Due to my lack of wireless internet in the house, my blog and all other aspects of my internet life have faded into the background, which has been, shockingly, somewhat of a non-issue (other than not knowing Patrick Swayze died on Monday). I have been enjoying the lack of temptation to spend time online while knowing I should be focusing on other activities, and have also gotten a lot of great reading done!
So much to report, and yet, barely any time to do it. I have about 40 minutes here at the computer lab to accomplish several activities. Just filled out my FAFSA form to get financial aid for school next semester~~have decided to go ahead and do my Bioethics and Statistics classes to get them out of the way, as my clinical training for nursing school will be starting no later than next September.
Alex has decided to seek an apprenticeship on "The Slope," which is what we Alaskans say when refering to the Pipeline out in Prudhoe Bay. We are both very excited, and he has a meeting tomorrow with an advisor who's going to help him get his foot in the door. That's all I know so far...it takes about four years to get through an apprenticeship but you get paid adequately and end up with a very useful vocation at the end of it all.
The kids and I continue to move forward with week 5 of homeschooling. I asked them yesterday how they thought school is going and what would help them in the learning process. Their answers were very thoughtful. Zoya said it's hard to do poetry memorization without her own copy of the poem we are learning. She wants to be able to read along and also read it on her own time to time. So I am going to sit down with them this week and we will make those poetry scrapbooks I intended to do with them but hadn't started yet. Will probably go ahead and copy our future poems as well so they're ready as we get to them. So far, we have memorized "Rain" by Robert Louis Stevenson and "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear. Our new piece is Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd..."). Zoya's response to me was one of those "duh" moments for me as their mother. Of course this would help them. :P
Psalm said he'd rather pray the Rosary than do math. :)
Wolf wants to play more games such as Monopoly and so on.
I found each piece of their feedback to be useful. I want to remember to ask them periodically, as just like us grown-ups, they think about their experiences and consider better options and possibilities.
As much as yesterday kicked my butt (stress, etc), I ended the day (picking up the downstairs, as always) feeling gratitude that: Zoya read the entire Madeline anthology on her own; Psalm came down and prayed the Rosary with me last night; and Wolfgang earned his reward for memorizing "The Owl and the Pussycat," a real test of perseverence for him (he didn't like the process after a short while). It helps to remember these types of successes because we have had a lot of financial stress and it is easy to get wrapped up in the feelings of "wouldn't life be better if only..."
I have come to greatly appreciate the memorization work in the Mother of Divine Grace curriculum. Not only is it deeply acquainting my children with vigorous, unique and intriguing language and language patterns; it is helping us all learn better discipline and perseverence. they are each working hard and wanting each other to succeed also.
That's it for now. Wish I could put some pictures online but that will have to wait until another day. God bless you all!
