Back to Business

Well, today we hit the books again. Of course, it helps to have leftover birthday cake for breakfast. (Then watch Mom frantically cram fruit and grains down your gullet for the next four hours, as if to purge the evidence from your crusty little faces... it was a weird day.)

The big boys did pretty well with their lessons. Math, reading, Latin, and science all got done with a minimal amount of confusion or delay. Smidge is kicking their butts in history, though. Today we read the chapter on Marcus Aurelius, from Famous Men of Rome. As we go along, we talk about how certain men compare with previous ones we've read about, or how policies change with the new leadership. It's good stuff. It also assures me they're paying attention, even if they are having foot wars beneath the table. Well, today, Smidge was just on. the. ball. He remembered things I didn't even remember, and he was so proud of himself to be "getting an A+ in history".

(Which is doubly humorous, because I didn't start assigning grades. That all started with Mr. WhatIsTheExactPercentageOfTheQuestionsIGotCorrect, also known as Mr. SoWhyIsThisJustAn"A"AndNotAn"A+"? The worst correction he could ever receive would be a "C" on a paper. And, as all Good Big Brothers are wont to do, he shared the horrors of the numbers with his brothers... *sigh* So, we are now a family of timed tests and percentage points, and letter grades. And they're happy as clams about it. Freaks.)

They did earn back bonus points, though, when we all sprawled out in the living room after lunch for some reading time. I'm still working my way through The Prince, and both James and John at the same time saw the cover and blurted out, "Hey! Divide et regna, right? Cool!" I beamed. (Because I am a freak, as well. We're a happy family with strange tastes.)

Lest anyone read this and think, "Oh, my. We can't homeschool. We're not *like that*." Relax. They also absolutely fell over themselves to finish their lessons by lunch today so that, while Danger Girl was napping and I was cleaning, they could have video game time. Nothing like a little Super Smash Brothers to really make them kick it into high gear. (Oh, and Melora, John has discovered Link. He wants to know more! MORE! MORE!!!! I knew I couldn't avoid it for long, and figured you would understand my, erm, joy? Acceptance? Something, right? *grin*)

We needed some fun and active downtime this afternoon, so I sucked it up and brought out the balloons that I hadn't the heart to let the children have yesterday. (I really hate balloons. If Stephen King were to write a story about balloons, he would probably manage to distill my feelings about them into a truly chilling book.) But we did it. And there was much laughter and spinning and sword play. And then I couldn't hang any longer and bolted, er, slipped off for some quiet time. Aside from the giggling over my somewhat rapid exit, the children hardly noticed my absence.

Everything else is coming along swimmingly. I'm just beginning to look at plans for the coming year. Since we don't break, or have an obvserved passing from one grade to the next, we simply complete one thing and do the next thing. But we do tend to keep a basic clip that finds us about ready for the next thing sometime mid-fall. And my Rainbow Resources catalog arrived (finally! I'd thought they'd forgotten about me!) So far, I've got a wish list from Yesterday's Classics. And there's one more, but I cannot for the life of me remember it off the top of my head. I really like to buy from the publishers, such as Peace Hill Press (but I've already bought all next year's stuff from them! Maybe they'll come out with something new before September? One can hope.) Where are your favorite places to buy books? (Besides Amazon and The Others, that is - have any great secret hidey holes you'd like to share?)

And so another day comes to an end. It comes too quickly, sometimes.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy