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!
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Springing all over...
Friday, March 1, 2013
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.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Time waits for no one!
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.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
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....
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
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:
And being there for those milestones of lost/found teeth too!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
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.
