Britt was sharing his love for Allison Krause and all things bluegrass today with Ruth. He was sure to point out each "ben-jo", "tar-tar", "till tar-tar", "will tar-tar" and "be bass". (That being interrepted would be each banjo, guitar, steel guitar or dobro, mandolin or what Britt thinks is a little guitar, and a big bass.)
4:43 PM
No random thoughts
Ruth,
Momma has been slacking so this is a few days overdue, but you are now 7 months old! You have mastered sitting up on your own, and have figured out how to fall forward on to your hands and get your feet behind you, sometimes you just sit like that and rock, while watching Britt as if you are about to take off after him. I suppose one of these days you just might.
For two months now your teeth have been here one day and gone the next. I can't always see them, but I can usually feel them. We started you on baby food this month. At first you weren't sure what to do with the Rice cereal but in no time, you were sucking it off the spoon and now you are getting more and more down. You liked the Rice cereal alright, and you liked it even better when we started adding prune juice to it. You don't seem to care for the oatmeal or carrots as much though. Today, Daddy tried some squash for you, and you seemed to like it pretty well. We've also been trying to give you a sippy cup some, and for the most part you let it all run out of your mouth, it'll just take some more practice for you to get the hang of it. As soon as I collect a few more jars, I'm going to start making your food like I did for Britt.
Since starting on baby food you sleep through the night every night from about 11 till we wake you up between 7 and 8 to feed you. It has been such a relief to get a little more sleep out of you, especially since Britt is waking up all hours of the night now. You really don't have much of a routine, and that's Momma's fault. Each day looks so very different, and every weekend we seem to be traveling somewhere, but you don't appear any worse for wear. You are still content to go and do whatever, whenever as long as you are held alot and getting plenty of attention, once again a real relief since anything out of the ordinary seems to upset Britt's routine these days.
You haven't been quiet as talkative over the last few months, but I think it's because you appear to be concentrating on figuring out how to move around. Once last week you even managed to move both of your hands as if to crawl before you lost your balance and down you fell again on your stomach.
You still are a very smiley child, laughing most at Britt, but you seem to prefer Julia to all of your cousins. You and her seem to have some understanding, that leaves me and your Aunt Heather a little worried what mischief the two of you will be getting into in a couple of years. Momma and Daddy love you very much, and hope you retain that sunny disposition.
Love,
Momma
3:28 PM
No random thoughts
Last night I filled this year's quota for cooking supper. See around our house, Gary does all the cooking. He's a great cook, and what's more he loves to cook and experiment in the kitchen. Me on the other hand, I really hate cooking. Most of food doesn't turn out very good, I don't like to experiment and even when things turn out well, I can't really enjoy cooking when it means you spend a couple of hours prepping and cooking a meal that takes 20 mins to eat.
Yesterday though, I cooked supper. We had Eggplant - Chicken Parmigian. Something I've been wanting to eat for a while, and it didn't turn out too bad, it takes way to long to have very often. Not to mention you have to pan fry the eggplant and the chicken, and I really hate frying anything on the stove. Then we had Rosemary bread and Italian salsa. I wanted to make Crusty French Bread, but maybe next week, since we found someone selling fresh bread at the farmer's market this week. Gary thought the rosemary was too strong in it, but I thought it went really well with the salsa, that was the highlight of the meal. Of course after the fact Gary informed me that he doesn't like eggplant. I think we are down to only two vegetables that we both like - brocoli and green beans.
Another amusing highlight for the night was giving Britt a cup without a lid. He found more uses for that cup and the 2 Tablespoons of water that were in it than I would have imagined possible. He drank and blew bubbles in it. He proceeded to put his chicken in it, stir, declare "I coo-k", and then pull it out and eat the water logged chicken. (Have I mentioned just how strange I find the little boy to be?)
8:38 AM
No random thoughts
The next thing that Mrs. Rivero suggests in her book, “The Homeschooling Option: How to Decide When It’s Right for Your Family” is to lay out your concerns and fears about homeschooling. This way you can look at the pros and cons and decide if you think you can over come the obstacles or not, and if the decision is worth it for your family.
Do I know enough to teach my child? While, I’ve been through college and took some education classes, and have always planned to teach, I still have this doubt. I planned to teach high school history, I don’t have the foggiest idea about how you would teach a child to read. I don’t really even remember learning to read, I’ve just been doing it, seemingly, forever. While, Gary is more draw to the initial benefits of homeschooling, I am more interested in the benefits for high school aged kids. As a result, I wonder how in the world am I suppose to be able to provide my children with adequate math and science skills? It’s been awhile since I did that, and I never was able to teach myself math. While I did well in it, I mostly attribute that to Daddy’s patience and Mr. Henderson’s skill as a teacher. I still didn’t like the subject and I’m not sure how much I’ve retained. I strongly believe that in this day and age you need a good foundation in science, math, and computer skills to get a good job. I feel this is especially important for boys if they have a desire to be the sole provider for their household. While I know there are homeschooling groups and co-ops out there is it wrong for me to consider homeschooling knowing that I can’t provide a chemistry lab?
Finances are my biggest concern for me. I’ve told Gary if we were to do this I would want to do it right. If you can’t go to any of the places you are studying about, then you might as well do the public school thing and get your 3 or 4 field trips a year. When we study the civil war, lets then head up to see my folks, and take a day trip over to Shiloh. Oh when we are doing biology lets go out to one of the gazillion nature reserves or state parks around us. If we go the curriculum route, you are looking at anywhere from $300 to $1000 a year per child. I don’t know what job Gary might get, but I know that it won’t make that possible. Even if I build my own curriculum, borrow extensively from a library, and buy books second hand, it’s a real expense. If we can’t afford to give our kids a great education, I think it would be far better to put them in the school system, and supplement that at home, the way my parents did for us.
I wonder too if my kids will respect me as a teacher, when I am also Momma. Once again, from my own experience, while I asked Mother once to homeschool me, I don’t think it would have ever worked. We didn’t have much mutual respect, especially on my part. And I don’t see how you can learn from someone that you won’t listen to. I mean seriously, the kids drive me crazy now. Imagine how crazy I’ll be after homeschooling several for 12+ years.
I know I shouldn’t care, if it’s the right decision, but I can’t help but wonder what my parents and grandparents will think. As I’ve mentioned before, we are a seriously strong public school family. And while I loved going to school in many respects, and I’m not making any statement about they way I was raised, my homeschooling parents say that their parents felt like their decision to homeschool was a slap in the face, criticizing the way they raised their children. I’m sure they will be disappointed at least or think that I’m crazy and shortchanging their grandkids future. And I can’t blame them for that, I wonder it as well. Will they really be prepared for college? What if I completely end up screwing up their future? What happens if Britt is bright and interested in nuclear physics and astronomy, and when he leaves home to pursue those dreams, I’ve failed to provide a good enough base in math and science for him to reach those goals. What if I rob him of the chance to do something truly great with his life, go to the moon, and bring Grumps back a moon rock? I know if we were to start and realize that for us it’s a mistake that they could then be tested and enrolled in public school, but what if I don’t find out it’s been a mistake until Britt is 20 and can’t make a go of it in college?
On another level, I wonder if homeschooling would be robbing my child of some of the joys of childhood. Going to buy that brand new Strawberry Shortcake book bag before kindergarten, and I still remember picking out that purple Beauty and the Beast lunch box before second grade. I remember my epic fail in second grade of spelling face “f-a-s-e” that year in the spelling bee. I remember going to my first football game in 2nd or 3rd grade and being all decked out in black and gold. What about in 4th grade when we all rode the school bus down to Montgomery to spend the day at the state capital with my best friends and those teachers I adored. I remember having silent lunch several times because our class wouldn’t behave so me and Brock made up stories, and then talked about the stories on the playground, and drew the characters. What about the spirit stick and pep rallies, and homecoming in high school? What about the junior/senior prom? There were a lot of moments that I wouldn’t want to relive about high school, but there were a lot of good times too. Is what we would gain from homeschooling worth what they lose in a public school?
The final downside is personal. I want to teach, I’ve always wanted to teach. While this would give me that ability to do some teaching since Gary strongly prefers me to be a stay at home mom, what I really want to do is finish my masters and get my doctorate and teach and research as a college professor. If we homeschool, I can’t think about going back to school when the kids get into school. And I doubt that after they are grown that I can think about having a real career. Instead, I would be spending a lot of time and effort to do something myself that could be done just as well through the public school system. Quite frankly I don’t know that I want to do this.
2:52 PM
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random thoughts
Britt, as you all know by now, loves sticks, and leaves, and dirt. I understand this to be characteristic of all little boys, but I've never seen one quiet so fascinated as he is to just sit up to an hour in one place digging and examining each leave, stick and acorn that he comes across. He came running to show me a "stick leaf acorn" or an acorn that had begun to germinate the other day. It had sent up a shoot which had produced one tiny leaf, only to be mowed up by a weed-eater. He was very excited, and carried it around in one hand while he found other sticks to bring to me.
So needless to say Britt who is delighted to explore the great outdoors loves this large grassy lawn on campus. However, this past week he did more than just examine sticks. He sat right by the sidewalk so that each and every girl that walked by he could stop and smile at. In the course of the hour that we were there LOTS of girls walked by. Three of the girls had red hair and Britt not only gave them a smile, but said "Heeeeeey" or "Hi-deeeeey" and of course all three had to stop and talk to him. Another day a girl came by and dropped a book, and Britt ran to get it and give it to her. He then thought he needed to walk along side of her, until she passed the point that he doesn't get to cross. He stood there and waved, and said, "bye-bye gurl, bye-bye."
Meanwhile, Ruth and I get a good kick out of sitting on our blanket and watching Britt roam. We almost always sit in the same place which has a sidewalk on all 4 sides which Britt knows not to cross. Out of habit I always have a book in the diaper bag, but I never get to read. I'm always worried that Britt is going to take off after someone. Since Gary's class is between 11:40 and 12:40 there are always tons of kids coming through with lunch, and of course Britt has tried to beg for "fwish fwies" (french fries) on more than one occasion. You would think we never feed the boy the way he begs for those things. It's always a really nice day though, to get out of the house, watch Britt play, and then walk around campus with Gary, and to think it's all free - well, if you don't count the tuition.
7:49 AM
No random thoughts
Hello everyone, Momma has finally decided that I am old enough to blog. I won't be writing every week because we have so much to do, but I will from time to time post on Wednesdays, after all someone has to set things straight that Britt messes up on Tuesdays. Like yesterday, he failed to tell you the whole story about the beach. For example, I was having a nice time on the blanket watching everything, and Momma was trying to read her book, but she kept having to run after him, until finally she gave up and carried us all in the house. I mean come on, why was I punished for his bad behavior?
Anyway, I have more exciting news to share than that. I'm getting to eat real food. Infact, I'm eating while Momma types for me. It works great, I just tell her what I want it to say, and she types it up, just like she helps Daddy out by typing his papers. Well, I'm about ready for my afternoon nap, so I'll leave you with some video. I wasn't really sure what I thought about that rice cereal at first, but now I've decided it's just fine if that means I get to sit up at the table with everyone else at supper time.
1:36 PM
No random thoughts
This past weekend I went to the beach. I didn't go all by myself though. Daddy drove me and Momma and Ruth down on Friday. Then he helped "Gren-dy" (Granddaddy) Garland work on the beach house, while Momma took me and Ruth out in the sand and the water. I played in the sand just a little and then the waves washed over my feet and it was so cold, that I ran screaming all the way back to the house. I was telling them that no one in their right mind goes to the beach in February, but Momma said that she doesn't understand me, that I should learn to speak English. On Saturday, I went back out, but only because Me-Maw brought me some friends to get into trouble with. Me-Maw and Moot (Mister) brought Lilli, "Ju-Ju" (Julia), and "Bwy-le" (Brystal). We had all sorts of fun running all over the beach and climbing on the wall. We kept making Mister take us down to the water, and we all brought buckets of water back to dump in the sand. I didn't want to get the waves to touch me at all, but I loved it when Mister dumped water all over me. In fact, he was using a big bucket to fill up everyone's little bucket, and I kept running up to him and making him spill it all over me. The only thing funnier, is when Brystal snuck up behind him and threw that really cold salt water all over his back. I sure wish Me-Maw had caught that on film. We had a good time.
3:10 PM
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