This and That

Since I didn't manage to post last week, I thought I'd take an idea from Celeste and put a few things together into one post.

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Last week my husband and I celebrated our 15th Anniversary!

15 Years Ago - Anyone recognize this place?

We celebrated by shipping the kids to my parents for two nights and staying home all by ourselves!  It was really nice having the house to ourselves.  We like our house (we ought to, we built it!) and it was nice to get to enjoy it together like that.  We went out to dinner in town on the evening of our anniversary, and then the next day we drove about an hour further up into the mountains and went snowshoeing together.  We both really enjoy hiking and snowshoeing, but we don't get many opportunities to do it.  The weather forecast predicted rain, but thankfully it turned to fine snow shortly before we reached our destination.   

15 Years Later!

It was absolutely gorgeous out, with the trees flocked with snow and a light snow falling.

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Ever since the last storm system came through and dropped almost 30" (!!) of rain on us, we've had beautiful blue skies.  The kids, understandably, are not particularly interested in lessons.  Hours out of doors are definitely a good thing, but so are things like Math, Latin, and Spanish.  I've tried lessons outside, but anything involving writing is not working outside.  We are at least doing our readings outside in the sun, which has been lovely.

We've also taken the opportunity to plant some seeds, which has become far more enjoyable for everyone now that I've stopped caring if the seed trays are labelled correctly or planted evenly.  Right now the various trays are labelled with the children's names, and if that's good enough for them, it is good enough for me.

~~~

In a recent blog post Celeste mentioned her Calendar of Firsts, and it galvanized me to finally get our new year printed out and up to date.  There's two main styles of a Calendar of Firsts, a perpetual one where each day has a page and you can see entries for each year, and one where you add a new set of pages each year, and can see all the entries for the month on a single (or double) page.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but I decided I liked seeing all the entries for a month at a glance and went for the second type.  The main drawback is that I have to remember to print and add the new pages each year...  which seems like such a minor thing, but yet can stymie me for months! Ridiculous, I know.  But at least it is done, and after consulting my photo library, we're all caught up.  Here's a glimpse of ours:

Our completed page for February - The red tabs on the right are for the years.

The template is from Immaculata Designs, but it doesn't look like she has it up on her site anymore.

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And last but not least, I should mention that CM West has a Facebook page.  I'm not a big fan of Facebook, but I'm going to try and post information there as well as on the mailing list and website. 

7 Quick Takes: Things I'd Like to Write Longer Posts About

I feel like I have a blogging logjam.  I have lots of things I'd like to write about, but between  perfectionism and a full life, I'm finding it ridiculously hard to do it.  So, I'm at least writing a little, and perhaps this will help me to get going.

1.

I decided to use Ambleside Online this year and we've just finished our first term.  I made a few substitutions and modifications, but I tried to stay as close to the proscribed plan as possible.  It has been a great choice, and I'm really glad we're doing it.  It has made my yearly and weekly planning so so so much easier, and our educational journey is stronger for it.   I really want to write a post about our substitutions, and what we've done to make the curriculum more Catholic.

2.

I've also implemented a version of Celeste's naptime school (I got to meet Celeste and her children a couple weeks back - what a lovely experience and conversation!  She's the first CM homeschooler I've ever met in person, and the first non-family blogger. It was so nice to be with someone who gets what I do!).  I've broken up our morning time into several pieces to make it easier with the littles.  I'd like to say that there are no more time outs during morning prayer, but alas that is not the case.  But still, a fantastic change for our family.  Emma stays in with me in the morning and I work with her while the boys go out and play.  I think a longer post about what exactly this looks like - naptime school with a bigger range of ages - would be a good thing.

3.

Another new thing for this year - Sabbath Schooling.  We are doing formal lessons for six weeks, then taking a week off.  That rest week (this week is one of them) is fantastic.  "Rest" is a bit of a misnomer though, as these weeks are very full too - but full of different sorts of activities.  On Monday we had term exams and Atrium, then went to Costco (I go every seven weeks, as it is over an hour away), getting home at 9:30.  I've also canned 10 quarts of applesauce, 8 cups of apple butter, cleaned and reorganized part of the pantry, did a huge stuff dump onto paper, planned and prepped for Monday's co-op meeting, set up all the Term 2 work for next week, installed a 47 tile Flor rug in our family room, and...  well, there's probably more, but that's the stuff I can remember right now.  Of course there's the laundry and the meals and the dishes.  Phew.  It is nice to see it written out because I've been feeling like I haven't gotten all that much done this week.  It is easy for me to focus on what I still need to do this week!

4.

And another new thing - Mystie's interval planning.  Absolutely brilliant, and it goes along with the six weeks on, one week off thing so well.  [edited - I at first said 6 on, 6 off, which contradicts the 3rd point and is incorrect - we're doing 6 on, 1 off]

5.

Ever since I read Jennifer Fulwiler's Family First Creative (her free ebook for pre-ordering her wonderful book) I've been wondering what my creative endeavor is - what fuels me?  And really, I don't know.  I finished that book feeling like there were a lot of great suggestions, but it made me realize that I can't quite even answer the question that it begins with - namely, what is it I even want to do?  And if I'm generally content managing my home and homeschooling and all that entails  and trying to do a good job of it, am I somehow selling myself short?  Do I need to be doing something more?  Should I be?  Do I have a responsibility to do more than this?

6.

Awhile back I had a post about how I was breaking up my reading into categories and how wonderful that all was.  Well, I still think it is wonderful, but when I started also trying to read all my books as well as pre-read for Ambleside's Y3 and keep up with Y7 as well, everything just fell apart.  There are no where near enough hours in the day available for reading that I could keep up with a list like that.   Now I'm trying to find space to read three books of my own- something having to do with education, something faith based, and a general non-fiction book.  Right now those three books are Consider This, by Karen Glass, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic by Matthew Kelly, and well, I just finished the The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and haven't figured out what my next non-fiction read will be.

7.

I wrote recently about a little hike we did as a family, and I've also been wanting to write about a day trip we took about a month ago.  Can you guess where we went? 

As you can tell, the weather wasn't all that great, so we didn't get to see the Blue Angels fly much, but we still had a wonderful day.  We visited the Golden Gate Bridge, watched the ships sail into the Bay, walked down to Crissy Field, walked through the Palace of Fine Arts and then back up through the Presidio.  We walked over nine miles!  Justin, our three year old, was in a stroller most of the time, but even Nathan (6), who is not the most willing of walkers, persevered and did it.  It was a long day, but a wonderful excursion.  I'm hoping to do day trips to SF every few months, now that we've shown we can do it.  

7 Quick Takes

--- 1 ---

Is it possible to talk about reading the Odyssey - on my own, without any impetus other than my own enjoyment - without sounding either pretentious, snobbish, boring or like braggart?

I am really enjoying reading it and thinking about things like, "so why does Odysseus tell his nursemaid he'll make the observations and decisions about which serving maids are loyal, and then turn around a couple books later and ask her to rat out the trampy and disloyal ones?  What would it be like to be talking to your spouse who you hadn't seen for twenty years and either not realize it or not be able to reveal your identity?  Why does Laertes stay in retirement after Odysseus goes off to war?  Why doesn't he take more of a role in the government of Ithaca, especially since Penelope doesn't seem to have the power to do all that much?"  While I realize that it is probably impossible to either have an original thought about the Odyssey or to answer some of these questions, I have a lot of fun thinking about things like this when I'm awake in the middle of the night.  (Darn insomnia - I think Hannah sleeps better than I do most nights.)

--- 2 ---

So, what do you think.  Am I pretentious, a snob, or a braggart?  All three?  Or just boring?

--- 3 ---

Is it even worse that I'm thinking about reading the Odyssey in a different translation next?

--- 4 ---

I've adopted Sarah's loop scheduling idea for getting to some of the subjects that used to be part of our weekly coursework but hadn't been added back into the schedule post-baby.  It is working beautifully, and my planning side is pleased that we're actually doing this stuff and that there's a plan for doing it, and my post-partum self is so happy that I'm not trying to keep up the kind of schedule that would be required to do all these things in the course of a week.

Just for reference (and laughs?), here's my rotation list.

Science Experiment  (Happy Scientist Geology videos and experiments)

Shakespeare  (Merchant of Venice)

Faith Project (Bible verse calligraphy for Emma, CHC Sacraments program for Gregory)

Poetry & Artist Study (Christina Rossetti and Van Gogh)

Journey North Mystery Class  (our fifth year!)

Plutarch - Publicola (using the Ann White's guide)

Shakespeare  (in twice so we do it a little more often)

Nature Study & Music  (Beethoven)

Art Project  (I want to do a couple Van Gogh inspired projects - maybe this and this?)

--- 5 ---

Did you know that in order to get a Social Security number for Hannah I had to drive an hour each way to the Social Security office with Hannah, her insurance card, the PKU form, a letter from my midwife, her birth certificate, the request for the birth certificate form (which took a visit to a county office with the whole family and more paperwork), my ID, and the Social Security number request form?  All you women who give birth in the hospital have a distinct advantage when it comes to getting the government paperwork completed!

--- 6 ---

What makes it worse is that I took all of that except the PKU form and the insurance card (as I didn't need them to get a number for Justin) yesterday, waited an hour with Justin and Hannah in their waiting area, then was told I needed more documentation.  Ahh!!!  I asked my parents to take the kids this morning and went back with the additional paperwork and thankfully it was enough.  It was really nice to bring in some substitute teachers for the morning.  Perhaps I should do that more often!

--- 7 ---

Am I the only person who compulsively prices out what it would cost for me to attend the CIRCE conference?  Yeah, I thought so.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 4

--- 1 ---

Isn't it funny how much bigger kids look when you move them up a size in clothing?  I am in the process of moving Nathan to size 5 and Justin to size 2T and they look so much taller and older now.  

--- 2 ---

Nathan is turning five next week, and it is gradually dawning on me that I need to be doing a little more planning for him too.  I know what I'll be using for reading and math and he will be participating as much as he is able in our Classically Catholic Memory work, and a part of me is content to leave it there.  I know he'll listen to the read alouds and get lots of good tag-along exposure to the older kids' work...  but five is such a special time too - still a little guy wanting to cuddle up and listen to stories but yet starting down the road to big kid skills like reading and writing.  It seems like a neat opportunity to plan at least a little bit of something beyond the practical, something a little special just for him.  And he's the type who loves one on one attention too, so it would really warm his little heart.  I'm thinking something along the lines of a special read aloud, just for him, I'm just not quite sure what I want to do.

--- 3 ---

Today is our last day of school.  We're going out for frozen yogurt after dinner to celebrate.  Overall I'm pretty pleased with the year, especially considering the rough first trimester I had.  The kids are looking forward to a little more free time, especially Emma.  She loves to putter and futz with this and that, and she's looking forward to being able to do that without her checklist hanging over her head.

--- 4 ---

We are going to see Much Ado About Nothing in a park in Roseville tomorrow night.  My mother-in-law will watch  the younger two, and Matt and I will take the older two.  I'm really looking forward to it!  Coincidentally, it is the Shakespeare play we were studying in the second part of the year, so the kids are very familiar with it.  It is supposed to be 109 degrees in Roseville tomorrow, but the park is supposed to be very shady and the play doesn't start until 7 pm.  I'm hoping we won't roast!

--- 5 ---

When your midwife or OB/GYN asks you to fill out a form recording everything you ate for three days, do you do it?  (Do OB/GYNs even do this??)  I decided not to bother in my last pregnancy, and I'm thinking I won't bother with this one.  It drives me nuts - not that I'm embarrassed about what I eat, but my very literal brain can't take the part that instructs you to be very specific about quantities.  I drive myself crazy with, "oh, was that a half cup of yogurt or less?  Was that a 1/3 of cup of granola, or more? etc. etc. etc."  I really don't want to measure everything, I have a hard enough time keeping up with the dishes already.

--- 6 ---

This morning I took the boys down to a flat spot on our private road so they could practice their bike riding.  Cycling is an activity that really highlights the differences in my children's personalities.  I have one who is a complete speed demon and one who travels slightly faster than a snail, so he can "stay safe".  One who is very cautious and careful and one who will aim towards people so he can swerve away at the last minute.  And yes, the speed demon drives the cautious one completely to distraction!

--- 7 ---

Justin is getting to that age where he will occasionally pitch a huge fit if things don't go the way he wants.  It is interesting to watch it happen, now that I'm on my fourth iteration of this.  It is still unpleasant, but experience has made it a lot easier.  Today he was completely determined to walk down the road with me, and when I wouldn't go as far as he wanted...  oh my!  Thankfully, it doesn't happen very often, and there are a lot of fun developments too.  He's talking a lot more, he is starting to want to have people read him stories, and he absolutely loves to draw.  If anyone is sitting at the table, he will be there with a box of crayons and a piece of paper so he can, "draw!  draw!"  He also likes to have people draw for him, both of which remind me a lot of Emma.  

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 3

--- 1 ---

Rats!  Yes, we have rats coming into the garden.  There's a blackberry bush just outside of the garden that they seem to have tunnelled under, coming out in the evenings to forage in our garden.  We are trying to block them off, cover the plants, and we're trying a non-poison bait involving oatmeal and quick setting mortar powder to control them.  At this point we've lost all the peppers, all but one of the cucumbers, and about a third of the tomatoes.  Does it sound to you like we're winning?  The only bright point is that the remaining tomato plants seem to have gotten too big for the rats to chew off and drag away.

I kept thinking about the Rats of Nimh, and not in a "oh, there just little creatures who are trying to survive in this cruel world, maybe we should try to figure out how to coexist", but rather I keep thinking, "they are too smart for us, we're doomed!  We'll never get rid of them, we might as well give over the garden and the property to them right now!  We're doomed I say, we're doomed!"  The kids chopped out the blackberry bush - I was too squeamish too tired to tackle it - and I fully expected stolen Christmas lights, elevators, and libraries.  The two nesting areas and a few little tunnels were kind of a let down, actually.

--- 2 ---

And while I'm on the topic of the joys of country living, we had a rather exciting predator night last night.  First I heard what sounded like a cross between a hoarse bark and a strangled growl? shriek? I don't know, it was weird.  I pointed it out to my husband, who likes any excuse to use his super powerful flashlight was curious about the noise too and went to investigate.  He saw a small bobcat prowling around, and in the course of this morning's research he found that this is the sort of sound they make during courtship.  Then a few hours later we heard a full coyote pack chorus closer than we've ever heard them, probably on our property in the gully.  Then they moved off down towards the creek, yipping and howling and making their unearthly banshee noises. Thankfully we no longer have any animals, so I could listen to it all and cheer them on, mentally encouraging them to pick up a rat or two as they went about their business.

--- 3 ---

I had my first midwife appointment on Wednesday, and all is well.  I got to hear the baby's heartbeat, which is always fun and reassuring.  I'm looking forward to working with this midwife again.  She is a great person to talk to and extremely knowledgable.  I'm slowly starting to feel better, but I'm still having some not so good days.  I'm at the frustrating stage where I am lively enough to notice how my house has deteriorated in the last month and a half or so, but not energetic enough to do much about it.  I am at least working with the kids to get them to be a little more thorough in their work and scrubbing an occasional sink or other trouble spot, but that's about all I can manage.

--- 4 ---

Matt and I went to see a movie in a movie theater last weekend.  Together!  Isn't that amazing?  It is the first time we've done that since Batman Begins came out.  Yes, that one.  In 2005.  Another big thank you to my mother-in-law, who took care of the kids while we went out!

--- 5 ---

We saw the new Star Trek movie, which we both really enjoyed.  My husband noticed that all of the original Star Trek episodes are available on Amazon Streaming, so we've watched a few of those this week too.  I watched many of the original episodes in late night reruns while I was in high school, and I am finding these darker and more suspenseful than I remember.  But then again I don't think I ever managed to catch these beginning episodes.  It is a different experience to be able to watch them sequentially, rather than in the random order the TV Station decides to air them in.

--- 6 ---

Here's a great breakfast recipe - Baked oatmeal with apples.  I made it this week and last week, and serve it with a choice of strawberries, blueberries, cream, and applesauce.  I do decrease the maple syrup to 1/2 cup and the honey to 2 T, just to make it a little less sweet, but still delicious.

--- 7 ---

Wow, third week in a row I've done this.  I'm strangely pleased with myself.  It is nice to find accomplishments where I can.  Even if they are meaningless blog posts...

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 2

--- 1 ---

I felt almost surprised to be celebrating Pentecost last Sunday...  where did the Easter Season go?  We left for a week immediately after Easter, and then all the fatigue and pregnancy sickness kicked in a day or two after we got home.  I just started feeling a little more like myself about a week ago, which makes me feel like I sleepwalked through the entire Easter season.  Quite a change from last year, when we had special teas each week and lots of little Easter celebrations.  Oh well, growing a baby is certainly very important too.

--- 2 ---

Just after putting the kids to bed tonight, I was startled to feel the bed shake and the window rattle.  Earthquake!  I called out to the kids to make sure they were feeling it, because none of them have ever felt an earthquake.  The few we've had up here have been too late at night for them to notice.  It ended up being a 5.7 magnitude earthquake located up near Lake Almanor.  I'm guessing it is around 100 miles away, as the crow flies.  The kids were pretty excited to finally get to feel an earthquake.

--- 3 ---

During Holy Week I decided to take the plunge and eliminate white flour from my diet.  I've had persistent aches and pains in my left hip for quite awhile now, and I kept seeing articles online suggesting that white flour (and refined sugar) could be acting as inflammatory agents in my body and causing these sorts of problems.  Frankly, I was rather skeptical, but I finally figured it was worth a try.  Well, it has been almost two months now, and I have been almost completely pain free.  Completely!  The only times I have had hip pain are the couple occasions when I did eat a quantity of white flour (like several pieces of pizza for dinner) and when I was at a party, drinking copious amounts of lemonade.  Interesting, don't you think?

--- 4 ---

Something else I've recently discovered is white whole wheat flour.  It makes an almost completely acceptable substitute for white flour, at least in muffins, pancakes, waffles, scones and the like.  I think I'd get complaints if I tried to make a cake or brownies with it, but for everyday baking, it is working quite well for us and everyone is happy eating it.  And I can eat it without any inflammatory issues, so it works well for the whole family.  Which is a good thing, because I just bought fifty pounds of white wheat berries!

--- 5 ---

Something else I've been experimenting with is making Thai food at home.  I can't say it is restaurant quality, but we've all been enjoying my creations.  And I've found that making spring rolls at home is really pretty easy!  I did some shopping at Amazon to get some basic ingredients (spring roll wrappers, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, rice noodles, curry paste, and red chile paste), and I was amazed at how much cheaper it was to do that then to buy the items locally.  For example, I can buy 7 oz. of hoisin sauce at my local store for $4.80, or I could buy 20 oz. at Amazon for about $5.80.  Ah, Amazon, what would I do without you?

--- 6 ---

I was reading a potty training discussion on the 4Real Forums recently and in it a woman was talking about potty training her 21 month old son.  It went really well for her, and she posted a two years later follow-up just recently saying that it continued to go well, and of all her sons he's the one with the fewest "potty issues".  I have a 20 month old son, and ever since I read that discussion I've looking at him in a new light.  I know a lot of it is likely going to involve training me to put him on the potty at regular intervals...  but still, with the diaper rash this kid keeps getting and with a new baby coming at the end of the year, the thought is tempting.  But I should probably wait until he can at least say "potty" don't you think?

--- 7 ---

Today I'm off to Costco, which is probably more than I can do at this point in time, but I'm going to do it anyway.  I really wish Costco wasn't 1 1/4 hours away!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes - Vol. 1

--- 1 ---

We took the plunge and planted our garden last weekend.  Well, I sat in a chair and advised and everyone else planted, but at least I was out there!  We usually wait until June, since our foothills climate is notorious for sending us a sleet/hail/snowstorm after days and days of mild and beautiful weather, but since the weather has been so settled and pleasant we decided not to wait any longer. Since then we've lost six tomatoes, eight peppers, a cucumber, and a bunch of plants we put in the ground over a month ago.  The country always sounds like the perfect place to have a garden and maybe some livestock, but with the deer, rabbits, voles, rats, bobcats and bears it is awfully hard to keep anything alive for any period of time!  The problems this year seem to stem from voles and rats (although I think a rabbit got in last night) and the vole repellent, poison bait, and traps just aren't doing the trick.  I have no idea if we'll manage to have a garden this year or not.

This is the most depressing time of the gardening year.

--- 2 ---

I was never more pleased with my unfinished concrete floor than when I read Jennifer's #5 entry this morning.  Hooray for concrete!

--- 3 ---

I woke up this morning and my second thought (after why oh why does Justin have to wake up at 5:40??) was the realization that I only felt hungry, not nauseous.  Isn't that amazing?  And I read aloud to the kids today instead of taking a nap this afternoon!  Could this mean I'm turning a corner?

--- 4 ---

I have a Facebook account.  I know, I know.  I still find it rather confusing, and I haven't posted anything on my own page (or whatever it is called) but I am really enjoying the Mater Amabilis Facebook group.  There's something about the Facebook format that makes for livelier conversations than what I've found in Yahoo! groups or discussion forums.

--- 5 ---

Matt is taking the two older kids on an overnight backpacking trip this weekend.  Isn't that cool?  Someday I hope I can backpack again...  maybe when I'm 50.  Still, I'd rather have these little folks around than be able to go backpacking.  But I am glad my husband is willing to take the kids out by himself so they get to experience it!

--- 6 ---

I've made great strides on my homeschool planning.  I had the revelation that since history is the subject I'm most passionate about, I'm probably not going to find a curriculum that covers history to my satisfaction.  Once I gave myself permission to ignore the history part of Mater Amabilis, I realized I really like it.  (I feel I should add, not that there's anything wrong with it... it just isn't as complete or slow paced as I would like)  So I'm using almost all of it for the kids next year and that has really simplified my planning!  It also helps that this is my third time around planning a Charlotte Mason style curriculum for the kids.  It really does get so much easier with experience!

--- 7 ---

Could I please, someday soon, find someone who homeschools like I do?  I mean, really, I've lived up here for over five years already!  But then I try to figure out how I would go about trying to meet someone like me, and I realize that someone like me probably wouldn't leave the house much either which makes it awfully difficult.  I guess I need to get out more.  Humph.  

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!