in pursuit of wild things

Motherhood is full of wonderful moments…life-changing beautiful moments. Nothing compares to holding your child for the first time, the first tentative smile, first steps and words. Motherhood is a privileged witness to triumphant moments from the first precious moments of life…but there is a sharper side as well. Over the years I’ve come to treasure those wonderful firsts for each of my children because, on the other side of those firsts are lasts. I didn’t pay much attention to the lasts with my children in the early years of motherhood. Maybe I was too exhausted. Some of those lasts moments slip by without notice…the last time they drank from a sippy cup or quit sneaking into bed with us during the night. I’m more watchful of last moments now. They are quiet reminders of impending

independence. On Saturday Oldest rode in his car seat for the last time. We didn’t realize it until we cleaned up the van the next day. I expected him to still need his booster seat when testing him without it…but he did not. I snapped a picture of his grown up moment. I cried…he’s a little less boy and a little more grown.

The ice-cream truck (a van actually) came up to our drive-way this weekend. They know where we live now!! Today, I showed the kids they could get a whole box of fudge pops for the price of just one from the truck. They were not as impressed as I had hoped.

This week we attended a birthday party for a sweet little friend. She didn’t want any presents for her sixth birthday…just quarters to donate to a children’s charity. I enjoyed visiting with homeschool families I hadn’t met before and dear friends I hadn’t seen in ages. Oldest decided to play with the birthday girl’s little brother (the same age as Littlest) so her mom “could host the party without worrying about him”. He took on the task without anyone asking and I decided not to point out that the little fella’s dad was also doing the same…

This week is the end of our first (of five) term of the 2014-15 school year! We are also a few days ahead of schedule in all of our subjects…except math. We will not be on grade level in math until January. The kids wanted to celebrate completing their first term with ice cream after school is finished for the day. They also want to order a pizza but they haven’t talked me into it yet.

Today Littlest (who is only three) informed me that 7-4=3. I was a bit shocked he could tell that but he does hear math drills everyday. I asked him if he could tell me 7-3. He told me I was big enough to know the answer and didn’t have to tell me. Then he skipped off laughing like a little mad man. I’m pretty sure we can just skip Kindergarten and I’m beginning to worry he’ll get kicked out of pre-school…

History and science lessons ended up in the same time period this week for the middle two. Oldest is still studying ancient Egypt for history but he reads their history text (Story of the world vol. 3) on his own time. This week we (I never heard of it either) are learning about the Thirty Year’s War and Blaise Paschal. Christianity is a central them in both narratives. The kids are struggling to understand the animosity between Catholicism and Protestantism. They want a clear good guy and bad guy…and there isn’t one. I added the book “A Piece of the Mountain” about Blaise Paschal to our

science study because I wanted the kids to be aware that science and religion do not have to oppose one another. Paschal accepted Christ as an adult and the book covers his struggles with faith as well as his scientific brilliance. So far it is their favorite book in our science studies. This weekend they will finish their labs on Galileo with their dad (so happy he does the labs with the crew) and then move on to Sir Isaac Newton next week.

Linking up with: Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

candy dump and sort

the moon on Halloween night