Busy busy busy.  That’s us these days.  Busier than a one-armed paper hanger.  That’s a line from Steel Magnolia that I’ve always remembered.

Life has been good, but busy.  Kabob is working on another video project, and as usual, I’m up to my eyeballs in web design code.  I’d get in to details, but it’s kinda boring to write about and probably even more boring to read about.

The kids are well.  Garbanzo is in to EVERYTHING.  Everything.  And since we live on the fifth floor of our high-rise, it’s kept me pretty busy.  Thankfully, he’s not trying to climb the balcony rail.  But he does climb chairs, and then tables from there, which gives him decent height for reaching the top of the balcony rail.  Scares the pants off this mama.  So…  I’m kept on my toes until he crashes at night.

He loves his sister, and copies everything she does.  So his motor skills are developing quickly — he loves pretending to read books, drawing (with the markers, if he can find them), and going to school.  On our couch.

Speaking of school, homeschool is going unbelievably well.  It’s amazing what a small amount of planning and preparation can do.  We’re still loving Five in a Row.  So far, we’ve traversed the Yangtze River in China and small town life of Alto, Ohio in the 1940s.  After a short unit study on autumn, we’ll then be going to France with The Glorious Flight and Madeline.  Which is apropos for our actual trip to France, which we’ll take right after those lessons (see?  Planning is miraculous).

Other than FIAR, Chickpea’s learning to read through The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading.  I love this book.  Teaching reading tends to be trial and error, so I’m thankful that we’ve seemed to strike gold on our first try.  She’s on to blends, like ng, bl, and st, and she’s slowly starting to read short, easy books on her own.  For some reason, her favorite word she’s learned so far is “bulb.”  Cracks her up every time.  Not sure why.

Kabob does the science with her when he’s home in the afternoon on Wednesdays (I go to the office that day).  It’s nothing major; just the science associated with FIAR.  So with Ping, they did an simple experiment of sinking and floating, talking about why some things float and others don’t.  With Lentil, they discussed taste buds and the different types of taste categories.  So after sucking on a lemon, he had her observe the types of tastes with other foods.

I do the FIAR lessons on all the other days.  Right now, a good flow for us has been geography or history on Mondays, literature on Tuesdays, math on Thursdays, and art on Fridays.  Adding reading and phonics to the mix, our entire schooling repertoire takes two hours, max.  So far, we’re on a nice groove.

Book writing has taken almost the rest of my time, typing away during naptimes, after the kids are in bed, and here and there as I find little nuggets of time (they are few and far between).  As Kabob and I have said many times, I am so thankful book writing is a season, with an end in sight.  If this was our life’s M.O. all the time, I’d go nuts.  With ten chapters down, six to go, I’m ready to see the light at the end of this long tunnel.

To keep from going insane, I try to sneak in a little sewing each weekend.  Nothing major, just little projects here and there.  Last weekend I made a skirt that promptly did not work.  Oh well.  I’m making more of these dolls for our kids, and I’ll probably whip up some of the clothes and make it a complete Christmas present.  I’d love to try out this twirly skirt soon.  I may have to see if I can do a grown-up version, too.

So… That’s us.  Not much else.  I’ve got a bazillion photos to add to Flickr, which of course I haven’t done.  Maybe this weekend.

Hope you are well!

posted: 09 October 22
under: education, family