She got a blue ribbon!

Ga'Hoole Girl entered the 4H Clothing Revue for the first time this year. She modeled an outfit that she put together for her Consumer Savvy project and won a blue ribbon - her first 4H blue ribbon!! She bought her skirt and blouse from Goodwill here in town (total of $11). She accessorized with jewelry and shoes that she already owned. Then, she added a hat "that has been in the family for several years", which is translated "was Mom's a long time ago and has been in the dress-up box for as long as I can remember"! The only other person in her group was one of her best friends, J. J had purchased a lovely purple dress. Both girls were awarded blue ribbons. We were so excited!

Summer is pretty busy around here. Wild Man is taking swimming lessons every morning. He objected at first, but has gotten a little more motivated now that he has friends who all swim out in the deep water. We go to the pool a couple of times a week, and Wild Man usually finds a couple of guys that he knows from baseball or summer school. Speaking of which, baseball continues to go well for him. He is really improving both his hitting and his fielding. He often plays infield (first or second base or shortstop) which makes him happy.

Ga'Hoole girl finishes summer school this week. She has really enjoyed her three weeks. I was really worried when she came home one day and said that she needed to know exponents for the next day. I was concerned that she isn't far enough along in math (you know, the whole "am I teaching enough?" that homeschooling moms deal with). But, Mr. Math Teacher taught her exponents that night in about 20 minutes. And, a couple of days later, Ga'Hoole Girl came home and said that she was the only one in her class who could really do fractions. So, it appears that she may not have been exposed to everything yet, but she knows what she knows very well.

Ga'Hoole Girl is also taking an art class this summer. It is taught by the husband of one of her previous dance teachers out at their studio (dance upstairs and art downstairs). So far, they have done figure drawing. This week, they will do still life. Next week, they will probably do landscapes. It is really good for her to be working with a real artist. She is signed up for painting and drawing for the Fair in August, so I hope that she either does a project that she can enter in the Fair or learns something new that she can use when she does her project.

We are still doing some school this summer. The deal is that we do "real school" on the weeks that we don't have other things going, like summer school or piano camp or the Fair. Wild Man has been just doing reading and math. Ga'Hoole Girl will be doing grammar and math next week. I think we'll get back to Sonlight in August, although I'll probably not add in all their subjects until after the Fair. Ga'Hoole Girl plans to sew as well as do art for the Fair (and show her cat). I think I have found a grammar book that will work well for her. It is Easy Grammar Plus. Ga'Hoole Girl enjoyed doing Daily Grams, and this is by the same author. I don't have her just doing Daily Grams, though, because there are things that she still hasn't learned. This way, she will get a comprehensive grammar course over the next couple of years.

We have lots of great homeschooling moments around here. Last night, Wild Man and I were cooking spaghetti sauce. I cooked the meat and drained off the liquid, which was water and oil. So, we had a discussion of oil and water and that they don't mix. Ga'Hoole Girl was in the other room and provided some additional info when asked. We colored some water blue and tried to mix oil with it so he could see that they didn't mix and that the oil is less dense than the water. Then, we weighed a cup of water and then a cup of oil. There is not a huge amount of difference in weight, but there is a little bit, so Wild Man could really see that they have different densities. We haven't discussed the difference between weight and mass, but we did discuss density. Tonight, we talked about how meditating on God's Word is like chewing on it. The kids had a lot of fun with that analogy, and I think they got it.

I have also been thinking some about how the hardest things about homeschooling are also the best parts of homeschooling. I am trying to teach Ga'Hoole Girl about persistence right now - sticking with a project until it is done. This, of course, leads to conflict between us. But, working through the conflict is strengthening our relationship. If I just sent her off to school, we would lose that valuable opportunity. Wild Man has some issues with boredom this summer. So, we play a few games together. But, the rest of the time, he and I have to work out how much of his boredom I am going to try to relieve and how much he has to deal with on his own. And, if he gets too bored, I have all kinds of work to be done around the house ;-) When all is said and done, getting through the hard stuff is the best thing for all of us. So, I'm glad that we're sticking with it right now. (This is not to say that school may not be the right option at some point, but right now homeschooling is working for us on many levels.)

"You are not a bad mother; you are a barking lunatic!" Spoken by Hugh Grant in the movie "About a Boy". The movie is OK, but that line still makes me laugh. I stress occasionally about whether or not I'm a good mother, but at least I'm not a complete lunatic. Mr. Math Teacher says, though, that he has to come up with other ways to encourage me; every time he says, "You are not a bad mother", I'm going to think he means, "you are a barking lunatic"!

I've been doing lots of reading lately, but I'll post reviews and comments about them later. I'm working my way through Desiring God by John Piper right now. It is not a really easy book, but I think it will be worth it. One of the interesting things is that Piper is a pretty strong Calvinist. We were in a Reformed Church back when we got married, but have since been in Evangelical churches. I'm still thinking about Calvinism. According to Al Mohler, the Southern Baptist tenets are based on the Westminster Catechism - I didn't know that. I thought that Southern Baptist tended a little more toward the Arminian view of things. More on all this later. I'm enjoying reading Piper's stuff right now.