.)

I mostly want to write about where we are in our homeschooling.  My two youngest are still finishing this year's schoolwork, but Aravis has officially been handed her diploma and is now a high school graduate.

Mariel and Cornflower will do math all summer.  We are also doing a neurodevelopmental program.  I am learning more about how the brain works, which is very interesting: visual/auditory processing, hand/eye/ear/foot dominance. That sort of thing.  It goes on for four months and then we will see whether the results are worth the effort.  I mostly hope it will help with short term memory, organization and sequencing.  The girls are being good sports about it.  I promised Cornflower we would get her some workout clothes. :)

We take daily walks as part of the program.  We are going to get pedometers and once we have walked a total of 450 miles, we are going to visit friends that live 450 miles away.  That will be our reward for sticking it out.

Our work has changed too.   The Warrior Poet is working in a warrior shop now.  He sells guns and that sort of thing.  It's more his style than selling soap.  He is happy. This past year has been confused and frustrating, like a whirlwind, but the Lord has set us down in a good place.

I teach more private music lessons now, three afternoons/evenings per week.  I enjoy teaching music.  Funny how I always feel renewed after working with individual music students for a few hours.  I must be meant to do that sort of work.

We are still adjusting to the odd times of the Warrior Poet's retail and my after-school teaching schedule, looking for those golden hours when we are all available for family time.

Aravis still works at the Walgreens on the corner, although that may change once she gets her schedule for her first term at the university.  Mariel just started a job as car-hop at the nearby Sonic.  Cornflower aspires to work as well, and actually did have a twice-a-month gig this school year, teaching music-readiness activities to two of the brightest and sweetest little boys you ever did see.  They are off for the summer, but will begin again in the fall.  In the meantime, she plans to volunteer at the library.

Here are the books we read this year. An asterisk (*) means we are still working on it. A bold title is one I read also.  Italics means we read it together (at least some of us).  I am not including outside courses or curriculum-type things.  These are real books we read. We also did ALEKS math, Apologia sciences, Lost Tools of Writing, the Hillsdale online Constitution course, fine arts co-op, an outside Spanish class (Mariel), dual credit courses (Aravis), a personal finance course (Aravis), drama club, and orchestra/music lessons (Cornflower).  And we read the Bible together every school day.  Now.  These are the books we read:

Aravis (a cobbled-together Year of Ancients)-

The Iliad
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Vanity Fair
The Greek Way
The Roman Way
The Portable Greek Historian
The Portable Roman Reader
Heroes of the City of Man
The Christian Imagination
The Odyssey
Quo Vadis
The Blood of the Moon


Mariel (AO/HEO Year 9)-

A History of the American People
Hamlet
Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington
*How to Read a Book
Land of Little Rain
Marie Antoinette and Her Son
Miracle at Philadelphia
Mozart (biography)
Ourselves
Salem Witchcraft Trials
She Stoops to Conquer
*Simond's History of American Literature
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Tale of a Tub
The Four Loves
*The God Who is There
*The Jesus I Never Knew
The Problem of Pain
The School for Scandal
The Sea Around Us
The Vicar of Wakefield
*Undaunted Courage
*Waverly
Poetry of Byron, Pope and Phillis Wheatley

Cornflower (AO Year 6)-

*Be Ready to Answer (updated version)
God's Smuggler
Age of Fable
Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity
Animal Farm
Augustus Caesar's World
Carry a Big Stick
Genesis: Finding Our Roots
It Couldn't Just Happen
*Little Women
*Never Give In
School of the Woods
Secrets of the Universe
Story of the Greeks
*Story of the Romans
Story of the World Vol. 4
*The Bronze Bow
The Story of David Livingstone
Poetry of Alfred Noyes and Robert Frost

I've been feeling kind of down that we aren't finished with school yet.  That is a common small-talk question currently: "Are you finished yet?"  Well, no, we are not.  And it made me feel somewhat down, like we hadn't worked hard enough to get things done on time.  But we did a lot.  Maybe I shouldn't plan so much of everything next year.

Teeth-Pulling Narration

This is the one where you finish reading and the student is not sure where to start, so you throw out a keyword and the student gives a short sentence answer, you throw out another keyword, she gives a short answer, etc.... at my house, this student is in danger of being handed the book to study alone and then write a narration, having forfeited the privilege of oral narration through lack of attention.

Someone should write a narration field guide. :)

Good Morning Christmas Playlist

Our "Good Morning Playlist" has been a household success.  We are now auditioning Christmas tracks to insert between our regular favorites.  As before, the music must have the ability to jump-start our morning, which excludes much contemplative Christmas music.  (I love it but it doesn't get the kids going.  I mean, they love it too, but not in the morning.)  Here is the hour-long Spotify playlist thus far, subject to change without notice!  Our regular tracks are in bold:

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing (Mannheim Steamroller)

Every Knee Shall Bow (Twila Paris)

Christmas Don't Be Late (The Chipmunks)

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (The Proclaimers)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (T-Bone Burnett)

Beautiful Day (U2)
Blue Christmas (Elvis Presley)
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (Gayle Peevey)

O Come All Ye Faithful and Joy to the World (Canadian Brass)
Mary's Little Boy Child (Harry Connick, Jr.)

I Wonder as I Wander (John Rutter/Cambridge Singers)

O Holy Night (Bing Crosby)

Chorus Finale on Schiller's Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)

A Mad Russian's Christmas (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

Walking on Sunshine (Katrina and the Waves)

Note the last three songs-- the last fifteen minutes remind us to do our last things and get into the living room for Bible or out the door for our appointments!

Thanksgiving!

My family's gratitude list:

• For church family, how comforting they are when you're sad
• I am thankful for Skittles (the cat) reminding us to stay humble
• Eternal life
• Piano students
• The art museum
• My (birthday) party
• Essay almost finished!
• I am thankful for Vivaldi during math
• My awesome wife
• Friends and family
• School 
• My awesome kids
• Cornflower! (on her birthday)
• Cornflower again :)
• Cornflower once more :D
• My wonderful home
• Proper food, clothing and shelter
• Understanding teachers
• School (different student)
• Preservation (Bible doctrine)
• The right to vote
• Skittles
• Honest and good leaders
• Life
• MUSIC!
• The opportunity to homeschool my kids
• Health
• Liberty
• Grandparents
• Music
• The pursuit of happiness
• Silly kitties
• I did good at drama club
• Activities
• Freedom of speech
• Music (We love music!)
• The right to keep and bear arms
• Weird blots that look like rosebuds
• Jesus
• Cotillion
• God
• _______ College called me!
• The Bible
• Clean-smelling girlies
• Flowers
• Cats who don't bite
• Chocolate
• Exams (Will wonders never cease?)
• Indoor plumbing-- hot and cold running water
• Tape flags
• Our hymn-singing heritage
• The Resurrection
• No tobacco dependency
• Fall weather and color
• Warm boots
• Homemade pie
• Singing
• _______ (a best friend)
• Music
• Cleaning supplies.  Weird, I know, but how would we clean without them?
• The ability to give
• Good coffee
• Clean carpet
• I slept in!
• Gnocchi
• Family
• The freedom to homeschool
• Paper
• Bacon
• Christ who paid it all
• Technology
• Medical care
• Justice
• Music (again!)
• Second chances
• I have a job
• New media/real journalists

Carpets, College and Snowflake Dancers

I cleaned the carpets.  They look cleaner.  The Warrior Poet says 85% cleaner.  There are still spots.  I think it is more like 80%, but we agree that this nine-year-old beige builder-grade carpet has moved up to a 'B' in terms of cleanliness.

It took 7.5 hours.  My fingers are still sore from pushing the little red button, pulling the machine and picking hair out of the scrippy-scrubby brush.  We have tons of long hair at our house and it all lands on the carpet.  Our vacuum cleaner hardly picks it up.  Today I will be down on my hands and knees brushing the dining room rug.  I'm happy to do it.  I've wanted to take care of it, lo, these many months.

So.  Clean carpet.  Brushed rug.  I may even mop the linoleum today.  Then all my floor will look good at the same time.  Give me one moment in time when I'm all that I thought I could be.  Hee hee.

After cleaning carpets, I always like to go to my parents' house and sing hymns.  So there you go.  Monday evening we visited my folks, ate pre-Thanksgiving dinner and sang at least two hours.

Sopapilla cheesecake.  Yum.

Yesterday I contacted college admissions offices.  Aravis is really doing this thing.  Eee!   Three schools are waiting on documents. Two schools have everything needed.  One school said Aravis would most likely hear something by mid-December.  We submitted almost everything electronically.  Wild.  I am mailing two official paper transcripts today for the schools that require them.  I included, "Official" in the transcript title, signed the bottom, sealed the envelopes, and signed across the seals.  The admissions counselors said we did not need to have them notarized or stamped with a school seal.  High school homeschooling moms live for such inside info.  I realized yesterday I'll be doing this for the next nine years, Lord willing.  By the end of it, I may know as much about getting into college as a high school guidance counselor.

Today I will brush the rug, make gnocchi and pecan pie, hang Aravis' senior pictures, crack the whip on Mariel's final few exam questions (she was sick during exam week), think about tweaking school assignments for the new term, and put the rest of the furniture back in order.  Today I do everything I was hoping to do the entire week, lol.

Tomorrow we feast at Grammy's house.

On Black Friday we will get out Christmas decorations.  We are poor shoppers at the best of times. We dare not venture out during the competitive shopping Olympics.  Scary.  Instead, we decorate.  I think these snowflake dancers would look fantastic hanging from our dining room chandelier.  Of course, the directions are in Russian.  I think.  Anyway, I cannot read them.  I hope one of my crafty children will figure out the elegant little things.  And if I can't have them in my home, at least they exist somewhere.

Thus begins the season of gratitude and peace.  

Bread

I want to post more.  A lot of life is happening at our house.  Some I can share and some I cannot.  I wonder if I can post every day for the next few weeks?  If I do, and I hope I will, my posts will probably contain meandering thoughts rather than anything coherent.  Bear with me. :)

This morning we read Ann Voskamp's post, "When Your Christmas Stretches You".  I highly recommend it.  We generally do not have the hectic Christmas most people experience.  Some of our family do not celebrate Christmas and most of them live far, far away.  We visited them last year and this year will stay home.

Without going into much detail, I will say my family is dealing with hardship right now.  I've been open on this blog about our debt, and thankfully we are pretty much finished paying it off.  We have a few doctor bills and a family loan that should be done in a couple months, provided our income level stays the same.

Our income has been going down for the last couple years.  It continues to slide.  This is one sad thing that is happening to us.  Dave Ramsey would say we have an income problem, not a budget problem.  The amazing part is that we are still current on our bills.  I don't know how long that will last, but I know who holds tomorrow.

The reason for the income problem is the Warrior Poet's health.  He is a salesman and is struggling to sell while in pain from back problems.  I have taken on quite a few piano students to offset the loss.  I now teach every weekday afternoon but Friday.  I love it.  I can't believe I get to do something I love to help us through this tribulation.  It feels like cheating to me.

This thought makes me realize that I do not really believe God delights in giving good gifts to his children.  It isn't cheating that God gave me a love of music and parents that could afford to let me take piano lessons and who left me alone to develop my skill without a lot of nagging.  It is a gift from God that I do not deserve but that he was delighted to give me.  God is still giving to me and helping me give to my family in a way that expands my soul.  Nurturing my students' love of music is a soul-expanding exercise as well as a discipline and I get to do it almost every day.  How glorious.

Back to Christmas.  I don't really know what is going to happen this year.  My parents gave us a tree since we aren't going to visit the Christmas tree farm.  They even gave us pine-scented air freshener so the house will smell right.  No, I do not deserve it.  That is why it is called a gift.  Not cheating or being lazy. Why do I think like that?

I pray that the Lord will help me defeat this devilish thought and see his good gifts for what they are.  Satan, get thee behind me.  It is true that the life of grace stretches us, like Ann says.  I don't feel like I am living all that graciously, but the Lord is stretching me, teaching me to give up expectations, to await his gifts with open hands and no requirements, either for my work or for his gifts.  No deal-breakers, because I am not bargaining with God nor am I earning my way.  My work should be my love for him manifest in action.

My dreams have to become his dreams, perhaps my dream of our life is not what he has for us.  Like Heidi, I have to give up my hoarded basket of hard, stale bread and wait on the Lord, who brings fresh loaves, enough for today's meal and a promise of more tomorrow.

Another thing.  Many people are dealing with worse problems than ours.  I cannot tell you the hardships some of our close friends have to walk through.  I feel guilty that I am so upset about our situation.  We are all together.  We are all healthy, except the Warrior Poet's back.  Our family and friends are showing God's love to us, constantly helping us.  I am a dramatic worrier, that is true.  I need help replacing that worry and the guilty feeling that follows.  It is true we will not be satisfied until we are in the presence of the Lord, but I want to take life minute by minute and rejoice in the Lord and the little things while working like anything to improve our lot.  Lord, help me to do it, and not to glory in my work!  But to glory in your provision.  And help me to love my friends that are experiencing hardships, to be your hands and feet for them.

Math and Psalms

LittleLa added an editorial to the end of a word problem this morning.

"Last year Uncle Alex planted cabbages in a field which was 15 m wide and 40 m long.  This year he wants to plant cabbages in a new field but has not decided whether to use the 5 m wide field, the 24 m wide field or the 30 m wide field.  Selah."

Morning Routine Playlist

I found a great idea in ADDitude Magazine for inspiring my household to get up and get going in the morning.  I cannot find the actual article.  The link above is to the main website.  The idea is to make an hour-long playlist of music and then start the music an hour before you need to leave the house or get started with school in the morning.  The kids thought this was great.  Our whole family collaborated on the playlist.  Here it is:

When Will My Life Begin, from the movie, "Tangled"
Every Knee Shall Bow by Twila Paris
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers
The Morning Report from the movie, "The Lion King"
The Joy of the Lord by Twila Paris
Good Morning, Baltimore from the musical, "Hairspray"
Beautiful Day by U2
Hakuna Matata from the movie, "The Lion King"
Climb Every Mountain from the musical, "The Sound of Music"
Little Wonders from the movie, "Meet the Robinsons"
Good Morning, Good Morning by the Beatles (covered by The Coverbeats)
I Will Lift My Eyes by Bebo Norman
Chorus Finale on Schiller's Ode to Joy from Beethovens 9th Symphony
The Russian Dance from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet
Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves

They have ordered their morning routines to correspond to different songs in the list.  A few days after we started this, I reordered the playlist a bit and set off a panic when the girls heard Good Morning Baltimore earlier than they were expecting, lol.

The Ode to Joy finale is our signal that we have fifteen minutes before showtime.  ;)  During the day when we need to go somewhere in fifteen minutes, I start the playlist at Ode to Joy.

Funny how music motivates us.  It's much more pleasant than an alarm going off or a person saying "Get going!"  The other day one of the girls did not get up and did not get up.  I finally went into her room fifteen minutes before time and simply said, "Ode to Joy, babe."  She was out of bed like a shot.

I have been one of the worst offenders as far as lollygagging in the morning.  The music works for me too.  The girls say even if the music didn't help that much, they would still like it because they like hearing me sing in the morning.  I am happy we chose music with words.

We have been using this tool for three weeks and no one is tired of the songs yet.  I wonder when we will decide we need new ones?

Updated to add:  Have you watched the movie, "Inception"?  In that movie, a certain song plays to signal the dreamers that it is time to wake up.  They call it "the kick".  This week, we realized Ode to Joy is the kick that alerts us to do our last things and get ready to go, leaving the kairos atmosphere of home and entering the chronos atmosphere of appointments and activities.

Little Wonders

During math this morning, Little La said, "I've got a paper that will really help me, but it's in last year's math binder.  May I go get it?"  Delighted, I agreed.  She came back with a sheet filled with geometric figures and formulas I had insisted she jot down last year.  (!)  The flip side of the paper was a copy of a page from Shakespeare-- a sketch of Orlando defying Duke Senior, and the cast list of "As You Like It".  Little things like this make my day.

Of Viruses and Vans

Today was our second day of school.  Yesterday was smooth and easy.  I found out I had skipped a thirty-minute segment in making my sharing-of-mom schedule.  Adding it back gave me time before lunch to read with Mariel.  That was certainly happy!

We have been passing around a nasty virus for the last month.  Yesterday afternoon I took Mariel and Little La to the doctor.  She said Little La had an ear infection and Mariel had both strep and bronchitis.  And they still had a good first day of school.  Maybe they were too ill and tired to fight me. ;)

The meds wiped Mariel out, so today she slept.  I did schoolwork with Little La and then went to get the oil changed in our old beater van.  I had to drive all the way to town to do some banking, so I took it to Walmart.

"Ma'am, your oil change has been cancelled."

"Why?" I asked.

The clerk explained to me that my van was leaking vast quantities of oil, that the oil pan was cracked in several places, and that they were not allowed to work on vehicles in such bad shape.  Besides, I had obviously not gotten my oil changed at Walmart last time.  I should take the van back to where I got it changed last time and demand that they fix it for free.

I walked out of the Walmart wondering if the van would make it to the place I normally go.  I might burn up the engine driving down the highway.  I realized this could be the end of the get-out-of-debt van.  The G.O.O.D van, the kids call it.

Our van has almost 200,000 miles.  It's been fed diesel, attacked by hail, and driven across country in both directions.  We've had it eight years.  It requires fixing rarely enough to be a better deal than a car payment.  It is faithful, it is true.  Sometimes I think if I were Frodo in Mordor, our van would be Sam.  (Okay, not really.)  I said a prayer, started the van and headed toward "our" oil change place.

I like this place because it's right in our neighborhood and they do fast work.  I can get the kids started on something, then run out to the Kwik Kar and be back home in less than thirty minutes.  I've been getting the oil changed here for years.  I didn't want to accuse them of anything.  I told the guy what the Walmart folks had said and he agreed to look at the vehicle.

Long story short.  He found the leaks, which were not in the oil pan.  There are two of them.  I know about these.  We have had them awhile.  My driveway tells me about them every time I pull out.  He said that Walmart is notorious for refusing to change the oil for odd reasons.  We were only two quarts down after 4 months and 5,000 miles of driving.  He changed the oil, recommended we check it every month, and sent me on my way.

Cancel funeral arrangements for Old Faithful.  Phew!

To Begin is Half the Work

Tuesday we will begin the new school year, I hope.  One or another of us has been sick with a virus almost the entire month of August. Two of the girls have horrid coughs, and the Warrior Poet is still suffering some effects of the virus.  It is currently my turn to deal with fever.  I usually recover more quickly than anyone else in the family.  I think we may actually begin school on Tuesday.

The fever that comes with this virus tends to disappear and then return.  I am using a fever-free moment to update the blog.

The quote in the title is from some Roman person.  Different websites attribute it to different authors.  I think Mary Poppins said something similar:  "Well begun is half done."  I have researched and planned and thought and prayed, and being that we're down with this virus, I have had much time for reflection.

Bible:  Last year we got bogged down in commentaries.  A kind preacher disrupted our descent into commentaries about halfway through the year.  This year I hope we will continue to do more Bible reading and less commentary reading.  Commentaries can be helpful, but one must be careful.

English:  I'm sort of dreading language arts this year.  The three girls are doing three completely different things and I know that will be hard on me.  Also, I can't shake the notion that Cornflower needs more of a challenge in this area.  I went through the same angst when Aravis was her age.  Aravis has started a rhetoric and critical thinking class at the college.  It looks like it will be good for her.  I am excited to get back into Lost Tools of Writing with Mariel by herself and see what happens.

Geography: I'm feeling ambivalent about geography.  We are going to use the Sheppard website for mapwork, which looks good, but I wonder if it will be too little, too late.  How much do my kids know about maps already?  Living geography is easy for me, and I can point to a spot on the map when we are reading. We have two big ones-- United States and World-- on our walls.  But beyond that, I feel a lack.  I'm not sure the Sheppard website will help with it.  I'm not sure what we are lacking, actually.

History:  The kids are each reading their own thread of history, which means I keep up with three time periods.  I love this.  I get excited making connections from different eras.  Aravis is studying Ancients this year, which I think will stretch my thinking, too.

Civics:  Again, I'm not sure how much they know and where they lack knowledge in terms of government and economics.  We follow the AO/HEO suggestions and have read through the Constitution.  Mariel will read through it again this year, and we are all taking the Hillsdale Constitution 101 course during our group time.  I feel like they need more, though.  Texas government, of course, but also knowledge of the political process, such a strange animal to me.  Four years ago we studied the political process, but I'm not sure how much they retained.  It's another election year, but I haven't geared up for it.  I need to think more about election year lessons or at least make watching the process a requirement.  Aravis signed up to help register voters in our area.  That will be a good experience for her.

Science:  One word.  Biology.  It will be our life this year.  (Get it?  Life/biology.  Ha.)  Aravis and Mariel are both studying different levels of biology.  Cornflower is reading natural science and learning the laws of physics.  We'll get through this just fine, I think.  I'm thankful none of our science this year contains math.

Life Skills:  I always feel lacking in this area.  Life skills can't usually be taught as step-by-step lessons.  They have to be experienced.  The girls do their own laundry and can clean the house and make a meal.  That's good.  This year, Mariel is making dinner two nights per week with Cornflower as her assistant.  Aravis just reminded me to drink lots of water, so she knows how to prod sick people.  Almost every situation has the potential for teaching life skills.  We did sign up for cotillion so the kids could learn etiquette and social dancing.  The older two girls have leadership roles in drama club this year.  Mariel is taking driver's ed at the end of the school year, and Aravis is studying personal finance.  If they don't grow in life skills, it won't be for lack of opportunity.

P.E.:  Oh dear.  P.E. is the red-headed stepchild of our homeschool.  I don't know how often we will make it to the Y this year, but it is something they need on their transcripts.  That's as far as I have gotten in the P.E. area.

Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it...

 That is from Goethe.  We will, we will, if we can rid ourselves of this virus by Tuesday.

UPDATE:  I just realized I completely skipped math.  Oh well.  I think I need a nap.  I'll think about math later.

Decorating

I am sitting in Aravis' room while she sorts through much stuff.  All three girls have been taken with the organizing and decorating bug.  We painted Mariel's room last weekend (below) and will paint Cornflower's room tomorrow.  We found their colors on the Oops paint shelf.  (Repainting a room for $5, I like that!)

A friend said the color reminded her of the blue medieval folks painted on walls and ceilings to simulate the sky.
I like the way Mariel's art pops out of the blue walls.

Cornflower has a pretty pink for two walls, and wants a fresh pale green for the other two.  Aravis has not found any paint on the Oops shelf.  She wants her room to be shabby chic and it holding out for a color called Jasmine Flower.

I'm enjoying their artistry as they work with what they have to create new beauty.  :)

A teeny little tax rant...

I wonder what kind of tax code results in a husband and wife owing more taxes than the previous year when the year's income went down and the main breadwinner suffered unemployment?  Ah, the tender mercies of bureaucracy!

It was ignorance on our part, really.  We did not realize the child tax credit goes away the year the child turns seventeen, so hadn't adjusted our withholdings accordingly.  Also, it is a little known fact-- at least it was little known to us-- that unemployment benefits are taxable income, although the government does not offer pre-tax withholding on those benefits.

At least now you know and won't be surprised. ;o)  Forewarned is forearmed.  Although it may change at any moment.  The tax code is a seething morass full of writhing legislation suddenly shifting ...  I vote for a flat tax on purchases rather than income.  Even a graded tax on purchases rather than income would be easier to understand than what we have currently.

In light of the happy list, I'm trying to move from anger to the idea that we have a front-row seat in which to watch the Lord work.  We're currently praying that the vehicle doesn't break down and nobody needs a doctor until after we get the taxes paid.  :)  Actually, if that could go on indefinitely, it would be great.

The Lord is amazing... we have had our van almost eight years and it has over 175,000 miles and it still runs well.  The other day I averaged our last nine months of van repairs, and our repair bills are still less than a car payment. Of course, it may die tomorrow.  But so might we all. :D  Then we would be in heaven with the Lord, which is more than I can say for our get-out-of-debt van or the tax code.

And that is my happy thought for today.

A Day

hearing:  I'm a Long Time Traveling Here Below

seeing:  dishes, and an unmade bed, and laundry, and a mostly uncluttered living room

tasting:  leftover chicken and mushroom risotto

smelling:  beautiful spring-like breeze going through my open windows

feeling:  the soft, soft fur of the kitty as I remove him from the counter for the umpteenth time

contemplating:  the mimetic sequence

also contemplating:  the college process

also contemplating:  my lack of algebraic knowledge

imagining:  how it will feel to not purchase math and science next year since we have everything we need

studying:  to be quiet, and to do my own business, and to work with my own hands

My Day

braided youngest daughter's hair

listened

prayed

recited

sang

rejoiced

read Shakespeare

sang again

visited 

listened again

laughed

rejoiced again

fed kids

visited again (with listening)

laughed and laughed
read
made plans

shopped

bought chocolate and tea

washed

had company

made WP's favorite dinner

gave my mom flowers

visited a third time, listening yet again (with laughter)

:happy: