For a pre-4oth celebration a friend and I visited Yosemite this weekend. It is a truly awe inspiring place. Gotta bring the kids. Here are some pics (of course I don't have time to write!)
view from our hike
can you see the switchback trail going up?
another view from higher up
me - trying to smile while panting
oooh...the rock formations....
dueling camaras and a pint
tired, happy Sue
History has always been one of our favorite subjects. I was a history major and have always loved the romance and intrigue and lessons of it all. ARG has absorbed my passion for history and soaks up historical fact and fiction like a sponge.
At the beginning of this year, we started history all over again. From the beginning. You know, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece ...etc. The curriculum we've been using took us all the way through the fall of the Berlin Wall by the end of last year. As we started over again with cavemen and cuneiform, ARG came to me and said,
"Mom, there is no way I'm reading this book again. It's for babies!"
And he's right. It's targeted for 2-5th grade. A bit youngish for him (even with supplemental reading). So there I was: the start of the school year and no history curriculum. Alak!
But thanks to a helpful homeschool maven, I discovered the coolest, most inspiring and interesting history course for ARG. It is called HistoryatOurHouse. Homeschoolers call in on a conference line to a lecture/class taught by a guy who, aside from clearly knowing and loving his stuff, is a compelling speaker. Totally cool!
So, four mornings a week ARG sits in front of the computer looking at a map or image for the class, phone in hand, taking notes and learning history. But not just factoids. This guys is giving it to them in context. His first lecture was "Why History?" Why the heck do we need to study this stuff? He gave a great case for having a base of knowledge to help us navigate this crazy, mixed-up world we're in now.
And he has organized history into segments that make sense:
Ancient History
European History
American History
It's sequential. It's ordered. And he emphasizes teaching only things that are important (ie. they changed the world), not every little detail. Plus, he lectures once a week on History through Art. Cool historical paintings. Right on.
We love it. I listen in most mornings (while the little girls are banished upstairs) and I'm learning a bunch of stuff too. But, man it is hard to get preteens to talk. Sometimes the silence on the line is profound. The teacher does a pretty good job of dealing with it.
So...Ancient Egypt is where we're at. Cyles of organization and unifcation, then decay and chaos. Sound familiar?
Sometimes Hubby and I venture into political talk. He despises all things McCain. And I loathe everything (except his eloquence) about Obama. Actually, I don't care for either of them, but I don't have intense animosity towards McCain the way Hubby does.
I've been trying (with out much success) in articulating why I think they are different flavors of a bad ice cream. I continue to struggle to speak convincingly about my convictions. And frankly, I don't have the time right now to be "up" on all the latest politics.
I came across an article by Steve Chapman in the Chicago Tribune a few days ago which expressed a lot of what I'm thinking these days. Here's a snippet:
The Founding Fathers set out to protect "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," but Barack Obama has a different idea.Good old Ayn Rand. Couldn't stand her novels. But what a thinker!The "essence of America's promise," he declared in Denver, is "individual responsibility and mutual responsibility"—rather than, say, individual freedom and mutual respect for rights. The "promise of America," he said, is "the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper."
In reality, that fundamental belief is what you might call the promise of socialism. What has set this country apart since its inception is not the notion of obligations but the notion of rights.
"All previous systems had regarded man as a sacrificial means to the ends of others, and society as an end in itself," wrote the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand. "The United States regarded man as an end in himself, and society as a means to the peaceful, orderly, voluntary co-existence of individuals."
The theme song playing along behind my life right now is probably the theme from "Rawhide".
You know, "rollin, rollin, rollin, keep them doggies rollin'" ....etc.
Even though we homeschool, our schedule places us among most American parents whose daily menu includes constantly running to and fro for their children. Take a swim meet, add a little fencing practice, then throw in a dash of church and you've got yourself one busy day.
Today's menu featured school work, meeting with our charter school "education specialist", swim lessons for MiniMe, phone call to AT&T to change phone plan, swim practice for Rosie, fencing lessons, then fencing class for ARG, trip to Trader Joe's, making dinner, paying bills, going over our financial plan (yikes!) and school planning for October. WHEW!
I had to squeeze in my trips to the loo. Eating was a rush job between my meeting and chauffeuring duties. Talking to friends? Reading MY book? Having a thought for myself?
Not so much.
But I had to spend a few minutes posting at the end of the day - mostly because I'm embarrassed that my last post was almost a week ago! Where did the days of writing every day go? (oh yeah, summer).
I ran today.
I'm recovering from a cold, and my ear is still clogged and echoing in a funny way. But I ran. On a track. Let me tell you one thing about running on a track. It is about as interesting as listening to your child tell you about all her boo boos.
The mind games I had to play with myself to keep the old legs pumping were pretty funny. Here's a bit of my inner dialogue as I run:
"OK. Just two miles. I'm just gonna go two miles. I can make it. OK. Three. Go for three. Oh, I'm tired. I'm so tired. I can stop any time if I want to. What lap am I on? OK three miles aaaaalmost done. Might as well go for four. Ouch, my legs ache. Why do they ache? I ran six miles last week. Who is that guy running behind me? I wish he'd pass me or slow down. Oh, my legs. Maybe I'll stop. I can stop anytime. I can walk too. No, one more lap. I can do this. OK Four miles. I'm doing four miles. This is too painful! Why am I doing this? If I was faster I could run further and it would be so boooring. OK I did four miles! Just one more lap. I. Can. Do. This. OK One more. Four and a half miles. I'd better stop so I can run further next time."
And yes, I've tried running with my iPod. Listening to my age old music over and over again is even more boring than my silly mind chatter.
Where is my zen moment? Where is my adrenaline rush? Where is my second wind?
Hello? I'm waiting for you guys....
Twenty minutes to write a blog.
Ready. Set. Go.
OK. Is anyone else out there getting the teensiest bit nervous about the market? Don't most people have their 401K or dot.com money or savings invested in the market? Does anyone else have nagging, worrying thoughts about another Great Depression when you hear the economic news these days?
I am probably paranoid. It's my libertarian-ness. Ultimately, I'm not sure if I have faith in the US economy because of the massive amounts of debt our govt. owes. Taxes will have to be raised sooner or later (which is bad for the economy).
Oh, how I wish I bought gold when it was at $375/oz. It's at $800 now. Actually, the price of gold hasn't changed at all. The value of the dollar has decrease that much. Gold is unchanging. It doesn't lose it's value. Oh why didn't I listen to my crazy libertarian voice back then?
No. I had to listen to people who were "experienced" in the market who said that gold wasn't a good long term investment. Urg.
So, if we are really brave, and have faith that the market will ultimately rebound, this is a buying opportunity. YIKES! Scary monsters.
But that is what I'm thinking about. To buy or not to buy.
Hmmm.... that mattress is looking pretty good right now.
Really I am.
When someone (especially a man) gets angry and starts talking loud and aggressive, my heart starts racing. If the anger is directed toward me, I panic. I go up to that place in my head to observe and the rest of me just sits there breathing fast and feeling nauseous.
Up in my head I am hiding. I am not thinking. I can't think clearly when someone is angrily talking to me. I am like a little child, and I'm saying to myself, "You're OK. You're OK." My whole goal in that panicky moment is escape. Just. Get. Away. Figure it all out later.
Later? Oh sure I get mad THEN. Sure I have lots of great comebacks and insights and arguments. But in the moment of confrontation I am a total and complete wimp.
Aside from being an ineffective way of handling the situation, it is darn uncomfortable!
As you might guess, I had one of those moments today. And no, it wasn't my Hubby. With him I have gotten pretty good at arguing in the moment.
It's one of those situations that is far from resolved. That will require me to talk with this person again, many times perhaps. And here I am wishing it would all just go away!
Sigh.
Oh, how I loath and despise dealing with huge service corporations.
If I could choose some words to describe how I feel when I've hit a dead end, either online or on the phone, some might be:
enraged
about to explode
overwhelming desire to reach through the wires and slap someone
desperate
depressed
We've all experienced it. We've all felt the frustration. I won't bore you with the details (other than to say avoid Paypal if humanly possible).
And you can't get mad at the poor Indian girl on the other end of the who is just doing her best to be cheerful and informative. She simply doesn't know any more than you do. She's reading the same instructions that you can read too.
It's like there's this huge, monolithic, impersonal being that is behind the dead end laughing at me. Saying, "I don't care about your problem. I'm too big to care about your puny problem. You don't matter one little bit."
Arg! (fuming and pulling hair out)
What could be worse?
Oh, my darling blog.
How I miss our special times together. You have been (and are!) an incredible outlet for my silliness, griping, political rants and random thoughts. I value our relationship more than I can say.
It's not that I don't love you. (sniff) It's just that I have other demands on my life right now. School has started. And once again I am eyebrow deep in assignments, and reading, and correcting, and being crafty (in an arts and crafts way).
When my desire for you is strong, I am called away by "Mom, how do you do this?" or "Mom, what does this mean?" When I long to spend quality time with you, I consider the consequences of not getting enough sleep. My attachment to you is strong, but family must (heaving sigh) MUST come first!
Even when I do get you alone, my mind is filled to brimming with hieroglyphics, the exosphere and food webs. Guiding my child through the minefield of probability word problems, multiplying negatives and manipulating variables weigh heavy upon me.
Dearest, my longing to express myself through you is only second to my hope that my son will soon answer his science and literature questions in complete sentences (you know, with a subject and a verb? and maybe, like, a period at the end?)
But this week, dear blog, our moments together will be few and precious. Know that even when I am reading the Boxcar Children, or talking about the "greenhouse effect", or even playing Go Fish with MiniMe, you - dear Blog - are never far from my thoughts!
I like to joke that I am a chocolate chip cookie (CCC) expert.
But secretly, on the inside, I'm not joking at all. Not only can I bake what most people say is the best cookie they've ever had, I'm a darn fine judge of others' CCCs.
I like my CCC to be soft and chewy, but not cakey. And I can't bear dry, crispy, crunchy or crumbly ones. Less egg, more sugar is the key. And LOTS of chocolate chips is a must. I use about one and a half bags of chips for one recipe of cookies. The cookie is basically a carrier for the chocolate.
My mom says that in relation to cooking, I'm like my grandmother. I don't hold to a written recipe. I start there, but then I improvise. So whenever someone wants my recipes, I tell them things like, "about a few tablespoons? of tahini, I guess" or "enough flour so that it's the right consistency". My GranNina was notorious for handing out impossible recipes.
I tell my mom, who often wants my recipes, to watch me in the kitchen and take notes. I'm only a little arrogant. But my mom loves me no matter what.
Ocassionally my CCCs don't turn out they way I want. That's the downside of baking from memory and not from a recipe. But when I get it right - MAN! There ain't nothin' better than a warm CCC with a glass of milk.
I should find a contest and enter it. Can I do that if my original jumping off point was the Toll House CCC recipe? Hmm......
A few annoying things about homeschooling:
- bickering kids
- messy house
- kids who can't do math unless you can hear a pin drop - "It's too noisy!"
- kids who make you pee in your pants laughing when you want to be mad
- kids constantly dropping pencils
- science experiments that NEVER work
A few uplifting things about homeschooling:
- the moments when all three are quietly at work (doing good things)
- the moments when all three are quietly at work (doing good things)
- the moments when all three are quietly at work (doing good things) this one counts a lot!
- kids who get excited about what they are learning and want to talk all about it
- kids who want to learn more than what you teach, and go find it on their own
I'm employing all of my will power not to sit on ARG to make sure he gets his stuff done by Friday. Instead of daily lists, we have gone to weekly lists. He is ending up concentrating on one thing until it is done - like doing all his math lessons in one day - instead of spreading it out over the week. Is that bad? Is that normal and natural? How would I do it if it were me?
It's the middle of week two and still no tears. Woot! Woot!
