Smoky Trips and Veggie Gardens and Other Random Things

Random, unedited thoughts for a neglected blog:

~~We (the four of us living at this house) just returned from a 6-day trip to the Smoky Mountains-- our first stay there and the first "big" family trip we'd taken since 2004. We cut our school year short by several weeks and went in May for the simple reason of Because We Can, taking advantage of off-season cabin rental rates and relatively low crowds. Our four days in the Smokies were very busy and very fun and very busy. (Notice I said it was a "trip", not a "vacation"! There is a difference. Although I keep calling it "vacation.") Busy or not, it was great to get away and have some family adventures. Now we are in that period known as "recovering from vacation trip."

And I'd like to blog about those adventures, by the way-- but don't hold your breath; you know how I am. Actually, I'd originally hoped to blog about them while we were there, but you can see how well that worked out.

~~Since our return, I've been busy (there's that word again) putting in my veggie garden. I am not a great gardener and had given up on it for the last couple years, but I am back at it with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. I really can't homeschool and live on three acres and not at least try to garden, now, can I? I'd already put in some cold-weather veggies about a month ago, which is highly significant since it marks the first time that I have ever actually gotten those in on time! Last night we ate our first home-grown salad of the year; woot, woot! Small successes are encouraging.

~~Cheez is on her own little vacation to California, visiting a not-previously-met-in-person internet friend of the male persuasion. We are so not happy about this. Supposedly there is an agreement in place that they are "just friends," period. One can only hope. Last night I happened "by accident" onto this article which, once I waded through all the stuff at the beginning and got to the father-of-prodigal-son part, was very timely and helpful in its perspective. (Oh, and I've decided that I am beyond worrying about what my blog-readers out in Happy BlogLand think. I think bloggers should just be real, so there.) Later edit: What Cheez failed to tell us, purposely or not, is that this guy still lives with his parents. She was staying with a FAMILY, not a guy with his own place. Okay, well that makes a big difference. We would have worried less. On the other hand, we'd probably have prayed less, too, so I suppose it's all good. (And they really ARE just friends.)

~~We need to make a decision in the next few days as to what Spaz will be doing for high school. With a huge homeschool community, a plethora of Christian schools, charter schools, and public school choice, the options in our area are many. We've pretty well narrowed it down to three, one of which is continuing to homeschool for high school. That is Spaz' first choice, but Hubz and I have very mixed feelings. We feel that it is probably time to "release" him into the world beyond our home while he is still living here under our guidance. Like most of the other things I've written so far in this post, this could easily fill an entire blog post in itself. But it won't.

~~I brought home two souvenirs from our trip: a T-shirt I bought at the National Park and a black eye I incurred on the last day when I was smacked in the face by the T-bar end of my paddle while whitewater rafting. (I am pretty sure I had help from a rock which caught my paddle.) It makes a great conversation starter. Now whenever anyone comes up to talk to me, I just stand there and wait for them to break off mid-snetence and say. "What on earth happened to you?" Then I get to tell them about our vacation trip. It actually works much better than a T-shirt.


You know, I am doing pretty well with the "unedited" thing. I snorted to myself when I typed it, but so far I have successfully managed, for the most part, to resist the Tweak-and-Edit-to-Death Monster.


~~Thursday night my bestest buds and I had our monthly dinner out. I like my friends. They are nice friends and easy to be real with, when one can get a word in edgewise. We have all known each other since our kids were little and we thought that homeschooling them would somehow keep them from ever making bad choices in life. Most of us have since learned otherwise, which is why it is easy for us to be real with each other.

~~We finally got the water hooked up on our new frig and are enjoying fresh cold water-from-the-frig door. This may indeed be very old technology, but it is a first for us.

And yes, I know that was a random useless comment of little value. I felt like I had to throw one of those in there. Here's another:

~~Yay, Lee! He and Crystal have been family favorites from the beginning (as was Siobhain), but I never thought he would make it past 5th or 6th. If I liked Siobhain because she reminds me of Cheez, I think I liked Lee because he reminds me of her high-school friend T, a great kid whom I love and miss. Same cute smile. Although I don't think T can sing very well. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's okay.

~~I am in sort of a quandary about the changes over at Homeschoolblogger, where my other blog still sits. I was already unsure about giving that one up entirely, and HSB's switch to Wordpress hosting is making it even more difficult. I want to go play over there and see what I can do with it, but I haven't even been there since the switchover. Heck, I have barely been here. It's hard to think about re-learning that one when I am still learning this one, and now I am back to trying to figure out which one to keep. I have a hard enough time keeping up on one blog, let alone two. I really ought to just keep... neither! Although I'm sure my 3.7 readers would be utterly crushed. *Sigh* Life is complicated.

~~I got a new puzzle book for our trip. I usually get Penny Press or Dell variety puzzle books, but this one is an Official. It's weird. The puzzles are similar but harder and... different somehow. I don't like it as much. However, it does have a great puzzle that I'd never had in previous books, a combination of sudoku and kakuro (cross-sums) called "sumoku". Fun stuff. Fuzz actually did one of these with me in a waiting room the other day. She's a kid after my own heart.

~~Last night while I was reading blogs and the guys were watching LOTR, Fuzz occupied herself by writing a book. Look for How to Plant an Elephant coming soon to a bookstore near you! (Not really, but it was fun to say.)

I guess I'm done now.

Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which We Manage to Get Some School Done In Spite of the Busyness of the Week

Forgot my Midweek Musings, of course. But hey, I managed to do it for a grand total of one consecutive week before missing! That's actually one time more than most of the things I think of posting.

As for Weekly WrapUp, I'm not even going to try to post anything even vaguely resembling a "normal" one. All you get is this...

Our week included:

*Spaz' first neurofeedback session... and his second, and his third... all of which required me to sit for an hour in a waiting room listening to "easy listening" music which has now been running non-stop through my brain all weekend. Ho-nes-teee is SUCH a lonely wo-ord / Ev-ry-one is soo untru-ue... There, now it will run through yours, too. You're welcome.

*An interview (at my request) with the principal of Biz & Cheez' alma mater, which may become Spaz' high school as well. The appointment was supposed to last 30 to 40 minutes, but we had such a good time talking that it ended up being two hours.

*Normal extra-curriculars --except soccer, which was rained out. Spaz was disappointed, but I was not. See above; it was nice to actually have an afternoon at home.

*Two math meltdowns by Fuzz.

*The crumbling of Communism. Well, I mean, we studied that.

*The conclusion, after four years, of four HUNDRED years of U.S. and world history. Yes, I know we are supposed to cover the entire gamut of world history, ancient to modern, in four years. We did that in six. We've taken our time with early modern and modern; there are just too many good books to read and I refused to rush through it.

*Seven surprisingly splendid summaries from Spaz, which superbly surpassed my satisfaction. I had him read a book called 1989: the Year the World Changed and write a 1/3-to-1/2-page summary of each chapter. (He'll finish this coming week.) The resulting mini-essays needed little-to-no editing, and they were --get this-- commited without any wailing or gnashing.

*Some other school stuff. By the way, we're wrapping up three to four weeks ahead of the local schools. Part of homeschooling is that lovely feeling of getting away with something.

*Printing up trail maps for the Smokies and going over them with Biz, who has been there several times.

*Sifitng through review after review after review online, trying to determine which vacation activities would be most worthwhile. (Some reviews required sifting through error after error, which didn't faze me for the most part. However, I'm not really sure I want to go to the place that is "defiantly recommended.")

*Gardening. I think I might just dig up all my established plants, start a garden elsewhere, and let the dandelions take over my existing flower bed. It might be easier than trying to eradicate said dandelions. On the positive side, the veggie gardening seems to be coming along well so far. Given my notorious brown thumb, that is a very pleasant surprise.

*Hosting a "reunion" party for Spaz and nine of his Friday school classmates. We set up several outdoor games, which were for the most part neglected in favor of playing Capture the Flag. That's okay, though. Besides, they used the Corn Toss bags for flags, so it's all good.

*Hosting a birthday party for my mom. Having two parties in one weekend actually works out pretty well, as much of the prep for the first carries over into the second. Like the other party, this one involved many noisy young people; thankfully, both also involved beautiful days, which kept much of the activity outside. (Although I did find out later on Facebook that one of the teenage-cousin activities involved my nieces hiding in our shower and throwing our dirty laundry around while my son chased them with a spray bottle. Nice.)

That was our busy, busy week. Whose crazy idea was it to plan a vacation during such a busy month, anyway? Oh yeah-- mine. And whose idea was it to start neurofeedback three times a week in that same month? Mine again. And who wanted to host two parties that month as well? Me. So I really can't complain about the busyness.

Coming up: an even busier week.

For more of this week's WrapUps, go here.

Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which We Have Our Heads Examined and Do Other Interesting Things

"I am happy to report that I never did gallavant about town wearing the Sticker-Laden Hoodie of Dorkdom. Success again."

Two things by way of introduction: (1) Since I, for no apparent reason, failed to post a WrapUp last week, this one will have to cover the last two weeks. (2) In a desperate and perhaps futile attempt to make my WrapUp somewhat interesting, I am going to post it not in Day-by-Day form, nor in Subject-by-Subject form, but in Award-by-Award form. I suppose you are wondering what that means. I suppose you will have to read on to find out.

*Just to get it out of the way, I'll start with the dubious Stuff That Interrupted Our Educational Endeavors Award: There was a lot of competition here, but First Prize definitely has to go to Jury Duty, which kinda sorta defined the week before last. Although I ended up being gone only one day, I'd had to plan for two, so jury duty consumed one entire day and somewhat discombobulated another. (I love that word and use it often. No, not "another"; the word before it.)

This category also has a couple Honorable Mentions, the most interesting of which would be Going to Get Our Heads Examined. Because this is far too complicated to explain here, it'll suffice to say that Spaz and I went in on two separate afternoons to do our initial assessments for neurofeedback brain training. If you don't know what that is, you can read about it here or on countless other websites. I went to a seminar and did some web research, and I am pretty sold on it as a possible remedy for ADD-type issues. Spaz starts the program this coming week, and I may do it later.

The other Honorable Mention in this category would go to Visiting Another School. We're still in the process of deciding whether Spaz will stay home next year or go to high school, and school visits are part of the exploration process. Friday he visited the small, socio-economically diverse, income-based-tuition Christian school where Biz & Cheez spent their high school years. He felt comfortable there, which renders it a viable option. I could write several blog posts' worth about this whole big decision, although I'm sure I won't.


And now some awards for the Educational Endeavors themselves, because we really did have some...

*The Is This Really History? Award: We read about the Israeli wars and the oil embargo, terrorist attacks in the Middle East and Northern Ireland, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the deposing of the Shah of Iran and the subsequent rule of the Ayatollah. All of these things happened during my lifetime, and some of them I remember quite clearly. It feels odd to call such things "history". If I remember them, shouldn't they be called "current events"? Wasn't 1980 just a few years ago?

*The That Must Be A Really Good Book Award: I love it when "I have to read how many chapters today?" turns into "Hey Mom, I finished that book already!" Last Tuesday I returned from the library and handed the kids The Breadwinner, telling them they'd have to share it. Although written at about a 4th- or 5th-grade level, this story about an Afghani family living under the Taliban seemed a worthy book for Spaz to read as well as Fuzz. Initially they both grumbled about having to read it. But Spaz read it straight through that night in bed, and Fuzz had finished it by the following evening. So much for them having a week's worth of reading. (Here I would say, "End of story" --except that I've ordered the sequels.)

*The Pleasant Surprise Award: Spaz' writing assignments get the prize here. When his writing class ended in March, no small amount of dread accompanied my decision to revert back to the old Mom-makes-up-history-based-writing-assignments method. However, it has gone much better than I had anticipated. Using outlines from Story of the World, principles from IEW, and guidelines and comments from Yours Truly, he's written some pretty good stuff with minimal frustration. The week before last he finished up a 1-page assignment about Apartheid in South Africa and this past week he began writing about Iran and the Ayatollah.

*The Wow, It Works! Award: I mentioned last time that I instituted a credit/demerit system for being on time and staying on task and that in conjunction with that, I've been a bit less relaxed and more deliberate with our schedule. This has really seemed to make a positive difference for us. Hooray, I'm doing something right!!! I feel so... successful.

(Oh, side note-- I have moved from the stickers-on-my-hoodie method of tracking credits to the less-risky rubber-bands-on-my-wrist method. I am happy to report that I never did gallavant about town wearing the Sticker-Laden Hoodie of Dorkdom. Success again. I have gallavanted about town with a multitude of rubber bands on each wrist, but I actually think that makes me look kind of, you know, hip. It's, like, modern jewelry. Or maybe it just makes me look stupid, I don't know.)

*The Most Improved Award: Spaz, who has supposedly been teaching himself to play guitar via a DVD, made more progress in the past two weeks than he did in the three months before that. This might be because we finally jumped from playing one string at a time, as the DVD initially teaches, to learning chords. It might also be because I decided to sit with him and MAKE him practice them over and over again. (And the rubber band thing helps, too. He said so. Especially on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when American Idol viewing is at stake.) 

*The Pluggin' Away Award goes to Fuzz, because it isn't fair that Spaz gets all the press. Good ol' Fuzz meets and exceeds expectations pretty consistently, and that's worthy of mention.

*The Outdoor Chalkboard Award: Last Tuesday was a beautiful warm day, so Fuzz and I sat on the porch steps to read about amphibians. I was trying to teach her to take notes (something we've rather neglected with our relaxed approach to learning), so I had her fetch some sidewalk chalk and I used the front walk as a chalkboard. Until the rain washed it away a few days later, we were able to read about the metamorphosis of toads every time we walked past our full-length glass front doors.

*The Normally Abnormal Award goes to our Fridays. With my jury duty on one and Spaz' school visit on the other, we did not have normal school days on either Friday, which is normal. Two weeks ago we actually had a normal school day on Friday which, considering that it was the only "normal" Friday of this entire January-through-May term, was quite abnormal. Abnormal Fridays seem much more normal. On my jury duty day, the kids did independent school work and then hung out with Hubz at home and at the park. On Spaz' school visit day, Fuzz and I reverted to the science-and-art format we followed when Spaz had his Friday classes. We read from CKEB about reptiles in general and turtles in specific, and then we drew frogs from our nature drawing book. And we ate doughnuts.

*Last of all, the Anticipation Award: That would go to our upcoming 6-day vacation to the Smoky Mountains, for which we're cutting our school year short by several weeks. (Whereas most local schools get out June 11, we'll end our "regular" school year in just over a week. We do a little summer school, but it isn't nearly the same.) Meanwhile, we are really trying to make the most of what little time we have left. And by "we are," I of course mean "I am."

That's a Wrap, folks. You can read more WrapUps here.

Midweek Musings

I bet you think I am posting this on Saturday, but look, see? It is Wednesday. That's what Blogger says and Blogger doesn't lie. Ha. I love manipulating dates to make posts look like I posted them earlier than I actually did. Reality is whatever you make it out to be, or something like that. It's all about appearances posterity.


Well, whatever. I had to pretend to post this Wednesday because it is called "Midweek Musings" and Saturday is pretty much not midweek. Besides, I hate to look like I go a whole week between posts, even though I do.

And yeah, I know-- I could just call this post Saturday Snippets and we'd be good with the whole day-of-week thing. But I had already come up with the title and started to write the above on Friday before I got sidetracked by life and sleep, and now that it's there I kind of have to keep it because it amuses me. But more importantly, this can't be Saturday Snippets because Saturday is part of the weekend (in case you hadn't noticed), and weekends are when I supposedly (key word there) post my WrapUps, and we can't post WrapUps and Musings too closely in succession now, can we? Perhaps we could if I were one of those good bloggers who posts 5 or 6 times a week, but I'm not so we can't.

(Oh, and you are wondering if I noticed that I didn't do a WrapUp last week and whether I am going to do one this week, and you are also wondering whether I am ever going to finish my jury duty story. And I just don't have any answers for you. My blog is like my life; I am always behind and some things just don't get done. Right now I'm trying to do THIS, because this is what interests me at the moment. Yes, I do in fact have ADD; why do you ask?)

And you are also wondering (or I'm pretending you are, so humor me) what Midweek Musings might be. I'm getting to that.


I got to thinking that my facebook status updates-- my facebook musings, if you will-- are far more interesting and entertaining than anything I blog anymore. Whereas on my blog, I take a thought (or a billion or two) and feel like I have to expand on it, on a Facebook status I have to condense that thought down to its briefest essence. Given my tendency to think and talk write something to a slow and painful death,  that whole condensing thing really works well for me. Less is more, etc.

I also got to thinking that it's really a shame that, while a blog post is preserved forever (or at least until the blog host has a major nuclear meltdown and loses your whole blog), a facebook status is sort of... dust in the wind. Here today and tomorrow, but gone next week. Well, not really gone, but not so easily accessed. And I always think that I will end up incorporating my good Facebook stuff into blog posts where it can be read and appreciated by thousands hundreds tens more people, or at least better preserved for posterity, but I rarely do.

(Did someone say, "think and write something to a slow and painful death"? This post, like most of mine, is a case in point.)

And then I got to thinking about how I love the "weekly twitter updates" that appear weekly on one of the blogs I read, because they give a glimpse into the author's everyday life and because they make for very entertaining reading. And I think to myself, Well, I could do that. Not that I am her or anything, and not that my life is anywhere near as interesting as hers, but still, I could do that. (I could write books and curriculum like she does, too, if I really wanted to, but that's neither here nor there.) I may not tweet and I may not have "tools" that grab my FB updates and automatically compile them into a weekly blog post, but I could, you know, do it manually. Because I am just that... that... words escape me here. I am just that.

So here we are. My last couple of weeks in Facebook Status Updates, with a few imaginary ones (read: thought of but not posted) thrown in. But only through Wednesday, because, you know, that's what it is today. And yeah, I know that most of my blog readers (all 4.73 of you) are my facebook friends and therefore have read most of these anyway, but whatever. I'd like to think they are worth reading over and over again because I am, you know, just that. Here goes...


*I'm volunteering at the library book sale tomorrow, so as to not be outdone by my 11-year-old. She wanted to sign up to help, with or without me. How could I not let her? And then how could I not sign up, too? Oh, and when did she grow up like that? Wasn't she a toddler just a few days ago?




*I nabbed (among other things) a brand-new-looking copy of Cheaper By the Dozen at the library used book sale. The picture of Steve Martin on the cover really irritates me, as he and his stupid movie have nothing to do with the book. But I suppose it's nothing I can't fix with duct tape.




*Fuzz wants to keep reading for the last ten minutes of her break, but I told her to do something "active". So she's going up and down the stairs while reading. I hope this doesn't end badly...



*I remembered for once to get my cold-weather veggies in while the weather is still cold! Perhaps, despite my notoriously brown thumb, I will actually have some success with them and with veggie gardening in general this year. (Is that being hopeful or delusional?)




*Fuzz to Spaz: "Would you rather be able to speak three languages, or have the power to make a chair run outside and jump into the pond?" Where do my kids come up with this stuff?




*I think it is really funny that at the bottom of the "delivery failed" message from Mail Delivery Subsystem, gmail is telling me that i can "invite Mail Delivery Subsystem to chat." Really? That would be an interesting conversation. Or not. Maybe I should try it.




*Today I: tried to arrange for kids to go to a concert next week, only to find it had been cancelled; prepared for my absence tomorrow due to jury duty, only to find it had been cancelled; and made arrangements for my absence Friday due to jury duty, which for all I know will also end up being cancelled.




*I'm sad that Siobhan had to leave A.I. She was my favorite-- perhaps because, apart from that whole singing thing, she reminded me a lot of my own 19-year-old.



*Anita Renfroe with the girlfriends tonight-- lots of fun. Serving as juror on a DWI trial tomorrow-- no fun.




(SPOILER ALERT- Here's where I give away the ending of My Day as a Juror, Part Two. If you think I might actually post Part Two at some point, you may want to skip the following musing. Like you would really be able to now.)

*Sat through an overly long day of redundant testimony and excessive, hair-splitting questioning of witnesses, only to be randomly drawn at 5:30 pm as the "7th juror"-- the one who is dismissed prior to closing arguments in order to cull the jury down to six. I am really frustrated and disappointed and kinda ticked about that.



*(a) Still bummed about yesterday, despite having ingested copious amounts of chocolate, and (b) highly unmotivated about today, despite having imbibed several cups of coffee. Time to invoke my Keys To A Productive Saturday: Make a list and a plan, and turn the computer OFF. And make more coffee.



*Bribed The Boy to try a medium-length haircut. It hasn't been this short since he was 11. I knew that somewhere beneath all that hair there lurked a really good-looking kid!



*Two more solid weeks of schoolishness, then a week In Which We Wrap Up School and Get Ready For Vacation, then it's off to the Smokies!!! (Yes, we are cutting out several weeks early this year-- mostly Because We Can.)




*Note to self, for future reference: Before making copies, remove sticky note that says, "Make copies."




*Frank Sinatra night and no Siobhan. Two reasons I'm more interested in FB tonight than AI. Haven't yet heard anything worth the listen.




*Watching TV with a lightweight blanket over the screen is rather entertaining. You get light and colors and movement without the details. We have the executives of A.I. and their poor taste in guest entertainment to thank for this discovery.



So there. I have wanted to do a post like that for the longest time, and I finally have. Good for me. Now I need to turn the computer OFF and go make more coffee and a Saturday list.

(Oh wait. Isn't it actually Wednesday? Now I'm confused...)

My Life as a Juror, Part One

(Okay, so it really should be "My DAY as a Juror." That just doesn't have the same ring to it. So I took some, you know, editorial liberties with the title.)


Yesterday was a beautiful, gorgeous, warm spring day, and I spent most of it caged up in a windowless courtroom, doing my civic duty. It was an interesting and educational experience, and ultimately a... well… I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself here.


I’d been selected for this jury and another back at the beginning of April and, up until a few days prior, had almost kind of sort of been looking forward to it. I mean, think about it: I’d get to put on nice clothes and go somewhere and interact with other grown-ups and listen to intelligent courtroom dialogue (um, we’ll revisit that thought a little later) and participate in thoughtful discussions and help to make crucial decisions that would profoundly impact the lives of other people.


Well, okay. That last part made the whole thing a little scary. But then again, this was district court, where all the cases are misdemeanors and jail terms do not exceed one year. It wasn’t like I’d be helping to put somebody away for life or put some hardened criminal back on the streets or anything like that.


(Parenthetical Thought: It did occur to me that looking forward to jury duty as an opportunity to do something important and interesting with other adults is a little pathetic. It is probably a sign that I do, in fact, need a life. But hey. Jury duty would be a new experience, something different from the norm, and you know, variety is the spice of life and all that. Tell me I’m not pathetic for feeling positive about the chance to do something different, with a significance beyond my own four little walls.)


Anyway. As the time for the back-to-back trials approached, I found myself feeling much less anticipatory and much more apprehensive. Not just because jury duty disrupts the flow of my work week and requires extra preparation and arrangements-- I do, after all, have a job of some importance right here at home-- but because it is, well, heavy stuff. Receiving and concealing stolen property may not be a felony, but it is still a crime, and a year in jail is still a year in jail. And drunk driving is no small issue, either. What qualifies little old unassuming me to make decisions in such matters? Then again, somebody has to do it.


As it turns out, the receiving-&-concealing case was settled beforehand and never actually came to trial. That is not unusual; in fact, I’m told that it happens far more often than not in this court. (Of course, I didn’t get to find that out until the night before the scheduled trial, because that’s how jury duty rolls. I happily adjusted.) I wasn’t so lucky with the drunk-driving case… not that I thought I would be. The hard-hitting, intensely-questioning defense attorney in that case had made it perfectly clear that his client, as a Canadian arrested on a DWI while in the U.S. on business, had much at stake. It didn't seem likely to me that they'd settle out of court, and they didn't.


Oh, but it would have been so easy for me to have gotten off that jury in the first place. There is always a questioning process once the jury is selected, to give the lawyers opportunity to weed out those whom they, for whatever reason, don’t want on the jury. I, in all honesty, had itsy-bitsy negative thoughts about the defendant the moment I set eyes on him. All I’d have had to do was remark to the lawyer that “he looks guilty to me,” and I can almost guarantee you, I’d have been out of there.


Okay, that was kind of a joke. I wouldn’t have said that. I am able to set aside personal biases and opinions and be objective. Still, I came that close to not having to be on that jury. Each lawyer can dismiss up to three jurors (who would then be replaced by someone else in the pool) without apparent cause-- just because they don't like the size of your nose, or whatever; they don't have to give a reason. The defense attorney had grilled us all relentlessly about pretty much every irrelevant matter under the sun… and he had seemed to pick on me in particular. He’d even told me to just say so if I didn’t really want to be on that jury. Well, I didn’t, really-- all that interesting and significant stuff aside, who really wants to do jury duty?-- but I wasn’t about to be a shirker. I was willing. Still, I'd thought for certain that he’d dismiss me anyway.


He didn’t. Our jury of seven was deemed “satisfactory” by both lawyers, and we were given our slips and told to report back four weeks later for the trial. And so followed the weeks of angst and expectancy and trepidation, each in its turn, and then the night-before phone call to the courthouse recording confirming that the trial was indeed to proceed.


So there I was on this beautiful sunny day, locked with six strangers behind multiple sets of heavy doors in a room with bad coffee and mediocre donuts and not a single window, waiting for the trial to begin.


And here I stop, leaving you hanging until Part Two… because this post is already long enough, and because I am just mean like that, and because I want to pretend that you have all even made it this far and will be going insane with curiosity and anticipation.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Some Kids Never Grow Up

Here's what my 11- and 14-year-olds were doing during their breaks today.

Just think about all the fun they'd miss out on if they went to school.

Weekly WrapUp: In Which We Go to the Other

(For some reason, I can't seem to grab the WrapUp button today. You'll have to do without it. Sometimes I like HSB better. This is one of those times.)

For the sake of expediency, today's Wrap-Up is going to be bullet points. Short ones. You laugh, I know. 

The highlight of our school week just past:

*We made a family visit (our second) to the Henry Ford Museum, which you probably think is a museum dedicated to the history of the automobile, but is actually a museum dedicated to the spirit of American innovation, ingenuity, and freedom. It does have a really big section on automobiles, though. Hubz the Morning Person insisted we leave before 7 am. I was annoyed about this, but later I was glad. Our 5-hour round trip involved several cups of coffee, a great many Mad-Libs, and a stop at Smacker Barrel on the way home.

How was that for a reasonably short bullet point? I know, I know-- you want to hear about the 5-1/2 hours we spent in the museum. The problem is that I could not even begin to describe this place if I am to finish this post in a reasonable amount of time (not that I ever do anyway). I will just say that it is well worth the visit, and here are a few reasons why: Several Presidential limousines, including the in which JFK was riding when he was assassinated. The chair in which Lincoln sat when he was assassinated. The bus on which Rosa Parks took her famous stand. The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. The one and only Dymaxion House. Are you impressed yet? The plane Richard Byrd flew to the North Pole. The first successful helicopter. Humungous steam engines-- the ones that pull trains and the ones that power factories...

With all that, the kids' favorite exhibits seemed to be the K'Nex design-your-own-car station, the poseable crash dummy, and the be-on-MTV exhibit. Although Fuzz did list the 1950's diner as her absolute favorite.

Now that the Henry Ford Museum has managed, not surprisingly, to hijack my WrapUp, here are a few other mildly interesting occurances and tidbits from our week:

*American history conquered for the moment, we turned our attention back to late 20th-century world history, specifically that of Africa. We read from Story of the World.  We revisited a map we'd made last year featuring the continent with its European Colonial borders and an overlay showing the present-day country borders, and the kids labeled each country with the year it gained independence. I found a youtube video of Nelson Mandela's inauguration speech and played part of it. Both kids' literature focused on South Africa and apartheid as well.

*Spaz wrote about apartheid and Fuzz about the Hutus & Tutsis in Rwanda, using the outlines from Story of the World Activity Book. I don't always like the way those outlines are done, but this week I was very glad to have them. They were helpful. So were the IEW principles we learned last year, which I always incorporate into assignments like these.

*Fuzz and I worked at the library's used book sale-- she because she really really wanted to, and I because I could neither refuse such a desire nor be outdone by an 11-year-old. It was not a highly exciting endeavor, but it felt good to do something different. Needless to say, we came home with a stack of books. (Yes, we paid for them, same as anyone else.)

*I prepped one of my square-foot-garden boxes and got my cold weather veggies planted! This really has little to do with "school" as the kids did not even help me. They are "discouraged" by gardening, with good reason. My thumbs are pretty brown, and the last couple years I haven't even made much of an effort. However, I am back at it with renewed determination and hope (or would that be delusions?). The fact that I actually remembered to get cold-weather stuff in while it is yet cold is a first, so I am somewhat encouraged. That's why I had to mention this here even though the kids were not very involved. (I say "not very" because one of them watched me for about three minutes and even put in a few seeds.)

*We watched a History Channel show about how the states got their boundaries. It was hugely interesting, totally unplanned, and of course highly educational, so it merits a mention here. Of course, the show started with the most interesting state of all.

*Frustrated with dawdling students (singular, usually) sabotaging our day, I decided to crack down and be a little stricter with the schedule. I'm not a big fan of strict schedules in homeschooling, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. For example, it used to be that if someone hadn't finished his math in the ample time allotted, that would push back morning break time, which would push back our history-together time, and so would go the day. Now, break times are when they are, and they're over when they're over. If the major things (math, writing, piano practice) aren't finished on time, their completion spills over into break time and break time is thereby shortened or even eliminated. And if they still aren't finished by the end of break time, they need to be revisited later. This has worked pretty well.

*In conjunction with the above, I began a new credit/demerit system to replace our old one. I know, I know, but some kids need them, and Spaz is one of those kids. Without going into a great deal of deal, I will mention that at the moment, my method of keeping track of things involves removable vinyl stickers on my zip hoodie. It beats having to keep track of a piece of paper or run to a chart all the time, as the hoodie is always with me. I couldn't find enough rubber bands around the house to do the rubber-bands-on-wrists method, so this works for now. The downside is the distinct and highly likely possibility that one of these days I will leave the house on an errand and forget that I have stickers all over my hoodie.

I'll leave you to contemplate that. More WrapUps here.

Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which We Go to One and Not the Other

This post was supposed to be entitled, In Which We Go to the Ford Museum Times Two. However, we were flexible and went to only one Ford Museum this week. We’re heading to the other one bright and early tomorrow, so I need to keep this short and sweet. (That is a really nice thought, albeit an unrealistic one.)


Yes, there are two Ford Museums in Michigan. It really isn’t all that confusing; just stay with me. The big-and-famous Ford museum is the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn (near Detroit, about 2-1/2 hours from us). We’ve been there once before, six years ago, and the timing is right for us to go again. Why? Because among the many fascinating things we’ll see there are the limo in which JFK was riding when he was assassinated and the bus on which Rosa Parks made her famous stand. If you’ve been reading my wrap-ups all along, you’ll know that the kids and I studied both of these events fairly recently. How could we not go see these things?


The other Ford Museum is the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, a mere 20 minutes away. While not nearly as large, exciting, or fun as The Henry, The Gerald does have some things relevant to what we’ve studied over the past few months and weeks-- namely, a temporary exhibit on the Cold War, a small display about the Vietnam War, and a Watergate room. These, too, we had to see; thus saith the Mom.


So I’d planned field trips to both of these places for this back-to-school-after-spring-break week. Not because we needed to ease in with a not-so-normal week (although that was a really nice bonus), but because that’s really how the timing worked out.


Except that it didn’t, exactly. We did, in fact, take two field trips; however, we didn’t quite follow the plan. Read on…


Monday being not just Monday, which is bad enough in itself, but also our first “school day” in ten days, I quite understandably approached it with much fear and trepidation. I punctuated our morning with such cheers as, “Hooray, hooray, it’s school again today!” and, “Yippeee!!! We get to do school again today!!! Oh, happy day!!!”


It didn’t work. Oh, the kids were fine. We did Monday Lite as usual, and other than the usual dawdling issues with Spaz, their work and attitudes were great. The pep talks were for me. I think I finally acclimated to the day around dinner time.


Meanwhile, Hubz was busy putting out his back while lifting heavy bundles. Since our HFM field trip was planned for Tuesday, and since it was going to be a rare family field trip, meaning Hubz was going with us, this was sort of a problem. We decided to postpone the trip to Thursday and have the kids & I do our Gerald trip on Tuesday instead.


So Tuesday we did math and piano practice and then headed to The Gerald. (Nobody calls it that, by the way. I am just differentiating and trying to be a little funny at the same time. You may pretend to be humored.) Unlike the Henry trip, this was going to be an “academic” field trip rather than a “fun” field trip. In an uncharacteristically schoolish move, I actually armed the kids with clipboards, complete with pencils on strings and research worksheets downloaded from the museum’s websites. They were not thrilled, but were somewhat placated by the premise that the worksheets, if done neatly and well, could afterward be redeemed for menu items at Snake ‘n’ Spake. I figured I’d better make it a little fun.


Fuzz dutifully completed her research sheets on Watergate and Cold War Diplomacy and even did the optional cartoon analysis sheet. (I figured I should throw a somewhat fun one in there.) I loved seeing her sitting cross-legged on the floor, brow furrowed in concentration, busily making her notes. Spaz, meanwhile, dawdled and complained and even tossed his clipboard on the floor at one point, but managed to get the job done. Although I’m not normally a big fan of worksheets, these were good ones. They forced the kids to investigate and find information and process and record it. I really think that those investigations and worksheets were the best thing we did all week. I also think that I am a pretty clever and nice mom for coming up with the idea to redeem the worksheets for treats afterwards.


Oh, and an unexpected bonus: the clipboards tipped off the clerk at the admission desk that we might be here for “school purposes,” and so she let the kids in free. Can’t argue with that.


Wednesday was a pretty normal school day-- the only one we had all week, in fact. And like the days before it, it was on the cold side. Friday would also be cold. In fact, the only day that wasn’t going to be cold was Thursday. You know, Henry day. Thursday was going to be 80 degrees out, and we were going to be inside a museum all day. Hubz, who needed to do some yard projects, grumbled about this a little at dinner Wednesday night.


“I bet,” said I to Hubz, “that if I bribe Fuzz with the promise of a zoo trip tomorrow, she won’t throw a fit about postponing the Henry trip yet again.” Fuzz, who was sitting between us, gave enthusiastic affirmation. She’d been clamoring for a trip to the zoo. Spaz was okay with this as well. And so we changed plans again.


After basic school stuff was done Thursday, Fuzz and I headed for the zoo. (Spaz had decided to opt out, and Hubz had promptly conscripted him to yard project duty.) The zoo is really not a big thrill for me, as I think I have been to the zoo enough several lifetimes’ worth in the past 22 years. To fend off boredom, I forced myself to take pictures at different manual and semi-manual camera settings. This way I got to be a good mom and do something slightly enriching all at the same time.


Meanwhile back at the ranch, Spaz and Hubz were busy at the pond fixing a dam leak. Thanks to the resident muskrats and recent heavy rains, the dam thing was in bad shape, causing the pond to flow out into the creek more than it should. The dam project took them all afternoon and into the evening, but they managed to get it built back up. Spaz, who does not normally count diligence and hard work among his traits, really rose to the occasion and exhibited a great deal of both. He even kept Hubz going when Hubz was ready to call it a day, and they worked til the job was done. Hubz says he was the best dam helper he could have asked for. I think Spaz was pretty proud of his work. I love that homeschooling allows him to do things like that. (And I'm rather enjoying the feeling of getting away with something here. ;-)

Friday brought yet another adventure, as Spaz spent part of the day with his friend at one of the local Christian schools, which was running a “Bring a Homeschool Friend to School Day.” Great marketing ploy, eh? Since it is one of the schools we are considering for him for next year, I stayed for a while as well, touring the school and talking with the principal. Insane price tag aside, I’m very comfortable with it, but I think the cost will be prohibitive. I did find it interesting that, although the school doesn’t have a dress code apart from requiring neatness and modesty, it does have a “hair code” for boys. Spaz’ is definitely too long.


Back home, Fuzz and I read about mollusks, made cards for a mollusk-matching game, and played the game. Then we picked up Spaz and donuts, ate the donuts, and worked on her quilting squares for a girl’s club project.


That was our week. You can read about other people’s weeks here. (Have I mentioned that I should get some sort of a creativity award for that fabulously innovative ending?)

Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which We Break and So Does the Refrigerator

It's taken me long enough to make my first post here, you think? It’s like I’ve been afraid of it or something. This Think Too Much stuff is a serious illness, I tell you. And what's worse, it's lately been accompanied by Can’t Get Enthused About Anything. Not exactly a great combination, and certainly not a recipe for productivity.

So it’s time to just jump in. Even though the header isn’t the way I want it and this and that isn’t the way I want it. We’ll fix things as we go along, eh?-- and maybe we’ll pick up a little enthusiasm while we’re at it.

I really did not want my first post here to be a Weekly Wrap-Up. Then again, it's not really a normal Wrap-Up anyway, since it wasn't a normal week. (I know, I know: define "normal". Later.) It's more about coffee makers and refrigerators and puzzles and giggly girls than it is about math or history. So I think we're okay.

There was no schoolwork to speak of at our house this past week, because I decided that we’d take a Spring Break along with the rest of West Michigan. I hadn’t been certain that we’d take the whole week off; I’d thought maybe we’d do a few “light days” of school and then take Thursday and Friday off, or some such mean-homeschool-mom thing. We’re thinking about taking an out-of-state vacation in May, Just Because We Can-- that is, IF I can get myself enthused about planning it and IF we can justify spending the money, both of which are big ifs at this point. So I wasn’t sure we should take a week off in April, even though I have been More Than Ready For a Break for some time now.


Then we learned, barely a week ahead of time, that the mom in charge of the teeny little girl’s club Fuzz and I belong to (note: it’s the club that’s teeny, not the girls) had obtained use of a cottage for a couple days of spring break week and was planning a little retreat for us. So that settled it; we were having Spring Break. Can’t say I was too disappointed about that.


The retreat was Tuesday through Thursday, so I, Compulsive Homeschool Mother that I am, had told the kids we’d do math and a little history on Monday and then declare Spring Break. Fuzz, however, was invited to spend Sunday night at Grandma’s with her cousins and go to the annual Butterflies Are Blooming exhibit at our local botanical gardens on Monday. I, Impulsive and Flexible Homeschool Mother that I am, said of course. We can’t let schoolwork get in the way of field trips and relationships, now, can we? So Spaz did math and some leftover work from the previous week, and no one did history. I’m rather surprised that Spaz didn’t pull the “Fuzz doesn’t have to do school today and I shouldn’t either” card, but he didn’t. I suppose he figured that since he was getting rid of both me and schoolwork for a few days, he could put up with a little algebra. (Besides, he doesn’t want to have a lot of math left to do over the summer.)


Tuesday morning we dropped Spaz off at his friend’s house, picked up our own friends, and headed for points north. 


At the retreat…


*The five girls (ages 11-15) crammed into the upstairs loft room, leaving two bedrooms for the 3 moms. My friend and I shared a room (but not a bed, thanks goodness) and left the other room for the mom who likes to sleep with the room temp at 55 degrees.


*A lot of giggling came from that upstairs room.


*It rained most of the time and snowed briefly. (This is typical spring break weather here. A few years ago we had a blizzard during spring break week.)


*We climbed dunes at Lake Michigan. Well, the five girls and I did; the other two moms opted out for physical reasons. At nearly 45, I am the junior mom by 4 years and felt up to the challenge. I congratulated myself on my energetic youthfulness as I ran up and down the first dune with the girls, then wheezed and panted for the next ten minutes. But hey, I did it.


*We all walked the wet pier “at our own risk” and reached the lighthouse.

*We walked to downtown Ludington and the girls bought ice cream cones.


*We forgot the chicken and so had sliced-up hotdogs with our fried potatoes and green beans the first night. The second night, we made hobo dinners.


*For lack of a campfire (it was WET out), we cooked our hobo dinners and banana boats in the oven and our s’mores on the stovetop. No one felt terribly deprived.

*The girls made bacon-egg-&-cheese sandwiches for one breakfast and pancakes & sausage for the other. We made pizza sandwiches for lunch.


*I drank lots of coffee from the beloved thermal-carafe coffee maker I’d brought along, because I am spoiled and won’t drink coffee that’s been sitting on a burner. We used the cottage’s coffee maker for hot water for tea and hot chocolate.

*We had devotions multiple times. I guess that’s part-and-parcel of a retreat.

*I barely touched my laptop (which I’d brought because I couldn’t imagine spending two-and-a-half days without it) but spent lots of time with my head in my puzzle book.

*Fuzz started a 500-hundred piece puzzle, and I, Good Mom that I am, tore myself away from my puzzle book and sat down to do it with her. After twenty minutes or so, she wandered off, while I, Compulsive Puzzle Finisher that I am, continued to work on it… and work on it… She did come back to check my progress every so often, as did everyone else. There were many oohs and ahs when it was finished. Meanwhile the other moms had done productive things like knitting, sewing, and reading.

*Fuzz and I played several games of Set (she always beats me; I am too analytical to be any good at Set) and some of the others played Blokus. Since it is a 4-person game and there were four others who -wanted to play, I, Self-Sacrificing Person that I am, opted to stifle the urge to declare my affinity for Blokus and pretended to be more interested in my the puzzle.

*Someone, perhaps two someones, replaced the roll of toilet paper twice. (Eight females, one bathroom-- you know how that goes.) Both times I, Compulsive Toilet Paper Correcter that I am, had to re-do it so it would hang the RIGHT way. I began to question my involvement with these people who obviously do not know that toilet paper should hang over the TOP of the roll. Sheesh.


Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

*The refrigerator died shortly after I left. Oh. Yes. It. Did. Hubz, having determined that it was beyond repair, broke the news to me by calling on his way to the appliance store to ask what I wanted in a new refrigerator. Then he picked it out all by himself.

*Hubz threw out all the food that was in the old frig, except for a few pieces of old-ish fruit that probably weren’t worth saving. Everything else got pitched, even the ketchup and mustard and butter. He did not think to put anything in a cooler, not even the stuff I had just bought the day before I left. He can be a little rash when frustrated. I, having at long last learned to keep my mouth shut when prudent (and actually remembering that principle on this occasion), did not make a great deal of comment on this. In his defense, he did put some of the freezer stuff into the garage freezer, including the box of ice cream drumsticks. Priorities, you know.

*Spaz called his youth leader and asked if she would make him a lunch for their group outing Wednesday since there was no food in our refrigerator. I do hope he explained a bit.

*Spaz went bowling with his youth group, after which it stopped raining long enough for them to head out to the beach as planned. Spaz, being Spaz, ended up in the water with his clothes on. No one was surprised by this.

*Hubz drank lots of coffee from the beloved thermal-carafe coffee maker that remained at home, since I had taken the spare. Yes, we have two identical thermal-carafe coffee makers, and we bought them both ourselves. I know that is a little scary. (I enjoyed getting to use the lesser-used one that does not have sticky buttons.)


When I got home from the retreat on Thursday afternoon, we picked up our new May vacation refrigerator and got it up and running. Friday, Hubz made a trip to Aldi, his Second Favorite Store in the Whole World Barely Behind Menard’s, to “replenish” the fridge. He bought cheese and more ice cream treats. Period. *Sigh*He and I each made another grocery run Saturday afternoon, and yet another Saturday evening. It’s amazing how much was in our fridge that I took for granted, only remembering it when I went to use it and it wasn’t there. I think we might be set now, though.

That was our exciting week. Next week it’s back to math and writing and… and a couple field trips to spice things up a little. But you’ll have wait til next time to hear about those. Meanwhile, you know the routine.

I Suppose You've Noticed

I started a new blog. Since you're here, I assume you've noticed. We're still under construction, so for now, you can read me here.