Hello, again.

Well, well, well...  Where were we?

Sarabelle has just finished her first year at college.  Proof that an eclectic education doesn't completely screw you up.  She's happily pursuing a degree in communications and working on the local radio station.  Next year she will have a regular show of her own and will be the station's music director.  She established the first strings ensemble at the college and has been invited to join the city's community orchestra.  This month she is New York City interning at a major record label and basically living her dream.

Grice has finished all her dual enrollment college classes for this year and just has a few more weeks of her last high school class:  Algebra 2.  She was inducted into the college's honor society and is on track to graduate high school next year with her full Associates degree.  We're trying to pin down a university for her to follow her interest in zoology.  More proof that this works.

And I'm still homeschooling Elle.  For our spine, covering American history, we're reading Howard Zinn's A Young People's History of the United States.  We're using Saxon Math 5/4 and plan to jump ahead to the 8/7 book when we finish because, according to the great State of Florida, she should be in sixth grade this year.  Though, if you have been following the news of the horrendous state of our educational system, Florida is apparently no expert on that subject.  Easy Grammar Plus, which is suitable for high school students, was a good follow-up to the First Language Lessons series.  Elle wanted to work on her spelling, so I picked up an appropriate level of Spelling Workout, and since she likes workbooks, Building Thinking Skills was an easy way to start working logic in.  We were nearly through Latina Christiana I when I came upon William Linney's Getting Started With Latin and his continuing education website:  http://www.linneyslatinclass.com/ and changed course.  Again.  I was comfortable with the religiosity in the Latina Christiana/Henle progression, that was how I learned Latin, but now prefer to skip that and move on to purely secular studies.  And especially ones that can be done without purchasing another series of books.  The lessons are very short -- Charlotte Mason's 15 minute suggestion is in play for my little Miss Short Attention Span --  and so far it is all repetition, but Elle likes it and is feeling pretty confident in her abilities.

In other homeschool news:

I've had to drag out my copy of Queen Bees and Wannabes for another reading.  Elle has been taking ice skating lessons this year.  The group of three girls her age were welcoming at first but have turned into a bunch of mean girls.  Since the group is predominantly Christian, her lessons have become less about skating and more about hypocrisy.

Thanks to the current political atmosphere, I have discovered I am a feminist.  And an angry one at that.  Elle has had the benefit of overhearing the podcasts and news reports I listen to and has a grasp of current events that probably rivals most of the adults she knows. We've been to a few local Occupy events, protesting Citizens United, etc., and Elle really likes these as I count her participation as a full school day.

With my ability to work remotely, I am beginning to plan a summer trip up to Boston.  It may be evolving into another Colonial America/Revolutionary War road trip.  Elle was too young to get much out of our last trip other than correctly identifying George Washington in the Capitol's Rotunda.

Our little town recently announced plans to build a marine research and tourist attraction just three blocks from our house.  It will be a great boost to our local economy and just imagine the opportunities for a high school aged homeschooler...

Adaptations

We finished First Language Lessons Level 4, which is good since we should probably be somewhere in the vicinity of fifth grade by now. I'm moving Elle right into Easy Grammar Plus from here. It's considered junior/senior high school level, but we'll take our time, and at the rate we're going she'll be on track to complete it by the end of grade 12. Just kidding.

I hope.

I was lucky to catch a screening of Waiting for "Superman" at our local college. It's thought-provoking and well done, though it does not tell the full story. As an independent educator, I occasionally found myself snickering out of sync with the room full of pros, but everyone was pretty much in agreement: The system is not working; something has got to change. There were few dry eyes by the end of it all. It'll be out this week on DVD.

We're celebrating Darwin Day, February 12, with a visit to Dinosaur World along with the group Humanist Families - Greater Tampa Region. Coincidentally, I just happened to receive Inherit the Wind from Netflix for a nice tie-in. "Coincidentally," I say, because if your queue is anything like mine, it's frequently altered without your express written consent. I'm never quite sure what exactly will turn up in my mailbox. Our local theater company is doing a production of Inherit the Wind as well, and Elle has expressed an interest in seeing a live performance.

Happy Darwin Day!

And now a word from our sponsor...

Schola Classical Academy's Insane Field Trip

Grice and her Young Republican friend, J -- who had overheard our plans on the way home one afternoon and was beyond excited to join us and Keep Fear Alive, and whose parents must be as nuts as I am to actually let him go with a virtual stranger -- were picked up when school got out at 1:45.   Good-byes were said, a last minute iPod auxiliary player was located and borrowed, the car fueled, it was 2:30 PM and we (Sarabelle, her roommate A, Elle, and I) were on our way. With only four gas/snack/bathroom stops, we drove straight through the night and were parked in the garage at Ronald Reagan International by 6:30 AM.



After a short delay fighting with a Metro ticket machine, we finally arrived on the Mall about an hour later. We could have set up right in front of the stage, it was still that empty, but spread our blanket out a little ways back, up against a First Aid tent so nobody could crowd us.

Here's the view from our spot:



Then, while I held our ground, the kids, all armed with cell phones, headed out to find me coffee and to do a little sightseeing. And boy, was there a lot to see.











Elle wanted to see the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool, and when we got there she wanted to press on and see the Lincoln Memorial. It was getting close to showtime and we had already walked quite a way, but being the awesome homeschooling mom I am, how could I possibly say no? Plus, my iPhone said there was a restroom there.







We hoofed it back down the Mall to our place and that's when the drama began.

We had been fenced out of our primo location. A volunteer offered to go let my kids inside the fence know where we were, because by then, for whatever reason, there was no cell phone service. He came back to tell me there were only two kids there. Which ones? He didn't know. So I'm missing two kids. Great. And they were still not going to let us in. We waited patiently for someone to exit, "one in, one out," but nobody seemed to be leaving. Elle was with me and the others were in pairs, wherever they were, so I was not overly concerned. But I wanted my spot. The spot I had staked out at the crack of dawn. Speaking to the cops was no help. Until, after watching another mother's success, I too played the hysterical mom card. Elle and I got in and found Grice and A at our blanket. Sarabelle came wandering up a few minutes later. Alone. She and J had been waiting at another "one in, one out" gate to get back into our area, but he opted to find another way in while Sarabelle held her spot in line. J is a clever, resourceful, and highly independent kid, wants to be an admiral in the navy one day, so we knew he'd be okay, and might even end up appearing on stage as his mother warned, so I was still not too worried, just hoping his view was at least as good as ours. The opening acts were through, the announcer had begun his intro, "...and now, please welcome your host..." and suddenly J appears at our side. So while the crowd is wildly cheering the entrance of "...Jonnnnnnnn Stewarrrrrt!" we were wildly cheering the return of J.



The show was fun, funny, over the top, and I was ready to hear Jon get serious at the end. "We live now in hard times, not end times..." "If we amplify everything, we hear nothing..." Yes! But I was a bit disappointed that he claimed not to be here to ridicule the Right and people of faith, among others. That's what he does so wonderfully on his show. And since then, watching Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher, and Rachel Maddow discuss the matter of false equivalency, I'd have to agree with them, that while all the media tends to be shrill and sensationalist, one group is particularly egregious and dangerous, and maybe Jon did miss an opportunity. But he's a satirist, not a politician after all, and he does what he does so well.

We made it out back to our car in just over an hour, which was amazing considering the crowd at the Metro, and were back home by 9:30 AM, time enough to go to breakfast, take a nap, finish costumes, and get ready for trick-or-treating.

Road Scholas

Show your children democracy in action, rather than democracy inaction: Take them to a political rally!

Perhaps rather insensibly, but with a great sense of spontaneity and duty, I've organized a road trip up to Washington, D.C. to attend Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity. Sarabelle, Grice, and another friend are all licensed drivers which will make the trip so much easier, and we still have room for one or two more.

This should be great fun. And so educational!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rally to Restore Sanity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
March to Keep Fear Alive
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

DO NOT CALL

Nothing very notable has been happening around here, oh, except for the pending environmental destruction of epic proportions.

When the two Jehovah's Witnesses showed up at my door the other day, blissfully oblivious of my rage and depression over the whole BP mess, and started spinning their happy end of the world scenario: Worried about where this world is headed? War! Oil spills! Isn't it wonderful? Jehovah is near!, it was a good thing I was coughing so hard I couldn't speak. I am officially going on the "Do Not Call" list.

Their idea of complacency made my blood boil. Anyone who looks forward to violent confrontation between nations or the ruination of the planet as the opening chapter of their salvation should do us all a favor and just step off the planet now. Get a headstart on their afterlife.

We've let corporations get away with murder. And the Supreme Court has gone and lifted limits on campaign contributions which just makes it worse. We know both parties are beholden to corporate graft (though one side's benefits are completely lopsided*) so quit trying to blame the current administration for what it has or has not done in response to the Deepwater disaster, place the blame with those who have allowed these greedy money machines to rule our world, and figure out how to rectify the situation.

I have been coughing for two days shy of two weeks. The wedding went well, prior to the nuptials I was in total denial about standing in front of a crowd and did not feel the least bit nervous until I was well into the second page of the ceremony when I suddenly became conscious at that point that, Hey!...I'm doing this!...I'm reading this!...I'm actually in front of a lot of people... It was at that point my left leg began to shake. But I willed it to stop and I made myself take a big breath (in case I hadn't had any lately), and didn't pass out and knock the bride into the alligator-infested river. Then the day after the wedding, without any warning, I woke up with a terrible sore throat and without a voice. Not even a croak. The timing was perfect, one day earlier and it would've been a catastrophe.

Formal studies have ground to a halt. Yes, we theoretically go year-round, but when the neighborhood kids are knocking at your door and your best friend wants you to sleep over for days at a time, calculating perimeters and area becomes less of a priority -- unless you're building a prison cell for your captives (Geneva conventions and all.) And just when I think I'm dropping the ball again, self-led learning kicks in. Elle, my reluctant reader, has surprised the heck out of me and chosen The Yearling, a hefty book I've attempted more than once due to the frustration of reading dialogue in a redneck drawl, as our next read-aloud. What really stunned me, besides that fact that she actually likes speaking in character puzzling out what the backwoods Baxters are saying, is that she has decided to read it to me, as my bedtime story. If she never finishes it I will still consider it a triumph that she even gave it a go. Last night, to hear it aloud, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings description of Florida flora and fauna brought a little tear to my eye, not just for it's spot-on accuracy and beauty, but for what we are about to lose.




* From OpenSecrets.org:
Oil & gas industry political contributions:
2010 (to date): $11,572,527 70% Republicans, 30% Democrats
2008: $35,595,537 77% Republicans, 23% Democrats
2006: $20,364,856 82% Republicans, 18% Democrats
2004: $26,077.264 80% Republicans, 19% Democrats
2002: $25,037,766 80% Republicans, 20% Democrats
2000: $34,323,192 78% Republicans, 21% Democrats

Floating along

Not completely slacking, contrary to the prior post, as a little time travel through my calendar and email accounts shows that we actually have had a few quality lessons lately...

Grice had to attend and critique a live concert performance for her dual enrollment music appreciation course. Fortunately for us, our local symphony had one last show, "Classical Spice," before the end of the season, featuring Bizet's "Carmen," Ravel's "Bolero," Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez," and, what turned out to be our favorite, Gershwin's "Cuban Overture." We arrived an hour early for the pre-show lecture where we were introduced to several of the unusual horns used in "Bolero" and the 19-year old special guest harpist, Greta Ásgeirsson, whose instrument was once owned by Harpo Marx and used in the movie A Night at the Opera (Becky, I thought of you!) The best part was that our little local symphony has free admission for children with a paid adult, not one child per adult either. I took my three girls and the older two's best buddies for the price of my ticket alone, a very reasonable $30.00. I will definitely be supporting this cultural gem next season.



Another great night, and school-based event, was a picnic under the stars. The Parent Teacher Organization invited the collegiate high school students and their families to enjoy some food and games and then a telescope viewing and highly entertaining lecture from the astronomy professor at the college's observatory.

The next bit of 'accidental' learning came by way of this terrific resource, BANG! The Universe Verse Book 1. Author Jamie Dunbar explains the origins of our universe with comic book-like illustrations and Seuss-like verse and has graciously made it available for free. Anything that makes science so accessible and fun for the kids while helping science-challenged me get it as well gets two big thumbs up. I'm looking forward to enjoying Jamie's other titles.

Jorge traveled down to Haiti. I'd like to say it was for purely humanitarian reasons, but that's only if you count trying to keep our own head above water altruistic and charitable. He headed down looking for work and to try and help, stimulating the economy as he went. We've always been interested in Haitian art and he just could not refuse this strange post-earthquake canvas from the poor artist who chased him down the street. It was only later Jorge's traveling companion looked at the painting more closely and noticed the bodies. Like a tragic Highlights hidden picture, we've found three so far.



Plans were to return soon with Elle -- we both think a dose of third world reality will make her less susceptible to any princess tendencies; unlike her sisters she was too young to remember Belize -- after determining the risks involved (it is both very safe and terribly unsafe at the same time.) Instead Jorge is being redirected to Nashville where one of his brother's real estate investments is currently under the Cumberland River.

And I overcame my hesitation about gun-toting crazies and stopped in at our town's Tax Day Tea Party for a little education of my own. Because, really, who could resist rubbing elbows with the likes of these people?



The fun began with an introduction disavowing the evil left's charges of racism, an introduction met with hearty cheers and lots of flag waving (including one from the oh, so obviously not local, Culpeper militia), but as the first guest began to speak, a heavily accented Cuban immigrant campaigning for a spot on a future ticket testifying to his firsthand account of the horrors of socialism and communism, members of the group next to me murmured, "Is he even a 'Merican citizen?!" and when the second campaigner got up there, a black man from Miami, they stomped off in disgust.

Good News, Bad News

It seems like this new project of my brother's has the possibility, dare I even say it, of being not just successful, but huge. Huge as in his business cards are not even back from the printer, the website has only been up about two weeks, and he already has one very big client signed, the phone ringing off the hook with others eager to sign as soon as possible, and interest from another potential client talking about a contract worth eight figures. He is the Golden Boy after all, and this opportunity, a fluke, an afterthought really, that fell into his lap and was brushed away as a distraction to his first big project until it came back and jumped into his lap again a couple years later, may quickly supplant his first big project as the real money-maker.

I am heading over to Fort Lauderdale later this morning to be with my parents when they get my father's test results back. It's less a case of "What?" than it is of "How long?"

The World Question 2010

The Edge posits its annual question, How Is The Internet Changing the Way You Think?

I read this question on someone else's blog, though I cannot for the life of me now remember whose. I thought it was interesting and began composing an answer in my head and planning a post. A couple weeks elapsed during which time I became aware of additional ideas I would like to add to my still theoretical post, but whenever I sat down to put fingers to the keyboard I was eventually distracted by more pressing concerns like when was Mafia Wars finally going to open up Bangkok and how many more rounds of Farkle would it take to win back all the chips I'd lost. Wait, are they called "chips" or "points"? Let me go check that real quick...

Today, determined to finally spill my story, I began a search for the pointer-outer of this interesting article leading me on a search of the most likely bloggers' sites where I then lingered to read their newer postings. Where was I...?

In spite of how it seems, not all my time is spent online (though I'll admit to hiding my online status so you'll never know for sure), and I determined to disprove any evidence that the internet was breaking my thoughts into byte-sized chunks by picking up a book, a big fat one that would require a great deal of concentration to finish. After two weeks of plowing through -- insert name of the book after getting link from Amazon store in case anyone wants to buy it through my site and while I'm there quickly check my store credit balance and notice, dang, it's still zero, and think that a Kindle might be nice and consider checking out the new iPad for comparison later, but first add a status update that just popped into my head when I used another open window that was still running Facebook, and oh! hey, it's my nephew's birthday, just a quick b-day wish and a laugh when I read my daughter's post to him before getting back to, ummmm, oh yeah... Infinite Jest. I'm a whole -- run out to the car to find the book to check the page number and discover the bookmark fell out and futilely spend a good 15 minutes trying to figure out where I was, so for convenience sake estimate that I'm -- 100 pages in. Time for youngest daughter's dance class, time to get back in the car. Listen to "Living On Earth" and note a teaser for an interesting story I will not get to hear as it comes too late in the program and aim to look it up when I get home. Get home and forget it. Remember to try and file online paperwork for a past benefit claim and review online college application. Remind myself to update Sarabelle's transcript with corrections and additions, check Facebook and try to complete this post instead. Pride myself on the fact that while I may occasionally converse in the third person, at least I don't limit myself to 140 characters. Just learned while fact checking Twitter's limit, although apparently there are now ways to get around that. Kids interrupt to ask me to find a movie on Netflix. After searching, spend a few extra minutes adding reviews of previously viewed movies for enhanced future movie recommendations. Notice my RSS blog file has 61 updates...

Wait, what was the question again?

The Day After

Made it through Black Friday without a scratch. It's not something I'd ever feel the need to repeat again, that heading out at the crack of dawn, jockeying for parking spaces, fighting crowds for "doorbusters," waiting in lines, spending money. Well, maybe excepting a 5:00 AM trip to our local Home Depot a friend made for the $.99 poinsettias that she says they promote every year...that might have been worth it, but I'd rather just give her ten dollars next year and have her pick some up on my behalf.

I pulled into the parking lot of Bed, Bath and Beyond and called a friend who had posted on her Facebook page the night before looking for a shopping buddy to see where she was. She was still in bed. But she got right up when I told her where I was and met me very shortly afterward. She is a real shopper, likes to check all over, knows what and when the sales prices should be. I have my trusted favorites: Old Navy, Target, and Macy's (the trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond was a fruitless aberration and I'll never do that again), and go looking for specifics. I feel solidarity with the old men sitting around waiting for their wives outside the dressing rooms. Yesterday she stretched my comfort zone a little, making sure I checked for the twin duvets I wanted at Bells, Sears, and J.C. Penney's before Macy's, and we drifted into numerous other stores for gift ideas. I enlightened her a bit, showing her that bargains can still be had in the "fancier" stores, rivaling the deals in her "sensible" stores. Her son is into Hollister and Aeropostale so we dragged ourselves in there and discovered a great sale. I found a ridiculous hat Grice had been looking for and grabbed it. For all our hat hunting we'd never bothered going in there because along with Hollister, my older two girls can't stand their logo-emblazoned clothing. The hat was blissfully generic.

The best deal of the day though, was at the restaurant we stopped in for lunch: Free draft beer. As it was close enough to noon and we had already practically put in a full day, we felt we had earned it.

Humbug

Anyone else annoyed by school reports due in Power Point format instead of say, writing? Just because we have the technology must we use it? Is this education or job training? Isn't this just another example of dumbing down?

Maybe I'm just tired of being forced to share my laptop.

Progress?

Today seemed like a rather useless day. We got off to a late start. I was distracted by a discarded chair. Kids needed to be fed. And right when I finally got into hacking the heck out of the hedges, the sun started to set and Elle had to be picked up from her friend's. I only ended up getting in about one solid hour of work.

But I also looked at several hundred paint chips, checked IKEA online for kitchen cabinets, bundled a small mountain of yard waste for the garbagemen, removed and relocated a small oak tree, and had a nice visit with friends. That's my kind of productivity!

Imagine how much I will get done tomorrow with an early start, Grice at school, Elle at the circus with friends, and Jorge over on the other coast...

Veterans' Day

Found out just a little too late (like an hour ago when a friend posted pictures on her Facebook page) that there was a big opening ceremony today downtown at the harborside park for the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall. There was a parade this past Saturday and I figured that was all the commemorating the city had planned. We were working on the house today, of course, (and that "we" is not the I-showed-Jorge-pictures-and-read-a-book-on-the-porch-while-he-slaved "we," I got filthy helping remove ceiling grids and hauling debris out, 1,000 lbs. according to the dump scale) and were treated to fly-bys from several WWII aircraft in conjunction with the Wall ceremony. You know what Larie and I will be doing tomorrow...

After visiting the display, I'm going back to work, attacking the landscaping with a machete and loppers. The stranglers and other vines are out of control and there are a couple long-neglected mango and citrus trees that need my attention. Then we'll pick Grice up from school and run up to Tampa for her follow-up appointment at Shriners'. It's going to be a long day.

Another Day, Another...whatever...

Elle did an internship with her father today -- that's what I'm calling it -- so I had nearly the entire day to sit at the computer and try to puzzle out the typographic problems I'm fighting on my private school website. Mostly it comes down to I am an HTML retard, and before you go getting your politically correct self in a dither, I mean that in the most tardo, tardere kind of way. Thanks, for the suggestions, Becky! My eyes are tired and I'm still only able to poke at the keyboard with four-fifths of my digits (not only are the open wounds still sore, I nearly severed a finger cutting right across the top of one of the former blisters yesterday while making dinner.) Coincidentally, four-fifths of our family will be eating left-overs tonight.

NaBloWriMo

A post a day, eh? Anything to kick my lazy self in gear, I suppose.

We took occupancy of our new(est) house today, though there are a few projects to accomplish before we can move in. About two weeks worth to be exact. Today in a fit of, oh, impatience maybe, I determined to pull off the vines choking the zamia and frangipani in the front yard. Without gloves. Won't ever do that again as I now have no skin on the soft, tender undersides of my index fingers. But I can still type and click.

Coming down off my chocolate buzz today, I got a heap of filing done and also took another look at my attendance records and recalculated back to the first "official" day my private school started. Elle has actually got 98 days completed so we are well on our way to fulfilling those pesky Florida statutes. I've worked out a transcript for Sarabelle so that when she returns after the Christmas break she will be on track to graduate in the spring, work on her portfolio, and apply to her school of choice for the fall term.

I'm looking forward to reading a book Chris O'Donnell recommended, College Without High School: A Teenager's Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College. With two jumping through the high school hoops, maybe the third time will be the charm...

South Florida

I met up with an old friend and her young charges visiting from Georgia after fare-thee-welling my daughter and husband off in Fort Lauderdale. With five hungry kids and two dogs in the car, and money and time being issues, friend suggested a quick lunch at Burger King. While waiting for my order I overheard this snippet:

Counter Employee pointing out other workers to Cute Customer: I'm from Jamaica, he from Jamaica, she from Jamaica... All the others is from Haiti...

Cute Girl: Where are the Cubans?

Gearing Up

Sarabelle is getting ready to fly back to Australia next week with her father. After much debate we've agreed to let her finish Grade 11 down there. Jorge is going to get her settled in with the first of the two families she will be boarding with, looking after some other business down there, and then returning to Florida in a few weeks. We will all travel down together at Christmastime, the end of their school year, for a vacation and to bring Sarabelle back home. She was very keen on going initially and still is eager to see her friends again, but now realizes how far away it is and how much she will miss us... As she will finish up the year with a fourth quarter report card, on paper at least, she will have completed four full years of high school. In reality she has many more credits than necessary for graduation in Florida, but we will take one more full year for her to beef up her portfolio and insure she has enough volunteer hours logged to qualify for the Florida Bright Futures scholarship.

Grice is wrapping up her summer reading assignments and will be attending a student orientation August 6 and beginning school on the 10th. With an early start to the school day plus an hour bus ride, she will be getting up at the crack of dawn. Big adjustments there. We've already begun logging her volunteer hours, participating in turtle patrol with her best friend's mother, marking new sea turtle nests and excavating hatched nests to count eggs.

Elle is staying with me. She is the first student enrolled in Schola Classical Academy, now officially open for business, and will be resuming her studies right where we left off, in the midst of the Renaissance.

Camp Reports

Sarabelle is up in the northern part of the state, or, as she first referred to it on her Facebook status, "Tallastupidhassee," at the 4-H Legislature, and here are the texts I've received so far:

Monday - We r basically at the place so tell dad ok

Monday - This is gay I want to come home loads of weirdos and nerds and I don't get what I'm supposed to be doing I haaaaaaaaaate thissssssss but yay for sat and sun don't ever make me do this again ok? Love [Sarabelle]

Tuesday - This sucks I hate it and want to come hooooome its so boring it makes me hate politics so much

Wednesday - [Upon receiving word about our given-up-for-dead cat] DID ORLANDO COME BACK??!!?? ps everything is better now I got picked to be an assistant to the secretary of senate which is what I wanted so yayayayayayayay but ya did he come back??? love [Sarabelle]

Meanwhile, Elle is at kayak camp this week with a friend. The wind was gusty Monday and Tuesday which limited their adventuring somewhat, and today's fishing trip looked promising with hardly a breeze this morning, though the wind has since picked up and we are getting some much-needed rain. Grice was able to slide out of kayak camp, her spot given to Elle's friend, as we were awaiting the results of a series of back x-rays. She's been officially diagnosed with scoliosis, how bad I don't know until we can get up to Shriner's for a more in-depth look. She's got a friend camping out at our house for a few days to keep her occupied.

Later next month, all three will be going away to Camp Cloverleaf with 4-H...

Monday Morning Quarterback

Confession time. Although it probably comes as no surprise, I hate professional sports, the big, blown-out-of-proportion, wastes of time and money (and please, don't even get me started on people who drive around at high speeds in circles for a living), but I will admit to watching that thing last night and maybe even yelling at the television a time or two, like during that one play just prior to halftime. I watch for the commercials because my brother is head of a CGI department for a trendy Manhattan agency and often has one running (not this year, though he did tell me to keep an eye out for Coke's insects stealing the bottle ad), and for the halftime show because you never know when there could be a spectacular wardrobe malfunction (fortunately Springsteen's garb remained intact and he put on a great show, and I'm not even a fan.)

This morning I thought it time to review the post-season goings-on and critique my plays. And for your sake, the football metaphor ends here.

Sarabelle's stubborn plan to return to Australia for school has finally withered. I stood back and tried to keep my mouth shut, offering sympathy and empathy for her plight, subtly mentioning once that whatever her college plans may be, she's into her eleventh year of school and it's time to prepare. Putting it off any longer in hopes of getting back to school in Australia wasn't beneficial. With an interest in becoming a doctor, journalist, or treasure salvor, and a refusal to "be a homeschool nerd" (though she loves participating in our support group's P.E. and Park Days) and the community college's dual enrollment classes filled until spring, remaining options involved either the local public high school with AP, Honors, or dual enrollment courses, or the high priced prep school in Fort Lauderdale which would simply look good on a transcript. The public school was able to offer her a decent schedule and eliminated the necessity of living with cantankerous older relatives on the other side of the state. The guidance counselor stated it would be possible to register her as a twelfth grader because she has nearly all the credits required for graduation in Florida, but we all agreed she could use the extra year to fill in gaps and strengthen skills. She still hates being here of course, would much rather be in Oz, but has been placated with the promise of spending her summer holiday overseas and is genuinely enthusiastic about her classes (Music - Jazz band playing upright double bass; English Honors; Marine Science; Journalism; Algebra 2; and American History Honors.)

Grice grumbles about it, even though we are still waiting on her math books to arrive and she has a lighter than normal schedule, but she is generally amenable to the idea of learning at home. She participates in the homeschool P.E. and 4-H with her best Northern hemisphere buddies and is interested in the Y's gymnastics program and cotillion.

Elle is a moth to the electronic flame. For this reason, with the built-in DVD player on our TV out of commission, I'm ready to cancel the cable (basic service that doesn't include the History Channel but does have Nickelodeon and which was never desired or required but was unfortunately bundled with our long distance and DSL) and chuck the thing out. We have Netflix now and I have my laptop, that's all we need. We're attending the South Florida Renaissance Festival as an end to that period of study and will be starting soon with Story of the World Volume 3. She likes the 4-H Cooking Club, mostly because she gets to hang out with the big kids, and is also interested in gymnastics, which would be a terrific vent for her perpetually high energy.

I've been learning to take it easy and give the kids a chance to settle in and find themselves. Then back to the pushing. It's all about moderation. For now it seems to be working.

Cleaning Up

I've been on a mad cleaning jag since we got back. Bags and bags of clothing, toys, and nicknacks have been donated and loads of other useless junk trashed. My goal is minimalism, with only one place for necessities (as opposed to looking for pens in either the junk drawer by the phone, the art cabinet in the garage, or among the office supplies in my bedroom closet) and necessities in their logical place.

There has been a big bonus to this reorganization, aside from the peace of mind simpler living brings, and that is the discovery of gift cards. Some of the people I try to reason with before December's holiday asset exchange actually either pay attention to our replies for gift suggestions or out of pure frustration at not knowing what to give shower us with gift cards. And since I despise hanging around in stores, unless there is an online option for purchasing items or a some specific object I need immediately, sometimes I put them away and forget to use them.

Yesterday we treated ourselves to a stop at Einstein Bros. Bagels (a rarity here on the west coast which meant a trip up to Sarasota after Sarabelle's almost-in-Sarasota dental appointment) and stocked up courtesy of an '07 Christmas present. Two old Books-A-Million cards warranted a stop there too.

A funny thing about BAM, and maybe it's less a fault of that corporation than the local store management, or possibly just indicative of the status quo, but there were forty sections of books classified either Christian Living or Bibles versus two sections for Philosophy. The Science and Social Issues shelves were noticeably scanty as well. After much searching I did manage to dig up two books from my wish list, Christopher Hitchen's Thomas Jefferson: Author of America and Susan Jacoby's The Age of American Unreason (which serendipitously opens with Jefferson's quote, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."). Elle, starter of so many chapter books of late including Nancy Drew's The Bungalow Mystery and The Mystery at Lilac Inn; Poppy; Little House in the Big Woods; A Series of Unfortunate Events The Bad Beginning; and many more, found a book she could not put down and will most likely finish, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Not great literature, not a classic, not even close, but I will take what I can get at this point. Sarabelle snagged the latest issue of Vanity Fair, I got my educator's discount card updated and we were off. But not before thoughtfully reorganizing some of the shelves, relocating The Nude Bible from the paltry Art section to its proper place among those other forty sections of Bibles.

On the way home we spied this monstrosity and along with the fistful of play money Sarabelle picked out as a prize for her good behavior at the dentist (at the behest of Elle) we documented life in America for our Aussie friends.

Back to School!

This week we pulled out the books and got back to business. Somewhat. There were a few hitches, like when I realized the Saxon Math I had on hand for Grice was not quite right and had to order a higher level after giving her a placement test; and our unsuccessful attempts at structuring time rather than content; but the books are on their way and we'll be structuring everything for awhile until we all develop a little more self-discipline.

I placed an order for children's books on evolution and Darwin in honor of Darwin's 200. Visit Charley's Playhouse for some great ideas. This year, instead of just our basic history, math, English, and Latin, I'm going to make science more of a focus.

And that includes my own education as well. If you thought my 2008 reading list was interesting, you should see my Amazon Wishlist for this year's selections:



I want to read these all right now, though I should probably try to finish some of the ones lingering on my bedside table first and quit being distracted by the kids' vampire stories. In order to make more room on my dangerously overloaded shelves I have begun listing books on Half.com. So far I have sold one book and bought eight more.

Grice and Elle attended their first 4H event last night, a cooking club hosted by their good friends' mother, and today we wrapped up our first week with the year's first meeting and park day for our local homeschool group. It has been nice reconnecting with old friends.

Sarabelle has passed her state mandated online drug and alcohol course as well as her online road rules exam and only has to pass the eye exam and physical driving test before she is issued a Florida Driver's License.

We've already got our first field trip planned, the Florida Renaissance Festival, set for next month.

Let's see how it goes next week.