Seconds before Stanley was shoved back into hiding.

Once in the City, we fought traffic-my biggest reason BY FAR for not wanting to live in a big city EVER again (brings out the worst in me.)  We picked up A &Z at the hotel and walked over to Blue C Sushi, Truman’s favorite restaurant.  The sushi rolls by on a conveyor belt, on colored plates, and you take what you want, and pay by color.  Piglet Truman had 7 plates in front of him at the end of the meal.  It wasn’t the most adventurous sushi ever, but it was delicious, and the presentation was very cool.

Notice how Z cleans up the table...waitress' dream

 We spent the afternoon wandering around the Sculpture Garden, drinking hot coffee outside of Pikes Market, riding carnival rides outside the Space Needle-which A & Z toured.  They tell me that it isn’t worth the high price.  I figure flying out of Sea-Tac is good enough for our ariel view of Seattle.

Watching Z  (the minimalist vegetarian) watch Truman (the ravenous 7 year old) eat a huge dinner was one of my funniest memories of the trip. That and the naked mole rat babies trying to dig through plastic.

The next morning, A & Z flew back to Rome, and the boys and I went to the Pacific Science Center.  While walking in the rain, in Seattle, at 8:30 on a Sunday morning, who should run across my path….but someone I know (a guy I sat around the fire with one evening back in October at an intern retreat)! I swear, I LOVE it when I run into people out in public.  Perhaps because I have changed location every 8 months for my entire life, the novelty of running into friendly faces makes me feel somehow like I am actually a resident, not just a vagabond.

I am so proud of my boys.

The boys were able to spend an eternity climbing all over exhibits while I read my textbook.  Seattle was fun, I was productive, but it did end up costing a small fortune, and we didn’t even come home with a souvenir.

City slickers

Our first really warm day just happened to fall on the first day of Spring.  We celebrated by playing outside the ENTIRE day, from sun-up to just before sun-down.  The boys had to get into the tub while it was still a little bit light outside, because I just couldn’t bear to look at them any more.  Too dirty.  We planted some seeds, brought the houseplants out for the day, watered the mud (Henry), played basketball, rode bikes.  Truman went on a bike ride with some friends to Bainbridge Island, which was his best part of the day.  I had a baby around all morning, and she got dirty, too-hope her mother didn’t mind.  It was too glorious outside to keep her neat and clean-too many delicious rocks to mouth.  The sun was hot and the breeze was cold, and it felt wonderful!

Like any good homeschooling mom, we had spring library books on hand that we read outside, and three Spring Poems that Truman and I are memorizing, written below.  We had multiple guests, and gruesomely grilled lamb skewers (not my choice, but good) to welcome in the new outdoor season.

The boys and I built bird houses, and I would have pictures, but I can’t find my camera this morning for some reason. We also used eNature to identify the bird that have breakfast on our back porch every morning.  I am so proud of us for starting off my favorite season with such a Spectacular Day, and we actually accomplished everything that I had hoped we would.   We have not had serious cases of Spring Fever, since everything has been blooming early, but it was great to officially recognize that we have crossed the threshold, and soon the windows will be open all night!

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;
To-day the glint of green is there;
Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;
I know no thing so wondrous fair,
No miracle so strangely rare.
I wonder what will next be there!
~L.H. Bailey

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

The naked earth is warm with Spring,
And with green grass and bursting trees
Leans to the sun’s kiss glorying,
And quivers in the sunny breeze.
~Julian Grenfell

 I guess she was more of an acquaintance, since the Mom and I only talked Cub Scouts and about our kids at Scouting events and committee meetings. She was the only other young woman in Cub Scouts, and so we got along. She was a Wolf Leader, and her son was in her Den, like me. Truman is at the age where he assumes that every boy he plays with is his best friend, every scout is his most fun friend.

 Before the meeting I told Truman that one of our scouts and his mommy were missing, because I thought he might hear about it at the meeting, which he did.While at the meeting, the scouts body was identified, having washed up on shore.

 There were grief counselors and church pastors on hand to address everyone. Only the church pastors talked to our committee meeting, and what they said was very unsatisfying. I did get the number to our local elementary grief counselor because I really do not know how to talk to Truman about this. In bed last night Truman was really hoping that his friend would be found, so I had to tell him that he actually drowned, and wasn’t coming back. We cried, and Truman said that he didn’t know his friend couldn’t swim.

 Today I taking bagged salad, blueberry muffins, chicken pasta salad and a bucket of ice cream to her fiance’s house. That is the lesson I learned having been on the receiving end of grief food recently.

 Both of my boys slept with me last night, because I didn’t feel like taking them to their own beds after I read them to sleep. This is horrific, and scary, and too close to home.

I hope the mommy is found soon. I don’t know that I would want to survive this if it were my son.

Goodbye

I do believe he forgets that he has an office where he can empty his pockets.

Dr. Daddy leaves tomorrow for a month long orthopedic(?) rotation in Pensacola, but today he has call, so it is as if he has already left.  Actually, yesterday he was gone from 5am-ish until almost 9pm, so the boys didn’t spend much time with him either except for a quick UNO game before bed.  My good intention is to write to him about the goings-on with us so that he can read about his family, even if he can’t be with us.  Will isn’t that great about calling, or answering his phone, which is ok, because I hate talking on the phone anyway.  All of my pleasant personality vanishes, and I think I sound pretty bi#&*y and uniterested over the phone.   Writing this month will be good practice for the month that Will is gone this summer, and for the inevitable long deployments in our future.

If I am writing to Will, I may as well blog it so the Grandmas’ can read it.  And I believe there is one subscriber-a certain Drexel math professer who can’t be that interested in our homeschool-but still a kind soul to read.     

I wonder if there is a way to print your blog into a bound journal?  An online diary that I could have to remember Truman and Henry’s young years? I will have to research that one-seems like it is something that wouldalready be out there.     

 Truman and I will be finished with our Year 1.5 during the month that Daddy is gone.  This means that we will have finished all of Ambleside Year 1, Right Start Math level B, and all the books that we have scheduled for this year.  Then we will take a month to study Marine Biology, and maybe a bit of Weather review since Truman was telling Henry all about the Citrus Clouds in the sky…    

 Our lead up to the month without daddy was…stressful.  I am taking a clinical biochemistry class that is really HARD without the added difficulty of a professor who is totally new to the Blackboard system. I also stupidly accepted a writing assignment for McGraw-Hill, so that I could have another year of freelance SAT writing to add to my resume.  This, coupled with the death of Will’s dad, a trip across the county, serious viruses on all computers, a house that is determined to blow up everything we plug in, my giving up wine (except on very special occasions), AND weaning myself off of poorly prescribed anti-anxiety medication….       

Nothing too bad in itself, but added up it kind of makes me look forward to Will leaving ( not that he has anything to do with any of this) but only because I get to go to bed early (8:00!) without guilt, wear my secret stash of granny panties, and have salsa for dinner every night rather than cook. I also plan a “detox” diet, substituting my daily chocolate bar and spoonful of peanut butter with a protein shake.  I have about 10 pounds to lose before the Seattle Rock and Roll half marathon, or Will said he will register me in the “Athena” category.  He also challenged me to finish a tile mural while he was gone by telling me he doesn’t think I will ever make one.     

Yep, Granny panties

Up close and personal with a spider

 One of our favorite subjects is Nature Study, which has been very easy to accomplish this year in the RV.  Basically, we take our drawing paper attached to clipboards, one for Truman, one for Henry.  I have a nice leather bound journal, because I am not likely to drop it in a creek or forget it up a tree, like Truman has.  We take our North American Wildlife reference book, our regional guide, pencils, and then we go hiking.  When we see something interesting, we draw it.  I aim for one drawing per nature walk, although we study and look up all kinds of things such as trees, bugs, flowers.  I have the Handbook of Nature Study, but it is too big to take out.  I usually read the chapters about something we are likely to encounter so that I have a lot of information at the front of my mind.  I also write down the guidance questions to help Truman (and Henry, he must participate) think about what we are looking at.  Sometimes we sit quietly and just watch things, sometimes we climb trees and throw  rocks.  Always we bring things home.  Our rock collection is massive, and not the most appropriate collection if you live in an RV.   Some of the things we have studied lately include Geese (they poop every 12 minutes-we have tried to time this), Opossums, Western Trillium, Christmas Tree ferns, Redwoods, Chipping Sparrows, stream ecology-(bug adaptations for living in a stream-very wet study), Staghorn Sumac, Maple Trees and syprup making (delicious), Catkins, Leeches, Dog families, our own dogs.  I wish that we could study according to AO schedule, but we have to take what is available in our current location.  The idea behind nature study is to teach my young’uns to appreciate the natural world, be knowledgeable about their environment, and to care deeply about the taking care of it.  Charlotte Mason’s list of attainments for a 6 year old  includes being able to identify at least 6 trees, and Truman is on his way.   I also have Hands-on Nature, a book about exploring nature with kids.  It has a lot of little plays in it, and we have made some of the bug and bird puppets, and acted out the plays with them.  It is hilarious and informative, and usually repeted more than once. I fhave been reading the Burgess Bid book to T and H online, and I finally got my hands on a beautiful antique copy of the book from Ebay, the drawings are gorgeous!  I also have the Burgess Animal book for next year, can’t wait!  Even my 6 year old appreciates the beauty of these books.  And the mmmmm….old smell of good literature.

The significant principle at stake in nature study is observation and forming a relationshipwith what you are observing-AO.  We do not have to cover everything about the life cycle or habits of the animal in question. We are observing, so what we want to focus on is this: what is this creature doing right now, and why? If you are watching squirrels . . . are they eating? playing? nest-building? What exactly are they doing? Pay attention to the way they react to each other, as well as other things in their environment (like you). As well as looking at their behavior, teach your children to notice the shape of their bodies, tails, paws, ears, and mouths. Consider why they are made the way are. AO  We also watch documentaries on Netflix about the creatures we study, or sometimes you can find high quality videos on YouTube.    Nature Study is a scheduled hike each week with notebooks, but usually we are out every day looking at things.  With our science program we have spent weeks studying different habitats including desert, woods, seashore-using One Small Square books and Pocket Nature.  These involved marking off a square  and studying the same area over a week or more, notetaking (drawing), lots of experiments, and lots of books.  We have also studied weather, made a weather station,  investigated invertebrates, flowers, plants and trees. We read about James Audubon and studied birds, including the Burgess Bird book for tales.  This has been our scheduled Noeo science program, but it has obviously overlapped with our Nature Study.   I don’t know how they incorporate Nature study in the Public schools, or if they even do, but it doesn’t get any more enjoyable than this.

Van Gogh

I didn’t follow AO’s guide for Composer/Artist studies the first part of Year 1 because it seemed too advanced, and I just didn’t know how to do it. 

The Church at Auvers, 1890

Instead we used a different curriculum, Artistic Pursuits.  This is a decent curriculum, it just didn’t offer the depth of study into each artist that we now know Truman loves, and it didn’t offer enough instruction on technique.  After spending several months reading more and more from AO’s website, as well as Charlotte Mason’s own writings, I decided to abandon the curric that wasn’t working well for us. 

The Starry Night, 1889

I was initially surprised how much Truman and I enjoyed AO’s method of study.   Truman likes to study each painting in depth, and lovesto hear about the life of the artist.   To study the artist, we look at that weeks painting for a couple of minutes, and then I take it away and ask Truman to describe it to me.  His descritions are awesome, very detailed.   We also read kids books about the artist.  To learn more about Van Gogh we have read Mike Venezia’s portrait of the artist while at the local B & N bookstore. This was a quick read-sitting in a cozy chair at the store while Henry played at the train table.  

The Night Cafe, 1888

The Vase with Sunflowers, 1888

 We are also in the process of reading Van Gogh, Art for Children by Raboff.   This book discusses Van Gogh’s technique and draws us into each painting. It is well done, and really engaging.  Remember-this is MY first time around studying art history, I certainly didn’t encounter this in my PS education.  Will, on the other hand, is more than capable of discussing the artist, the painting, other artists painting at the same time…    Even my little Henry is involved in Artist Study, furrowing his cute brow at our paintings, and pretending to describe them.   

Bedroom at Arles, 1889

Self Portrait as an Artist, 1888

In order to have these painting available to study, I uploaded them to my computer from various websites, then printed them at Snapfish as a 5 x 7 on Matte paper.  If this is illegal, I don’t want to know.  I like to think Van Gogh would be flattered.  Now we have a beautiful little gallery on our refrigerator.  I have all kinds of plans to frame the artist prints in a simple, cheap frame and hang them in our school area once we are in our house.     Studying Van Gogh has obviously lead to a discussion of suicide and mental illness, handled gently for a 6 year old, of course.  

Art Study according to Charlotte Mason- These are either quotes from her volumes, notes from AO’s resource website, or paraphrased by me.  How to chose the artist to study ( I follow the rotation so that others are posting about their great finds because we are all on the same artist.)  The paintings chosen , in CM style, should have a refining, elevating influence, expressing great ideas. The great ideas our paintings express might include “the great human relationships, relationships of love and service, of authority and obedience, of reverence and pity and neighbourly kindness; relationships to kin and friend and neighbour, to ’cause’ and country and kind, to the past and the present.”

The paintings ought to put “our children in touch with the great thoughts by which the world has been educated in the past, and to keep . . . them in the right attitude towards the great ideas of the present”–And bring us into the “world of beauty created for us by those whose Beauty Sense enables them not only to see and take joy in all the Beauty there is, but whose souls become so filled with the Beauty they gather through eye and ear that they produce for us new forms of Beauty.”

From AO-Let us choose pictures using this as a guideline–”Nothing can be a work of art which is not useful, that is to say, which does not minister to the body when well under the command of the mind, or which does not amuse, soothe, or elevate the mind in a healthy state.”–CM quoting William Morris

The works of art we choose should represent ‘master ideas,’ which the painter ‘works out, not in a single piece, but here a little and there a little, in a series of studies.’ The artist is “a teacher, who is to have a refining, elevating effect upon our coarser nature”

Our paintings are chosen to help the children develop a love for the commonplace beauty of every day things–”For it is true as Browning told us,–For, don’t you mark, we’re made so that we love First when we see them painted, things we have passed Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see.” . . .we learn to see things when we see them painted.”

Our art prints should help our children develop an affinity for, an attraction to, the beautiful, the lovely, the pure, the refining–because “education is concerned to teach him what pictures to delight in.”

 Truman’s Starry Night-Colored over two days using a printout from Enchanted Learning and oil pastels.  You can see that Truman is serious about his artwork.  He then cut it out and glued it to card stock that complimented his picture.

Truman's Sunflowers in a Vase interpretation. Using Gerber Daisies and undiluted water colors.

 Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)-late Romantic composer and conductor .

Symphonies 1 (Titan), Symphony 9, and Kindertotenlieder (song cycle) Songs on the Death of Children-apparetnly written when 2 of his children died within days of each other.

Will turns into Dr. Will in less than 1 month, and we have big plans for the graduation.  We have a house on the Chesapeake Bay for a week, and so many friends are coming it ought to be a blast!  I just have to not stress out about cooking a meal for so many folks.

We have a few weeks more of Year 1, and we should be finished with Noeo science in a few weeks-at least before the cross-country trip. Math will be continued into the summer.  Will is teaching Truman his math, and they are….inconsistent….to say the least.  But there is no hurry, Truman is already advanced as it is.  AO will probably not be finished until the first weeks of June, but again-no hurry.  I am not sure what we will do for the summer, probably no formal schoolwork except for math.  I have an enormous list books to read together, plus Truman will be starting Cub Scouts and Karate.  We are also going to get involved in church-since Truman is old enough for the religious education classes now.  I also hope to send him to Farm Camp in Bremerton.   I need to settle into a house, learn the area, and find a little Montessori school or Co-op preschool for Henry.  I want him to go two mornings-or three-because he will enjoy it tremendously, and because he is extremely hard to deal with while Truman and I are working on our schoolwork!

Anyway-we will see if I keep up blogging.  I like to think I will!

We have had a wonderful time in New Hampshire/Vermont, and this area is now the front runner for our locations that we would live post-military.  It is so beautiful, I think that the winters would be bearable just to have the month of August.   I love the ruralnessof it, we haven’t seen a strip mall yet, and everywhere you look are organic farms, farm stands, farm houses, unique restaurants and cute little stores.  I am sure there is a chain store or restaurant somewhere, but we haven’t seen it.   The weather has cooperated beautifully to make us think that this is heaven.  It could be that we are all just living on cloud 9 anyway, but it has been a great month.  We went to Woodstock, Vermont, Stowe, VT, The Ben and Jerry’s factory store for a tour and samples, the Cabot creamery store, we hiked up Mt Cube, rode bicycles through Franconia Notch. Will golfed, the boys and I explored little bitty towns and old graveyards.  Every weekend we had a great time, and didn’t work on our house!  Truman, Henry and I have spent several hours of every single day at our brook.  We have studied every aspect of stream ecology, and rock skipping.  I will be sad to leave this brook.  This experience has been exactly what I had hoped for-my boys are in the woods all day-surrounded by nature- like kids should be. I am much less stressed, even though I have the same stuff to do, dinner, laundry, clean-up, school, it is just a better lifestyle, and I am a better mother for it.

Truman and I are almost finished with week 4 of Year 1, and it has been just as interesting as I had hoped.  Truman is really enjoying it, and it is exactly appropriate for his level.  We first studied Weather in our science program, and next week we start germs. He is whizzing along in Math, loves history, has 1 chapter left in his McGuffey Eclectic Reader. Smart little cookie.  He especially likes our nature study, and is getting good at identifying local trees. We have to finish before the campground boy gets home from school, so that he can get out and play in their fort. 

Will is pretty certain that he doesn’t want to go into Dermatology.  Fine by me. A couple of times since we have been here Will has ridden his road bike to Dartmouth so that we could have the car.  This is a 22 mile ride with a lot of hills!  There are many bikers, though, and it is a beautiful ride and not too stressful for his body.

Henry is a little outdoorsman-he will hike most of the way on our hikes, even when they are uphill.  He is proficient at identifying fungus, and requires a lot of effort to keep occupied during Truman’s schooling hours.  Henry has to have his school, as well, which involves special toys or coloring that are only available during that time.

We are leaving New Hampshire today, despite the hurricane that is supposed to be arriving in Boston at the same time as we are.  I will be staying at a neat campground on Cape Cod, while Will flies off to Washington State for the month.  

Yesterday was our 5th anniversary!  Unbelievable that 5 years have passed so rapidly.

The last entry I wrote was when we were in Maine with Aunt Amy.  We had a great time in Maine, and Aunt Amy is a trooper-game for anything.  There was one hike that we started too late in the day to a hidden lake with a canoe; when we got there and were paddling in the twilight, multiple wolves started howling…..needless to say-I was freaked out and pretty much hightailed it out of there with the kids.  Will was protesting my “irrational” fear, but probably only because he knew that he would be offered to the wolves before any of us.  When we left Maine, we drove to the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick.  We set up and then went to look at the bay at low tide -39 foot tides here- some of the highest in the world. We hiked way, way out, in the dark, battling mosquitoes and, once again…. mommy’s irrational fear of rapidly rising water.   The next day Will drove Amy to Halifax, Nova Scotia to catch her flight home.   The boys and I stayed at our beautiful campground in Chignecto North, hiking and playing at the playground.  One rainy day in the park I went running after mapping out a route with Will. I also gave him instructions to drive the route after about an hour and ten minutes, just in case I was suffering-because it was all mountain.  I ran the route on the main street until I got to the trail that I was supposed to run up, but it was pretty desolate, painfully straight uphill, and had lots of animal poo on it that I thought was bear.  So I turned around, and ran back-UP THE MOUNTAIN.  Now, more than two hours has passed, and Will has not appeared…..I have been on main roads the whole time…..when I came back to the park, I saw Will leaving in the Saturn, and chased him waving, but he never looked back.  There was a note on the steps of the RV that I was to stay there, so I took a shower and made some tea.  After an hour and a half Will came back, scared to death that I had been eaten by a bear or fallen off the mountain, and there was an APB in the park to look for me.  The accidental 10 miler was such excitement in that sleepy little park. 

We also went to Prince Edward Island, the location of the Anne of Green Gables book series, as everyone knows.  It was beautiful, of course, but when you came nearer the town of Cavendish, Lucy Maude Montgomery’s home, the tackier it became!  Apparently, PE Islanders, in an effort to scoop in the dough, had capitalized on Anne of Green Gables and created what Will called the Gatlinburg of Canada.  It was resplendent with multiple theme parks, blacklight indoor minigolf, tatoo parlours, T-shirt shops…ick. Avonlea, the Green Gables village, was actually lovely, and a lot of fun.  We square danced, Truman potato sack raced,  we drank raspberry cordials, the boys rode horses.  After leaving PEI, we played at the campground for the rest of our time in Canada.  Chignecto was the nicest park I have seen-we felt like the only folks there.  Will golfed, of course, and we all went to the park pool.  It was a lot like Chile in that respect-everyone pretending it is warm and participating in summer activities as if it was toasty and sunny, when it is not.    When we left Fundy, we went to St. John’s on the Bay, lovely and delicious little town-we ate well there.  

After we left Canada, we boondocked for the night at a Walmart in Maine.  I was apprehensive about this, but it is a well-known gimmick devised by Walmart.  We shopped there for supplies, then spent the night at the end of their parking lot with 4 other rv’s.  It was actually lovely, right up against a mountain, with a creek and crickets chirping all night.  It was the best free night yet!

We are now in Orford, New Hampshire at Jacob’s Brook, for the next 4 weeks, and I have changed my mind again.  I could live in rural New Hampshire permanently. Everything-the homes, the rivers, the countryside, is gorgeous.  Our campground is awesome, filled with kids on the weekend, and deserted during the week.  Which is ok, since Truman is starting first grade.   Unfortunately, Will had to shave his handsome vacation goatee and mutton chops to report to duty this morning for his dermatology rotation at Dartmouth. It was strange to see him dressed in civilian clothes for work, rather than his uniforms.  He wouldn’t wear the MRSA tie I gave him, though, because he didn’t want to establish himself as a dork early on…

The learning curve was steep-darn the steps-but I do believe we have made it over the hump, and things are easy. And altogether too much fun.

More later!

So where to start-Last Thursday I had to drive the RV from storage to the campground-not having had lessons at all.  I loved it, and was hooting the whole time while Henry sat in the back crying over and over, “No like RV, take the Metro.”  Friday, Will came back from a showerless week in the Pennsylvania woods playing doctor, and we had to experiment with towing.  Saturday morning, we got our act together, and left the DC metro area! Only one minor casualty-we ran over a flat piece of metal that jumped up and knocked our off sewer pipe-thank goodness we hadn’t actually used the potty-Will’s repair was more hygienic than it could have been.

What fun this is-more fun that we had thought it would be!  We drove up to Connecticut to see some friends, Ellie and Pat, and had a blast with them.  Then we left to pick up Aunt Amy in New Hampshire, staying at a sketchy campground on a beautiful river.  Once we had Aunt Amy carefully stowed away, we drove up to Great Pond, Maine.  We have visited Bar Harbor, Acadia, and our lovely lake right here.  Maine is gorgeous, of course, and I am sure it has something to do with prohibiting billboards and lack of people.  I can see myself living here in the future, severe winters and all.  The place is covered with wild blueberries, which Maniacs capitalize on.  Great Pond is at the end of a 7 mile road, and today Will drove me to nearly the end of it so that I could run back while the boys played in the rec center with Amy.  It was a wonderful run, raining the whole time, no people and very little evidence of people.  I was hoping to see a moose or a bear-from a distance of course-but only saw a Guinea and blueberries. 

Tomorrow we are having Henry’s second birthday party in the RV, then we are on our way to New Brunswick for our last week of vacation before Will has to report to Dartmouth.

More later!