Walnuts on My Windshield

June 17, 2005

It has been a unique week.

For one thing, Josiah was gone to Camp Lookout from Monday morning till noon today. This is super, FREE Christian camp, located less than 15 miles from our house. He had a wonderful time and came home thoroughly jazzed. I am glad he had fun, glad I didn't have to keep him going on academics for a week, glad it will be easier for me to record homeschool hours on Monday, and very glad he is home to do his daily lunch clean up with vacuuming.

While Josiah was gone, Jessica spent a night and a day with her friend, Ashley, in Springfield. Actually, Ashley's family came down on Tuesday afternoon to swim in the creek with us. They have five children with only eight years between the oldest and youngest - what a woman her mom must be! We had a good time swimming/playing in the creek, then her mom, Ellen, and I talked homeschool record-keeping, before their family plus Jessica headed home to Springfield. That meant Jessica (a.k.a. supper clean up) was gone Tuesday night and all day Wednesday. We would re-unite at church Wednesday night.

While Jessica was gone on Wednesday, Katie also happened to be gone to the church for her volunteering in the office. She left with Scott about 7:30 AM, also to be re-united with the family at church that night.

That left me alone with Andrew all day Wednesday. This was both good and challenging. He is quite the conversationalist, and we enjoyed a lot of discussion. I took him to the grocery with me (he is much less help and much more demanding than the older kids - sigh) and to the library. He is signed up for the Taneyhills Library's summer reading program, and I had the massive list of books he's read all printed out and ready to transfer to the yellow list in the file there.

I am not sure what I think about such programs. That is not true. I am sure what I think about such programs, and the answer is, "not much." Ah, our family is so weird. I was talking yesterday with Dwanette Moore, who also lives in Walnut Shade and homeschools her eight kids, some of whom comprise a large part of our AIM (mime ministry) carpool set-up. Dwanette is more conservative and more demanding of her children than I am of mine. (Yes, I know that is hard to imagine, but when our kids used to whine about their chores, we'd jokingly threaten to send them to the Moore's house for a day. They always shaped up pronto.) Anyway, Dwanette and I agreed that we are two of the weirdest people around.

Back to the library reading program. . . we all read all the time. We don't start reading in the summer, or stop reading the summer, for that matter. We don't need the motivation of stickers and coupons to make us read. However, we do love our various librarians - both at Taneyhills and at Springfield's Mid-Town Library, and they are always quite excited to encourage our children to sign up for these things. Katie and Jessica are beyond it, Josiah is not too interested, but I guess I fell for it this year with Andrew. For Taneyhills, he has to read 25 books or have 50 books read to him. Hmmmm. The kids could read 25 books in a couple days. Which he nearly did. Which was why I was taking him to the library on a non-library day. It being Taneyhills, a public, but privately-funded library, you can't do anything online (yet). Furthermore, I can't keep a list of the books he reads in my computer, print it out, and take it to the library. Oh, no. I must hand-write each book and author on their yellow lined paper. I was prepared to do that. However, when he and I got to the library, the list in my purse was very inconveniently lying on the dining room table at home.

After making a few selections and checking out, we returned home, where I realized again how very helpful our big kids are. It took FOREVER for Andrew and me to get the groceries in and down to the cellar. At that point, I gave in to the electronic babysitter and let him watch "The Incredibles," while I got some deskwork done. We played a little, talked some, and I read to him before his early nap. So, I survived my day alone with Andrew, and he seems no worse for the experience. The last time I had a kid home with no older siblings to entertain it was when Katie was less than 18 months old! That was a l-o-n-g time ago.

Yesterday I got the wild idea that I should start teaching Katie to drive. She is 15, but has not yet studied the book to go take the test to get her learner's permit. She is not terribly interested in driving, but I am very interested in her driving. She has never wanted to grow up. Even as a young child, she always wanted to remain a child. I think she still feels that way, to a certain degree. I think that by having her at home with us, we have been able to slow that process somewhat, but time does march on, no matter what we do or want.

Katie did fine, and I was quite pleased. We learned such things as adjust your mirrors, start the car, set and release the emergency brake, back up, brake, go forward, steer, and apply turn signals. That was plenty for one day! We backed up and down the driveway, drove up to the shop and turned around, drove down Coffee Road and turned around, and returned safely home. I have asked her to study the blurb to go take the test in the next couple weeks. We used the van, because I wanted her to have initial success, and it seemed like learning to drive while learning how to drive a standard would be a little much all at once.

Until Next Time,
Patty

From My Book Pile:

Not a thing! I am in the process of reading one book, but it will be a LONG time till I finish it. I am only averaging about four pages a night in bed before I fall asleep! I'm also in the midst of another LONG one on cassette that I hope to finish before the next Walnuts column.

Quote of the Week:

"The supreme end of education is expert discernment in all things -- the power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from the counterfeit, and to prefer the good and the genuine to the bad and the counterfeit." ~ Samuel Johnson

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