Great thing about homeschooling #215

We are on vacation. In the middle of September we are at the beach with all of our kids, paying almost half of what it would have cost us to vacation here a mere week ago. Hee hee! The beaches are so quiet. I promise some pics next week.

Mary Clare goes to pre-school

Today was Mary Clare's first day of 3 yr. old pre-school. She began at our parish pre-school in January in a 2 day program. After our fall of homeschool, my first with 4 kids, I was desperate! I saw the director of the pre-school at mass around Christmas last year and I jokingly asked her if she had any spots for January. Amazingly she did have a spot for Mary Clare in the 2 year old room!

She loved her class last year and is thrilled to be returning. I am thrilled too. It is our 4th week of homeschool and it has been very challenging to keep Mary Clare occupied while the olders get working.

Returning

So, I have left this blog space for several months. There were many reasons why. One being that last fall we were in the midst of discerning a very important decision and there was little else that occupied my thoughts. This decision was a highly personal one and I felt I could not write it in such a public space. The decision was made. As is the case with lots of 'major' life decisions it brought a small amount of peace, but also a myriad of many more new decisions to be pondered!

Anyway, I feel compelled for many reasons (not the least being a prodding husband) to start posting again. He reminded me how fun it is to look back in the archives and read how our daily life was one or two years ago. He reminded me that many family members liked to check up on us here and to see pictures of the kids. He reminded me how much I enjoyed writing and clearing my thoughts.

Thanks for all of the gentle prodding, hon. I love you!

The Office

Last week the kids used most of their free time to play office. I think Ryan started the trend. He set up a corner in his room with one of those plastic storage bins on wheels, an old cell phone, an old laptop bag that Lee got from one of his conventions and a chair. Soon, everyone was setting up their offices. They were staged mostly in the corners of the room. I guess they like the cubicle concept. Very cozy. However, Jake decided it wasn't big enough so later, he took over their dresser and bargained for an old keyboard a neighbor was throwing out. He is such the executive. For computers they have taken hardback books and then they lift up the cover, turn it sideways and pretend it's a laptop. The yellow octagon pattern block is the mouse of choice. We also made telephones from string and paper cups, but they did not last very long.

Ryan surprised me when he came into the playroom one afternoon dressed in his church clothes. He looked very handsome, his shirt was tucked in and he had a belt on. He had combed and slicked his hair! He announced he had an important meeting at the office. (!!) For the record, he still claims he wants to be either a priest, or a professional football player when he grows up for real. Jake is looking for a career in stand-up. Laine wants to be a cheerleader, but Luke and Mary Clare are undecided.

Hands on science

We had nice short school week that ended on a high note today at our homeschool co-op. I was assisting in the K-1st program where we had a science lesson, a brief Spanish lesson and some time in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Jake and Ryan are working on a unit study with other 2nd and 3rd graders and also have the opportunity to take a class on Gregorian chant.

The science lesson was on organs in the human body. The lead teacher had a fabulous lesson plan. She had a body poster for each child with stickers for the major organs she had placed on already. Then we went through several major ones and discussed their function. For each organ she had a short hands-on type of activity to bring it home for the kids and then they placed the label sticker themselves. For the brain we did a round of Simon Says. For the lungs we used a latex balloon illustrate inhaling and exhaling. We found our pulses, listened to our hearts and did a resting vs. activity pulse experiment. We saw how the liver acts like a coffee filter to clean our blood. We had a particularly icky demonstration of the large intestine. Mrs. Carr had pre-mixed up individual baggies with chocolate cake mix and oatmeal to familiar consistantcy (unless you suffer with some bowel issues!) then we cut a corner off the baggie and the children squeezed out the mix and saw how God designed our bodies to get rid of body trash. Ewww! Then the children got to demonstrate how our bladder collects and releases liquid waste using water balloons and a safety pin.

Isn't that a wonderful lesson? I know these kids will not soon forget the amazing functions of our organs. I think I had just as much fun as they did!

Reality Check

I came across this site visiting Tienne's blog Take The Poor With You. I admire Tienne and am especially grateful for this blog reference.

Reading through this site forced me into a stark reality check. The human rights situation in China is not rosy. I can't help but wonder why this isn't discussed more often in our media. I really have no clear answer.

I think in the China adoption community there is a real concern that discussing these issues might put adoptions in jeopardy. That is probably not unfounded. I am going to add this link to my sidebar and I hope you will visit it, read and pray for the people of China.

Yippee!

Some friends of our will be getting the referral of their daughter today. Their LID was 11/22/05. Our was 05/23/05 and we have have been home with Mary Clare for almost 18 months. I truly do not know how that have held it together during this wait that has kept growing and stretching, but I completely admire them. I do know that either today or tomorrow, after they see her sweet face for the first time, those months of waiting will seem like days and they will know that this little one was meant just for them.