Homeschool Days 6/18/10

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

~John Dewey

Time to catch up on the past err... month of schooling at our house.  It's been fairly busy, which is my only excuse for not posting more.  I realized my personal reading had fallen way off, so I'm trying to catch up on some things I started but never finished.  I'm still reading two books on mindfulness:  Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh and Everyday Blessings by Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn.  I spend a lot of time pondering the passages I've just read, and I would like to write about it, but I guess I'm not ready since nothing comes to me when I try.  I'm even feeling a little uninspired in this post, so I'm keeping it short.

I'm still reading to the kids before bed.  We found a great book at the library recently, Redwoods by Jason Chin.  I vaguely remember there being pictures of me as a kid in the redwood forest.  I'll have to see if my mom has them somewhere.  I hope in a few years that we can pack up the kids and take a few months to drive across the country.  I'm sure we'll stop for many things along the way, but my three must-sees are:  the milky way from the desert where there is no light pollution, Disneyland, and the redwood forest.

After How To Train Your Dragon, the book club selection was The Name of this Book Is Secret.  I attempted to get it from the library, but it's not available.  Robotson suggested we begin Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and we decided to take a break from the book club over the summer.  We've never missed one in the two years since it began, but HP is keeping us busy, and the guys are going back to Six Flags next week when the club is meeting.  We'll pick things back up in August since the entire group decided to take July off.  As for HP, we are about a third of the way through.  I'm having a hard time reading because I choke up whenever I remember what is going to happen next.  

Funny Girl hasn't been writing this week, but she's been all itchy - and slightly grumpy - from poison ivy.  It was a very mild case, and I'm not sure where she picked it up from.  I need to search our back yard thoroughly.  The worst was on her right hand, in between her pinky and ring finger.  Needless to say, she hasn't been much interested in writing.  However, she was able to use scissors.  Unfortunately, we now have several dolls with no hair, a blanket that has been repurposed as a cape, Mulan's dress is in tatters, and a couple chunks of FG's own hair are gone.  I took the scissors away, but I'm thinking of following Emily Geizer's advice for this new interest. 

Dimples is nearly three, and so on the verge of many big and exciting changes.  But most importantly, she's happy and healthy; which as far as I am concerned is all she needs to be at this age.