The Cabbage Patch

Happy Birthday, My Baby

My baby is 6.  I don't quite know how that happened.  But it has.  

We bought her earrings, a green soccer ball and a Yankees cap.  Yes, we actually brought a Yankees cap into this house.  But, she's Pumpkin.  Who can say no to that face?  She pretends to be Annabeth Chase from the Percy Jackson books.  I borrowed the CDs from the library and she would listen to them all the time in her little corner of the living room.  It is a mess there but she loves to sit there drawing and coloring while she listens to a book on CD.  I need to get the Percy Jackson ones again.  I don't think she enjoys the ones I borrowed the last time.

So, as Annabeth, she needs her cap so she can be invisible.  It was a travesty, apparently, when she had to use a pink Red Sox cap instead.  

We love you, Pump!

7 Quick Takes Friday ~ Volume ?

I haven't done one of these in a long time.  I've been feeling like I've had writer's block for a while.  Nothing comes up when I sit down to do this.  All through the week I'll come up with wonderful things to write about (well, wonderful to me).  Anyway, here goes nothing. 

~1~

I had a birthday this week.  It fell on the busiest day for us.  Several hours of therapy.  Home for a couple of hours then off to ballet.  We had dinner at Texas Land and Cattle.  I am not a big meat eater, but occasionally I want a steak.  So, I indulged in my craving and chose dinner at the steakhouse.  I like it well, well done.  NO PINK!!  The server took me quite seriously and that's what I got.  

Me, at 100 days (this is a rerun of the photo but everyone always enjoys it).

~2~

Last week, we had Ben's aunts come and visit from Long Island.  The weather didn't cooperate much for them though.  It was really hot while they were in San Antonio.  It did cool off a bit for part of their stay.  Then it REALLY cooled off the day they left.  We spent some time in downtown Georgetown walking around the town square.  It was quite nice.  Then we had lunch at the Monument Cafe.  It was very yummy.  

~3~

On Friday we visited the Longhorn Caverns.  I have a love affair with caverns.  I think they are so fascinating.  One time I took the kids when they were littler (we only had three) to 3 different caverns in a span of a few days.  When the last tour ended, Sister loudly cheered.  

I thought it was interesting that they had a club down in the caverns at one point.  There's also graffiti down there from when people carved their names on the rock faces.  

~4~

We have dates of departure for Ben.  Things can change.  I'll post on the blog after he has left.  We have a whole bunch of fun planned.  Great Wolf Lodge is in there somewhere but we don't know the exact dates yet.  Gramma will come to visit so she can see her boy.  I hope the children will understand that the visit is so she can see her son not necessarily her grandchildren.

~5~

I've been busily sewing the costumes for the ballet.  We have at least half the court ladies costumes made and the rest will be done in the next couple of days.  I have started on the clockmaker's costume and sort of started on the nightingale.  I'm really excited to devote a lot of my attention on the nightingale.  It will be quite challenging but I'm really excited to do it.  I hope it turns out well.

~6~

As I was writing out all of our events for the month of May, I realized that we only have 3 more Friday classes before dress rehearsal.  I had a momentary panic attack but it has subsided.  I know we can do this and it will all look fantastic.  

~7~

The second book of the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan came out this past Tuesday.  Our copy arrived this evening as we were finishing up dinner.  My children are thrilled and can't wait for me to finish so they can read it too.  I think I'll need to download the Audible.com copy so Pumpkin can listen to the story.  She loves the Riordan books and when I borrowed the audio books from the library she spent hours listening to them.

Please check out more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.

 

 

Thoughts of School

This past year we covered a lot of material.  However, my children dislike "school".  So, it was with excitement that I purchased the book, Little Way of Homeschooling.  It is a collection of essays about how unschooling works in different families.  I started to read it then decided to read Suzie Andres first book, Homeschooling with Gentleness:  A Catholic Discovers Unschooling.

I'm not finished with it yet but am getting close.  I like the philosophy of unschooling.  Now, it's considered "not schooling".  It's a way of life where the child takes the lead and pursues his/her interest.  This is such a great way for my son to learn.  We'll be taking his interests and taking off with them.  For instance, right now, he wants to learn Spanish.  Two very generous great-aunts of his, have purchased the Rosetta Stone for him.  So, he'll learn Spanish.  He's already been learning words by using the Dummies book.  He listens to tapes and has great pronunciation.  So, we'll be pursuing the Spanish.  

He also has an interest in learning Latin.  I'm going to give him the books and let him go at it.  

Baseball has captured his interest as well.  So, we'll be learning all about the history of the sport, the different teams and locations plus anything else he wants to know.  We might even learn about the physics behind pitching the ball so he can learn how to throw better.

We'll take it as far as he'll want to.  

So, besides math which I have absolutely no confidence in teaching them in an unschooly way, we'll be taking a break from formal school at home.  

We will learn.  I know that.  It also forces me to focus on my children so I can see where their interests lie.  I will spend more time with them and learn with them as well.

I write this because, well, this is a journal of sorts.  I don't know how we'll do things.  I'm feeling my way around and it's pretty dim still.  I know in my heart that this is the way to go.  It's been weighing on me for a while now.  So, we now take the plunge.