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Happy Birthday To Me!

2012-02-18T17:52:00.001-05:00

There was quite a ramp-up to my birthday this year. Shortly after Christmas, Mr. A. decided that I needed to have a birthday party. He also decided to plan it - all by himself.

The actual party was to be modelled after a birthday party which we had recently attended. My niece turned 2 and the theme for the adults in attendance was 'pizza and beer'. (The kids who were there didn't notice as they were distracted by the fancy Dora cake and the Toys R Us explosion that they call their 'living room'.)

I found it all quite amusing. In the month leading up to my big day, Mr. A. took every opportunity to sneak in a secret whisper about some aspect of my birthday whenever my back was slightly turned. He dropped hints and made me guess and even roped the kids into his shenanigans over the gift I was to receive.

He took a half day off work while the kids were at a drama workshop the day before my birthday. We spent that afternoon going all over town picking up food and drink and party things. Not only was there going to be pizza and beer at my party - we were going to surprise everyone with a loot bag.

The morning of my birthday, I had been instructed to stay in bed. So I did. In my mind I was thinking that perhaps coffee would be delivered. That would be a nice birthday wake up. Not so. I needed to stay in bed so that I could be invited down to the living room once 'things were ready'.

Things were ready at the bright hour of 7:30, thanks to the dogs and much to the distress of The Girl Child. Mr. A. had prepared a treasure hunt for my birthday. There were rhyming clues - wrapped in birthday paper - and I had to go about the house searching for the next one until finally I found the 'treasure' in the potato bin.

My family had worked extra hard to drop hints in such a way that I was to think, perhaps, that I might have a lovely new Kobo to call my very own on my birthday. Sure enough, I unwrapped my treasure to find a nice white box with a picture of a Kobo and all the other appropriate labelling on board. Imagine my surprise when I uncovered a fancy iPad under all the packaging!

So much excitement and all before 8 in the morning...on a still-dark, pajama clad Saturday morning. I know, you're welcome for the photos!

Later on, when it was dark again (love me these Canadian winters...) my extended family arrived for pizza and beer and celebrating. There were even balloons and streamers. I tell you, Mr. A. pulled out all the stops for my party. He even managed to get 37 candles on a cake.

Missing from the celebrations were my two brothers who considered an overnight in Algonquin Park courting moose and barely-hibernating bears a priority. That's ok. They're jealous because they didn't get a loot bag.

So that's the short and sweet story of my birthday last weekend. There were some other lovely gifts and cards that really made my day. I don't usually enjoy this time of year as it's always so weary and dreary and dirty and gritty and cold and icy and everyone's so tired of winter and cooped up and miserable. This year was surprisingly refreshing. Not only due to the very strange, seasonaly surprising, mild winter weather we've been having but because of so much silliness and carrying-on as my birthday approached. Mr. A did a super good job keeping everything light and fun and stress-free. And surprisingly, I didn't really mind all the extra attention after all was said and done.

Here's to another trip around the Sun,

♥Mrs. A.

Free Prime Ministers of Canada Unit Study

2012-02-08T07:44:00.000-05:00

Every now and then I come across something to order on a federal or provincial government website. Honestly, I don't specifically go cruising their websites. But sometimes I'll come across the mention of a resource or someone who says they found a useful tidbit...for FREE! It's the 'for FREE' part that most people get worked up about.

This time I found a Canadian Prime Ministers package. A coil bound volume contains a complete unit study with handouts and activities designed for high school student to 'explore the role, responsibilities and lives of Canadian prime ministers'. A CD ROM of 'archival documents' is included. I expect this is where the handouts are hiding, too.

A folder in the back of the book contains a poster and a 3-page biographical pamphlet for each of Canada's 22 prime minsters. It's a very current resource with the current ~~idiot~~ prime minister in office included.

Before we get into this unit, I'm going to take it to book club. A funny thing to do, perhaps. One of the ladies who comes has a wonderful knack for picking out bias and it's something I'm dismal at. So I love putting things in front of her and then, after a bit of discussion, understanding how the author is trying to brainwash me. Not that the Canadian government is awfully biased, but there is a marked conservative bent to everything.

I like finding resources that are aimed at older students. Our local area is having a surge of new homeschoolers with younger children, so that is where the conversation has been lately. This resource will be interesting to get into on a couple of different levels. It may count toward The Girl Child's 9th grade history credit or I will save it for the 10th grade civics credit. The kids are so excited. (←sarcasm)

In case anyone pops by and in interested in which government website I ordered this from, it's published by the Library and Archives of Canada (http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/). However, I can't find a link to the material there. It's at the Government of Canada Publications website here. Check it out. Order something. Your kids will be reaaallllyy impressed (←also sarcasm).

♥Mrs. A.

Of Sheep & Swords

2012-02-06T08:05:00.003-05:00

Rams & Yowes by Kate Davis

Look what's arrived! I'm very excited about this 'gift' my husband bought me.

You see, no sooner had I hit 'publish' after deciding to knit from stash this entire calendar year then I found Rams & Yowes. I thought the Universe was being incredibly unfair testing my resolve so soon. Seriously seconds after I made the deal with myself, bragged to Mr. A about how my knitting wasn't going to cost him a cent this year and blogged about it, Rams & Yowes was prominently displayed on Ravelry's Top 10 Patterns page. To add insult to injury, we've recently painted our main living area - where I usually spend most of my 18 waking hours - a lovely grey colour. It's called White Rabbit and there's a darker wall of Urban Grey. I've not let anyone hang anything on the walls or buy any household accessory unless it meets the strict decorating standards I've set. And guess what?! Rams & Yowes qualifies!!

Mr. A, being the upstanding kinda guy that he is, jumped in and spent his own money on the pattern. We printed it. We spent a Saturday morning in the basement filling printer colour cartridges with toner. We printed the pattern again. It was my bedtime reading for a couple of days. The fact that Rams & Yowes is a small lapblanket (3'x3'), contains stranded colourwork, a giant steek (in which you take a pair of scissors to your lovely knitting and cut the finished product straight up the middle) and a border in which you have to pick up close to 1000 stitches on one needle (most knitters have trouble counting to 8) I'm still going to do it.

Shortly after I was stalking the yarn the pattern called for at a lovely Scottish shop where they work very hard to preserve the traditional yarn making process. The pattern is written to be knit with Shetland yarn from sheep that run about on the very islands they were named after. It is undyed yarn gathered from sheep that are various shades of brown, grey, black and white. In fact, they come in 9 various shades. All of which appear in the blanket. For a short time, I considered picking out some KnitPicks.com yarn so that I could tweak the colour scheme to include a purplish tone that would match the warm tones of the hardwood floor and the leather couches. Mr. A said that was a stupid idea. The pattern should obviously be knit with the yarn that it called for especially since the Shetland yarn was in the same ballpark price-range of the KnitPicks yarn (about a $16CDN difference). So I was enlisted to load up an online shopping cart at Jamieson & Smith or risk Mr. A doing it himself. And 11 days later, a lovely squishy package arrived for me. I'm calling it an early birthday present.

I'm a little scared to start knitting it as I'm woefully inexperienced with stranded colourwork. So my February stash-busting project is a pair of stranded colourwork mittens I started last November. That knitting should give me enough practice to be up to the job of the blanket. In the meantime, my Shetland yarn sits in its basket at the end of my bed. Well away from the Skittish White Dog who, apparently, would like to eat Shetland Sheep. Or at least snuffle them to death.

In other, more exciting news, The Girl Child has been up to something new since September. On Saturday, she had the opportunity to attend her first tournament. Three local girls who are all learning the same sword (sabre, in particular, which is one of 3 swords that are used in fencing) went to this tournament. The group of 19 competitors were women aged 12 to 34. Many were university students and just my Girl Child and another of the local girls we travelled up with were rookies. The 3rd girl of our group has been fencing for 4 years. She placed 5th in the Under17 group and 3rd in the Under15. Not that she mentioned it, I had to look up the results this morning!

It was a day of ups and downs for The Girl Child. In her own words, she placed 'dead last'. But I keep reminding her that she didn't go to win. It's all her coach had been telling her for weeks. I think she's proud of herself. At least she's saying that she's happy she went. As she's not wanted to be involved in group sports before, this is really huge for her. To be willing to put herself out there to be scored and evaluated is quite a big deal for her perfectionist, self-conscience tendencies. I'm looking forward to her continuing to develop as a fencer as I think it will really help to boost her confidence and self image much better than anything I could say.

Onward to a new week! Up this week is schoolwork and more schoolwork. There's fencing and art class for The Girl and soccer and hockey for The Boy. Both have a drama clinc all day Friday - they're preforming in a homeschoolers' production of A Midsummer's Night Dream in May - and then we'll wrap up the week with a birthday party for me on Saturday.

♥Mrs. A.

January Blues

2012-01-26T14:02:00.002-05:00

What is it about January that makes me hibernate?

Things seem to be going along nicely and then it seems the bottom drops out. Perhaps it's the Christmas wave of must-dos that come crashing to a halt. Perhaps I get people'd out and just need to be on my own. The most discouraging thing, though, is not all the negative, picky, self-depreciating, depressing things I end up dwelling on, it's the looming February Blahs that are right around the corner.

Right then. So instead of complaining and detailing for all the interweb my gripes and moans, I will tell you what I've been thankful for lately. Because making a list is a good idea. Lists make it more official.

Coffee. Kona beans. Good winter warm up with milk and sugar. Better with the addition of a little Irish Cream in the evening.
Weekly Menus. So nice to know what we're eating because I've spent the better part of Sunday afternoon tackling this much hated task. Hopefully I'll get better at it.
A Generous Husband. He's also pretty patient and tolerant with me. Which is not how everyone else would describe him...so we'll call me grateful² on this point.
Low Maintenance Friends. Who don't have an agenda. And who say what they mean.
My Kids. Who I like having around. Even if they don't believe me when I tell them. And who spend a good deal of the time frustrated with me because it seems I don't let them do anything or go anywhere lately.
Canadian History Classes. Which will make me put on make-up and a nice shirt and go out of the house to see other people tomorrow.

On to coffee #4,

♥Mrs. A.

The Girl Child Secures a Job For Herself

2012-01-18T07:43:00.002-05:00

What does a mom do when her child gets herself a job? She sits in the car and takes pictures, of course!

A couple of weeks ago, The Girl Child announced she'd like a job. This was not news, as such a thing had been talked about - at length - in the past. We had looked into a couple of viable options but it didn't seem to be quite the right time.

It was two weeks ago today that she brought it up again. I suggested that she email the Nice Lady at the weekly newspaper to introduce herself and to restate her desire for a paper route. The first time she had contacted the paper, last fall, was through an online application tool at the website. At that time there hadn't been a route available in our area.

So The Girl got busy and sent a nice email stating that she was a homeschooled high school student with a flexible schedule and supportive parents who were willing to take her to where the available routes were.

Almost immediately she received a reply with an offer for a Fill-In Delivery Person position. A few more emails flew, details were discussed and we were visited by the Nice Lady who was very excited to have The Girl on board.

The Girl's first task involved delivering papers to two routes two days after the papers had been due. Each route took about two and a half hours by the time all was said and done. Her remarks on the way home were that 'it was more work than it sounded like' and 'when, exactly, would the pay cheque arrive?'

Said pay arrived much sooner than we thought it would. Hand delivered, no less! Just in time for a weekend shopping trip with her Grandma and Aunt.

I think The Girl Child was pretty proud of herself throughout the process - but that's the point, right? A little independence and initiative to foster some feelings of satisfaction and pride. And the prospect of more work in the future - although, I must say, I think the novelty has worn off. I'm proud of her, too, for taking this on!

Last week, there was no route. This week, there is one. Papers will arrive today and need to be delivered by Thursday evening. It's up to The Girl to plan around her schedule and the weather. She'll let me know when and where to drop her off to get her work done. I think she's looking forward to the pay cheque more than the long walk in a strange neighbourhood with a sled of papers.

~Mrs. A.

In 2012 I Resolve To Knit

2012-01-11T08:56:00.001-05:00

Being so easily influenced, it's no surprise I succumbed to the pressure and found myself scrambling for a knitting related New Year's Resolution. I briefly thought about not having a resolution, but then I thought that a little focus never hurt anyone.

Of course I started by aiming high into the stratosphere by considering taking on a new-to-me venture like the Rockin' Sock Club. As a new personal expense is not in the budget for 2012, that was a short lived consideration. I started to think more realistically. I thought about what I had resolved last year and how successful I was. I thought about what I found I actually wanted to be knitting throughout 2011. There was something about committing to a "12 Pair of Socks in 2012" that was appealing. Many such groups crop up this time of year on Ravelry. After browsing for a while, nothing seemed to be a perfect fit. And that's a lot of sock knitting for me.

I was reading that many people resolve to knit from the stash and not buy any yarn. That was appealing and right in line with our family resolution to curtail much of our discretionary spending for 2012. But could I do this and still have fun and enjoy my knitting year? Stephanie made it fun in 2010. I'm sure I could at least make a go it...for part of the year. If only I had enough sock yarn. And zippy bags. (Please forgive the vernacular. It's one of the few leftovers from when I had cute toddlers running about.)

So off I went to my yarn hide-y holes collecting all my yarn and I dumped it all onto the couch. Now, understand that we have a small house. It's full of all kinds of stuff but not an abundance of any one particular kind of stuff. Including yarn. At least I was not in danger of being overwhelmed. I definitely didn't have enough sock yarn to knit a pair per month, and I quickly decided I didn't want to buy more yarn. But I was pleasantly surprised.

After the first few minutes of delegating each yarn to its own zippy bag, I had 6 solid projects. Half a year of dedicated knitting. Then I collected the bits and bobs of sock yarn balls. Definitely more than a month's worth of knitting - probably enough to make a couple of pair of patchwork socks...or a Sock Yarn Blanket! Into another bag went all my dishcloth cotton. A couple of WIPs were granted the privilege of their own bags. And a final bag was made after a somewhat panicked search-and-rescue mission that I conducted once I confirmed with The Girl Child the actual - not imaginary - purchase of a skein of Alpaca Silk Lace. At final count there are 15 project bags. Definitely more than enough to keep my busy all year!

I spent the morning tracking down the patterns I needed for each of the projects I had in mind. There were a few hairy moments when I was convinced that I needed to buy a couple of patterns. But I rallied, taking on the challenge of making this an entirely 'free' year of knitting. I'm now fairly convinced that if one takes the time and has a creative moment or two, one can find a free pattern for just about anything. Now all my yarn has a pattern friend.

Leftover is an additional canvas tote of odds and ends: yarn and needles. I set The Girl Child off on a mission to come up with a charity project we could use some of it for. Hopefully that will work out.

I suppose the best fit for my New Year of Knitting finally turned out to be a Surmount The Stash resolution. It's a small stash, but very much a full year of knitting goodness that I'm quite motivated to get to. Lots of variety: easy mindless things, things to finish, new skills to learn, long term things.

I was terribly impressed with myself. My finishing point was eons more economically viable than my starting point. (However my Sock Club research has only been shelved for a later date, not abandoned, by any means!) I was quick to point out to Mr. A. all the time and angst I had saved myself this year by planning ahead. I described a year of calmly grabbing my on-the-needles pre-planned project and perhaps another zippy as I head out the door to knitting group. No more frantic reprinting of a misplaced pattern 5 minutes after I was supposed to leave for where ever I needed to be so that I could have some knitting to occupy me. And FREE! That's glossing over the fact that of course the yarn was bought at some point and that January's project contains a purchased pattern...but since I bought it last October, 2012 is all set up to be the Year I Knit For Free. Somewhat sobering was packing all 15 zippy bags into one overflowing canvas tote bag. But I suppose pre-knitted mittens and socks don't really take up that much room.

My resolution was set and my knitting organized. The last thing I did was check Ravelry one last time for the day. I had set two projects aside to which I will add patterns later - one will be socks and one will be two small table runners. (Clever planning on my part so that I have a good reason to be trawling through the Rav database rather than the not-so-good reason of 'coveting patterns'.) And I found the new pattern Rams and Yowes. (Rav pattern page)

And quicker than I created it, my focus wavered and I found myself so easily influenced by the draw of a beautiful project. Typical. I will stick to my Resolution to Surmount My Stash in 2012...but I will also take on the challenge of somehow getting Rams and Yowes on my needles in 2012...for free.

~Mrs. A.

A Selection of Stitches From 2011

2012-01-05T22:39:00.000-05:00

I certainly haven't churned out very much knitting in relation to the amount of time I thought I spent knitting this past year! I've been enjoying a community knitting group I set up. It's held at the local library twice a month. Each month I prepare a free washcloth pattern as well as a monthly newsletter, so I suppose that's a lot of time thinking about knitting but not really making any knitted progress.

I didn't really have any hard and fast knitting goals last year...I thought I would do a Mystery a month, but that didn't really jive with my perfectionist tendencies. There was just somehting about diving in and tackling a project without knowing if I would use or like the finished product. I did manage to get two done, though.

I aimed for a sock per month. I got three full pair of socks, a cheater pair of 'socks' that were really little flip-flop thong socks (look for them on Ravelry: Flippant) and a lonely owl sock.

The other knitting related thing I enjoyed this year was watching my daughter knit up a storm. She has a 3-foot stack of hats teetering on her desk along with an impressive collection of knitted monsters and other stuffed toys. She knit her brother a fish hat. She knit baby gifts and she tried out a few clothing items for herself. She had a prolific year!

As I was poking through pictures on the computer, I thought I would collect some of my nicer projects this year in a post. I'm hoping it will add to my knitting motivation for 2012.

-Mrs. A.

Housewarming gift for the community coordinator at the library who made the knitting group I set up possible. She moved on to bigger library pastures.

My Mexico Sweater - a mostly impulsive knit whipped up in Nov/Dec before a family trip. I was on a deadline so couldn't be terribly upset about the less-than-perfect shaping of the front. A neat construction from Knitty.com called Mythos (FirstFall2010) and made out of Misty Alpaca.

Pride Mittens made as a Christmas gift for my brother and sister-in-law. Made with Knit Picks yarn, which I had never bought before. I think I have enough left to make myslef a pair!

Owlie Socks that might be just a bit tight for my foot. Great patten for plain yarn, though! First sock is hibernating for now until I'm motivated enough to ge tthe second sock under way.

Scylla Socks. I wear these all the time. It has a counterpart pattern that I will knit this year.

My first Mystery 220yds project. Very wearable scarf that I lost at a local resturant. Hopefully someone likes it! It was my first official foray into lace and charts.

Striped Scarf built from Jared Flood's Noro Striped scarf pattern. I'm not a Noro fan, so I used something called King Cole's Riot. 2 balls - one rainbow, one a grey-to-black neutral - made for a really long scarf.

Another Knitty.com creation: Wild Stripes. I knit most of this in 2010, but finished it in 2011. It is backed in flanellette and I chose to leave off the embroidery the pattern calls for. I did run a couple of lines of invisible stitching across a few of the stripes to make sure the two layers stuck together. This was a well received gift for a special baby girl who arrived in Feb.2011.

My version of a Snowman Christmas ornament.

My last Mystery 220 project. It turned out great and I get many compliments on this little bag. I use it as a project bag. It fits a couple of balls of sock yarn and all the bits required to make a pair of socks.

New Year New Rule.

2012-01-03T20:17:00.002-05:00

Mr. A and I have been discussing homeschooling in greater depth this last year. In particular we've been talking about the challenges I'm finding as the kids get older. I'm struggling to balance academics and daily life with all the important things that are coming up as the kids grow into young adults - autonomy, independence, emotions, control, respect.

Mr. A has a fairly black-and-white outlook whereas I'm definitely a colourful kind of girl. This last calendar year I've been waffling from one colour to the next trying to find a groove what we all fit into. Mr. A is very patient. Long story short, I haven't been very successful. So Mr. A has swooped in and handed me a solution.

We've started into the New Year with a New Rule. Normally we're a little like pirates around here - tending toward guidelines rather than hard and fast rules. So you can image how the kids sat up and took note when Mr. A announced a Rule when they were expecting a discussion.

And a simple and silly rule it may seem: no screens until your day's schoolwork is complete. But it has trickle-down consequences. I can't concentrate on schoolwork if things around the house aren't taken care of. If I have to take care of everything then it takes me a long time to get to the books.

Today was essentially Day #1. Mr. A is back to work which means that our holidays are over. The rub is that the kids' peers have another week of school break; they're under the self-imposed impression they have another week of free time. (Never mind the three weeks they've already had off!) So in typical Mrs. A fashion, I toed the middle of the line. There were no screens until today's school work was finished...but I let the kids police their schedule for the day. They started to get antsy about 1pm when we hadn't hit the books and I was still doing post-holiday housework.

In the end we accomplished what we needed to. And the kids pretty quickly picked up on the principle the Rule is meant to accomplish.

I'm so thankful for Mr. A's problems solving tendencies. (Sometimes I don't feel very thankful - like when I mention something in passing and he swoops in with 4 different solutions to pick from when really I was simply venting and just needed him to say soothing things. But really, I do appreciate this man skill he has.) And in true Father Knows Best style, my kids tend to tune in when Dad speaks up. So I hope this New Year's New Rule helps to get us into the groove we're all looking for.

~Mrs. A.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T22:40:00.000-05:00

Today dawned bright and early with a lovely headache. Which steadily got worse. Happy New Year to me.

The holidays have been full of visiting and family. Much of that family has been plagued by a nasty hang-on sort of cold and/or a mysterious flu-like affliction. With so much obligatory visiting (nothing like spending a week together vacationing to give the germs a chance to spread around) and a couple of cuddly, climbing babies, it's no wonder people were always at varying stages of incubation.

I think I made it through the holidays mostly illness free by sheer force of will. Either that or the universe knew not to tempt my wrath by messing with my schedule. These last two days have been the only 'do nothing' days I've had since the beginning of December. Noone has to go anywhere, do anything, the kids have do-it-yourself food options and lots of stuff to do and Mr. A has more new video games and gadgets than he has time for. If that's not a perfect set up for a Mom to take some sick time, I don't know what is!

So with much thanks to a short-yet-violent migraine or a 12-hour virus, I count myself included in the group of extended family who experienced every sort of state of being over the holiday. I'm just very thankful that I didn't have to be miserable at a family dinner or while laying poolside in the hot sun.

Tomorrow we return to regularly scheduled programming. I begin thinking of school work, groceries and meal plans. I look forward to catching up with friends who were also busy with extended family over the holidays. Perhaps it's the sheer amount of social media sending me messages, but I am feeling the motivation to go through closets and cupboards to reorganize and purge.

I hope your New Year's Day was more noteworthy and celebratory.

~Mrs. A.

2011-11-12T10:14:00.001-05:00

Holy Hannah.

If I could ever get near the PC for a span of time that was condusive to blogging, I would be a more prolific blogger, I'm sure. Locating the PC in the family room, next to the kitchen and beside the phone has benefits but there are some very significant blogging drawbacks.

Case in point: this post has taken me 27 minutes to finish.

~Mrs. A

A Mostly Optimistic Outlook

2011-10-04T21:36:00.000-04:00

About a month ago I checked in. A week later, we were off to our official start of a new-to-us homeschooling school year. As we were headed to our annual local HSer picnic, I remembered that I should probably take some pictures.

Surprisingly, the kids didn't balk. I suppose my '...in a hundred years when I'm old and alone and you're off gallivanting the globe all I have are pictures...' speech has finally started to sink in.

As I was saying...We're into our third official week of all things schoolish and I am happy to announce that I am feeling cautiously optimistic. We're being very schoolish this year which makes both the kids feel as though they are accomplishing things throughout the day. Now, if only I could get organized enough to get to more subjects through the week.

The Girl Child has begun her grade 9 year and as per her request, I am tracking her work so she can earn her high school credits or equivalent-to-credit. Of course, I must also plan and prepare her work. We are filling in a few holes in Science before starting credit work after Christmas. We are also planning for credits in Math, English, Art, Phys Ed, Science and an ILC Credit called Strategies For Success. Half credits are planned in History, Geography, Drama and perhaps Civics.

The Boy Child is officially grade 7 aged. He has a full schoolwork plate with some interesting things planned. More on that as the year progresses. It seems I'll need to brush up on my astrophysics. His guitar playing is moving forward in leaps and bounds. I'm gobsmacked at his playing by ear. I've ordered a theory book for him to start as I simply can't bear from him to continue lessons with no theory training! <--My hangup. The relationship he's developed with his teacher is absolutely perfect for him. I thought we'd stay no longer than a year with this particular teacher, but I've since changed my tune.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the school year unfolds. I scrapped all the planning I did over the summer (not too much, really) and I'm redoing it all. So I don't feel that I've got a handle on all the material we'll cover this year. It's coming though. Math, the first chunk of Science, Strategies For Success and the Shakespeare studies/Drama are all mapped out. I've outsourced Canadian History and French but am doing some supporting work at home. I've changed my record keeping and planning binder so that The Girl Child can work through just about anything we're to cover independently. This means I need an order of study and page numbers and worksheets ready to go. This was something that was really important to her - the option of being able to work on her own - so we're going with it. I'm more organized this way, to in theory, it should be a win-win scenario.

Challenges are afoot though. The Girl Child wants more social opportunities, a job and less time with her brother. They're both smarter and quicker than their mother! The Boy Child builds energy faster than he can drain it - and in a house full of introverted un-kinesthetic learning/working people, that's difficult! Staying consistent with a morning schedule that gets us (the kids and I) up and going is my particular nemesis, but I'm making progress. Getting off the sugar definitely helped.

So all in all a positive outlook and some general excitement about the coming year. I'm looking forward to seeing how we make out.

♥Mrs. A.

Mrs. A. Checks In...

2011-09-06T21:36:00.000-04:00

Today, while the world was spinning away with the business of the first day of school, the kidlets and I puttered around the house in a calm and collected manner.

I've taken on the administration of the local home schoolers' email list. It's our primary means of connection and communication with other area homeschoolers. Today was catch-up day for me. I sent out 35 emails alerting everyone to upcoming programs and events. I welcomed a number of newer homeschoolers to the email list. It's scary that this work took me hours and hours. But, I'm also encouraged that I was balanced in my approach - we ate on schedule and everyone got to where they needed to be on time. Which leads me to my next point...

I've taken most sugars out of my diet (fruit is still ok or I'd have starved to death by now). I'm almost three weeks in now and doing so has led to an almost immediate improvement in my ability to wake up and function like a normal human being. Also vastly improved is my focus - I'm able to stay on task and accomplish things. I'm still a bit ambitious and flighty, but I tell you, when I say I'd like to complete the laundry today, the laundry gets washed, dried and put away. This has happened two weeks in a row now and I'm still amused. And it's a principle that I see repeated in various areas of my day. I suspect there may be a bit of a placebo effect happening as I'm paying more attention to my attention span, focus and mood, but I'd swear it's a little less foggy and distracted in here!

It truly feels like summer is winding down. The mornings and evenings are cool and getting darker. Hockey season is on the horizon. There are more jeans and socks and long sleeves in the laundry. I'm looking forward to our change in schedule as we turn our attention to book work and other schoolish pursuits. I think the kids are, too.

As this week winds down our own little world will begin spinning with new journals and math books, official high school credits and homeschool activities. We'll be paying more attention to coordinating schedules and I'll spend more time chauffeuring people here and there. A new season and good times ahead...

♥Mrs. A.

I'm Back!

2011-05-11T21:28:00.000-04:00

I've been away. And there were butterflies.

Guess where we went?

I brought the rest of the family with me. I think they had a good time.

We even got to see a little piece of home away from home.

And now that we really are home...I get to sleep.

And Then There Were 4

2011-04-25T21:39:00.004-04:00

A few days ago we muddled through the process of candling the eggs. I decided I should be over-cautious which resulted in a couple of '?' status reports on eggs #6 and #3. To be fair, they had lovely dark shells and I am very much a rookie and I certainly didn't want to disqualify anyone who didn't deserve it.

#5, #11, #13(my favourite: smooth and very pink shell with the cutest pointy end) and #15 all received positive reports granting them continued access to the incubator. Just yesterday I cleared out the rest after reading stories about bursting rotten eggs in the incubator. And, of course, after a second, very thourough, candling session.

Before 'lockdown', those important final three days when the eggs are not turned or touched and the incubator is not opened, I will check them once more for signs of life. I've been very realistic with the children, hoping they don't expect too much out of this experiment. I've been clear that even though all signs point to 4 little chicks in the very near future, sometimes eggs don't hatch or chicks don't survive the hatching process.

We should have some action on the 30th. XXXXX (←Crossed fingers )

♥Mrs. A.

New Project

2011-04-12T09:18:00.008-04:00

In typical homeschooling mother fashion, last week I found myself discussing the schoolish side of life with a fellow homeschooling mom. And in typical homeschooling mother fashion, I on-the-spot dove into an unexpected project. It is living underneath my messy, catch-all bulletin boards. In further typical homeschooling mother fashion, I have myself in fits over the little intricacies of this project. It's consuming brain cells and I'm sure my sleep will soon be affected. There are 16 chicken eggs baking in there. If I could get the temperature to sit still, I'd feel a lot better. I'm not sure how many are fertilized. We're on Day 3 right now. At about Day 8 I can check and see if I have any baby chickens growing. I don't expect they will all develop, let alone hatch, but the hope is that there will be at least some action. The eggs are from a nearby farm of a homeschooling chicken-raising mom. She's very cool and busy with 4 kidlets under 9. If this chicken hatching scheme works out, even a little, it will be a win-win for both of us. She gets new fowl for her flock and I get a really cool science experiment. If I'm not too devastated after my first go at this, I will probably do it again. I'll just have to manage another very un-typical homeschooling mother 21-days at home... ♥Mrs. A. ...who would be a lot less crazy if her paragraph spacing would stay where it was put!

Changes

2011-04-06T20:55:00.004-04:00

So many changes, so little time! It feels like 2011 has been just flying by so far.

The mandatory schedule changes I am suffering this year are not fun to get used to. Mr. A's work schedule changed in January necessitating my house-wife-y duties to resume before 7am. Not popular. Especially with the 'Spring Forward' time change. Other of my house-wife-y duties have had to be rescheduled as well since Time-of-Use hydro pricing has come into play in our city. Laundry and baking are now usually saved for the weekend.

My efforts to focus my energy this year are challenging - but it's a good challenge. I'm planning and organizing more efficiently as I focus on my list of priorities (really, I had to make a sticky note to remind myself). As a result, I find myself a little more accepting of what I do - or don't - accomplish throughout the day. I raise my voice less even when frustrated and stressed. Cool side effect.

Mr. A, The Boy Child, Miss K and I have been seeing our share of family changes as well. Mr. A's daughter, Miss B, has been able to spend some time with us. This new, very welcomed and long awaited change began last summer. We've moved through the novelty and excitement of a new arrangement into a more real eyes-wide-open time of learning about new family dynamics.

With the physical size of people changing around here it's become very apparent that if the size of the house can't change, then the layout and organization must. Adding one pre-teen girl to my collection of newly teen girl and pre-teen boy makes the relative size of one's sofa very small. In fact, it made the entire seating/lounging/sprawling situation very difficult. So Mr. A and I have been doing our very best to make changes to make things a little more comfortable.

Today we added new furniture. In preparation, we moved old furniture to a new rec room type space in our partly finished basement. Adding furniture gave me the perfect opportunity to rearrange our entire main floor. This is our main living area and I haven't been able to rearrange it for many, many, many years. The biggest change was removing the entertainment unit which paved the way for a nicely flowing open concept living area. I love it.

Surprisingly, the kidlets have entered the ranks of the working class. My brother-in-law has gathered them up on occasion and taken them to work at his marina. The arrangement has been working out very nicely and plans are to have regular workdays throughout the summer. Being a business man, my brother-in-law gave instruction on negotiating a wage the very first day the kids were there. He wrote them up a paycheque at the end of the day, much to their delight.

Miss K has been asked to provide her services to my sister, a new mom, as a mother's helper. Homeschooling has never been so flexible! We easily find a couple of hours once day a week for Miss K to watch my new nephew.

On the horizon are exciting things: our first foray into competitive sports for The Boy Child; a regular volunteer position for Miss K and I at the local therapeutic riding program; homeschooling highschool. Among the exciting upcoming things are everyday efforts: returning to running - this time with Miss K joining in; a surprise visit States-side to my mother-in-law's for Mother's Day; a new sesame allergy (added to Miss K's peanut allergy). And so life goes on.

♥Mrs. A.

Syrup!

2011-03-31T15:08:00.008-04:00

The maple syrup farmers have been busy the last couple of weeks in this neck of the woods. Some of the resulting bounty has found its way to my pantry. I'm very excited at the amount of fresh local syrup I've been able to find.

4 Litres (a gallon) were made by a co-worker of Mr. A who makes syrup as a hobby. We signed up for 2 litres but we pleasantly surprised at being offered another two. It seems it was a sap-plenty season. This is the first time I've had syrup packed per litre into large mason jars. I love this option! There's a lovely wide pouring surface, the jars are reusable and they are so much better than the top-heavy store bought jar that is constantly falling over in my fridge.

The large 4L is from a local syrup farm that has a limited run of syrup packaged in 4L containers. My mom tries to get a family order in early so my whole extended family gets a large jug that will last (some of them) all year. In my house, maple syrup is very nearly a food group. I'm excited to see how long I can stretch this batch. I'm already down a pint: 2 batches of maple fudge and a load of breakfast pancakes.

The last few months have seen a huge surge in maple syrup prices around here. 500mL (2cups) is $13 at the grocery store. We don't have a year-round farmer's market, so once you run out, you're forced into buying from the grocery store. This year's local homemade is selling at $12 per liter. Mr. A is glad to have found such a great 'deal' as well. He is newer to the maple syrup habit having grown up on that other stuff they call syrup...but it's not. Thankfully we have the extra grocery money to put up this much syrup.

With the arrival of the syrup, I can now finally agree that Spring is here. I'm sure there are other signs if I would only go outside and notice them. I will be calling an end to my seasonal hibernation this week...fueled by the need to disperse the extra maple fudge to somewhere other than my ~~hips~~ counter top.

♥Mrs. A

March Madness

2011-03-15T20:42:00.008-04:00

Today was a March Madness day. My people were here, there and everywhere requiring this, that and more. On top of it all, I had a number of responsibilities and obligations to meet.

One of today's obligations included the creation and distribution of Mint Oreo Truffles. Yum!

Perhaps it's my age. Perhaps it's just years and years of trying, but I must say that I'm proud of myself for accomplishing all of today's 'to do's without the usually meltdown...which usually manifests itself in the form of a flappable, loud, ornery and barely productive woman. Yea me.

It's interesting to see the difference in their needs as my kids get older. Still needy, but in a totally different way than when they were toddlers requiring all sorts of physically demanding care. Although, I do have to question the increased amount of lap-time being required by a certain Miss K. Not that I mind, but she is taller than me now, and quickly gaining on me in the mass department as well.

I suppose I notice the differing needs more these days as my siblings have begun having babies. And nice babies. I'm sure my babies were just as nice...I'm sure I would have properly noticed if I hadn't been so sleep deprived. So I'm thankful that I'm able to stay home and spend every day with my grown-up babies.

Now I'm off to relax and bask in the glow of a productive day. Tomorrow I'll wake up and try to do it all aver again.

~Mrs. A.

My Cautious Boy

2011-03-10T21:41:00.005-05:00

The Boy has been playing guitar. He saved up his allowance last year and bought a very lovely acoustic guitar. Since then, he saved up his allowance and has bought himself a nice little beginner electric guitar with amp.

Mr. A. and I are sending him to lessons with great success. He's flown through the first beginner book. He practices lots...although he could use some guided practice in my humble opinion, but this is his ballgame so I'm letting him run with it.

He really likes his teacher who was chosen due to his close geographical proximity to us. There was the small bonus factor of his being an old family friend from Mr. A's childhood.

The Boy and his guitar teacher get along famously. I hadn't fully realized how well they were matched until after this week's lesson when The Boy returned home and related his conversation to me.

The Boy asked his teacher if there was anything new and exciting going on. The teacher replied that he never does anything exciting. He prefers a more steady and scheduled existence. The Boy said he understood, but wondered what his teacher might choose to do if the opportunity presented itself.

Because isn't it always better to plan one's exciting activities?

The teacher asked for a suggestion. Bungee jumping was tabled. The Boy and his teacher then proceeded to list the reasons against doing such an exciting thing: a new rope couldn't be used as it hadn't been tested in the field yet. But just the same, a used rope could fail at any time. And what if the guy running the show measured wrong or his math wasn't reliable? But certainly one couldn't measure the rope reliably on their own; doesn't that require some kind of training? Jumping from a bridge over water presents drowning possibilities. Yet jumping off a cliff presents possibilities worse than a little water in the lungs. Even if all goes well, who's to say there won't be long term consequences to your body?

I can just imagine them both sitting there wearing guitars, their feet up on those curious little one-foot guitar playing props, nodding sagely at each other as they methodically nailed the bungee jumping coffin shut.

So The Boy, now understanding that he shares the same calculating tendencies and innate cautiousness as his teacher, makes a final comment on the subject. If ever presented with the opportunity to do an exciting thing, his teacher should peer over the side of the Hoover Dam. It's so exciting that you only need to peek for a second before your head goes all funny and you need to step back. And just like that, in only a second or two, you get all the exciting feelings you need.

It's like checking things off a list with this kid.

Has Anyone Seen My Rose Coloured Glasses??

2011-01-18T21:16:00.002-05:00

I was all set to call this blog post 'Back to the Grind' but that would imply some grinding being done in the recent past.

The 'official' end of our Winter holiday happened a week and a half ago. To appease the minions, I schedule our school year according to the local school calendar. I suppose it works out well as the school days are measurable in case I was ever asked to speak to the amount of school work we do. However, by following the local schedule, I'm also constantly reminded that although it seems that society is brainwashed into believing that school is a consistent variable in a child's life, school attendance is actually very inconsistent. There are very few 5-day school weeks in the 36-week schedule. But I digress. My point is that we should be back to a full complement of school work by now.

Every day I've been dreading the work that hasn't, and isn't, being done. Throughout the fall, I gave up on one thing after another. My planner pages are blank for more of weeks 1 through 14 than not. World history stalled at week 3. Miss K's math was a disaster that still hasn't been solved. And The Boy Child's science - other than self-directed experiments in gravity, density and trajectory, the engineering of forts (indoor and out) and some theoretical dabble in time travel and astrophysics - has been nonexistent....never mind.

I suppose my point is this: I've failed miserably on the measurable outcomes in Scheduled Paper Work Land. But if I do some careful observation, I know that learning and other valuable work is being done. I just have to figure out why I'm being so hard on myself about the whole situation.

But I've resigned myself to a steely attitude of stick-with-it-ness no matter the cost. And the cost today very nearly had me swerving into the high-school parking lot I was driving past to be front and center at the 'Open House For 8th Graders' they were hosting in the gym. Crossing against three lanes at lunch hour was the only thing that stopped me. Later, I was thinking that I probably won't break Miss K in just one dismal-ish year of homeschooling. It was the thought I had when she was 6 (minus the dismal) and we were just embarking on this homeschooling journey. I just thought I'd have things down pat by year 8.

Sometimes stick-with-it-ness is depressing. But I think it is better than the alternative - throwing in the towel. So, I will look forward to another homeschooling day tomorrow. Even though I'm not having a good academic time right now, I still appreciate each and every day I have my kids at home with me.

♥Mrs. A.

Off and On My Needles

2011-01-05T21:05:00.008-05:00

All year (2010) I had a plan. In the fall, I would make a kabajillion little knitted Christmas ornaments. I had my supplies collected and stashed in a bag ready to go. Fall came. I began knitting fiddly little hat and sweaters for corks. Trust me, the finished product is Waldorf-y and cute.

I was so proud of myself for being so organized and prepared. It was very unlike myself.

Then the beginning of December dawned. I came across the cutest knitted snowman ever. I didn't even pause to try to talk myself into saving this new-found cuteness for the next Christmas season, reasoning that I had a perfectly adequate project on the go. No, I dropped everything and set my sights on knitting an army of snowmen.

I created a pattern as I went and was happy with the results. I happened to be at my knitting club when I finished the first snow-manny. I sent it home with the mom of a four-year-old. Feedback was positive. Said four-year-old moved Snow-Manny to the primary cuddly sleep spot in his bed. Two weeks later, Snow-Manny had created a number of angst induced 'incidents' when he went rolling off on his own, becoming very difficult to find. While Mom of Four-Year-Old attended the last knitting club meeting of 2010, Dad of Four-Year-Old was building a little house for Snow-Manny to live in when he was not in hand, thus preventing any lost Snow-Manny angst ridden Christmas holiday nights.

Throughout the Christmas season, I managed to make a small army of Snow-Mannies. I was reminded of Calvin's snowmen when I lined them all up. Something about the arms, I think. The army was split up and sent their various ways as gift toppers and tree ornaments for family and friends.

Snowmen are officially off my needles, although I will be knitting another soon so as to write down the pattern as I go.

On Christmas Eve, I opened a package and found two balls of variegated Riot sock yarn. As soon as gift opening obligations were over, I cast on a Noro Striped Scarf (Ravelry link). It's a simple, mindless pattern, but I am so looking forward to the colour shifting effect in the finished product. This is a perfect project to take along to knitting club as it's a mindless knit - more brain power to devote to chatting!

So that is the extent of my latest knitting. Instead of actually knitting, I have been spending much of my knitting energy in careful contemplation of my Knitting Year Resolutions. I'm getting quite a list: I will be making a monthly knitting newsletter for my previously mentioned knitting club. I want to read two knitting related books to include in the monthly newsletter (see how I inserted some accountability there?!) I will be leading a monthly knitted dishcloth for the group as well. Personally, I am going to participate in a year-long Christmas ornament knit-a-long. And just for me, perhaps a self imposed sock club. I just need to decide if I will attempt a pair of socks a month, or just one sock per month. I'm looking forward to all of this, I just hope I can follow through!

Off to finish January's first kniterary selection,

~Mrs. A

I'm Glad To See Twenty-Eleven

2011-01-01T19:42:00.011-05:00

The holidays arrived - even though I was wishing someone would dump the last half of December off the calendar - and departed with much ado in our household.

Being predictably myself, though, I have managed to pull a few positive things out of a pretty miserable month.

The Most Surprising Thing literally showed up on my door step smack in the middle of our annual Christmas Eve celebration. It was my brother, fresh from a whirlwind 17-hr flight and 24-hrs of travel from Korea. And as fast and unexpectedly as he arrived, he's on with his tomorrow after flying all day today back to his temporary home abroad. His unexpected visit made for a very fun and memorable Christmas and New Years...and hectic. Definitely hectic.

The Most Enjoyable Scheduled Event happened mid-December at my knitting club meeting. I've been trying to pull off a local knitting club with some success. For our last meeting of the year, I planned a small Christmas celebration with decorations and snacks and music. There are such a nice bunch of people that attend and they were all able to make it for the party. A motley crew, but it's so nice to spend time with others who make the time and effort to be somewhere.

And finally, the Most Awesome Thing was the arrival of the household's first teenager :-) She is lovely...even first thing in the morning just before opening her birthday gift. I simply cannot call her The Girl Child anymore, especially since she is taller than I am. She will need to be Miss K from now on.

Other excitement included a New Year's Eve family challenge of skill, smarts and silliness in which yours truly emerged victorious...with a trophy. It was a team trophy, but a trophy that I can claim and my brothers can't. I'm not sure that something like that has ever occurred before. Pictures forthcoming....after the engraving of the trophy. Told you it was real.

So onward into 2011. Today was gloomy and grey outside. We had some gloomy on the inside as well. I think just post-holiday greyishness. It was a welcome quiet day after such a busy couple of weeks. Although I feel the pressure to make a resolution, I've decided against it. I have a list of things to focus on instead.

Happy New Year. I hope the spring-ish feelings of renewal and refreshment take hold here in the A house as well as with the one or two of you who happen to pop by here.

~Mrs. A.

October's Book Club

2010-10-29T19:44:00.003-04:00

I've been going to a book club for a bunch of months now. I kinda like it. Not too surprising considering that I've always been a reader...

I was a bit scared to go as I've not ever been a terrible intellectual, philosophical sort of girl. Oh, how I wish the deeper meaning, the prevailing theme, the irony, the archetype would all jump out at me and I would make really intelligent sounding conclusions about that which I have just read. Sadly, not gonna happen.

I just get sucked into the story. And I've learned that I truly do enjoy a good, gripping story.

Book Club started when a few of us started to frequent a certain coffee shop a little too often. A once-a-month excuse was born.

Book Club is 'led' by a very cool, really smart homeschooling mom who got tired of her stuffy book club...so she started her own! She invited people she enjoys spending time with, who enjoy reading. Attendance leans toward being homeschooler heavy, but that just makes me love it all the more. There are no rules or required reading lists. There are suggestions and sometimes themes. And this cool, smart homeschooling mom who 'leads' our group has a knack for asking questions that inspire discussion and - this is big - helps me to see all those things things my high school English teacher wished he didn't have to point out to me.

This month we 'discussed' The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. A couple of us had wanted to read it to see what all the hype was about. It's a simple mystery and I couldn't figure out why it had to be such a thick book...but then I figured it took that long to get interested enough in the edgy female antagonist to feel the need to follow her story in books #2 and #3. I'll read the rest of the series, I think. The writing style is very easy to power through. The gritty, raw bits - presented in a very matter of fact way - turned off a couple of the more conservative in the group.

We came away from our coffee and chatting this month with a theme: mythology. I'm going to try out Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad. I haven't picked up an Atwood book since high school...and that was under duress. Hopefully I've matured since then. We'll see. Others suggested included God's Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips; American Gods, Neil Gaiman and The Stolen Child, Keith Donahue. I'm inspired - especially about the Keith Donahue book - and look forward to wading in.

Some suggestions from the group follow. I'd not try to make sense of it as we tend to be a little scattered in our discussion. I love it!!

Genesis by Benard Beckett -a modern Brave New World?
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde - technically, this meets the requirements of some people's definition of a romance
The Girl With the Glass Feet by Ali Shaw - apparently the final sentence clinches this book as a favourite for many
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Triskellion by Wil Peterson - suggested when asked for a 'quirky' book
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Towes - a more modern 'coming of age' story, perhaps.

I'm off to start the Penelopiad,

~Mrs. A

Mondays...

2010-10-25T20:59:00.003-04:00

This Fall, Mondays are particularly busy. I think today was fairly typical in scheduling, but it was better than many of my typical Mondays of late. I think I might be getting my Monday-act together...

After everyone has been fed and watered and we shovel up the weekend clutter it's usually around 9a.m. Monday mornings give us only an hour or so for any bookwork we want to accomplish. It's not too difficult to get the kids to hit the books on Mondays. I have them start with their journals. The Girl Child writes copious amounts - her biographer is going to have lots to sift through! The Boy Child, not so much. He's more matter of fact. 'Required' journal writing for The Boy amounts to a sentence per 'grade' so he's up to 6 sentences per journal entry. And that's a very loose definition of 'sentence' I'm using.

At 11a.m. I start getting the afternoon set up. The kids are sent to grab themselves a snack and then they pack another for later. I prepare lunch for Mr. A and myself and set it aside. French books and skating things are gathered and packed into the car. Today I dressed for a run and dug out my iPod. We left the house at 11:45.

My very good friend has taken it upon herself to teach a group of homeschoolers - her two included - French this school year. She's gone to a huge amount of work to plan weekly lessons for 5 families of kids, ages 8 through 15. The kids spend an hour and a half doing games and activities, vocab and dialogue. The focus is on spending time speaking the language which is awesome for my two-kid crew. The Boy and The Girl are quite well versed in their vocab, writing and reading skills. The speaking-out-loud has been a bone of contention in our past school years.

Today was the first Monday I snuck away from the other moms at French. I went for a miserable little run. I haven't run since the summer, really, so I was speaking fairly sternly with myself about the degree of laziness and depression that was taking over. I went for half an hour, 'running' for 3 minutes then walking for 1. Once I was done, I was glad I had done it. It's amazing how long improved cardiovascular fitness can hang on. I never thought I'd get 6 intervals completed today. I zipped home to change my muddy, wet running pants. While there, I constructed lunch for Mr. A and delivered it to his basement office (he's programming today and tends to focus in on his work and forgets altogether about regular bodily routines like caloric intake) before heading back to pick up the kids.

After French, we trek over to the local rink and spend an hour skating. The local homeschoolers have sort of dominated the 'Parent & Tot' time slot for the past few years. It was a quiet takeover...beginning years ago when the children blended in with those every-other-day kindergartners. Today there were 15 homeschoolers plus a bunch of moms on the ice.

Once we're home things depend on The Boy Child's hockey schedule. If he plays early, at 4:30p.m., we usually relax and snack before heading out the door at 4:15p.m. There are beefits to living in the rink's backyard! Today he played late, at 5:30p.m., so we had time to focus on some geography for a half hour before snacking and re-packing the hockey bag. I cleaned the kitchen and The Girl made pizza crust which we left in the warm oven to rise while we were at the rink.

At home, after hockey, I focus on getting some sort of food on the table fairly immediately. The low blood sugar is pretty apparent by this time on Monday. It's nice when we sit down to eat. Everyone knows that their responsibilities have been taken care of for the day. Relax mode starts to kick in. I like hearing about the kids' day - even though I've been there for most of it. I find it terribly interesting how different our experiences are even though we share the same space and activities.

We had a nice family evening culminating in apple crisp before bedtime. I'm watching the results of the local election and will head off to bed shortly. Hopefully next Monday will go as smoothly as today. Methinks if I keep up with weekend laundry and regular meal planning like a good, responsible grown up, I shouldn't have any problems.

~Mrs. A.

The Process of Math

2010-10-11T21:14:00.002-04:00

Last Spring I started planning for the upcoming school year. One particular area I spent a while thinking about was The Girl Child's math.

When I sat down with her to discuss her thoughts about math, she thought perhaps she might like an easy-math school year. Fair enough.

The Girl has worked very hard the last few years wading through a bunch of Saxon Math. She's very good at it. Diligent. And when all is said and done, proud of herself.

I looked through a few options. At length. In the end, The Girl decided to work through a workbook style 8th grade level program. She knew it would be mostly review. The plan was to begin her 9th grade year, 2011-2012, with Algebra as most math programs provide. She felt she wasn't up for a heavy math year and to begin Algebra in her 8th grade year just felt like a heavy thought to her at that point.

So September rolled around and The Girl Child was happily anticipating wading only ankle deep into the new math workbook. Fairly immediately, she needed some help interpreting the instructions. She was feeling knee deep in icy waters since she was used to doing her own math these last 3 years.

We've muddled through to October and things haven't improved. I'm not impressed with the online support materials. The Girl is not impressed with the whole math situation. She's 1/3 the way through the workbooks and has done nothing more complicated than common multiples.

A meeting of minds - hers and mine -was called over hot chocolates. I told her my feelings: that she was putting a lot of work into being frustrated with basic math skills she had mastered long ago; that I felt she could work equally hard and further her skill set which would inspire confidence instead of the discouragement she was currently experiencing. She thought that made sense.

She's decided to look over some of the Saxon options available to her. She asked if I'd print her a placement test. I'd also like to get my hands on a copy of Life of Fred for her to peruse.

I told her that as part of our somewhat structured homeschooling style, she needed to work on some sort of math on a regular basis. But I wanted her to be clear that I was happy for her to choose her resources. I trust her to take some responsibility at this point in her learning.

I hope we'll have something decided on soon. But I suppose that this has been a good exercise for us. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all plays out in the end.

~Mrs. A.

Week #6 Approaches...

2010-10-10T15:23:00.002-04:00

Schoolwork has started. But obviously, there are kinks to be worked out. Somehow, we've managed to have March Break already and there have been 2 4-day weeks out of only 5.

I think I was excited to get this school year scheduled and going. Mr. A. feels infinitely better about homeschooling when things are a bit structured and scheduled. Now, if only I could get the schedule to fit what the people are up to...

So here I am, sniffling away with a thick head, annoyed with many things and nearly everyone outside my door, not to mention myself and the current dynamic I've let grow up around me, wondering how much self-discipline I can conjure up in order to pull things together around here.

~Mrs. A.

2010-08-31T19:17:00.000-04:00

Summer Vacation Day 10/73

2010-07-05T08:30:00.007-04:00

My 1st 'real' 5K ~ finishing strong ~ July 1, 2010

(I'm in the white top)

Today there are weather warnings all over the media. With humidity, it will feel like the temperature is in the 40s. That's well over 100 for my American friends. We began preparing yesterday by cooling the house and we ran the A/C overnight. The doors and windows are all covered...it will be a dim day. But hopefully, as the temperatures soar, we'll have a cool haven to enjoy.

I'm most concerned about the dogs. The Skittish White Dog doesn't do too well with humid heat. Although, as she is still in full-blow (as in, vacuum twice a day super shed mode) she's pretty thin coated right now. The Blue Eyed Bandit is happy to lay around in the heat....she's happy to be anything really. She's just a happy dog. She's happy to be hot. Or sleeping. Or playing. Or eating. I'll put their pool out for them later for a change of pace. That'll be fun.

I was up early today to see Mr. A off to the office. The kids were still sleeping so I snuck out for a quick run - my first since the Canada Day run - before things heated up outside. My iPod died half a block out and I have a few twinges and aches leftover from the big run so I cut things short. Just a quick 2k to work out the bugs. It was plenty because it's really hot out already!

On the docket today is Seedless Raspberry Jam. Perhaps chocolate dipped strawberries. And anything else I can dream up to reclaim fridge space from all the fresh picked fruit.

Locally, it seems a freighter had a malfunction of it's steering mechanism at a critical point on the Seaway and has washed up broadside on one of the islands. That should be a major undertaking to remedy. We see freighters all the time passing through town. It's a whole new perspective to see them up close. There might be an early morning kayak-with-camera in the very near future...

Enjoy the day,

Mrs. A

5K...Almost

2010-06-17T16:44:00.008-04:00

For many months I've been silent on the topic of running...or fitness...or just about anything, for that matter. So today I thought I'd gather some thoughts about it and perhaps even grace the page with a picture.

I'm a C25K failure. I made it through the majority of the training and then I stopped. I think my main excuse was a broken toe, but we all know that I just got lazy with it because toes certainly don't stay broken forever.

This Spring, a group of the homeschooling kids embarked on a learn-to-run adventure. The coach was a homeschooler mom who is a runner, a coach and an all-round cracker jack. So, in true homeschooler mom fashion, she took on a huge project with her 4 wee kidlets in tow. Not only were the kids going to work through the learn-to-run program, but the moms were going to take part also. Some moms were up for running, some moms wanted a fitness walking program. Coach Cracker Jack took us all on.

Partway through our training, the local private school asked if any homeschooler was interested in participating in the track and field season. Since many of the kids did, our training days took on a different look. The kids did track and field things and we moms did our training runs. The kids are fit, being active kids, so they easily kept up with the moms' progress with the learn to run program.

Last weekend, there was a fundraising fun run for a local not-for-profit that is near and dear to my heart. Throwing all caution and my negative nay-saying conscience to the wind - after all, I'm only 4/5 of the way through the training program - I recruited The Boy and I registered us for the 5K Fun Run. I figured it would be the perfect venue to learn the process of a Race Day.

I had managed to run 5k non-stop with Coach Cracker Jack breathing down my neck and threatening to look at my jiggly backside during one of our training days. But my personal training runs had suffered for two weeks afterward. I wasn't sure I should do 5k non-stop for this Fun Run. So my plan was to run/walk 5min:1min intervals until I finished. As well, I was sort of curious as to how The Boy would do. He'd run a solid, constant 4k before, but he'd never done a 5k. His plan was to do the intervals with me.

Fun Run Day dawned overcast and cool. It was windy down by the water where we'd be running. It was great running weather. I managed to register and mill around with other running folk without tipping anyone off that I was an imposter. I was sure my yoga pants would give me away! The race itself was great - my official finish time was 35:21 and I had plenty of juice at the end. Yea me!

Now The Boy was another story. He started off with me, was blown away at the starting line by the big boys who were runners and he spent the first 5 minutes considering things. After that, he let testosterone rule the day and I didn't see him again until I crossed the finish line. He finished in 31:24 and is certain that he will easily break the 30 minute mark at the upcoming Canada Day Run. He's very proud of himself. We both are :-)

So I continue with my training runs. I'm motivated and looking forward to the local Canada Day Run as well. I'll be running every 2 days now instead of every 3 or 4. I've managed to figure out my iPod and I've got a great running playlist that helps with my pace.

As Mr. A says when something is working out for the best: all that and a bag o'bananas! My personal bag 'o bananas is that I've got a bunch of skirts and summer pants that fit...again. Onward - to Canada Day! I wonder if I can break the 30 minute mark...?

~May~

2010-06-03T21:36:00.005-04:00

May's calendar page is sitting on my computer desk waiting to be blogged. It's sitting there quite innocently, right where I put it. But it's kind of glowering, too. Glaring it's blogging want.

May wasn't anything spectacular. I'm sure it was sort of indicative if the way things usually are around here. I sifted and coasted and drifted through the days, sometimes wishing I could keep my head in the game more consistently. I suppose I would feel better if I were able to concentrate on the wonderfulness of my kids and the happiness of the dogs and the simple luxury I live in every day. I'll have to remember that.

I started May with a clean house and a new haircut. I had a really nice Mother's Day.

Treats!

I helped my mom out by going to work for her for a day. That was interesting. One working momma meant two sets of packed lunches, a baby-sitter, a puppy-sitter, packed up school work, a morning rush, a late dinner and an early bedtime. Totally not something I would do every day on purpose. I suppose it was a jarring experience just because we've not lived that way in a long, long time.

The skittish white dog got an eye infection. And Mr. A, bless his poor, oblivious heart, learned the ins and outs of dealing with the vet. I think he debriefed for a week.

Niece!

My new knitting group seems to have taken off quite nicely. As I had hoped, a good crowd of diversity has shown up and they all seem to be happy with a relaxed, social atmosphere. I find myself looking forward to spending a couple of hours planning and preparing for the meetings. So, every other week at the local library, we knit. The other attendees have taken it upon themselves to carve out some space at the local pub to knit on the off weeks. Hilarious. And awesome.

New Kittens!

On the home school front, we're picking our way through the final bits of work for the year. Much of the language arts we did was finished in May. We're a little behind my schedule in our history studies and the kids made a plan to finish their math by June 4. Running club finished early so the coach could take some of the kids and groom them to join the local private school's track team. We had a social picnic-park play after a museum program to kick off the good weather. I'll have to remember to have another at the end of this month. We took in the local multicultural fair as well. Always a good time. It always surprises me how much the kids enjoy themselves there even though it's loud and crowded and they are scared to try the different food. They eat cotton candy and apple crisp while the rest of us are sampling Indian, Jamaican, Turkish, Irish and Chinese food.

"Science" With Mr. A!

The Blue Eyed Bandit grew so much over May! She's impressing everyone at obedience even though we didn't practice a whole lot. She's very smart. She's such a happy, peaceful puppy. And ever since I moved her crate to my bedroom, she's slept through the night. That only took me three months to figure out.

Bad Dog!

I was reminded throughout May that I have 'Me' opportunities popping up all over the place. It's a little exciting after focusing solely on the kids for so many years. I'm part of a book club that I love. The knitting group, getting out a couple of times a week for a walk/run, puppy classes. We even had a couple over twice in May. I don't want to call them Couple Friends...Mr. A is shy, you know...but I think there's potential!

June is shaping up: We still have to get the boats out so we can get out on the River with the kids. And the car is having major surgery to the tune of the cost of a week long family vacation to somewhere a plane ride away. The next round of puppy classes will start. The Boy will be playing soccer and I will be convening his age group. Exciting times, I say!

After The Storm - May Day

2010-05-02T11:05:00.002-04:00

After a surprise thunderstorm, we took the dogs to the dog park and then we enjoyed a bit of a drive around the local waterfront. The river was full of rolling mist. Mr. A snapped some pictures while I was driving.

Things have been a wee bit stormy on the home front lately, so it was nice to be out for a bit of family time...even if not all parties involved may have chosen such an activity. It was a way to clear the air and start fresh after we returned home.

I've been careful to try to keep this blog anonymous for a number of reasons. It's funny how the few of you who read here are at least 'Internet acquaintances'. I'm not so concerned anymore about maintaining total anonymity, especially since my local IRL concern has been quiet and non-concerning for some time now. I'm not going to begin name dropping, but I'm also not going to be overly concerned about using Photoshop to get rid of street signs and other identifying marks.

I'm looking forward to this coming week. Hopefully the weather has turned the final corner to spring. School work is winding down while panning for next year is ramping up. It's easier to think ahead to summer plans with the boat in the driveway and the kids spending more and more time outside.

Knitting News

2010-04-30T19:26:00.009-04:00

There's news on the knitting front.

I've started a community knitting group. Today I got the good-news go-ahead. The first Kniterary Night is planned to begin the second Tuesday in May.

Gah! There, I said it; so now it is real.

I had the idea flitting around in my head for months. Then I shared the idea with my mom. Then my mom brought it up when my sister was listening. Mom and Sister shared my thoughts with some people they know. See how it's snowballing? I don't know how comfortable I am with the whole idea. It's been a long time since I was a confident leader of anything.

So, under a little bit of duress, I approached the community outreach coordinator at the local library. Living in a small town has many benefits. It also has a few gaps. One of the local deficiencies is that we don't have a community center of any sort. The last year or so though, the local library has really started to step up and fill that gap. Armed with a brilliant plan for the perfect community knitting group I pitched my idea and volunteered my leadership to the nice lady at the library. (Can I call her a 'lady' if she's younger than me? This whole mid-30s thing is taking some getting used to.)

I'm kind of proud of myself for venturing forth to make a program that fills a need for ME. One of the reasons I did this was to be a good example for the kids. I think it's important for them to see that Mom is more than Chief Chef and Leader of the Laundry. That I have interests and activities that are just as important as theirs are.

I even used programming and management skills I learned in ~~college~~ a past life. It was a careful balance putting a proposal together. I didn't want to have to pay for meeting space. I wanted to have a hand in the purpose and direction of the group. I wanted an easy out just in case the relationship between the library and the knitting group wasn't working out very well. After some thought and discussion with Sister, we came up a really great proposal that was ideal for what we wanted. We just hoped that the community-minded library would feel the same way.

And it seems they do!

With most of the leg work already done, the details hammered out and control in my hands, there is little to do but wait for the 11th. I should spend the time knitting up various things as a planned portion of Knitterary Night is the Show & Tell. Since only I know the structure and schedule of the evening, I may want to be prepared to avoid awkward, empty silences. Now, that's a motivating thought....

Off to knit!

♥Mrs. A.

I Love Me A Seminar

2010-04-24T21:05:00.001-04:00

I love seminars. Or sessions. Or whatever you call those things you choose to attend when you get yourself to a conference. I love that I get a choice. I guess that's a good thing about being a grown-up (or a homeschooler...). You get to choose which classes you'd like to attend. And if the choices aren't' making your skirt fly up, then you just go shopping at the vendor fair.

Every time I go to a conference and attend the seminars, I take notes. I suppose this means I intend to go home and review my notes. Upon review, I intend to implement the points I noted as relevant. But we all know how that goes with me...meh. So I have this file folder on my shelf full of important conference notes. All those good intentions, those secrets to a perfect homeschool, those perfectly outlined subjects to teach with all the little tricks to make your kids love it. Just sitting on my shelf with the accompanying handout.

Handouts are a funny thing. I'm a little picky about handouts. I figure, if you're going to go to the trouble of preparing a seminar, why give it all away in the handout?! I think handouts should be a guide - a menu, if you will. Then, as you sit through the seminar, you're served the meat and potatoes of the meal. At the conference I attended last weekend, one of the presenters read through her handout for the duration of the seminar. She read each and every point that was printed on the paper. 2/3 of the way through her talk, people had caught on and were starting to leave. I think most people who come to a conference are looking to spend their time as efficiently as possible. Listening to someone read through a handout just doesn't fit the bill.

Of course, getting to choose your seminar usually means that you've got a vested interest in the subject matter. Chances are, you're going to enjoy yourself. It's likely that the topic is going to speak to you and you're going to want to implement the new method/material. At the very least, you'll find yourself motivated.

The last seminar I attended that I really enjoyed was called "Organizing Your Homeschool". The handout was nice. It was an outline of what the presenter would cover. It's got contact information and web addresses for reference. So now, a week later, I look at the handout and I'm reminded of all the interesting things the presenter had to say. I love a good handout. The presenter herself is an experienced speaker. That's always a plus. Experience means time for questions at the end of the seminar. It means getting all the material covered. It usually means not a lot of um's and ah's.

I thought I would tuck in my seminar notes here at Zehn+. I waffle back and forth as to if I should or not. After all, I don't want to be accused of spreading 'trade secrets' that usually cost something to hear and generally put dinner on someone's table. On the other hand, blogging my notes will get them off my shelf where they are just taking up space. They'll be easier for me to reference, too. My notes are not going to win any awards and they're definitely not going to overshadow someone's hard work nor will they reiterate a seminar word for word. They're going to speak to me. So without further ado, here's what I scribbled during my "Organizing Your Homeschool" seminar last weekend:

Organizing Your Homeschool

April 17, 2010

Sheila Wray Gregoire

(Reference Sheila's book To Love, Honour and Vacuum. There is an appendix just for homeschooling moms.)

Part A:Why Homeschooling Becomes Hectic

When you're home all the time, the issues any family has become magnified. If homeschooling fails, it usually has more to do with these issues than with academics:

managing housework
occupying small children
respect
getting children to work
organizing time

- Do you find yourself busy every day but do you feel like you're not accomplishing anything? It's like things are spinning out of control. How do you stop the spinning? Pick a point and move steadily toward it. The point you pick should be your goal, the reason you're homeschooling.

- Look to your goal. Focus on your family relationship; your relationship with your kids. Get rid of the things that are causing you to feel unorganized/hectic. (For those who like to, check out Hebrews 12: 1-3: Look to Jesus. Focus on Relationship. Throw off the weights that hinder you.)

Part B: Change What You Do

- respect + order = a more peaceful home
- plan for a comfortable home, not a perfect home
- plan for a flexible homeschool, not a perfect homeschool
- have room for kids to explore and learn; they need space to spread out (use bookcases and have table space avail)

Declutter - one room a week until you can maintain; 15minutes at a time if it's overwhelming; everything needs a place esp in kids' rooms

Homeschool Decluttering - take photos and get rid of the projects; save favourite artwork and have it bound; save important work in a portfolio and get rid of the rest; go back and make school year portfolios to reduce storage bins; keep special work, tests and essays

Daily Housework - tidy time is separate from cleaning time; have regular tidy times with the kids

Plan - have a daily plan; prioritize schoolwork

Meal Plan - menus save a whole lot of stress and time

Consistency - when kids know what to expect, they do it without complaining; mom must model the expectations (eg. if schoolwork starts at 9, mom has to be ready at 9!!)

Inconsistency = a level of stress in the house (this is totally loud and clear in our house at dinner time. I never know what to make or when it will land on the table!); kids will push boundaries to see what the limit is; this leaves no room for creative exploration

Schedule - do you want a regimented schedule or something more flexible? Decide.

Forms and suggestions : http://www.donnayoung.org/ or http://www.sheilawraygregoire.com/ (click on Free Stuff)

Part C: Change Our Relationship Dynamic

Although we want some structure and accomplishment in our day, we also want fun and spontaneity; that won't happen on its own

1. Sheila says kids need to clean
- give kids an area to be responsible for during cleaning or tidy time
- everyone needs to feel productive; start the day with chores; mom feels resentful if she has to do it all

2. Sheila says to plan downtime/creative time
- have rules during 'school time' so kids don't run off and watch tv (no screens, no phone)
(- this makes schoolwork a priority)
- RULES APPLY TO MOM AS WELL (although Sheila says running off to do laundry is ok)
- have interesting things available to do (colouring/activity books, novels, puzzles, games)
- mom can set up things (like a science exploration or demo) to inspire; rotate these
- mom needs to be disciplined if the kids are expected to be

3. Sheila says to get outside
- burn energy doing errands, playing games, getting exercise, exploring
- garden, nature study, whatever gets the kids outside

4. Sheila says to protect your time
- try to consolidate errands/lessons/appointments on one day
- try to consolidate making/taking calls to an hour a day; leave the rest 'till tomorrow
- stay away from email and Facebook during school/family/organizing time

Sheila's last word: Attitude Shift: You are at work. Your children are at work. For this time, you will be present.

My Surprise Treasure

2010-04-20T21:12:00.011-04:00

This is the surprise treasure I found at the conference this past weekend. It is a basic novel study guide put together by Sheila Wray Gregoire. (If you click though, beware the Pink!)

I have often lamented the fact that novel studies cost $10 - $25 and can only be used once if the kids write in them. My most recent forays into novel study with the kids have ended in disaster. I'll spare you the messy details.

I was so excited when Sheila mentioned her new resource during her seminar at the conference. Mr. A is convinced that it was a barely disguised sales tactic (always the skeptic!), but I still say it was a timely answer to a question from the audience.

Before the end of the day, I popped back into Sheila's seminar room and bought a copy for myself. I'm excited to have a guide to help us through a novel study but I'm also excited that I have a flexible resource aimed at older homeschooling kids.

At first glance, the 'Any Novel' Novel Study guide looks simple, straightforward and easy to use. It's laid out neatly without a lot of fluff and filler.

The section for students takes off from the starting line. The reader is to map out the work into a manageable schedule. There are even check boxes for those who like such thing.

The Guide then flows through the major components of any good study guide: understanding character, plot, theme and setting.

There are different kinds of projects and exercises for the student to choose from throughout. There are vocabulary exercises, writing prompts, art projects and craft suggestions. Lots of choice allowing the Guide to be used over and over again.

The parent guide is written to keep you in the loop. It lets you know what your student is working on thereby reducing the over-the-shoulder-itis that we parents sometimes succumb to.

When I use this novel study, I am going to remove the parent guide and give the rest of it to the kids. They are at an age where I can expect more independent work from them but they still need some guidance to stay on track. I think this resource has just enough coaching to get the job done.

We're not big on marking and grades. However, as the kids are noticing their friends getting marked and graded on everything, the conversation does come up. We probably won't mark a novel study, but the marking scheme is there. I know the Girl Child will go over it and quietly consider her her work against the marking scheme. The Boy, if he finds the chart, will pester me until I assign him a mark.

And there you have it: a straightforward novel study master. Just plug in your own novel. I bought my hard copy for $20. A download purchase costs $14.95 ($15.65 CAD). The link is here. Just for the record, that's quite a page of advertisement. The link to buy is down at the bottom. I'll be sure to chronicle our first foray into novel study land. Messy details and all.

♥Mrs. A

Thoughts On A Conference

2010-04-18T20:06:00.003-04:00

Mr. A and I are back from a local-ish homeschooling conference. I have all sorts of thoughts and ideas swirling around my head. Before I tackle those, though, I thought I would debrief the conference experience itself.

Normally I look forward to a yearly homeschooling conference. I find them encouraging and motivating. I like being surrounded by like-minded people...even if I don't know any of them.

I like attending seminars given by authors of materials we use. It's insightful to hear the reasoning and intention behind a particular curriculum. The authors are full of great ideas and tidbits that really help you to use their material to your greatest advantage.

I especially enjoy the vendor fair. I comparison shop. I'm a touchy-feely shopper so I need to flip pages. I need to check page layout. I need to weigh the book in my hands. If I know what I want, I have no problem ordering from a catalogue. But if I'm looking for something new, I have to browse with my hands and see what else is on the shelf nearby.

This year, my conference experience was going to be very different. Mr. A decided to come with me. This would be his first conference. I never pegged Mr. A as the HSing conference type. I was worried that he might not enjoy the day or be engaged by the speakers. But, the lure of the conference was strong. It overshadowed my trepidation and we made a date of attending together. I decided the day called for an open minded attitude on my part. After all, Mr. A would at least enjoy spending the day with me.

Being a (mostly) confident and (fairly) experienced HSing mom, I knew to get the most out of the conference I had to take what I wanted and leave the rest. I left the keynote address and snapped up a seminar given by someone I've waited two years to hear speak. (<--more on that later!) I made the call to skip the last seminar in order to spend time in the vendor hall when it wasn't so crowded. One of my main goals of the day was to browse for new grammar and science resources. Mr. A and I decided to only buy what I can't order from my favourite HS supplier instead of buying all our supplies. It was hard not to buy everything up right then, but I was able to persevere since Mr. A was Keeper of the Currency. I also like to buy direct if I can. I was able to get our French workbooks directly from the author as well as a surprise treasure directly from the source. (<--more on that later, too!)

Mr. A stuck by my side the whole day. I thought Mr. A represented the supportive homeschooling dad very well. He was a little amused to be the only guy in the room a couple of times throughout the day. In the first seminar (titled: Organizing Your Homeschool) he listened intently and seemed to be impressed that I was taking notes. A couple of times he leaned over and waggled his eyebrows at me while nodding toward the presenter suggestively. That was my cue to take a note. I choose not to analyze his motives too closely. I was trying to be open minded, after all.

The end of the day involved a detour to a nearby MEC store. I'm not too sure what it has to do with helping me feel encouraged and motivated about homeschooling, but Mr. A insisted I needed a new kayaking PFD. That would be the yellow and black bits alongside my new collection of catalogues in the photo above. I decided this open minded attitude thing definitely made for a successful day.

Feeling jazzed about the remainder of the school year,

♥Mrs. A.

Draining, Frustrating, Very Bad, No Good Day

2010-03-10T21:06:00.006-05:00

I'm sitting here this evening - with my second coffee of the day (yea me!) - reflecting on the kind of day I had.

I had a bad day. It was a Sad Mom Day. It's well on its way to being a Mom Gives Up and Hides In Bed Day.

I don't like to be so negative. Usually, as soon as I start to own my bad day, my thoughts immediately start to rebel and I think, "Surely something wasn't so bad today!" Then, the happy part of my brain gets out the frilly stationary and starts to make a list. It's very annoying.

So here I sit purposefully reflecting on my bad day. No one felt cared for or nurtured today. We were all so fragmented that someone's needs were an infringement for someone else. The Girl Child was sad and frustrated. The Boy Child was not feeling well and anxious. I was pretending to be patient which frustrates Mr. A. to the ends of his patience.

In a particularly harried moment between The Boy and his sister, I calmly said, "And that display just earned you both an 8:30 bedtime." I haven't scaled back bedtime in years. In fact, it's been years since they even had a bedtime. We have bedguidelines around here.

I explained to The Girl Child - with The Boy hovering close by - that my parenting toolbox only had so many tools in it. (One of those tools being patience.) If the tools had to be pulled out and used up early in the day, then there wouldn't be any left by the end of the day.

The kids laughed at me. At least the tension was diffused. For the moment.

From there the day continued falling down the hill. The Girl Child dug in her heels and The Boy Child overcompensated.

I thought perhaps a little large muscle activity and sunshine would improve everyone's demeanor. At the very least, a quiet house would improve Mr. A's. I took The Boy, The Girl and The Blue Eyed Bandit downtown. We walked by the river and along the bike trail to my sister's house. I knew she probably wouldn't be home, but the kids didn't know that and the dog didn't care. We ended up walking for an hour. I persisted with my happy patience, The Boy talked a blue streak and The Girl walked four feet behind with her arms crossed. The. Whole. Way.

Later on at home, I cleaned up and made dinner while Mr. A worked late. The kids waited for dinner. I was biding my time. When everyone's blood sugar was sufficiently stabilized I started cleaning up the day's mental and emotional debris.

Throughout the cleanup, I was methodical and precise. The menfolk, bless their hearts, were uncomplicated. Eventually, though, I had to draw very clear lines in the sand between The Girl and I.

I seriously hope it's true that kids test limits because they want boundaries. The Girl Child was reminded of some key boundaries. She wasn't too sure that the boundaries should apply to her. The Girl was reminded that although the boundaries are not flexible, there were certain privileges and 'perks' that are not only flexible, they are downright removable. Imagine how clear and uncluttered those pesky boundaries would be if I were to remove all of that perky privilege!

By bedtime - yes, at 8:30pm - everyone was calm and relaxed. Thank goodness. Pleasant words and kind voices were back in residence. We're all looking forward to tomorrow. Ok, most of us are looking forward to most of tomorrow. There's a science project that is looming over a certain 7th grader's head.

So here I sit questioning myself. My homeschool. My relationships. My parenting path. My decision to take 10th grade 'Clothing' when obviously someone should have been teaching 'How To Parent Your Adolescent'.

I'm hoping the emotional dramatics are hormones and that with patience and loving and lots of talking there will be no permanent damage. I'm hoping that I can find the tools I need to do a better job for all of us.

All on two cups of coffee a day.

Please send chocolate,

♥ Mrs. A

Today Was The Day...

2010-03-08T21:33:00.005-05:00

Today was the day that I began to cut back on my caffeine ~~problem~~ habit.

I think - in fact, I'm pretty sure - that I've done this before. A ~~couple~~ bunch of times. I'll spare you the pain and I won't link back to my previous ~~attempts~~ episodes. I'm weak and I have no willpower. It's pathetic.

I tell Mr. A that it is a very good thing that I've lived a squeaky clean lifestyle when it comes to addictive substances. If I ever had the ill-conceived notion to get adventurous with nefarious substances, I'd have been a goner long ago.

I've given up coffee cold-turkey a couple of times. Each time, it took an entire weekend - Friday night 'till Monday morning - before I was remotely ambulatory and partially functioning. Caffeine withdrawal makes me sick. There's a sign or a lesson there that I'm ignoring, isn't there?

It's not the coffee that's the problem. It's the sugar and cream that I doctor it up with that are the real culprits. I'm convinced that white sugar is the devil's work. It's got to be one of the worst substances on the planet that we ingest. Yet I continue to pour it into each and every cup of coffee I prepare. I continue to shout, "Triple, triple!!" into the drive thru speaker box. I thought the little creamers you get at the restaurant were bad with their 10% Real Cream...until I discovered how decadent a cup of coffee can be at home with Table Cream. 18% of creamy, buttery, fatty richness.

Today I distracted myself long enough that it was 2pm before I had my first coffee of the day. By then, my eyes felt like they were being turned inside out, my brain had a pulse and my stomach threatening to.... The Girl Child was experiencing a crisis of dramatic teenage proportions and was taking it out on the rest of us who love her most. I was desperate.

I made a lovely Golden French Toast flavoured coffee in a ~~pail~~ tall travel mug. I looked at all the headroom in the mug and I made another right on top of the first. I poured in a generous estimate of 'enough' sugar, topped it off with cream so it was sloshing out the hole in the lid and the kids and I walked to the rink in time to meet our friends for skating.

Beautiful things happen when you have the perfect cup of coffee. But I digress. I'm supposed to be cutting back not extolling the virtues. So let's just say that I made it through the rest of the day and I have a feeling the coffee(s) helped.

This evening was ~~chaotic~~ busy and challenging. I was finally able to help solve The Girl's crisis, I dealt with Mr. A's in-laws (ahem), got The Boy to his last hockey of the season, pulled off a proper dinner with Mr. A's help in under an hour - cleanup included and I ninja-cleaned without freaking out because we had surprise company stopping by. And I did it all with that pesky raging headache that was plaguing me again. Monday is Laundry Day, folks, not Sit In My Clean House Day. Most people can deal with this kind of business at the end of their day with patience and finesse. Not me. This kind of evening makes me ~~crazy~~ want a coffee. Nice coping mechanism, eh?

So I made a lovely cuppa and - because I'm cutting back - I decided to ~~use~~ be brave and forgo the cream and sugar. Instead, I whacked it with that liquid bravery to cut the bitter coffee taste that I really don't like. Kahlua flavoured bravery is the best.

I'm aiming for two coffees tomorrow. Then I start to cut the good stuff with decaf.

♥ Mrs. A.

Sunday Afternoon

2010-03-07T15:34:00.004-05:00

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm revisiting my blog.

Hello Blog. Long time no see. No pictures today. Keeping it simple.

It seems Spring may have sprung in this neck of the woods. The wind is warmish. Everything's muddy and it just looks dirty out. However, there is sunshine. I went for a walk out at the local conservation area yesterday. There is still a fair covering of snow on the trails - 3 to 4 inches - and there is still thick ice on the water, but there are definitely signs of Spring if you look.

As I do most Springtimes, I am making plans to attend a homeschooling conference. I will attend a smaller conference this year; only an hour from me. I'm thinking of collecting a few local homeschooling moms to drag along. I thought it would be nice to make a day of it. I have secret plans of making a yarn store stop while there. Not only will the conference be motivating and affirming, it will also be stash building! Doesn't get much better than that.

I'm looking toward Summer due to the fact that summer activity registrations are upon us. The Boy Child is registered for outdoor soccer. He was invited to join the competitive league, but we've declined. Making the competitive team means 2 or 3 nights a week plus travelling up to two hours for games. As a family, that's not a commitment we're ready to make. We'd like to be able to have the children do one or two activities during the summer plus still have time for them to do their less structured things: library programs, bike riding, boating, friends, laziness and tomfoolery with the neighbourhood friends.

The Girl Child still has to find an active activity to pursue this Summer. She's decided against soccer and swimming - two things she's enjoyed during past summers. She's not going to do basketball, kayaking or canoeing, baseball or softball, anything at the YMCA, running, biking, road hockey or any kind of dance. I enquired as to whether she would entertain the idea of horseback riding knowing that she would have to chip in for the cost of summer lessons. She's thinking about it. She will be doing some of her 'I'm not going to...' list if only because she'll be dragged along on a family outing. I just haven't told her that yet.

Life with two dogs in the house is interesting. After a few weeks of settling into the new arrangement, The Skittish White Dog has been a little jealous. Crate training has begun in earnest this weekend as the neighbours, with whom we share a wall, are away. If someone is in the house, the puppy (henceforth to be known as The Blue Eyed Bandit) takes quite a while to settle. If we're all gone, then it's about 10 minutes. Nights are slowly getting better. She goes into the crate at 11pm and comes out sometime between 6 and 7:30am. She's getting very solid with her commands in the house. Out of the house...well, let's just say I make sure she's pretty well on her way and has definitely seen the treat when I shout 'come'. All in all, I'm happy we decided to add to our chaos.

I think I'll stop here for today. I'm going to go out with the dogs and enjoy the sunshine before heading to my parents' for a family dinner. My sister and her husband are just home from Jamaica and my brother is going to try to make it (in a timely manner) with his lovely wife and baby. It will be nice to catch up with them.

Skittish White Dog Has A Friend

2010-02-16T21:32:00.004-05:00

The Skittish White Dog is becomming a little more placid...

This and That

2010-02-12T23:41:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy week.I'll recap quickly.

We added a four-legged beastie to the family last Saturday. She sleeps well as long as I'm sleeping on the couch beside her. Crate training is coming along nicely in bits. The Skittish White Dog - surprisingly - likes her. She's in need of a blogging name. Perhaps we'll make that next week's project.

My blogging is in need of a predictable potty schedule.

I celebrated a birthday on Thursday the 11th. Both kids and Mr. A got right into it. It was awesome. Now the five-year countdown to the big 'four oh' is on. I'm not worked up like some get about 40. This last year was a tough one for me and I'm just glad it's over and done. Onward and upward, right?

There's a baby puppy in my house. She's very cute.

Knitting enthusiasts: I signed up for the Knitting Olympics over at http://www.yarnharlot.com/. I'm not brave enough to jump into the Ravelympics yet. I'm making Hattie's Rose Garden Scarf seen here knitted up by Monika. Hopefully mine might turn out half as nicely as hers.

The kids and I were watching the Olympic opening. They went to bed just as the fiddlers started. I think that's my favourite part yet.

Question of the day: When the husky puppy gets upset and starts yowling and yipping ('cause they don't really bark), why does the big husky dog feel the need to join in?! Please send patience and earplugs.

♥Mrs. A who is looking forward to another night on the couch....not really.

Pushing & Pulling

2010-02-04T21:11:00.009-05:00

As dismal as I've been feeling lately, the last thing I want to do is to go outside. But, since the dismal depressing doldrums are directly caused by hibernating inside, I am pushing myself to get outside. The kids and I have been out - for more than a cursory breath of fresh air - every day in February. I know it's only the 4th, but cut me some slack. I'm depressed. I have a headache and I've not been sleeping.

We've been taking the few minutes walk here. To 'The Hill', as the local yokels refer to it. It's The Boy Child's favourite place to spend time once the snow flies. There's the rink, the typical Canadian stereotypical one, where there's an equally stereotypical game of unending gentlemanly pond hockey happening.

Curiously, The Skittish White Dog is not so skittish about pulling the sled up the hill. Once the kids discovered this, they jubilantly put her into service. This, in turn, puts me into service as Skittish White Dog may never, ever, not once be off-leash. Skittish White Dog bounds up the hill like she's been born and bred to pull things places. (Duh!)

I'm not sure if the kids or the dog most enjoy our cold, forced outings. Hopefully I'll begin to enjoy them more. It would be nice if that would kick in soon. I quite enjoyed my fall 'runs' with The Skittish White Dog so I'm not sure what happened to kill my mojo between then and now.

Here's to continued cold night-time temperatures (perfect ice making conditions) and warmer day-time temperatures (perfect playing outside conditions).

Am I Really Doing This?!

2010-02-03T17:09:00.004-05:00

Say hello to KinderSurprise and FerreroRoché. I get to meet them and their brothers on Saturday.

Can someone please tell me what I'm thinking?

Who goes to 'meet' puppies and then returns home empty handed? What are the odds? I suppose I should mention that Mr.A and the kidlets will be with me. That's Mr.A, the guy who has nary a maternal bone in his body but still talks baby talk to The Skittish White Dog.

What kind of person sits at home late into the evening and searches the Internet for poor, destitute, homeless puppies?

I've really backed myself into a potty-breaks-every-three-hours kind of corner.

The little ladies pictured above are from a mom who was rescued with 96 other dogs from a defunct sledding camp in Québec. The 97 dogs quickly became many more as 30 of them were 'in a family way'. The dogs have been fostered out to shelters and rescue organizations throughout the area.

The empathetic side of me says, 'How can we NOT rescue one of these poor things?' The practical side of me says, 'Woman, WHAT are you THINKING?!'

Excuse me while I go try to resolve myself. ~sigh~

Happy "♥" Month

2010-02-01T21:32:00.004-05:00

February is Heart Month.*

For all of February, my good friend Mrs.P is going to make an effort to utilize her family's YMCA membership on a daily basis. Her two boys are going to be dragged along. They are mostly willing participants in the plan. Especially once they heard that their schoolwork will be moved to the #2 position on the daily priority list.

My good friend Mrs.P and her family are personally touched by heart disease. She is doing her best to model good habits so that her boys are spared a myriad of health problems, especially problems in the ticker department.

Upon hearing this ambitious news from Mrs.P, I immediately got to thinking. I wonder what I could do to ~~make my children miserable~~ support heart healthy habits through the month of February?

I don't have a fancy all-access pass to the local Y nor am I about to acquire one. I do, as chance would have it, have a poor-man's pass to the great wide open - which is just as good, although the climate control has a bit to be desired at this time of year.

Without telling my kids, I made a commitment to (at the very least) get outside for a bit of activity each day in February. The Heart and Stroke Foundation recommends that people are active 30 to 60 minutes a day - 60 to 90 minutes if you're a kid type people. Not that I need an expert opinion to tell me how to lead my life, but in this instance, a guideline might be prudent. I tend to err on the side of laziness.

The driving ambition behind this most recent commitment came last week when I was sprawled on the living room carpet with the kids. The Girl Child and I were drilling multiplication facts with The Boy...which nearly always involves fidgeting, jiggling or some other restless energy type activity. Math fact practice quickly morphed into a demonstration of contorted stretching poses where I quickly noticed a marked lack of flexibility in both the kids.

At the very least, an inflexible person is susceptible to injury from daily trips, slip and falls. These kids can't touch their toes without their knees popping up off the floor. They can't even sit up straight-backed with their legs stretched out in front. I began to worry. I began to take inventory of the amount of physical activity these kids are getting . The Boy, he easily gets a good chunk of activity in a day. The Girl, not so much.

And so, Heart Month gives us a good excuse to get moving. Sometimes kids need a Good Excuse in addition to mom's Because I Said So. And I will disguise it all under the guise of School Work if I have to.

Today we got outside very successfully. After a bit of morning schoolwork, the kids had a choice: they could stay inside doing housework and preparing lunch or they could go outside. They opted for outside. 30 minutes of wrestling and chasing each other in the snow, check! We walked to the skating rink - which should count double due to the windchill - and skated for an hour before heading home.

Tomorrow I'll tell the kids about ~~our~~ my month-long goal. Or maybe I won't. I wonder how much of a challenge I'm up for?

At any rate, it's Heart Month people. Take a look at your daily physical activity. Getting any? Take a look at your eating habits. How's your portion size? Got any heart healthy food on you plate? I figure if I can jump-start good habits in a Canadian February (and there's really no reason I shouldn't be able to except for the laziness factor...and maybe the windchill) then there's no reason I can't have good habits on every other day of the year. But for now, for me, it's just the next 27 days that count.

♥Mrs. A

*Seriously, were the Canadian Heart and Stroke people thinking of Canadian winters when they chose February to encourage people to get out and be more active for the good of their heart?! The wind this week is coming from the West, straight off of the Great Lakes. Do you know how cold that is? I suppose if I have to explain windchill to someone, there's no point. But I will say, there's a reason that animals hibernate and I can't say I blame them. I have been a firm believer of hibernation, especially in February. AND - if you can happen to get past the wind on this part of the globe at this point of the year, there's a great deal of ICE to consider. Ice that arrived as 40mm of rain last week, then promptly froze. I tell you, it's very unpredictable here in Canada-land. Did I mention I live in one of the more southern regions of this Great White North? Nary a mountain, igloo or aurora borealis to be seen in these parts. Skidoos are parked 50 weeks of the year around here. Downright balmy compared to most Canuk habitat. So, again, was February the best month they could come up with?!

A Basket of Tricks

2010-01-28T19:04:00.000-05:00

This is my basket of newness. New stuff, new skills, a new adventure. It's become uncovered since my recent purge and I'm very excited to get into it. I'm excited, which gives me some degree of motivation, but my perfectionist tendencies are slowing me down a bit.

Last Spring, while on a field trip with the local homeschoolers, I bought a pound of pygora fleece. It was very dirty, so over the summer, I made a project out of washing a measly pound of fiber. It was a huge ordeal because the smell of this fleece was enough to knock you over and I really didn't want it in my washing machine. I really didn't think it could be salvaged. I definitely learned a thing or two throughout the process. I'm left with a trimmed (or 'skirted' for you fiber-type people), less smelly, definitely usable chunk of fiber.

Accompanying my fleecy fiber are a cheap pair of slicker brushes that I will use to card the fleece when I work up enough gumption to do so. I was so impressed with the success Miranda and her kids enjoyed throughout their Fiber Adventures, that I am very encouraged to have a go at my own Adventure. I serendipitously came across the spinning book at my library's used book sale. Hopefully with the very informative, pre-Internet book, Ravelry, YouTube and Google, I'll be able to make do. Just this week I was able to get my hands on a drop spindle with which to complete the final step of processing my pygora. Happily, the spindle came with a couple of ounces of prepared fiber that I can learn with. Pygora spins up into a beautiful, silky yarn, but it doesn't do so easily. Or so I read.

While in the yarn shop handling spindles, a skein of yarn leaped off the shelf and landed in my shopping bag. I hear that's a risk you take when shopping in a yarn shop. It's a hand-dyed wool/angora/nylon blend called 'Rainbow' by Infiknit from their One Of A Kind line. I'm excited to see what it becomes.

I'm so glad I was able to dig through the clutter to unearth a small basket of potential. It's so much easier to keep your eye on the goal when there are only carefully chosen elements in your basket. I think there are a few areas of my life that could use a little de-cluttering and re-focusing. One thing at a time, though. This is a great place to start.

Baby Gift

2010-01-27T20:56:00.002-05:00

For a couple who started on their journey to parenthood with nothing but the bun in the oven, my new niece is remarkably well equipped.

Four baby showers will do that.

As the baby 'necessities' began piling up a few months ago, I began to wonder what a thoughtful, lasting Welcome To The World baby gift we could give.

The kids and I decided to give a book basket. Whenever we were out shopping, I would buy a book or two. We each selected some of our favourite stories to include. A colourful bin - useful for containing all sorts of things - and a pile of books later and we have a baby gift ready to be delivered. In our county, there is a volunteer book service that delivers a free Golden Book per month to any child until they turn six. I was careful to include the registration form in a stamped envelope. Our gift was well received when we visited earlier this evening. The Boy Child was invited to give a tour of the books we'd chosen. This gave him something to do since he insists on not holding the baby.

New Baby Girl arrived a week ago and has been spending her time listening to Mozart's complete works as well as giving her dad a run for his money on the opposite side of a Scrabble board. She seems to be getting her days and nights sorted out. Her and her mom are working on the feeding thing. She's trying out this bathing thing and ventured out today, well bundled, for her first Walk.

The funniest thing I've seen in a long time is my brother prancing across the room on tip-toe to give New Baby Girl kisses. I hear he needed a lesson on correct disposal methods of soiled baby items. He was caught taking a receiving blanket to the garbage when a diaper leaked and needed to be redirected to the laundry room. That was the funniest thing I've heard in a long time.

Our visit with the new family of three was uneventful and relaxing. Apparently we were helpful: The Girl Child and I took turns holding the sleeping New Baby Girl while new-mom and new-dad ate dinner.

I somehow managed to return home one child short. My brother offered to take The Boy Child with him to his basketball game. I think it's suddenly a lot less work to take his 10-year old nephew on an outing than it is his 10-day old daughter.

Today Was A Dentist Day

2010-01-26T21:39:00.005-05:00

Today was Dentist Day. On a Dentist Day, I usually get dressed in my Mother Guilt and gear up for a busy day and a lighter wallet.

Today was no different. We had an early lunch and drove the hour to the pediatric dentist in the next big town to the west. The nice thing about going to the city is that there is plenty of opportunity for big, shiny carrots to dangle in front of my mostly miserable offspring.

The poor things are miserable because in the dental DNA department (the source of my Mother Guilt), they got the short end of the stick. For every cleaning they've ever had, there is usually a more serious problem to fix, patch or pull. This particular visit involved trying to rebuild a molar for The Boy and three extractions for The Girl.

Before even approaching the dentist's office today, we hit the toy store. This carrot was to distract The Boy Child so that he did not become too anxious before his appointment. He returned a duplicated Christmas gift and received a store credit which turned his logical, number crunching brain to money matters. Nothing was bought, but the discussion from the toy store to the dentist's chair encompassed all matters related to saving allowance, finding online product reviews and creating calendar checkpoints leading up to the potential purchase day.

He was not a happy camper when he assumed the position in the examination chair. It's the needles that set him off. Well, it's the idea of the needles, really. Once the nitrous oxide is flowing and the topical numbing agent has been applied, the needles are a piece of cake. He always stops the dentist to tell her that it was not nearly as bad as he thought it was going to be. Clear sailing for the rest of the appointment. The Boy and his brittle, weak enamel are patched up for another few months. The Boy returned to the waiting room where he immediately began organizing the office's meager Lego supply.

I had the job of taking The Girl to the examination room. By the hand. She felt it her duty to pretend a dramatic display of dental angst. Even though she's very near to being taller than me, she still needs to let everyone know that her miserable 12-year old life is all my fault. The Girl handles her stress and anxiety more quietly than her brother. Sarcasm and dramatics are popular tools of hers. But very soon the nitrous oxide was flowing again and the needles were tolerated with only a wee bit of toe curling. A bit of elbow grease on the part of the dentist and The Girl was three teeth lighter. For some unexplained reason, these primary teeth were hanging in there for the long haul.

The Girl was quite concerned, but not about the gaping spaces in her smile. She wanted her proverbial carrot. Still dozey from the gas, she wanted to make sure we were able to get to the book store before we left for home. She was so concerned, in fact, that the dentist had to set the timer so that she would keep her groggy butt parked until she was cleared for take-off.

I won't even get into how drugged I felt after the appointments when my funds were frozen and extracted. Please send your sympathies to zehnplus@gmail.com...

Soon I found myself in the book store with two drooly, slurring kids, one of who was very clearly not herself. Normally quite animated in the book store, The Girl was wandering around like the walking wounded. She couldn't find one appealing thing for me to buy for her. A clear sign that she should rest. One Universe book later, picked out by The Boy, we were on our way.

The kids were such troopers today. I'm proud of the way they handled themselves. As stressed out and anxious as they were, they were steady and brave when the going got tough. They were good company, considerate travellers and mature conversationalists. All the sibling 'issues' I see in a regular day disappeared and resurfaced as kind words and empathy for each other. (I suppose misery really does love company?!) At the end of the day, I am reminded of how great my kids are.

I am also reminded that they are not stupid. I'm off to do something about the three teeth under my 12-year old's pillow. Did I mention how much today is costing me??!

What Mess Is This?!

2010-01-25T21:59:00.002-05:00

It's funny how I've acquired such a pile of knitting supplies. It seems you mention to one person that you've taken up a bit of knitting and things start showing up on your doorstep.

The most memorable of my acquisitions was gifted to me by a retiring knitter. It bridged the crochet-to-knitting gap for me as I hadn't really become a knitter yet. A large supply of needles landed on my doorstep one day. Upon inspection I discovered I had many long needles in many sizes, double pointed needles - long and short - also in the most popular sizes, and a full compliment of circular needles.

Along with the needles came a big lot of yarn. I learned very quickly that knitters tend to be particular about the yarn they prefer. 100% acrylic all the time is not my preference. Being a new knitter, I wasn't sure what my preference was, but it certainly wasn't this. After a few years of sitting in my basement with the odd experiment inflicted upon it, much of this yarn was destined to the local Red Cross knitters.

Just this past weekend, I finally weeded my knitting needles. I've kept a set of crochet hooks, and one set of each size in the long, double-pointed and circular knitting needle styles. I also pared my stash (see...I'm a knitter now because I'm using all the right lingo). It was brutal. I am left with a small shopping bag of carefully selected fiber.

Ready to be re-gifted to other aspiring knitters is a collection of needles and yarn - a large garbage bag full of it. It is in my basement, waiting patiently for said knitters to turn up.

Hopefully they will not turn up in my basement. Hopefully, some might turn up at a local meeting of knitters. Since there is not such a group in my area, I began to think about what it would take to organize such a group. I said as much to my sister, who spoke to her friend, who also has a friend. Sister also said something to her mother-in-law who, as it turns out, also has a friend. I mentioned something to my mom, who, wouldn't you know it, has a friend. All of these people are interested in a semi-regular knitting gathering.

My sister and I are working toward organizing a free meeting location and a schedule. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of people we're going to pull out of the woodwork. I'm sure I can 'gift' knitting newbies with a set of needles and a ball of yarn. That would be welcoming, no? I think it would be only fitting that I help others in their acquisition of knitting supplies since others were so generous to me.

Winds of Change for The Boy Child

2010-01-18T22:04:00.004-05:00

The Boy Child came to me last week and made a very valid point. He hates math and history. They're boring and too much work. It makes the whole school day awful, waiting for those nasty subjects to be finished with, only to have to do it all over again tomorrow.

Ouch. Over the summer I had carefully considered our subjects and acquired the materials. I had carefully considered our calendar. Then I carefully broke down our materials into daily work that could be fit comfortably over the course of our calendar. Good plan, right? Lots of room for days off and flexibility. Easily encompasses the kids' request of 'Please don't make us do catching up on our work this year, Mom'. Yet still lots of stuff to get through. Mr. A like to see us doing stuff in our day.

The Boy's point quickly reminded me that I had no backup: no Plan B, no alternate exit. I needed a detour and I needed one now...well, for Thursday, the complaint being heard at Wednesday's bedtime. Knowing me, if I thought about this problem too long, I would turn it into a perfectionist's nightmare requiring me to re-plan 36 weeks of schoolwork complete with re-vamped resources and new paperwork. And wouldn't that stall our momentum?

So I thought the best course of action would be to take inventory. I can't change the materials, but I can change the method of delivery if I want. The Girl, who participates in the history work, is not opposed to the work once she gets going on it. In fact, she's doing a good job. So, modifications required for The Boy, but not necessarily The Girl.

Math
The Boy Child is working his way through Saxon 5/4 this year. I chose the Saxon program based on my own math insecurities and my lack of regular-use-of-all-things-mathish as well as for the painfully detailed explanations they provide for every step of every concept. The Boy, being fairly math minded and very quick on learning concepts, only does half the daily questions in the problem set. Even numbered problems on even numbered lessons and odd numbered problems on odd numbered lessons gives him regular and thorough practice. Test Days are popular because there is no lesson that day, just the 20-question test. There are several parts to a Saxon Math lesson. Each day, The Boy reads a lesson and does the questions presented to practice the new concept. There is the problem set of questions that I mentioned above. There is also a daily fact practice page that takes 2 to 5 minutes to do, depending on how motivated The Boy is. As long as test scores stay in the excellent range (my expectation) The Boy Child may retain responsibility for the amount of time and effort he puts into the reading and practice of the lessons (his effort). I also cut off fact practice at 5 minutes, whether he has completed the page or not.

Due to his Math Blues, the Boy Child has spent increasing amounts of time being inefficient in his math studies. He hovers his pencil over the math fact page, usually 40 - 100 questions of one operation (+, -, x, /), looking for the '5 facts' or the ones that will be '0' or any with a '3' in the fact. A painfully slow method which sees him completing only 1/3 of the facts which makes him frustrated because I stop him after 5 minutes of this silliness and he never finishes a page so therefore it is too hard, too much writing, too boooorrrring.

We have agreed on the following arrangement:

The Boy will continue to read the lesson.

The Boy will verbally complete a practice question or two.

The Boy will continue to do half of the daily problem set.

The Boy will use flash cards (x, /) instead of any written fact practice pages.

World History
We are working our way thorough the third book and activities of Story Of The World (early Modern Times) this year. A typical week's work will include reading a chapter in two or three different sittings, verbal review questions, a narrated summary paragraph, a map activity, a related reading in our Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History and one other activity (Internet links from the UILE or something out of the SOTW Activity Guide).

The Boy likes the readings. He likes the maps. The activities he likes, too, as long as there are not too many arts & crafty type things. Usually though, they are science-y type things or boyish stuff...like the day we burned the (cardboard) streets of London down in our driveway. That was popular.

The sticking point in our World History studies are the narrative paragraphs. After we read a section, we review using the questions in the Activity Guide. I don't have the kids do this to prove they were paying attention, but to practice composition. Through question and answer, the kids practice composing a sentence. Just one. It doesn't even have to be a good sentence, just a half-decent one. I'm happy with one or two relevant nouns. So really, it's a Language Arts exercise. After Q & A, the next task is to compose a summary paragraph. Nothing fancy, just beginning-middle-end. The Girl Child is getting pretty good at this. She has worked her way up to a page of single-spaced writing which is quite interesting and entertaining to listen to when she reads it back.

I'm not too sure what The Boy is finding frustrating. He composes with coaching and I scribe. We chatted about this and I tried to explain that the more we did this, the easier the exercise becomes. He agreed to try to be patient and I agreed to stick more strictly to the 'Beginning-Middle-End' requirement. We'll revisit in a couple of weeks.

Canadian History
Our Canadian history studies this year take us through a chronological timeline from the first discovery to Nunavut, our newest territory, being created. We're up to the fall of New France. Which touches on New England's independence and explains why most of us Canuk's are speaking English instead of French. It was all decided by a battle that started after breakfast and was finished in time for lunch.

We're following Courage & Conquest. It's a great outline. You can make it very in depth or just skim the surface if you'd rather. You can rely on the historical literature suggestions or focus on the non-fiction reading suggestions.

Each week I introduce our chapter with a quick overview from Courage & Conquest. I've been great about signing out this week's suggested reading when I was at the library last week. Clever, organized, on-the-ball homeschooling Mom, am I not? So we read. I admit I've been a little non-fiction heavy in my choices. The kids weren't nearly as excited about Champlain's journal as I thought they would be. We are watching our way through the highly recommended and very well done Canada: A People's History.

The Boy says all of this is boring. So I have suggested we scale back on the non-fiction. Instead we will focus on read alouds from well-written historical fiction selections. This means about an hour a day, minimum, of me reading out loud. Only one day per week will I get out the non-fiction. The DVD selections will be optional for The Boy. He has agreed to give stories with a female protagonist a good chance before declaring them unworthy and unacceptable, even if it means he has to 'distract' himself with marble-run building, Lego or XBox360.

* * *

The Boy has been pulling out the colourful Saxon multiplication/division flash cards on his own to practice. And he is reviewing many more facts than I would ask him to. We completed our first narrative paragraph of the New Year today. He tried very hard to remember relevant points from our reading and I tried to give him sentence starters and other composition suggestions. He apologized for such a 'painful process' and I hugged him and told him 'Not at all!' He made an effort, I tried to be helpful in the way that he needed and it was all over in 20 minutes. We are reading from the Dear Canada series. It is a book about the Fille du Roi. Even though the story is about a girl, Hélène d'Onge, it is enjoyable enough that we managed two readings today.

Our mutually agreed upon changes seem to be working. I can tell because the bedtime complaining is almost nill. We shall see if these changes will carry us through the remainder of our school year, or if we have to change it up again.

I am seriously counting my lucky stars tonight as I wrap up this blog. I can't help but suspect how lost The Boy would be if he was a child in the school system. He doesn't like to write, read, cut, draw, colour, create, be near girls, sit still or regurgitate facts. I am thankful for so many things tonight. But, that's another blog. ☺

♥Mrs. A

It's Wednesday...

2010-01-13T08:21:00.003-05:00

We're chugging along with our week. Books have been read aloud and noone is starving. I've been making an effort to get less coffee and sugar and more sleep. More effort is required.

The Girl Child is in fine form this week. We are experiencing the fallout of every emotion known to man. Generally, by the end of the day, she's thoughtful and apologetic. Ah, puberty.

Monday found us at the local sledding hill and outdoor rink with a few other homeschoolers. Good times. The Boy Child dressed in goalie gear and played between the pipes. He didn't do very well considering most of those playing were adults. But, noone minded - even The Boy himself - and everyone had a good time.

Monday night things got crazy. I made three dinners. There was the one for us before The Boy's regular Monday night hockey game. There was the dish and dessert for my extended family's impromptu pot-luck family dinner which I was very clear that I wouldn't be able to attend. But since I'm part of that mixed up dysfunctional conglomeration, I sent food and The Girl Child as a delegate. And, of course, we had to eat a proper dinner after hockey. That evening, Mr. A and I had a long conversation about effectively saying 'no' to my family. Doing so may involve a pre-recorded message on my answering machine and a neon sign on my door.

To celebrate my new-found and, as yet, unpracticed assertiveness, my brothers and I attended a late night hockey game my brother-in-law was playing. Along for the ride was my very pregnant sister-in-law, married to one of the brothers. We're trying many things to goad her into labour. It's not working. Good times were had by all. The coffee and Bailey's helped.

Tuesday saw school work interrupted by one of the aforementioned brothers. This particular brother has been overseas for a year and his four-week visit home is drawing to an end. He'll be taking off for another year abroad at the end of the week. We're happy to interrupt schoolwork for him. We enjoyed a rousing round of G-rated Skattergories and he entertained us with stories of his high school antics (food fights and unsupervised 'gatherings' and such).

Today is Wednesday. We're halfway there, says The Boy Child. I'm not sure what is waiting for us at the end of the week, but apparently it's anticipated. On the docket today is some schoolwork. As well, we're hoping to get a new little person welcomed to the world before a certain uncle has to depart. It's not looking good. There's been some talk of peering in my sister-in-law's windows and scaring the daylights out of her to get labour started but I'm trying to downplay such antics. Things do get a little crazy - yet entertaining - when my brothers get together.

Schedule Woes

2010-01-09T21:11:00.004-05:00

Mrs. A doing her best to keep her stick on the ice.

Why oh why do routine and the regular scheduling of daily events elude me?!

Seriously! How hard can it be to do the same things every day without stress and disaster?!

Monday was great - but I had three weeks of holiday time to psych myself up for it. I guess I forgot to include the rest of the week in my visualization exercises.

Tuesday morning was when things started to fall apart. Things stayed relatively dismal until Thursday morning when I felt a glimmer of hope that the weekend was coming. By Friday morning I was dragging again, trying to catch up with my week. Then I recalled the "More"bucks Tall Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha Non-Fat No-Whip I was going to get on my way to the library. Some perking up happened. Things were looking up until The Boy Child and The Girl Child had an ugly sibling moment while playing outside at the end of the day.

Mr. A rescued my sorry self from the depths of The Pit of Parenting Despair by means of a last-minute babysitter and a date at a fancy restaurant. We proceeded to blow all $110 we had in gift certificates in one meal. I had wine, appetizers, an amazing pasta concoction (truffle and cheese and mushroom sauce) and cappuccino. I even brought a dessert home for the babysitter. It was lovely. Somehow though, I don't think Mr. A's employer would reward an unproductive week - including many Must-Do's left undone - by sending him out to dinner to drown his sorrows in a bottle of Dienhard Reisling.

So, what is the problem here? Priorities? Standards? Motivation? Adult ADD?

I need a plan. The plan cannot include the implementation of any new 'tools'. Anything requiring more of my attention or more organization or more list making is banned. I don't need a household management binder or an email every twenty minutes or cue cards in a box. I need a good kick in the a$$. Perhaps regular performance evaluations would be a good idea. Don't tell Mr. A I said that.

Wish me luck with the upcoming week. I will do better to keep my stick on the ice. I will strive to keep people fed, clothed, cleaned, educated and safe from piles of clutter. I will strive to do so in a complaint-free, drama-free, un-martyr-ish fashion. Perhaps the first of my 12-in-12 should be A Peaceful Routine At Home.

Happy New Year! (and some Link Love)

2010-01-03T17:19:00.004-05:00

How's that for a creative, attention grabbing title? Weak, I know. But really, I hope you had a good New Year's celebration as quiet or as feisty-spicy as it may or may not have been. I hope you're looking forward to seeing how 2010 pans out. By the way, are you a 'twenty-ten' kind of person or are you more in the 'two thousand ten' camp? Mrs. A. needs to know because I keep waffling.

The New Year and I have a Love-Hate relationship. I love beginnings: clean slates, starting lines, fresh starts. I hate the stick-with-it-ness that I inevitably and predictably procrastinate my way out of. Therefore, there is a noticeable lack of resolution proclamation around here. The disappointment is just not worth it. I do, however, have a few ideas percolating in the background...but nothing I'm willing to lay claim to just yet.

This New Year has started off on a positive note for me. There are new beginnings happening in the bedroom. Real actual furniture has been purchased. That's it, just furniture. This may not be very exciting for most folk, but I'm over the moon. One of the pitfalls of starting a family before establishing a household is the persistent lingering of the college bachelor pad homestead: practical before pretty and pieced together before planned. But no more - Mr. A and I will soon have a proper grown-up bedroom. In our search for a proper dresser, Mr. A and I found ourselves purchasing a complete bedroom set. More economical in the long run. Next month will see us purchase proper mattresses so we can replace the outdated, hand-me-down waterbed I've been sleeping in these last ten years. To distract me from the wait, Mr. A. purchased me paint. I LOVE to paint! So I am now the proud owner of a half-painted bedroom half-furnished with real furniture. (If the novelty of staring at my half-bedroom wears off, I'll paint the downstairs trim until the mattresses are ordered.)

I'm also excited about our New Year homeschooling plans. The last few evenings I've had our books out, getting organized for this coming week, Week #14/36 of our homeschooling year. Happily, I don't have a lot to do due to the work I did planning things out in the fall. New additions to our work arrived under the Christmas tree thanks to my supportive and overly generous mother-in-law. The Girl Child has a new art program Artistic Pursuits. She'll also be taking art classes with a local artist who is highly skilled in graphic design and technical illustration. As part of my thrown-together-in-desperation science curriculum, we'll be reading our way through Galileo for Kids: His Life and Ideas. The Boy Child is keen to use our telescope so hopefully the calendar I bought Skywatchers 2010 will be a daily reminder to do so. Although I am excited to resume our daily bookwork, I can't say that the kids are. I've been visualizing the appropriate parenting methods - patience and clear communication of expectations - that I will employ to deal with any slugishness or resistance. I should have a good week in me before I have to resort to bribery.

I figured that a New Year requires a little virtual closet cleaning as well. I've pared down my blogroll reading list. My goal is to spend no more than an hour poking through cyberspace on my daily blog-crawl and related side-clicks. I do love my blog reading. Good writing, ideas, inspiration and even a bit of entertainment all available with a couple of clicks. I'm such an instant gratification kind of girl. So here's what's holding my attention lately. Peruse at your leisure:

A Small Corner of Nowhere - check out Audrey's blogroll as well
Boarding In Bedlam - great writing by Arby...I love me a HSing dad
Cake Wrecks - this would be part of the aforementioned entertainment
Free-Range Kids - parenting inspiration and confirmation of philosophy for me
Handmade Homeschool - check out Sarah's New Year's idea for 2010 - 12 in 12. Inspired!
Home Spun Juggling - Cristina, her writing and her comics are long-time favourites
Nurtured By Love - ideas, inspiration and good writing
Peer Into Our World - Debbie's gone private for now, but a wise and wonderful HSing mom
Pioneer Woman - Doesn't everyone read here? This one has 'ideas' and 'entertainment'.
The Homeschool Classroom - more ideas...
The Woman's Colony - a lot of articles...play catch-up on the weekend with coffee
Totally Smitten Mama - beautiful babies, cool crafts and really thoughtful writing
A Knitting Nurse - I keep coming back for Rudee's writing...and knitting

I hope you'll forward any favourite haunts my way. After all, I'm a quick reader. As long as everyone doesn't get all ambitious by blogging every day, I should be able to keep up.

I'm off to rest up for an early start tomorrow. I find it best to return to a regular schedule after holidays by scheduling early morning guests..my dad should be popping by around 8am. Hopefully I'll be dressed and have the dog walked by then. It's always good to have Monday morning ambitions.

♥Mrs. A.

In The Library Bag...

2009-12-15T15:33:00.003-05:00

This week's library trip was a quick one. Normally, we camp out in the children's section at one of the tables. We take the kids' school work and spend a good couple of hours with our books before browsing and signing out their books.

Today I browsed the display tables. I browsed the young adult section for The Girl Child, looking for something without a lot of sex, drugs, teeny-bopper dramatics, teen angst or mean-girl politics. The kids browsed for graphic novels - but not the Manga kind.

Today's haul was a small one. It's going to be a busy week and we're still reading a couple of selections from last week's selections.

Eldest
by Christopher Paolini

The second in the Inheritance trilogy, which is now going to be a four volume set. I'm reading it to keep ahead of the movies. I enjoyed reading the first in the series Eragon to the kids a few years back. I'm enjoying the story. If I were a more critical reader, I'm sure I would have a laundry list of complaints about Paolini's writing.

The Father Christmas Letters
by J.R.R. Tolkien

Every Christmas season, I try to have a nice read aloud on hand. This one should fit the bill this year. I'll let you know how it goes.

Early Christmas

by Bobbie Kalman

This is a more 'schoolish' book. However, our studies are taking us through Canada's formative years so it seemed relevant. Written pre-Eyewitness books, it's not as flashy, but it's layout is in manageable chunks rather than in pages of text. The kids will pick it up and browse it if I leave it conveniently laying about.

Eat, Shrink and Be Merry
by the Podleski sisters

I've reached my library imposed limit of 3 sign-outs of the 'Crazy Plates' cookbook. I had to return it. I kept finding recipes in it that my kids - the pickiest eaters on the planet - would try. This selection is similar in style and ingredients so I'm hoping for more success and further expanded palates.

A Really Short History of Nearly Everything

by Bill Bryson

For The Boy Child with his incredibly short attention span and low-fiction tolerance. Nice layout with lots of white space.

And So It Begins...

2009-11-30T20:07:00.002-05:00

December first is almost here. That means it is time to get Christmas out of it's box.

Over the years, I've undergone a Christmas transformation. While living at home with my parents, Christmas was always just done for me. I sailed through the holiday season on my mother's coattails. Once I actually had to think about pulling off a Christmas on my own, I started to panic. I hated the holidays and avoided as much as possible. Then the babies came along. What kind of a mother doesn't do Christmas for her kids? So I went through the motions. As the kids got older and I got over myself, I've come to realize that Christmas celebrations are what I make them. If I'm stressed, the kids are stressed. If I'm indifferent, the kids don't want to participate. So this year I feel I'm in a good place to enjoy the holidays. Hopefully everyone else in the A Household will too.

I feel pretty comfortable this year. The calendar is set; I know what I'm doing on each day throughout the holidays. Mr. B and I took a nice day last weekend and put up our one measly strand of Christmas lights. They're all ready to go come December 1. My Christmas bin has been located and, due to an early bath of cookies needing decorative tins, unearthed.

This weekend's company, needing an excuse to make our visit interesting and kid-friendly, attended the local Santa Clause Parade at my insistence. I also dragged Mr. B and the kids to a community lighting of a Christmas tree celebration. It's time to get festive, people! The holiday is about spending time together and enjoying seasonal traditions more than the gift-haul philosophy the local WalMart would like you to subscribe to.

And due to an unfortunate scheduling situation, I need 15 dozen cookies ready for this coming Friday (9doz.) and Sunday (6doz.). The Girl Child is also contributing to one of those exchanges, bringing the A Household take-home amount of cookies to 21 dozen. I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking. I'm sure it was something about not wanting to offend someone by declining to participate. I'm not freaking out about the mountain of cookies I will be carting home though. The local library is having a fundraising bake sale in a week or so. Whatever won't fit in the freezer will be contributing to the worthy new Youth Programs.

And so it begins. Hopefully a great holiday season that lasts all through December and into January. I can't believe I'm actually looking forward to it this year!

Field Trip!

2009-11-25T19:59:00.008-05:00

Last Friday, the 20th, the kids and I piled into the back seat of a Honda Civic and journeyed to the Big City to visit the Royal Ontario Museum. I hadn't visited the museum in years and years. The kids had gone in October with my parents. When they came home, they were so excited to go back...and they all figured I should go with them this time.

Our main objective was to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls before the exhibit closes in January. The kids also wanted to show me their favourite areas that they had visited last trip. Isn't that sweet?

Fun times were had at the museum. The best part was watching how excited and engaged the kids were by the place. I think they would have spent the whole day in Ancient China/Korea/Japan. There was a beautiful display of Asian art through the ages. The Girl Child was very impressed. Her Chibi/Manga/Anime interest has some historical roots, she told me, as she was busy noticing all sorts of familiar elements in the artwork. The Boy Child was mesmerized with the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was a little ticked that there was so much exhibit before the actual scrolls. But once the scrolls were in sight, we had a hard time making him leave. He spent time finding the Tetragrammaton, pointing it out to anyone who would listen, drawing it in his Grandpa's notebook. I followed the rules and took no pictures although I was itching to.

We took photos in all other areas until the camera batteries konked out. I think I could reconstruct the entire Gems exhibit in photos. That would be the exhibit I handed the camera off to the kids. So, pics to follow:

REAL Samurai stuff!

Imperial Palace reconstruction.

Trying to find an elevator, we found The Girl's favourite animal.

The Boy takes a pic of himself and a giant geode.

Chillaxin' in the Gem Exhibit.

This Is The Welcome I Get.

2009-11-22T19:41:00.002-05:00

I went away.

I went for an overnight with the kids.

The Skittish White Dog stayed home with Mr.B.

The kids and I came home.

The Skittish White Dog stole my toothbrush and ate it.

The Skittish White Dog missed me.

I went out and bought a new toothbrush.

That is all.

♥Mrs. A.

C25K Week #3...Again

2009-11-18T21:23:00.004-05:00

This week I'll finish the third week of C25K. Again.

I have to say, this time through, it's fairly painful. I don't know, maybe I need new shoes. Perhaps it's the colder weather. Maybe it's my dad 'stopping in' at 7:35a.m. just to chat.

Each morning I wake up and I get dressed and The Skittish White Dog and I head for the door. If I plan to do anything else, I never get out the door. Then, I spend all day trying to fit in a half-hour for a 'run'. Ha. Never happens.

This week in particular was interesting. On Monday, I was up and out, first thing. That's about 8a.m. in Mrs. A Land. Off I go on my Week #3 workout: warm-up, run 90s, walk 90s, run 3min, walk 3min, repeat, cool-down. I was ready. I was looking forward to it.

For some reason, I never stopped running into obstacles. At every turn, every bend, every step of the way I was hit up with some sort of interruption.

There's some guy who walks with his basset hound I see quite often. He walks too fast for the dog to keep up so he takes the dog off its leash. Of course, my dog wants to eat his dog and his dog wants to play. So I play tug-of-war with my dog while trying to stay on schedule. Another dog related obstacle is the Bag Man. Lovely gentleman, but for some reason he has his cargo pants stuffed with plastic bags. Lots of them. After I passed the basset hound, I came upon Bag Man with his two dogs. Bag Man goes out of his way to intercept me. Tangled leashes ensued. I ran an extra 30s hoping that would make up for my schedule confusion.

The next thing I know, I am wrestling with my dog. She had some sort of dead rodent in her mouth. And then there were kids at the skate park watching me stumble along. Who skateboards at 8:15 in the morning?! Path was muddy and flooded. Soaker. Off in the distance, I see another dog off leash. I turn around to finish my 'run' the way I had come.

I was thinking how ridiculous this Monday morning venture was. I was considering my motivation for this morning exercise silliness and wondering if it was really worth it. My butt jiggles. My feet get wet. I wrestle with my dog. The. Whole. Time. Is this really worth it?

So. I am halfway through my final 3minute run. It sounds easy, doesn't it? It's not. I'm sweaty. I'm tired. Thirsty. There's a bruise on my leg that really hurts when I run. I can't wait to be finished. I turn the corner of the pathway to an uphill grade. I know if I can make it to the soccer goal posts, I'm home free.

Firefighters, people. There were firefighters on the path. Like, 25 of them had just leaped out of their calendars and landed on my walking path. Walking down the hill like they owned it. They were dressed in full gear carrying their helmets. Cheery buggers, the whole lot of them. Who puts firefighters on a secluded walking path half a kilometer from anything?

Turns out that The Skittish White Dog is afraid of firefighters. I was not surprised. I had to tow her through them while trying to look like a runner. Thank goodness for big windbreakers and mirrored sunglasses. None of them will ever recognize me. I made it up the hill and made sure they had turned the corner out of sight before I stopped running.

I finished off my walk/run thinking about how ridiculous and mixed up my whole outing had been. Before the firefighters, I was ready to just give it up and thrown in the towel for good. But after the firefighters, I realized there is always going to be some obstacle, some interruption, some unforeseen circumstance. After the firefighters I had to laugh. I figured the Universe is telling me to get over myself. I just need to suck it up and get on with it. Be confident and take advantage of my morning exercise opportunities.

Today, when I was heading out with The Skittish and Very Bouncy White Dog and my dad pulled into the driveway, I smiled. I was not flustered and frustrated with the interruption. Dad and I enjoyed a nice walk by the creek. Once he was on his way, I debated. It would be very easy to just go inside and get on with my day. But I didn't. I went ahead and did my walk/run. Amazingly, there were no firefighters on the path this morning. No loose dogs, puddles or firefighters. Did I mention that I think the firefighters might have been a one time ~~opportunity~~ occurrence?

So I head into the end of Week #3 thinking I should stick with my plan. If I can stand another 6 weeks of this, I could actually finish the program this time. And who knows what I'll run into while I'm out there. If anything, wrestling frozen bloody voles from the dog and being surprised by firefighters is interesting and newsworthy in the otherwise boring and mundane life of Mrs. A.

I'm Going To Have To Make Another Chart. Damn.

2009-11-16T22:10:00.005-05:00

If I could get someone around here to pitch in and contribute a little to their feeding and clothing and learnin', then perhaps I'd have a little more time to blog. Not everyone all at once now...let's not send me into culture shock or anything.

I had a brilliant brainwave this past summer: let's get rid of the chore chart we've been using for years with varying degrees of success. Just for the summer. The kids need a holiday, too, you know. Well. I'm trying to remember if I've ever come up with a dumber plan.

I'm on it though. Once I'm done reading this book, I'll have all the answers. The Boys Child was particularly concerned that I not skip the chapter called "Bribing Your Kids To Work".

One problem with this book, though. While reading it, I have come to realize that not only did I enter into this whole parenting game with inadequate tools, but I have developed bad habits along the way! My poor kids!

Hat tip to Lenore Skenazy over at Free Range Kids for the book suggestion.

Like vs. Love, Boy Style

2009-11-03T19:31:00.009-05:00

Sometimes it's a stretch to get the kids through their daily dose of book work. Add in a healthy measure of Hallowe'en candy and things begin to fall apart much earlier in the day.

Take this afternoon, for instance. I was explaining, with my indoor voice through gritted teeth, for the umteenth time, that the kids really had to quit and that I didn't like that kind of behaviour.

Of course The Boy Child, future Crown Prosecutor, Master of Twisting Your Words, pipes up:

The Boy Child: You don't like me anymore?!?

Mrs.A: Of course I like you. I just don't like the behaviour.

The Boy Child: If you don't like me, then you don't love me! <insert theatrical wailing>

Seriously? He does this on purpose. I'm going to be insane before I'm forty. I told him that I love him, always will. I may have sighed.

The Boy Child: But 'Like' and 'Love' are the same thing Mom!

Mrs. A: No, they're not the same thing. For example, I will always love you, no matter what. But I may not like you very much if you keep this up. Get off your sister's head and get to the table like I asked.

The Boy Child: Roots, Mom, it's ROOTS!

Mrs. A is now confused. What is roots?

The Boy Child: Listen, Mom: The root Aimer means to like or to love! It's the same thing!

So, obviously, something is getting through to him. The curriculum we're using, Vocabulary From Classical Roots, does indicate that with use, the student will begin to draw connections from the words they use. I don't think they meant french verbs, though. Oh well, can't blame a boy for trying.

Happy Hallowe'en

2009-11-02T20:08:00.005-05:00

These people living in my house have turned Hallowe'en into a full-fledged holiday. Between the requests for baking and the requests for decorating I've been busy! Granted, Mr.B has been saying for years that Hallowe'en is his favourite holiday. This year, though, we put a little thought and effort into it.

There were snacks.

During the week, Mr.B made his seasonal candy apples. We used small apples so he was left with a pot of candy coating...which he poured into maple leaf molds to make hard candy. Inventive.

The Boy and I spent Hallowe'en afternoon making treats: spiderweb cupcakes, bat krispies, apples with homemade caramel and witch hat cookies. There was cider. Our best batch yet!

There were decorations.

The Boy took it upon himself to frilly up the outdoors. There was an epic glow-in-the-dark battle being waged in the garden between spiders and ants. The spider web was strewn, pumpkins displayed, jack-o-lanterns carved and the ever present painted spiders. Painted last year at this time.

Inside I made a fence in our hallway. The kids helped make silhouettes to put on the fence. We also had a tree branch hung with candy filled treat boxes, gourds, candles and coloured fabric leaves.

There were costumes.

The Girl explored her deep, dark desires and went Goth. The Boy found a ninja/samurai get-up to go with his sword that Grandma and Grandpa had brought him from Japan. We were joined by three of the kids' friends for trick-or-treating.

A couple of hours before we set out to pilfer the neighbourhood, the new-to-Canada Philippine neighbour kids came by. They invited themselves along with our group for trick-or-treating. We all thought we were doing them a bit of a favour by showing them the routine. The kids and I thought it was great that we would be able to share a tradition that we enjoyed with our new neighbours. As it turns out, they just weren't sure how we Canadians go about things on October 31. Back home, they enjoyed a full day of celebrating - trick-or-treating throughout the day, parades, tonnes of food, visiting and bonfires into the night. Mr.B is a bit jealous.

♥ Mrs. A.

Back To The Beginning.

2009-10-26T21:23:00.002-04:00

I've had a confession brewing for a while. I've also had some really good intentions sitting on the back burner for a while. Today I woke up and reconciled the two.

I fell off the C25K bandwagon. I fell off over halfway though the program as I was ready to start week 7 of 9. I had worked up to a route that was about 4.5km. I ran a good portion of it. And then I stopped. I do admit, I was a little discouraged at the time. It had taken 8 weeks to get me to this point in the program and other than a bit of cardio-vascular endurance, I wasn't seeing too many benefits.

As well, I smashed my toe while trying to walk through an office chair. With all the swelling and bruising, I couldn't get my runners on. That lasted almost a week. Shortly after, I poisoned my dog. Not on purpose, mind you. But it was a month-long situation involving copious amount of puke and poop. Now, who wants to analyze my belief that I can only get some exercise if I take the dog along? Because if you understand the reality of taking the Skittish White Dog out and about, you'd understand that it is an undertaking all in itself. SO really, I make my C25K intervals frustrating as well as physically taxing. Clever, huh?

Fast forward to the recent future: Lately I've begun to feel fed up with myself. And I'm not just a little guilty for stopping all attempts at exercise completely. I read a timely message somewhere out there in cyberspace that talked about getting over yourself and just getting your stuff done. I am my own worst excuse. So I decided that before eating, before getting the kids up, before starting the laundry, putting the garbage out or pulling the day's school work, I just had to go outside and walk the friggin' dog already! I reasoned with myself: if you're walking the dog, then you might as well do the C25K thing again.

To cement this plan in my daily to-do's, on the weekend I went to the local Zeller's and picked up a sports bra, some yoga pants and a couple of layering athletic shirts. I was going for the 'now that I have it, I'd better use it' personal guilt trip. Last night I loaded up my Shuffle and prepared mentally for 8 x 30second running intervals. Only it wasn't 8 x 30seconds. It was 8 x 60second running intervals. Happy Monday Morning to me.

In summary:

Most important thing: I got up and moving this morning.
Most surprising thing: Noone I passed stared at my jiggling bottom.
Most gross thing: the dog stopped running on the path and ate some bloody dead furry mass that I don't want to think about.
Most encouraging thing: I'm going to get up and do it again tomorrow. Not the running part, just a nice half hour walk with some peppy music.
Most inspiring thing: I really forgot how much I love fall. Great colours. One really should be outdoors some every day :-)

Life In The 'Hood #2

2009-10-21T20:48:00.005-04:00

Today I looked out the window and I saw this:

There was a man in my tree. Of course, 'my' is a term I have absolutely no right to use. It's not my tree. It's just situated next to my yard. Again, not really my yard, but for all intents and purposes, I'm Queen of this postage stamp. Back to the man in my tree...

The man in my tree was here to divest the tree of some of its limbs. You see, there were a few incidents this summer. Some of the local kids discovered they had attained the required height for climbing this particular tree. Not a problem. The problem began when a couple of them started running off at the mouth. Things heated up nicely when they argued that they were not staring in the neighbour lady's windows. Unfortunately, they were arguing with the neighbour lady who was sitting in her living room behind her six-foot fence. She wrote a letter to the building managers and copied the owners.

Mr. B and I got involved when we clearly saw unsafe things happening. 7 and 8 kids crawling all over each other in the tree ignoring my tree-climbing 'rules': stay off any dead branches as well as those thinner than your arm. Then there was the day I found a few of them using bricks to gouge the bark off the tree. Sure, they put the bricks down when I asked them to, but then they tried to rip branches off the tree...and proceeded to swing from them when they were only partly successful. I asked the building manager to step in because of all of this and I was concerned. The kids had stopped listening to me and it was becoming incredibly inconvenient to look out the window all day. Someone was going to get hurt.

So much to my surprise, the tree guys showed up today - a month and a half after the last kid lost their copious amounts of summer free time - and did a very good job at trimming the tree. I was surprised because there had been no response to my - nor the neighbour lady's - complaint. I'd like to say that the building manager/out-of-town owners are the proactive, pride in ownership, get-'er-done types but I'd be lying. They're more the squeaky wheel, bring along the property standards guy and then they start to wake up type of people.

But, in the end, the tree has been trimmed. One more thing around here got taken care of..or 15 things, if you count the number of kids who can't spy on the neighbour lady before falling out of the tree, cracking their backs on 'my' fence on the way down.

On a more personal note, The Boy and The Girl both learned a thing or two about how the professionals trim a tree and then clean up after themselves. The Boy was quite intrigued by the ropes and harness. The Girl is responsible for all the photographs. And for talking the tree guys' ears off - from well out of the way - throughout the entire job.

Apple Picking

2009-10-19T21:43:00.009-04:00

Can you believe that until last weekend, I had never been apple picking?

I'd been to the orchard for a tour. I'd seen a demonstration of apple picking. But I'd never done the deed until last Sunday.

It didn't occur to Mr.B that we'd actually have to use all the apples we picked. Hello apple crisp! One bushel of apples makes six and a half recipes of apple crisp and one giant pie. I halved the crisps into smaller pans.

The kids ate two of the bigger pans over the next couple of days and we delivered a few pans to friends and family. The rest were destined for the freezer.

Apple crisp is a favourite around here - warm with ice cream - for breakfast.

I don't know why we hadn't done this apple picking thing before! It's awesome! I think that this might just turn out to be the A Family's newest Thanksgiving tradition.

Library Days

2009-10-14T20:25:00.003-04:00

I am so loving our library lately!

We have a wonderful, dynamic, organized, creative, helpful new Children's Librarian. I think she has been the driving force behind my new found excitement about the library.

A Little Background. For the last five or six years, I've encouraged the kids to participate in the summer programs the library offers. As Summer 2008 wrapped up, I honestly thought I had seen the last of our summer library days. The kids were tired of same ol' program formats and over-enthusiastic or uncommunicative staff.

Enter New Librarian. I must admit, I was not very impressed to find out our library had fired the children's librarian. For every personality trait the kids didn't like, there was something that endeared her to me. She greeted the kids by name. She suggested books to them that were generally bang-on hits. She ordered just about any book I mentioned to her that wasn't in the collection. She called my house to invite the kids to special events they might not otherwise have heard about. I grumbled unhappily for months (yes, months) before I met the new part-time children's librarian.

A Surprising Summer. Perhaps I was blindsided by the colourful array of new program advertising. Maybe it was just the idea of 'summer break' that was putting me in a better-than-average mood. It could have been the fact that I held no expectation that we would be spending time at the library over the summer. Whatever it was, when I met the new librarian 'Miss L.', I was blown away. The new summer programs looked great. Colourful. Interesting. Up-To-Date. Cool.

The kids were actually looking forward to summer library programs. There were movie afternoons. There was a drop-in hang-out time. There were themed programs that weren't 'stupid'. And the summer book club looked good too. It was like a breath of fresh air had invaded the library. I think we hit the library twice a week.

Lovin' The New Librarian. Now Miss L. greets the kids by name. She listens to their stories. She recommends books and asks them what they've been doing/reading/playing. She asks their opinion. She put together a phenomenal Library Orientation for the local homeschoolers as soon as school was back in. With scavenger hunt. On her day off. When the library was closed to the public. Who does that?! She followed up with a How To Research module for the older kids. I'm really looking forward to what she'll throw at us next.

Happy Homeschoolers. Every Friday we've been taking the majority of the kids' schoolwork to the library. We camp out in the children's section for a change of scenery. We read. The kids do their bookwork. The Girl practices her research skills. The Boy practices his diabolo (in the library and noone yells at him!) I have time between kids and supervising schoolwork to pull books for our next week's reading aloud, histories and science. I help the kids find books for their own library bags. I take the time to explore the CDs, DVDs, the magazines and the reference sections. It's relaxed and enjoyable and our work gets done - even the straggling, end-of-week stuff - because the kids won't whine and complain and I won't plead and yell in public.

Soon to come is a special night for a few of the homeschooling moms. We were so impressed by what the kids learned during their tours that we've arranged for a mom version of the same. I'm especially looking forward to learning about the various databases the library has access to. A night out, a Morebucks coffee and good company is nothing to shake a stick at either.

It will be interesting to see how our library time evolves this year. I hope we continue to get good use of the space and resources they have to offer. Now, I need to know: what do you get that special librarian in your life for Christmas?

I'm Having A Strange Morning...

2009-10-08T09:37:00.004-04:00

Life In The 'Hood

2009-10-06T21:07:00.007-04:00

Some neighbours come and go quickly. Some live quietly. Some neighbours lay it out all over their driveway for everyone to see. Some share food. Some neighbours need to learn manners. Some teach your children. Some play nicely with others. Some have pets. Some have jobs. Some keep strange hours. Some neighbours just keep to themselves. Some are friends and some are just downright scary.

It's interesting living in such a ...diverse neighbourhood. I've earned my stripes in this neighbourhood; done my time; learned the ropes. I've called the police, the property managers, the ambulance - each on more than one occasion. I've looked for lost children, lost pets and lost mail. I've been the mean lady and the nice mom. I happily invite friends in to our crowded space and I've successfully banished the Jehovah's. I've been surprised by strangers on my roof and I've kicked strangers out of my yard. I figure after ten years in these trenches I can now say a thing or two every now and then.

Today The Boy was playing outside while I was inside preparing lunch. He thundered in the house, slamming the door like he was being chased by the fires of hell. Generally this does not happen. The Boy normally needs to be dragged in from the Great Outdoors by his heels. Even for food. I was upset to find out that he had been heckled.

There he was, practicing with his new Diabolo when some ~~idiot~~ individual started hooting and hollering out their back door, finishing up with a very clear: 'Get to school, kid!'

Nice.

The Boy saw this adult person was who was yelling at him. The Boy was very anxious about going back outside after he had already made a successful escape to safety. However, under the guise of wanting to see his Diabolo tricks and in the spirit of getting back on the horse after falling, I went outside with him and he enthusiastically showed me his complete repertoire.

Lucky for us, we were treated to a repeat performance of Get To School Kid. This one, not as good as the first as it was preformed by a less confident, very stubby seven-year-old and it was abruptly choked off when he noticed me standing there. The Boy was not frazzled and was happy to resume his practicing. I went back to the kitchen to finish up lunch while listening to The Boy yell a running commentary to me through the patio door.

Outwardly, I encourage the kids to ignore such immature, ignorant behaviour. Inwardly, I'd like to take a page from Mr.GetToSchoolKid's book and slap him up the side of the head with a witty Get a Job, Idiot. I think the 'hood is rubbing off on me.

And there you have it, folks. Just another day in the 'hood.

Trivial Tidbits

2009-10-05T19:25:00.008-04:00

The kids had a wonderful trip last Friday. Not only did they make it to la Cirque, but they enjoyed a quick visit to ROM. They picked the three exhibits they wanted to see the most and had a blast. They arrived home very late - or early - and were pretty beat the next day. We're homebodies at heart and a super long day generally makes us useless noodles the next day.

My life has become a never ending nightmare of dog hair. The Skittish White Dog is blowing her coat. Unless one has had an animal which has seasonally embarked on this journey to become naked, one simply can't imagine the sheer accumulation of shed. I vacuum (twice a day) and still there are clumps of dog hair escaping to all corners. This has been going on for the month of September and continues. Now that pink skin and ribs can be seen I am hopeful that the end is near. We've taken to letting Skittish White Dog sleep on the couch: it's easier to pick up hair off of leather rather than carpet. On the flip side, the Dyson is proving itself worth the financial sacrifice.

An emergency trip to the grocery store has unearthed a wonderful treat. I like Green & Black's chocolate. There's not a wide variety available around here. I've had the Milk Chocolate and the Maya Gold is a special treat. But today I found the Mint bar. I am officially in love. Lindt, you may have to up your game to regain your lead.

And, finally today, a little bit of linky-love. For fresh, interesting, non-homeschooling reading, I've been enjoying the writing over at The Women's Colony. Giving some intelligent - and sometimes sarcastic - words to a parenting style that has made sense to me for years is Lenore at Free Range Kids.

The Boy is flinging around a hacky-sack in the living room and The Girl, for some reason, needs help to research 'the slave trade that was before the slave trade that everyone writes about'. Wish me intact furniture and luck.

auf wiedersehen,

♥ Mrs. A.

Oh, What To Do?!

2009-10-02T16:21:00.001-04:00

Today, I have had a day to myself. Sans kidlets. To tell you the truth, I have felt a little lost.

Today, I woke a bit early and pried The Girl and The Boy out of their warm beds. I put The Boy in the shower and gave The Girl a wide berth. (She needed a minute...or twelve.) They dressed nicely, packed a bag of ~~electronics~~ stuff to do on a car trip and meditated on the couch while I made breakfast smoothies and packed a cooler lunch.

At 8, my mom and dad picked them up to whisk them away to lands unknown. Ok, I - the responsible adult in their lives - know where they are going. However, my parents wanted to keep it a surprise for the kids. The Boy was a little anxious and The Girl a little grumpy about this, but I was prepared to let my parents deal with the consequences of their Very Good Plan.

They are off to the big city to see a very good show - Ovo. They will love it. It will be their second Cirque show. Last year, we saw 'O' in Vegas and it was the highlight of the trip.

Today I have walked the dog, dropped a baby crib on my toe, been to the library, registered the kids for indoor soccer, coloured timeline figures, watched the Cosby Show and Extreme Home Makeover, enjoyed a quiet lunch with Mr.B, admired the new grass growing in the backyard and completed only a very minimal amount of housework. When Mr.B completes his workday, we will take the Thanksgiving turkey from my freezer to my mom's fridge, return merchandise to WalMart, walk my dad's dog, drink expensive Starbuck's coffee (we call it Morebuck's) and figure out some dinner. If I am very sneaky, I may even be able to trick Mr.B into pant shopping at Winner's and some chick-flick viewing. Keep your fingers crossed.

I suppose that I have made good use of my day. I'm not really sure what I should be doing when the kids aren't here. Sure there are things I should be doing. I could go out on a limb and actually plan something significant when I know they're not going to be here. But October crept up on me unbelievably quickly and I found myself getting everything ready for the kids' trip yesterday. Noone around here makes plans with 12-hour notice. And really, I have no kidless, non-working friends to make plans with. I feel a little caught-off-guard without my regular entourage and regular weekday schedule.

So there you have it: the meandering thoughts of a homeschooling mother who finds herself kidless for the first time in a very long time.

Happiness Costs...

2009-09-27T20:57:00.000-04:00

...$8/hour. Or at least it did last week. 4 skaters x $2 = an $8 hour of ice.

Skating has begun! We homeschoolers have infiltrated the 'Parent & Tot' daytime skate.

We started doing so many years ago when the kids were actually just-barely school age. Back then, happiness cost only $1/child. Fast-forward a bunch of years and the ice time is the same although the cost is more: $2/skater...mom included. Still, you can't get better bang for your buck.

We usually have the ice to ourselves. Those who are interested bring sticks and pucks. Some unseen rink attendant even puts the music on for us. Occasionally there's a parent with an actual tot in tow.

Last season's Most Interesting Event was the day a couple of 20-somethings showed up to skate. He had never been on skates. She thought it was the most hilarious, photo-worthy event of 2009. By the end of the hour, Mr. Never Had Been On Skates was playing a very cautious one-handed game of hockey with the kids (one hand being required to hold the stick, the other hand being required to fan about for balance). As he got off the ice, he thanked us moms for having such supportive and encouraging kids. It was great to see that ever elusive 'socialization' in action.

We will walk to the rink at least once a week. We will be joined by various homeschooling friends. We will get some exercise. We will improve our skating. We will have a great season, as usual.

Extended Family Dynamics

2009-09-24T20:48:00.004-04:00

I'm beginning to get a complex.

What is so difficult about visiting? Just a plain ol' family visit. Drop by, come in and catch up on everyone's personal current events.

My dad was doing well. He's semi-retired this year - very available to visit - and I very nearly had him perfectly trained: call first, don't tease the already-skittish-enough dog from the street side of the screen door on your way in. He would come to visit during the day when I wasn't making a meal or chauffeuring a kid. He would have a coffee and we would chat. Nice chats, too. We'd talk about his parents, my grandparents, who have both passed on. He'd tell me about spending time in 'the bush' or at 'the cabin'. It's always quite amusing to listen to him go on about my mother's latest exploits. I especially liked our conversations about religion - there's no better way to worship than to find a big ol' field, plop yourself down in the middle of the grassy sunshine, count your blessings for an hour or four and call it church.

Most recently, my dad's visits have consisted of him dropping in (whats happened to the pre-visit phone call?!) and dropping off. My front hallway was the repository for a rogue PC that my sister knew something about. She'd be by to explain. The explanation involved a couple of hours of my Mr. A's button pushing. Colour me not impressed.

Then, there was a mysterious bolt of fabric in a bag with some other lumpiness that was, thankfully, retrieved by someone or other while I was out.

Then, there was today's box. Just a box. Again, my sister would be by to retrieve it. And she was: There was a discreet tapping on our door at 1pm today. Just quiet enough to not interrupt my reading aloud to the children. And just loud enough to send Skittish White Dog into a bristling, barking, scrambling slide across the hardwood. I got a 'hi' from sister dearest as the door opened, a 'thanks' as I handed her the box that I knew she was here for and then, as she was closing the door on her way out, she turned back to me and said, 'Oh, how's things? What are you guys up to today?'

Dishes and schoolwork, I answered. Because that is the crazy-ass, adrenalin pumping, risky business that I am attempting today. If I'd had a bit of notice (or if I thought she was dropping by to visit) I could have come up with something a little more creative and conversational. Perhaps if I knew she was coming I could have invited her to lunch where her inquiry might have seemed a little more genuine.

I know what a genuine inquiry sounds like because just two days ago my brother called with one. He genuinely wants me to purchase the products he is selling. Granted, he didn't drop anything off in my hallway. But I find it curious the way he is available to stop by any time to 'talk business' yet can't show up when I make him a dinner he's accepted an invitation to.

I figure I must be missing something. It's like my extended family has it's own code of conduct and I missed the memo. Perhaps my status quo isn't exciting enough for them. Perhaps I need some more drama. I suppose I could think back and pull out a spectacular stunt from my highschool era. Although, if I recall correctly, that never really accomplished anything conducive to family visiting. Sort of the opposite, actually...

I suppose I'm just a little boring compared to the globe-trotting, gestating, house-buying, business-starting, wedding-planning hoopla that is going on amongst my collection of siblings. After all, I've been playing the same gig in the same club for ten years now. I suppose the novelty of my life choices has waned.

I really don't know why I worry about such things. I've got enough going on just trying to keep myself organized and on track. Who knows, perhaps the weekend will bring something positive and newsworthy. My complex and I will just ride it out.

A Day In The Life...

2009-09-15T19:14:00.005-04:00

~Monday, September 14, 2009~

Monday morning dawned brisk and chilly. Not that I went out in it. I was in the kitchen as soon as I pulled myself out of bed as Mr. B was travelling for work. I made him lunch and coffee and sent him on his way. After a quick shower, I started the laundry.

While I was doing a quick perusal of the blogosphere, The Boy Child emerged. Normally, he cozies up on the couch for a wake-up, but yesterday he was stoked: First Day of Hockey. We went downstairs to try on his gear. Nothing like leaving it to the last 9 hours. I rebooted the laundry while The Boy showed me he could put all his gear on by himself. Except for a jersey...and skates...This is an improvement compared to the years I have all but poured him into his gear. My goal is to be out of my dressing room responsibilities by Christmas.

The Girl Child was up and about before we were done with the hockey gear. She hits the computer and the kitchen immediately upon stumbling downstairs in the mornings. I don't mind that much. She has two friends she keeps in touch with via chat, email and private webpage because they live out of town a ways.

After we all had a bit of something to eat (I have to remind The Boy to eat every day), I jump-started our morning with a half-hour of housework. We had a busy day planned and after my feelings about last week's first week of school, I was not looking forward to schoolwork. But, I figured perhaps it would be an ok day since we had so much more to do.

We were at the table together at about 9:45. We motored through a bit of journaling, a math lesson each, a reading in Story of the World 3 and the chapter review questions. The Girl surprised me by asking to take notes while I read aloud. She continued to do so through the Q & A. Then she composed a very thorough paragraph. The Boy composed a paragraph, but the agreement is that I will scribe it into his notebook for him. Neither of the kids were looking forward to the 'narration' part of things this year, but I'm hoping that they will come around. This was our second attempt and I was impressed with the results. We then cracked open the French we're using this year and began the first unit. The Girl really likes this program we're using: L'Art de Lire (book 3). The Boy is not in love with it at all. I might have to find something different for him later on if he can't find his French Groove. It was noon; we were done with the books for today.

The Girl ran off to get ready to go for our afternoon. I helped her out with the hair straightener and then I had a go at my mop. The Boy needed to tape his stick. Again. This required the use of the beloved Swiss Army Knife. Pretty much any job that might possibly maybe probably could use a Swiss Army Knife becomes a priority for The Boy these days. We made a quick lunch of sandwiches and fruit. We had a bit of a talk about the ~~propaganda~~ pamphlet that showed up in the mailbox regarding the H1N1 Flu.

Before we left the house, I pulled up a couple of webpages and the kids and I figured out the most efficient way to use the city bus to get us downtown and back home later on. Round trip: $12. Cheaper than taking a cab. Our co-operative plan worked out perfectly. Walk .5km, grab a bus. Transfer. Argue politely over who gets to pull the stop-cord. Arrive near our destination and walk a block.

We were meeting up with a large-ish group of homeschoolers to attend a Library Orientation. The new children's librarian put together a really great, interactive program for the kids. I was very impressed because, as I'm sure you can guess, a library tour can get a wee bit dry. The kids learned a lot about the reference areas and they spent a good amount of time looking at the resources they don't really use: books on CD, microfiche, newspapers and magazines. They got pretty good at using the search catalogue as well. The Girl will head back in two weeks time for the 'advanced' orientation program. I'm going as well. I'm interested in learning about the online databases available to library users.

We had just enough time after the program to grab a junkie snack at a nearby Tim Hortons. We walked over to the bus stop and waited, snacked and talked. The bus ride home was uneventful as was the walk home.

I was surprised that Mr. B was not yet home from his day when we arrived home at 4:30. We peeled the Skittish White Dog from the ceiling and got her to stop bouncing around shortly after we managed to force our way past her and into the house. The kids were dispatched to do a wardrobe change while I attended to a mouthguard fitting in the kitchen. THe kids had to fed for themselves when they announced they were famished. Snacks were had in front of a favourite cartoon - Phinneas & Ferb - while I did the laundry and tracked down Mr. B.

The Boy dressed for hockey in the living room and we were back out the door at 5:10. I hadn't arranged dinner and was a little worried that it would be chaos and low-blood sugar fits when we returned home.

Hockey was great as usual. The Boy was anxious, as usual. It was shortlived. The kids on the ice did skills and drills before a scrimmage. It's a good thing they use the first couple of weeks to get to know the players and balance the teams. The Boy was quick to let me know that he scored 3, assisted 2, saved 2 and set 'Spencer' up for a goal. He likes to keep track of stuff like that.

After we got home I played short-order cook in the kitchen. We did a bacon and eggs dinner. Four different types of eggs. I tossed a last egg on the hot pan as I was clearing the stove once everyone else had their dinners. I made it to the table just as the kids were finishing. I'll get better as the season progresses. Note to self: Don't make plans on the afternoons The Boy has hockey. Especially if Mr. B. is out of town.

At 8, The Boy turned up with a bad headache so he carted himself off to bed. The Girl was deep in a book enjoying the first quiet time of her day. The laundry was done, the kitchen cleaned up and Mr. B finally shut off his work PC as The Girl went off to bed at 9:30. He and I vegged on the couch for an hour and then we turned in ourselves.

All in all, a busy day. I was very impressed that it all turned out as well as it did. Now, the next time a busy day rolls around, my goal is to make sure the Skittish White Dog gets her walk.

First Week Blues

2009-09-11T20:28:00.005-04:00

Well. That was a disaster.

Perhaps there is something to these "Fly By The Seat Of Your Pants", No Planning Required", "Let's See What Tomorrow Brings" homeschooling philosophies. Because this week I proved that the "Mom Looks Forward 6 Months By Buying Next Year's Books At This Year's Conference" and the "Take A Month Of Your Summer To Plan" methods can make one feel woefully inadequate in just three short days! (Really, short days. We didn't even attempt a full course load yet, people.)

But we all know a very relaxed way of approaching things simply doesn't work for me. Relaxed, even 'slightly scheduled', quickly slides down into lagging which spirals to a tepid intermittent which makes those nasty adjectives like 'procrastinating' pop up in conversation between Mr. B. and I. It's a dirty, slippery, self-loathing slope with two backward, lazy and unfortunate children waiting at the bottom. Ahem.

Thankfully, the weekend is here. These two days will give me time to recollect my enthusiasm, my encouragement, my creativity and, perhaps most importantly, my indoor voice. I will also run errands, get a few groceries, plant late grass in the backyard, help Mr. B. rebuild the carbs in the outboard, take a load to Goodwill and wean the dog off her meds. But I digress.

Next week will be better. On Monday, we will be motivated to finish up our work early in order to meet up with the local homeschoolers for a special library date. The kids will get a kick out of having the run of the place. It's usually closed on Mondays. Next week will be better. They'll be expecting a schoolish schedule. Maybe they'll be less shocked when I wake them up at 7:45am. Next week will be better. By then the initial shock of writing a paragraph/doing math each day/pick your poison will surely have worn off. Next week will be better.

Next week will be better.

The Obligatory 'First Day of School' Blog

2009-09-08T17:16:00.008-04:00

Like any good Canadian, I must begin by remarking on the weather: What a gorgeous day we had today! It started out thick with fog, then cloudy with sun, then sunny and warm. We seem to be having some threatening thundershowers to finish things up.

It was a perfect day to spend outside with friends. We had our 4th annual homeschoolers picnic today. I'd add capitals and title the event, however there seems to be some local haphazardness to the naming of our get-together. To some it's the Not-Going-Back-To-School picnic. To others it's the Home Learner's Picnic. To me, meh, it's a day in the park.

As so with sun, sand and socialization, we mark the beginning of our 7th (7th!!!) year of homeschooling. Did I mention I still have rookie jitters and second-guessing stress about homeschooling? Crazy.

For a couple of weeks now, I've been getting together our books and papers. I camped in the local Staples store last weekend and photocopied a ream+ of paper. Really. 613 pages. I have to go back this weekend and do more. But not a lot more. Thankfully. And, no, the copyright police are not out to get me.

Not only did I map out our year in worksheets and student pages, but I built a weekly timetable. It is mostly for the kids' benefit - they who like to check things off and ask 'when are we done?' - however I do admit to an inkling of perfectionist satisfaction when I see our days all perfectly planned. With time allotments. Because if I see The Boy Child spending more than 15 minutes on Handwriting Without Tears, I know it's going to be a bad day. I don't want bad days. I want Happy Homeschool days. Please refrain from sending helpful emails detailing how over-planning sets up unrealistic expectations and dooms the planner to ultimate failure and disappointment. I know. Still...I plan.

Today the timetable said 'Picnic' and 'Library'. We stayed too long at the picnic and therefore missed the library. See, I'm behind already. But that's ok. The timetable (and the calender{s} and the lessons plans and the subject guides) is more of a guideline anyway. Thank you Donna Young.

So, a lovely back-to-school...or not...day. Good food, good company, good times. I'm looking forward to the change of season. For the most part, the kids are as well. I'm excited about some of the plans we have with the local homeschoolers. I'm stoked about our bookwork. ~~I'm so glad the local kids will be out of my tree and in a classroom.~~ The kids are looking froward to getting back to hockey and soccer and library days and new notebooks and bike rides. (I know. Bike rides? But that's what they said.)

Happy September, All

♥Mrs. A.

Week 2 Day 1

2009-07-15T21:47:00.006-04:00

I know, it took me long enough to get to week 2.

Let's focus on the positive though: I finished Week 2 Day 1! And I'm not dead or injured!

I had a problem getting the week 2 podcast onto my The Girl Child's iPod. So in a desperate attempt to maintain some personal accountability, I did an extra day of Week 1.

Week 2 consists of 6 intervals of 90 seconds of running. The first 4 intervals were ok. Not easy, but manageable. Then I started to flag. Then I had to stop and tie my shoes. And pull my dog off of some hound creature that wanted to play. Whose owner was talking to me as my iPod blared a particularly annoying mix of electronic music. I just nodded and smiled. While sweating. And panting. Attractive, no? At least I wasn't jiggling.

Cripes, I hate my ass.

Not only am I out of shape: Poor Skittish White Dog was quite spent by the time we returned home. Now, remember, Skittish White Dog is a husky with a big thick coat. Skittish White Dog heats up really fast this time of year. So even though today I got out the door before 7:30a.m., Skittish White Dog towed me to the creek on our cool-down walk, ignored a large family of ducks, stood in the water and drank to her heart's content. She loves the runs though, (short as they are) and never stops bounding ahead as soon as I begin a running interval.

I didn't think I would continue with the same route that I've been using. Surprisingly, I am not looking forward to finding a new route when I outgrow this one. This one is semi-private. I start on my street and continue through my neighbourhood to a local green space. There I pick up a paved walkway that is hidden from the road. The walkway goes for quite some time before connecting to a local school campus. I run across the campus and connect up with the greenbelt that runs behind our house. It's a big loop, about 3km. I suppose that as my distance increases, I can reverse direction on the paved walkway to extend the route. That way I won't have to run in full view of traffic. Good plan, Mrs. A.

On another positive note I have two tidbits of happiness to report. Between my C25k and some off-day television stretching/yoga, I am happy to report that a nagging knee pain has disappeared. For a good year or more, I've not been able to sit comfortably on my knees because my right knee would not let me. Another shred of happiness is my lack of muscle soreness this evening. I was very sore after my first two 'runs'. I was expecting to be very sore this week. Not so, my friends. I'm cautiously optimistic for improved physical health. Since it took me ten years to get to this dismal, depressing point in my life, I don't expect to see tangible results anytime soon. So I must pay attention to even the smallest glimmer of physical change for the better.

There's a measure of nervous anxiousness motivating me this week. If I fall off the 'getting fit' wagon, I may just implode...or at least spiral downward into a jiggly mass of depressed worthlessness.

Looking forward to Friday's 'run',

Mrs. A.

The Ugliest Sock In Creation

2009-07-14T21:45:00.003-04:00

I cast this sock on as a learning experience. I learned a number of things so the process was a success! I don't like the two-tone colour scheme with this particular heel. I need to make it smaller so that it will fit just so. I don't think socks classify as mindless tv knitting. I can handle instructions and a simple pattern with no problem. I easily see mistakes and can fix them.

On a more positive note, I'm looking forward to get started on take #2. I'll just use the variegated yarn (On Your Toes Bamboo in Iris Print) instead of adding a second colour. I will also make two socks. I'm going to try a different heel and perhaps a different pattern. Wish me luck!

Growing Things

2009-07-13T21:37:00.010-04:00

Every growing season, I try to grow something. But I have to admit: I'm just not very good at growing things.

Mr. B. humours me, but I know he's really thinking, "Why is she doing this again?" He's very supportive. If I say I want seeds or dirt or a plant he's right there helping me pick it out at the store.

If I truly want something to not-wither, I try not to touch it too much or look directly at the whatever-it-is and I hope for the best. It's kind of hard to enjoy the process though...being worried about killing it and all.

So, with my dismal and inadequate skills in mind, I offer to you the following samples:

The Pretty Pink Flowers I Forget The Name Of. Originally I had sprinkled a bunch of these seeds in my wee front garden. The extras went into this pot. Then, the 'groundskeeper' came around and yanked out all the seedlings and planted ugly begonias. At least this year, my seedlings were the ones to meet their end and it wasn't the kids' sunflowers. That was not a happy day.

My Alive Bleeding Heart Bush. You see here, very clearly, little bleeding hearts that will bloom fully in the next day or so. Not only is this bush blooming, but these are not the first blooms! This is the second batch of blooms. I bought this bush for $4 at the local Habitat For Humanity fundraiser. I was only going to buy the $2 bush, but Mr. B. suggested I might have better luck with a bigger, more established plant. So far, so good!

My Tomatoes. These could be big tomatoes or these could be cherry tomatoes. My sister passed on some of her gardening extras and I got the pots mixed up. I kept one tomato plant and passed the rest to my mother. (I also kept an onion bunch and two hot pepper plants which are also, amazingly, still alive. They are not in a photo-worthy stage of their growth right now. I'll wait 'till they flower or something before taking photos.) So, big tomatoes or small tomatoes, you'll agree that this plant is doing ok! Never having grown tomatoes before, I have taken the hands-off approach. I don' t even water this thing. Perhaps this is why my corner of the world is so wet this summer. Perhaps Mother Nature has finally taken pity on me and is helping out.
The Girl Child. Out of everything I've ever planted, I was most worried about this one. Yet she seems to be flourishing with minimal effort on my part. This season, fashion is budding. I'm not sure I'm in love with the flowers (new shoes in this particular photo) but as long as the rest of the plant continues to be as healthy and wonderful as it has been in previous seasons, I'll just keep my opinions to myself and continue enjoying each season as it comes.

Thursday's Paddle

2009-07-10T08:23:00.006-04:00

Heading west to where the river opens wide.

For weeks I've been anticipating a paddle with a group of local paddlers. Their standing date of Thursday afternoons has been rained out three weeks running. I was excited to be joining them yesterday. We paddled west out of the city, further than I'd ever been. In an hour, we'd paddled a distance that equals a ten-minute drive. The river opens up at this point. Much wider than I'm used to seeing.

A quiet bay begins with this great lighthouse.

Just when you think you're going to have to deal with open water - chop, wind and fast boat traffic, there's a little bay on the north shore that shelters a tiny group of islands. As you get into the shallows, you find yourself directly over a shipwreck. The skeleton of the boat is covered in seaweed. It was much larger than I thought it would have been for something sunk in such a shallow spot.

Molly's Gut Shipwreck

When you're out on the river in the afternoons, there's a good amount of traffic. When you pair the first sunny afternoon with a month of rain and wind, there's a lot of traffic. Some you might not expect. A small plane did a fly-over directly over top of our group of 5 paddlers. It flew around the island we were approaching and then looped around. We soon discovered it was preparing to land directly ahead of us. It passed overhead once more - this time much lower than before - at treetop level.

The plane takes off overhead as we had back to town.

It's times like this that I realize the importance of travelling in a group of paddlers. We're much more visible when we're in a group. As a rookie paddler, I really appreciated the more experienced paddlers. It's fine to skirt the islands or the shoreline and putter about, but there are the world's largest fresh-water shipping channel, tour boat routes, the yacht club's sailing races, the wake boarding club boats to negotiate as well as numerous personal watercraft, fishing boats and motor boat traffic to watch for. The channel and the islands make for some interesting current patterns as well. Calm looking water is not always as it seems.

I believe the paddle was about 6.5km (4 miles) in total. A really good, long, interesting time. I met some new people, learned lots and got to know my boat a little better. Hopefully next week is as enjoyable.

Week 1 - Complete!

2009-07-08T21:21:00.004-04:00

I know, I know; I should be in the middle of week two by now. Don't stress me. Last night I went out and 'ran' the last workout of Week 1 (C25K).

So, onward and upward to Week 2. I'm scared to even look at the length of the running intervals. So we won't talk about that.

I'm convinced I'm an ugly runner. I'm sure I have bad form. I sweat and pant and I jiggle. Really, I'm embarrassed. I can't even bring myself to take a 'before' picture. But I'm also sick of being like this so I will get through the emotional dramatics and I will run.

Let's instead talk about how proud I am of myself. You'd think I might be proud of the actual workout part. And I am, sort of. However, I am even more proud of the fact that I am getting past my perfectionist hang-ups and getting through to the important bit of actually getting some exercise.

Last Friday should have been workout #3. It poured all day. There was a quick break in the evening - just in time for The Boy Child's soccer game. They ended up calling the game at half time since it had been pouring since kickoff and the field was now flooded. But I digress. There was no opportunity for a 'run'.

Late Friday night I was getting a bit stressed about being off schedule. How am I supposed to stick with something if the schedule is not working out?! How am I supposed to maintain the benefits of the previous workout if too much time lapses until the next workout?! Why not just throw in the towel and wait for a better/easier/<insert excuse-worthy adjective here> exercise alternative? Why not wait for the perfect time, the best weather? Why not get X, Y and Z out of the way before starting?

Because that is the method I've been using for the past ten years and it's just not working out for me anymore.

So, I had all weekend to psych myself up for continuing with my workout schedule first thing Monday morning. Yeah, right. Monday was a write off. I didn't feel 100% and I was exhausted. I should just give up the whole idea and get over it now. I don't stick with anything. My plans and visions of grandeur just never work out.

Tuesday rolled around and I gave myself a deadline: by bedtime, I had to have fit in my workout. This was ridiculous. I know very well that nothing but actually getting off my ass and doing it is going to work. There will be no suddenly available time, no miraculous decrease in BMI, no surge of endless energy. Things are going to continue to be busy. It's going to rain. Schedules will suddenly change. I won't feel well. I'll make dinner late. I'll spend too much time on the computer. The house will never be clean enough; the kids never settled enough. I'll not have time...but really, there will be time. So just go ahead and do the stupid running already.

Goodness knows why I have these dialogues with myself. What do I really have to do in a day that prevents me from taking a 1/2 hour exercise break? Nothing! If something isn't working out perfectly, I throw in the towel.

But this time I didn't. At 8:45 last night, I went and 'ran'. Once I climbed Mt. GetOutTheDoorAndJustDoIt, I was alright.

My first running interval landed when I was in front of a parking lot full of people. I paused my iPod and continued my brisk walking pace to a more run-worthy place. The world didn't fall apart because things hadn't gone perfectly! (I'm certain it would have fallen apart if I'd been seen running by actual real-life people.)

During my third running interval, I somehow managed to skip ahead to the next song. Damn. I took some time - while continuing my brisk walking pace - found the podcast again (it's a Shuffle, no screen), scanned ahead a bit and continued with the workout. I didn't even know if I'd found the correct spot. And what do you know, the world didn't fall apart because things hadn't gone perfectly. Again! In the end, I may have even done too many running intervals. Can you imagine?!

The carnage continued: my knees hurt. So I ran on the soccer pitches for a while. My dog took off after a squirrel, stopped to roll in something and was a general pain. I let her leash out and pretty soon, she was following me. The kids didn't get to be 'on time'. Who cares? It's summertime!

So, against all usual personal odds, some exercise was had. I'm cautiously optimistic. Tomorrow I will begin Week 2. Perhaps in addition to the exercise I hope to achieve this summer, I'll also learn a thing or two and be able to apply it to other areas of my life. Goodness knows I'll have some time to consider those and other deep thoughts while I'm out ~~trying not to be seen so that when I am seen, I'm not embarrassed to have been seen~~ exercising.

We Went Camping!

2009-07-07T19:28:00.005-04:00

Hey all.

A two day camping trip necessitated a week-long respite from the blog.

Silly, eh?

When word came down the pipe that we'd be roughing it for two days, a few things needed to be put together so we would have a lovely time in the woods. Like food. And sleeping gear. And swimming gear. And dishes.

I spent last Thursday and Friday collecting things and packing and baking. Saturday and Sunday we did the deed. Monday was Recovery Day. Camping wipes me out!

Saturday:

Drag butt out of bed.
Wake others.
Take Skittish White Dog to the kennel.
Pack clothes; pack cooler; pack car.
Drive to rendezvous point.
Unpack car. Pack boat.
Boat ride!
Unpack Boat. Trek gear uphill to 'cottage'. Unpack gear.
Chat with hosts.
Unpack cooler. Lunch. Pack cooler.
Pack fishing gear, snacks, drinks, kids into boat.
Fish.
Visit other cottagers.
Kids' first motorboat ride. Fish The Girl's hat out of the lake.
Return to prepare dinner. Eat.
Campfire.
Rescue children from mosquitoes thicker than fog.
Play really cool card game.
Sleep.

Sunday:

Wake at 9:15 thinking it's 6a.m.
Check on health of The Boy, my early riser, who has never been so quiet for so long.
Take book to dock and read in the sunshine.
Help get breakfast out. Ok, brunch.
Pack up sleeping gear.
Hang out at the dock while kids swim.
Call MNR on idiots who parked their rental boat 30 feet from the dock.
Mention the wee tiny fish they're keeping in their live well.
Snacks dockside. Too full from brunch for lunch.
Take boat out for the kids' maiden tubing adventure.
Reassure The Girl that not everyone likes tubing.
Remark quietly to Mr. B about the shortest and slowest no-wake tubing adventure ever.
Pack swim toys and inflatables.
Return to cottage and pack up all gear.
Trek gear to dock. Pack boat.
Boat ride!
Unload Boat. Find Car. Pack Car.
Drive home. Unpack car. Unpack cooler.
Sleep.

In the end it was a great time. I get a kick out of all the 'necessary' things we need for a short overnight stay. We so appreciate our hosts inviting us to their family cottage (no plumbing, no electricity) as this isn't the kind of thing that we're able to do with the kids on our own. It's so quiet and relaxing to be on their wooded island even for just a short time. I love watching my kids do stuff for the first time. It still gets me after all these years. This time is was snorkeling and tubing and whittling. They love the 'adventurous' feeling they get from doing all of the out-of-the-ordinary stuff a trip like this entails. I love that at their ages, the kids are still excited to spend this family time together. Neither could imagine doing something like this any other way.

This one weekend made both the kids' summer.

Baby Visit

2009-06-30T19:14:00.007-04:00

Today there was a knock at my door. It was a friend of mine. And her lovely barely-three-weeks-old baby.

So what do you say when someone says 'Can I drop my baby with you for a few minutes? It's raining and I need to walk to the shop and pick up the car.'

Well! I had that baby in the house and settled so fast I could hardly believe it myself. I did let The Girl enjoy her for a little while. Then I walked and talked and cuddled and patted that baby until she fell asleep.

As luck would have it, the car at the shop was not quite ready, so Baby's visit was extended. When her mom returned, it seems that it's been a few days since she's had any adult interaction. Lucky me - more baby holding!!

During Baby's visit, dinner went unmade, The Boy disappeared and the dog languished unhappily in her crate. I nearly ignored my parents who dropped in (turns out they took The Boy with them when they left) and I even made it through the 'Mrs. A's brother is having a baby!' conversation without tears.

Baby visits are a marvelous interlude to one's day. I highly recommend them. And just incase some other lady happens to drop by and asks if I can help out by lovin' on their baby while they run an errand, I told Mr. B we have to stay in tonight.

Getting Some Exercise - Week 1 Day 1

2009-06-29T19:15:00.006-04:00

I went and jumped on the C25k bandwagon.

Good Lord what was I thinking?! What kind of stupid person showers before attempting her first bit of exertion in a decade?!

I hate running. I've never been drawn to running. I think my knees hurt if I run too much. But I wouldn't know. Because I've never run with any regularity.

Workout #1 was ok until about 3/4 of the way through. It was quite the effort to get through the last 3 60-second runs.

And then...Buddy on the podcast says something about how you're not supposed to be feeling overly exerted or out of breath. What is he thinking?! And that comment in the last 60-second run? The one where he says '20 seconds...is up'. As in there's still 40 seconds to go. Who does that?! Why doesn't he wait until there's only 20 seconds remaining. I tell ya. Not impressed. I am so loading up a different podcast for workout #2.

But I finished. It was a disgustingly sweaty finish. Not attractive. A cool shower was required.

And at the very end of my workout, when I was walking to cool down, I had to tun the volume of my iPod way up to drown out the 'this was such a stupid idea' thoughts I was having. There were also the 'please don't let anyone see me jiggling' thoughts. Thank goodness I have a fairly extensive green space to hide in while exercising.

I know what I was thinking. I was thinking about the new bathing suit I just bought. ($5, Old Navy Summer Swim Sale or some such silliness.) I was thinking about how the only pants that are comfortable are my WalMart fat jeans. I was thinking that my 10th wedding anniversary is coming up. I was thinking that I used to be a role model for active living and fitness. I was thinking about how out of shape and lazy I have become. I was thinking about how I turn up injured after the least bit of physical activity.

I really hope I'm not sore tomorrow. My plan is to keep busy in order not to think about the whole ugly business of running on purpose to exercise. I'm really very pathetic.

But, wouldn't it be cool if I could stick with it? It's a nine week program and I have nine weeks of official summer break. It just fits so nicely in a perfectionist, obsessive kind of way. I wonder if that's considered 'motivation'?

Local Book Sale #1

2009-06-27T20:13:00.005-04:00

For years now, I've thought that it would be a great adventure to have a local homeschooling conference. Or vendor fair. Or seminar. Or workshop. Heck, it'd be nice just to have a local organized group. We local homeschoolers are spread fairly thinly 'round 'bout these parts.

I know, it would be 'easiest' to just build it and they will come. However. When the kids were at Montessori, I learned a very valuable lesson. It's very easy to become responsible for all these great ideas and soon, all your time and energy are focused on pulling off an event instead of taking care of the things you're supposed to be focused on. Like your kids. And making dinner at a reasonable hour. And having clean laundry to wear. And kissing your husband.

So, with that in mind, I've been careful to organize what I can, but not to take on too much. I like a little social time with other like-minded moms, so there have been evenings of coffee and chatting. I've organized sessions at the Nature Center when my kids were interested in some local environmental science. I've tracked down and hired a French tutor for small group lessons this past year when our French work needed a little boost. Little bits, here and there, when I see a need in our family. All other visions of grandeur have been firmly placed in the back seat of my mind. For sanity's sake, you see. (And also because Mr. B told me if he ever had to see that crazy woman who though it was ok to have a hundred things on the go while her children whined and grabbed at her ankles while she was on her way out the door to do something un-family-related again he would have to pull rank and put his foot down and make her do it his way...whether I liked it or not.)

Over the years, I've visited nearby cities for their local book sales and conferences. This spring, I even stepped out of my box and attended a curriculum and used book sale as a vendor. My friend and I had a great time at this particular sale. We paid attention and decided that such a thing couldn't be that hard to pull off.

When we returned to town, my friend was particularly jazzed about having a used book sale for the local homeschooling community. The response to a 'feeler email' that was sent out to gauge interest in a local home learners book sale was amazing. Suddenly, there were 17 vendors. People we'd never heard of surfaced.

A few weeks later, there we were, early on a Saturday morning at a local church basement, hanging signs, hauling boxes and arranging tables. I went to the sale not expecting to make any money. I didn't bring very many things. Just two lightly packed bins and some gently used fiction. Friend and I shared a table. I made $40 and spent $20 of that.

So, Friend and I are very excited about the first local home learners book sale for a number of reasons. Nearly everyone who had a table there made a little bit of money. Their feedback was positive. They want to do it again! We drew shoppers and vendors from out of town. Those who weren't homeschoolers came and bought stuff.

In future years, I can see a local sale being bigger and better. I can see it expanding to include a guest speaker or a workshop or seminar. I see an opportunity for connections and networking and brainstorming.

I'm so glad this first sale was so well done. It's a great stepping stone to a regular local homeschooler presence. And, now that my kids are older, I can afford the time and effort to help organize such a thing while keeping up with Mt. Laundry and my husband-kissing responsibilities. Fun times!

Summer Break

2009-06-26T22:21:00.003-04:00

We're officially on Summer Break!

It's official just because I said so. Isn't that awesome?! I still find endless amusement that something can be a big deal just because I said it is. This amusement is a serendipitous benefit in my quest to find that special balance between structure and routine. But I digress.

Summer Break arrived last Friday. There was a little bit of history review, reading and filing of colouring pages. I spent some time pulling things off the shelf for the next day's book sale. The kids joined their neighbourhood friends for an afternoon of driveway hockey, water gun squirting, pick-up soccer and general hanging out.

I thought it would be a fun idea to mark the end of our semi-structured school year with a bit of a 'do'. We ordered pizza and I arranged a dessert from the bakery: cupcakes smothered in far too much icing. Delightful. I set the table nicely and at each place setting, I had a little something for the kids. The Boy had a small Lego set waiting for him at his place and The Girl had a new sketch book. Each also had a new beach towel. Things not just for thing's sake, but to show them that I'm excited to help them dive into their free time with enjoyable activities that they enjoy. I don't think I've been this excited for summer break since I was a student myself.

Since last Friday we've been knocking off things that have been stressing me one thing at a time. Not necessarily bad stress, but stress nonetheless. I've knocked off a book sale, extended family hosted a birthday party for The Boy we had to travel to, Father's Day, an Art in the City tour, a day at the park, a friend's birthday, soccer games, the chauffeuring of The Boy and Friend to and from the Museum program they attended Thursday and a business trip today with Mr. B. Fun times.

After this weekend, I launch Summer Projects 2009. SO much in mind, so little time...

Last Week's Paddle

2009-06-18T13:42:00.002-04:00

Last week I ventured out on my own, but with a mission.

You see, the week before last, I had ventured out on a beautiful, sunny afternoon. It was quiet on the river and I puttered around a few of the more immediate islands, just checking things out. I was treated to seeing a North American River Otter pop up out of the water with his dinner - a wee flapping fish - which he proceeded to eat.

As I was heading back to shore, I met up with a group of kayakers just heading out on their paddle. I was invited along and quickly introduced to their group - a casual bunch of people with a standing date for an afternoon leisure paddle. Perhaps I could join them next week?

So, last week's mission was to meet up with these people to enjoy a paddle with them.

I parked in my usual spot - not the group's meeting spot - and put in on my own. Since I nearly grew a hernia last week, trying to look all capable and kayak-ish while carrying my kayak and gear 50m ot the dock, I thought this might be the week to try out my wheels. They work really well.

I caught up with the tail end of the kayak group and had a chat with 'Ron'. Being from a small town, conversation concentrated on placing ourselves. Soon we found our six degrees of separation: Ron's wife had been going to my dad's now-closed shop for car maintenance for years. I had married my husband, who, with his brother, had belonged to Ron's scout troupe for a number of years. We small town people are so much more comfortable once we understand our respective places in the community. <insert eyeroll here>

I was looking for a bit of exercise on this particular paddle, so I spent the next half hour catching up with the leaders of the group. I spent a quarter of an hour with them before turning back. It was a vigorous paddle back. Thank goodness for my little kayak wheels because there was no way my rubbery arms were going to carry anything back to the car.

I'm so impressed that I can load and unload onto the car on my own. I'm still a little nervous about tying down properly so I'm a bit of a cautious driver with the kayak on the car top. I have Mr. B check my tie-downs before leaving home. It's quite easy to tip the nose of the kayak onto the top of the car, grab the stern handle and slide it up onto the foam blocks on the roof rack.

This week I'm getting ready for a more leisurely paddle. It's drizzling and overcast, but I won't melt. I hope to have my dad join me. He and 'Ron' will get on very well, me thinks.

A Chatty Blog

2009-06-17T08:25:00.009-04:00

Thank you to those who have emailed comments. I appreciate every one as they are so personal. Since I am just a wee blip on the blogosphere and not inundated with huge numbers of emails, I like being able to reply to those who drop a line.

I've noticed funky, frustrating things happening with my blog layout. It could be the template. I can't read all the HTML and figure it out myself, so I'll wait for my tech support to take a look sometime. THAT will cost me favours. But that's ok. My tech guy is my own Mr. B and he's not too bad to do favours for. In the meantime, I just select 'smaller' from the 'Text Size' menu in 'View' on my browser window menu. Then everything pops back where it should be. I'm trying not to worry about it. But it is bugging me.

My brother is having a baby. Well, of course his lovely new wife is actually going to be doing the work of the happy event. I can still call her 'new wife' as their first anniversary is not until next week. This is wonderful news! I will be an aunt for the first time on my side and my kids will get their first maternal cousin. The kids tell me they've been waiting a while. The Boy is all ramped up to teach his new cousin to play hockey. I don't think he understands the timeline involved quite yet. I'm not going to the be the one to burst his bubble.

New baby news is rocking my world. I knew when it came, I'd have trouble with it. For years, I'd been doing really well when acquaintances announced their happy news or brought their new bundle around. I even managed to get over myself when my sister-in-law on Mr. B's side had her baby. However. Now that a sibling has begun the journey to parenthood, all my baby itch, my baby envy, my bigger family wishes, my pregnancy jealousy has taken a seat at the head of the table. Being a hormonal week for me has not helped a bit. So. Please excuse me while I wimp and whine and leak pity tears for the babies I never had. I'm trying to stay busy and not listen to music or be alone and I'm going to maintain a full schedule chalk full of people because that will keep me grounded in reality. I'm trying to keep all the angry, sad and disappointed feelings to myself. It's easiest to take out stressful feelings on those closest to you. My little family is perfect, really. We are so blessed with health and happiness and I feel rich every day in so many ways. So even with all my internal storming right now, I am remembering to be kind and considerate and loving first. I just have to keep a Kleenex in my pocket.

Moving on.

A particular acquaintance of mine, a former employee from days gone by, speaks about homeschooling under her breath. She's a teacher. Every time she sees my kids she asks them when they're going back to school. Never mind that they've never been to public school. It's a little undermining. On Monday this particular acquaintance stopped by while walking in the neighbourhood and this is what she found in our yard:

What poor, unfortunate, unsocialized homeschooled children I have. My kids are loving these outside play times with neighbourhood kids. I could go on about how much they get out of these friendships, what they're learning, the skills they're honing, how they're socialized rather than just socializing. I won't. The kids talk to me about the value of these times and I'm not worried about the Undermining Teacher.

My parents are back from a two week trip to South Korea and Japan. They came home bearing gifts and souvenirs for all. We are eating up the stories of Asian culture and are anxiously awaiting the pictures they took.

As our last week of homeschooling wraps up, I'm weeding through the Shelf and putting away things we won't be needing next year. I've got a bag of stuff to sell off and other things, like our math box, will be dismantled. This little math box held our fact cards, coin cup, money manipulatives and word problems. I think we used it every day for the last 3 years. Onward and upward, as Ms. Frizzle would say.

On the To Do list for today is a Homeschooler Phys.Ed class and The Girl's soccer game. My scrapbooking project will receive some attention. I have a tentative deadline of this Saturday for it to be finished. I should be able to get to a good amount of housework if the last two days are anything to go by. I'm off to get to our schoolwork this morning so we can enjoy our afternoon without bookwork hanging over our heads.

Have a great day,

♥Mrs. A

2009-06-15T06:14:00.005-04:00

Mr. B left at 4am this morning. He's travelling for work today. I heard him getting ready to go, so I made him a coffee for the road and went back to bed.

5am rolled around and I still wasn't asleep so I gave up and got going with my day. The last load of laundry is drying. Dishes are done. Cinnamon buns are rising.

I'm here at the computer with a coffee considering our home school year that is coming to a close.

For a couple of weeks now, we've only been doing an hour or so of work a day. On paper, I'd planned to be done at the end of May, giving us a nice, long break. As the nicer weather hit, we have been spending a bit more time outside and on individual pursuits. Time has been spent preparing for the end of our French lessons. I've been pulling paper from binders and sorting and filing as we finish up with various books and resources.

I've been anticipating our summer break. After being very academic for the first time in our homeschooling career, I feel as though I have some time to spend on projects that are important to me. I'm looking forward to organizing our next homeschooling year. I feel like I've been given permission to spend time on these things. In the past, I've felt as though I was robbing the kids of my time and being selfish. Perhaps there is something to be said for this Being Organized thing after all.

This week the kids and I will be finishing up. We will only need to do an hour or two in the mornings. Friday will be our last day. Neither The Boy or The Girl were keen on just wrapping everything up in one day. I even offered to spend Saturday doing the rest of their school work with them!

I think I will plan a special dinner to mark the our finishing. When I was young, I was given a 'passing gift' at the end of the school year. I remember the one I was really excited about: a Cabbage Patch Preemie doll. I still have her. The only other passing gift I recall is a chair. Mom got a little chair to go with my bedroom vanity at a garage sale, painted it and voila, passing gift. I wasn't impressed. But I still have the chair. I want my kids to feel proud of themselves for their efforts and accomplishments this year. I think that will be best accomplished with a bit of dedicated family time.

Cinnamon Buns are in the oven. I'm off to tackle the rest of my day.

Quietly Freaking Out

2009-06-14T14:51:00.006-04:00

Something that should be totally trivial has me all flustered and anxious. Chest-tight deep-breath-inhibiting anxious. It's a rare thing that gives me a physical anxious reaction.

We have new neighbours in the neighbourhood. The new neighbours have a long history of instigating awkward/difficult/touchy situations in the local homeschooling circle. Until yesterday, I thought they were safely ensconced all the way across town.

Everyone knows that I'm too 'nice', if anything. I avoid confrontation at nearly any cost. I'd just rather get the short end of the stick than put anyone out. I've managed to - just barely - keep this family at arms length from my family. Still, there have been minor run-ins.

My Mr. B has a very different philosophy for dealing with these kinds of things than I do. I have to admit, his way is much more efficient and to-the-point. Until now, I've managed to convince him of the effectiveness of my frou-frou way of dealing with these particular people. And yesterday, I realized the necessity of flushing the frou-frou and jumping directly on Mr. B's straight-talk blunt just-say-'no thanks'-and-shut-the-door bandwagon.

Yesterday I was obliged to graciously refuse an invitation put forth by this new-old family. I was - and still am - walking on eggshells about it. Not only do I have to negotiate the curve balls they throw within the homeschooling community, now I have to watch out for wayward balls from my own front step! This one invitation is so much more than just an invitation. It's tentacles of a suburban social circle I don't want. It's a pit of P's and Q's and fake smiles. It's the beginning of me needing to carry around a pail of Bean Dip.

I suppose my anxiousness really stems from own realization of the looming confrontation. Because I know that it's coming; it's inevitable. There will be no gracious refusals, no polite excuses, no friendly gloss overs. It will come down to me having to say something which will be uncharacteristically curt. Of course I will do so to protect my family's privacy, and to be very clear that our values and beliefs, our parenting choices, my children's actions and my place in the community is no one's business but my own.

You see, these things have been brought up in the past by these people. And before, I could simple choose not to be around them. I could choose to remove myself and go away. The time to draw the line in the sand (on the front walk?!) draws near.

So I've given myself the rest of today to be worried and anxious about this. Tomorrow I'll be wearing my Big Girl Panties.

Pens Win The Cup! ...Hopefully

2009-06-12T22:14:00.006-04:00

The Boy Child beside a display that shows the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup Ring.

Have I mentioned how big a Penguins fan The Boy Child is? He's such a big fan that he's been wearing his Penguins jersey around since Valentine's Day. Not only that, but his big birthday purchase last weekend at the Hockey Hall of Fame was a Penguins jersey. An away jersey since the one he has is a home jersey.

It's Game 7 - Do or Die for the Pens - early in the third and it looks like the Penguins will win the cup. We have no tv at our house so I am keeping up-to-the-minute on the Pittsburgh Penguins website. They have a Game 7 Live Blog on the go.

My kids weaseled their way over to friends to watch the game. Since it's looking good for the Pens, I'm seriously considering packing up my camera and heading across town to the friends' place to catch the look on The Boy's face when his team wins. He stuck his fingers all over the spot where their names will be engraved on the Stanley Cup. That's good luck, you know.

That's all I'm going to say tonight because if I talk about anything else, I'll be accused of jinxing it. Whatever outcome 'IT' happens to be. SO, I'm off. I'll be driving across town, in an attempt to stay awake...then, WHEN the Pens win, I"ll hear about it - loudly - on the way home.

Hopefully The Boy will sleep tonight

Aw Geez...The Wings just scored. Leave it to them to wait until the last 6 minutes of the game to get their helmets on straight. Do you know the kind of stress The Boy will be under if this game goes into overtime?! I'm not sure his wee little heart could take it...

Birthday Weekend - In Pics

2009-06-11T08:38:00.014-04:00

Arriving At The Hotel: The check in desk was busy and we somehow ended up with a room that already had someone's luggage in it! They bumped us up a couple of floors and we settled in.

The View: The traffic never stops. I had forgotten that about Toronto.

At Home In The Hotel: You'll notice the laptop. It was brought along so we could plan our route downtown while at the hotel. You'll also notice the Mini-Keurig. We're such coffee snobs.

To The Subway: It had been a long while since I'd caught the subway in Toronto. I easily found the Mall and the correct parking lot...there was a little wandering 'till I found the Subway.

First Subway Ride

Downtown Toronto

Union Station

Pillars at Union Station

Hockey Hall of Fame: We found it! I was so excited to see that it was housed in a heritage building. I think I may have been slightly more interested in the building (Bank of Montreal Bldg., built in 1885)

And So It Begins: Before admission was even paid, The Boy started, "Hey mom, look at this!" and "Hey Dad, didja see this?". The remarkable thing about the incredibly long wait to pay, was that a lady handed us two tickets - she had won four, but only needed two and we happened to be in the right place at the right time.

The Vault

The Cup: The Boy made sure to touch the place where the 2008-2009 season winners would be listed. We're hoping the Penguins will win. THe Boy is hoping because that's his favourite team. The rest of us are hoping because we won't hear the end of it if they don't.

Playing Goalie: This might have been The Boy's favourite part.

Getting Directions: The Blackberry came in handy when we needed to find our way to the restaurant for lunch.

Wayne Gretzky's: Where else do you go for lunch after the Hockey Hall of Fame??!

My Favourite Part: Who knew we'd be walking past all this culture on our way to pick up the subway?! This is as close as I got to seeing Sound of Music. A show wasn't in the cards this trip.

The Royal Alexandra: I saw my first musical here a million years ago.

Roy Thompson Hall: When I was a kid and a budding performer, I thought I would one day preform here.

Canada's Walk of Fame

Heading Back Uptown

The First Car: Getting to the first car at the end of the platform turned into getting the last car of the train. It's a good thing they don't count on me for directions all the time.

Checking Out The Tunnel

Monday Morning: I brought balloons and our traditional 'Happy Birthday' banner. It's just not a birthday with out these little traditions.

The Northern Bald Eagle: The Boy's Favourite.

The Orangutans: The Girl's Favourite.

The Giraffe: We dubbed this guy 'Melvin'. It's amazing he doesn't just step out of his enclosure.

Stingray Bay: Very cool exhibit. We did get here last year for a short time. This year, the ray's were much more touchable and definitely bigger. The new addition of the sharks was very lacklustre. Perhaps they'll warm up to the crowds with time.

Rays: Very soft, like velvet, but a bit squishy and slimy like a wet neoprene wetsuit. Mr. B. touched one and that was it for him. Me, I was wet to the shoulder when all was said and done.

The 10 Year Old Boy: The trip home is shorter if you sleep through it.

Birthday Weekend - Redux

2009-06-09T11:12:00.003-04:00

The Boy Child turned 10 yesterday. To celebrate, we had a 'do over'.

Last year at this time, we took our little family for an out-of-character trip to the big city of Toronto. We had intentions of spending the night at a fun hotel (pool with waterside) and then spending the next day at the zoo before heading home.

But the night of our arrival, disaster struck in the form of a kidney infection for The Boy. He and I spent the night before his 9th birthday on the cold bathroom floor of the hotel room, trying to let Mr. B and The Girl get a bit of sleep. We tried the zoo in the morning - rented a wagon for The Boy - but we only got to see the sting rays and the smelly rhino before we had to leave.

Once we returned home, the emails flew furiously and we soon had a surgery date to have The Boy's kidney repaired. It was a long summer while he recovered. However, it was all well worth it as we have a New Boy. So this year, to celebrate his birthday, we planned the 'do over'. It was a celebration not only of a tenth birthday, but also a celebration for Mr. B and I as we reflected on our journey with our young man - how much he's overcome and how his life is so much more comfortable and improved.

We played Tourist Family in Toronto for the weekend. We drove there on Saturday, settled into the hotel and then spent the rest of the day in the pool. Sunday we introduced the kids to the subway. We visited the Hockey Hall of Fame and Gretzky's restaurant for lunch. Then on Monday, we spent the better part of the day at the zoo, having a much longer, thorough visit than last year.

It was a great trip for us. Perhaps such a trip wouldn't be a big deal for others, but for quiet home-bodies such as we are, it was way out of our box. We arrived home in good spirits with enough daylight to spend the evening playing with friends. Oh, we fit in a birthday dinner - requested by The Boy himself - of fish, rice pilaf and corn before heading to the bakery to order a cake.

Pictures to follow as the week goes on.

Strange Days...

2009-06-03T20:47:00.007-04:00

Well, here we are. It's Wednesday...and where have I been all week?

Well, Monday I was hanging out my second story window. I was trying to make a point with the kids about what we'd been reading in history. It had to do with Galileo and that tower in Pisa.

Tuesday I was found here:

Yes, that's frumpy ol' me standing in a farm field full of goats, sheep, donkeys and a miniature horse. There was also this cuteness which should distract you from my frumpiness:

That brings us to today. Thankfully, no pictures. And much less poop than yesterday. Today I found myself packing up our math programs. I filed away papers and removed a handful of post-it notes. As we're finishing up this year's school work, I'm getting the shelf in shape so that planning next year's work is easy. Today also found me at the soccer field where the kids took part in a homeschooler's phys ed class. Good times. And finally, I just spent the better part of three hours at the soccer field watching The Girl play her second game of the season. It was so cold, I left the camera in my bag and did my best to conserve body heat.

The rest of my free time this week will be spent finishing The Boy's birthday gift. Pictures after it's done. Have a great week!