Day 10 of Homeschooling - Not a Good One

Son #3 turned 4 in February. He's been begging for homework for months now since he sees his older brothers doing homework. I couldn't really find an affordable preschool program where they actually teach something. Most were academic but very expensive, or inexpensive but essentially playtime. We already have a playgroup.

Anyway, I signed him up for the Seton Home School kindergarten program, figuring that I can spread it out over two years. We usually work 4 days a week. The lessons are pretty short so it doesn't take a lot of time, but he really enjoys it. Except for today. For some reason, he decided it was "too hard" to draw the circles that he's been practicing for a couple of days now.

I know it's a just a momentary fit of stubborness - in fact, I've been really amazed at how cooperative he's been with this. I had just decided to call it a day (maybe a week) and check email, surf the web, etc.

So as I'm typing this, here comes Son #3 asking whether he can do math instead of circles (handwriting). Sure, I say. We manage to do math, phonics and religion. I was picking up his books when he said, "I'm ready to do my circles now."

Just goes to show you how much *I'm* learning in homeschool. I ran into an obstacle (Son #3) and I was ready to pack it in for the day. All he really wanted was to shake up the order in which we do things. Well, duh... why didn't I think of that? (Next time, I will!)

I Want a Personality Transplant!!!

Sadly this is so me!

Slow and Steady

Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy. They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder. It'd really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment. They expect you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then usually decide against it.

How Do People See You?

What can I say? When Dear Hubby and I were trying to decided whether to move back to our home state, I actually created a spreadsheet of pros and cons - AND assigned a numerical weight to them.

Pros for Louisiana: affordable real estate, my husband's large family
Cons for Louisiana: cockroaches, crooked politics, the humidity is awful for my hair!

Pros for Virginia: I love snow! Better public education system, my mom
Cons for Virginia: Very expensive real estate, very crowded (just outside Washington, DC)

On paper, moving back to Louisiana seemed like a stupid move. But as blogthings suggested, I disgarded all the data and went with my husband's "gut". I wish I had an instinct. Even just one. Haven't regretted it, although I do miss Va.

Blogthings: What should I major in?

I'm kind of at a loss for words right now. I'm highly ADHD this week, which is unfortunate because I'm juggling a lot of things. Rather than attempt my usual random musings, I thought I'd post the following because I got a kick out of it. I'm not sure I agree the results, but for the record, I have a BA in Communications and an MA in Organizational Development, but I've never been employed in either field. Still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. This link didn't help. :-)

Your Scholastic Strength Is Evaluating

You are great at looking at many details and putting them all together. You are talented at detecting subtle trends, accuracy, and managing change. You should major in: Statistics Speech Conflict studies Communication Finance Medicine

What Should You Major In?

A Happy Camper

Son#3 and I went camping for the first time recently. Dear Hubby and Sons 1&2 have been going for years. I managed to avoid it until now. However, since Son#3 is now potty trained, he could finally go camping with the big guys. (Dear Hubby has a rule: no diapers on campouts.). It didn't seem really fair to send him with all three boys - tempting, but not fair - so I relented and went on a Cub Scout one-night campout to a Wildlife Preserve. It was closed to the general public so we had the whole place to ourselves (well, we shared with 30 other scout families).

The weather was perfect. Upper 60s in the day and around 50 degrees at night. Cool enough that there weren't any bugs. There were, however, caterpillars. Thousands of them. There were clumps of caterpillars in the trees. At one point during our nature walk in the woods, we stopped and heard what sounded like rain. When we watched carefully, we saw that it was the fuzzy 1.5-2" long caterpillars dropping from the trees. That was too much for Son#3, who's only 4, so we cut our hike short. In a couple of weeks, the site will be teeming with butterflies. Unfortunately, it'll be 80 degrees by then and also teeming with mosquitoes.

In his defense, Dear Hubby offered to buy an air mattress for the tent, but I thought we'd save the money and 'rough it.' Bad idea. I've learned that my bones are little too old to sleep on the ground with only a sleeping bag and the floor of the tent between me and the dirt. I felt like the Princess and the Pea. I could feel every little rock and pebble. How the guys managed to sleep is beyond me. Fortunately the tent was large enough that I could stretch my aching joints every 20 minutes or so. My yoga "child's pose" was especially helpful as were some of my Pilates stretches.

I also discovered that Son#1 talks in his sleep. I had to wake him twice to tell him to quiet down. Go figure. The guy one tent over snores loudly.

Fortunately there was also a pavilion with picnic tables and - thank you! - a bathroom. We pitched the tent relatively nearby (in case Son#3 had to make a 1 a.m. potty run). Andy cooked over his little propane stove: soy burgers for adults, hot dogs for the kids. We roasted marshmallows over the camp fire.

While I'll never be an outdoorsy girl, I'd consider going again on a single night campout if the weather isn't too hot, and if I get an air mattress. I don't think I could go any longer as I get very cranky if I can't wash my hair and shave my legs.