It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year or, Geeks Like Me

I believe that we homeschoolers who say, "when are you starting school?" have the wrong idea. What do I say to that? "Ummm...I started about eight years ago and have been going strong every day since. Wait...there were those two days when I had a stomach virus and didn't get out of bed. Other than that, we've been homeschooling pretty much every day." I say this tongue in cheek because I believe that we are called to be in a constant state of teaching and training our children, and that "homeschooling" is a misnomer. It implies that we've allowed the cultural concept of how we should educate our children creep into our minds -- 17 years and countless hours of firsthand training and indocrination have nothing to do with this, of course. And this is not to offend the wonderful teachers who taught me and helped to form my life and develop the way I think about things (thanks, Fran!). I loved them all. But...since now I have a choice in the matter, I believe that education that is home based is in many cases the premier choice for cultivating a whole person, both whole parent and whole child. "Homeschoolers" from classical educators to unschoolers share this notion in spite of their vast differences in style. So for lack of better terminology at the moment, I'll identify with the sector of society best known as "homeschoolers" in spite of my subtle disagreement with the label; and the notion of "starting school" implies taking textbooks out again to start working on that kind of learning again.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a homeschool snob. I know what they mean. There's the natural rhythm of life. There comes that time of year when you just can't go anymore and you stash away the books and the whining and the routine because you're feeling a little burnt out on phonics and science projects and crafts...if you like that sort of thing. Then, you enjoy the learning that comes from critter-hunting, garden-growing, beach-combing, and campfire-lighting. It's a different kind of school entirely, but every bit as important. But somewhere around this time of year, perhaps because the leaves are showing just a tinge of red,


or perhaps because everyone around you is shopping on tax-free weekend, that question comes, "So, when are you guys going to start?" I have gotten so many different answers, from "Oh, I just can't face it. Maybe never." to the very firm, but late "Sept. 14th." We're "starting" on August 31st. What that means exactly, I'm never quite sure. It means a slight variation in our routine, in which the kids practice piano first thing in the morning and do math pages and listen to stories and do copywork and learn cursive and history and science-y type things. It means I get to relive my childhood anticipation for the first day of school all over again, but on a grander scale. I get to laminate memory cards (no home educating family should be without a laminator) and plan which science experiments and history projects we're going to do. I get to buy notebook paper and notebooks and pencils and pencil boxes and backpacks. I haven't figured out why my kids need backpacks yet, but they're cute and fun and they pack their clothes in them when we have overnights with friends.

Today I deep cleaned the basement in anticipation for our "start." It's an annual ritual of cleaning out old junk, making sure last years papers are filed away properly, books are neatly placed on the shelves, and the carpet is steam-cleaned (Please note--this is not standard. It's my own personal OCD thing with clean floors.) The planning is nearly done. The books have nearly all arrived via the friendly UPS man. The lesson planning and goal setting is very nearly complete.


Matty said to me for the first time in his life, "Mom, I can hardly wait." I said, "Wait for what, Buddy?" He said, "For school to start. I didn't feel that way before but I do now. You get better at it every year." Wow. I almost did an unsolicited, involuntary flip right there on the spot.

Bipolar Gardening, or, a Sad Tale of Neglect

And I don't mean like "two poles"--that would be great...maybe I'd have some more beans or peas or something growing. No, I mean that I have a double standard in my garden: one for the yard and one for the deck. Now, this year was our first foray into gardening. We have sincerely enjoyed it, but truthfully we haven't had a great harvest. I would even expect that we should have a LOT more tomatoes than we've had, but I've concluded that our soil is not rich enough yet. It is not composted with more than just purchased leaf compost (our own composts were not done yet, but next year, look out!) So we've had some very delicious tomatoes, just not a huge amount, like I was expecting out of 12 tomato plants. We have a zucchini plant, but have not had even one zucchini from it. We have a pumpkin plant that has overtaken the yard, but only three pumpkins. A cucumber plant that has grown up the fence but only produced three cucumbers. Our peas and beans produced about enough for a salad. Hmph. And this is the garden we've tended carefully. It's been a fun learning experience, but I want to do better next year.


On the other hand, I have utterly neglected my deck flowers. Truthfully, it gets so blazing hot out there on the deck that I hate to set foot out there during the day. Furthermore, I am usually so eager to see how my vegetables are doing I forget my little pots of flowers and fail to water them. this is the result:


I feel as though I ought to be punished somehow by the gardening authorities. It is just not in my nature to allow something to die for no reason. I would like to make a vow not to allow this to happen next year, but vows never suit me either (except the important ones, you know, like marriage). So I'm simply going to try much harder on my deck next year and hopefully have something more beautiful to show for it. Let's face it, I'm not the Pioneer Woman, at least not yet.

Beach Day for City Kids

A friend of mine invited us to the O club pool at a military base nearby. They're members, we're not--yet. It was so nice. The kids had a blast swimming with friends, and it was baking hot out, so the pool was perfect. I have that kind of tired that says, "wow, I've been baking in the sun all day." I know I'll sleep well tonight.

I miss the beach days of my childhood...I remember Mom taking us at least once, if not twice a week sometimes in the summer. I wonder if it was because she got a mental break from me yapping at her all the time, because I would get in the water and stay there all day. Literally. Nevertheless, I remember those days fondly, and wish we lived near a beach so my kids could do the same. Give me a mental break from yapping at me all day, that is. Anyway, a good pool day does the trick now and again, kind of like a beach day for city kids. I'll take it.

The Wild Woods out Back

Daddys are wonderful things to have around. They do wonderful things like cut paths through the briars to allow access to the woods that by this time of year are somewhat inaccessible because of (you guessed it) the briars in the way. So in the process of cutting the path, my little explorers found a box turtle...

which Molly insisted on keeping for a pet. When we told her that the turtle (named Shelly) really had to go back out, there was such grieving that I agreed to keep the thing until tomorrow.

We took a walk to the middle of the patch of woods behind our house, and really, it's all kids need. It's small enough that they can lose themselves in there without ever getting lost. There's plenty of undergrowth to explore, a beautiful covering of foliage, and at the edge, milkweed that supports Tiger Swallowtail and Monarch Butterflies. The kids are thrilled with the paths--not that the lack of them stopped them before. They're just glad they can pass through the briars without getting ripped to shreds. Once past the briars it's a nice walk back into the trees and home again. Molly was sure we were lost, but we made it back--our faithful big-brother guide made sure of it. All two hundred feet (okay, it might have been a little more than that, but not much)...

It was one of those days

When I got to see the world through my children's eyes, and remember what it felt like to be a kid and see things for the first time. A dinosaur skeleton, the Hope Diamond, the insect zoo...all things I remember seeing for the first time and feeling a thrill about...well, not really the Hope Diamond. I don't know what I was expecting, but it seemed very small--when people say things like, "the largest blah-blah in the world!" I'm expecting something really huge in relation to ME. I felt like the boy I overheard the other day, "It's just an expensive necklace!" I think the little man was rather "underwhelmed" about it, too.

We began the day by rescuing Daddy from the monotony of bureaucracy, then went to the National Museum of Natural History. We ate a hideously expensive, not-so-tasty lunch, but then it was all up from there!
From the elephant in the rotunda to the butterfly pavilion, we were all taken with the sights and experiences. The butterfly pavilion was our favorite, having just done our butterfly experiment in science.

We were also quite taken with the water striders and the water boatmen. Matty and I love to read poems for two voices about these two interesting creatures.

We finished the day with some of our favorite food from the Lebanese Taverna Market in Arlington. We brought home two very tired kiddos and put them in their bed. The day was done, practically perfect.

Butterfly Experiment

Our little scientists had a wonderful time observing the life cycle of five painted lady butterflies. Over the last two weeks we have watched these little larvae caterpillars go from being little critters to more than doubling in size, then forming chrysalises (is that really the plural for that?) and then becoming beautiful butterflies. They seemed rather forlorn in the cage to us, so we released them into our garden. As soon as we took the cage outside, they got very excited (do butterflies get butterflies in their stomachs?). They started fluttering all over and climbing to the top of the cage as if they knew the way out. We reached our hands in the cage in hopes of holding them on our fingers for a bit, but they had bigger plans and took off immediatedly. One of them made straight for the flowers, and so I was able to get some beautiful photos of her.

Doing What Comes Naturally

We've been doing Apologia Science this year for school, and have continued into the summer. We've been working through the first book in the Exploring Creation series for elementary students called Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. It has awakened in Matty and Molly a love for observing nature, and we have been looking at the world in a whole new way. The kids and I have studied birds and have been keeping a life notebook, recording when interesting creatures come to the back yard. We've also built bird houses to put on the fences, and have had two families of wrens come and nest in them. We've seen the usual varieties of birds that are common for Northern Virginia, and have enjoyed identifying them and observing their behaviors. They go on frequent "critter hunts" and find snakes, turtles, toads, and insects, and bring them home to watch them. We have a rule that they have to return them to their natural habitat after keeping them for a day, which usually means at sunset.

Today we again observed our red-tail hawk that has been visiting our dead tree at the edge of the woods. I was able to get a picture this time around. We also witnessed a most dramatic scene in which a lovely, but disabled moth that Matty found on the deck was rapidly consumed by a wasp. It was wonderful and horrible all at the same time, and we found it fascinating to watch!

Below is a slide show of some of the visitors we've had to our back yard.

Three Cats, Nearly Two!

Despite the title of "Two Cats in the Yard," we actually are a three-cat household. Today, however, we were nearly a two-cat household, when a very substantial red-tailed hawk camped out in our tree and was very clearly eyeballing our young cat, Albert. He has, as a result, been renamed "Hawk-bait." I did not take the picture, but put it in here, because the hawk that was in our tree was very similar in appearance to this one. We have also had visits from Cooper's hawks, which are smaller. I don't suppose they are a threat to the cats, but we've seen evidence of them hunting other birds at the bird-feeder. I suppose I can't be particular about which birds feed at the feeder and on what...nature is that way. I would, however, be a little more contrary if one of these hawks caught any of my cats!

When Siblings are Best Friends

We went white water rafting this weekend. What a blast that was! Our whole family was on one raft with "Uncle Rob" and though the rapids weren't huge, they were perfect for first-timers. We worked together and quickly got the hang of it, and before long we were pros. All I can think is "When can we go again?"

We allowed Matty to stay on an extra night with our friends Rob and Sue and their grandson and another boy. Molly was not happy about this, and when we left him behind she cried and hugged him and said, "I want you to come with us, Matty." He hugged and kissed her and said not to worry--he'd be back the next day, and so we set off.

When he returned the next day, Molly was so happy to see him. For the first time ever, he actually admitted to being homesick and missing us. He asked if Molly cried a lot when we left, and she hadn't really, but he said her crying was the hardest part of his separation from us. That night when we tucked them into bed, I witnessed this scene: Molly snuggled up close to Matty and put her arm across his chest.

"Matty, when you were away did you feel alone?"
"No, I was with two other boys."
"Were you scared?"
"No, I was okay."
"I want to snuggle with you because I missed you so much...I want to be with you, Matty...You're such a nice brother...I love you..."
"I love you too, Molly."
And then they were asleep. All was right in their worlds again.

July 4 on the National Mall in DC

This year's July 4th was a special one. We were invited to attend the fireworks at the National Mall with some friends who work for the National Park service. Normally we would not consider such an undertaking with a four-year-old who is phobic about porta-potties (which were certain to be horrid). However, they had VIP passes and we were assured that there were facilities, and this made it all worthwhile. There were indeed facilities, and they even had mirrors, soap, flushing toilets and doors that closed securely. Uh, wait...yes, that was impressive, but what was better was the time spent with friends and the AMAZING fireworks display. It was likely the most beautiful I've ever seen. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Painted Faces

Yesterday at Ikea there was an artist painting the kids' faces. Of course my kids wanted something done, and I was quite surprised at the results! Molly carried herself like a queen all day, except for when she got mad at her brother and had a fit. When I pointed out to her that her makeup was running down her face, the tears stopped immediately and I was given the command to fix it. Of course she wanted to sleep with the facepaint on, but I told her we needed to wash it off, and this led to peals of grief over the loss of her beloved butterfly. I promised that we would print the pictures so we could see them anytime...

Life is very...

One has to be thankful for regular days. They are full, mostly forgettable, simple, and daily. Today was a day like that. Went to Bible study, got ready for company, forgot an appointment and arrived late, watched a movie with the kids, made tacos for dinner. The regular stuff. My advisor in graduate school gave me lots of Godly wisdom, but she said one thing that I remember very clearly. She said, "Life is very daily," and told me to remember that fact with the "dailiness" of life sets in. I've thought about that a long time...

The kids will probably not remember today when they're twenty, but it's the days like today that make them. It's things like discipline and guidance, hugs and kisses, sitting in laps and watching a good movie together on a hot day, counting blessings before bed that really matter, and add up to a harvest of righteousness.

Firefly Frolic

My summer is conspicuously unscheduled this year. Somewhere down the line I seem to have lost the need or desire to be insanely busy along with the rest of society. I have had time time to just kick back, read a couple of books, enjoy living in my house with my garden and cats, do a little cleaning, cook some...It feels great.

Along with this sweet time of unscheduled, lazy, long days, ideas for "what to do" become a little simpler. Dad suggested this evening a surprise for the kids--stay up past bedtime to hunt fireflies. You'd think we had given them the moon for a snack! They bounded around the yard with their butterfly nets and caught many, many firefies. The sound of their delight and the sight of them running and jumping and saying, "right behind you!" and "ooh, there's one!" and then rushing to put them in the bug keeper was better entertainment than the most expensive water park.

What have we become? It was a gorgeous, breezy day today, and this evening as the winds died down and the sun began to set, we sat out on the front step to enjoy the long shadows and gathering dusk. All around us, we should have seen kids riding bikes, calling to each other, doing what kids do on warm summer evenings, but all down the street we saw not another soul. All we heard was the hum of air conditioners and houses were buttoned up tight against the threat of a degree above 72. Matty asked where everyone was and Aimee answered "in their basements watching their TVs." I'm starting to think that our neighbors must find us odd because we actually play in our yard, plant a garden, and draw on our driveway with chalk...oh yes, and catch fireflies.

What happened to us?

i've been drowning in stuff to do the last couple of weeks, but it's all been good. no, great! i had the opportunity to participate in the re-do of our church's 24-7 prayer room, as well as contribute some artwork. it was a rather intimidating commission that was given, as i have not done calligraphy on that scale before, nor have i done it on canvas (it shows a tad--but i'm satisfied for this time), but it was very clear to me that this was how it had to be done. i could get into all the really personal conversations with god over it, the surreal and sort of miraculous journey that making the paintings took me on, but we'll save to that for face-time talking. suffice it to say that it was a process that transformed me in some ways. after it was all done, i took a week off from school (sort of) with the kids, cleaned the house, played a lot, and finally feel like my head may be returning to a state in which i can function on pace with the rest of the world--not my favorite place to be, but necessary, as long as i am trapped in this realm called time.

here are the panels that are now available for the public to see, so i may as well post them here, too. i've been getting a lot of questions about them.


meanwhile, our engineering prowess was tested as a family when matty entered the cub scout pine wood derby and WON! apparently glen has become rather handy at building fast cars. matty helped of course, and he picked the design and i painted it with him. he did the black and glitter, and i painted the colors. it was exciting for all of us, to say the least.

No lack of confidence from this ham.

Matty's "Most Colorful Car" in the center

Matty's car, smoking the competition Awaiting results

Matty--Grand Champion of the Pack 1189 Pine Wood Derby, 2009

Snow Day at Last!

Finally, a day to play outside. We all came in tired and happy from sledding and throwing snowballs, soaked to the skin, hungry, and ready for warm baths and hot chocolate. Life is good...and hopefully we'll get enough freezing rain tonight to keep Daddy home from work tomorrow.

Welcome to the Family, Albert

Welcome to the family, Albert Stripe. Sam left a void too big to go unfilled by another boy kitty. Today, Matty picked you out as the new guy, because he and Dad were feeling outnumbered. It is not without sadness that we bring you home, but you are a sweet thing, and we all are taken with you and your very cute personality. You are charming and lovable, a people cat all the way around, and every bit a playful kitten. We hope you like it here with us.

Goodbye, Sam

This Sunday morning we said goodbye to our friend of 10 1/2 years...Samson, our cat. Last night he had another bad seizure (he'd had one in November, alerting us to the fact that he was not well, so we were prepared). This time he didn't fully come out of the seizure, and his whole left side was paralyzed. Both Glen and I felt the time was right to let him go peacefully, knowing that his situation was not going to get any better. He was a great cat--a big ol' lover-boy, flycatcher extraordinaire, chewer of paper, (especially of important documents), faithful alarm clock, hunter and presenter of gruesome gifts, companion, friend.

He will be very missed around here. I can't help but be thankful, even in the sorrow, that God allowed him to be entrusted to us for a time. It is a privilege to care for God's creatures, and we are blessed by the joy they bring to our hearts. Goodbye, Sammy-ol-boy. We love you.

Happy New Year

The new year is upon us. It was a lovely, quiet, and simple holiday season this year. We didn't go away, didn't visit with a million people, didn't cook until we couldn't find the kitchen anymore. We did eat until we couldn't see the numbers on the scale anymore, but that's a different matter! I've been blessed to be able to spend some time making art, played board games with the kids, started one of our new books with kids--The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. Monday, it's back to school, time to welcome back the old routine, with a few new improvements, I hope.

I'm never one to make new year's resolutions--okay, i am, actually, but i'm never one to keep them. This year, however, I only want to have one resolution. A friend of mine had this verse on her Christmas card: "We have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men. (I Timothy 4:10)" This is my resolution for 2009. To fix my gaze upon Him, to listen every day for that day. To walk according to His word.

Happy New Year, from us...

Christmas 2008

It has been a totally relaxing, totally family Christmas. Except for one friend and her son coming to exchange gifts yesterday, it has been just us four, and that's how we wanted it. We took it really easy yesterday, had a nice dinner together, bathed the kids, watched Elf and tucked in. Well, Daddy and Mommy stayed up doing elvish things like wrapping presents and stuffing stockings. Matty was so excited that he woke up at 4:00 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. At precisely 7:00, he woke Molly, marched her into our room and together they shouted, "IT'S CHRISTMAS!"
After their presents were all opened, and we'd eaten breakfast, we just went about the business of playing. It's been a fun, easy, Christmas day...just the way I like it.

Our Budding Musicians

I don't know if it's exactly talent they possess, or just a serious case of the sillies!