Educational Moments - Week 2

Allen has been working the night shift at work, so the kids and I headed to my parents' in Waco for a week. It worked out well -- Will and I could do school work while my parents kept an eye on the younger three. Since my mom loves doing laundry, and she did all the meal prep, it felt like I was on vacation! Thanks, Mom! Our first night there had a few raindrops, but then the sky burst into rainbows.

Will and I usually finished his lessons by early afternoon, then he would fish and play with the others till dinnertime. One afternoon, Will filled an empty jar with mud, a stick, a couple worms, and a handful of rolly-pollies. The jar became his fascination -- until a sibling checked it out, then it became a reason to fight. My dad told Will that they should hunt for The Great Gambusia. The name alone was enough to lure Will and Jon to my iPhone to look up what they would be searching for. While Ben and Maddie went shopping with Mom and me, Jon and Will stayed with Granddad to catch gambusia.... minnows. They filled a large jar with water and fish, and the boys loved it! Another day, they fished on the lake and caught an assortment of fish. They put the fish in the jar to observe for awhile, then they let the fish go. I think the boys enjoyed seeing the fish in the water instead of how they normally see them -- gasping desperately as the boys wriggle a hook out of the fish mouth.

One afternoon, Mom and I took the kids to the children's museum. We started in the optics and sound rooms since we had been studying eyes and ears and other senses in science. We have studied a few forms of communication, so we also explored the communication room with a bit of purpose. After we did our science lessons at the museum, Mom and I stood back and let the kids explore and play. We spent about four hours at the museum -- enough to wear all of us out.

That evening, the kids got a canoeing lesson from Granddad. In the past, the adults did the paddling, but Dad recently got some smaller paddles so the kids could participate more actively.

Saturday night, we had another educational couple of hours. The last two weeks, we have studied several composers, musicians, and music pieces. Our lessons have introduced the kids to classical music, new vocabulary, instruments, and how they make up an orchestra. Several lessons from this week have exposed Will to opera pieces such as Verdi's Anvil Chorus and Rossini's William Tell Overture, so I was thrilled to discover that a children's opera would be presented at the community college. The kids were a bit excited to dress up for the special event.

The theater was small enough that we were comfortable peering into the orchestra pit during warm-ups. Will identified the instruments and was able to hear them one at a time (instead of just picking them out of the music CDs).

The Chicken Opera was an age-appropriate performance meant to introduce children to opera, and all the kids had a blast listening to the chickens, rooster, duck, turkey, pig, and goats sing! Well... Ben interrupted the beginning of the second act to ask me why we weren't going home yet, but at least he was rather quiet about it. He was just sleepy. At the end, the performers (dressed as farm animals) greeted the children in the foyer, and that spiked all their attention. Maddie pleaded with Gramma to take her to meet the peacocks (ballerinas) and the turkey (a soprano with lots of ruffles in her costume). The boys all loved the fainting goats, and I think all the kids followed most of the storyline. It really was a neat introduction to musical performance for them, and I count it as a successful learning experience since it brought to life so many of our lessons from the last two weeks.

Educational Moments - Week 1

Though Will does have to sit (or stand) through all the lessons, the younger kids only join us when they choose to do so. All of the kids have loved drawing and science. All of the kids have done our music lessons with us. Maddie often sits and copies, in her best handwriting, our scriptures or vocabulary words, while Will works on math. We did our first drawing lesson on Monday afternoon, and it was a hit! In fact, Will was really disappointed that I didn't have it on the agenda for Tuesday. He worked his tail off and didn't goof off at all because he wanted to finish all his lessons with time to spare -- WOOHOO!! I think I have found a motivator for him (for this week, anyway.)

One of the favorite activities this week was when we dissected the cow eyeball. Cow eyeball?! Dissection?! In the first week?! Yessiree -- with five and eight year olds who learned more about eyes from that slightly slimy lesson than they did from a couple of days of looking at labelled pictures of eyeballs. I chose to do the lesson on Saturday because I wanted to have Allen there -- partly for moral support, but mostly because I was afraid I might need another adult pair of hands to help with the kids if I was a mess. I was SO glad to have his help for the picture-taking and for the hand-washing. The kids watched me dissect the eye, but then they got to hold all the parts as we talked about them. Ben and Jon were the most interested -- especially when I let them play with the vitreous humor and try to put the whole eye back together. I thought the lens was the neatest part since we could use it as a magnifying glass. Maddie enjoyed checking everything off the diagram as we found it, but she enjoyed reassembling the eye, too. Will and Allen thought the tapetum was really neat.

Will had an appointment with his counsellor today. When he enthusiastically explained what we did with the eyeball, her eyes got really big. She looked at me and asked why I would do that in the first week with young kids, explaining that most people don't dissect eyes until high school or college. I told her it was part of the curriculum we were using, and I thought the kids would remember more if we did an activity. I told her we believed that what was "normal" in school wasn't ideal for Will, so we didn't plan on doing it the "normal" way. Unless we try home schooling 100%, we won't know if it is a good option for us or not. 

One Day at a Time - First week of school

Just a few of my thoughts after one week on the new job:

It is REALLY hard for me to relax.

Since I am working on just one day at a time (prepping the night before), I am frustrated. I am a planner. I could probably tell you what is on the menu for dinner two weeks from now, so this one-day-at-a-time is a challenge for me. I could plan further out since I have curriculum and lesson plans for about a semester, but I don't know what Will has mastered or on what subjects he will need more time. Until I get a better handle on that part, I'm trying to do one day at a time.... and I remind myself of it by singing my new theme song:

One day at a time, sweet Jesus,
That's all I'm asking of you
Just give me the strength
To do every day what I have to do
Yesterday's gone, sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine
Lord, help me today, show me the way
One day at a time

Several people have already asked how things are going. I have surprised myself by saying it has been easier than I expected. Before a few weeks ago, I didn't think I had it in me to be a home-school mom, but I guess I've surprised myself with that part, too. Yes, Will tests me...daily... hourly, even. He does the bare minimum and then whines and cries when I have him redo the sentence with correct spelling and punctuation. He throws himself on the floor in a mock-tantrum when I ask him to do math and show his work. He pouts and frowns and grumbles when I ask him to sit still to hear me. Yes, it has been a tough week... BUT, every day started with a prayer asking God to fill me with His love and patience and perseverance, and He gave me what I needed. I did crash each afternoon from exhaustion. I did search the cabinets for a couple chocolate chips to "take the edge off." I did call Allen almost in tears a few times, asking what I had gotten myself into. But, overall, I think it went well. It wasn't much tougher than when I had him do his homework, but this way, we got the power struggles over by lunchtime when I had the energy to handle it.

This week, I think our biggest challenge has been working in the house when Ben, Maddie, and Jon are home. I've put band-aids down where they can reach them because one morning when Will and I were working on math, each of the three came to me twice (so it seemed) bleeding. Every time, it was a minor cut, but they were bleeding just enough that they wanted a band aid. I think we went through a whole box of cartoon bandages in two days, but at least we weren't interrupted again. It is tough for them to understand that I need to work with Will. It is tough for Will to be understanding when they need me for something. I know it will take a few weeks for all of us to be more patient and understanding with this new system. Our second biggest challenge is figuring out how to have productive school days on the days we need to run errands. We'll sort it out somehow.

This weekend, I will look ahead a few days, just to get a little bit of an idea of what is coming. I need to plan ahead just a bit because we will be driving to Waco part of the time, and I need to make sure Will has some independent work for in the car.

Spring Colors

If you go back through my posts from San Diego, you'll see lots of pink and orange flowers. Just seeing those colors gave me such a burst of energy, that I decided I wanted to see them at home, too. Today, we finished our lessons early enough to go to the plant farm. While the kids pretended to be on a jungle trek through the greenhouses, I filled my cart with vibrant lilies, snapdragons, and petunias that are the colors of sunsets and sherbet. I still have seeds planted that should flower later this summer, but the gardens seemed too sparse for spring. We put the flowers in the gardens before Allen even got home from work. Now, I just hope they survive :)

Kitchen Redecorating

At long last, I can give up on decorating my kitchen and living room. It's done -- or at least its "in progress!"

Though I can't say this is what I originally planned, it worked out well that we had enough wall space for some of these posters.

We hung the timeline in the stair-case because it was the only place we had enough wall-space for all 4000+ years. As we study characters and events, we will add a picture of them to our time line so the kids will be able to visualize the order. As soon as I finish getting them cut out, Will will get to put our first two weeks of characters up on the wall: Jesus, Samuel, Mary and Martha; Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and Handel; Louis Braille, Helen Keller, and Alexander Graham Bell. You might be able to see "BC" with an arrow in the photo above. I did that to show the kids which way to read the timeline, but it confused the little ones a bit: they think BC means go upstairs, and AD means go down.

Getting Ready for Little Ones?

I've been watching some finches tidy up the housefinch nest from last year. I'm anxious to see if they decide to stay!

Before we went to San Diego, I was keeping track of progress on the bluebirds nesting in our birdhouse. I was a little bummed to come home and discover they hadn't worked on the nest in over a week. We wonder if it is because there are so many more birds in the garden now that we have the birdfeeders, and they didn't want to be so close to all that action.

Reel Boys

While we were gone, Jon and Will fished a bunch! Granddad gave them supplies, but they both could bait their own hooks, catch the fish, take the fish off the hook, and throw the fish back in the lake. One day, Jon fell in the lake, but once he realized he could stand up and climb out, he was okay -- just startled and soaked. After that, the little ones learned to put on the life jackets by themselves, and they wore them when they fished. Here are all three of the boys, but, from what I understand, Ben only likes to cast the line; he doesn't really like the sitting-around-and-waiting part, so Dad got Maddie and Ben some kid fishing poles to play with while the other two fished. Though the boys all bragged about all their fishing, Maddie was sure proud that she got to help make lunch and dinner almost every day.

Spring in San Diego

Every time I sit down and think about blogging, I spend all that time reading friends' blogs instead. I suppose I just have so much going on in my life and in my head, that it is tough to use my few spare minutes to think. It's much easier to watch TV, or sleep, or even read something. However, I do have a few things I want to write before I forget. The first? A trip to San Diego.

Allen goes to meetings every spring and fall for national petroleum refiners. This year the spring meeting happened to fall during the kids' spring break... and it happened to be at a place I've wanted to visit... and it happened to be somewhere my frequent flier miles could take me for free. So, after dropping the four kids off with my parents, Allen and I headed to San Diego for a week.

We got to San Diego last Saturday afternoon. We had time to catch a cab to our downtown hotel, unpack a little bit, then wander around looking for dinner. Allen chose Karl Strauss Brewing Company and Restaurant, and it was quite tasty. It was a little weird to have beer in EVERY dessert offered, and I passed on that part of the meal.

Sunday was Allen's birthday and clock-changing time (with the time zone change, I was completely confused all week about the "real" time.) We walked to the gas-lamp area of downtown for a tasty breakfast at Cafe 222, then headed to the mall because the sweater I brought wasn't keeping me warm. Somehow, I got the new jacket on his birthday. Allen had scheduled lunch with one of his vendors, and we enjoyed sitting on the boardwalk eating sushi. Our afternoon adventure was birthday-boy's choice: a tour of the USS Midway Museum (on board the aircraft carrier.)

We finished our busy day with another vendor's treat to their customers (and spouses) -- an delicious five course meal at the amazing Hotel del Coronado.

Monday, Allen's meetings started bright and early. I sat around the room reading until it was time to leave on a spouse's tour. While the huge bus filled with a LOT of women heading for a shopping trip at La Jolla, I got on the smaller bus with fourteen other ladies, then we headed to Balboa Park for a photography tour. It was fun to visit the park with a professional photographer who taught us how to set up some of the photos like he did for his coffee-table books of San Diego. Some ladies were learning to better use their point-and-shoot cameras, and he worked with them on figuring out the little icons. Others were wondering about F-stop settings and various filters, and he helped us, too. I think I might have gotten some better pictures, but I got my lens wet and most of my photos had a smear across them. I did get a few I liked, though.

It was a pleasant, but cool day, so we often were seeking the sunshine even though photos were harder to take in the bright light. Lunchtime was at a small cafe at a sculpture garden, and when I approached a Western bluebird to take pictures, I discovered I'm not the only crazy bird lady shooting birdhouse pictures -- there are at least two others in the world who have bluebirds on their cell phone picture rolls. I was excited to get a decent picture of the bluebird and another of a black phoebe flying away from me.

We got back to the hotel around 2:00, and I had time to read and draw for a bit before Allen was ready to head to dinner. Dinner Monday night was another tasty treat as we enjoyed tapas at a small Spanish restaurant.

Tuesday, I woke up and somehow was lucky enough to schedule a spa appointment for 9AM -- nothing like last-minute miracles. As hard as it was to relax (what does that mean?) I did really, REALLY enjoy the down time. At Allen's insistence (yes, really) the masseuse spoiled me with a citrus-scented body wrap and massage... just thinking back to it makes me say, "ahhhhhh." I joined Allen for lunch at the conference and we listened to the key-note speaker, George W. Bush. I first heard GW live about 19 years ago at a state-wide Girl Scout Gold Award ceremony. At that time, he was governor of Texas, and only spoke long enough to say, "Congratulations, girls!" and a little bit more. This time, I think he spoke for about an hour and a half and covered quite a bit more: keeping open lines of communication in the workplace, dealing with 9/11, and how loving your children unconditionally gives them confidence. He pushed his new book, too, but I was really surprised how funny and real he was. I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing a Harlen Coben novel and beginning another of the Swallows & Amazons books. Allen had another dinner lined up with a vendor, so we watched the sunset on the bay while we stuffed ourselves with fresh seafood at Top of the Market restaurant. Tuesday was the last day of the conference, and I was definitely looking forward to having my husband spend the next few days with me. I was glad to have been invited to join him at several get-togethers at the conference. I had to admit, the businessy-parts were more fun than I expected. If I ever want to be back in my old profession, I'll accompany Allen to another of these meetings. Touching base and meeting ex-colleagues, competitors, and clients has kinda-sorta reminded me how much I used to love my job. I don't plan to be ready any time soon, but it's nice to know I can follow a technical conversation even after nine years out of the field. It was also encouraging to talk with several women who were out of engineering or sales while they raised their kids, but then they were able to transition back to the technical field.

Wednesday, the fun started. We woke up, took our time eating breakfast and sipping coffee, then headed out to see if we could find a bay tour. The first half of the tour didn't interest me all that much; we went by some large military ships, a dry dock, and other shipping vessels. Our hotel is the tall white double-tower building in the photo below.

The second half was much more interesting; we went past several historic sailboats at the maritime museum, we watched sea lions, I tried taking pictures of the dolphins chasing our boat, and the captain stopped to let us watch several F-16 and F-18 planes take-off. Though both parts were about an hour long, the second half just had so much more to keep me awake while the boat tried rocking me to sleep.

Allen and I found an Italian restaurant for lunch, then walked for miles just checking out the sites. We finished the day with an awesome gyro at a Greek cafe near the boardwalk. As we were eating on the patio, a sea lion swam by near us. It was a relaxing day, but I was ready for an early bedtime.

Thursday, we headed to Balboa Park and the zoo. The taxi dropped us off in the park so we could walk for a bit before the zoo opened. This first picture is the view from our room as the sun is rising.

We headed to the back of the zoo as soon as they opened, so we had many exhibits to ourselves. Some zookeepers were walking an interesting-looking animal and I asked what it was. One of the ladies handed me a grape and introduced me to a young binturong that they were training. I held the grape out and let the bear-cat sniff my hand. It did have large claws, but I wasn't nervous until it spotted my dangling earrings. The zookeeper pulled it back and let Allen introduce himself to the little bear-cat.

We both really enjoyed the zoo, and I had a blast taking pictures of the animals and plants.

We walked the three miles back to our hotel, had time to freshen up a bit, then met a friend for dinner. Amy knew Allen and me back in high-school as we all served on a leadership team together. It was fun catching up with Amy as we ate pizza and burned off the calories adding at least a mile to our daily walking total.

Friday was fly-home day, and it was great to see the kids again. We got to hear all about their adventures with Gramma and Granddad -- fishing, hiking, playing, and watching movies.