so. we’re a week and a half in.
we are still alive.
i feel this, in itself, is an accomplishment.
here is what my kids are doing:
Bryson is spending a lot of time building. and, umm, building some more. yesterday, he found the supplies on Garry’s Mod to build a hovercraft, figured out how to make it invisible, found a “pretend” go cart, put the invisible hovercraft inside it (to make it run like a vehicle, of course, since pretend go carts can’t move on Garry’s Mod…duh), built a haul-behind trailer for the cart, built a watercraft to put on the trailer, figured out how to back it into the pond, and then drove the boat around…then back onto the trailer…and out of the water. (i have no idea how any of this actually came together or how it works or WHY he understands any of it…heck, i can’t even operate a wii controller most of the time…but the kid’s got mad skillz, yo.). he made very sure I knew that he hadn’t spent any time on the Xbox yesterday.
noted.
Laine. she has spent about 6-10 hours a day sitting behind this sewing machine for the past week and a half. she has designed 3 cosplays, and put two full costumes together, plus made herself a personal dress form with her exact body measurements (did i tell you that already?) the most recent project is a cosplay from an anime she watches called Attack On Titan and it involves a complex leather strapping design and this is what it is designed after: 
no pattern. just a picture. she spent ten hours on it yesterday, and about six more today…and only took a break for meals. an even then i had to fight her to do it.
Reasa is struggling a lot with this whole concept. not helping matters any is the fact that she purchased a new iDevice and it arrived on Monday, so, of course, she has had to learn all about using that…to the neglect of stuff that she’s…not super sure about anyway. she is feeling the transition from strictly managed school to more freedom and ability to choose the most distinctly…she doesn’t know what to do with the freedom. i have actually offered to sit and make a checklist with her, have given her directed assignments she has to do so she felt like she was getting the stuff done that needed to be done…and she has struggled with this too. she wants the freedom…until she has to express it or deal with it. then she wants the structure. then i give her the structure and she rebels against that. we’re caught. it’s not really all that healthy right now…as i can watch her at the end of the day, still beating herself up because she didn’t accomplish what she thought she should get done…even though i don’t have something specific in mind. frankly, if Reasa, by the end of the school year, gets to the point where she can relax into the things she loves a little bit, i think grade nine will have been a thrilling success for her. (to her credit today, she downloaded the user’s manual for her new camera and started looking through settings, and took some pictures to see the difference it made with her picture taking in specific circumstances…this is a win)
this next part, i’m adding for my memory’s sake, not just because i feel i have to defend their education (although i still admit to a small part of that…i am not completely deschooled, that’s for sure…so i certainly can’t expect them to have fully transitioned). each day, they still have set expectations. they read, they write, they do some math, the girls do Spanish, they exercise, they blog, they complete a small list of chores (and anything else i ask them to do–without complaining–which is the stipulation for keeping the chore list small), they prepare meals, they have deep conversations with me and their step-dad about family topics, controversy around us, newspaper articles, things they come across on other media sources (Glenn Beck and Matt Walsh stir things up for us around here…i know, i know…all of you will take different sides on that one). this week has run the gambit with topics like abortion, death, eternal security, spiritual forces of good and evil, sex ed in schools, fracking, health insurance, the criminal court system, how yeast works, how different kinds of flours work in baking, how to keep your computer running smoothly (ahem, don’t download crap), how many calories each of us should consume in a day and in what form, how to prepare for college entrance, what minimum wage is…i could literally sit here and type all evening about the conversations we have had just this 3-day week.
and Monday was a holiday.
but i think that’s part of my point.
do you realize what your children learn from you when you have conversations with them all day long every day? do you know what kinds of jumping-off points you give them when you give them information or ask them good questions? even questions you think aren’t anything spectacular spark their interest and send them on an information adventure. don’t get me wrong, not everything that happens around here looks like brilliance.
half the time i’m tripping over a dog while i’m asking those questions. or burning myself on a breadbowl as it comes out of the oven. or frustrated because i just can’t seem to get my point across about something that’s bugging me about my kid’s attitude. or we’re discussing Laine’s i-fell-into-the-sideboard-on-my-bed-and-smashed-my-thigh bruise. or we’re giggling at the baby as he spits up all over me and laughs about it.
it’s not all sunshine and roses here, people.
but it’s good. it’s good. at a time when it could be pretty darn yucky, it’s good here.
and i’m just grateful.
All Is Grace 