B12 Report

Well, he's doing fine in 7th grade at the public school, but he's not lovin' it.

He says the kids are fine, the teachers are fine, he has friends on the bus and at lunch, and he knows his way around now, but he wishes he were still doing iQ Academy.  His main complaint?  He feels like he doesn't have time for anything else.

And it's true.  He gets on the bus at 7:40 in the morning and doesn't get off it until 4:25.  Two days already I had to pick him up to school because we had to go somewhere--the orthodontist, theater classes.  By the time we got home and he practiced his piano and finished his homework, it's been way late for bed.

I do feel sorry for him. And a bit amused at his genuine remorse that he didn't work harder when he had so much more control over his time.  He's already promising me that things will be much different if I let him do the virtual school for 8th grade.  I will certainly open-enroll him again, to keep the option open.  (iQ Academy is becoming eAchieve Academy for next year, incidentally, for anyone who is interested.)

I wonder if he'd be feeling better about things if he didn't feel so overwhelmed by the math.  They are doing pre-algebra:  linear functions and graphing lines and whatnot.  He had just covered some of the same things in iQ Academy, but I don't know if it was making complete sense to him even then, and I was helping him a lot. He's overwhelmed because the other kids are all so fast at their homework, and he feels like he barely knows what's going on.  I spent a couple hours with him last night trying to make sure he fully understood everything (at least as much as I understand) and could do it alone.  Hopefully that will help.

His comment after the first day was, "It was a LOT of school all day, and not many breaks."

"Better than lots of breaks, and not much school," I responded with a wink.  "That's how you've been operating!"

Yeah, I feel a little bad for him.  But he needs this struggle.

News Bits

Speaking of B21,whose birthday was on Saturday--this young man has lost 50 pounds since last May!  It's the 50 pounds he put on while he was away at a college last year. Since he's been home, we've been helping make sure that he exercises daily, either biking (10 miles) when the weather is nice, or run-walking on the treadmill (5 miles) when it's been cold.  He's also eating a minimum quantity of food--eggs and rice cereal for breakfast, an apple or a banana for lunch, and a quesadilla around 4 to hold him till dinner.  No seconds, no dessert, and lots of praise from his family as we've seen the pound drop off, slowly but surely.  Best of all, he seems to have his secret compulsive snacking under control, which should help him keep it off.

He just hit a milestone.  He now weighs just under 200, which is less than his college-entry weight of 202ish.  We have promised him an Xbox 360 if he gets down to 160.  Without a job, he has little to no spending money, so he's very motivated to earn his reward this way!  I guess it's the silver lining to his unemployment situation.

Things are moving slowly with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.  He has a caseworker there who is working on finding him a job, but it's a slow process. He had an interview at an area hospital for a housekeeping position, thanks to a friend who referred him, but he heard back from them recently that they are "pursuing other candidates," which was disappointing.   Thank you for your prayers for him!

In educational news, B12 and I visited the public middle school on Friday and liked what we saw.  He shadowed a friend for four hours, and he knew what was going on in each class, and he felt good about the teachers and the kids. He's happy about the idea of trying it for the rest of this year.

I still feel ambivalent about sending him there, but we had another rough week in virtual school, when all final tests and projects were due, and it seemed like further confirmation that he needs a change.  When I pray about what he needs, I keep seeing a classroom, and as I shared before, it seems this is the classroom God is leading us toward, for now.  He wouldn't start until next Monday, so I don't feel rushed to submit the paperwork, but on the other hand, the virtual school's new semester starts tomorrow, so that's a decision right there, if he doesn't begin.

On the church front, we had a Holy Week planning meeting on Saturday.  Woo hooooo!  This year, I am going to have a partner to help plan and execute the readings for the week, especially the Passion reading on Palm Sunday, and the readings at Easter Vigil.  I am so thankful for the energy and creativity of JT, a percussionist, artist, sound tech and Easter Vigil coordinator extraordinaire, who moved up here from our old church.  We just had a house blessing service in their new home (although it was months ago that they arrived--but what better season for a house blessing than Epiphany?).  We just installed his wife, LT, on our vestry, and we are sooooo grateful for them!  

Also, something is percolating about a youth group for our middle schoolers who are, like dominoes, all about to begin turning 13.  The vision and the leadership are not fully formed yet, and it probably won't really get off the ground until next fall, but it's exciting to see God working!

Sabbatical??

My friends keep asking me, with big grins and voices dripping with irony, "So--how that's sabbatical going?"

It's true:  I'm still really busy.  But I KNEW I would be.  In fact, I could have been planning a wedding in addition to all I'm doing now, and without my "sabbatical," I'd be homeschooling on top of everything else.

So it's actually been a pretty manageable fall.

And it's about to become even more doable in ten days, when soccer is over!  Then we'll have 8 weeks before auditions for the winter show, when theater will replace soccer as our big activity.  Except the time commitment is about half, and the running-around factor is exponentially decreased.  (One place, three times vs. seven places, ten times.)

Even better--and for the last two weeks of soccer--I finally have another driver!  B16 passed his road test last week, and now he can drive himself to guitar, voice, soccer, soccer coaching, and band practice...and help me out with the younger kids' activities as well.

That's going to help me a lot.

Meanwhile, I'm still home educating.  The Bantams 16 & 12 are rockin' the virtual school--keeping up well and getting decent grades--but I'm the geometry tutor that B16 is going to need all year, I'm afraid.  He doesn't need my help at all with English or Spanish, and only occasionally for history or physical science, but math has always been his downfall.  Sigh.  I liked geometry in high school--it was so much more interesting than algebra--but that doesn't mean I'm eager to re-learn it.

So far, so good with the two youngest in public school.  They both have excellent teachers, and they're learning good stuff and are motivated to learn.  I am pleased that they have hardly any homework, except reading aloud, so we have time for flashcards and me reading to them.  I knew Chicklet would probably suffer as a third grader who didn't know her math facts, but whenever we worked on them last year, she just didn't retain them.  This year, she has a test every Wednesday on her "fridge facts" for the week, so she's finally learning them.  She's excelling in other areas, but like her big brother, math is her bugaboo.  It's also her favorite subject, she says.  Go figure.

B6 is doing just fine emotionally, now.  He still tells me he misses me, but only occasionally.  The only thing he asks about on a daily basis is whether it's a regular day or a short day.  Every Wednesday, they get out one hour early, so he has to keep straight what day that is.

So I'm enjoying my sabbatical, being busy...but not as busy as I could be! I've even started adding cooking back in to my life.  Not my favorite way to spend my time, but my family sure appreciates it.  With soccer ending, and my new driver, I may even find time for true sabbatical activities.

I'm not even sure what those would be.  The things I've always liked to do, I suppose.  Reading, writing, maybe a decorating or organizing project. Spending more time with my husband.  Reading more to the kids.  Having friends over for dinner.  No grand plan.

Just more of the good stuff.

Tough Times for B6

Y'know, I wrote this whole other post that maybe I will publish tomorrow, but what is really on my mind?

Bantam6.

He's having a tough time, missing Mommy while he's at school.

I've never seen my rough-and-tumble, unflappable little boy so sad.  Whenever he thinks about school, his little face crumples as he fights to hold back the tears.  He stumbles toward me and clings to my waist like he's never done before, though I've dropped him off at dozens of different places and activities in his short lifespan and he's never even looked back.  Wherever he goes, he's happy, he's tough, he's energetic--but for the last few days, he's been crying at school, too. This is so unexpected!

It's making me sad too.

I remember being homesick several times--at a sleepover, at my grandparent's house, at church camp--when I was older than six.  That terrible anxious feeling in the pit of your stomach, like the bottom had dropped out, was something I was so glad to grow out of.  I never wanted to experience it again.  It was the worst, most miserable feeling.

I can see on his face that he's feeling exactly that way.  There's a black hole deep down in his gut.

It's not a problem with school.  He likes school, likes his classes and his teacher, and especially gym, recess, computer and art.  And it's not that he's just not ready.  He's been one of my quicker students, bright and eager to learn.  I know he's going to do well and enjoy it, once he gets over this.

Or is he?  Am I doing what is best for him? Homeschooling is an option for him, though it's not for most kids who go through this.  Would it be best to keep him home this year?  Am I only doing what is best for me?

Oh, the doubting and second-guessing....

This is where I am so glad I for the Holy Spirit inside.  He gives me peace, that the decision we made before is still the right decision.  It's best for me, for our family...and for him, I have to trust.

So I tell him he's going to be okay.  (Don't we all really want to hear those words?  "It's going to be okay.  You are going to be okay."  I've burst into tears of relief, just to hear another human speak those words to me.  So I minister them to my boy.)

I tell him Jesus is with him all the time, even when Mommy isn't.  I tell him that while he's at school, I am here at home, doing my work, not far away.  I tell him I will be here when he gets off the bus.  I tell him that if anything really bad happens, they will let him call me on the phone.  I lay hands on him and I pray for the sadness to go away.  I make sure he goes to bed early.

I want to show him faith and confidence that he can do this.  But it's hard.  Especially when part of me is sort of happy to be missed so much, touched by his little-boy sweetness.  I remember that the tough little boy has always had a cuddly side.  It's just that lately, he's gotten too big for my lap.

Well, not really.

Kicking Off the School Year

Here they are, the gang, waiting for the bus on the first day of school.  It's the first time I've ever seen them sitting down when they are together!  Two first-graders and a kindergartener, who live next door and across the street.  They've spent their summer in the street--wearing out scooters, bikes, rollerblades and soccer balls.  It's not uncommon to see deserted scooters or bikes in any of our front yards, while the boys disappear into the back yard to hit the sandbox, swingset or ditch.  They play rough-and-tumble; they get into occasional spats and they work it out.  They are a good group.

Watching Chicklet and B6 get on the bus wasn't as hard for me as I thought it might be.  I'm happy for them!  I know they are going to have a good time at school.

And they did love it.  They are both motivated to "stay on green" or "keep their smiley face all day."  Chicklet was happy to be remembered by kids that she knew from her half-year in first grade.  I'll be interested to see how they fare academically, but I'm really not worried about them.  They are bright and delightful children, and I know they will have a good year.

The first two days at iQ Academy were easy for Bantam12 in 7th grade--it's old hat for him, since he did this last year--and nerve-wracking for B16, in 10th.  Everything took longer than he wanted it to, since it was all new to him, and he's second-guessing his decision already, just sure that this is going to be more time-consuming than his schedule would have been if he had gone to the private school. It was a struggle to stay calm while he was freaking out.  My big challenge for the next couple weeks will be to stay calm, supportive and helpful to him until he gets comfortable and confident on his own.

And what did I do on the first two days of school, besides assist the Bantams-at-home?  I uncovered the floor of my laundry room and vacuumed up all the sand.  (Sand happens when you live near a beach!)  I treated stains and laundered various delicate items that I've been saving up.  I spent a good hour putting away stray items that had gathered in my laundry room, living room and kitchen counters.  I sorted through the dress-up and changed its home. I brainstormed organization projects that I can't wait to start and bought storage drawer thingys at Walmart.

I discovered, deep down, a slew of pent-up organizing and cleaning impulses that I may, finally, have time and energy to act upon!

I think it's going to be a good school year.

Fall Educational Plans...and a Sabbatical

Is it time to be blogging about our back-to-school plans?

Feels like it's time...and yet, there's not as much to say as usual.  I'm taking a sabbatical from homeschooling.

I've homeschooled for 14 years straight, and since we moved here three years ago, I've been stretched thinner than I ever have before.  It was a lot easier to homeschool when all my kids were at home and on the same schedule.  But our move came just as our three oldest were embracing teenager-hood with a vengeance and without the safety net of Christian friends and friendships that we had in our old community.  The three of them--especially #2 and #3--seemed to require a lot more time and attention than they had previously, with enrollment in a public high school and then the Christian school...and all that came with it:  rides to school, help with homework, sports, a social schedule, a social life (a.k.a "drama"), driver's ed, driving, jobs, college visits, graduation, and transitioning to college.  So much new stuff in three years.

Not to mention homeschooling the younger three, planting a church, starting a Christian youth theater group in Kenosha, staying on top of laundry and errands, and keeping groceries in the house!

No wonder I am out of steam.

So the plan is for Bantam6 and Chicklet8 to go to the local elementary school for first and third grades next year.  I have a good feeling about that school and the adults that I met there during the half-year that Chicklet attended, two years ago.  I think they will do well there.

Bantams12 and 16 will both be at home, but enrolled in iQ Academy, a virtual charter school here in WI.  I may have to do some nagging, but they will receive instruction, deadlines and grades from iQ Academy teachers, not me.  I'm sure they both can handle the workload and the curriculum pretty independently, and I'm looking forward to playing a supportive role, rather than a directive one, with them.

Blondechick18 leaves for TIU (Trinity International University) on Saturday.  I expect she'll be high-maintenance for her first few weeks away, but then she'll settle in.  She's been so appreciative of her family, lately, especially with the breaking off of her engagement and subsequent complete break-up.  She senses God working all things together for good in her life, though, and she is super-excited for college!

B20 will be living at home and hopefully working.  He's had two interviews recently, which was encouraging--finally.  One didn't work out, and he is hoping to be called back for a second interview at the other place.  Prayers appreciated!

So those are the educational plans...which shouldn't be too stressful or demanding on me.  It's the extra-curricular activities that are going to fill my time, I suspect.  But there are enough of them to fill a separate post!

Yes, We Started School...

...and that's about all I have time to say!

Bantam11 is enrolled in an online public school, iQ Academy.  So far, so good!  He's been able to work independently, for the most part, and he has really enjoyed his two virtual classroom sessions so far.

Chicklet7 is doing the Little Lincoln second-grade program through Wisconsin Virtual Learning (another public online school), and overall, I am impressed and pleased with it.  (I was really delighted with the large bin full of school supplies that they sent to go along with it, including math manipulatives, a microscope with mounted slides, a wooden geometry 3-D set, markers, colored pencils, paper of all sorts, letter and blend cubes, maps, workbooks, reading books, scissors, an ink pad, thermometer, calibrated scales--and waaay more.) However, it's been a challenging amount of reading and writing for Chicklet, who is a little behind, I know.  So this is really good for her, and she's enjoying it, but it's been time-consuming.

Bantam5 is just starting kindergarten, and he's been working through a numbers workbook, and coloring, and watching Chicklet's Little Lincoln videos.  I'm eager to spend more time with him once we have the hang of things with the online schools. 

Blondechick 17 and Bantam15 both started school last week and are settling in nicely to their senior and freshman years at the private Christian school they attended last year.  B15 is playing soccer on the JV team, and Blondechick is on the chapel worship team as a singer.  She was excited to also be selected to co-lead the worship team that ministers at the elementary school chapel time.  She decided to do show choir again, and she managed to convince B15 to do it too, which I could hardly believe. (When he stopped doing musical theater, I think he thought he was done with choreography forever!)  They are both in regular choir together and think it's fun to have one class together; they've started fundraising together for a March choir trip and competition in San Diego.  Blondechick is driving them back and forth to school and bringing B15 home after practices, and I am sooooo grateful.

Bantam19 is doing well at college--yay! He hasn't missed a class or an assignment yet--yay!  He's making friends and he sounds so happy--YAY!!!  He's coming home for Labor Day weekend, and we are eager to see him and hopefully hear more from him.  ("It's going well" is about as much as he volunteers, without my stream of questions.)

Well, back to school....

Family News

What's new?

Bantam19 just brought home his cap, gown, tassel and a box of graduation announcements, prompting me to call up the place that took his senior pictures for the yearbook and get that order in for wallet-size pics to include in his announcements. This is coming up too fast!

Blondechick17 just tried out for the girls' soccer team at her Christian school, knowing that everyone makes it and assuming she'd be on the JV team. (She hasn't played since 5th grade.) To our surprise, she did well in tryouts and was put in as a floater between the varsity and junior varsity teams! Then she got the bad news that because she was a transfer student, she's not allowed to be on varsity until next year. (AS IF they had recruited her to play soccer!) So--only JV games for her this year. A bummer, but not an entirely bad thing, her parents think, given our busy schedules, plus now she'll start every game on JV. We are so proud of her for trying something new and pushing herself athletically!

Bantam14's big news was getting his braces off! Now he can't stop smiling. But also, with BC17 busy at soccer practices, Bantam14 had a decision to make about their biweekly guitar class, which she had to drop. The "class" would now consist of just himself--would he continue? Bantam14 and the teacher had a frank conversation, and the outcome is that they are both excited about B14 continuing alone--in fact, the teacher offered to extend the biweekly lesson from 45 minutes to an hour, at no extra charge. They are both there anyway--he waits for his next student, and B14 waits for B11's tap class and Chicklet7's jazz class to finish up--but he offered because he likes B14, who is now psyched to spend more time practicing, in lieu of doing theater this spring. He's already made great strides!

The youngest three just started taking a gym class for homeschoolers, taught by the PE students at nearby Carthage College, and they love it. It was so fun to see B5 exuberantly playing all the parachute games. (Wasn't that your favorite day ever, back in elementary gym class?)

B11 and Chicklet7 are beginning a new session of classes with our Christian kids' theater group, but B11 did not audition for this session's production. (Because Mom needs to free up some time and mind space--gotta focus on taking B19 and BC17 to look at colleges and apply for summer jobs!) But Chicklet auditioned, "for experience only," a courtesy the group allows 7-year-olds who've been in the program, who will be old enough to audition "for real" next time. She sang "Tomorrow," from Annie, and despite her butterflies and shaky knees, she introduced herself and sang loudly and clearly just like we practiced! She stayed right on pitch and didn't forget any words. She forgot to smile, she was so nervous, but we were so proud of her!

I am keeping close tabs on my blood pressure. I just bought a nice digital home monitor at Aldi, of all places! We realized that another medication that I've been on has "high blood pressure" listed as a possible side effect, so I am hoping that once it completely clears my system, mine will go back to normal. It could take a few months, and meanwhile I'm on blood pressure meds. I have to watch not to get dehydrated, but otherwise, I'm feeling fine physically. A little stressed, a little too busy this year--with a part-time job, all the driving to and from school, and continuing to homeschool as well--but the end is in sight, now that spring is upon us: Blondechick17 will be taking her driver's test in just a few weeks, the part-time job will end, and we have the whole summer to catch up on school!!

Nothing's really new with Papa/Father Rooster--he just continues to balance both roles so well, even when things get stressful at work and ministry places demands on him too. He handles difficult situations with such love, diplomacy, honesty and tact--I am continually amazed! He is uniquely gifted to manage all that he does, and he does business and ministry both so well. He was a favorite presenter at the San Antonio conference--as he usually is at these events--and it was fun for me to see him in his business context, so different than the usual Sunday morning ministry role that his family is accustomed to seeing him in. He is such a gift to our family and our church.

And that's the news...for now!

A Week in the Life

I keep feeling guilty that I'm not blogging more. Okay, guilty is the wrong word--I'm feeling SAD because I MISS blogging. So many unrecorded stories and thoughts! But I guess my blog will reflect that I was truly in a season when I had far less control over my schedule than I enjoyed for years previously.

I wish I could say that last week was an unusual week, but with the exception of Saturday, it was pretty typical.

Last Monday:

day--homeschooled, cooked and cleaned, two trips to school and one trip to the orthodontist (result: B11 can get started with braces any day--and B14 gets his off tomorrow!)

night--had a newer family from church over for dinner

Tuesday:

day--one trip to school, homeschooled, prepared for theater classes, caught up on emails

night--theater classes, stopped at Mr. and Mrs. A's (the couple who started our church) for a little "Fat Tuesday" celebration, stayed up late with B14 doing homework

Wednesday:

day--meetings at the home office of our theater group, over an hour from home (5 hrs total); two trips to school and one to tap, jazz and guitar lessons (all at same time, fortunately!)

night--quick dinner and on to the Ash Wednesday service

Thursday:

day--homeschool, laundry and too many necessary phone calls. Ran to Walmart during B11's cornet lesson; two trips to school, including stops at library, Target and Sally's Beauty Supply (black hairspray for Mulan).

night--stayed up late with B14 completing science project, research paper introduction, Bible project, and history project--most not due till later, but our only block of time to work on them!

Friday:

day--Papa Rooster drove kids to school and met me at B19's school for an IEP meeting with his team--we met for 2+ hours to talk about transitions ahead (great meeting). Back at home, on computer for an hour completing open enrollment registration process to keep virtual school options open for Chicklet7 and B11 for next year. Trip to Aldi during B11's piano lesson, pick up BC and B14 at school.

night--5 to 9--Mulan rehearsal for B14 and B11. I brought Chicklet along and experimented with makeup designs to show the directors (lookin' good!).

Saturday:

day: woke up with a headache that got worse as I drove boys to 9 a.m. Mulan rehearsal. Decided not to stay but to go to Panera and see if coffee would help, in case of a migraine. Stopped at Walmart on way to check my blood pressure, which had been high on Thursday, and it was higher. Coffee didn't help and headache got worse; I felt nauseous and unbalanced and couldn't keep eyes open. Didn't think I could drive myself home; called Papa Rooster to come and get me. We decided with my blood pressure up, we should go to Urgent Care instead. UC sent me to ER. CT scan of my head was normal, blood work was normal, blood pressure came down after they knocked out my headache with an IV cocktail, which put me to sleep for several hours. Need to follow up with doctor regarding my blood pressure (After extensive testing over the past six months for various other medical concerns, one more thing! At least I now know that all my major organs seem to be in good shape.)

night: through the narcotic haze, I somehow managed to help B14 write outline for his research paper we've been working on together for weeks, on the Harry Potter controversy. (Had to check it again on Sunday to make sure it made sense, but he's good to go.)

Sunday:

day--woke up feeling better, but still with a residual headache. Went early to church for rehearsal; sang with Blondechick on worship team. Lunch at friends' home, helped B14 finish one more homework project before driving him to an activity and running a couple of quickie errands. Home for a movie with friends--it was good to relax and watch a really redeeming, sacramental story: Henry Poole is Here. (Check it out if you haven't seen it!)

This week IS an unusual week:

--Mulan dress rehearsals Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
--Mulan school day shows: 2 Thursday morning, 2 Friday morning
--Mulan public performances: Friday night, Saturday night, Saturday afternoon, Sunday afternoon

I'll be there every time, doing makeup...and then, maybe I'll get a week off!

Pray for my health, if the Lord leads you. I am making changes--doing less with the theater group next session and probably next year as well. And in late April, Blondechick will hopefully get her license--Woo-hoo! That will return HOURS to my week.

School Year So Far

You would think that I'd have had more to say about our school year so far, with so many changes! Overall, it's going smoothly, but let's see what else I can think of to add to that.

Let's start with Chicklet7, who just started first grade at the local elementary school. Chicklet tells me that her favorite things about school are recess, gym, music, library and computer, sounding pretty much like my other kids who put in time in lower elementary school. She doesn't have much to say about her academic subjects. She is learning some sign language, because there is a little deaf boy in her class, and she thinks that's fun.

We notice that she is a lot more whiny and tired after school and in the evenings. I think it is a really long week for her. She is gone from home from 8 to 4--those are long days, aren't they? I have felt so glad I didn't send her to all-day kindergarten last year...until I got her mid-quarter evaluation and nearly every box was checked with an X for "needs improvement." Then I was beating myself up for not working harder with her last year during our homeschool kindergarten, until I talked to another mom whose son had been in all-day kindergarten last year, and he had the same number of X's on his evaluation. So I decided to stop feeling guilty and be happy that she is enjoying recess so much! According to another mom, they will be covering the same ground for the next few years anyway.

And my sweet 7-year-old is a chatterbox! She "...does a great job participating in class discussions...has difficulty working quietly." For some reason, I find this more amusing than concerning; actually, what concerns me is that she might stop being her delightful little chattering self if we leave her in school long enough. But for now, it's probably good discipline for her.

I had thought that Bantam4 would be lost all day without her, and he has surprised me by being able to go off and play alone for long periods of time while Bantam10 does his schoolwork. From the sound effects, I don't think he feels alone; he is surrounded by a whole fleet of aircraft or spaceships, or he and a posse of imaginary good guys chase the pretend bad guys all over the house. He is the most "all boy" of all of my boys! He also likes to join me and B10 at the table to do random pages in preschool workbooks, but only for a little while before he has to get back to saving the world.

B10 is having a good year at home. I am making him do every question in his Saxon 54 math book lessons, which means he is spending a lot of time on math every day. But he's getting faster, and he's getting better at math, which actually comes more easily to him than it did to his older siblings. It is at their recommendation that I am focusing so much on math this year! They disliked it so much and complained so loudly and frequently about the repetition and drill of the Saxon program, that I often let them just do odds or evens...and now they say they realize they needed the drill, and they say we should have done all the TESTS! I had no idea, at the time, that I was such a softie. You'd have thought I was General Ghengis Khan Schmitz.

B10 also reads every day for at least an hour, and he practices piano every day. He has a new piano teacher who is really inspiring him! He also just started cornet lessons once a week at the public school where Chicklet goes. He is reading his way through some Usborne science books and answering questions about his reading. For history/geography, he is reading Holling C Holling books aloud to B4. He is also taking an hour of tap dancing a week, as well as a 2-hour singing class through our theater group. And of course, he's attending weekly rehearsals and learning songs and dances for his part in Seussical!

For writing, he is taking my writing class at our homeschool group's 6-week enrichment class session, and on his own time, he is working on a chapter book about a superhero and trying his hand at cartooning as well. At enrichment, he's also taking a hands-on science class, a history class in which they are constructing lapbooks with pockets, flaps and booklets of Civil War facts, and an architecture class in which he is learning classical forms and structures using Legos! Isn't that awesome?

And I guess I'll leave my three teenagers' educational antics for another post. Stay tuned!

Hanging in There

Thank you, everyone, who's been doing just that, waiting on me to come back from my too-busy-to-blog break!

I should do a birthday post today for Miss Chicklet7, whose birthday was on Sunday. But her pictures are on the home computer and I have too much other news anyway. (Next time!)

I feel like the last six weeks has been one big educational switch-a-roo after another, and the last week surprisingly, held one more. One-and-a-half weeks into our new schedule of taking Pre-Algebra and Art at the private school, doing homeschool for the rest, Bantam14 and I had to evaluate whether this arrangement was really going to work. The bottom line was that he really did not want to be homeschooled; he wanted to go to the private school full-time. We thought the workload would be too difficult for him, and we thought our original plans for his 8th grade homeschool year would be the best preparation for high school for him. But he was being passively resistant to my homeschooling efforts, so we weren't accomplishing much without a big struggle--and on the other hand, we felt like it was the wrong message to tell him that we are afraid that the private school will be too overwhelming for him. In fact, the more we prayed about it, we felt that perhaps if this is the challenge he wants, he'll probably rise to it, and we should give it to him.

So he started on Tuesday, and he's enjoying it. He's had a lot of homework to catch up on, and I've had a lot of catching up to do as well--with my own feelings!

I am feeling a lot of sadness that it seems like our tight-knit little family homeschool days are over. My three teens are all in that pulling-away stage, and I can't expect them to have time or interest in listening to me read aloud anymore, or sitting around companionably doing workbooks.

I am feeling...a little bit like a failure? I've always thought that I was capable of guiding my kids' education all the way through high school. There are so many great possibilities, with dual enrollment, for homeschooled high schooolers to start college with college credits already under their belts. I believe in home education! But my teens have not been very academically motivated without the classroom element, and I don't know if this is a failure on my part, or if it's just their temperaments and our particular situation. For example, if we had stayed in our old home in Illinois, there were a lot more classroom opportunities for high schoolers in our old homeschool group, plus they'd have had their friends in our old fully-developed theater group to fill those social needs.

So, it's just a change that took me by surprise. Part of me wishes I had known earlier; I might not have entered Chicklet7 in public school for first grade. But she's loving it, and I'm basically comfortable with that decision, for this one year at least, and things have been so crazily busy that another part of me is hugely relieved that I only have one at home to neglect teach. Fortunately, Bantam10 is my best example of an unschooling type who reads widely and randomly, and works on projects of his own making. He's currently authoring a book about a superhero called the Shadow--each chapter ends with a cliffhanger. And he's a great companion to Bantam4.

In other news, my parents visited for Labor Day weekend and we had a relaxing visit with them...and the day after they left, our baby theater group had its first night of classes! We had 64 enrolled. The parents stayed for an informational meeting, and we held an audition workshop afterwards, to give everybody a confidence boost for the upcoming auditions for Seussical. The Lord did provide a dance teacher, with a week to spare--praise God!--and there was a palpable buzz of excitement in the air at classes, coming from kids and parents alike, so that was encouraging! We are still praying for a few more enrollments before auditions, which are Sept. 18.

If you are so moved, that is a prayer request, and the other is for me personally. We have stumbled into this school year, with so many changes and different start times, plus my official job with the theater group beginning, and I just need to find my footing as far as a schedule goes. I have been living from must-do to must-do since summer began, and now with only one to teach during the day, plus a job to think about, and more kids with homework at night, my fall schedule feels so topsy-turvy from what I'm used to! That's one reason I haven't been blogging--besides being so busy, my rhythms are all off.

Things at church are picking up for the fall as well, with a lot of visitors the last two Sundays. We are resuming the Sunday School hour again, after a summer hiatus. We have a Fall Kickoff meeting that the whole church is invited to this Saturday, and next week, we are ordaining two men to the transitional diaconate (which means they'll be deacons, on their way to being ordained as priests). One of them is a young man that we are so excited about, who has been serving at Light of Christ since he graduated from seminary, along with his wife, who is the daughter of dear friends of ours. The other is one of our oldest and dearest friends, and we are thrilled to be ordaining him through Light of Christ. He has such a pastoral heart and has encouraged so many others on the path to ordination--including Father Rooster--and it is exciting to see him finally joining them.

Well, back to life...back to work...back to the laundry...upward and onward!!

Barely Time for Bullet Points

--I just spent all morning at Panera sipping coffee and writing in lesson, class, rehearsal, concert and carpool schedules in my new planner
--it is an immense relief to have all those dates in one place instead of swirling around on my desk and elsewhere
--I am still short one dance teacher for theater classes which begin in 10 days
--but I got a lead today!
--I also got the news that my sister-in-law Summer had her baby this morning!!
--Blondechick16 decided, on Friday of her first week at the private Christian high school, that she really likes it there
--she really likes the other kids, especially, and already feels like she belongs
--praise God!!
--Bantam14 likes his math and art teachers a lot
--he is getting faster at his math homework
--praise God! (I am worrying about how he is ever going to have time for any other subjects)
--Bantam18 and Chicklet6 both start school on Tuesday
--Chicklet has been impatiently waiting for this day for the last two weeks
--we get to meet her teacher Monday night and put all her supplies in her desk
--it's going to be interesting getting everybody off in the mornings!
--I got an iPhone and loved it
--I had to return it because AT&T's network has got big problems in our area
--I tried everything to make it work, but 10-11 hours spent in cell phone stores later, I had to switch networks and get a new phone
--my new Blackberry Storm is going to serve me well, but it's not as easy to use
--I am setting alarms for all my recurring appoints: carpool drop off/pick up, piano, tap, ballet/guitar (same place and time), theater classes
--I only forgot to pick up Blondechick once this past week, before I set up alarms
--hopefully that will help me remember
--we had a baptism last Sunday--the child of friends who were leaving for seminary the next day
--we had cake with the whole church and a picnic lunch with our friends afterward
--it was a good day!
--we are trying to decide if we should go camping one more time before we start having musical rehearsals every weekend
--Labor Day weekend weather doesn't look good, though
--we've only used our camper twice the last two summers and we are starting to wonder if we should sell it, since storage and maintenance are expensive
--so are private schools!
--it's interesting that I would start a job at the same time my kids start in private schools--God's provision?
--I still need to write teacher notes and aide notes for our teacher meeting on Tuesday
--and stuff folders for each one
--and make checklists for my two homeschooled boys
--first I need to settle on exactly what I am going to expect from them daily and weekly
--blogging may continue to be light for another week or two!

Am I A Homeschool Dropout?

Well, Blondechick15 is not the only one switching schools this year. Chicklet6.95, who was homeschooled for kindergarten last year, is going to the local elementary school for first grade! I just got her enrolled last week. It's been a mad frenzy of educational decisions around here lately, and I still have to plan what we're doing with the homeschooled kids this year.

One at a time...

But I feel like a wimp of a homeschooling mom. I will only have Bantam10 and Bantam14 at home for 5th and 8th grades this year, and B14 is taking Pre-Algebra and Art at the private Christian school where Blondechick is going. Bantam4 will be hanging out with us too, of course.

I have been so ambivalent about sending Chicklet6 this year. But I do have my reasons:

--she's BEGGING to go, and it's not because she knows anyone there except a 3rd grade neighbor. The idea of it just has great appeal to her. She's a school-y girl.
--I am starting a new job, you may remember, being a part-time administrator for our Christian youth theater group.
--I have never enjoyed teaching 1st grade. Of all the grades, it requires the most patience, and I confess that I am often so short of that.
--My hope is that if someone else is teaching her the academic stuff, I can spend more time with her doing the fun stuff. She wants me to teach her to cook and to sew, and she loves to play games and be read to.
--I have often bemoaned the fact that my homeschooled kids don't have a better work ethic, and it's not for lack of trying everything under the sun (except maybe chaining myself and them to the kitchen table). I have often wondered, if they'd had a few years of school under their belt, if they would appreciate the freedoms of homeschooling more? I've jokingly said that I think the ideal thing would be to let someone else teach them all the basics, and then give them back to me once they are equipped for learning more independently, and maybe a little burned out from the long days of school followed by more homework at night. Then they might really be motivated to work hard in the mornings and be done by noon. So, I may finally be trying that experiment, with one, at least!

***

In other news, I have been busy interviewing and hiring and explaining how things work to six teachers for our fall session of theater classes. We have a voice teacher, two musical theater teachers and two drama teachers...but not a dance teacher in sight, yet. We over 40 kids enrolled, with two weeks until classes begin, so that is a great start. Just two weeks ago, I had ZERO teachers and about as many leads, so it has been awesome to see God provide a great staff. I am confident that He will send us a dance teacher too!

***

Blondechick and B14 start on Monday at their new school, and B18 and Chicklet6 start the week after that. We have spent over 4 hours and hundreds of dollars at Walmart in the last two days...buying school supplies, some fall clothes, and other sundries. I can't remember the last time I took all six kids shopping with me at once. We accomplished a lot in a short time, but I'm glad it's a once-a-year experience!

Next week:

--work out a carpool for the private school runs (I fear all the driving, but have faith that it's the right thing we've chosen)
--get Chicklet's immunizations (typical homeschool decision--not to worry about it last year when she "entered" kindergarten!)
--settle on curriculum/approach for B14 and B10's homeschooling (I own lots of options)
--check references on theater teachers
--plan party?/something for Chicklet's 7th birthday
--register B14 and B10 for enrichment classes
--plan writing class I'm teaching for 6-week enrichment session

Hmmm, maybe after everyone is finally in school, things will settle down a bit!

God Works, Part Two

Those two days of waiting-- for the rest of the story--were unintentional on my part, but they are a perfect representation of the two weeks we spent waiting and praying while the kids were away at camp! No cell phones were allowed, just good old-fashioned pencil and paper, and we only received one brief letter from each while they were gone.

Blondechick16 and Bantam14 returned from Honey Rock camp with hearts reawakened. Both spoke of "going way deeper" in their relationship with the Lord, and in their desire to live the Christian life in a more committed way. Blondechick said that she "got it" about her non-Christian boyfriend (meaning she now shared our concern). You can just imagine our joy, as parents!

Papa Rooster told me more about his talks with their counselors, on the day he arrived to pick them up. Both had many positive things to say, and both had the same suggestion for their continued spiritual growth: They need more Christian friends.

So our thoughts about sending them to the Christian school were confirmed. Yet when we brought the subject up again with Blondechick, she stuck to her position: She wanted to stay at the charter school, mainly because of her best friend.

The next day, the best friend said that actually, her mom had at one point wanted to send her to the Christian school, and she would ask to go there too! After that news and a tour of the high school, Blondechick became a lot more interested. Meanwhile, she also began a series of talks with her boyfriend in which they discussed her Christian faith in great depth.

After a couple more days of dialogue (and prayer on her parents' part), Blondechick sounded willing to be forced to transfer to the Christian high school, and within a day, she was owning the decision. The boyfriend was upset but quickly resigned himself. Her best friend isn't going to be able to go yet, but maybe second semester or next year.

We had to have placement testing and an interview before they were officially accepted, and for her writing sample, Blondechick wrote candidly about her transforming experience at camp. She and Bantam14 answered the principal's interview questions with surprising (to me) frankness and openness. It was clear that they are spiritually in a very good place!

Blondechick and her boyfriend decided they could still hang out and enjoy their good friendship until school starts, at least. They continue to talk about her faith in Christ. He came to church with her once before she went to camp, and he was visibly affected; he even said so. So who knows what seeds are being planted in this young man's heart and mind?

One thing that Blondechick thought she would have to give up if she went to the Christian high school was a musical production she already was cast in, through the Kenosha Unified School District's Fine Arts program. Actually, she was cast in two projects, but she knew she was going to have to back out of one (a one-act play) anyway. In the other, both she and her good friend from our church were cast as Doo-Wop Girls (a lead part) in Little Shop of Horrors, and it was a big disappointment to have to notify the director that she would no longer be in KUSD.

Imagine her delight, after she had resigned herself to giving up both opportunities, to learn from the director that even though she would be attending a private school, she could remain in the productions if she wished!

In so many ways, we have seen God working all things together for good, even in things that didn't immediately seem good, like the boyfriend and the doors closing to Africa. We have seen God "give back" what we had given up, like her role in the musical and Honey Rock instead of Africa. We have seen God give more than we could ask or imagine, like the life-changing experience that both kids had at camp. Praise Him!

God Works, Part One

I've been hinting at some educational rearrangements that might be in store...and now it's time to share a story of how God has worked in some amazing ways!

At the beginning of this summer, I met a couple, friends of mutual friends, who told me about their four kids' high school experiences, after being homeschooled through middle school. Their first two went to the public high school that Bantam18 goes to, "and they did fine. Only fine...they didn't really bloom spiritually until they went to Christian colleges." They decided to send their last two kids to a private Christian high school, "and they really bloomed in their faith during high school, while they were at that school."

That was how God awakened a desire in my heart, to see Blondechick16 "bloom" spiritually. She did "fine," and more than fine, at the charter school she attended last year. She stood up for her faith when she needed to, and she made a sweet Christian best friend. But among the rest of the student body, and it is a very small one, she didn't find other committed believers to be friends with. She tried several church youth groups, but didn't end up committing to one, and she only did one session with our Christian youth theater group last year. So, other than Sunday mornings, the year was spiritually a wasteland for her.

And it was beginning to show. The most disturbing thing was that at the end of the year, she developed a relationship with a non-Christian boy from her school that quickly became way too serious, in their own eyes at least.

Last summer, we had formed the idea that this summer, we would send Blondechick to Africa on a service mission that would give her some perspective beyond her own self-centered interests. Through Anglican connections, we knew of an orphanage in Rwanda that surely could use help with babies and toddlers, which she loves. We even knew people there in the same town. We had connections elsewhere in Africa too, if that didn't work out.

But when we began to knock on doors last spring, every one slammed shut. And we were grateful, because the Lord's answer was so clear! But what to do with Blondechick? We knew we couldn't let her just hang out with friends all summer. She looked, but couldn't find a job. We talked about sending her to an Anglo-Catholic conference for high school youth, with classes and lectures that sounded fascinating to us, but probably wouldn't have made a dent in Blondechick's psyche. And it was expensive, if you counted the airfare to get her to the East Coast.

In fact, for that amount of money, we could send both her AND Bantam14 (who also needed a better way to spend his time this summer) to Honey Rock, Wheaton College's Christian camp in the north woods of Wisconsin, for TWO WEEKS. And that's what we ended up doing.

A month or so before she left in late July, we planted the idea of maybe switching to the Christian high school for her last two years of high school, and unsurprisingly, she was adamantly against the idea. Her boyfriend and her best friend were both going back to Harborside--of course she was too!

The idea was mentioned a few more times before she left, and she was worried. But we weren't sure. Papa Rooster wasn't certain at all that it was the right thing to do. I was eager to make the decision and move on with the rest of my planning for fall, because we were also discussing sending Bantam14 there for a class or two, if Blondechick went. If she didn't, then I wasn't sure about driving him there and back every day. But every time I prayed, asking for closure, God said, "Wait till she gets back from Honey Rock."

...to be continued!

(A perfect place to leave everyone hanging, as I was for 7 or 8 weeks!)

Well, Where Were We?

Blondechick16--

Blondechick's charter school requires all the sophomores to give a presentation called "Sophomore Passage" to 2-3 teachers or other school staff, their parents, and a community member that they have invited. BC had to make a portfolio of her work and Powerpoint slides to outline her talk, which had to include certain elements explaining how she had progressed through her sophomore year.

She did a super job. Her "gift of gab" serves her very well in these situations! One comment she made, which was so funny in its frankness, was about how she had applied the scientific method to real life: "I chose 'high school drama' because that happens to me." She went on to describe how she collected data and discovered that certain friends, before they knew her, thought that she was glaring at them and disliked them, when actually she liked them. She began experimenting with her facial expressions and made a special effort to smile more and even at people she didn't know. She concluded that people found her more approachable as a result. (Three cheers for the scientific method!)

Their next end-of-year passage, which illustrates this charter school's connection to the organization Outward Bound, is a 5-day camping trip without any luxuries, like toilets. As in, dig your own hole. No hair dryers or straighteners or makeup allowed. Should be quite the experience for Blondechick!

Bantam18--

B18 somehow did not get registered for the ACT next month. I am perturbed. I thought his advisor was handling this, because he needs modifications like extra time to complete the test.

It's a good thing he's not applying next fall to colleges that need his ACT scores! After his senior year, he'll go either to a community college or his first choice: Flashpoint Academy. I was told about it by a teacher who works with autistic adults, and she said Flashpoint had approached her, telling her not to hesitate to encourage students with autism to apply, that Flashpoint would work with them and that many of them had giftings that would be a good fit there. It seems perfect for B18, and he is starting to get excited about it!

We still haven't met his girlfriend, and they only talk at school. So it's been a nice, manageable relationship for us, at least.

Bantam14--

B14 will be taking a standardized test next week, his first ever. I am "teaching to the test" this week; specifically, we are blitzing through a workbook on reading maps and charts! That's one thing you miss when you don't use many textbooks, and it tripped up Blondechick when she took her first and only standardized test in the same grade, 7th. We are also covering some material from a test prep workbook I have which covers basic question types and test-taking strategies. All new to B14!

His robotics team competed a few weeks ago and had a disappointing frequency problem in the first event, where the 'bot wouldn't communicate with the controller. It appeared that another team had the same crystal (whatever that means--fortunately B14 understands it!). Since it was the sumo wrestling event, their 'bot was damaged and unable to compete in the other events. B14 and Co. didn't seem to mind too much; the pressure was off and they could relax. He learned a lot, and that's what counts!

He also just finished up a Film-Making class through the theater group. He was right about their film being pretty lame, but again, he learned from the experience.

and Bantam10--

Both boys have been taking a homeschool track class, which met for a manageable 7 times in a 3 weeks, for 1.5 hours at a time. They've had the chance to try hurdles, long jump, shot put and other track events as well as running various distances. They're both pretty fast for their ages, they discovered! B14 pulled a quad muscle in the 3rd class, though, so he's been hampered with that injury ever since. Today is the last class.

B10 is progressing nicely in piano and we are planning to start him on an instrument next year, in the public school 5th grade band program. He's thinking of trumpet or sax, and we already have one of each, so that works out. He just finished up a dance class through the theater group, and he is psyched to take tap dancing this summer!

Chicklet6--

C6 is also going to take a dance class this summer--it's tap and ballet, and we were delightedly shocked to find both tap and ballet shoes in her size and the right color for the dress code (pink) at our neighbor's garage sale last weekend! I spent a whopping $4 on both pairs, and the tap shoes were never worn. A friend passed on a pink leotard to us too, free of charge, so we'll just have to buy pink tights and she'll be set. (Now all I need are black jazz pants for B10!)

Poor girl, her education has been sadly neglected for the past month or so, but she's been learning anyway. I'm planning to do "summer school" with her to move her along with her reading, particularly. It's coming along beautifully and she's going to take off as soon as I can find the time to spend regularly with her.

Bantam4--

B4 is a constant source of amusement and delight, everywhere he goes. The kids and adults at The Wizard of Oz were all captivated by his cuteness. He's just a funny character, with the most impish expressions and great exuberance about life. "He's like a bull in a china shop!" one woman exclaimed to me as he shoved politely past her. Yep.

His latest accomplishment is perfecting a number of consonants, including and especially the letter C, which made possible this sentence just yesterday: "I can come in the car with you." First he said, "I tan come in the tar with you," but when I asked him to say it correctly, he could! He's going to be more ordinary without his funny mispronunciations, but understandable is good too. He and C6 play so beautifully together for hours on end, which is why it's so easy not to do lessons with her!

All for now...!

Schmeducation

Our oldest both got their grades last week, from their first semester of high school here, and both did very well. We were especially thrilled with Bantam18's A in Algebra!! Math is his toughest subject.

For Blondechick16, it was essentially her first report card ever, and we were all delighted with it! She pointed out to us, "I got better grades than most of my friends who've been in school their whole lives!" She says it's not that she's so much smarter; she can't understand why they just don't bother to turn in assignments.

And I have to say, we have been a bit disappointed that she's not being challenged more. That is the one comment I've heard consistently from other homeschoolers who have put their kids in public high school, both locally and back in Illinois. But she does love her teachers and she's enjoying her classes and the learning process, so we're glad about that.

This week is the final week of a new-to-me Wisconsin thing called "open enrollment." It's a period when you can apply to go to other schools besides your local one, whether it's the cross-town high school, a charter school, or an online school. Since I may be working part-time as the area coordinator of the theater group we are helping to start, I am trying, this week, to think through the options I'd like to have for the three who are currently homeschooled. (We then have until June to finalize our decisions.)

I am certain that B13 will be home another year. He will be an 8th grader, and I am glad he has one more year before he starts high school. He thinks he wants to go to the same charter school that BC16 attends. However, he tells me that he really likes his homeschooled friends, and he notices that an advantage to being homeschooled is that he avoids the social drama that he sees BC16 getting caught up in. (I can't very well put those stories on my blog, but it's true!)

In order to prepare him for high school--and to try out an option that part of me hopes we might consider for high school as well--I've been looking at virtual schools. Here in Wisconsin there are quite a few. All are public online schools and therefore all are free, all have certified teachers that grade your child's work and answer his questions, and all provide a free laptop and all curriculum that is needed. Such a deal, eh?

I've spent a good bit of time looking at sample lessons for 8th grade, 5th grade and 1st grade, and I've quickly concluded that I don't think I want to try this with all three kids next year. In the younger grades it requires more parental involvement than in the older grades, and with adding a part-time job to my schedule, I think I'd better rely on my tried-and-true methods and resources rather than experimenting.

But for Bantam13, I am most intrigued by iQ Academy, an option for middle school and high school which is designed for students to work relatively independently. The curriculum looks the most engaging; it's less textbook-centered and more computer-centered, with multi-media to reinforce learning. I think it will push B13 while still giving him control over his schedule: for example, he can choose whether he wants to do all his history for the week in one day, or spread it out. I think he'll like reporting to an online teacher rather than Mom and getting more grades and feedback.

For B10 and Chicklet6, I haven't completely ruled out the idea of putting one of them in school--more likely B10, the slippery fish. (Who gets away every time...Mom makes an assignment!) But recently, an incident with him reminded us of why we like to avoid the public school environment...so it's a question of spiritual training as well as academics. He really wants to start a band instrument, so I may be talking to the local elementary school about getting him into that program, at least.

This afternoon, I'm hosting 4 moms of 7th grade homeschooled boys (and their kids) so that we can talk about getting those boys together more often, perhaps for some schmeducational pursuits...

So it's time to CLEAN!

Gratitude

I am not always good at figuring out what is going on within my own heart and mind. That's one reason I blog! When I write, I discover what I am thinking and feeling.

Since Schoolhouse Rock ended, I've been feeling kind of empty. What do I focus on, now that it's over? Going back to laundry and homeschooling seems so mundane! I couldn't even think of anything to blog about.

But as I mulled over possibilities, I began to tease out an emotion that was there, somewhere, very deep...and then, in the middle of a conversation with Bantam13, I identified it! It was JOY.

In the car, he said to me, "I feel sad that Schoolhouse Rock is over. It wasn't till the last two performances that I began to really enjoy myself. Swing dancing is fun! I wish I could do it again."

That's when the emotion leaped out and grabbed me by the brain. "I'm so happy!" I realized. "I am so deeply grateful at how God answered all my prayers for this show to be a positive and healing experience for my kids. I am absolutely joyful!!"

You see, pulling our kids out of the DuPage chapter of our youth theater group was the most painful thing about moving here, and they were ambivalent about doing a show with the Lake County group, knowing that we'd also have to leave it, if the Kenosha chapter became a reality. We encouraged them though, because we saw the huge gap that it had left in their lives. Without a Christian peer group to uphold certain standards of behavior, our teens were experimenting with things like swearing, dirty jokes, innuendo, and watching movies (at a neighbor's house) that Mom and Dad wouldn't have approved. And their hearts were following their behaviors.

So we had strongly encouraged them toward theater, but at first, it wasn't a smooth transition. As new kids, they found it hard to break into established friendship circles, but as time went by--thank you, Lord!--they were accepted and included. And by the end of Schoolhouse Rock, Blondechick16 was saying to me, "Mom, I really see the difference, now, between my school friends and my theater friends." She went on to describe not only behaviors but character traits that were clearly on opposite ends of the spectrum. Her own resolve was to strip off some bad ones she had put on to fit in with her school friends, and be more like her theater friends--and her old self. Great joy for a mother's heart, there!

And to hear Bantam13 say he was sad that SHR was over gave me goosebumps. Over and over, I'd heard him state angrily, "I can't wait for this show to be over!"--back when he was struggling so much with learning the flips and other tricks in his swing dancing number. "I never wanted to be in this--you guys forced me!" he'd accuse.

But we had heard God right on that! Yes, we had pushed him to audition. We just knew it was something he needed to do...and God was so good to challenge him so much, with a really great part, and then grant him so much success as a result of his efforts! And enjoyment--what a plus!

"I am so proud of you," I told him once, in between performances. "I'm proud of myself," he admitted.

I just couldn't have engineered circumstances that would have taught him so much!

Bantam9 had a blast too, doing the show and hanging out with his new buddy Max. They've been inseparable! And I enjoyed doing makeup again--a great way to get to know the kids--and pure creative fun for me.

Another thing I feel great joy about is the buzz that is building about the new chapter, the Kenosha County group we are starting. Some of the Lake County kids are interested, two Lake County families told us they have interested cousins in Kenosha, people have offered to help, and suddenly, even though it means saying goodbye again, our kids are excited about the new chapter. They have been a little ambivalent, because it's been hard to imagine something that is currently nonexistent. But now, with other kids talking about it, their imaginations have been sparked and they are finally really excited about being part of it! And I'm really excited too, despite all the work I know it will be if it becomes my actual job. But the more I learn about it, as I have during SHR, the more confirmation I feel that it would be a good fit for me.

As I began to unpack all this joy, I was shocked to think that I might have just turned right from the final show and on to the next demands for my attention--homeschooling, laundry, upcoming birthdays--without even thanking God! In fact, that was what I had been doing, before I suddenly realized what an occasion for immense gratitude this was.

How often does God answer our prayers in magnificent ways...and we accept them as only a matter of course? Moving right on to the next thing on our to-do list, worrying anxiously about the next set of cares, coming to Him with our next pressing need? Without even a prayer of thanks and praise for all that He has done, for the ways that He has moved on our behalf?

As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

Classes and Friendships

I haven't said much lately about homeschooling, but I'd better mention all the classes we are taking outside of home...because they are all ending!

Last Thursday was our final week of enrichment classes through a homeschool co-op, which means that many of the classes were taught by homeschool moms. But several were taught by science personnel in the area. For example, Bantam9 and Chicklet6 took a class taught by a science guy from Discovery World Science (which we have not visited yet but I guess it's in the area). Each week, they performed a lab on a subject like magnetism, electricity (they made working circuits that lit up a light bulb), elasticity (they made their own bouncy balls), chemistry (they made glue and "slime"), gravity (they created model space suits), etc. It was Chicklet's favorite class!

Her other classes were a crafts class where she cut and glued and colored and taped many and varied creations, a play time class which was basically just--"play time!", and a Bible stories class which included a craft each week. Bantam 3 was in the last two classes with her, but there was nothing available for his age group during the first two hours, so we usually spent the first one in the gym with another 3-year-old friend and his mom, and the second hour we went to the game and social room, where we played games and Duplos together.

Bantam13 had a Robotics class the first hour, which was taught by a prof from Carthage College who was volunteering his time. Their robot will be part of a competition next spring, in which the goal is to push, pull, hurl or otherwise eject another robot from a circle. The robot also has to be able to perform a task, which has not been announced yet, as part of the competition. So his class will actually meet another time or two, until the robot is finished.

Both Bantams 13 & 9 had a sketching class next, taught by a 15-year-old homeschooled boy who had spent the summer as a caricature artist at Great America (a huge amusement park near here). He taught them the basics of drawing the human face and figure, as well as the tricks of caricatures. They both enjoyed the class immensely, and B9, especially, is spending more of his free time drawing.

Next the same young man taught a Foam Swords class. Now, the Bantams have been creating their own swords out of broomsticks wrapped with shiny duct tape ever since the first musical our family was involved in, Robin Hood, because that's what they used for swords in that show. So the idea of a padded sword was new to them! "Wow," B13 said when I read the class description to him, "I bet you could REALLY hit hard with one of those!"

In the first class, he taught them how to make the swords (B13 wrote about the process here in his own blog, Super Dude.) In later weeks, he taught them the history of swords and weapons, the rules for different types of battles and competitions in which one can use the foam swords, and basic battle strategies. Each class time included team battles as well as individual matches. This class was a huge hit, and it really helped the Bantams get to know some of the other boys.

The Bantams ended the day with a Critical Thinking class, in which they studied riddles, analogies, optical illusions and other puzzles, as well as wrote critically about questions such as, "Is the glass half-full or half-empty?" The teacher of the class was so glad to have them and sought me out to tell me so. She said B13, especially, had played a real leadership role several time in the first few weeks, to call some of the boys (who were still wound up from the Foam Swords class, no doubt!) to settle down and treat the teacher respectfully.

I think we're all going to miss enrichment classes now! Though it will be nice to have our Thursday afternoons for other things.

On Tuesdays, we've been going out to Carthage College for an hour with their PE department's future gym teachers, who divide the kids up by age and teach them team sports, like volleyball, kickball, dodgeball, crab football and badminton, and other age-appropriate gym games involving bean bags, cones, balls or...a parachute! (I remember back to my elementary school days, walking into the gym and seeing the parachute spread out in the middle, and how the excited whispering would start up! Everybody loves a parachute, don't they?)

The kids have REALLY loved gym classes! Here is where the Bantams 13 & 9 have really bonded with a couple of brothers who are 13 & 11, and they have a tomboyish 9-year-old sister that B9 connects with too. It turns out that they live nearby (thank you, Lord!!) and they're into skateboarding, a sport in which the Bantams have been wanna-be's. So they've been spending lots of time outdoors together for the past few weeks, teaching each other tricks and moves. This is a real answer to prayer for Christian friends for them! (Thank you, all you prayer warriors out there!) This solid Christian family is adopting two preschoolers from Ethiopia in January. We barely know them, but we are already excited to meet their new family members!

And tonight, we had the final wrap-up, or "Showcase," for all the kids' theater classes. Chicklet6 made her CYT stage debut in the youngest class, in which they sang "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Happiness [Is]." On the way there, she said she was nervous, but I couldn't tell it during her performance--she kept a big toothless grin on her face the whole time and certainly looked like she was enjoying herself! She sang and she had all her moves down; we were so proud of her. (And from where we were sitting, you couldn't even see her black eye [from Sunday, when wrestling brothers knocked her into a drawer] or the huge bruised bump on her forehead [where, on Monday, she walked into the kitchen bar countertop]. No wonder I haven't posted a picture of her missing front teeth!)

Bantam9 was next, in a jazz and tap performance with his class of all girls. The highlight was in the tap number, Sinatra's "Chicago." Twice when they came to the line, "I saw a man, he danced with his wife/In Chicago, Chicago my home town," everyone else stopped dancing and posed, pointing to Bantam9 and a short little girl, who danced together until the end of the line, when he twirled her around and picked her up, as she leaned back and pointed one leg up. The move drew lots of applause both times, but B9 looked nonchalant throughout, to our great amusement. Though he started out not liking the class because he was the only boy, our kinesthetic son is now begging for tap lessons and his very own tap shoes (we borrowed a pair for this class). His teacher is urging him to continue too!

After some voice and drama classes, it was time for the "Tricks and Illusions" class. B13 and his classmates took turns, in groups, performing tricks with cards, rope, paper and props from the audience. B13 is eager to continue learning tricks from his book and hopes to eventually make a little money performing at birthday parties. (He was encouraged in this by a neighbor's brother, a police officer--who started doing magic as a small business after college and still performs frequently--who said he wished he had started earlier.)

Finally, Blondechick15's Hip-Hop class mooooved onstage and hopped and grooved for us like the uber-cool dancers they had become. Blondechick had a small featured part, but the whole class was impressive!

Theater classes aren't really ending for us, though, because the next session starts up again in two weeks, and it turns out that next week Blondechick and B13 have to go and audition for the Advanced Drama class that they'd both like to get into. And in just three weeks...BC15, B13 and B9 will audition for the next production, Schoolhouse Rock! (Wow, we better figure out what they're singing and start rehearsing...!)

So enrichment classes and gym class will be done just in time for the winter show rehearsals to begin--perfect timing! We are so glad we didn't do the fall show, Narnia. We saw it last Friday night and it was great, and fun to see a totally different interpretation--but still just too, too familiar to us all. (Newer readers, our whole family was in this show last summer, and our kids were in it the previous fall with the children's theater group--see the Archives!) We're not exactly sick of it or anything...but it was just too soon to do AGAIN. And it was good to spend the fall concentrating on new school experiences. But now we're all ready to get back into theater!

I am so grateful for the Christian friends our kids have made this fall at theater classes, enrichment classes and gym classes. And Blondechick15 has connected with a couple of "truly Christian" (her words) girls at her school and has been going to their youth group once a week. So thank you, those of you who have been faithfully praying for our requests listed there in my sidebar! I am going to leave this one up, because friendships take time...but some good ones are off to some good starts, I think.

Cosmic Pat on the Back

Last night while I was making dinner and Blondechick was setting the table, she was telling me all about her day at school.

She's doing very well academically, which has been reassuring to me, her former teacher. But last night I received a cosmic pat on the back when she said, "You know, I almost can't believe how well-prepared for high school I am--especially compared to the kids who've been in school all along. We work in groups a lot, and whenever the group has to pick one person to make the poster, or write the summary, or stand up and give the presentation to the rest of the class, everybody always wants me to do it.

"It's not that they don't want to," she continued. "But they know I'll do a good job, and some of them don't seem to know where to begin. So I've been...pleasantly surprised...at finding out what a good student I am!"

"Do you think your theater training helps you?" Papa Rooster, who had joined us, asked.

"Oh, no doubt," she replied.

I was thinking the same thing. All three of my kids who participate in theater have developed greater self-confidence and an ability to operate outside their comfort zone.

"But I guess homeschooling prepared me better than I thought, too!"

Glory and thanks be to God! In spite of all my shortcomings!

What a relief.