It was a very good weekend even though we did not get to do all the things we wanted to do. We had lots of plans to work on the ham radio, work with KDevelop, and catch up on homeschool corrections, but it was not to happen. We did not even buy our volt/ohm/amp meter. I worked almost every spare moment on software for my United States Geological Survey friend. I made great progress on the program. Nevertheless, I was able to put together and print out the schedules for the next two weeks of homeschool and to scan in a several Betty Blonde comic strips. The highlight of the weekend was that we met Lynn (and her husband) of the A Mother’s Journal blog last night at gospel meeting. I even saw the Princess of the Universe, but I did not get to meet her yet.
I noticed that we start the second half of the school year today. We have made great progress. Like always, we have made some adjustments for unforseen events that mucked with our schedule. Still most of them lead to additional opportunities to learn. We are still on schedule to take the ACT in a little under two weeks from today. That is the next big event, but homeschool is not about big events. It is about a love for day-to-day learning. I am so happy that we homeschool. I know other families do great in other settings, too, but this is what seems to work best for us. For us, it is a source of great joy to be able to see progress and learn new things.
This weekend I was reminded, by example, of the importance of doing the right thing no matter what. That is especially true when the right thing is something that is not that comfortable. It made me think of why the Lord of the Rings books are so great. Frodo and Sam were going to do the right thing no matter what. It did not matter that they were wimpy little hobbits. It did not matter that they thought they would probably die. Regular people doing special things is completely different from the Harry Potter and Twilight series that feature special people doing special things. Nothing in my life rises to that level of difficult. Some of the things I know that are right to do, rise to the level of nothing more than discomfort. I need to do them anyway. I was thankful for the reminder.
Oh, the pleasure was ours — to get to meet you and Lorena and Kelly and Christian again. You have a beautiful family. And you have inspired us so much to push a little harder in the area of math! We can do it! Yaay! (I hope.) 🙂
Princess of the Universe just looks like a regular ol’ princess, doesn’t she? After three boys, however, she has been dubbed by me as the Princess of the Universe. She certainly has that place in my heart!
I like your thoughts about Frodo and Sam. So true.
Well, I gotta get to work. It’s on my list this week to get the Betty Blonde button on my blog.
Lynn
I love that you dubbed her Princess of the Universe. She certainly fits the part to a tee! You meet so many people when you first move to a place, it is hard to connect them all back up. We have been here for a year and a half and I am STILL confused. I really enjoyed talking to your son and his girlfriend. The seem to be great kids, too. It sounds like I feel about literature about the way you feel about math. I think it is insecurity more than anything else. I am sure you do great on math, but literature is surely outside my comfort zone. It it does not have a lot of numbers, I get pretty confused.
We started the second half of the year this week too! I decided to change around the school room over the weekend. It breathed fresh air into the routine, and I’m hoping we’ll skip the February doldrums this year as a result!
We are too late to skip the February doldrums… It so bad this year, the February doldrums started in January! Maybe we need to switch our homeschool room around, too.
Awwww, I suspect when my kids get to your kids ages, it’ll take more than a simple change of scenery!
I think our problem is that they have had to MUCH change of scenery of late. Actually, they are doing great, but can get a little distracted.