Ordinary Time

We all had a wonderful on Labor Day at the family camp Horse Power arranged. R. particularly had a wonderful time and enjoyed being out and doing something fun and different. She even got to lead a miniature donkey which she loved. There was food which she loved. There were people who were not her family which she loved (though because she would literally love them, they all had the 'high fives and redirect to parents' instructions.) She loved everything. We have lived with this child long enough now, that for the rest of Monday, after we got home, we were waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know, like when I bought her new sneakers . Happily, the rest of the day was calm and she went to sleep without any difficulties. Maybe we were worried for nothing. Maybe this is one more step towards healing. Yesterday morning, I was out finishing up at the barn when TM comes racing out to say M. needed me because R. had a seizure. I head into the house to find R. sitting on the c...

Not a terribly creative menu, but it will keep us fed. Tuesday, Sept. 8 Hamburger helper      Homemade with whatever vegetables are kicking around Egg noodles Salad Wednesday, Sept. 9 Mexican shredded beef served on corn tortillas      I'm sort of making this up. I have some beef roasts left, so will use one of those. I also have tomatillos from the garden as well as a hot pepper or two. I roasted the tomatillos and peppers tonight to take the skin off. These I'll add to the roast in the morning in the crock pot along with some onions. We'll shred the beef, serve it on corn tortillas with a salsa verde, sour cream, and avocados. Yellow rice Thursday, Sept. 10 (P.'s birthday, so she chose the menu) Sausage lentil casserole Wheat rolls      Homemade Ice cream Friday, Sept. 11 Saturday, Sept. 12 Some of us will be at a wedding, food is being left for those at home Sunday, Sept 13 Vegetarian lentil soup   ...

We had a big day today. Horse Power Therapeutic Riding gave our family the gift of a family camp today, with a scavenger hunt, crafts, lots and lots of animals, swimming, and lunch. Everyone had a great time. If you are on Facebook you can seen pictures on the Horse Power Facebook page . Probably the hit of the day was playing with the baby bunnies. There may have to be bunnies in our future. A huge thank you to Horse Power, Honey Bridge Ranch, and the volunteers who made this happen. We are most appreciative!

I'm happy to report that we will be able to start school (next week) as I have finally finished getting everything ready. It feels so... freeing. I have now emptied huge amounts of ideas and thoughts and planning into my trusty spiral-bound notebook (nothing but the best in planning tools around here), and I can think about other things again. Seeing it all written down and organized, there is always a small part of me which wonders that such a huge amount of work can take up such a small amount of space. Among the things I've done over the past few weeks: Planned out our Ancient Greece study (Re)taught myself basic chemistry so I could make a plan for teaching it to my children Discovering we needed something to fill the last month and half of school, so came up with a third study... architecture, focusing mainly on modern architecture Planned the architecture study Ordered the book and supplies we will need Made a list of the library books and various movies/documenta...

I have spent quite a bit of time over the past few months talking to various people about how to go about homeschooling. I always used to think that we long-term homeschoolers were basically understood by non-homeschoolers, but that assumption seems to be incorrect. Based on various conversations both in person and on-line, it seems that the gulf between a traditionally schooled mind set and homeschooling is deep and wide. No wonder people perpetually tell me they don't know how I do it, because what they imagine I am doing is so vastly different from what homeschooling actually looks like. To help with any confusion, here are some incorrect homeschooling ideas that I am repeatedly addressing. 1. Homeschoolers are affected by Covid, too I cannot tell you the number of times parents who have decided to homeschool come to the homeschooling community wanting in-person co-ops or classes. My snarkier side wants to point out that homeschoolers are not any more immune to viruses tha...

We've had an absolutely gloriously beautiful day here. I wouldn't be unhappy with this type of weather year 'round. Warm, but not too warm in the sun, light breeze, blue sky with white puffy clouds. Just beautiful. Our biggest news is that we have a new (to us) car. It's a 2013 Chevy Traverse, black. It is so very fancy. Certainly the fanciest car we've ever had by far. I kind of love driving it, though it is mainly for J. to use to get to work. This is also the first time we've ever had a car payment, so I'm not excited by that, but it was the only way we could replace the Jeep which it didn't make sense to repair. Did I mention I really like driving it? After paying the bills this morning, I ordered the rest of the supplies we needed for school. Most of it was chemistry-stuff. You know, chemicals and beakers and things. I also ordered a new picture study and a couple of games based on Ancient Greece. I'll show them to you once they arrive. Oh,...

"One's mood also influences the ability to recall information. In general, memory improves if the mood when the material was learned matches the mood when the material was recalled. For example, when you are angry it's easier to remember other events or situations that also made you angry. Such mood-dependent memories may be one reason why during an argument a person brings up prior anger-inducing events -- even if they have nothing to do with the situation at hand."  -- from Becoming Fluent: How Cognitive Science Can Help Adults Learn a Foreign Language by Richard Roberts and Roger Kreuz (p. 155) I picked-up this book because I am still looking for the unicorn which is the things to do in order to become fluent in another language, preferably which doesn't involve putting in the hours to memorize vocabulary and have many conversations with others who are fluent. See, I do know how to do it, I just don't have the time. That doesn't stop me from reading ...