I happened across this unposted post...something I had put together one year ago and for some reason never posted. Too good not to publish!
Andrew, after a week of complaining about everything, "I don't like how people complain about every single thing."
It is always entertaining to hear how Melinda's brain connects unrelated words/items: "Your ears don't have any bones--they are made entirely of cleavage." and "My friend gave me an entire can of Nevada to drink." (she meant Arizona...you know, the iced tea?)
Andrew: "Are these bananas okay to eat? Because they're organic bananas and usually organic things taste weird."
Audrey: "Fire is like a wound of the earth."
Timothy: "The sign 'Keep off Median' should say 'Don't Tread on Median'."
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Welcome to Thursday
Thursdays mean riding lessons for Audrey, and for the last few months Thursdays have also meant cloudy skies threatening to rain. Who knows why this is the winter of Rain On Thursdays, but I can assure you that it is.
In general, I love the rain. The disappointment that rain on Thursday causes (due to cancelled lessons) isn't so wonderful, but it is difficult to be bitter about a change in the weather...a rare enough occurrence in So Cal!
Also on today's agenda was another design meeting for the Bryant place. There have been quite a few of those lately! Between normal life, the construction project, and packing to move house, my days have been quite full.
In general, I love the rain. The disappointment that rain on Thursday causes (due to cancelled lessons) isn't so wonderful, but it is difficult to be bitter about a change in the weather...a rare enough occurrence in So Cal!
Also on today's agenda was another design meeting for the Bryant place. There have been quite a few of those lately! Between normal life, the construction project, and packing to move house, my days have been quite full.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Hairs Cut
With nary a word about how neglectful I've been of sharing all those little things that have been happening 'round these parts, I'd like to present a newly shorn 8th grader.
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| This is the mom-hurry-up-I'm-trying-to-eat-a-candy look. |
Friday, July 13, 2012
School Year in Review
This post has been a long time coming. Really, it would have been best written back in May before summer came along. Having all my kiddos back home with me, if only for a time, makes everything seem okay and the troubles of the past school year long gone. Spring is the time when I'm fretting and deciding. Now, in July, I'm left with trying to remember the passion of the problems. Ah well, better late than never, right?
Timothy - age 16
Tim attended Valley Christian for his 3rd year, this year, completing 10th grade. (Which brings us to: 1.5 years at a church-based Christian school, 1.5 years at a public elementary school, 3 years at a small Montessori school, 2 years at home school, and 3 years at a larger Christian school.) Each year that he's attended VCS, I've felt like the next year has got to be better: he'll be older, more mature, and be used to the routine. And so three years pass, and he is still having a hard time connecting with teachers, maintaining enough motivation to complete a semester, and preventing himself from procrastinating to the point where his work doesn't get turned in. He has two years of high school left, is not planning on jumping into a 4-year college, is yearning to start working, and is dreading two years wasted by sitting around in classes that don't teach him anything.* He's now accumulated a full credit of English that needs to be made up, and has discovered that the expensive, online summer course that the school offered was no better at getting him through the material.
And so, Chris and I decided to approach him with the possibility of completing his schooling at home, while working part time for Chris at Traffic Management. You should have seen the relief on his face. He knew it was an option, and had been thinking about it for the last year, but something about having his parents' blessing made it all really fall into place. (Funny how that works.) He hasn't even taken a summer break. He got out of school and began working. He did a wonderful job working last summer, and was eager to join the accounting team once again. In the fall he'll be using Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2, Notgrass Exploring Government, Graphic Arts, Japanese (not sure which program yet) and English (put together by your truly**). He's excited; let's hope it lasts. :) Am I nervous about home-schooling a high schooler? Yes and no. It's a great responsibility, but I'm excited to have him home, am looking forward to exploring literature with him, and have the great benefit of tons of curriculum choices to help me out. Love that.
Andrew - age 13
Andrew ventured into the lands of the larger school classroom this year, completing 7th grade at Valley Christian Middle School. He attended Tahoe Montessori from Pre-K to 3rd, and home-schooled from 3rd-6th. He loved home school. He liked that he could get his work done quickly, and liked how much he could learn - this is a guy who loves information. However, we thought that it was important that he experience school for a couple of reasons: 1) the opportunity to learn from different teachers, and 2) the opportunity to be involved in many more activities that are difficult to offer at home.
Andrew is notorious for disliking change. He had quite a while to get used to the idea of attending school, but we were still nervous that he'd have a hard time adapting. He, however, did a fabulous job. He made friends easily, always had his homework done and got good grades, enjoyed having something to occupy a good part of his day, and loved his teachers and his classes.*** He became the champion of more than one kid being picked on when he discovered that he had no problem standing up for what he believes is right. He did have one major complaint, though, and that was the lack of material they went through in class. He did not like having to wait for everyone else to understand things before moving on. In his opinion, home school is if you want to learn, public/private school is if you want to enjoy friends.
He put serious consideration into whether he wanted to remain at VCS next year, because he really does miss learning at the level he can at home, but he has decided to stay. I think he'll do well - he's already anticipating being able to do Honors classes in high school.
Melinda - age 11
After attending Pre-K to 2nd grade at Tahoe Montessori, and then home schooling 3rd-5th grade, Melinda was begging to be allowed to attend school so that she could spend her days socializing instead of learning.**** Fulling believing that it would be difficult for her, we nevertheless decided to let her try her experiment.
It ended up being the hardest thing she's ever done. Not because of the academics, she was just fine as far as that was concerned, but a gaggle of 6th grade girls is tough crowd - especially considering that many of them had known each other for a long time and considered Melinda an outsider. I saw my spunky daughter's confidence start to shake as she constantly dealt with playground shenanigans. It's amazing how mean kids can be; even "Christian" kids. I came [thisclose] to pulling her out of the school about 2/3 through the year when she was in the office sobbing (for the 3rd time that year) because of mean students or lack of information and communication from the staff. Sure, at some point we all have to realize that there are terrible people in the world, but it doesn't have to be at such a tender, uncertain age.
Nevertheless, Melinda wants to try again. She made a couple of good friends, and is willing to see if everyone else has grown up a bit by the time summer is over. I admit that she has more hope in that area than I do. She's an incredible girl with strong gifts of authority and leadership, things I find incredible and worth protecting. We will stay in prayer, and take it as it comes.
Audrey - age 8
I'm incredibly blessed to still have Audrey at home with me. What a treat she is! She adores math and science, and is therefore a bit advanced in those areas. She made a huge jump in reading this year, and is now easily reading chapter books to herself. She's definitely active, and gets bored if each day feels like the same old material, but I'm getting pretty good at mixing it up, skipping ahead, or setting things aside if she's getting antsy. She absolutely goes through a ton more material that way than if we were just plodding on.
She completed Math Mammoth 2 this year - a program that has proven (in my experience with other programs and schools) to be advanced. She's jumping into multiplication with gusto. As a science lover, she's worked on multiple programs this year, beginning with what was included in Moving Beyond the Page (what we used for social studies and science at the beginning of the year, but finished early. We flew through it since we found the content repetitive and rather light. Moving on to Something Else next year!) We also began (and will be continuing with) a Sonlight Science program (I can't keep track of which level since they switched from numbers to letters) and completed an experiment kit from the Academy of Science for Kids. We also started an Equine program from WinterPromise that we'll be doing [slowly] on riding lesson days.
So for 3rd grade: we'll be using Story of the World Volume 1 (excited about this! I love how it teaches history, combining activities and projects). For math we'll be using Teaching Textbooks 3 (since we already have it, and she's already started it, and she's up for a change etc etc) in conjunction with Math-U-See Gamma. Science will be a continuation of SL, WP, and a bunch of experiment oriented things we have. English will be a mix also: continuing with All About Spelling (LOVE this program) and Queen's Language Lessons, and adding in a writing workbook as well. Should be fun! This girl still loves to learn, has been asking to do word problems and wants me to read her something like science or history even though it's summer. She's ready to hit 3rd grade for sure.
__________________________
* Note that this is his perspective, and could easily be rephrased thus: "is dreading two years wasted by sitting around in classes that he refuses to learn from." It's a matter of perspective, sure, but the ending result is the same. He isn't learning, and therefore vital years of youthful energy are being wasted.
** Despite what you might think, this is a fun, exciting prospect.
*** Except for Photography, where absences from illness and a lack of understanding about what was going on made for a frustrating experience.
**** This is my idea of a joke, people.
Timothy - age 16
Tim attended Valley Christian for his 3rd year, this year, completing 10th grade. (Which brings us to: 1.5 years at a church-based Christian school, 1.5 years at a public elementary school, 3 years at a small Montessori school, 2 years at home school, and 3 years at a larger Christian school.) Each year that he's attended VCS, I've felt like the next year has got to be better: he'll be older, more mature, and be used to the routine. And so three years pass, and he is still having a hard time connecting with teachers, maintaining enough motivation to complete a semester, and preventing himself from procrastinating to the point where his work doesn't get turned in. He has two years of high school left, is not planning on jumping into a 4-year college, is yearning to start working, and is dreading two years wasted by sitting around in classes that don't teach him anything.* He's now accumulated a full credit of English that needs to be made up, and has discovered that the expensive, online summer course that the school offered was no better at getting him through the material.
And so, Chris and I decided to approach him with the possibility of completing his schooling at home, while working part time for Chris at Traffic Management. You should have seen the relief on his face. He knew it was an option, and had been thinking about it for the last year, but something about having his parents' blessing made it all really fall into place. (Funny how that works.) He hasn't even taken a summer break. He got out of school and began working. He did a wonderful job working last summer, and was eager to join the accounting team once again. In the fall he'll be using Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2, Notgrass Exploring Government, Graphic Arts, Japanese (not sure which program yet) and English (put together by your truly**). He's excited; let's hope it lasts. :) Am I nervous about home-schooling a high schooler? Yes and no. It's a great responsibility, but I'm excited to have him home, am looking forward to exploring literature with him, and have the great benefit of tons of curriculum choices to help me out. Love that.Andrew - age 13
Andrew ventured into the lands of the larger school classroom this year, completing 7th grade at Valley Christian Middle School. He attended Tahoe Montessori from Pre-K to 3rd, and home-schooled from 3rd-6th. He loved home school. He liked that he could get his work done quickly, and liked how much he could learn - this is a guy who loves information. However, we thought that it was important that he experience school for a couple of reasons: 1) the opportunity to learn from different teachers, and 2) the opportunity to be involved in many more activities that are difficult to offer at home.
Andrew is notorious for disliking change. He had quite a while to get used to the idea of attending school, but we were still nervous that he'd have a hard time adapting. He, however, did a fabulous job. He made friends easily, always had his homework done and got good grades, enjoyed having something to occupy a good part of his day, and loved his teachers and his classes.*** He became the champion of more than one kid being picked on when he discovered that he had no problem standing up for what he believes is right. He did have one major complaint, though, and that was the lack of material they went through in class. He did not like having to wait for everyone else to understand things before moving on. In his opinion, home school is if you want to learn, public/private school is if you want to enjoy friends.
He put serious consideration into whether he wanted to remain at VCS next year, because he really does miss learning at the level he can at home, but he has decided to stay. I think he'll do well - he's already anticipating being able to do Honors classes in high school.
Melinda - age 11
After attending Pre-K to 2nd grade at Tahoe Montessori, and then home schooling 3rd-5th grade, Melinda was begging to be allowed to attend school so that she could spend her days socializing instead of learning.**** Fulling believing that it would be difficult for her, we nevertheless decided to let her try her experiment.
It ended up being the hardest thing she's ever done. Not because of the academics, she was just fine as far as that was concerned, but a gaggle of 6th grade girls is tough crowd - especially considering that many of them had known each other for a long time and considered Melinda an outsider. I saw my spunky daughter's confidence start to shake as she constantly dealt with playground shenanigans. It's amazing how mean kids can be; even "Christian" kids. I came [thisclose] to pulling her out of the school about 2/3 through the year when she was in the office sobbing (for the 3rd time that year) because of mean students or lack of information and communication from the staff. Sure, at some point we all have to realize that there are terrible people in the world, but it doesn't have to be at such a tender, uncertain age.
Nevertheless, Melinda wants to try again. She made a couple of good friends, and is willing to see if everyone else has grown up a bit by the time summer is over. I admit that she has more hope in that area than I do. She's an incredible girl with strong gifts of authority and leadership, things I find incredible and worth protecting. We will stay in prayer, and take it as it comes.
Audrey - age 8
She completed Math Mammoth 2 this year - a program that has proven (in my experience with other programs and schools) to be advanced. She's jumping into multiplication with gusto. As a science lover, she's worked on multiple programs this year, beginning with what was included in Moving Beyond the Page (what we used for social studies and science at the beginning of the year, but finished early. We flew through it since we found the content repetitive and rather light. Moving on to Something Else next year!) We also began (and will be continuing with) a Sonlight Science program (I can't keep track of which level since they switched from numbers to letters) and completed an experiment kit from the Academy of Science for Kids. We also started an Equine program from WinterPromise that we'll be doing [slowly] on riding lesson days.
So for 3rd grade: we'll be using Story of the World Volume 1 (excited about this! I love how it teaches history, combining activities and projects). For math we'll be using Teaching Textbooks 3 (since we already have it, and she's already started it, and she's up for a change etc etc) in conjunction with Math-U-See Gamma. Science will be a continuation of SL, WP, and a bunch of experiment oriented things we have. English will be a mix also: continuing with All About Spelling (LOVE this program) and Queen's Language Lessons, and adding in a writing workbook as well. Should be fun! This girl still loves to learn, has been asking to do word problems and wants me to read her something like science or history even though it's summer. She's ready to hit 3rd grade for sure.__________________________
* Note that this is his perspective, and could easily be rephrased thus: "is dreading two years wasted by sitting around in classes that he refuses to learn from." It's a matter of perspective, sure, but the ending result is the same. He isn't learning, and therefore vital years of youthful energy are being wasted.
** Despite what you might think, this is a fun, exciting prospect.
*** Except for Photography, where absences from illness and a lack of understanding about what was going on made for a frustrating experience.
**** This is my idea of a joke, people.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Summer Fun: Horse Camp
This summer has been crazier than the school year, which I didn't really think was possible, but I've been proven wrong. (It's okay, I'm used to being proven wrong. I'm pretty good at it, at this point in the game.)
The last day of school was Thursday, June 14th. We had precisely 3 mornings of rest before the 6:30am alarm bell started ringing again. Timothy was off to Driver's Ed (yes, that is scary, thankyouverymuch,) and the girls were off to Horse Camp.
Audrey has been taking riding lessons for the last couple of months, (the stuff of dreams for this girl,) and her trainer decided to put together a day camp this year. Melinda joined in, and boy did they have fun! They not only had daily riding lessons, but they learned about different breeds and gaits, about hoof-science from the ferrier, about horse care and costs, in addition to fun games and crafts. I won't say that it was lovely getting up at the crack, but I do miss mornings at the stables. It is a spot of peace amidst the chaos of the city.
The last day of school was Thursday, June 14th. We had precisely 3 mornings of rest before the 6:30am alarm bell started ringing again. Timothy was off to Driver's Ed (yes, that is scary, thankyouverymuch,) and the girls were off to Horse Camp.
Audrey has been taking riding lessons for the last couple of months, (the stuff of dreams for this girl,) and her trainer decided to put together a day camp this year. Melinda joined in, and boy did they have fun! They not only had daily riding lessons, but they learned about different breeds and gaits, about hoof-science from the ferrier, about horse care and costs, in addition to fun games and crafts. I won't say that it was lovely getting up at the crack, but I do miss mornings at the stables. It is a spot of peace amidst the chaos of the city.
 |
| Melinda and Audrey in the middle there, showing off Scooter's new paint job. Luckily, those are washable paints. (and, before you call me with worries about Audrey's bowed legs, they are just crossed. all is well.) |
 |
| Cowboy got a bath after a hard day's work. Both girls are so comfy around those horses. Of course they were begging for their own by the end of the week. |
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| Melinda helps Buttercup get some of her exercise in. There are a remarkable amount of jobs that have to do with horses. Both girls dream of living on a farm, and they approach these chores (including the mucking,) with gusto. |
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| Awww...Buttercup got a bath. Did you know that wet horse smells remarkably like wet dog? Methinks all wet animal smells like wet dog in the way that all meat tastes like chicken. |
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Where There's a Will...
One of the projects I wanted to complete while there was sorting and organizing my quilting fabric stash. My quilting studio is a favorite room of mine: gorgeous views and pure creativity. The girls helped me to sort all of my scraps by color (and wow! were there a lot of scraps to sort!) and then I also sorted my larger pieces. A book I recently bought (Sunday Morning Quilts - great book!) helped me envision how useful it would be to have it all sorted by color. The idea is that someday I'll be able to take advantage of this...maybe this summer?
 |
| Lots of pink left over from having little girls once upon a time...otherwise a nice assortment, don't you think? |
It took her about 2 seconds to come to the conclusion that a fishy quilt would be the absolute perfect gift for her teacher, to thank him for being such a wonderful part of her first year at a large school. That was about 10pm (a.k.a. past her bedtime) on Saturday night. She wanted to give it to him as soon as she went back to school on Tuesday.
Nevermind the fact that she had never made a quilt before. Nevermind the fact that quiltmaking can be a tedious, patience-building process, even for the patient type of person. Nevermind the fact that we had exactly a day and a half to complete it. This girl has GOALS. Big Dreams.
She set to work [as soon as I woke up] the next morning. We'd come up with a simple layout that would [hopefully] make the quilt process go quickly, and I'd done the math the night before to know how everything needed to be cut. I did some of the instructing and grunt-work for her to speed it up, but she made the decisions, did all the sewing as well as most of the pressing and trimming. She worked for about 9 hours straight! She even jumped back into it after we got back from dinner, and ended the night with only a couple of seams left to sew on the quilt top.
So went our Sunday. Sure, there were a ton of other ways I would have loved to spend my lovely Tahoe time, but how could I not support such generosity and tenacity? She even did some of my chores for me on Monday morning so that I could quilt her finished top on my longarm machine. She prepared the binding and sewed it on as soon as she was able when we got back to Long Beach last night.
She was so close to her goal when she collapsed into bed last night that I decided to sacrifice some of my coveted sleeping hours to finish the quilt by hand-sewing the binding to the back of the quilt. It was a crazy-quick quilting adventure, that's for certain sure, but what a treat to be a part of such a huge accomplishment in my 11-year-old's life!
Didn't she do an incredible job? I'm so extremely proud of her.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Little Things Audrey Says
"I want to BATHE in Science!"
(kitty cat Calla just wants to drink Science)
"Rango?! I didn't know that was a kid's movie!"
Upon exiting the freeway at the usual place: "Why does there have to be a new homeless guy? I miss the old one."
(kitty cat Calla just wants to drink Science)
"Rango?! I didn't know that was a kid's movie!"
Upon exiting the freeway at the usual place: "Why does there have to be a new homeless guy? I miss the old one."
Also, Audrey would like to know if it looks like she's drinking in this photo. What say you?
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