What's Growing in the Garden?

As this year ends (we're almost there), I am trying not to be anxious over what's left to finish in this last week, but rather what I hope for in the forthcoming year....I am trying to let go of the Stinkin' Thinkin' as we learned about the year before this one in GEMS and cling to the Whatevers instead (Philippians 4:8)...this is not easily done...as I type I am feeling incredibly stressed OUT....but as I read this morning in one of the devotional emails I get....I can thoroughly honor my feelings without having to act them out......

So, as I look forward to a summer of intentional festina lente (making haste slowly), I will take the advice of the middle schooler who wrote this for the newsletter of the school where my special needs son will attend come Autumn. Cus I need to practice this....lol...my son already does just as part of his sweet nature! Here you are, enjoy:

 Now .... 10 guideposts for wholehearted living .. what to cultivate and what to let go of ...

    1.       Cultivating authenticity: letting go of what people think
  2. Cultivating Self-compassion: Letting go of perfection 
     3. Cultivating a Resilient Spirit: Letting go of Numbing and Powerlessness.
 4. Cultivating Gratitude and Joy: Letting go of Scarcity and Fear of the Dark.
 5. Cultivating Intuition and Trusting Faith; Letting go of the Need for certainty.
 6. Cultivating Creativity; Letting go of comparison
 7. Cultivating Play and Rest: Letting go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as a self worth
  8. Cultivating Calm and Stillness: Letting go of Anxiety as a lifestyle         
 9. Cultivating Meaningful work: Letting go of self-doubt and "supposed to"
 10.Cultivating Laughter, Song and Dance: Letting go of being cool and always in control.

Utopian Plans vs Everyday Reality

I borrowed the title from one of my fave blogs, one of the few I actually follow, The Half-a-Hundred-Acre Woods blog. I get it through email, which I highly recommend doing if you want down-to-earth Godly homeschool inspiration! Anyway, I have corresponded with Brandy (love her name....loved the song by that name when I was a girl) a couple of times, and as I replied to her this morning, I realized that this is what I wanted to say in my own blog as this school year rounds to the finish. So rather than write it all over again, I copied it and will add it in for you all to read.

 {As for my next year of blogging, my *intent* is to blog every Friday, at least, to recap the week, if not more....I started the blog to try out blogging and basically to create a permanentish copy of the paper copy I print out for myself and put into our yearly scrap/slambook (I do scrapbooks old school, which since scrapping became an art medium they now call my style slambooking! Go figure.} 

So here's the aforementioned letter:

 Hi there!
Thank you again!!

This was so encouraging to read as this is the second year that things didn't go so well as I'd planned.
Sara's 1st grade year went fine. Then 2nd grade got started and went south around Christmas...the Holidaze!! ;)
We still got plenty done that "could count" as school but I certainly didn't hit her phonics or math quite as much as I had hoped
and not with the curriculum I had bought for that purpose. Then we powered through that leftovers of a good portion of it at the beginning of 3rd grade...though not all of it....determined not to let it happen after Christmas again, I determined to start the rest in January.

God's hand was on that...it turned out a dear CC friend had been doing a co-op with another friend of hers who suddenly decided to back, leaving my friend with all sorts of stuff ready and no one to co-op with. I jumped in and said I would co-op with her. She had wanted to do some of the same materials I already had so that was my contribution. We did this for months and then another family whom we had known for a long time asked to join....and while it seemed like a good idea at the time, it turned out very very different.

In the end to sum up without gossiping, God was at work and a situation manifested that revealed that this "Christian" family in out midst and hearts was not living biblically, but only picking and choosing what they wanted and re-interpreting scripture to suit themselves....and the outcome if that was a scene of violence and hysteria played out by one of their children with ours. And the parents blamed us for their daughter's behaviour! They left us, saving us from having to ask them not to return....though afterwards sent many emails still blaming us.

We put that past us and rejoined for more co-op....which was blissfully peaceful again....but found our batteries rather drained from the spiritual combat....we decided we would each finish out the leftovers over the summer at our own paces in our homes and rejoin in the fall, freshly charged.

For my friend, that has been great. For me, it only relieved a portion as you see I am living in an arena of spiritual combat....without going into gory detail, which I cannot share here, there are "issues" being played out here as well.
And it's not pretty. Sigh...after one house built on sand situation, I got promised rock but instead it was not even sand...more like quagmire.....and it's going down, slowly but surely, it is going down, and I am trying to homeschool through this, praying and praising God as much as I am able.....

..and this summer will be rough...I already feel it......but I am planning for her 4th grade year nevertheless and will be using some of what I had planned for her 3rd grade year...oh well.....I have been inspired by the concept of Festina Lente from Dr Andrew Perrin and by Leigh Bortins statement that you can never cover the basics often enough.....and you sharing your path has been very encouraging...so thank you for being so transparent!!!

I will be praying for you throughout the summer that your next year, as well as mine!, will be more tame and in line with your plans and His! While I doubt mine will be, cus I know who I am living with, I will have great hope for you!

And now I must ready for church..

Blessing to you in Him,

Cat

Cat Carter,
Sara's Momma

Wibbly Wobbly PLanny-Wanny?

Okay, well, here I am...with a slightly sore throat from sneezing (i hate sneezing)....and it's that time of year when I am thinking of next year so I am once again chasing that personal Holy Grail, the Perfect Planner....which isn't easy for me cus I am eclectic and for some reason hope each year to have an all-in-one (personal/homeschool) planner that I can manage to carry around....hmmm...we'll see....I think I at least have my layout for the homeschooling part done....I am fishing about YouTube to see how others played with the usual suspects (the same free printables) in their planners (many inspired by the beautiful but pricey Erin Condren planners (that I would never have heard about if it weren't for all the videos with them)...they are pretty and to me are worth the price if it spares you the time and cost of printing stuff.....that said...it's not got everything I would want to use and it's got a bunch of stuff that would be unused soooooo....

so I am watching these videos and one caught my eye so I watched what turned into a three part series cus some of these moms talk slowly, at least compared to how fast I'd probably rip through the same topic.....and I found a fair portion of inspiration so when I noticed she had a sister series about her personal planner (I guess I am not the only one then), I decided to watch....and I got to moment 3:20 and knew then I just love this gal!!!

when you get there,if you know me at all, you'll know why....

Btw, I call my computer My Tardis and my iPod Melody Pod....lol....

I love it when a plan comes together....

especially when it wasn't the plan you had to start with!! 

When I began this past year of schooling, I had no clue I would be doing a major shuffle cus I would end up in a co-op with a friend! But while it made everything very loopy, it also straightened out some hiccups I had been having with the lessons and timings and such. The one day a week (Wed) co-op was so successful (covering Latin, History/Geography, Greek, and Drawing), we added a Friday component with other material (Classical Writing's Primers, Classical Conversations PreScripts, Memoria Press's Prima Latina and Greek Alphabet books too), and that was so much fun for both kids and moms (and dads who wanted to see paperwork) that we even made a small Monday one as well (the kids learn poetry for recitations via some fun activities while drilling plus beginning French and come summer tinwhistle too)....(this will run thru the summer, as we will all be spending Monday afternoons this next year in the Essentials portion of our CC group.)

and now with another family that has joined us for the Wed co-op day, Twirly and I will be renewing friendship with that family plus another one we used to hang with on Friday afternoons by doing a Tuesday co-op in which we have our Chinese lessons again! (storytime plus easy character drawings using Chineasy).

So sometimes it doesn't take an entire village (like CC feels, hee), but it takes a co-op!

{and sometimes it may take a charter as well...I never thought I would go that route cus I am such a rebel and rogue and like to call my own shots....but I have heard great things about SkyMountain being very very accommodating to parents' desires for how and what they school (they support Waldorf fams and unschoolers too) and the budget would be breathing easier if we got charter money to cover ballet lessons for instance. So I am looking into this aspect.....will keep you all posted!}

A year?????!!!! A whole year!!! Yikes!!

and to think i remarked in the previous post, I'd only missed a month and it felt longer....way to go vice versa!

Time flies when you're not having fun? It has been an overwhelming year owing to things
not homeschool-related, and that's one good thing, tho 2nd grade didn't go exactly to plan...but it always goes to His plan so things worked out..(even while the other issues are still in play).

and the same may be said of 3rd grade so far.....not exactly as planned, but better! To cut to the chase, we're doing a co-op with friends these past several months. It began as a Wed thing, and it was so successful that we've expanded to Mondays and Fridays as well. I'll type more about that another day. 

Other things going on...well, Boo-man (who is taking growth hormone shots now and ha grown an inch since beginning them in Dec, Praise God, cus he's 10 and in 5th grade (Steps class) and still a head shorter than TW!) has joined Twirly-Whirly in her homeschool ballet class! He's loving it! (and it's how we came to doing the co-op...again...the tale another day).

We managed to decorate for St Pat's (celebrating anything has been hard for me this past year), and owing to the only a few days gap, we asked the Ostara bunny to come tomorrow morning instead....and we'll leave Grady and the other fey their treats tonight...
they understand! 

Well, she is working on some of the co-op work right now so I am bowing out for the time being.....I promise to finish out this year's blog..esp as this is the last year of Primary School....more on that later too...Ciao!

Springing all over...

It's only been a month since I last blogged...felt way longer...been a lot going on, I suppose to make it feel like more time has passed than just one month..

We are continuing to feel the new violin class is the right fit. I have been told I can even bring my cello and learn to play with the little cellist there. I have to get my cello into Sam Ash for tuning and tape markers for fingering.....learned we have not been properly rosining the bows too! I wish I had known of this resource a long while back, but whaddya gonna do? We had fun at the other class too...

CC is nearly over! How do more than 24 weeks (including the break times) go by so fast?
I am definitely tutoring in the fall..not only does it pay for Twirly's tuition but it's soooo much fun!

We goofed and forgot to leave Grady his drop of the dew on the night before St Pat's so we did it on the night of....by that time he must have really been sauced cus instead of leaving a small treat, he left TW a whole bunch of little candy bars and Boo-man got 3 huge McDs cookies! We had Ostara egg hunt indoors this year as it would seem The Rabbit couldn't see as well as last year and the grass was super wet...don't want the colors to run!

This month also saw what is for this Mom the Mind-Blower...my eldest turned 21...sigh...I can still feel what I felt that first time I got to see him...how I felt a hole in my heart of which I had been previously unaware was suddenly and gloriously filled, and I thought, "Whoa!!! I'm a MOM!!!! Squeeeeeeee!!!"

Well, he's all growed up now and I am very proud of him! If I stay on this thought any longer I'm gonna tear up sooooo...

...Himself is off work this week so there are no lessons...just her usual activities...so in the meanwhile today I am going to catch up on the memory books and set up the Holy Week display I didn't do Tuesday cus I thought we were going to the cabin but it's getting painted soooo now I have to catch up....again....lol.....as my former FiL used to say, "I'll be finished when I'm dead."

Ciao for now!

Happy St David's Day!

Okay so I have no clue as to what the Welsh do today, but it seemed like happy way to begin instead of say, "Oh my stars, has it been a month already????"

Due to a number of reasons I have been very "unschool"ish this past season...I am so hoping to grab the reins on this runaway horse and get back to the trail proper so we don't lose summer to catching up. 

Some news: we found a new violin lesson resource right at Twirly's brother's school! Much less expensive and some of her friends signed up the week before so she won't be alone in being new there, and all the kids get to play afterwards on the school playground. 

Since we now have that on Tuesday afternoons after school I am planning on removing library/storytime from the Tuesday morning line up. (I have discovered lately that if I don't do lessons in the am, I probably won't and the warming weather doesn't help either..lol..) Instead we will be swinging by the local branch on the way home from ballet on Wed and have a lunch and playtime there as they are both on the way home from dance anyway.

In the interests of more economical use of time and gas, I am also going to quit the Chinese storytimes because they are all up (or up and over) the hill. Considering how many Asian cultures live in and around Gardena I can't figure out why there are not any closer!

I wish Twirly's dad would consider working for a local Chinese school since he is part Mandarin himself and speaks, reads, writes it etc! Or maybe even starting his own school someday?

I am trying to keep the runs up the hill down to Monday nights when we have GEMS and choir.

CC is going well...lol....people keep asking me how it's going and do I still like it which of course is a resounding YES!!!!! I am superstoked there will be a practicum at our location in August and it looks like their dad may even be able to be home with them so we won't need to pay for their care while I attend. 

Friday parkdays are going to be at Alondra, I think, instead of rotating various parks with a local homeschool group. It has a playground, water play area and pool (not open quite yet but should soon)  and a lake with ducks and such to feed old bread to. She can play on her scooter there too. and it's just minutes from home so we can stay longer and still make it home for her brother's bus. 

Lol...we had some fun with ducks at Madrona Marsh the other day...I miss the Friday morning format. I have to concoct some method of squeezing in more nature walks...

Well, that's what's on my mind right now....just wanted to make sure I posted *something*...lol...now to work out when I am going to get the physical journal/memory book caught up! Meanwhile I'll just have to settle for this and uploads at the FB page.

Time waits for no one!

02-04-13

OH MY TIME DOES FLY!

So here it is already into February of 2013 and the last time I wrote was Yule last year! Well, I can't catch up absolutely everything we have been up, but here goes:

We had some very nice holiday days and some rough ones too, but all in all it wasn't bad. Maybe next year, the Twirly-Whirly will make it all the way the movie The Hogfather instead of halfway but she seemed content to leave it at after dozing off. In any case she enjoyed all the activities we did manage to do over the winter break. We skipped her choir and violin concerts due to illness but were able to make the ballet recital and Journey to Bethlehem.

Upon returning to the new year and schooling we had some change-ups. Her violin instructors finally had to give in to their own financial needs and raise the price of classes. They were reasonable but all the same, it was decided that at least for now we would simply continue with her cd's and dvds here at home. I know a number of TW's friends were no longer going to be active in the classes either and that was a big deal to TW. I have to say while I enjoyed going for the expert tutelage, I do not at all miss scrambling up and down the hill into RPV on my Sunday afternoons! At last a seeming day of rest! 

TW also decided she would like to hold off on choir as well and if she decides to do so again, it will probably be at our own church this time. (Part of this too based on her dear friend in GEMS and choir also no longer doing choir). GEMS continues to roll along as per usual. The same goes for AWANA. No changes, just moving forward!

 

As for Classical Conversations, I got my first actual sub job some weeks back and loved it,which was good as TW's regular tutor not long following needed to step down and now I'm the regular tutor! This is a real Godsend as it will pay for her tuition next year! I am very much hoping to return in the fall as a tutor! I am totally digging it! It's even more fun to lead the activities than to watch and help! I just need to make sure I get another mom to take pics and vids now cus my hands are full during the sessions (more on those another time.)

I'll do more catching up soon, I hope! Meanwhile I got some pics and videos uploaded to the Facebook and YouTube sites.

BAD WOLF

BAD WOLF BAD WOLF BAD WOLF BAD WOLF BAD WOLF BAD WOLF BAD WOLF

Cloverload

Some thoughts before I decide between coffee or tea....the clover took over the fairy garden and fairies were dancing all over the lawn cus we gots lots of toadstools (okay, they may be actual mushrooms...I have no clue)...I really have an itch to revamp the fairy garden some....there are pics and vids to upload....I still have decorations I am behind on....despite having a calendar St Lucys' got forgot...will have to make crown today and cinnies tomorrow instead...oh well...lol...still putting together our scoutly group...we still are working out names to it and the levels..all we do know is the first level will be Brownies....love those fairies! Along with our vintage Brownie/Girl Guide handbooks we'll be using the materials from Quest Club, a counterpart to Frontier Girls, along with Keepers at Home to be our merit badge work. (American Heritage Girls will wait till she can join an actual troop.)

I have been sick with a cross between a cold and a flu..at least that's what it feels like,,for the past 2 weeks now. We decided we'd catch up with the holiday stuff first, then next week we'll catch up on our bookwork. Twirly has been having fun with her Brainquest book meanwhile. 

Now..I have a cupboard to sort out. I seem to recall having bought some things for her and her brother back when they were little that they might be big enough for now....

What I Love ABout Homeschooling my Dirlie

You know what I love about homeschooling:

Seeing my daughter have as much fun with a kiddie abacus as I once did:

and getting out of the shower to find love notes written in the fog on the mirror:

 It says "Sara Loves Mom" with a big heart drawn above the words, in case you can't make it out.

And being there for those milestones of lost/found teeth too!

I love you, Twirly-Whirly!
 

Scouting and What Knot

Okay...poor play on words...but I am not up to "very clever" today. It's been a bit of a week...that l lasted a month long, it feels like! The rhythm I had hoped to establish still has not fully materialized...somewhat disappointing...but on the other hand most all is being accomplished so it all turns out fine in the end. Some of the disruption of plans has been outside our area of control, so no use worrying about it, right? and other parts have been due to a small amounts of whimsy taking hold and that's okay too. 

Twirly-whirly has been moving forward with reading and writing in English as well as some Latin and Greek (she is memorizing our Greek alphabet song faster than I for instance). We continue with CC (Classical Conversations) each week too, though I hope to get in more recital time at home...evenso she is remembering the material in song form nicely. Her other subjects/activities are also coming along....ballet show Dec 1...she got her costume for that yesterday...so cute! 

What's been on my mind and back burner on slow simmer has been scouting for the girl...her brother recently became a member of a Cub Scout pack.  I am the Den Mom (Assistant Den Leader to be precise). I am an avid Scouter since my older two were the only two. Anyone who knows me knows this and my dilemma about GSUSA since they no longer quite embody what they began as. I looked for alternatives a few years ago. We joined GEMS, and really love it!

But once the boy and I began scouting together, it showed how not as much like scouting I had hoped it would be GEMS was. Mind you, we are continuing with it cus we both do love it. It just has a diff energy to it than a true scouting program. 

A while back I stumbled across really vintage Brownie books...like from the 20's/30's and I fell in love with it as I could so see TW getting so much fun from it! So very imaginative and yet grounded in real life experiences than the modern version today. So I began collecting.....books, badges, uniformy bits...in order to try to mimic it here at home between the 2 of us (we have tried with mixed results to create with other girls a Keepers Club...refer to Keepersofthefaith,com....folks started out with us but then schedules changed and such and so in the end it's just us). 

I still had trouble figuring out how to actually implement it though. and then along the way I also found American Heritage Girls, the only all-girl org that BSA has a written Mutual Support Agreement with in their history! This said a lot! I found there is a troop not too very far away, but it meets the same night as our AWANA program, which we do not want to give up. So I applied for Trailblazers...the AHG version of Lone Scouting and faster than I knew it, we were approved! It said it could take weeks! Now to scrape up reg fee etc to cover the materials....like I said I had guessed it would take may weeks. 

I am excited she'll be able to do AHG and participate in joint BSA/AHG events/campaigns like Scouting for Food etc. alongside her brother.

The next question tho was what about the homeschool scout club thingy....then it came to me as I explained to her about my idea as I was trying on both the vest and the sash on her...some schools have mascots and spirit clubs and this would be ours. So very soon we will have the first meeting of Acorn Cottage Brownies! I will post pics and such soon. 

Would you believe??? Yeah...we're still not in sync but it's all still good.

I really thought I would have had it down by now, but Life has not yet allowed for that. Evenso, it's all been running fairly nicely if not according to my ideal, which is still be ironed out. I had some curriculum that I thought was perfect before we started, but now I have decided to put it off for now. I will be working on some more fine-tuning later tonight. 

For now, let's just get to the what-we-did-today sort of thing:

The better part of this morning we weeded and slightly overhauled the fairy garden. I removed a small rose plant I had put in some years back as it had grown too big for the small space and made weeding around it bloody (small thorns but way sharp). I moved a daffodil plant...fingers crossed it doesn't now croak. 

Twirly-Whirly helped relocate some of our garden friends (the little statuary that, no doubt, like Weeping Angels,move when you're not looking (there are fey in the garden after all). They are not so dangerous as the WAs of course. 

Twirly-Whirly posing in front of the refreshed garden. She begged me to take a couple of pics herself so here they are:

 Then I took this one as I entered the house:

Well....they do some of it when we're not looking, but I can say the Twirly and I needed otter pops when we were through!


Now here is the funny part...when I went to download the pics from my camera to the computer look what I found!:

I don't know when she took these, but it was after I set my camera on my desk....lol....girl loose with camera....brought a smile to my day to say the least!

That's all for now!

The Lessons *I* Learned This Week! (or how 2nd grade didn't get off on the foot I expected to use!)

At least that's what I finally came up with for the title! I certainly have felt stumbly bumbly all/almost all week. Not what I had hoped for, to be sure! It began well enough when The Boy-o (he's just gotten too big for Boo-man anymore...he is 9, after all) went back to school, and the Twirly-whirly (she still is and probably always will be) had some time for cleaning and prepping the School~House,attending our last Friday Fun at Madrona Marsh (perhaps..lol), followed by returning to ViP soccer that Saturday and the new session of violin classes, and then Classical Conversations the Monday after that (she moved up to 2nd grade Sunday School over Labor Day Weekend..an unofficial start, I spose).

However, drama was already creeping onto the scene when the car behaved very awkwardly all the to and from CC...it ended up in the shop for 2 days..and while it shouldn't have thrown the spanner in (it didn't really mess up my planned schedule, even with taking a taxi to her new Wed ballet class and having to catch a lift back with fellow classmates), it still rather did. You know, you feel like you stepped out onto the figurative dance floor with a full card but on the wrong foot and now you can't seem to stay in step even when there's really no solid reason.

So, here's what I learned...1- Don't get a new dog the summer before school when you really need that time to plan not wipe up pee (yup, cus that happened, and then sadly the dog became aggressive and we had to then give him up!)....and 2-Don't plan to start all your wonderful lessons the very first week of school...build up and that way when the usual hurdles pop up that same week (they always do, don't they?), you won't be forced to reprint blank planner pages and rewrite all said plans the next week or so, like I am doing today! Finally, 3- if you do have to do something drastic like that, just do it...make yourself a cuppa and relax...and remember that's one of the best things about homeschooling: flexibility.

and now back to the aforementioned...who knows? Maybe the next blog will be about what we *have* done! Maybe a pic or two as well! LOL!

Lovely Irony, or how blowing off paperwork got it done....

Ahhhhh....whenever you feel stressed and time-crunched over some project etc I highly recommend going to the park....as I struggled to make our summer plans into something cohesive after my original more orderly plans were tossed sideways with some unexpected (tho great) additions, I decided to say Oh Whatever and took the kids to the SBHN Group at Large Wed parkday....not only did they have fun, but I not only relaxed but got my problems solved too!

So now even though it still isn't in the framework I had originally conceived, all I wanted to cover is still getting attended to...more on that later....

Seasons of Life.....change and more change

{Sigh....I came to this blogsite to post a speedy entry before I get really behind on things to discover the music player is no longer able to play! Urgh...half the essence of the blog is the music! I am going to have to figure out how to load an iPod playlist I suppose since PLaylist.com no longer supports itself properly. Just another unexpected change! This won't make any difference to the physical memory book, which is completely behind, but it was one of the whimsy bits that made the blog feel like a Flower Fairy Garden, and now for the moment, it's gone..sorry those who enjoyed it.}

I got a little behind on this blog, but it worked out for the better....I have ended up making changes to our summer plans so I am glad I didn't post it all only to retract. But first, I must acknowledge the End of First Grade. 

The Twirly-Whirly has received her very first report card....so very cool and necessary to benefit from places that give kids freebies and what-not by showing their report card! Homeschoolers deserve the same treats! She has grown so much! I know I say that a lot, but it's sooo true! She has begun the 6 year change....I am glad it's only a phase...I am already tiring of the "teenager" mouth! But as she approaches her 7th birthday, she begins to cross that Rainbow Bridge from Early Childhood into True Childhood which will run till she's 14. It's a whole new world! Thankfully one still filled with imagination...she is presently playing My Little Ponies visits her Treehouse people...no growing up too soon around here! 

Isn't it funny how we can say how big they seem at each age and yet one day we look back and declare how little they were?! (more blog later...must work on paperwork now...Happy Litha!)

Circling...waiting for landing....

June 1

I can hardly believe that yet again here we are on the verge of summer and all that it means: Twirly-Whirly is wrapping First Grade while her RT brother (that's Resident Teenager btw) is on the cusp of graduation from high school! I know that before I can fully realize it *she* will be the one graduating! 

I am so glad we can only really take it one day at a time...with apologies to the Doctor should he stumble across this entry, I am happy with that. My brain is full enough without adding differing/parallel etc time streams to the mix.

This past week saw us halfway through letter W..we did the Alphabet Path/Flower Fairy story and we were due to do Beatrix Potter W (Tale of Pig Robinson) but she found some story/dictation paper and was off writing her own lesson today, a crossover story of Wind in the Willows and Peter Pan. 

She has been practicing her violin all week as we anticipate her very first concert tomorrow night. She has a second one on July 4th. She has also been rehearsing for two choir shows as well...one on the 10th of this month and the other on July 1. 

At least we'll have a break from ballet this summer tho that is 'replaced' by swim lessons almost every weekday of July! Speaking of ballet tho, we were yet again treated to another superb performance by the South Bay Ballet (via Friendship Circle as well as the SBB Outreach Program). This year it was Cinderella and TW opted to make it a Girls Night Out so we invited her HearthKeepers friend and her mom to join us. Her friend also dances ballet so it was really fun for the girls. Her friend even saw one of *her* former dance classmates in the show!

 After the show there were chances for the children to take pictures with the dancers. This one is my fave:

It took her a while to work up the nerve to approach both Cinderella and The Prince, but doesn't she look like she ought to be their daughter? I am not the only one who liked it as a professional photographer there asked if he could take one of the three of them too. Who knows? Maybe she'll be in a newspaper article? I am fairly certain that one day it will be her turn to pose with aspiring little girls! ;)

That's it for this entry. I will be glad to get the last 2 weeks of June free(ish) to work up the beginnings of 2nd grade, which will be knocking at my door soon enough!

 

Detoured...

PLayed taxi to RT (resident teenager), got an adjustment, retrieved fave pair of boots (now fixed) from mall, had lunch at mall, headed to Wilderness park to meet friends, messed around for an hour when they finally showed up, came home solo to meet Boo-man's bus so Twirly could play longer with friends, now uploading videos and then will upload pics....busy day...who knows...maybe we'll get to our lessons Monday! ;)

Performance Artist and Beginner Swimmer

After ballet class sometimes we visit the local little art museum. The latest gallery showings feature modern sculpture. The gal at the desk asked how old she was and I replied "Six and a half." The lady then said, "It's all sculptures this time and she probably won't understand them." I laughed and said, "She often creates sculptures herself that *I* don't understand!" I mean, really, it's modern art...very abstract...I am certain there are mady adults who don't get it...lol.

Anyway, we were cruising through the larger room and as we got the back there was a piece of what I can only describe as video sculpture. It was a series of doors on film. The funny part was that as you passed by your shadow fell across the movie images. Now if it weren't for the fact that an adult's shadow (even mine) was too tall for the doors I would have thought it was intentional rather than just because the arrangement allowed for plugging in the equipment. But then the Twirly-whirly came by and stood in front of the door and her shadow *did* fit. The first door was one of two in a hallway. I told her she looked like Alice in the hallway and she started walking toward the door (away from the projector) and appeared to shrink by comparison to the door to where she could stand and knock on it and as it was a movie this door (almost as if on cue) opened to a drk room and she was able to make her shadow appear to enter the room and disappear inside!

More fun was the 3rd door....I remembered to film it by that point (I sometimes forget that my phone can take pics and vids). 

Today was also her first ever swim lesson. She has hopes of surfing one day. She is very random in response even to things she wants to do though. When we told her we signed her up around a month or so ago, she screamed "I don't want to get in the water!!!" I was a bit concerned how it would all go today. She was afraid and sat on the pool steps and cried alot but still did everything the instructor asked her to do so i think once the newness of it wears off she'll do fine...at least I hope so....we just signed her up for the whole of July for more lessons (not to mention keeping cool!)

MayDay!!! Mayday!!!

Yes...it means both! And as I type this entry, I have that subtle awful feeling of deja vu...that I have typed it before...hmmmm....but am too lazy to check. It applies anyway. The past month(schoolyear) has that feeling not gone off the way I wanted. I had so many project ideas at the start! But Life and other people's lives got in the way...sigh....

I hope to do those projects in the next year since  the Twirly-Whirly will be really starting schooling this year as she'll finally be that magic number 7, the Biblical number of completion. She'll have completed her true "pre"schooling ala Waldorf. She'll literally be a whole new girl (every 7 years every cell in your body has been replaced by new ones)...we could even say she has regenerated! She would like that as she continues to wait for The Doctor to come get her!

Next year, there will be far fewer outside activities during the weekday school hours. We'll be doing Classical Conversations every Monday morning and have a parkday each Friday afternoon. Twice a month we'll have a Hearth Keepers meeting, and once a month we'll do the Madrona Marsh Homeschool Class. (She will have aged-out of FFMM.)

Ballet classes will be moving to Saturdays after ViP soccer. She'll be starting Beginning 4H as well one Sat a month. We'll return to violin on Sundays too.

That will leave plenty of time during the week for not just academics but artistic and culinary endeavors! Bread machine, dehydrator, pressure cooker...all beckoning as is the sewing machine....fun stuff...


More later....