Kooks

I don't remember why we were talking about "wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men," but we were.  And then Drew did an impression, and I laughed and set it to music.  Just your typical Thursday night.

source

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Wednesday

Is it weird that my family references this skit on a semi-regular basis?  The other day no one would get in the hot tub with Mike, and pretty soon I heard him out there all alone singing, "And I'm with by myself..."

Baylee and Rachel went to junior high youth group for the first time tonight.  They let the 6th graders join them for summer activities, so that they're comfortable when they start for real in the fall.  The girls loved it.  It's hard to believe that, at least as far as church, I don't have any more elementary-aged kids.  I guess it's time to have another one!  Kidding.

I'm SO FREAKING TIRED of school.  I still have between 2 and 3 weeks to go.  (Every time I recalculate the ending date it's further back.)  I've become a cross between the Little Engine Who Could and...shoot.  I can't think of any mean teachers.  All that's coming to mind is Mrs. Olsen, from that Little House episode where she took over the schoolhouse and made all the kids wear socks and shoes.  (And Albert drew socks on his legs with soot.)  The point is I'm both encouraging and menacing as I push us all toward the finish line.

Tuesday

Last night I got bad news (my own immediate family is fine.  I'm fine).  I really thought that I was okay with it...well, not okay, but not shocked...but then I went to bed and just laid there, thinking, going over it again and again.  I hardly got any sleep, and when I did I had terrible dreams.  I'm tired and sad.

I do have a couple pics from yesterday.

Baylee got home from camping safe and sound and dirty and smiling.  She had a great time.

And the low country boil was a success!  We all liked it.

Zach and Bible Stories

Mike and I were talking yesterday, and something he said reminded me of a funny story about Zach (when he was a little guy) and the parable of the sower.  I told Mike that I should blog about it, and he reminded me that I already have.  So here's that post I wrote 6 years ago, which tells that story and a bonus one...

Today during our Bible lesson the kids and I were talking about how God loves a cheerful giver.  I mentioned that since everything we own comes from God in the first place, it should make us happy to give some of it back.  Zach wasn't so sure.  "Maybe God doesn't want it back," he responded.  "Maybe he'd consider that regifting."

Zach has often had his own unique way of interpreting Bible stories.  When he was in second grade and we were doing a lesson on the parable of the sower, I told him all about how some seeds fell on rocky ground, some were eaten by birds, and a few fell on good soil.  I explained that the seeds represent people's reaction to hearing the salvation message.  I thought we were done, but Zach had other ideas.  "Mom," he said knowingly, "those seeds that were eaten by the birds might not be lost."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, see, pretty soon the birds will poop them out, and they might grow where they land!  That's one of the ways seeds are spread, you know."

PS:  I see a sermon illustration!  Or maybe not.

Pics

We've had a really full weekend so far, but I've only gotten a few pics, snapped at disjointed moments. 

On Friday afternoon Drew's friend Nick came over.  Of Drew's friends, I think Nick is my favorite.  He's a nice kid, he's polite, and he laughs at my jokes.  We took him out for pho and then to Menchie's (the most awesome frozen yogurt place EVER.  Also the most expensive.  Holy cow.  We may never go there again.), then we came home and the boys played video games and whatnot.  This morning Mike made a nice breakfast and Drew and Nick played some foos before Nick went home.  Of all that, I got a quick picture of the foosball game.

This morning the cat cuddled with Zach.

Once Nick left and we managed to get our act together, we went to the peninsula and spent the day with Patty.  It was a belated Mother's Day celebration.  Mike made steaks on the grill, we ate, relaxed, and Mike, Patty, and the two boys played Aggravation.  Zach was truly aggravated.  lol  (This picture quality is terrible, btw.  I think the camera on my phone might be on its last legs.)

And that's that!

A Story Involving Missing Teeth

This makes me laugh, but they were having fun talking about rock music together.

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So I'm thinking about doing a low country boil for Memorial Day.  I mean, what's not to love about shrimp, potatoes, sausage, and corn dumped out on newspaper in the middle of the table???  (I'm being serious.)

Drew's been doing a study of Proverbs all year as a class in school, and today as part of his lesson he had to tell about a time he tried to help someone who would be considered a "fool," and was hurt in the process.  He couldn't think of anything, so I told him about a time that happened to me.  Now I'll tell you.  (FYI:  This story makes me look like the biggest moron on earth.)

One morning, back when we lived in Michigan and I had 3 young children and Mike was at work, there was a knock on the back door.  I opened it to find a disheveled woman standing there.  "Can you help me?" she asked.  "I was just in an accident right around the corner."

"Umm...sure.  What can I do for you?"

"I just need some money to have my car towed.  I don't have any on me right now, but I'm friends with your neighbors a couple houses down.  They said they know you, so that's why I came here.  They said you're really good people.  Anyway, so I need just a bit of money, and I'll pay you back.  I promise, as soon as I can get to the bank I'll come back here with your money.  I'll go this afternoon."

"Umm..."

"Do you go to church?"

"Yes."

"I thought you did!  I do, too!  I can just tell that you're really nice.  So can you help me...one Christian to another?  It won't be for long.  Like I said, I'll be right back with your money."

"Well...why don't you come in?  Let me think about this for a second."

So the woman came in, got comfortable in my kitchen, and pulled out her final stop.  "See," she said,  "I was even hurt in the car accident.  I'm pretty banged up, actually.  Look, I lost my two front teeth!"  Then she peeled back her lips, and sure enough her front teeth were totally missing.

"Wow..."

"I'll even leave my license with you!  Or my coat!"

I think we talked for a couple more minutes after that, but in the end I gave her the money.  In fact, I gave her more than she asked for, because I didn't have change.  She left and hours went by.  Finally I had to admit to myself what I pretty much knew all along...I'd been scammed.  I called the police (at Mike's insistence) and told them what happened.  The policeman who took the report said a lot of "uh huhs" and "mm hmms," and then he asked, "Did the woman have any distinguishing characteristics?"

I said, "I don't know.  Oh, wait, yeah!  She didn't have any front teeth!"

That's when the officer let me know that many people had called in about this woman.  She'd been scamming people left and right for days and they couldn't catch her.  He was a little put out with me, in fact, for waiting so many hours to call, because now the trail was cold.  I'm not sure if they ever did get her.   

Thursday

I can't get enough Train lately.  Love that group.

Well, Baylee is off camping.  Is it weird that I really, really, REALLY miss her when she's gone on these longer trips?  (I tried telling her that I changed my mind and she couldn't go after all, but she didn't take me seriously.)   The people she's going with are friends of ours from church with 3 kids of their own.  They're wonderful.  Baylee's gonna have a great time.

The rest of us didn't get to go camping.  We had a regular school day.   (Actually, I didn't take this picture to show us doing school.  I took it because the cat was so dang cute sleeping with his chin propped on the table.)

But speaking of school, look at this test Drew took in English yesterday!

That's one page of the test, not the whole thing.  There was also a section on the book he's reading right now and more diagramming on other pages.  I just wanted to show you this, because 1) Dang!  That boy can diagram! and 2) Dang!  That boy knows his Dewey Decimal System!

I've been thinking about parenting lately.  I was thinking the other day that each of our kids has his or her own...challenges?  Pitfalls?  Sin grooves...and we as parents have to deal with them when they come up.  We discipline and teach, and sometimes it's solved with a Blitzkrieg approach, and other times it takes years and feels endless.  I've just been thinking that it's so nice to be able to say, "Yes, they learned and it was hard,  but they're wiser now.  Thank you, Lord."  I hope someday we'll be able to say that about all these different issues. 

More Guitar and Some Other Stuff

I know I've been talking about this a lot, but it's been kinda consuming for a few days.  Anyway, mostly for myself to come back to and look at later, I want to post this full video of "Won't Get Fooled Again," taken by someone else who was at the show the other night.  I don't know how this guy did it, but he's got multiple camera angles.  It's great!  His video also has a much better sound quality than mine.  (PS:  Drew told me today that the little girl who sings lead is only 11!  Can you believe that???)



And this is for fun.  I took this a couple days ago when Drew was messing around with a song called "I Can See for Miles."  Normally it's played on an electric, but he was pounding it out on his acoustic, and the house filled with the beat of that song.  It was neat.

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Otherwise, we're all just plugging away, trying very  hard to get through school.  Baylee's beside herself with excitement about her upcoming camping trip.  And...umm...today we fired up the grill for the first time this season.  Mike stayed awake (sometimes he goes right to bed when he gets home, and then we have him in the late afternoon and evening, and sometimes he stays up so that we have him in the morning and early afternoon) and made grilled burgers for lunch.  It was a fun treat and good family time.

Best of Show

The school did it!  They totally blew me away.  You guys know that in the back of my mind I was prepared for the worst...but that so did not happen!  Now I know why the Seattle SofR is award-winning.  They don't mess around!  Every band that went up there was good, and some were incredible.  (Zappa = Holy. Cow.)

My heart is bursting with pride for Drew right now.  The thing is, he doesn't say much about what he's gonna be doing.  I managed to glean that he had a solo in the song, but it turns out that he had 3 or 4 major solo parts.  He did a great job.  All those Who kids rocked it!

A couple neat things before I show the video:

1.  I love the kid playing the synth.  He's both playing and directing.  Every time Drew did a solo, that kid directed him back into the song like a conductor.  It was awesome...and helpful!

2.  The little girl who sang the lead was so great!  She was just full of energy and spunk.

3.  There was a man standing next to me who was completely into the song.  (It wasn't Mike, by the way.  He went down onto the floor for this part.  I was up on the balcony.)  Anyway, you can hear this guy on the video shouting "Bravo!" toward the end.  The funny thing is that none of the kids in that particular band were his.  He just really loved the song.

Okay, here it is.  It's an 8 minute song, but I cut out the first couple minutes of it, so it's not quite as long for you to watch.

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And here are a couple pics...

The stage before the show

The kids who were waiting to go on next stood around in this tight spot filled with rows of guitars on a special stand that looked like a bike rack. 

At the end of the night a few of the teachers performed a song.  They were great.

This one is Zeke, Drew's teacher and the director of the Seattle SofR.

Saturday

Today was a little bit relaxing and a little bit productive. 

A little bit relaxing:

• I got up kinda late, which was nice.
• I finished catching up on my Castle episodes (the season finale made me tear up).
• I read a lot of a book I have going right now.

A little bit productive:

• I cleaned out my email inbox by dealing with a couple paperworky-type things that I've been putting off.  Yuck.
• I did the weekly grocery shopping.
• I cleaned the house.
• I did TWO "extra" jobs instead of just one.  (I have above-and-beyond housework chores I do every day.  I try to do at least one a day.  Yes, I'm a nerd.)
• I helped Zach study for a couple upcoming tests.
• I made quiche for supper.

This girl is VERY excited about a 5-day camping trip she's going on soon with some friends of ours.  To make up for the school she's going to miss, she did quite a bit of science today.

 
Drew is working on an anime boy.

And here's my favorite thing about WA this time of year...the beautiful rhododendrons.  There are so many different colors, and they're everywhere right now.  This isn't a great picture, because I snapped it with my phone, but it gives you the idea.

Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention that Baylee hasn't been able to go to swim lessons for a week now, and it could be a couple more weeks before they start up again.  The pool's boiler broke.  I feel so bad for Baylee, because, although the pool will reimburse everyone's money, they're not going to advance any of the kids.  Everyone will have to start their level over.  She was halfway finished with level 5 (again), and I really think she would've passed this time.  Argh.  Poor kid.

The Cup Song

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Adult Learning

I've noticed something in all my kids, but especially lately in Drew:  Left alone, they all learn.  Do they choose to learn algebra? Latin?  No.  They teach themselves things they find interesting.  When I first started contemplating this, I figured it was a form of unschooling, which I've talked about here before.  Today, though, it occurred to me that it's really just adult learning.  Have you heard that phrase?  It means that once people are adults, they mostly learn only what's absolutely necessary or interesting.  (For instance, I've joked before that when it comes to figuring out the technology around the house, I keep myself on a strictly need-to-know basis.)  Anyway, my point is just that maybe adult learning isn't limited to adults.  We think it's limited, because before we're adults we're all tied into formal education, and there's less desire or opportunity to pursue our own curiosity.  All of us, though, if we're allowed, delve into what interests us.

Lately Drew's been drawing.  He's carefully following artists and their tutorials on YouTube, and creating the most beautiful (in my opinion) pictures.  He even asked me yesterday if I'd buy him some special colored pencils for a project he's got going.  I agreed to do that, but I asked him why he's so into doing this on his own, and so not into his art class for school.  I pointed out that the things he's making for nobody but himself are amazing, whereas the things he does for school (and a grade) are...okay.  He just said, in his typical 15-year-old fashion, that he only wants to learn things that are his idea.

The other thing he's been doing lately on his own is deeply studying those Who songs.  Every morning when I go in his room I find song maps* on his floor.  That means that during the night, when we were all sleeping, he was practicing his guitar with headphones, so we wouldn't hear.  He probably does it for hours.  I don't ask him too many questions, because as soon as I involve myself, he gets...difficult.  It's his thing and he wants to be left alone with it.  It's another way that he's following his own path.

It's just interesting (to me).

*The school hands out music, lyrics, tabs...everything you can imagine...for all these songs, but they also give the kids what they call a "map" for each song.  It helps to get the flow and commit it all to memory.  Here's the map for one of the songs they're doing at the show on Sunday.

 Won't Get Fooled Again

Keyboard Intro 17 bars

Full Band Intro 8 bars

Verse 8 bars

Pre-Chorus 6 bars

Chorus 9 bars

Transition 8 bars (guitars play riff 1 twice and riff 2 twice)

Verse 8 bars

Pre-Chorus 6 bars

Chorus 9 bars

Transition 20 bars (riff 1x4, riff 2x6)

Bridge Part 1 (8 bars)

Bridge Part 2 (8 bars)

Solo (over bridge part 2, 16 bars)

Break 8 bars

Verse 8 bars

Pre-Chorus 6 bars

Chorus 9 bars

Transition 36 bars

Keyboard solo 44 bars:

When Luke gives the signal, Satchel starts the drum solo.  Band counts 7 1/2 measures, then comes in on Miranda's cue.

Epic Scream 4 bars

"Meet the new boss" Outro 4 bars

Big Finish (transition riff 2x2 then 5 hits)

The Lost File

I don't really have anything big (or small) to bring to you today, except that Pioneer Girls is over the for the year.  We had our awards/talent show night.  That was fun and a little bittersweet for me, as I did finally decide that this is my last year.

Anyway, to make it up to you I looked through my blog and found a post I wrote a long time ago, but for some reason never hit "publish" on.  Here it is:


I like learning about different types of people. Mike makes fun of me a little, as a matter of fact, because I've always had a fascination with Catholicism.  I don't want to become a Catholic, mind you; I just think they're interesting.  I like the beautiful ritual of their religion.  I was contemplating nuns yesterday, and suddenly it hit me:  Are there nuns out there with blogs???  Yes, there are!  Cool.

I feel the same way about the Amish, too, but they don't have blogs.



PS:  Oh, I found this old post, too.  I actually did publish this one, but it's so freakin' cute that I'll share it again.  I wrote it when Baylee was only 5 years old...

This morning I woke to find that SOMEONE had gotten into the beautiful lemon pie that was sitting on the kitchen counter.  My clue?  There were tiny, finger-sized channels all through the meringue.  "Baylee!  Did you do this to the pie?!"

"Yes.  I'm sorry, Momma."

"What did you do that for?!"

"Well...I wanted to see what that pie's hair tasted like!"

Sickness and School and Stuff

I didn't blog yesterday because I was knee deep in vomit.  Well, not really, but Baylee did have a bad case of the stomach flu and there was LOTS of vomit.  In fact, she threw up so violently that she broke little blood vessels in her face.  (Now she's got dark smudges with lots of pinprick red dots under her eyes.)  I felt so incredibly sorry for her.  It was awful.  Today, though, she's eating, drinking, and feeling much better.

Before she got really sick...when she was just feeling kinda weird and nauseated...I got this picture of her and the cat.  Isn't it great?

I don't think I mentioned here that Drew was chosen to be in something for the SofR called "best of show."  They took the best songs from all the different shows they've got going on right now, and they're doing them as a separate show.  Drew gets to play in a Who song called "Won't Get Fooled Again."  He's got a solo in it!  Anyway, that's happening on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking of Drew, he drew this. 

 It's not an assignment for school; it's from a YouTube tutorial.

In their art course for school, the boys are learning calligraphy right now.  Yesterday they had to design a monogram for themselves, and Zach made this.

 
 Zach's got a huge English assignment to end the year in his American Lit class.  He has to write a term paper, and it has to be between 5,000 and 10,000 words long.  Ack.  This is a big deal. At first he thought he'd write about Tang Soo Do, which is the Korean style of karate he does, but there are hardly any resources, so he decided to do "The History of Seattle."  Of course, there are lots of books on that.  Tonight he has to come up with a preliminary outline and a thesis statement, and tomorrow he starts note taking with 3x5 notecards.

I walked into the bathroom the other day and found this.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  I've had a whole Mother's weekend of relaxing and enjoying my family.  Yesterday Mike and the boys finished making the yard look nice, and they planted our garden. Since we have some confidence that we we can do this now, he made it bigger than it was last time.  It has a couple different types of tomatoes, strawberries (yay!), and rhubarb.  The rhubarb was actually already there, because years ago, when the owners of this house still lived in it,  they had a garden in the same spot.  Somehow their rhubarb has survived against all odds and has been happily growing, with no care, ever since.

Drew told me that in the body of Christ, he's the medulla oblongata.  But then later he said he had to give it some more thought. 

Hey, guess what Zach did.  He went out yesterday morning, completely untrained (except for the fact that he's in great shape from karate), and ran almost an entire 5k.  Not walked...ran!  He came in at the same time as someone from our church who runs on a regular basis.  We're trying to convince him to take up running as a hobby and maybe enter more events.

Baylee and I went on a 13 mile bike ride yesterday.  It wasn't too hard, mostly because I let Baylee set the pace.  That means we tootled along happily at about 10 mph, stopping at every single playground along our route.  There were 4 playgrounds.

 

Speaking of Baylee, I got her standardized test scores in the mail the other day.  She did well!  She was anywhere from "well above average" to "highest level" on all the different language arts sections.  I attribute that to Marie the Canadian, her grammar teacher (via video streaming) this year, and to the Daily Grammar Review workbook I've been having her do.  In the math sections of the test she was "well above average" on the plain ol' computation part, but on the part where she had to problem solve and understand concepts (word problems, reading graphs, etc) she was "slightly above average."  I'll take it, though, definitely.  I'm very proud of how hard she's worked this year all the way around.  Now I need to get around to ordering tests for the boys.

Saturday

Yesterday Rachel came over and we celebrated her birthday, because we love her like family.  A good time was had by all.

Happy 12th Birthday, Rachel!

Today I hope to find time to go out on my first bike ride of the season.  I'm a little excited and a little nervous.  That first time is always painful.

 

Friday

Here's my dirty little secret:

I'm a loner in some ways.  I get refreshed from time spent alone or with my family, whereas being around too many people too often is draining for me.  (Mike is the opposite, fyi.  He loves being social.  He's energized by it.)  So this morning I just kinda suddenly became overwhelmed by people wanting things from me and I got teary.*

I feel better now.  Deciding to take one day a week off my diet, and deciding that today is that day, helped.  By the way, I've been dieting.  I'm on week two.  On week one I lost...I'm almost embarrassed to say, because it sounds crazy...11 pounds.  That's partly because at the beginning of the week I weighed in the afternoon fully dressed, and at the end of the week I used NMW as my number.  That's accounts for 4 or 5 pounds right there.  But still, 11 pounds!  I didn't do anything weird, either.  I just carefully followed the program of calorie counting laid out for me by Livestrong.com.

Today we're helping Rachel celebrate her birthday.  She's coming over to spend the night and we're taking her to see a movie.  We're also doing the whole birthday cake and present thing.  Should be fun.

In the morning Zach is participating in a 5k to help end human trafficking.

*Which brings me to another point:  Some people assume that because I homeschool, my time is free during the day.  They ask me to help with babysitting, ministry opportunities, etc.  I guess they think I'm sitting over here in my housecoat, "watching my stories."  It's okay, usually.  I want to help if I can.  It just makes me tense sometimes.



   

Family Life

Mike told me a story the other day, and in the course of the story he used the phrase "heart shake." Apparently he learned it at his last job, and it means welcoming somebody in a way that makes them feel really good and wanted...like a hand shake for the heart.  I get it.  I do.  But I thought it was so hilarious coming out of his mouth that I just had to stop him.  "Did you just say 'heart shake?'"

"Yeah."

"Heart shake?"

"Yeah."

"Bwahahahaha!"

Zach walked over, so I told him about it and he laughed, too.  Since then we've both had some fun at Mike's expense.  Like last night when he almost left for work without kissing me goodbye, I called, "Hey, wait a minute!  Where's my heart shake?!"

Or like today when the vacuum cleaner wasn't working right and Mike was trying to fix it, Zach said, "Maybe there's a heart shake stuck in the hose."  Then he and I laughed (until I cried) and Mike said, "You guys are both jerks."

(But he was laughing, too.)

Greenbacks

Baylee came down with a yucky fever/headache thing, and she's been sick with it all day.  She even decided to skip her swimming lesson, which she never, ever does.  Poor thing.

This...

 
...is funny.  I had many moments like that in high school, some genuine and some created by not paying attention.  That's the great thing about being an adult.  I have no problem now with saying, "I didn't understand a word you just said."

Okay, I don't have much to offer you today, so I'll tell you a true story that this meme reminds me of.  When I was a junior in high school I had to take American history.  One day our teacher told us to prepare an oral report on a topic he would assign us, and he mentioned that the reports would be given in order of seating.  He did tell us, though, to be ready, even if we didn't think we'd be giving it on the first day.  My topic was "Greenbacks," but I sat in the middle of the room.  Can you see where this is going?  I gambled that I wouldn't have to give my report until day 2...and I lost.  Tons of kids didn't show up at school on the day the reports were supposed to start!  I started praying that there were still enough people to take up the whole hour, but nope.  With about 15 minutes to go the teacher called me to the front.  I honestly knew next to nothing about Greenbacks, so it felt like the Green Mile.  I walked as slowly as I could, got up there, and turned to face the class.  "I'm going to be telling you about the Greenbacks," I said, my mind racing.

"Wait a minute!" my teacher cried.  "You can't give a report on the Greenbacks without this!"  He went to his closet and pulled out a green suit coat and a green bowler hat.

I was thinking, "Okay, this could be either really bad [now that I'm wearing an outfit everyone has high expectations] or really good [it's killing time]."  I put the clothes on and my teacher dug through his wallet, took out a couple dollar bills, and stuck them in the lapel pocket.

"Okay, go!" he said.  But then he changed his mind. "You know, before you start, the yearbook should really have a picture of this.  Somebody go run and get a person from the yearbook staff!"

So someone ran and did that, and in the meantime the rest of us just waited...and waited.  My teacher made jokes and we all chatted together.  Finally, about 30 seconds before the end of class, the yearbook person arrived and took the picture.  Then the bell rang and that was that.  I was never asked to actually give that speech!

Sunday

I had quite a busy, fun day, and now I'm sunburned and tired, so you get bullet points.

• Baylee and I got up early and went, along with Rachel and several other pioneer girls and leaders, to a nursing home.  All the girls did various things for the elderly people, like singing, playing instruments, and reading Bible verses.  They did a good job.
• Then we went to church.
• I stayed extra at church, because Drew had a youth group band practice and I was his driver.  I was kinda proud, because I could see that the music theory his teachers have pounded into his often reluctant head has paid off.  He was able to explain to the other guitarists in the group what to do for one of the songs, since they forgot their capos.  (Transpose everything up a half step.)  It didn't work out, because not everyone was able to do it...but still!  He tried.

• Then Drew and I met the rest of our family and lots of other people from our peer group at church at the home of some friends for a big Cinco de Mayo celebration.  (That's the first time I've ever observed Cinco de Mayo, but any excuse to eat tacos is cool with me.)
• When we got home the boys and I took the dog for a 3-mile walk.  For them it was a moderate walk.  For me it was BRISK.  (Capitals necessary.  Holy cow.)
• Baylee and Rachel made a "spa" in our yard, which mostly consisted of giggling, shrieking, and spraying each other with the hose.
• Now the boys are at youth group, I'm trying to clean the house, and Mike's starting to think about his upcoming work week.

The End!

PS:  It was 85 degrees today!

Saturday

This has been such a nice Saturday so far!  First of all, the weather is gorgeous.  It's 74 and sunny out there right now.  Second, Mike and his conscripted labor (the boys) cleaned up, mowed, edged, and weeded in the yard.  It looks great!  Mike said next weekend they'll finish the weeding and then plant the vegetable garden.

Before he could actually start working outside, though, Mike had to break into our shed.  He was a little disgruntled about it, too.

One of the kids (cough...Zach...cough) lost the only key we have to the shed several days ago, so Mike had to cut the lock to get into it, because that's where all the lawn equipment is.  That's also where the grinder and the extension cord are, which he needed to cut the lock off.  lol  He had to borrow stuff from Ken, our neighbor.

Not long after he finished the job (and put a brand new lock on the door), he found the old key.  Zach felt pretty bad about it all, but I was like, "Aw, that's nothing.  One time I lost the computerized key to our car, and since it was the only one we had, we had to pay $150 to have a new one made.  The same day that key was made and ready to get picked up, the old one was found on top of the car."

On a completely different note, Baylee has been pushing for more freedom lately.  I've been loosening the reins a bit, but she wants more.  Yesterday she said, "How come I can't just ride my bike all over the neighborhood?  I know where I am!"

Finally, today on my way to the grocery store I saw an old pickup truck filled with junk.  The driver was a big, bald guy and the passenger was a pit bull.  Almost all the letters on the back of the truck, letters that used to say Mitsubishi, were scraped off.  All that was left was "ITS BS."

  



 

Conversation with Baylee

Yesterday Baylee asked me if I'd help her with her Bible reading for school,  which was Romans 2:17-29.  She said, "I tried, and I just don't understand it at all."   I agreed to read it with her, and five minutes later I found myself explaining circumcision to a shocked 11-year-old girl.  Blindside, party of one.

Of course, she had a lot of questions, so I tried to think of an analogy to help her visualize.  "It's like...you know how swords have sheaths?  It's like that."

"But then how do they go to the bathroom?"

"...Okay, forget that.  It's more like...umm...if you took a sock and cut the toe off..."

She stared at me in horror.

"I mean, you know, so it's a tube..." 

Sigh.  In the end, though, I think she got the basic idea.

School Next Year

Yesterday my friend Kellie talked about that good, sigh-of-relief feeling that comes when curriculum for next year's homeschooling is all figured out.  I can definitely relate!  It was fun to read about her choices for the upcoming school year, and it made me kinda want to talk about mine, too.

The really nice thing about this year is that everything we did worked.  That means that, for the most part, next year just has to be more of the same.  "If it ain't broke..."  The boys will continue with South Ridge Christian Academy, the high school they're enrolled in.  I'm so glad I discovered that place and I've been nothing but happy with them.

Zach will be a senior next year.  Wow.  He doesn't even have very many credits left...only 3 I think.  That comes out to a a half a day of school all next year.  Still, I think I'm going to have him do more than that.  I really want him to get in an Old Testament course, since he did New Testament.  (He also took Proverbs.)  Here's the line up for Zach:

English IV:  British Literature
Geometry
Civics/Economics (Each is a half year course)
OT Survey
PE (He may or may not decide to continue with karate.  If he does, he'll get his usual half credit from the school.)

Drew will have a really full plate next year as a sophomore, partly because he's insisting on taking Small Engine Repair.  I'm not going to let something else go by the wayside to fit it in, so we'll just add it to the load.  Here are his classes:

English II
Geometry
World History
Physical Science
Spanish I
Old Testament Survey
Small Engine Repair
Music (He gets a 1/2 credit for what he does with the School of Rock.)

I did spend some time thinking through what I want Baylee to do next year.  She'll be a junior higher, after all.  I thought about putting her back into Bob Jones' Online School, because that was such a great experience for her last year.  Ultimately, though, I decided to keep doing what we're doing.  It's working wonderfully, especially the Sonlight (literature-based) part.  Next year she'll be doing their American History course, which is filled with the most wonderful books.

English (ACE and Daily Language Review)
Spelling (ACE)
Writing (Writing Strands)
Math (Teaching Textbooks)
Science (ACE)
American History (Sonlight)
Reading (Sonlight)
Bible (Sonlight)
PE (swimming, either in the form of lessons or a team)