Not sure what’s not right at the moment, but I’m feeling a bit like I’m not really doing anything constructive and not liking the feeling. It’s rubbish because I am being incredibly constructive but I’m not feeling it. The girls are watching more tv than usual. Flopsy’s needing the company of older children more, I feel - we spend a lot of time with our friends who have younger children and/or have children in school, so Flopsy is nearly always the oldest by quite some way now. So I’ve been going to more HE meets - nearly one every single week now. We’ve upped the frequency of our own one from one a month to two a month. The next plan is to make more effort to see our HE friends (not so easy as seeing our schooled friends as our HE friends are not in the same town as us). […]
Original post by Clare
Yes, that is the title of a John Denver song, and yes, we did listen to it on the Ipod during the journey. My children seem to be into surveying pop music from the 40’s to, well, the 80’s when Kevin and I basically stopped listening to new artists. John Denver was too much for me even back in the 70’s when I was 12, but my kids seem to think its fun in a campy sort of way, and at least, now they know from where Haugen and Haas seem to derive their inspiration. Denver can hit the high notes much better than most of the country folk hereabouts who are forced to sing H&H’s hymns at mass, though.
While we were gone Aidan had his 9th transplant anniversary. Our Heart’s Haven friends celebrated it with a beautiful chocolate […]
Original post by willa
Then I did….I cut my own hair! I was sick of it and yesterday decided that I had a daughter who could help me salvage it if I really messed it up.
But it’s OK… at least, if there’s a bad part in the back, I am happily unaware of it ;-).
Original post by willa
Just made our first order of Christmas presents!
The only year we haven’t had trouble making up the money afterwards was the year Cotton-tail was born and we had everything bought well in advance, so we have decided to do that this year! Oh, and make all the presents for adult family members too - have lots of ideas up my sleeves!
Original post by Clare
I’ve just come downstairs this morning to find DH and Flopsy looking at the Natural History Museum on google earth. We went there, recently, with Flopsy and Mopsy and they loved it. I don’t know how long they’ve been looking for things on there, but half an hour since I got up, I can still hear them in the next room exploring it. DH showed Flopsy a few London landmarks, and she got very excited when she saw a sky-scraper – she’s a bit keen on those at the moment…not sure where she’s learnt about them! Then DH got up to do something else leaving Flopsy to explore on her own – these are the things I’ve been hearing:
“I want to look at the whole world ball now, Daddy”
“Hey Daddy, look! It’s all blue! I’m in the sea!”
“Now it’s all white – I’ve found some snow!”
“Daddy, I’m much better at […]
Original post by Clare
Thanks to those of you who reassured me about being a good mom. I don’t really suppose I’m the worst mom in the world, but I do know that I have some limitations and sometimes they seem to be magnified out of proportion when they are in contrast to some need in my family. Yes, like my need for 8 hours of sleep in order to act like a human, Lissla, coming up against the baby days when the baby seemed to need to wake me up every hour or two! Challenges are different now, juggling special needs and college/career choices and everything in between, but I still have some shortfalls in sleep sometimes.
Sean had his first “real” scrimmage yesterday, therefore his first “real” experience as starting quarterback. I wasn’t there; it was at a high school 120 […]
Original post by willa
“This was one of those perfect …days in late summer where the spirit of autumn takes a first stealing flight, like a spy,…. and, with feigned sympathy for those who droop with August heat, puts her cool cloak of bracing air about leaf and flower and human shoulders.”Sarah Orne Jewett
So yes, it was cool today; I actually had to get a fire going because we were all shivering.
Sean was up late last night working on his first language arts paper. He was supposed to take one of the life events on his “Life Map” that he had done the previous week, and write a five-paragraph passage about it using lots of sensory details. He didn’t get home till six, and by the time he finished dinner it was after seven. Then he watched a movie with his family (”Meet the Robinsons”). […]
Original post by willa
These are Paddy’s old friends. Most of them used to belong to Sean, who at age 5 carried them everywhere for months, but they have had the happy destiny of becoming loved anew after a period of exile in the toy-box. I think when Paddy has gone on to new things, I will have to save them for grandchildren; they are almost part of the family now.
He plays with them constantly; imaginary games usually involving all kinds of wrestling and adventures. Today he couldn’t find them and we had to ransack the house to recover them. But usually, they are right there wherever he last played.
Since art projects are rather unusual in our house, I have to immortalize them when they happen. This is the second time in two days that they’ve gotten out the paints.
Paddy and I also […]
Original post by willa
takes almost as long as homeschool. This is about 10 pm.
I guess the Olympics in the background didn’t help much ;-).
Original post by willa
Last night, it seemed like no one was ever going to go to sleep. Some of them were watching the Olympics; Clare and Liam were looking through a Sister Wendy art book; Sean was talking to a friend on the phone, and then even though he went to bed, he couldn’t sleep. Paddy had that exhausted hectic look that little fry get when they are up too late. Then Kieron was awake during the night, apparently dealing with some GI issues that appear to be going through the family, and is now still fast asleep.
Sean and I were up at half past six, so Sean could make sure he was ready for the school bus. He checked his backpack about 30 times, told me how tired he was, and then at slightly after 7 he and Kevin made […]
Original post by willa
Aidan woke us up at some dreadful hour last night…. I did not check the clock, but it was dead dark. He thought it was time to get up, and earnestly pursued the goal of rousing the parents of the household, at least. Kevin went to sleep on the couch. I heard him leave, and imagined he was downstairs chasing bears outside, or dealing with a sick kid (Sean and Brendan have been dealing with GI issues recently, so I was picturing the worst OF COURSE). So I went looking for him, and couldn’t find him. Then Aidan found him trying to sleep on the sofa. It went on from there. I finally made Aidan stay in his bed in the loft and lay down beside him to keep him there so Kevin could get some sleep. […]
Original post by willa
Sean starts school this week — and today came home with his new uniform — at least, practice jersey, helmet and pads:
Just for variety, a picture of Clare and her friends on their Regency afternoon by the lake…. looks a bit like a book cover, doesn’t it?
Finally, Clare and Paddy and Aidan playing some sort of “lock the robbers in the jail” (really, the pantry) game…. fun for all ages.
Original post by willa
I like this seasonal grouping of poetry, lore and photos.
From my to-do list:
Backpack for Sean
Get school bus schedule
Buy socks for Liam
Work on yard — firebreak
Get materials for refinishing exterior logs on house
Revise chore routine
Order and stack firewood for winter
Recent days have seemed drenched in the long golden light of late summer. It is not even really late summer yet, but things are happening so fast. So many endings and beginnings; Liam’s first regular experience as a wage-earner this summer, his last year at college, Sean’s first year at school, the whole football thing. If you can feel nostalgia in present tense, that is where I am. Everything seems invested with meaning. This means I am having trouble keeping the house clean, because when things are invested with meaning, it seems to weight me down. Someone […]
Original post by willa
Thursday is the day my mum comes over and I go to work at the bf support group for two hours in the middle of the day. Dad came too this week because it’s school holidays (he works in a school) so he took me and picked me up. Mum had brought the stuff to make the strawberry cheesecake from Big Cook Little Cook, as requested by the girls, so they made that as soon as I got home. I also had a shift on the bf helpline after work so I didn’t see much of what was going on during the day with the children - probably lots of playing and fun, I should imagine! Dad told me that the girls refused to stop picking up the chickens, which is very annoying as they were doing the same on Wednesday. I’ve now had to tell the children that the […]
Original post by Clare
We had expected a very boring day yesterday, having no car, but it turned out to be very full and fun. Our crocs arrived very early and Flopsy put hers on straight away and has only taken them off for bed since! Mopsy’s not keen on hers - I think she can’t get over how loose they feel and refuses to keep wearing them to get used to them. Fingers crossed she does soon! Cotton-tail’s are too big, but we’d expected that. I can’t decide if mine are too big or not. They’re certainly bigger than the website says they should be, but I seem to keep meeting people who wear theirs as big as mine are and find them fine. And I’m fairly certain that the next size down were too small when I tried them on. They’re very comfy though, and despite a lot of walking yesterday, came […]
Original post by Clare
We haven’t done much at all today. I had a shift to work on the helpline from 9-10am and somehow, while I was upstairs hiding from the children in order to answer phone calls, DH managed to get all three dressed, breakfasted and suncreamed and I didn’t hear any shouting! I wasn’t dressed or breakfasted, though, but once I was, we all went on a croc trying on trip. We have succumbed to the croc fashion but only after a year of refusing to simply because everyone else was - I’m very daft sometimes! Anyway, after a week on the beach with children whining about sand in their doodles, I have decided that crocs would be a very good investment for them - a bit more expensive than doodles, but easier to get them to put on, and they can wear them in the winter with socks, and they can be […]
Original post by Clare
Or just another one-off, I wonder! Hopefully a return to blogging. I like looking back over what we’ve done and enjoyed having a chance to get on my soapbox from time to time. Tonight, I’m sitting up with Flopsy who can’t sleep, and so I’m just surfing the next waiting for her to drop off again. I was thinking of blogging about what we’ve been doing today, and haven’t done that since when I very first started blogging when Mopsy was born!
The night before last, Flopsy couldn’t get to sleep until midnight, the night before that it was 10.30. Considering DH and I are usually in bed by 10pm at the moment, this was making us quite tired and angry etc. but DH had Saturday and Sunday off work so I wasn’t too fussed the first night. However, I was not looking forward to looking after all three girls on […]
Original post by Clare
Liam has been asking if Clare and I would try to play parts on a Mozart piece he found (I don’t know the name but it’s a very recognizable one). It has three parts.
We actually have five guitars in the house — two acoustic, but three classical…. mine, and two that my father gave me last year since he doesn’t play anymore because of the motor loss in his left arm from neuralgia.
So we spent about an hour working through the first two pages. I had the melody line. We had such fun! Liam didn’t start playing the guitar until 2 years ago and Clare didn’t start till last year. They are close to me, now, who played for years and years but is very rusty indeed. They are still […]
Original post by willa
These “homeschool moments” are actually rather rare, so I thought I would memorialize one : ).
I was digging through old stuff and found a National Geographic planet diagram that I thought Aidan would like, because he has been in love with Saturn for the longest time. So I put it on the floor next to the flannelboard planets he had been playing with earlier.
As soon as he saw the diagram on the floor, he decided to “match” them to the felts, muttering to himself the names of the planets as he did so:
He was the one that requested that I take a picture.
I left it out on the floor and the next day Paddy saw it and remarked “Those must be the gas giants, right?”
That was unexpected. But I have been reading him The Magic Schoolbus and the […]
Original post by willa
Homeschooling Carnival up at Red Sea Homeschool.
The heading quote is
Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. ~Sam Keen
Funny — I should make that our motto this summer, though we haven’t been lazy precisely; just very quiet. No camps except for football camp; no real learning enrichment; in fact, very little traveling at all because just how many experiences are worth 30$ just for the gas?
In some ways the quietness has been nice. In another way, it’s uncomfortable. It makes me realize how much I am geared towards more quietness in the winter and more outside the home activity in the spring and summer. I feel like I’m being lax. Aidan’s neurologist asked at his clinic on Monday about our homeschooling: “What about educational activities? You know, like enrichment activities and lessons?” I looked […]
Original post by willa
Summer’s been busy with school planning, trips to the library, sunny afternoons in the sprinkler and learning to ride bikes (yes, my 4yo son is now a part of the two-wheel cycler set!). For school this year I am planning a sort of mish mash, but that’s nothing new I don’t think. I will use some NP Lessons and anatomy from GACE and make some of my own using the NP overviews. (It’s not as hard as it sounds, I promise. If it was, do you think I’d be doing it?)
Aside from that, I am taking this year to really my put my family first. I have been dealing with some very personal issues that I just don’t feel comfortable sharing in such a public forum, so please understand. No one is dying or divorcing or anything so dramatic as that, but it is personal and trying nonetheless.
And truth be told, my […]
Original post by principledmom
Due to personal reasons I have to put the brakes on my handmade books business for the forseeable future. I am giving you all one last chance to get a one-of-a-kind book by moi at a good price. Color choice is mine (to use up my materials) but you may specify light or dark colors.
Optional hard cover binding:
Elizabeth: 5X7 coptic stitch $25
Soft over books:
Mimi: 4X5
Jane: 5X7
Any of these above books are $20, which includes shipping and cute wrapping.
I will take orders only through about July 15, so place your order now. I accept Paypal at hawthornefive at hotmail dot com and please contact me at that address, as these are not Etsy listings but personal ones here.
If you have The Easy French or the Noah Plan Third Grade Lessons and are willing to trade for handmade books, please let me know and we can negotiate a fair price.
Original post by principledmom
I have continued to be immersed in planning. It takes on a life of its own, which becomes a bit scary when you think it over — at least, when I do.
Planning while my kids are left to the guidance of Pokemon Stadium and Sonic Hero? (cringing). This kicks off my hypocrisy meter. When you think of it, there’s a lot of fear and concern about the addictive power of VGs and TV. No one ever mentions the addiction a person can have for WORK and how powerful that can be, and much easier to justify to oneself than an entertainment itch. But the addiction to work may even be more of a problem to society than the addiction to play — and in fact, I wonder if they are two sides of the […]
Original post by willa
Yes, I finally got around to it. And being the obsessive person that I am, I have been spending hours and hours getting everything just right. Now to see — will I be so sick of the books by the time August comes that I will throw the whole thing out and start from scratch? That’s what I’ve been asking myself. I’m going to give it a rest now, and pick it up in about six weeks.
Recently I’ve only been about one-third an unschooler — but I hope to restore the balance soon.
A few other quick updates:
Sean started football practice with the high school team. So far, so good.
Liam is still up in Oregon interning.
Clare is writing out college applications and essays.
Brendan is turning twenty! and making a list of life goals.
Sean also got invited to the Ultimate 100 […]
Original post by willa
Draw me a leaf flag that’s blocked by the table. And a diamond flag, and an Indian flag.
AND 5 test tubes, and a needle.
AND an arm!
Aidan (describing the set-up of the hospital room where he gets his monthly blood draws).
Original post by willa
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