Handing on the Home School Torch

Mesopotamian dinner

If  I am honest, when it comes to change it takes me a while to find the comforting space of mental calm.  Messy Change.  Ruin my routine Change.  What’s going to happen next? Change!

As I head back to work Popasquash will be taking over the kids, the home school, the house, and I am trying not to let it become a case of prying them from my cold, dead, hands!  I am going to let Change happen gracefully, beginning with a ceremonial handing over of the torch.  And that took the form of a Mesopotamian dinner.

Sailor's date pickers in Sumeria

We have come to the end of our first round of learning about the Ancients and celebrated with a Mesopotamian dinner with friends whose menu included; lemon-mint-coriander chicken, flatbreads, couscous (not factual I’m afraid but a hit with the kids), salad, dates, baklava and cheesecake (‘cause let’s face it without the Ancient civilizations we never would have made it all the way to the American classic!).  A delicious meal, and so good to spend time with friends, especially at this time of year in the North Country when it becomes harder and harder to identify people as the warm layers get piled on!

Ice forming on the Lake

The cheesecake was Dodger’s creation and he has been baking away with his stand mixer, whirring out a Yule log, pizza dough, and other treats.  Dodger spent some of his Christmas money on a spring-form pan!  Sailor, on the other hand has been debating buying a wand with his money, one of the light-up jobbies that they sell at Barnes & Noble.  However, my husband is staunchly opposed to anymore toys that combine plastic and the need for batteries, so one of their home school tasks last week was designing a wand to make.  Sailor’s will be made of ash wood with a Black Kitty hair at the core ;)

The Yule log

Apple pie

The new routine (dreaded Change) includes my continuing to write assignments on the chalkboard the night before and the next day my husband helps the kids with them.  So far, so good.  And now that Grandma is settled out in CA for the winter working she has begun Skyping lessons with the boys.  Brilliant, and such a great addition to their learning.  It’s really something to look forward to seeing Grandma in person and having science lessons via webcam.  As a child of the 80’s I’m still awed by the technology.  In keeping with the Classical approach Grandma has been working on “classification” with the kids, Dodger is learning about the kingdoms starting with fungi, protista, and monera.  Sailor is working on worms.

Skyping with Grandma

Worms!

On advice from Grandma (and partly due to the current popularity) the boys are reading The Hobbit for their next Classical book.  Today they hit the movie theater to see the first Hobbit movie in 3D.  Other additional home school assignments, apart from the daily spelling, reading, math and grammar, have been watching a documentary on MLK Jr., sewing their own ski goggle cases, and helping Dad fix up the van for winter.  

Really it has been a smooth transition so far and I don’t gamble, but I’m going to make a few guesses about what will be different about home school with Dad vs. home school with Mom just based on our personalities…

My husband is patient.  He’s a details man.  I come up with ideas and move on them right away.  He’s a gather-all-the-information first, get it right, logical man.  I learn as I go and tend to make mistakes.  He can debunk arguments with a genuine smile on his face.  I get emotional.  He won’t yell, he won’t rush, he talks a lot.  I talk a lot too ;)  My husband will spend four hours teaching the kids how to play dominoes Panama-style or tie knots or spend days teaching them the techniques for splitting wood.  Once the kids master the splitting wood thing they will be given their own axe…and they’ll love it and think it’s the best thing ever.  I worry about germs, walking on ice, not having car seats installed correctly and axes, I blame my job as a nurse for my worries! He loves the kids in their entirety.  Me too.  If he puts the kids to bed it can take two hours...they just talk.  I run on a tighter schedule.  My husband is going to do an amazing job learning, teaching, and being with the kids.  A job he's been doing all along, but now he's getting the time he's been missing with our three little souls.

What he won’t do?  Remember to make the bed.  I know, not a major flaw to most.  I’ll just a deep breath and accept that things are Changing.

Happy New Year!

Christmas tree keeping us cheerful as it drops it's needles on the deck (rather than the living room)!  Yes, I'm aware that it's wonky...3 hours and five opinions later I decided we'll never go to a "Cut Your Own" Christmas Tree farm again!  Especially since we ended up with the wonkiest tree on the farm...I think by hour number 3 we were just desperate!

Oh yeah, we lost water and the well guys came through deep snow to save us!  Fascinating!  Yet, expensive :(