Notes From the Sofa

How cool is this sofa?! My boys would have fun doing school on a sofa like this. Well, it will have to be in our dreams.

So...school this week...Week 7. Boo met Henry Huggins. And just like his brother (and me for that matter), Henry is a favorite. Boo will be reading more about Henry as the year progresses. Henry's creator, Beverly Cleary is a favorite author at this house. Boo's been introduced to Ramona and Ralph S. Mouse. He will also be reading Dear Mr. Henshaw in the near future.

Another family favorite on Boo's reading list this week was Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol. After starting with Encyclopedia Brown, Roo went on a mystery reading kick. I'm anxious to see if the same happens with Boo.

Roo has finished The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau and really appreciated the story. I've assigned The Giver by Lois Lowry and Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix for this week. These books address some really relevant topics such as: futuristic projections, overpopulation, post-apocalyptic societies, dystopian/utopian societies.

From my limited experience, it seems these books tend to evoke a strong reaction. Discussing them with others, both parents and other students, it seems people either like them a lot or dislike them a lot. I've seen around the web that some parents have decided not to assign or allow these books. I do understand that the topics can be upsetting and sometimes create volitile conversation.

I am not suggesting these as appropriate reading material for every child, they just were books that addressed conversations and issues that are causing questions at our house. I read the books myself when questioning whether they would be appropriate for Roo, something I highly recommend doing. I find that the security of a fictional setting can allow for conversation that might be uncomfortable for a child or worse, not take place at all, otherwise and often prompts questions that I would prefer my children ask me versus their peers or even other adults whom I like but disagree with.

Reading choices are an extremely personal decision and the best thing I can tell a parent questioning the appropriateness of a book for their child is to read it themselves. In this busy life we all lead it is often too easy to rely on others to form our opinions. As the person with ultimate responsibility for the education of my children, I often have to put aside my personal reading list and read what is on the agenda for my boys or what they have requested. In doing so, I've been often rewarded with books that I've enjoyed and been glad I've read. Besides, unless the parent has read the book there can be little useful discussion of said book.

In the science department, Boo is learning about the human body, organs and systems and Roo is learning about habitats, environments and ecosystems. The plan in the weeks to come is to do some hands on study on light.

I found a full set of used Cuisinere Rods at the homeschool bookstore near my house for an incredible price and both boys have played around with them. Boo is more of a Kinesthetic learner and they've helped him make a couple of leaps in areas that were frustrating last year. Roo just enjoys anything to do with math and has used them for independent learning.

Learning went on the road Friday, as we packed a bag of books and drove up to Grandpa's house for a long weekend.

After homeschooling for so long, I sometimes forget that other people aren't familiar with it. When I first made the decision to homeschool my children over eleven years ago when Roo was just a baby, I met a lot of opposition from people, even family and friends who were sure this would be a recipe for disaster for my boys. These days I don't think too much about it. It is ingrained into our lives. We've been in the same neighborhood, activities and church for long enough now that people know who we are and are comfortable with us.

So while out and about on Friday, I must admit to being surprised at being made uncomfortable by some who obviously wondered why my children weren't in school; mostly by a high school teacher taking a group of high school students on a field trip to the grocery store we stopped at. It wasn't until after the fact, seated in my car, that I considered the behavior of her charges compared to the behavior of mine.

There's been some pride, the last few years especially, for helping parents who want to understand homeschooling and decide whether or not it will be a good choice for their family. I do try to be a good "ambassador" for homeschooling. I do try to have a good Christian attitude towards everyone; but must admit to failing more often than I would like when being challenged as to my ability to make good decisions for my children's well being. Most people are at least open or tolerant of our educational choices, but I've found over the last year especially a feeling of incredulity that homeschool is a viable choice for learning.

Homeschooling is an ongoing adventure and education for me and my boys. Even with a little awkwardness and uncomfortable situations, I would not trade it for anything in the world.

Next week is the last of the four-day weeks for a while. I'm looking forward to some five-day weeks to come!!

Whether you homeschool or not, what have you been up to?

Counting it all joy,

Julie



The cool sofa in the photo was found at this blog dedicated to chairs and furniture. Cool stuff!

What was I thinking?

I really had high hopes for last week. I had spent the two weeks prior cleaning and organizing and getting the items together for healthy lunches for on the go. I collected the supplies we would need and thought out a schedule (something I rarely do). I planned and mentally prepared. I thought we would be ready to face these four weeks of “on the go” with style.

What was I thinking?

I pictured dropping off an animated Roo at his classes. My mental image was of him confidently jumping into this new adventure maturely and without a backward look. Thoughts of meeting him at lunch time when I dropped his brother off included him giving my blow by blow accounts of his morning and eagerly awaiting the afternoon offerings.

I imagined idyllic mornings at the library (housed in a gorgeous historical building—lots of atmosphere) with my youngest son, Boo. I envisioned us working through his school work with ease, side by side; him doing his worksheets and reading willingly, nay—enthusiastically, anticipating his class at noon and the field trip following; me typing away (lots of blogging) on my laptop. I had a new laptop backpack so I could “blog on the go.” I just knew my Bloglines account would not have a single unread post in it.

Then in my reverie Boo and I would go explore the delights I had planned. And finally, exhausted, but happy, we would pick Roo up and the three of us would drive contentedly home to regale my husband with the highlights of our day. I imagined my husband and my sons and I all sitting cozily in our living room or out on the patio with time to spare just sharing our uplifting thoughts.

Yeah…uh huh…that was such a pipe dream.

We are not morning people here. And I am the worst. Scrambling to make lunches and wake the boys and put clothes together that match (for me—the boys have a dress code for their classes), trying to get out the door and dealing with rush hour traffic smacked me in the face on day one.

We were almost late the first day and Roo jumped out at the entrance, met by the security guard and I didn’t see him until lunch time. He had been apprehensive about a full day of classes and a large group of people he did not know. Monday was such an overload for him he didn’t have much time to think, but Tuesday I literally had to boot him down the hall to check his schedule and get in to class to warm up.

Then there was Boo. Sigh…

Boo is growing so I am going to attribute some of his behaviors to changes in hormones and chemistry, but he was not happy about anything. The library made him nervous. Actually I get that—it is in a very urban part of the city and there were some, well, some questionable people in the library, obviously there to get out of the heat and the elements. It was technically a “quiet zone” but there were lots of distractions.

Wednesday we stayed in the children’s area, but that meant I still had wireless but no plug in access and the battery on my computer doesn’t last that long—besides it didn’t matter. You know that dream I had of him joyously doing his school work—uh-uh, no way, not going to happen. I just put the laptop in my snazzy new backpack and focused on finishing worksheets.

He liked his Summer Intensive class. He is in with children mostly older than him, but did really well. And Monday I will say we had a nice time at the zoo. I let him use my camera and the novelty was good for a day. But Wednesday we went to the museum and he let me know in no uncertain terms he did not want to be there. The art made him “dizzy.”

Thankfully Tuesday and Thursday Roo was the only one who needed to go and Boo could stay home and just do his reading. That helped a little, but he was obviously missing his brother and really could not find anything fun to do. He was very helpful when I asked but nothing was as fun as it could be with no big brother to torment and play with.

Friday we went to the zoo again. I am going to write about that more in another post. But let me say, both Boo and I were amazed at the awful behavior of children and grown-ups there. Never assume people will be on good behavior.

Roo finally found his comfort zone in the latter part of the week. He made new friends and definitely learned new things. He is very talented and smart, but not always confident.

The week ended on a positive note, I guess—but not the way I anticipated. We found a groove. We will never look like a well organized family, but we made the best of it. I did get three days of walking in and some fun photos of Boo. Roo made some new friends, learned lots and was worn out (in a good way). And everyone liked the lunches. In fact the lunches may have been the high point…

Well, another week awaits—one down, three to go. Lets see how we do.

Thursday Thirteen: How to Take Young Children to Live Performances

I’ve had a Performing Arts themed week. So I thought I would continue the trend one more day.

People have asked me how and why I manage to take my children to performing arts events.

Why? Because I feel it is immensely important. We as a family are kind of “artsy” I guess, although we enjoy football, basketball, golf and sporting events too. We enjoy reading, but manage to still find time for the video games also.

How? Here are thirteen guidelines for introducing children to live performances; taken from actual guidelines posted on company and theatre websites, some personal opinions—both mine and others.

I’ve got some acquaintances and friends previously and currently in the performing arts, from marketing positions, to performers, to stage managers, from wardrobe assistants to set people, to executive positions. We’ve been fortunate to have access to some wonderful opportunities for viewing and for the children to participate in performances.

Most often we’ve been welcomed by other patrons and audience members, almost always by performers and artistic staff, but there have been a few questioning looks at parents who would bring two young boys to opening night of a three hour performance. We’ve had questioning looks, but never complaints. During intermission and post-performance our children have received many compliments and much attention.


How do you take children to live performances? Truly it is no more difficult to take them to a production than it is to take them to a movie theater.

1. Remember everyone (including your family) has paid to have the privilege of an enjoyable show. Be respectful of other patrons. Expect and insist that others are respectful of your rights as an audience member, but there are guidelines and this is not the time to teach new manners—reinforce learned ones, definitely, but courtesy should be commonplace.

2. Educate yourself about the program you are seeing ahead of time. Look at content—follow your family’s convictions; don’t go to something that you know will offend you. Life is too short to seek out offense.

Know the performance length—30 minutes, an hour, two, three? Can your children sit that long? Can you? Think of the time of day—morning, matinee, evening, nighttime—go when everyone will be alert and able to sit. Consider the facility—will it be outside, inside, intimate, huge stadium show? Will your children be overwhelmed by crowds or can they be free to be a little less inhibited?

3. Be prepared to leave immediately if there is a “crisis.” Crises include: illness, bad temper, loudness, potty emergencies and inappropriateness of content.

Read guidelines for the company or theatre you will be attending. Some will just not allow young children. No way, no how, ain’t gonna happen, no matter how much you pay. Don’t try to get a special exception because even if you know your Junior is “not like those other children.” it isn’t worth it. Your children deserve the courtesy of being able to see a performance you think would be enjoyable for them, but don’t subject them to a situation where they will be totally unwelcome.

4. Be prepared—potty beforehand, don’t go hungry (snacks & even water are most often not allowed in the theatre proper.) Know where the bathrooms are. Know your children’s tolerance levels. Some two year-olds can sit through a symphony and some twelve year-olds cannot. There is nothing wrong with either child.

Don’t go if your child has a last minute illness. No matter how much tickets cost, throwing up is no fun for anyone. While “totally natural” it is embarrassing and may color a child’s view of future performances. Besides, you can’t enjoy when you feel awful.

5. If you must exit the theatre do so quietly and be prepared that you will not be allowed to re-seated until the next intermission. If you have exited due to a temper tantrum (or emesis) it may be within the theatre employees’ rights to ask that you not return. Depending on the situation they may be right.

6. Help your children enjoy the show. Prepare your children for what you will be seeing—preview a movie, read a story, explain to them about the point of the program. Help them know if it is appropriate to laugh out loud, when to clap, what a standing ovation is, what a good performance looks like. Courtesy to the performers is as important as courtesy to other audience members and truly helps a child enjoy a show.

Give them explicit directions on expected behavior. I find my boys will live up to my expectations if I let them in on what those expectations are. Most children want to be appropriate.

7. Start with appropriate themes, adapted fairy tales and stories children are often familiar with are good choices to start with.

Look for performances advertised to be child friendly or an audience mostly comprised of children—although I will tell you, I most often avoid the latter due to the behavior of the young audiences. We went to a performance of a visiting company put on specifically for local school children last fall. I was appalled at the behavior of the majority of children and the chaperones. To be fair, I think the content, while very dramatic and compelling, was too adult for the ages present; high schoolers would have been more appropriate than elementary age.

During Nutcracker our school offers local schools daytime performances and my sons have commented that the young audience response is not the same as regular performances, i.e. laughing at unusual times, and not at the “comedic moments,” lots of whispering, shuffling of seats, etc. But these are learning opportunities for both audience and cast members so there are certainly benefits.

8. Don’t presume you cannot go because you think something will be “fancy.”

Dress appropriately, but be comfortable. I think little girls (for a large part) enjoy frilly dresses. I see them and they are lovely. I think dressing up stresses the importance of the event. But if Johnny loathes, loathes, loathes that clip on tie, for goodness sakes don’t make him wear it—even if it makes him cuter than a bug’s ear (and we know moms love to show off their cute kids—I DO!!). Save the argument for the sitting at the photographers. LOL.

It is hard to concentrate in shoes that pinch, ties that choke, shirts & jackets that are weird, itchy slips, pantyhose that roll—oops sorry that was me with the pantyhose, anyway…life’s to short to be really uncomfortable. Jeans may be acceptable attire. Find out!

9. Start small—one act plays, an evening of ballet with several small ballets or just excerpts, I’ve seen grown-ups only stay for Act I or arrive at intermission for Act II. As long as no one is disturbed by your entrance this is an alternative.
10. Look for free shows or demonstrations. Many companies offer productions in the park far free. Shakespeare is fun in the open air. Having an actor fall off the “stage” dead at your feet is certainly a memorable event. (Again know what might be a possibility before you go.)

11. Civic groups, community theaters, college performances, high school, even elementary schools offer a great variety of disciplines, themes and opportunities. One of our most memorable performances was that of a young man we were acquainted with, a piano major at a local university. We were privileged to attend his Masters Performance—one he had to do for his master’s degree—in affect his graduation ceremony. It was breathtaking. And it was FREE! It truly gave the boys an ideal to aspire to in their music pursuits in general, and their piano playing specifically. This leads me to # 12…

12. Go to see people you know. Good grief, it is a joy to watch friends and family perform!! We go unthinkingly to all the football, soccer, and t-ball games. It is just expected. (And it should be expected that we encourage our family’s sports pursuits.) But our society has fallen away from the arts, overall. At one time it was common for family members to play or sing at gatherings, in parlors or just for a quiet evening’s entertainment. I don’t think that happens often enough.

If cousin Jane has worked all year taking lessons (piano, voice, ballet, acting) and she is brave enough to get up and share her talent with everyone—go see! Clap loudly! Bring her flowers. Be proud.

Even if the performances are less than stellar, be supportive and encouraging. Everyone starts somewhere. It takes a lot of courage to get up on stage. It often takes a lot of preparation. Besides Cousin Jane may some day win an Academy Award and she will remember you came to see her humble beginnings and she might just take you with her to the Awards show…it could happen.

13. Start at home. Just like cultivating a love of reading, a love for performing arts seldom occurs with parents who watch strictly “Cops” or “Survivor.” Children copy what they see their parents do. I’m just saying…Watch videos and films from the library. Read plays out loud as a family. Have a home collection of family friendly musicals and make them a part of daily life, not just something to be endured because it is “art.”

THE PURPOSE BEHIND THE THURSDAY THIRTEEN:
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. What do you do? Write Thirteen things about yourself, summarize your week in one entry, make it easy for other bloggers to get to know you on a weekly basis. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!

Other posts on this themed week are found:

Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Children and Performing Art Part I

Children and Performing Art Part II

Children and Performing Art Part II

As I mentioned in another post we were able to see a ballet performance of Romeo and Juliet. Because the boys’ ballet classes share the company’s facility we’ve been trying to discreetly and respectfully follow the company’s rehearsal of the ballet—they have put months into this, and I truly think it has been beneficial to whet the boys’ interest to sit through a three hour story ballet. They’ve seen all the hard work and sweat and patience that the dancers have put into this. They’ve seen the reality that what is seen on stage is just a heartbeat in the life of a dancer—granted it is the accented beat! But it is still just a fleeting moment.

In my opinion it is extremely important to expose them to performances. It is also just as important to expose them to the behind scenes efforts that it takes to create a production. How to do that?

Take lessons. Expensive? Most likely. Will you ever get the money back in a child trying to pursue a professional career? Doubtful. But it is no different than the money spent on sports, and most children will not grow up to be professional athletes. Disciplines learned in artistic pursuits follow someone through a lifetime, just as do athletic pursuits. It is not necessary, but can add to the enjoyment of watching if one has attempted an instrument, acting or dance, or sporting event.

Learn at home if outside lessons are too expensive. We do our piano lessons at home. It has been a wonderful experience. Any introduction will make it easier to pursue at a more traditional manner in the future.

Other ideas: read plays aloud as a family. We always hear about the importance of reading stories aloud to children—it is hugely important!! Reading plays aloud can be a really great tool also. Take it a step further and try putting on a family or homeschool group play; a great way to have hands on learning about sets and costuming. Even easier—stage a puppet show. Take a favorite story, Winnie the Pooh, Wind in the Willows, or a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale and have the children work out the scenes. Learn about script writing.

Unarguably homeschooling can sometimes limit opportunities for participation in productions, both as a viewer or a participant. But public and private schools, under pressure to teach basics and meet government criteria, aren’t able to provide enough opportunities to suit my wishes either. With a little extra effort children learning at home can have even more in-depth experiences with the arts than they would in a more traditional setting. No matter your family’s personal choices for education, you can’t go wrong encouraging artistic pursuits!

Part I here.

Children and Performing Art Part I

When children are interested in theatrical pursuits of any sort, musical, ballet or conventional stage, it is extremely important to expose them to performances. How to do that?

Don’t have the extra cash for expensive night performances? See if matinees are cheaper. Matinees, in general, are usually more kid friendly and the patrons more relaxed; although we’ve had mostly positive responses to the boys at night performances. Many symphonies (and other performance groups) have a children’s performance that are somewhat of a glorified dress rehearsal. Many productions offer schools discounted tickets—sometimes with the opportunity for a Q &A session before or after. It never hurts to see if homeschoolers are welcome. Some places even offer productions geared toward homeschoolers.

Don’t have access to the big-city variety of performances? Local community theatre, high school, and civic symphonies offer wonderful and affordable events. Still not something you can swing because of number of children or their ages are of concern? Check out films from the library. We’ve introduced opera to the boys this way. HMS Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, The Barber of Seville, and The Magic Flute are all good choices. We’ve watched productions in German and Italian and the boys have had no problem following the general storyline.

A benefit of checking out films from the library is the story can be paused, explained, restarted, paused for bathroom breaks, re-watched, enacted later, or if you have children like mine they will act along at the same time during a second viewing. And then re-perform for, oh the next few months weeks days.
Really, a huge source of entertainment—especially the Major-General's Song.

Dairy Farm Field Trip

This past Friday Roo and Boo and I took a long weekend visit with family. My sister arranged for a very cool field trip to a state of the art dairy farm.

The last dairy farm I visited was when I was near Roo’s age. So state of the art was not around then. I think that electricity had been invented, but in my advanced age, I may be wrong about that. I digress…

The operation is up and running but still in the process of being finished. We were told that there were approximately 1200 cows on the site with the goal to have 6000 by the end of summer. I. Cannot. Imagine. 6000. Cows. And they all are accounted for. They are tagged with an ear tag that has a chip with information about the cow. When she steps on the milking carousel her information is read and milk production is recorded.

The cows were amazing. They come into a large holding pen and then in a very orderly fashion proceed to step up into the carousel and are cleaned in several steps and have the milking apparatus attached to their udders. The milkers drop off when milking is complete.

Occasionally a cow will kick one off and a worker will quickly hook the cow back up. A cow completes on round on the milking merry-go-round and in an unbelievably calm fashion backs off and goes off to her barn via a chute. The cows are milked every eight hours and the farm runs 24 hours a day, with three shifts.

We saw where the milk traveled after it left the cow, how it was rapidly cooled and immediately sent to a waiting tanker truck. The technology and thought that went into planning this impressive facility is mind boggling. There are some really smart people working on this.

The whole operation was udderly fascinating, employees were welcoming and informative. I am always enchanted by cows. Their moooo-ning big eyes and mild manners are always favorites of mine at fairs. I am not totally naïve regarding large livestock and realize that they can cause major damage to person and property when provoked or otherwise in stressful situations. I am completely aware that the care for them is a full time job. Which makes the facility we visited all the more interesting.

A wonderful fieldtrip that we city dwellers don’t often get to have.

Othello and Desdemona

Painting by Theodore Chasseriau

That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give.
Othello, 3. 4
William Shakespere


I don’t think they were old enough to totally comprehend Othello and yet this weekend the boys saw Jose Limon’s ballet The Moor’s Pavane, one of three ballets we were blessed to see as a family this weekend.

The dancer who portrayed the Moor was the perfect brooding, jealous full of angst Moor there could be. His innocent wife was ethereal, a pale and lovely vision. The Moor’s friend and the friend’s wife were conniving and cat-like. Costuming and staging well done. Strangely enough it was possibly Roo’s favorite part of the evening of three ballets we saw performed.

We do that sometimes. Drop them into things that are “above their heads” and just let them swim a bit. They have yet to disappoint with their insight and comprehension. Considering our circumstances, a night at the ballet might seem a bit odd, but the tickets were purchased early last fall and so all we had to do was get dressed and present ourselves at the door.

The boys have been going to the ballet for nearly three years. It started out with a gracious gift from a gracious friend and has evolved into a family tradition four times a year. Ballet is not just for the well-heeled society mavens. Blue jeans and matinees are compatible and tickets range from $10 to $100 in our neck of the woods. So if you have never gone to a ballet and there is a company near you I recommend you check it out.

If your children are very young or your family is very strict about attire, do check ahead for the show you plan to see. There are some adult themes and interesting costuming occasionally. But if you appreciate beauty and grace combined with athleticism, exciting music and action, you should really see a performance. Larger cities and companies often schedule family friendly performances at least once a season. Story ballets are often an excellent introduction for young children.

My goal for this year when we get “back to normal” is to see at least one opera—we’ve watched several on DVD, but live is so much better. And to try to find a deal on symphony tickets, they've been more pricey than I had hoped. This summer I know there are going to be Shakespeare freebies available. We will be there too.

Add the Arts!

Photo of the Limon Dance Company by Rosalie O’Connor

(The performance we saw was not this one but was another company's.)

Of Peccaries, Parrots and Parents

The weekend began early Friday morning—about 5 a.m. My nephew had his birthday and in the deep of winter wanted to go to the zoo. What to do??? We went!! After a long drive, we met my sister and her two children. And after a side trip to have cousinly, family pictures taken we went to the zoo.

The zoo in winter is lovely if not only for the fact that there are many people who don’t know that it is worthwhile to visit then. I did not miss the crowds and we were able to take the time to see the animals that were on exhibit.

These are Klipspringers. At first I thought the one on the right was stuffed because it. didn’t. move. For. a. really. long. time. It just stood still so I turned to look at the little meerkats to the side of them and turned back and found the little guy eating. No wonder they can hide so well in the wild!

There were lots of neat plants to look at also. This particular zoo rivals a botanical center in my opinion.

We saw these little peccaries and they make the funniest sounds. They are definitely chatterers.

My heart was stolen by these kit foxes. One of them was intrigued by the bag I was carrying and came as close as he could to inspect me. But as soon as the children caught up to me he hopped back up on his little rock. Not up for the boisterous antics of our brood.

My tapir friends from my Wordless Wednesday picture last week were waiting. I love these guys!! They are funny and sweet and too cute for words.

The parrots were more interesting in preening than posing and I didn’t get as good a shot as the one I have on my sidebar. They were chatty as ever and always a treat to watch.

Here are pictures of all four children. Well, pictures of their hands next to a cast of an orangutan’s hand.

Amazing.

Nothing beats the walk under water in the aquarium. I am no photographer, other than the fact I have a camera and I take pictures. I don’t think that qualifies me for the title photographer. However, I did learn a few things with my camera and am anxious to go back and spend some more time trying again.

After the zoo we bundled the children into the car with their “zooveniers” –can’t go to the zoo without a stop at the zoo shop, and off we went—over the river and through the woods. Another ride. We spent the weekend with the grandparents, where if one child has a birthday, everyone gets a gift. They each received marionettes of what else? …Animals. We were entertained all weekend by puppet shows and the squawking and squeaking of the newest additions.

The visit with my parents was bittersweet. Being a child is, I suppose, a hard task. Being an adult child is sometimes more difficult. There is a fine line of what one should offer to help with or not, what one should say or not, do or not…but all in all it was a fine visit and the children were not ready to leave yesterday afternoon. But after the looooooooooooong ride home, filled with listening to C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle on audio-book, and as many rest area stops as we could make, they decided they were glad to be headed home to their own beds.

The requests for doing all this again soon have been starting already. Must have been a fun time. I thought so.

Herding Cats

Basketball—third time’s a charm!

Yesterday was Roo and Boo’s third time for homeschool group basketball. Once again I must say the mom in charge has unlimited patience and is great with the kids. But I did overhear her tell someone it was the equivalent to “herding cats.” She’s got that right. But she does it well.

Roo and Boo were most anxious to get to basketball because of last week’s fiasco getting there. I hadn’t added that chronicle to the blog because I had just shared the fact I melt down with the world and didn’t want to wave that laundry yet. I’m a bit better now.

Last week’s adventure was due to a surprise bout of snow and the whole city went berserk.

MapQuest says it should take us about 30 minutes to get from our home to basketball. I say they’ve never driven the traffic. I’ve been told I am a bit OCD about being on time and I allow an hour for the trip. Well last week we got on the road and AN HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES LATER we arrived quite shaken and stressed. A gravel truck overturned, there was another wreck in our way, and in other news a different free-way had a near forty car pile-up. I was happy to arrive at all, but the boys were reduced to less than 20 minutes of play. And they were incredibly sad. They accepted it well, but I felt so bad to see their disappointment.

So this week, we started out even earlier than I usually do so that the boys might have some time before class started to shoot some hoops and hang out with the other kids. Driving was uneventful if you don’t count the arguing over the Jedi characters in an imaginary game that occurred. Roo (who inherited my compulsion for early arrival) never asked once if we were going to be late. Boo only used the high-pitched whine once and I was only slightly disheveled. Success.

Basketball was once again a great experience. And I am glad that I have allowed us to join with this loose-knit and relaxed group of homeschoolers. But I am thankful that I don’t have to try to herd the cats.

The Beginning of Basketball

The boys took their first PE class yesterday. It was with a group of other homeschoolers and they started learning the fundamentals of basketball. I thought they were going to explode with anticipation in the weeks leading up to their class. Roo in his characteristic worry-wart style was concerned about our punctuality. We went to a building I hadn’t seen in years and were welcomed in and got registered.

It was, to me, an impressive situation. It seemed obvious it was a very diverse group. Everyone was pleasant and the children were…well, all homeschooled. Since I have taken us on the independent track for a long time, and the boys only participate in one other on-going outside activity, it was a novelty to be around that many homeschooled children and their parents. They definitely did not fall into the cookie cutter stereotype that is attached often to homeschoolers.

But about basketball…Parents were welcome to hangout and watch or go socialize (that word) with other parents. I chose to read the first half to allow the boys to focus on their teacher and came in later when they were intent on the skills they were learning.

There was a pretty large range in ages and skills. Interestingly enough, many older children were no better than some younger ones and some of the young ones were pretty far along. They were all very encouraging to each other for the most part. The teacher, a wonderful homeschool mom, was at the same time very patient but in control and kept the class organized and moving. Not to long working on “this”, making sure there was enough “that.” My boys were at the level of “we own a basketball and a toddler hoop, but really don’t know much about it stage.” I alternately laughed and marveled at their attempts and triumphs, and was pleased to see them jump in whole-heartedly after a shy start. They were instructed, encouraged and challenged

Class ended and I was filled in on all the exciting details, confirming this was, indeed, a good choice. On to the next activity and then home and I must say they were worn out in the best way. Now they are counting the days to the next basketball class…Does that count as math—kidding!!