The Start of a Homeschool Adventure Journal

Yesterday was Friday.
The day started out early.  I have a new book shelf, so organizing books, and the resulting, "Oh, wow, I never knew we had a book about this!" that comes with the organizing were the first orders of the day.  Everyone was involved in sorting of books and putting them on the shelves- which involved organizing of the other book shelves-- the kids detest when I get in these "Let's organize our whole house!" kind of moods.  It was a two day project.  Cameron (14) and Chris (hubby) built the shelf, which required reading directions and some engineering and carpentry skills. As you can see, it is built, and it is straight-- after having 2 smaller bookshelves break in the last year, I am a tad concerned about that second shelf from the top-- does it look like it might already be bowing?  UGH!  What do people put on bookshelves if not books!?

Sara (oldest girly) spent the day getting ready for a trip to see her friend for the week in Virginia.  She did laundry and picked which books she wanted to take with her to study from.  She chose a giant literature text book with excerpts from many major works of fiction and authors of note.  She also chose a text book on American government.  She packed, "The Hound of the Baskervilles", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving.  She will read both books easily within the first two days.  She reads anything that is put in front of her.  Sara and I also talked about many things related to being a 16.5yr old girl.  I try to talk a lot with my kids, and I try to listen to them even more.

Bridget (6) is reading more and more each day.  She read "The Turnip", by Harriet Zieffert.  I swear, I think I love every single book that this woman has authored.  Bridget was so excited that she had read the entire book ALL BY HERSELF!.  What a moment.  For whatever reason, school was out yesterday, so some of the kids in the neighborhood were outside.  Bridget spent time roller-blading and running and playing and breathing in the sunshine and creating forts with her friends in the woods.

Sean (4) and I sat outside.  I had to re-pot  a Chrysanthemum.  He helped me dig in the soil, push the soil around the roots, and firm the soil down, then he went in and got cups of water to water it in well.   "Wow, that flower is thirsty!"  We moved the urn that the chrysanthemum was now in, and hop, hop, hop.  I saw a cricket- a MONSTROUS cricket!  "SEAN, LOOK!"  The look in his eyes was amazing.  I will never get tired of seeing the look of wonder and the questions forming behind the eyes of my children.  Never.  We asked Cameron to get a jar and lid and to please catch the cricket.  Cameron came outside and was able to catch the cricket-- after much drama and screams that rivalled any pre-pubescent girl's--  The screams were from Cameron of course, not from Sean or me.  LOL  I must explain the reason for said screams- the cricket startled Cameron, when he was trying to catch it, by jumping and nearly hitting him in the face.  Is it sick that I nearly fell over in giggles?

The cricket came inside in a jar.  Cameron poked holes in the lid and we all stared at him.  "I think he is hungry," Sean said.  Yeah.  Probably.  I explained that he would need to go back outside.  The look-- the look of every child who wants to keep it but knows also that it must be set free-- settled on Sean.  "Would you like to put it somewhere special?  How about under the tree?  Or maybe, we can put him in the chrysanthemum." Hearing Sean repeat the word chrysanthemum was priceless.  He learned a new, fun to say word.  It was agreed upon-- the chrysanthemum.  Still holding him on my lap while he held the jar with the cricket, I asked him if he would like to name our new cricket friend before we set him free.  I wonder if Adam looked as astonished when God asked him to name all of the animals!? Without hesitating, he excitedly said, "Trip Trap!"  It took me a minute, but the connection was made.  His favorite book lately is "The Three Billy Goats Gruff".  The goats go over the bridge, "Trip, trap, trip, trap."  Trip Trap is enjoying his new home.

Trip Trap, evidently, likes his new home.  He has taken to making quite a racket to tell us of his appreciation for the fabulous new place.



Just so you know, we now know that crickets eat lots of different things and are omnivorous like us.  Here's the link we found and read.  Evelynn (nearly 13) took to reading all about crickets which prompted reading on our other local buggy residents the stinkbugs and then mosquitos.  Her reaction to what she learned from reading about mosquitos has shown me that she should probably NOT seek a career in the health sciences.  She found out that mosquitos are attracted to carbon dioxide, so now, she says, "I'm just not going to breathe when I'm outside at dusk!  I don't want any vampirous bug making me sick with these diseases!"  Evelynn kept reading the bug book that we have and stated that she was terrified of catching malaria and then, oh my, tsetse flies became another horror!  There was a new dramatic moment with every turned page!  I explained that tsetse flies don't live in this area, and that malaria is more common in tropical and hotter climes.  If she ever reads a book on infectious disease, I can see her wearing a mask and being fearful of anyone breathing on her.  LOL  She, also spent much of the beautiful afternoon outside.  She likes to skate FAST with her long blonde hair trailing in streamers, like a comet's tail, behind her.

Sonia (11) did some work in her math book.  She likes math, and likes the time that I can sit and do math problems with her.  She helped with the organization of the shelves and made her own shelf of books she wants to read.  It is FULL.  This is huge, as she is my latest and most reluctant reader.  Amazing how that all worked out in the end.  I won't say that she is a great reader.  She still struggles with it and goes slower because it is not a fluid thing for her.  There is a lot of sounding out.  However, she has the desire to read, and that goes far.  it may take her longer to finish a book, but she sticks with it, and I couldn't be more proud of her.

Sonia is also, I think, my most empathetic and caring kid.  We had an incident just as I was trying to leave to take Sara down to Virginia.  Daredevil, wanna-be-stuntman, Sean jumped off of the roof of the Suburban (over 5 ft up) onto the asphalt.  From the report, amazingly, he "stuck the landing".  No gravel or abrasion to the hands.  No falling onto his head or knees or even bum!  Unfortunately, he is limping and is favoring one foot.  No hip or leg issues-- thank-you Lord for prompting me to buy him brand new tennis shoes!!!!  We think that the shoes absorbed most of the shock which would have broken his leg(s).  Also, they have arch support, so his foot had some support.  However, it appears-- still waiting to see how he feels in a day or two-- that one of the tiny bones on the top of his foot might be broken-- It's more than likely a stress fracture based on him not crying.  There's a tiny bump but no other swelling or bruising.  Sonia was my nurse through it all and got the ice and asked him if he was okay, and if there was anything else I needed to help Sean.

We had much discussion on what we thought it might be which led to an amazing discussion of the amount of bones in the foot being so numerous and the names of them.  We learned about the difference between a sprain and a break. We talked about my old 5th metatarsal fracture that resulted in a bright orange cast.  After palpating and checking Sean's foot, we believe there might be a small fracture to the 3rd metatarsal.  The recommendation is ice and a sturdy shoe and little to no weight on it.  We're giving that a try.   Feet are amazing!

Sonia came with to take Sara down to VA.  She was my ice bag holder.  She read a lot, and the book she chose to bring with her and read upset her so much that I got a mini-book-report from all of her complaining about the main character.

Sara and I worked on her singing in the car on the ride.  I taught her a new song-- slightly bawdy, okay, MORE than slightly bawdy-- I guess I didn't know ALL of the lyrics.  LOL  However, it is a song that is great at showcase range.  She loved the little bit that I taught her, so she looked up info on it and who sang it and where it came from and further lyrics.   The song is "Big Spender" it comes from the musical, "Sweet Charity".  Wow!  Turns out Sara's seen the video of it.  Interesting story for sure!  Got us talking about the bluesy-style of music, Broadway, Bob Fosse, etc. etc.  I guess I should have known all the lyrics before I taught the bit I knew to my 16yr old daughter, but hey, ho.  LOL  Another lesson for us both and a bit of a giggle to boot.

What else did we do?-- Gosh, this whole journaling thing really does show how much we get done in a day!  WOW!
Cameron spent at least two hours playing the piano.  He is composing his own songs now.  Pretty amazing for a kid who had less than 6months of piano.  I think, he was still in a beginner book.  He doesn't read music, but he watches YouTube videos, and learns both right and left hands.  He plays really well.  I've blogged about his piano playing before.  He corresponded with some friends.  We just made the choice to leave the Irish dance school that he's been with since he was 6.  Friday was the day that it all really sunk in.  He is nervous about going to a new Irish dance school with boys who are ranked at the World and national levels.  We talked through a lot of this.  We talked about his goals.  He also spent time outside rollerblading and playing with neighbors.  He also helped in the assessing of Sean's injury.  He has been Sean's "servant" ever since- moving him from place to place so we can keep weight off of it and being his 4yr old brother's "fetch and carry boy".

There is more that we did, but I'll leave it at that.  Oh, WAIT!  We also mapped out Libya with everything that is going on.  Benghazi, Tripoli, etc.  Looked at some of the areas on the map that have become hot spots for hostility against the US.  We talked about what Sharia law is a bit too.

Pretty good for a day where no real formal schooling was done.