Good Morning

Of the 3700 above-grade-railroad-crossings in Oklahoma, 3699 are in Edmond. 
Or at least that's what it feels like. 
During the Land Run, the Santa Fe Railroad  set up their main depot here because it was the highest point in the Unassigned Territory and situated between Guthrie (then the capitol) and Oklahoma City.  120+ years later, the railroad in Central Oklahoma is still going strong. 

The trains woke me up about an hour ago. 
I'm not sure what was going on,  but it seemed like the engineer just laid on the whistle for a good 60 seconds.  Our closest above grade crossing is a mile away and I only can imagine how it sounded in closer, less wooded areas. 

After that, I did the only logical thing that a mother with four active (read insane) children could do at such an hour...Got up, got dressed, poured some coffee, picked up the kitchen, addressed some laundry, did some meal planning and sat down to blog. 
Because that's what everyone does in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday. 
Right?
Uh-huh. 

We had a good week.
 
We experienced out first noticeable earthquakes. 
The first one was more loud than anything. 
At night, for any sound to compete with the trains, it has to be loud. 
The second and third quakes were bouncier. 
None lasted more than twenty seconds. 
We all got a kick out of waiting for the magnitude to be posted and filling out our reports with the US Geological Survey. 
Because, again, that's what everyone does for fun. 
Right? 

It was enjoyable to be able to see the Patriots on television.  The kids have come to appreciate being able to watch a game.  We cuddled up with our cowboy cut steak and baked potatoes to take in the action...

...which, by the 3rd quarter, had gotten to be a bit too much for this rowdy crowd. 
So we headed off to bed. 

Sunday was pretty low key.  I was on a clear liquid diet and mag citrate shooters to pre-game for my annual show-and-tell session with an endoscope. 
Easiest.  Prep.  Ever. 
The scope was fine.  I'm a big fan of full sedation during these types of  things.  Apparently, I was quite entertaining coming out of anesthesia as I yelled at the nurses to "Sit down, stop dawdling and DO YOUR SCHOOLWORK!".  Jim was just as amused when I insisted that I didn't need a wheelchair to get out to the car and then proceeded to gracelessly fall on my rear end as I was getting dressed. 
I got a call yesterday that the pathology reports indicated no evidence of Crohns in any of the 10 (no wonder I was sore!) biopsies they took. 
How about that. 
The doctor said that the disease sometimes reverses itself or goes into spontaneous, long remission periods.  No one has figured out why. 
I'm considering it time off for good behavior. 

We were able to push through the school week. 
We're getting into a rhythm, depending heavily on our routines to keep school and housework under control.  It worked well this week and we'll do our best to keep it up. 
Caroline and Sam both wrote some beautiful poetry.  It is so nice to see them want to share and be proud of the work they have done. 
The whole system will be up-ended again as Nate and Benjamin join into the fray in February. 
Help.  Us.  All. 
Their curriculum arrived and Nate was so excited.  He couldn't wait to open it and claim his own portion of shelf space. 
Jim and I were chatting at the kitchen table last night at 7:30 when he came up to us and asked to get started with his Math Lessons. 
We worked for a good hour while FaceTiming with Nina and Pops. 
The novelty will wear off soon - so we'll cash in what we can now. 
The Tylenol and margarita mix are on stand-by for when things get real. 

 

Good Morning from Oklahoma.  

What Day Is It?

Seriously. 
I have no clue. 
This is good and terrible. 
Good because things are getting done, we're keeping busy and (mostly) out of trouble.
Bad because I just feel so out of touch with the rest of humanity. 
It's as though our planet is spinning counterclockwise independently in space. 
And that's okay. 
Oklahoma is as good of a place as any to spin counter to reality. 

Nina is hanging in there after surgery and doing okay. 
The kids think she looks like Darth Vader with her neck brace on and that it's fun to face time with her, seeing all the cool things around her in the hospital. 
So cool, in fact that Benjamin requested to FaceTime with me during my upcoming colonoscopy. 
Ummm....No. 

Today has been one of those days where it's an hour later than it feels. 
It was gorgeous to go out and walk at 5 this morning - 50 degrees, crystal clear sky and no wind. 
By 8am, the sky was so dark with clouds it appeared that the sun hadn't bothered to come up, the temperature had dropped 25 degrees and winds were cruising along at 50 mph. 
Something must have thrown us off - the cold, the wind, the lack of light...I just got the clothes folded and dinner made.  Usually both of these are done before 8:30 AM. 
It's now 5:50. 

Each kid didn't get done as much work as I had hoped today. 
For some reason, Sam is obsessed with grammar and wants to complete his assignments for the rest of year with that subject NOW.  It doesn't matter that it's half way through the first semester. 
So that was a 30 minute ordeal. 
Caroline is reading "The City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction".  It's a cool book - Caroline is getting frustrated because she just wants to read it.  She doesn't want to think about the construction methods, sanitation planning, aqueducts, military positioning and all that other stuff that goes into Ancient Roman Urban Planning.  It's kind of making her crazy. 
But it's good for her - she needs to slow down and learn to take notes and come up with strategies for comprehension.  She has never had to do that. 
She gets pissy when I call her out for giving answers that are below her ability - which, thankfully, are becoming more infrequent. 
Sam is still plugging along.  He's amazing me with math - he hadn't done much besides multiplication facts before this year and in the past eight weeks he has progressed to multiplying / dividing two and three digit numbers.  Usually correctly. 
He, also just wants to keep reading "The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson".  We did three reading lessons today, including a review lesson - because he begged to find out what happens.  I totally read ahead when he's sleeping or else we would do nothing but reading because I would have to find out the ending. 
Sam still is attempting to avoid composition like the plague.  It's easier now that he understands that - NO MATTER WHAT HE WRITES - there needs to be a planner for ideas.  But it's still not always smooth sailing. 
HOWEVER - we were able to get the Thank You Notes from Christmas done (each child had about 8) with nary a tear.  If we get nothing else out of homeschooling for the year but that - the experience will still be a success. 

Schooling is taking up most of our time.  I know there needs to be time to join the YMCA and go and play in the pool a couple times a week, but by the time we drop off and pick up Benjamin, we're finishing with classes - it's 3:30, Nate is getting home and all hell is about to break loose. 
It will get easier. 
Right? 

6th grade math was making us crazy earlier in the week. 
I didn't work like this until algebra in high school. 
At this rate, I'll flunk out of homeschool teaching.  

He watches and re-watches the Khan Academy math videos.  I think he kind of follows what is going on ("Mom?  Did you know that 9 times  is 36?").  He stands at the computer with the headphones on and copies down the problems as the online teacher writes them and "solves" them with him.  

Benjamin has been insistent that he is going to school, too.  He sees the older kids writing and underlining in their books - so he has been grabbing his markers and his Lego books to "highlight the important parts I need to know" and make notes in the margins.  It's adorable.  

...And...doesn't everyone have this much fun picking up groceries at WalMart at 8AM?  

January

January?
How the crap did that happen?!?
We're enjoying the last few days of quiet before activities kick in again...
Blogging has been sparse.  If the kids see me sitting at the computer, they think I"m doing something fun, like playing a game.  It doesn't occur to them that I might be paying bills or ordering groceries (Walmart Grocery Pickup = Best.  Thing.  Ever) or checking the news or blogging. 
They just see me at the computer, pull up a chair and start chatting.  Or they try to sit on my lap.  Or play with my hair.  After a day of homeschooling and being "on" - most days I'm just not in the mood to have anything breathing within arm's reach after 5pm.  So I give up and let them have the computer. 
But...today the little girl from next door is over - so I'll give it a try. 
And - get this - the kids are playing school. 
Like it's not enough that they live at their school. 

Because we were on our own for Christmas, we continued with school right on through - taking the day off for Christmas, but not much else.  It made the time go faster and gave the kds projects to work on. 

Nate saw Sam writing a paragraph and he decided to write one of his own.
 Typed it himself and everything. 
I never knew he thought his name was weird - that surprised me.
However, I was not surprised that he signed his writing as "Bob". 

Sam did the draft for this paragraph.  He typed it.  No tears. 
It was a Christmas Miracle.  

Two things that need to be put on the Homeschool Supply List are salt and flour. 
Seriously. 
5 pounds of salt and 20 pounds of flour have gone into making salt dough in this house since Thanksgiving.
The kids wanted to each make their own Sphinx. 
Ben got frustrated and ended up making ruins.  
 

 Here is what a typical day looks like. 
Chaos reigns. 
But somehow, stuff gets done.  

After spending two weeks reading a biography of Jackie Robinson,
Sam is starting to read "The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" -
 so we did some work on the Chinese Zodiac to figure out what the year of the Boar was all about. 
The Youngers were intrigued.
I have no idea when Chinese New Year is - but I told them we needed to decorate for it. 
There are now signs with Chinese writing and colored pictures of animals hanging prominently. 
Everywhere.  In.  The.  House.  

Nate was born in the year of the Tiger and Ben the year of the Dragon. 
They spent most of the day wearing these. 
It was cute. 
Mostly because it muffled their voices. 
But, hey. 

I was happy to get some sewing in.  I found the fabric for $1/yard and had to put it to good use. 
It's a little too long for a tunic, but she liked it.  

Ain't it the truth.  

We we able to use our membership to the Science Museum Oklahoma.  

It's awesome.  The kids can't wait to go back.  

Nate, in fact, declared that he wanted to homeschool if it meant he could go to the museum more.  

That's something.  

He enjoyed laying down on a bed of nails. 
Huh.  

Sam was spinning testing centripetal force until he turned a little green.  

He enjoyed driving. 
And the siren.  

There was a water table that the boys could make dams and redirect water at. 
They were able to make a water wheel work.
Both boys were at the table for 45 minutes.  

 Riding the Segway was a big hit. 

Our Peeps. 

The whole second floor of the museum is filled with games so big you have to stand up to play them. 
Think "Battleship" with a 7' tall board and checkers on a 20'x20' rug. 
Pretty cool. 
I imagine that it can be quiet there during the week - especially in the afternoons. 
It's going to be great.  

 Then we got home and people decided to try their own science experiments. 
This is why we can't have nice things. 
Sigh.