There are so many things I missed in July, I thought I'd try to
backtrack a bit:
June 30th, we went to Shaver Lake and met some other homeschoolers at
the day use area. Such a great group of kids and parents! Jules and
Todd (Theo, Claire) and Derek and Shaylah (Avery) were there, and
that's who we spent most of the day with. I got to meet Meredith, a
friend of Jules' who has 5 boys (she's trying to come back to her
Catholic faith, and told me of a Unschooling Catholic group that
meets during the year... Jules had mentioned it a few days earlier).
Torin really wanted to try out his new swimming skills, but conceded
to wear Claire's vest out in the "deep water". They climbed all over
the rocks and ran around on the beach. There were SO many kids and so
little problems... hmmmm, something to do with most being
unschoolers? :)
Beginning of July.... the arrival of the XBox. ARGH, it wasn't
pretty, but I tried to ride it out and it proved the case that kids
(and adults) will really immerse themselves in a new "toy" and then
it just becomes another option in all options of how to spend your
time. The boys are learning all sorts of critical thinking skills
with Harry Potter and good sportsmanship (we're ALL still working on
this) with the racing and robot games.
Aunt Kelly's visit was fun... we went to Pump it Up and had a blast,
and then were invited to go over to the Malotke's for fireworks and
brownie sundaes on the 4th. Kelly got some awesome pics with her new
camera (that I now have one of) of the boys and sparklers. Dirk had a
flyby/ incentive flight to do, but then joined us over there.
7/7 was the Discovery Center class on Worms, Slugs and Snails. Both
of the boys had a great time, even if the center was TOTALLY
unprepared. We waited around for quite awhile and Roni was obviously
not ready for us as she quickly drew a slug and snail on a piece of
butcher paper as she talked.
I got home from a wonderful evening with the Aquarius Aquarium folks
and was talking to Emily about how the night went with the boys. She
said that she was reading the boys a book on Torin's bed and he said
"I'm tired." She said okay... he continued, "Please leave my room now
so I can go to sleep." What a joy!! He's been stopping me mid-book
lately and saying "me tired, can we finish tomorrow?" and then we
turn out the light and snuggle and he's asleep within minutes.
First thing this morning (even before my coffee) Declan says "can I
do my workbook?) Good grief... who's idea was this workbook thing
anyway? I'd put them away on the shelf, hoping to never think of them
again!! :) So, we've happily done (at least HE'S happily done!) word
problems, writing, calendar stuff, and oh, so much more for the last
hour...
Funny Declan story that Dirk sent me tonight...
Begin forwarded message:
>
> Declan and I were watching the local evening news about a fire and
> the smoke in the air. I was looking at my email and let the news
> keep playing. A couple of not great for kids stories came on and I
> changed the channel. He said, "did they already play the GOOD news
> or is it all BAD news?"
oh, my dear child... as I'm getting him into bed tonight, he says
"why can't I just put my clothes in the hamper?" I say "huh?"
"My room is *almost* perfectly clean," he says, "why can't I put my
clothes in the hamper instead of on the floor?"
My answer... "well, if it's bothering you, that's something we can
work on starting tomorrow."
"Maybe I'm just getting the instincts of a man," he says, smiling at
me. "You know, Dad never puts his stuff in the hamper, and he's a man!"
I spent an hour before dinner in the pool with Torin... it started
out as just watching him on the step, because I wanted to "rinse off"
after getting his suit off. Then he was trying out doggy paddling
just along the steps. I decided it was time to get my suit on and
relieve some of my stress about the whole thing... I could just see
how excited he was and I didn't want to put a damper on that! I was
afraid he was going to try something too crazy and I'd have to pull
him out, or something else traumatizing :) He initially was just
trying to get to me with his head above water (I was about 3 ft away)
and then he got braver and would turn back around before he grabbed
on to me and go back to the steps. He ended up being able to doggy
paddle from the brick side over to the opposite edge without any
assistance. Then he decided to try with his head under water (it may
have been because his head went under once and he was able to keep
paddling) and was a FISH! He didn't want to get out, of course, but
agreed once his eyes were so red and sore that he could barely keep
them open. We'll have to try goggles tomorrow. I foresee some major
water time in my future... gone are the days of reading leisurely
while the boys splash in the pool.
So funny that this happened so quickly... last week *I* suggested he
try without his floaty suit. I helped him like I'd seen a friend help
her little boy who'd just taken lessons, and still wasn't really
swimming on his own yet. It was a "no go". And here, less than a week
later... his own way, in his own time and it seemed so easy. Why
can't I just learn to relax and trust the natural progression of
things!?!
| You are a Hippie |
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| Your Inner Color is Blue |
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