Today Yesterday Tuesday (that's how long it's taken me to get this ONE post written- granted it is long, but that's what happens when things keep piling up that I want to write about) was N and T's last riding lesson of the season, and I am so ready for the break. It's one less place that I'll be taking them each week, until they start their lessons back up in the Spring. Their riding instructor takes the colder months off from teaching, but I'm sure that the kids will still get to go over to her house a few times to ride and visit with her and the ponies and horses that they love so much- just for fun, so long as its not too miserably cold outside. T sure won't be missing the hours of barn chores that they do each week to pay for their lessons, she was beginning to get weary of it, but N sure will. He says that sometimes he enjoys that part as much as riding. I think it's because he likes that one on one down-time with the horses in their stalls, and probably feels like a little man when he's muckin' out stalls and stacking hay bales.

Now that we have one less commitment each week though, we'll soon be adding another, since both N and T will be participating in Upward Basketball this year through a local church. They are so excited, and will begin practicing next month, but practice will be in the evenings and so Chris will be able to bring them sometimes. N is looking forward to trying out for our homeschool group's Junior Varsity basketball team next year. Chris is also considering taking N and T with him to a local gym one night a week, where there's a kung-fu class, taught by a Christian man (also our dog-sitter's husband) that's a friend of a friend, for $1 per night. It's a come when you want type thing, so they could check it out without having to commit. We hear that it's a great, fun way to workout. Also, this particular instructor considers his classes to be a ministry and focuses on teaching character through Scripture and prayer during each lesson.

Besides the above mentioned activities, we have coop classes on Monday and Tuesday mornings, T has tumbling on Thursdays afternoons, AWANAs on Wednesday evenings, and N has guitar practice on Monday afternoons. So, that's not too much, but enough to keep us busy.

So, our weekly scheduled activities look like so:

Mondays:

Coop from 8:45 (assembly) 9-12 for classes, with lunch from 12-1 and clubs from 1-3

N is taking "Marine Biology" first hour (with lots of reading and dissecting), a "K-nex Engineering" class second hour and helping me in the nursery during the third hour (per his request even, I'm the nursery coord. and he has been a big help- of course he had lots of practice with our babysitting endeavors last year).

N and T got to go on one field trip already for his Marine Biology class, to Clinch River, where they have a "snorkeling with the mussels" program. Then N dissected a clam in class. They'll also be dissecting baby turtles and sharks at some point, and have already planned a group field trip to Ripley's Aquarium in January (which we're all excited about, since we haven't been to a big aquarium since N was 6, and T was 3, when we went to SeaWorld).

T is taking a "Recorder/Music theory" class first hour, "Knitting" during the second hour and "Art" during the third hour. She and N then both stay for drama club after lunch (with baby S and I hanging around too), and then I take N to his guitar lesson while T stays for 4-H club, and rides home with a friend.

We are so proud of T, who this last week gave a speech in front of her peers because she was running for the job of reporter for 4-H. She was so excited, and wrote her entire speech on her own, and then asked me if she could type it up herself, which she did. She said that she was so nervous to give it (naturally), but she sure didn't appear to be once she got up in front of everyone. Here is what she wrote and said:

The reason I want to be the reporter for 4-H is because I like to write, and because I think that I would be good for the job. I also think that it would be a fun job to do. I'm thinking about being a reporter when I grow up, so this would be good experience. Please vote for me.

And vote for her they did, so she got the job! Whhooo-Hooo! So, she will be writing reports about what their 4-H club is doing, meetings, events and such and then submitting her reports to the county 4-H office to be published in the local 4-H newsletter/paper. She thinks that's really cool, and so do I. It's quite a job for an 8 year old to have, don't you think? She said that I could be her editor.

Tuesdays:

Coop from 9:45 (assembly) 10-12 for classes

N is taking "Logic & Critical Thinking Skills" during the first hour, and "Weather & Geology" during the second hour.

T is taking "Art" during the first hour, which will change to "Spanish" during the second trimester, and "Intro. to Chemistry" during the second hour, which will change to "Electricity & Magnets" during the second semester.

I just sit in the nursery with baby S and gab with the other Moms. After coop, I was taking the kids straight to their riding lessons (where they'd spend 4 hours at the barn), but since we're done with riding until next Spring, we've gotten our Tuesday afternoons back to just be home, which we need, so that's good.

T says that her Chemistry class is her favorite. They do lots of experiments, and she's enjoyed learning all about molecules, atoms and such... She's been so inspired in her class that she's brought home experiments to do, and asked Chris to set her up "a laboratory" in the garage, which he did... And she's spent hours out there "experimenting" with various slime recipes, until she found the perfect one (even looked them up on redzee herself, but soon got frustrated with not having all of the right ingredients listed in the various recipes she found, so she made up her own). She brought her final invention/concoction to her teacher, who was quite impressed, and said that she liked T's recipe better than her own. I must say that her slime did turn out really great.

I was glad when she moved her stuff from off our dining room table, onto her own table in her "lab"...

And I just had to laugh when I opened the fridge to find this:

She was trying to see if different temps. effected the way her slime congealed.

But, I think that her greatest triumph was that after a few days of her disappearing into her lab, and a few instances of N's looking around and asking, "Where's Tab?", he eventually joined her in her "scientific work". Hah! She told me excitedly, "Bub did think what I was doing was a dumb idea, but now he's in there mixing up his own slime like crazy and he even thinks its really fun!" She made a believer out of him. This girl gets inspired and runs with it, she has so much initiative and determination, she reminds me a lot of her Dad.

Her recipe:

Easy Slime

• 1 cup of elmer's glue
• 1.5 cups of water

Mix the water and glue together really good, until the glue is almost totally dissolved into the water.

• Then add about .5-1 cup of Borax, until it looks slimy and good.
• Add whatever color of food coloring you want

Mix all those together. Then pour the goo onto a cookie sheet and let it sit until it looks and feels like slime.

She was very excited to be able to attend "Chemistry Day with fourth graders", an educational event she went to yesterday, hosted by a local chemical company, in honor of its being National Chemistry week this week. When I picked her up, she was bubbling over with excitement as she told me of all the fascinating experiments, displays and fun time she'd had. She was also glad to have run into many of her homeschooling friends which were also there. She told me, "I think this was the best day of my life!" Yeah, I think the girl likes science. Did I mention that she also would now like to be a Chemist when she grows up... so let's see, so far that's a missionary, writer, artist (she's thinking of writing and illustrating her own books), horse-training large-animal veterinarian, reporter- Chemist. *exhale* She says that she wouldn't mind being a Mom, but probably won't be, because she doesn't plan to get married. Okay, fine with us says Chris and I. Meanwhile though, she sure is good with her baby sis, and is getting plenty of Mommy-practice in, just in case.

So, between the two coops we meet with, and extracurricular/field-trip type stuff, N and T both have been getting LOTS of science experience this year, independent of me, and in very engaging/hands-on ways, which has been so nice. Well, besides my running them around here and there in the truck, but that, I can handle. Tomorrow we're going to a visit a local Natural History Museum and fossil site. It should be interesting to see the fossils and to imagine what creatures roamed around in our own back yard so many years ago... And next Friday we're going to the local Hands On Museum.

Wednesdays:

Wednesdays, we're home and free to do whatever we want to. T has AWANAs on Wed. evenings.

Thursdays:

T has tumbling on Thurs. afternoons, and that's it, we're free besides that. Thursday is usually when I do our grocery shopping as well (at two different stores).

Fridays:

Free as well, I'd like to get back into our tradition of having a weekly Shabbat dinner. It's sort of fallen to the way-side since baby S has been born, time to get that back in place. I miss it, think we all do.

So, that's our weeks, and I do hope to find a workable routine soon for the kids and I here at home, to fit into our days/times that we're home. I don't know though, a lot of learning sure is happening naturally around here, with the kids pursuing their own interests. As in years past, we've been unschooling by default... Things that I'd like to be more consistent about getting done around here (in no particular order):

Daily Goals:

• Bible study & prayer/journal time together in the mornings (kids and I, we're not awake when Chris leaves for work).
• I NEED to make time to exercise (the extra baby weight just doesn't fall away like it did when I was in my 20's *sighs*) and quit eating sweets.
• Laundry folded and PUT AWAY. *ahem* 'nuff said.
• History and Literature Read-aloud time with the kids. I'm missing that a lot, but finding it hard to do with baby S.
• Math (we've been doing it sporadically when we can, need to be more consistent) with all of our various resources.
• Reading & Narrations more regularly. Currently sporadic spontaneous oral narrations are given- need to do more written narrations, and plan to start dictation with both N and T as well. (We're following AO's Language Arts Scope & Sequence.)
• Our AVKO spelling, because they do enjoy it so much, and are actually frustrated with me for not doing it more. I think that it's like a competitive game to them. Just plain copywork has served them well for plenty of spelling practice over the years.
• Read and work through Simply Grammar and Writing Strands 3 together.
• Nature Journaling together.

Something good, baby S has been sleeping really well lately, for 5, 6 and even a couple of 7 hour stretches at night, followed by waking up for a quick nursing and going right back down to sleep for another 3-4 hours. She's definitely got her nights and days figured out, and I'm enjoying getting my sleep again. I have been having some seriously weird dreams though, which is nothing really unusual for me I guess, but last night I had one of those anxiety dreams that I have every now and then... part of it was that I had an English class that I was supposed to be at, with a lady teacher, and I'd not been in class in for three weeks, and hadn't found out what work I was supposed to have done, so I was so scared to show up to class without my work or a good excuse. On the way to class I stopped in the bathroom and found that I'd started my monthly. My first thought was "oh no, that means I could be ovulating anytime, which means I could have another baby anytime... but I'm not ready for another baby yet! I have so much to do, and I'm so behind!" LOL Um, yeah, that dream's interpretation is pretty clear... so much to do, so little time... feeling pressure (inward and outward) to get more done with my time here at home, but life is good, all the time. Believe me, you don't want to hear about my other recent stress/angst dreams. Regardless of all there is to do though, these days are fleeting, and I'm determinedly taking the time to enjoy every moment of sweet Baby S, my N and T.

 

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