What is Hebrew?

So...
My son is the funniest four year old person, perhaps, of all time.
And maybe a bit weird. 

In the last 23 minutes, these are our interactions, as close to word for word as I can get them.

beautiful brains

 Overheard, a few moments ago: 

Eas:  "The world is not fair."
Ada:  "What do you mean?"
Eas:  "In North America we have machines and all that stuff and in Africa and Asia they don't." 
Ada:  "I know, buddy.  I told you that." 
Eas:  "I don't think so.  I don't think anyone told me that.  I think I just know that." 


Eight Observations

Not Whilst Frolicking in the Field

To become well-educated, a person must, at some point, take ownership of his or her education.  We can have compulsory attendance, but there is no such thing as compulsory education.  Lead a horse to water, but yadda yadda yadda.

I am privileged to teach a wonderful bunch of kids at Jackson Classical, the halfschool/half homeschool program that is kind enough to employ me and receive my older two urchins.

I get to have the third through eighth graders for
Latin,
Literature,
English Grammar, and
Critical Thinking, which is an amalgamation of brain teasers, LSAT-esque logic problems, real-life inspired situationals (Yes, I made up that word), and other things I dream up to help them give their brains a daily workout.  And yes, now after writing that sentence, I am tempted to brand myself a Brain Personal Trainer.

I work alongside some great teachers who have the kids for Ballet, Gymnastics, Art, History, Creative Writing, Robotics (using LEGOs, yes, be jealous), Piano, Violin, and on and on.

It's a full load for the kids.  And we're only there two days a week. 

The fact that the process of learning must be self-owned is never more apparent than in whole or partial home-education.  In normal ol' school, you at least have possession of the kids for 35 ish hours  a week.  Not me, I get each of these kids for four hours a week.  A whopping four hours.  Two hours on Monday, Two on Wednesday.  It boils down to roughly 40 minutes each day for Latin, 30 minutes each for Literature and Critical Thinking and then 20 for English Grammar.

Is this enough for mastery?

Of course not.

We're homeschoolers after all.  So, much of the work is done at home.  

We're two months into school, almost, and the new has worn off.  My students are no longer enthused by their binders, books and colored pencils.  The shiny is gone.  The drive has fizzled.  Only the truly type-A, or the ones who came into this world with an undeterred intellectual curiosity, are still engaged. 

Last week, I sent them a note with a verse from Colossians in which we are exhorted to work heartily - to do all things with all our might for the Lord.

It didn't work.  Or maybe it just hasn't yet worked.  Or maybe they haven't read the note.  Either way, I had more grumbling and undone homework this week.  And I'll not place the blame on the parents.  I mean, I might, in certain circumstances, but if one starts doing that, it enables children to, again, not take ownership of their own education.

Wife / Mother / Educator also finds herself, regrettably, a citizen.

I've found myself, over the last few years of potty training and learning to read and cooking a lot and doing a lot of dishes and praising Paul for folding a lot of clothes, not so much politically engaged.  Also, I don't have television and don't make time to read things online.  So, I've been a bit out of the loop.

But until a couple of years ago, I was very engaged, and my leanings have swung all over the map as I've grown up and taken ownership of my own opinions.

A Happy Morning

I woke up this morning and went to the gym.  (I'm trying.) 

I left the house at 5:52 am.  I arrived at the gym at 5:59 am.  I picked out my eliptical machine (my friend Calen has challenged me to use the difficult eliptical rather than the easy one.  It is a morning-by-morning struggle;  this morning, I defeated the devilish temptation to go the easy route.).

After my eliptical, at 6:37, I called Paul to see if he cared if I did a few weights or if he needed to get going to work.
No Answer.


So, I did my weights.

I walked outside, at 6:59, and got in the car.

Except I didn't.

Because it was locked.

store up that mississippi summer angst

This is the color Mississippi should always be on maps.

It is naptime here.  This means that I'm taking a moment to rest as well.  I spend a few minutes on pinterest (or more than a few, and then naptime is gone....); I read through my blogroll to see if there are posts that command my attention; I return emails from the morning; and, of course, facebook is ubiquitous. 

[Yes, facebook is actually everywhere now.  It always rearing its two sided head.]


So, just a few minutes ago, I was perusing my news feed.  And noticing the large percentage of complaints about the heat.

eat a shortbread cookie and croon

I have a problem.

It's an American problem.  It's a woman problem.  It's a typical problem.
This is me being, in a word, unoriginal.

I have too much stuff.