To Play for Love

We've been putting it off for years.  Just the thought of having to sit in the bleachers enduring wind, rain, and the Texas heat makes my head hurt.  Because once this whole charade starts, it might not end for another 20 years or so.  And the idea of sacrificing 20 years of family life to a sport makes my stomach churn.  That said, I was prepared to go for it this year.  I was prepared to let my oldest son finally sign up for t-ball.

T-ball in Texas has become a ridiculous obsession for parents. Starting at 3 yrs old, little boys are treated like teenagers as they endure multiple nights of practices and games, try-outs and drafts, and all-star games and "world series."  It's both amusing and disgusting at the same time to watch parents turn America's favorite pastime into a career for their toddler.  Why in the world would any parent think their child has college or MLB potential when their child is only 4? 

It occurred to us that our desire to not burn out our son could be to his detriment at some point.  For example, we discovered that because of his birthday, this might be his last spring of eligibility for t-ball.  Thus by making him wait to play ball, we would be forcing him to skip that entire step of baseball.  Upon this discovery, Mr. Wonderful started searching for the least life-invasive little league around.  We agreed that Boy Wonder (who was hitting just fine without a tee at 2 or 3 yrs old) could finally sign up for baseball.  We marked the sign-up on our schedule and planned to commit our Saturdays during March and April to ballgames.

But then something happened. My son discovered a new sport.  Grandma and Grandpa gave him a tennis racket for Christmas and signed him up for tennis lessons at the rec center.  And he fell in love. It's mind-blowing that a 5 year old would be obsessed with such a grown-up-like sport, but Boy Wonder insists that he would rather play tennis than any other sport.  He has assured us that tennis is his game.  He was very adamant that he doesn't need to play baseball.  He informed us that if he needs to, he can always play that sport later!

And Hallelujah!  Our rec center has little kid tennis classes INSIDE the gym during the winter.  Not only that, but we found a coach who decided that both of our boys should get to learn the sport together.  (Who knew that our 3 yr old could volley so well?) I'm not saying that I have a world class doubles team in my house right now who will someday achieve a world ranking.  (I'm not that parent.)  But my boys are getting to enjoy playing a sport together.  We have found a sport that my son can play because he WANTS to.  Ah, "to play for love," such an appropriate definition out of the tennis history books. 

Even Baby G loves tennis lessons.  Today I even caught her placing balls on the face of the racket as if she were going to do drills with the boys.  Who knows, we might have a prodigy yet? 

I Wanted to Bathe in Purell

I can't believe that I haven't written a blog post since Valentine's Day!  My intentions were good in this regard, but somehow, I didn't think you'd want to hear what was on my mind last week.  Let me sum it up in a few words.  All I could think about last week was this:  "I want to bathe in Purell."

If you haven't already noticed, people tend to blog about what consumes their lives--unless they're totally fakey bloggers who want you to think they live gorgeous lives in their perfectly labeled and colorful DIY houses.  Anyway, if I had blogged last week you would have rolled your eyes.  It would have been like reading a blog post from a new mommy who just can't help blogging about her child's diapering and nursing habits.  It would have been one of those posts that would have left you going TMI (too much information!).

So to put it really simply, last week I was playing nurse in my own house.  A child started losing control of disgusting body functions on Monday evening, and on Friday night, said child and both siblings were still sick.  It was pure grossness.  I have no idea how many loads of laundry I washed or how many paper towels I used up last week, but I do know that I've had to buy new hand soap dispensers for my entire house because we used up so much soap.  Like I said, so gross.  And I'm serious that you should be glad that I didn't blog about it.

For all intents and purposes, last week was like our "lost week" for the year, because I don't remember much about it and I pretty much stayed within our 4 walls for the better part of the week. Thankfully the weather was awesome and we were able to air out the house all weekend with a pleasant indoor/outdoor living experience.  And, in spite of the aggressive virus raging in the house,  somehow Mr. Wonderful and I survived unscathed. The Lord did have mercy!

Poor Boy Wonder missed out on museum school and tennis last week, but amazingly, we didn't get behind in kindergarten!  Of course, I was able to adjust our lessons this week to make-up for the few phonics pages that didn't get done.  But, because we're doing school at Boy Wonder's pace (which is 2-10 weeks ahead of the recommended pace), I discovered that it's not a big deal to take a few sick days.  How cool is that?!

Anyway, I hope you all survive your last day of February unscathed.  And for your sake, I hope the nasty viral strain doesn't make it your way.  And sorry Grandma--the kids didn't mean to get you sick!

Valentine Greetings

Nothing says Happy Valentine's Day like a beautiful sun-shiny Friday full of cards, chocolates, flowers, and stuffed animals.  Hope your Valentine's Day is wonderful!

Going Off the Curriculum Script

Usually mummies aren't in kindergarten curriculum.  But since this mommy decided to start out our school experience with world history (Jr. High level is totally manageable to a kindergartner!), we've managed to get ourselves into Ancient Egypt already.  Tuesday's history lesson turned out to be the story of Khufu (aka Cheops) who constructed The Great Pyramid. This lesson gave us a detailed account of how a mummy was preserved and buried.  Thankfully, when we told Grandma we were studying Egypt, she had the foresight to send us home with a picture book that beautifully illustrated the mummification process.  And then, because the cable geniuses knew I was teaching Egyptian history--the History Channel aired a 2 hour documentary on The Lost Pyramid on Tuesday. This pyramid was supposedly built by the son of the Khufu--even though the pyramid no longer exists.  How timely was that?

I wish I could take credit for endless of hours of preparation that resulted in literature, lessons, and video documentaries of Ancient Egyptian burial practices that coordinated together well, but I cannot.  It just kind of happened.  And my son loved it! (He also loved learning the song, Pharaoh, Pharoah.)  I'm starting to get comfortable with the idea of going off-script with our schoolwork.  Sure, we still work through Phonics and Mathematics and the dreaded Copybook lessons, but we're also experiencing science and history and enrichment lessons in unique ways. The resources for this off-scripting really seem to be endless.

In addition to the recommended subjects per the State of Texas and Memoria Press, and in addition to junior high world history, I've also added missionary studies to our kindergarten curriculum. Each week we're reading through missionary biographies.  We've started our reading with the Christian Heroes: Then and Now series.  Since there are more than 40 books in this series, and since we're only reading a chapter or two a week, I'm confident that this will keep us engaged for awhile.  We've started this series out-of-order with the Nate Saint book, and my son is 100% engaged and excited about reading the stories of the pilot, World War II soldier, and missionary.  Plus, I love reading to my kids about how the missionaries trusted in God and could see his handiwork in their lives.

Originally, the idea of going off-script with schoolwork was a little intimidating.  I mean, how do I know if I'm going to miss something?  What happens if the subject matter ends up being too hard? Here's my theory: if my son is ready to study a subject, we should do it.  Then, when this subject shows up again in the recommended scope and sequence, we can re-learn or refresh ourselves on the subject matter.  Thus, we won't miss out on anything critical, but we will be able to accommodate the interests of our kids and will be able to capitalize on this interest while it's there. Plus, teaching what I like makes mommy happy.  And a happy mommy is always good!

A Happy Phenomenon

 

If you ever want to be surrounded by happy women, go hang out with homeschool mommies.  It's the strangest thing, but the other homeschool mommies I meet absolutely love what they do.  Sure, they're probably exhausted from being around children all the time.  But the moms I've met genuinely love homeschooling.  (I'm sure there are some unhappy women who are being forced to home educate, but I haven't encountered any in my little sphere of existence yet.)

I honestly thought the "we love homeschooling" comments that I would receive from other mommies was a ploy to get other people to suffer right alongside them.  Don't they say that misery loves company?  I always thought that these comments were the same as the comments I used to get from people who live in Houston who claimed that Houston is the greatest place ever--it might be great if you've never lived anywhere else!  But no.  I'm finding that the enthusiasm and joy is actually real.  There's something infectious and fun about being a homeschool mommy.

I wish I could tell you why people love keeping their children home and managing their educational experiences.  The entire process seems like such a burdensome and overwhelming experience.  You would think that mommies would feel trapped by the constant responsibilities attached to homeschooling.  It seems so daunting to have to handle every aspect of a child's existence.  And yet even though mommies often feel insecure, not qualified enough, and are just flat-out exhausted with life, it seems that many homeschool mommies wouldn't change their chosen occupation if they had the chance! 

Is it that only happy mommies pursue homeschooling?  Or is it that homeschooling makes mommies happy?  Or is it that it's just completely awesome to go to work in your pajamas?  Who knows? Homeschooling sure comes with its share of headaches and challenges, but it also seems to make many mommies happy.