Status Update

It's finally cooling off here.  Last week was in the 90's and this week it's in the 50's in the mornings.  I am sleeping so much better in the cooler air and am not quite so thirsty as I was this summer.  The doctor told me I need 3 quarts of water a day and I said, how's 5 or 6?  It makes it hard to be out of the house when I need to be close to the bathroom, but all you moms out there know about that. 

We had a fun night while Josh was at a church meeting last week.  Instead of going to bed at bedtime, we turned on some fun music and made cookies.  The kids had so much fun.  We went outside in the dark to look at the stars.  Anna didn't remember seeing them much before and didn't want to go back inside.  We came in and got out my Audubon Guidebook to the Night Sky to read about the myths behind the constellations.  They were a little scary but fascinating.  I love being able to stop once in a while and have some fun.  School is so early that we're all running a little tired and it's harder to try and have fun when there's such a pressure to get to bed, but on the weekends we try to do something that's just fun. 

Anna is changing so fast.  She's playing with her toy kitchen, tea pot, vacuum, and shopping cart all of a sudden.  Here she is feeding her daddy.  She told him she doesn't want him to go to work "any more."  But we have fun together while Sam and Michael are at school.  I know she loves the one on one time. 

Dressed as Rapunzel, in the reading chair.  My Aunt Lois had a rocking chair and books by her fireplace.  When I was over I would lay in the animal skin rug or sit in the chair and read Dr. Seuss or Uncle Wiggley.  We have a basket of library books and this rocking chair by the fireplace and it is a magnet!  It was in the toy room where no one looked at it but once I moved it into the family room there has been fighting over it.  I love to see my kids looking at books.  Michael is reading and will read stories to Anna and instructions to Sam.  It's hilarious.  Sam is coming along too.  Being at school has given him a desire to learn, which he didn't have before.   He still prefers to play make believe king or knight or warrior and cleans out the library's collection of juvenile books on knights each time we visit.  If repetition is the key to learning, we have the origins of castles and rules of heraldry down pretty well after two years on this topic. 

They have taken up writing, too.  It's such a still, quiet activity that is easy to clean up!  They will draw the pictures and write the story phonetically or ask me to write it for them.   We are getting quite a collection of these.  They'll be so fun to look back at.  Their new school has no homework packet, which is a blessing.  We're just asked to read 20 minutes a day and I get to choose what we read!  I love it.  It's what we love doing together instead of trying to help them both with the same papers at the same time which was maddening. 

This took me by surprise the other day, although it's not uncommon to see these two close together.  Sam is very nurturing and likes to make sure Anna is ok and happy. 

One day after school I told the boys they would have to help me clean as a punishment for something.  They cheered!  What a revelation!  Sam was more than happy to scrub the toilet and wash the sliding glass door.  He also likes the dust buster and unloading the dishwasher.  I count myself very fortunate and need a sign that says "DELEGATE" to remind myself to use these helpers more! 

A few weeks ago we went hiking and discovered we were along the American River.  We took off our socks and shoes and waded in the water, which resulted in a bacterial infection in Anna's foot.  The next time we found a different spot and came prepared.  We're searching for a family spot where we like to go when we have time for an outing and we think we may have found it.  It is beautiful and only 15 minutes away. 

There is still time and need for quiet time playing on various Apple devices.  I don't like it but sometimes it 's better than the screaming and fighting for a little while.  Michael is in his Halloween Ninja costume and I don't know what get-up Anna had on.  She's into changing her clothes 4 times a day all of a sudden.  I think it's because she has a new drawer full of cold weather clothes and she just wants to try them all. 

Baby Boy keeps kicking up a storm.  As long as I go for a walk each day to keep the back pain at bay and get enough rest I feel fine.  I love the second trimester.  This week is the Pumpkin Patch field trip, school Halloween party, church Halloween party, Primary Program practice and party, Primary Program, then real Halloween next week.  I get to start going into the boys' classroom Thursday mornings in November and can't wait to enter their new world. 

They are happier at this school.  They are calmer and talking about more mild things.  I think being together with 1st graders two hours out of their day was a bit much for them.  Their classroom seems to be stricter and they are the better behaved for it.  Sam has been singing sweet songs and they've been painting pumpkins instead of peace signs.  I am happy.

First Day of School, Again

 We're seven weeks into the school year and yanking Sam and Michael out of their kindergarten class to start them at a charter school.

Last October I began researching elementary school options.  The local school where we lived was not an option.  When I first saw it I thought it was a juvenile detention center, no joke.  The class sizes were huge, the test scores low, and discipline difficult to maintain.  I was interested in two charter schools, public schools operating within their local school districts, tuition free, but focused on one set-mission or curriculum.  There were two which looked wonderful, but they were 30 miles away.

I visited both schools, read their charters, read the books their charters are based on, and talked to everyone I met who had children in them.  And so we applied to the schools and moved close to them hoping the boys would get accepted through their lottery systems.  There are so many more people applying to the schools than can get in that there is a huge waiting list.

We were placed on the waiting lists at both schools and so I looked in to our new local school.  I was so disappointed in what I found!  The local school in our new neighborhood also had an agenda, a specific program above and beyond the state requirements which teaches a political and world view I disagree with.  I had felt it was the right neighborhood to move into so I told myself to trust the Lord and sent the boys to the school.  Last week we got a call that they had moved up enough one of the charter school's waiting lists to be admitted!

It is a Conservative charter school.  I don't mind political agendas in school if they are in line with my beliefs and if they are my choice, not a default.  It's based on a book which explains a classical alternative to the assembly-line education system developed in America as a result of the need to train literate workers during the Industrial Revolution.  It focuses on reading classical literature, then writing about it and discussing it.   This study is guided by mentors who recommend and focus the students, or "scholars" as the school calls them, in their course of study.  It is heavy on the founding and Constitution of America, which fits our family with degrees in Political Science and American History. 

Here are the boys at the flag raising ceremony.  The whole school lines up by class and says the Pledge of Allegiance and sings the National Anthem before going into the school for the day. 

So, I spent last week gathering school uniforms and we are facing a second - first day of school.  The boys are being good about the change.  Sam was upset about leaving the familiar but Michael said, "How else are we going to meet new people?"  And since they get to be together, it's easier.

I think I am more nervous than they are, imagining them walking into a new classroom full of kids who already know the routine.  They were just getting things down at their last school and will have so many things to confuse them about how their new classroom operates.  But, I am thankful they were admitted and think it's better to move them now than to wait until next fall to change schools.  They would not hold our spots until then even if I wanted to do that.  It's start now or reapply next year and go to the bottom of the waiting list so here we go!

I am excited about Sam wearing the uniform instead of his athletic stripe shorts and t-shirts everyday!  Let's hope they enjoy it.  Parents are required to volunteer a total of 40 hours per school year so we will all be spending a lot of time there and will become part of the community.  Josh is very excited and may even become a mentor.

I will be happy when a few weeks have passed and we are into our new routine.  I think I know where Sam got his resistance to change!

P.S. After school verdicts are in:  they like it!  Michael asked me why it was so short.  Actually, it was 30 minutes longer than his last school so the day must have gone by quickly for him.  Sam said someone taught him to jump rope at recess and he likes that there are no student group-leaders in their reading groups - no one is bossing each other around.  They made apple people and candy corn people and had time to eat their snack AND play at recess on the playground that is more fun than the last one.  Praise indeed from a five year old. 

The Surprises Continue

So, I could have sworn we were having a girl, but . . .

Thoughts, reactions, etc to come.