First Official Day

Well, after much ado over getting all of our materials, we finally, officially started school.

I realized while moving letter tiles around the white board with RePete that he doesn’t know his lower case letters. All this time, he’s been singing ABCs, he’s been pointing out letters, saying all of their sounds and so I decided it was time to start a little pre-reading with him.

My letter tiles from All About Spelling are all lower case. I should have guessed the problem immediately when he didn’t recognize the “a”. I’ve never tested or prompted him for his letters. I’ve just let him listen in and watch Leap Frog videos. It never dawned on me that everything pre-school is in all caps. Duh!

So, now we are working on lowerrcase letters.

For Pete, we had a full day. Math drill, word ladder, reading, a few paper crafts while I read about the Hopi Indians. We did read about elements in our chemistry and made the water and carbon dioxide molecule models from our science kit, but forgot all about mixing baking soda and vinegar. Will definitely do this tomorrow. That’s the best part in my opinion.

I was impressed that we got that much done with little to no whining. There was still lots of movement, but hey, they are boys. Boys move. I’m okay with that.

~R

How to K1ll your k1ds: Part II

Sunday was a nice day and we hadn’t made plans, so I talked BN into gathering the troops and going Letterboxing.  We decided to finish the job that Pogo and I almost died from gave up.

If you’ve never heard of Letterboxing and you like to hike, follow clues and use a stamp pad (woohoo), then make sure and click on it to find out more.  It’s the thrill of the hunt, usually with really bad directions and compass readings.  At least that’s my story.  I don’t know how to read a compass and BN said he did but we couldn’t find the last box so we headed back to our van and called it day.  Hey, 3 out of 4 ain’t bad.

It wasn’t quite as hot as that last fateful trip and BN took charge of the water.  My oldest has a habit of watering the flora when we hike.  Not only is it annoying but it makes us all cranky when we run out.  We no longer have the stroller so BN ended up carrying RePete the last mile.  He’s a good daddy.

~R

Our School Room

…leaves a lot to be desired.

First I have my desk, which started as the boy’s desk. All of our WinterPromise goodies are on top with the rest in the filing folders to the right of the desk. The cabinets above the desk are not available right now for school stuff. I have my albums and crafting things in them. I made them accessible so I would use them and I don’t. So I may just pack all of it away for now or repurpose a bookcase somewhere.

Here’s the boy’s desk. Just a plain old table with chairs. Room for both.

And here’s the only bookshelf I am using, although I’m not using anything on there. I should sell it all.

I need more of a system. Having everything in one room is a plus, but I need to figure out how to get it all organized around me. Been reading some suggestions from the WP yahoo group. Working on that now.

I don’t want a “school classroom”. I want a space where the materials are within easy reach (and I can find them). Other than math and reading, the rest is either hands on or visual. Pete and I both dislike workbooks. Projects, experiments, crafts are what we are all about. My kids, thankfully, learn quite well this way.

So I need space for the box of chemistry stuff and the early american craft kit. I think it is also time to sell the rest of my stamp stuff. Just not using it and it is taking up precious space. Although, I should just stick it out one more year. By then, we’ll be on our way to a bigger home and hopefully I’ll have a dedicated space to put my things.

~R

Curriculum 2008-09

This year I wanted to make things easier on myself by purchasing a “ready-to-go” curriculum. That didn’t go as planned. First, I researched Sonlight and while the books were great choices, the integration of religion was not. I prefer a more secular approach to schooling. I checked out Ambleside and it just looked too hard to put together myself. I saw WinterPromise on someone’s post and decided to look into it. I fell in love with the website, the catalog, the concept, the hands-on aspect of it.

Getting my school-in-a-box was another story. I placed my order on May 31st and on July 26th, I received the last of it. During that time, I received not one single email or correspondence to let me know the status. I read on the forums that WP was a rapidly growing company and having server issues to boot. They were overwhelmed. I try to be empathetic, but when doling out $600, I expect prompt and courteous service. Courteous I got, prompt they were not.

As suggested on this same forum, I decided to make the first of what amounted to five phone calls. Their customer service is superb and frankly the only thing that kept me from sending the whole kit and kaboodle back to them. I’m not sure if I’ll order from them next year. We haven’t really started the program, for obvious reasons, so it is really going to have to wow! me to win me over for another year.

For Pete’s 3rd grade curriculum:

WinterPromise American Story I
NOEO Chemistry I
Complete RightStart Math C
All About Spelling (review 1&2) purchase 3&4
Artistic Pursuits (Gr. 3)
Reading Pathways
Daily Word Ladders
Good Literature
Cursive Handwriting
Review Grammar

For RePete:
Getting Ready for the Code A
Learning lower case alphabet (only knows uppercase)
Kumon workbooks
Everyday math skills

Of course, we use all of this VERY loosely.

Now let’s get started!
~R

More isn’t better

Apparently this saying is true. Some fool came looking for something, used every word they knew related to that subject, and somehow ended up with me.

Search: tit milker boob pump machine nipple lact

Somehow, I don’t think they found what they were looking for. Although, I may need to rethink my content.

~R

Boyly Moments

That is a play on Boy and Girly.

I think little girls are great. If I had little girls, I would have been happy. But I didn’t. I had little boys. Oh, okay and truthfully, I like little boys better than little girls. They whine less, for one.

I know people who have boys and keep trying for girls. (And the reverse of that too. Gotta have a boy to carry on the proud family name.) I’ve never understood that. I’m so happy to have two healthy, intelligent kids, that I could care less how they go pee-pee.

So for those of you with boys that are longing for girls, I’d like to share a few Boyly Moments with you. Boys will tickle your back and brush your hair – if you bribe them.

And if your little mudslingers are into pain and torment, go buy a jar of wax. I used to go to the salon to get waxed but making time for appointments often left me with hairy legs and an invite to the pool. So I decided to start waxing myself.

You’ve never truly bonded with your sons until they’ve lovingly ripped the hair off your leg. And mine really get into it. I certainly didn’t ask for their help but the thought of ripping something, possibly causing pain really appeals to my two.

So don’t think that if you are blessed with boys, your mothering isn’t complete. Those Boyly Moments are just as wondrous and painful. See? Their laughing, my crying – just like mothers and daughters.

~R

Our Future Proctologist

My husband is the King of Too Much Information when it comes to our kids. I like to keep our kids informed also, but know when to stop.

So one day we are on the subject of getting physicals and BN somehow blurts out that at 40 years old, men get a rectal exam.

Pete: A rectal exam?

BN: Yes, they stick a finger up your butt.

Pete: OMG, that will hurt. No way am I getting that done.

and round and round they went.

Two days ago, Pete comes out of the bathroom, face all concerned and asks,

Pete: Mom, is a doctor really going to stick their finger all the way up my butt?

Me: (I’m gonna kill BN) Yes, a doctor, with a glove on his hand, will insert his finger in your anus as part of your exam.

Pete: Well, that will hurt too much. Not gonna get it done.

Me: That’ll be up to you. But it’s part of a regular checkup at that age and most think it is necessary. It won’t hurt too much if at all anyway.

Pete: Well, I just tried it and I couldn’t get my finger in there.

Me: You did scrub your hands when you were done, right?

(word of caution: DO NOT TOUCH THE NAIL BRUSH IN OUR GUEST BATH)

~R

Independence Day 2008

….was such a weird thing to me. First, we declined invites to BBQs because RePete wasn’t feeling so well and had had a fever for the last two days. Mystery Fever! So we ate at Kelly’s Tavern. Good food by the way, but so not a Fourth of July cookout.

Then we decided to drive into town and watch the fireworks. The last two years, they’ve said it would be “here” and it was “there”. So we took a chance and went “there” this year and what do you know? It was “here”. We could still see them but no close-ups.

“There” was a city park behind the Farm Fresh. There were only three other cars parked back there and we, along with those families played at the park until the show. Everyone else who thought it would be “there” parked in the Farm Fresh parking lot.

A storm was rolling in and we kept watch on it. To get a better view, we climbed to the top of one of the playsets. I setup my camera on the tripod, set my aperture at F11, 30 seconds like the good little student of photography I am. I also made sure it was on manual focus and used my wide lens.

Between the unwieldiness of the camera atop a fully extended tripod and trying to carry it up a ladder AND having the kids squishing in all around the legs of the tripod, I forgot to focus. Doh!

Then, the race was on.

Lightening and thunder in the distance,

us atop a metal playset, and the pyromaniacs setting off the fireworks.

It lasted all of what seems like five minutes and BN said, “let’s get the H out of here.” Just as we got in our van, the raindrops started to fall. By the time we got home, it was an all out thunderstorm.

I realized later what really made this a weird 4th for me. The quiet. Our dinner was quiet. The park was quiet. There were no “oohs” or “ahhs” since we were basically alone back there in the park. The quiet disturbed me.

~R

Mama said there’s be days like this…

I’m not currently having one of those days, but I want to talk about two baby products that have been on my mind lately.

First is this chair? The Bumbo Chair.

Where was this when mine were trying so hard to sit up? Or when I was trying so hard to confine them to a small area? Better yet, why don’t they make these for big people. Wouldn’t it be nice to NOT have to hold yourself up sometimes. You know. Those – when all you can do is flop on the chair, one leg over the arm – kind of days.

I just want to buy one for everyone I know with a baby just so I can prop them up in it and stare. Yeah, I know, but they look so darn cute.

And my baby sling. I didn’t have it when I had my first child. Why would I? He would be the perfect baby and never cry, walking from the day he came out. Why would I need to carry him about day in day out. Of course those wonderful-first-time-mother-glorious-days never happened and I carried him about day in day out. I hunched over a boppy pillow (which I also love, btw) every two hours to feed him the boob nectar. Why didn’t anyone tell me about slings? Why wasn’t it mentioned in my Baby Bible?

Luckily, my crunchy next door neighbor had one when we moved into our new home and when RePete was born, I had one ready for him. We luuuved us some sling. I looked on with pity when I saw another mother trying desperately to carry the baby in one arm and corral the toddler with the other. And then I would show her my precious sling. I felt like it was my duty to save all the baby-juggling mothers of the world.

Now, four and a half years later, I still have my sling. My sister was telling me about her neighbor who just had a new baby and also has a four and two year old. The baby is a slow eater which is made slower by the mom having to stop and redirect the other two. My first impulse was to say, “hey, I’ve still got my sling, I should give it…um, nevermind. Suggest that she buy herself a sling. It’ll work wonders for her.”

Why can’t I give up my sling?

~R

Two days into Camp

Pete was very apprehensive about going to day camp. He’s never been. Even though the camp is through his gymnastics gym, he was still worried.

So Monday I went in to pick him up at 3pm sharp as promised and guess what? He begged me to let him stay longer. I told him I’d be back at 4pm and at four he was ready to go home. Not because he didn’t like the extra hour, but because he was plum worn out! He had a blast. I knew he would.

Tuesday he asked if he could stay until 4pm again. I’m cool with that. Why?

Psst. Come closer. I have to whisper this.

I feel like a heel for saying this, but I am glad he wants to stay until 4pm. I know, I know. MOTY and all that, right. BUT, I didn’t have to yell one time yesterday. Obviously, I don’t have to yell any day, but I do. I didn’t have to have all of my answers, suggestions, questions nitpicked. I didn’t have to thwart whining. There was none of the constant sibling squabbling.

RePete and I had a very relaxing day together. And when Pete came home? I was better equipped to handle it. I did have to raise my voice once last night, and bit my tongue a few times, but all in all I felt more calm.

I think this week-a-month camp thing is going to work out just fine. But let’s keep this between you and me, kay?

~R