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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Also, Audrey would like to know if it looks like she's drinking in this photo.  What say you?

In Which Hamsters Run Amok*

One uneventful day, Audrey and I walked into Centinella Pet Supplies to buy some hamster food.

No, let me back up.

When Melinda was 9 1/2, we--by which I mean I--bought her a hamster.  A small furry little Roborovski Hamster who was subsequently named Candy.

Candy lived a happy little life, for what hamster lucky enough to be owned by an adoring child would not live in bliss?  At a ripe old age of almost 2, she keeled over and breathed her last.  It was a difficult time for Melinda, but was helped when we brought home a new pet a few days later.  This time, we (ahem, I) with amazing argument-avoidance-foresight, bought two hamsters: one for Melinda and one for Audrey.  Two little female Robo hamsters that were used to each other, and no risk of being suckered into buying a different pet later on that required more cages and different supplies--perfect!

Contrary to what you may think, this is not a photo of a
 dead hamster.  One of them simply enjoys
looking dead whilst sleeping.

Thus Rosy and Snoozy joined our household.  They got on so well, and were such adorable things to watch.  For about a month or so.  At which point they started "fighting" (quotes necessary as you soon shall see--or may have already guessed.)  Fighting hamsters plus out of town trip equals very worried girls, and therefore more cages and different supplies.  Sigh.  Foresight not so foresightful after all, perhaps.

Everything seemed to be moving along quite nicely, and we went on our second out of town trip, leaving Chris and Timothy to take care of the house and all it holds.  One morning I awoke to a text:

*slaps forehead*

Quick research told me that Robo Hamsters usually have 4-6 babies.  We were blessed with 7, and Rosy was soon re-dubbed Peter.  We found a website that gave us the necessary information to become quasi-experts in rodent rearing.  A good friend took one of the babies, a teacher took another two, and now we have 6 hamsters total: 3 boys and 3 girls.  In our early baby-raising-phase we happened across an interesting scientific phenomena: how is that a small creature who can barely walk and whose eyes aren't even all the way open can somehow find a wheel and know that it would be a good thing to run on?  It is all very perplexing.  What did hamsters do before wheels??

Which brings us to the beginning of the story: One uneventful day, Audrey and I walked into Centinella Pet Supplies to buy some hamster food.  To Audrey's delight, we discovered that the store would soon be hosting Hamster Races!  We could enter as many hamsters as we wanted (for free!) and each would receive a free ball to race in.  Oh the anticipation!

It was quite a bit of fun to watch, actually.  Some hamsters just wouldn't move.  Some hamsters were about 800times as big as ours combined.  We ended up entering the boys: Peter, Cotton, and Fang.

A brag on my Linnie:  While we were there, Melinda noticed a boy and his dad next to us who were enjoying the races.  Something they said led her to inquire, "Are you just spectating?"  The dad looked at her for a few seconds and then said, "What?"  Melinda rephrased, "Are you just here to watch?"  Recognition dawned and the man nodded, answering, "Yes," with a smile.  (Aren't vocabulary/smarty stories the best? Who said eavesdropping is bad?  Eavesdropping on that conversation was delightful.)

Anyhow, Fang won 2nd place and brought home a fancy princess carriage for his sisters and momma to run in.  They've enjoyed learning how to run in their big huge orbs--something Shasta (Ana & Jack's dog) has greatly enjoyed as well.

But the story doesn't end there.  With all the excitement, the cages must have gotten bumped around because the next morning as Ana was leaving the house, she saw a hamster dart across the entryway floor.  Forget trying to catch it, those things scamper like nobody's business.  Sure enough, the girl's cage (which, by coincidence, is not the pink one--the boys get that pleasure) was housing only two furballs.  We figured she was gone for good, because the part of the house she was seen in the lowest portion, with insurmountable stairs.

There is, however, one section of the baseboards that had a moderately-sized hole drilled in it.  I had assumed that the hole dropped directly underneath the house, but started to get skeptical when two days later I saw a shredded Nerf dart in the adjoining room.  Sure enough, the next morning as I was stumbling back from my alarm clock duties, I saw a little hamster sitting outside the two hamster cages.  Hungry, I assume, the little one was caught without too much fuss and now we are back at full hamster capacity.

Anyone up for a little furry pet?


* (As an aside, the title of my post alerted me to the fact that amok is yet another English word in which one is allowed to choose whether to spell it amok or amuck.  Ah, the freedom of spelling choice--what fun!  Both variants derive from the Malay work amoq: "a psychic disturbance characterized by depression followed by a manic urge to murder".  Thank you dictionary.com, that was fun!)

My Almost Driver

All of a sudden I realize the terrified look in my parents' eyes when we finally approached legal driving age.  This stuff is scary.  This is the age when The Hardest Part is Letting Go really kicks into high gear.  Timothy is now 15: the countdown is in full swing.

It has actually been a fabulous adventure--seeing Timothy grow and mature.  He has a brilliant sense of humor and a great big loving heart.  This year was the first (in quite some time) that he not didn't plan out (months in advance) which presents he wanted from whom.  Not only that, but he didn't want a huge party (which worked out quite well considering the fact that I'd declared 2011 to be a non-party year).  We went to a restaurant for his birthday dinner, and then came home for Key Lime Pie and some Lime Sorbet.  A simple night, but spent with some of the best people around.

Lime-a-licious

Cue the crazy singing!

Lime and Fire: 2 of Tim's favorite things.

This guy has a great smile and laugh!

What a goof. Isn't he great?

No complaints from Andrew.

nom nom nom

Serious thoughts? or serious dramatics?

Milestones

I was prepared for some of the major milestones of my kids growing up: no more kids in diapers (yay!) and no more hassling with carseats (yippee!) and first kid in high school (yikes!) but this one happened upon me quite stealthily.  My baby just taught herself to ride a bike without training wheels.  I was watching her ride her bike, thinking that this summer was her summer to take the trainers off, when Melinda ripped into my thoughts and spoke the suggestion aloud: "I think Audrey could learn to ride a two-wheeler."  Audrey agreed.  I took the training wheels off, and Audrey changed her clothes into what she deemed to be perfect bike riding clothes. 

I moved the cars out of the way so that she could ride in the most level place around us: the lower part of our driveway (the streets around us are surprisingly hilly for a plain old neighborhood in LA county).  At first I was helping her balance and ride--holding onto the back of her seat--but we both soon realized that she would do better on her own.  She wasn't afraid at all, she just kept trying and trying.

I love the part of that first video where she looks up, takes a deep breath, and keeps on going.  The amount of time that passed between the first and second video was maybe 15 minutes.  I'm so impressed.

My baby is growing up, for sure and for certain.  I was surprised how sentimental this made me!  Now I'm looking at my kiddos with new eyes--when is the next hidden milestone going to jump up and surprise me?

According to Audrey

#1:  "Timothy doesn't realize that slobber is the point of a kiss!"

#2:  "It will take a long time to dig to the middle of earth.  We will need a lot of children for that."

Andrew Turns Twelve

Andrew couldn't wait for his birthday to become his birth-night...that's when the real fun happens.  Dad gets home from work, allowing presents to be opened, dinner to be eaten, dessert to be enjoyed.  The most important of these being the presents, of course.  The first thing he opened was a quilt I'd just finished making for him that morning.  Last minute projects are not an unusual thing for me, but unlike some last minute projects, this one went surprisingly smoothly and I'm not real sure why. It was fabulous.
Andrew tends towards sentimentality in some ways.  I've always found this to be an endearing quality of his, so I had made a point to save some of his shirts and other clothing so he could look back at them some point in the future.  I decided that the best way to hold onto some of these things that would never be used again was to turn them into something that would be used: a quilt.  T-shirt fabric is much too stretchy to be an enjoyable fabric to sew, but it all went together quickly and easily.

Andrew was really pleased with it.  He had no idea that it was coming, and I think he's slept with it every night since.  The best part is that all the T-shirts are already broken in--what a comfy quilt!



Audrey created an audience (of horses, of course) to watch Andrew open his gifts.  Andrew received books: Artemis Fowl #6 (which he'd completed by the next morning) and some classics (Call of the Wild, The Jungle Book, Treasure Island, Sherlock Holmes, Shakespeare, Wind in the Willows) since he's recently read The Lord of the Rings series, The Hobbit, and Robinson Crusoe (have I mentioned that he amazes me?)  He also received some video games and Pokemon cards.



After presents, we took him out to Ruby's (his choice of dinner, super yummy chicken strips) where he ended up with another audience, although this one wasn't comprised of horses.  In this case, it was his Nintendo DSi XL that was being ooohh'd and aaahhh'd over.



When dinner was over, we swung by Krispy Kreme Dougnuts to get the makings of a birthday cake.  Andrew designed his Holey Tower, and Chris inserted the candles.





We had an extremely lively rendition of "Happy Birthday" sung, and then Andrew made his wish.  One year from now, I'll have two teenage boys in my house!  (If I keep repeating that, it is simply in hope that I will come to believe it.  Who was it that said "There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it."  William James?  I'm hoping he's right.)  I really don't understand how it takes them 10 years to get to their 5th birthday and then the next 8 years pass overnight.  I guess I'll be working at savoring this year with my 12 year old.  Happy Birthday, son.

Bowling for Birthdays

I officially declared 2011 a Birthday Party Free Zone...no extensive lists of guests, no invitations and party favors. Instead, the kiddos get to take a friend to a place of their choosing. Andrew chose to take his friends Shawn and Ryan bowling followed by Yogurtland.

Andrew was pretty impressed with his bowling shoes. If they had offered to let him keep them, I'm sure Andrew would have jumped on the opportunity.




They all bowled for an hour, ate pink birthday cake leftover from a birthday party happening in the next lane over, and then dumped some money into the arcade. Andrew kept commenting on how much fun he was having--it was so great to see him really feel special.






Yogurtland was nuts--busier than I've ever seen it--but all the kids did good. Andrew's friends spent the night, though I'm sure they didn't get much sleep. All in all, it was a very successful non-party.

Like Snow

 My established love for snow is joining my new found appreciation for poetry today.  When we were in Tahoe for Thanksgiving, we had some great snow storms, the kind of storms that usually wait until Christmas/New Years.  I hope it was just a practice run...we'll be back there soon and hope that the snow keeps falling!  This poem is by Wendell Berry, and is called "Like Snow".  I thought it would be fitting for my snowy pictures.

Suppose we did our work
like the snow, quietly, quietly
leaving nothing out.

Happy Birthday Melinda!

Congratulations to my girl for making it into the double digits! What a major stepping stone on her quest to make it to adulthood. She is becoming such a little lady!

For Melinda's birthday we went out to dinner at the place of her choosing: Ruby's. Apparently they have the best chicken strips? The hat her brother gave her off his own head just might be her most treasured gift ever.

Melinda also had a small birthday party that Gramps & Tutu, and a friend from church came to. This started off with a cake of her own design: homemade chocolate cake with homemade frosting, decorated with mini M&Ms. Decorating done by the kiddos of course, since they know how to do it right.




The girls could hardly wait do beat up the piñata...they wouldn't wait for proper rope and ideal location, but it didn't really matter since the important thing was getting at the candy inside.



Gifts and swim time followed, with cake and ice cream shortly after.




(One of Melinda's gifts was a keepsake trunk that belonged to her great-great-grandmother Amy. What a treat!)

Happy Birthday my beautiful girl!