A New School Year

It's that time of year again, time for school to begin.  This year Briana is a nursing student, Destry is a senior, Easton is in third grade, Kiana is in second, Tyrell is in kindergarten, and Aryana is "into everything".

I knew it was going to be a busy (read:  challenging) year, so I've been doing all I could think of to get ready and set us up for a successful year.  In addition to lesson planning, I made schedules for everyone and hung them on the wall, created a list of quick and easy lunch ideas, and even cooked up some hamburger, pork roast, and chicken breasts ahead of time.

Most importantly, I stocked up on Pepsi! ha!  Really, cubes were on an amazing sale (how timely, don't you think?).

I have some incredibly cute students this year, if I do say so myself.  One of the many reasons I enjoy homeschooling is because of the relationships it fosters.  My children get to learn how to work things out with one another and really are best friends (and some days, best enemies, but we won't get into that right now).

Easton has been very excited to study Spanish and he is catching on very well.  I finally invested in Rosetta Stone for him and for Destry to get his second year's credit.  Easton loves computers, so I'm not always sure if he loves Spanish itself, or the opportunity to work on the computer--and to wear the cool headphones!

Tyrell is loving learning how to read and melted my heart on our second day of school as he exuberantly cried "Mama, I LIKE learning!" at the conclusion of our day's reading lesson.  Oh how I hope I can nurture that love for learning throughout his childhood!

Briana, with her servant's heart and love for science, has discovered her niche in the nursing field.  She has completed her first CNA class (she plans to take the advanced course next month) and loved every minute of it.  I giggled at her final score of 99% as I remembered her disappointment the day she missed two questions on a test.

Destry has a full but interesting year planned with classes like anatomy and physiology, psychology, pre-calculus and of course the ubiquitous literature and music.  He has been invited as a guest speaker  in October for the 100th anniversary celebration at a congregation we used to meet with in Missouri, so he also has that to prepare.

Aryana is just as cute as she can be in her piggy tails these days, even as she is a force to be reckoned with.  Above she's pictured on our first day of school with the bag of brand new pencils.  She had a grand ole time using her teeth to pull the eraser out of every pencil and spit them on the floor.

Please excuse the screenshot above, but a friend texted me this picture of Easton with his friend at their Lego Robotics meeting and I didn't know how to remove the trappings of the screenshot.  (Hey, I only recently learned how to TAKE a screenshot--and I was QUITE pleased that I figured out how to cover my name and phone number.  Technology is not my gift!)  I'm still not 100% sure what this Lego Robotics thing is all about--Alan is taking him--but I do know that Easton is loving it.  Something about building robots with Legos, computer programming, and problem solving--right up his alley.

Kiana is SUPER excited for her homeschool tumbling class to start next Thursday.  Until then, we continue working on our other subjects.  I must insert here that I am happy that the Dianne Craft sightword cards are helping her with her reading.  I will never cease being amazed at the ways our brains work.  She is a right-brain learner and thus can "take a picture" of the card and store it in her brain.  I tried this for myself, but I see nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  It's not the way I learn, but I am grateful for others who have figured out ways to accommodate different learning styles to pave this path before us.

We now have eight days of school under our belts.  Six of them have gone well/as I planned.  The other two were pretty rough (and necessitated some editing of the schedules and perhaps a mama-retreat to the bathroom for prayer and a few tears).  But overall, we're off to a good start.  Full speed learning ahead!

The Hypnotist's Love Story

The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty

I needed a good story the end of August as one last summer-hurrah before school started. :)  I've said before, and I'll say again, that Moriarty knows people, so I love her characterization.

As usual, she tucks little nuggets of truth in her story, such as the observation that there are different types of friends for different occasions--some you call when things are going badly, others you call when things are going well--or how easily friendships can slip through your fingers if you aren't purposeful and intentional about nurturing relationships.

Then there was the sobering observation of "do-gooders", "as my mother used to call certain ladies from our church:  the ones with saintly smiles who dropped off casseroles and bags of secondhand clothes but were always too busy being charitable to other needy folks to accept Mum's offer of a cup of tea" (402).  This quote really made me think.  Often we get so busy that we miss the relational aspect of serving others--the relational aspect which just happens to be the most important aspect.  Doing more without relationship is perhaps more damaging than good.

She also sprinkles these humorous little truths throughout her stories such as one friend asking another "How do you make a man do something without nagging?" while the other responded "That is the billion-dollar question."  This one made me laugh out loud.

Bible Study Campout

One of the highlights of our summer was the Bible Study Campout in July.  Since I wasn't staying up with my blog then, I haven't posted about it yet, but it was such a fun memory that I want to preserve it, so look out:  many pictures ahead!

The kids thoroughly enjoyed camping out.  They liked gathering wood for campfires, cooking outside, eating outside, playing outside. . .Alan--not so much.

In his defense, we were in a little pop-up camper with a tent off to the side.  And Aryana still insisted on getting up between 5 and 6 am.  And we were trying not to let her wake the entire campground.

Truthfully, our campsite worked out just fine.  I was happy with how all my food preparations worked out.  I have to admit I got a little bit bored with camping.  I had done all the cooking work ahead of time and I used crockpot liners so clean up was a breeze.  There was no cleaning to do, no laundry. . .I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself.  This is where you're incredulous that I wasn't in a hammock with a book, but a busy one-year-old didn't allow complete relaxation--we had to keep eyes on her constantly.

The fun was in spending time with friends.  We went down before the Bible study started, so some friends invited us to spend Saturday with them at Alley Springs and then the river.

It was beautiful, the museum was interesting, and the kids loved walking the trails and climbing up into the little caves with their friends.

After our hike and a picnic, we went down to the river.  The moms sat in lawn chairs with their feet in the river while the dads and kids played in the water and collected crawfish and tadpoles.

The kids brought the tadpoles and crawfish over to the moms so Ginger made them a little pool to swim in.  Aryana was fascinated by this little pool.

The Bible studies started on Monday and lasted throughout the morning.  There were some really good studies--the best for me (most convicting?!) one was on pride (part two).  In the afternoons and evenings, people got together for all kinds of activities, from water activities, to playing games, singing, going for ice cream, etc.

One highlight for the older three children was the canoe trip.  Alan took Easton and they rode in the canoe with Briana and her friend Tiffany.

Destry took a canoe with his cousins Jared and Vanessa.  They were a more adventurous group, racing ahead of others, pulling over to the side to climb up cliffs and jump off bridges.

Another day some friends invited us to the place they were staying off the campground.  The view from the house they stayed in was simply beautiful.

 There was a little creek on the property that we enjoyed playing in.

Alan and Destry got the idea of building a little dam to speed up the current so the kids could ride their floaties.

 Wheeee!  It was pretty fast!

Jumping off the cliff into the river is a tradition Briana got to participate in with a bunch of friends. . .

 Rainy day cards with friends. . .

 Trips to Eminence to the Dairy Shop with friends. . .

 Sweet young ladies. . .

Alan and I ended up going home early when it started raining, but Briana stayed with friends and got to perform the British version of The Three Little Pigs for the sharing night.  It was lots of fun, and we were all tired at the end.  Even Destry slept on the way home.

Just Didn't Click

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins


I give The Girl on the Train two stars for "it was ok".  It had some interesting points, but I wasn't crazy about the way the narrator kept jumping back and forth between two people (and then in popped a third!).  Some people can do this well (Hello Barbara Kingsolver) but many simply can't.

I also wasn't crazy about the lack of hope in the book.  Alcoholism, adultery, depression, and murder were the themes of the story.  It's good for me to read something like this every once in a while, to be reminded of what many people's lives are like without accepting the hope Christ offers, but I can't say I enjoy the trip.

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

I wanted to love this book--Kristy loved this book.  And it was quite clever, particularly its references to historical events and "classics" such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayre mysteries.

But it was really slow and hard to get into.  Once I had invested enough to figure out what was going on and who the characters were, I determined to finish the book so as not to have wasted that time, but it was more of a chore than a joy.