Early July Update

R is suddenly reliable on the potty. He's been dry at night for a couple of months. He's dry in his carseat, even. It seems so early, I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm not complaining, though! The lessening of the laundry burden is huge. I'm not the best at keeping up with laundry, so cloth diapers required a conscious effort on my part. The independence he's gaining is huge, but also bittersweet. I wouldn't want to hold him back (or gah! hold on to the poopy diapers!) but I am kind of mourning the passing of the mothering-a-baby stage of my life.

C is looking forward to Girl Scout camp. I hear about it every day.

She has been reading about the American Revolution. Her goal with this unit study is to get a better understanding of why the colonists didn't want to pay taxes. She understands that we pay taxes to support schools, build highways, and fund libraries, museums and zoos. Balking at tax paying is untenable to her.

Her secondary goal is to understand how the American Revolution fits with the principle ideas in Guns, Germs and Steel. I have some ideas using the French and Indian Wars as a jumping off point, but I don't have any good figure-it-out-for-yourself source material. Any leads on general ideas (or specific sources,) would be deeply appreciated!

T is looking forward to braces (for her teeth) by the end of the summer. I'm a little concerned about what kind of hardship this is going to be for her. She is really sensitive to physical comforts. She only wears velour pants--denim and courderoy are too stiff. She hates combing her hair--it hurts too much. I'm convinced that the treatment we're going to do now is for the best, though. She'll have this implement for 9-12mos, and then she will be braces-free until we re-evaluate at around age 12. There is a good chance that doing this now will prevent the need to do extensive correction during adolescence. She's feeling pretty positive about it right now.

As a family we're looking forward to our camping vacation in several weeks. I'm considering working in a day or so to see Colonial Williamsburg. The kids are lukewarm about it, but in the past when we have attended historical re-enactments, they have really gotten into it. So, we'll see.

One is Silver and the Other's Gold...

A couple who is very dear to our family made it official last night--after 14?, 15?, 16? years of commitment. I met them as a couple in 1994. I've known them for longer than I've known my husband.

After such a long period of sharing lives, I can see how a ceremony might be anticlimactic. This was not at all the case. It was a glorious, tear jerking celebration of life and love. The ceremony was beautiful--the setting, the sentiments shared, the family and friends...I feel deeply honored to be a part of this circle of people who live so consciously and love so deeply.

The party...the party was fantastic. We caught up with old friends, some who have made new lives half a continent away, and some who live here in town but whose lives have taken paths that haven't paralleled our own. We shared old stories and found new things in common. And the homebrew...wow, one of those friends has developed an old love into a real talent!

Another of those friends lives in Indianapolis. D and I have always considered him one of our near and dear lifetime friends. His single guy, professional life and our family-centric lives have led us down divergent paths, obviously, but we keep in somewhat regular touch. Except this time, it had been quite a while. My heart swelled when I saw him yesterday. Nothing (and everything,) has changed since he shared that hovel of an apartment with D and me way back in 1995. It's funny how you actually can go home again, sometimes.

I read an essay recently on the value of friendship. It seems kind of funny and weird to type that out...value...like you could assign anything specific to it. But these old friends of mine, we've stuck it out through thick and thin (not just weddings and funerals, but all manner of things in between,) for about 15 years now. It's more that friendship itself is a value, like integrity is a value.

I feel so lucky and blessed.

My Two Favorite Things About Homeschooling

 

My favorite thing about homeschooling is that our course of study is largely driven by current interests.

We did the epic unit on evolution this winter, which led to classification and taxonomy. From there we have used our field guides to identify many of our garden plants and common insects. We moved into annelids, and I did a quick internet search for "earthworm curriculum" and came up with reams of materials for our study of the worms in our vermicomposting bin. Now we're on to the habits and lifestyles of gastropods. I think it's neat how the snails' shells tie into our recent study of the Fibonacci sequence.

My other favorite thing about homeschooling is the freedom we have to use living books--that is, books that are written by experts in the field who have a real love for and understanding of the topic. This is in sharp contrast to a textbook, which is written by a committee and subject to approval by a few key schoolboards before becoming available to the nation at large. Here is a good article summing up the problems with the textbook adoption process.

Anyway, back to living books. I have been gathering materials to revisit the period of the American Revolution, something we have been doing on and around Independence Day for the past 5-6 years. When I went up to tuck in the girls tonight, C was curled up with King George: What Was His Problem?: The Whole Hilarious Story of the Revolution. Her bedtime refrain "Just one more chapter!" was especially convincing, and being as it wasn't another Terry Pratchett novel (his concept of appropriate chapter length is flawed,) I agreed.

My New Camera!!

This post by C

I just got a new camera for my birthday! This is what it looks like
Here are some of the pictures I took:



I also like the special effects on this picture:
I also took the picture in the post before this one.

Shawnee Lookout

Our longtime family friend F is staying with us this week while his mom works. There is a gap between his school year and his summer sitter's availability. I'm glad to fill it. The kids and I really enjoy his company.

Today we visited Shawnee Lookout, a county park and historical site that overlooks the confluence of the Miami and Ohio Rivers. We hiked up to and through the earthen fort (built by the Adena Indians,) and out to the end of the ridge, where we feasted on pbj sandwiches, apple slices and brownies (courtesy of F's mom.)


(click for full size)

The view is phenomenal. I love getting that kind of perspective. I think the kids were more interested in the snails along the trail (there were about a bajillion.)

C took her new camera. She has taken nearly 400 pictures with it in just over a week. She says she's saving for a laptop so that she can work with her graphic art projects whenever she wants. I do agree that she will need her own computer soon, but I'm thinking an external hard drive might be a more pressing need!

So, we had a good day. Tomorrow the kids have plans for a major backyard water fight. I will enjoy staying home. We haven't planned yet for Thur or Fri. We'll probably go swimming at least once.

Backyard Foraging

A list of our current backyard edibles:

catnip
lemonbalm
mint
chives
onions
shallots
shell peas
snowpeas
mustard greens
oregano
thyme
rosemary
lavender
mulberries
black raspberries
clover
fennel (though our little start is not yet hardy enough to eat)
jack-in-the-pulpit (we have been very clear with T--our jack is not for eating!)

T always has been a big forager. She's been on a catnip kick lately. I can tell when she's been into it because it lingers on her breath.

R ate a lot of peas at first, but a couple of things have happened. I think the novelty has worn off, but also, the peas have moved from the eat-as-you-pick stage into the lightly-steam-then-eat stage, so my guess is he just doesn't find them as satisfying.

T is not so much into the mulberries. She is keeping close watch on the raspberries, though.

R does not yet know to discriminate between mulberries and raspberries. He loves the mulberries--and they're within easy reach.

We have several varieties of tomato this year, but it will be a while before we're enjoying most of them. The exception is the cherry tomato--it has about 12-15 little green fruits. T has a close eye on it, too.

It's funny how at first I found myself saying "get out of my garden!"...then I realized the folly of scolding my children for eating vegetables.

Happy Birthday

R celebrated his second birthday this Thursday.

His new favorite word is "cake."

He blew out the candles himself.

His favorite gift is his toy weed whacker, also known as "whack!"



He also loves his sandbox...in fact, we all think the sandbox is pretty neat!


He's changed so much since last year:


And I can hardly believe this was only two years ago:


Sniff. My tiny baby is a strapping toddler...and I can see the boy just around the corner.