in pursuit of wild things

I went to church this morning. The people were so very kind and I’ve never experienced sweeter hospitality at any other church. Sadly, there were very few children and not one adult near my or my husband’s age. So many people practically begged us to come back and I felt really guilty knowing that we likely would not. My husband and I would be perfectly happy there but the children…not so much. The choir was cool and managed to sing “Sing and Shout Praises” in a manner that brought Oompa Loompas (the classic ones) to mind.

Middle Boy went to church this evening with his friend up the street. He had a blast riding a mechanical bull. When I asked him about his evening he said, “It was awesome! It flung me way off the first time. But I got right back on. My body hurts everywhere but only a little bit.” He then described the rest of his

evening and the pulled pork dinner.

There you have it. Sunday’s in the Bluegrass. Anything can happen from Oompa Loopma choirs to mechanical bulls.

Friday night my husband took me to see Taj Mahal. I had no idea what to expect or even knew anything about Taj Mahal. (I love the song Queen Bee which I’ve just linked for you.) I had a blast. My husband is the only person to ever take me to concerts and really ever expose me to American music cultural roots. My husband is always teaching me new things. Some days I just cannot believe he chose me because I just feel so…plain…ignorant…I’m not sure. I lack any sort of sophistication and cultural awareness next to him. I cannot figure out the word I am looking for. Anyway, I did really want a Queen Bee t-shirt and he got one for me. I wore my new t-shirt at the grocery store this weekend. While selecting

jalapeno peppers an older gentleman pointed at me and said, “You must be all-right.” So, for a whole millisecond I was almost cool. I credit the t-shirt.

Homeschool life zipped along smoothly this week. The neighborhood kiddos were on fall break so I cut our classes by and hour so the kids could play with their friends. We did finish up the first (of three) essay writing lessons from Blackbird and Company which I love, love, love. Oldest will continue with the next two books but the middle two are just not ready yet. Sparkles will be moving on to Writing With Skill from Dr. Bauer and Middle Boy will be using Writer’s in Residence. Writing and math are two subjects that I consider worth the work of individualizing for each child. More work for me but the best for me crew.

Oldest is using literature suggestions from Beautiful Feet Books this year. Though they are primarily our history curriculum they give lots of literature selections (and sometimes movies)

that correspond with the historical era we are studying. Oldest came to me and begged to not have to finish Hawethorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”. I told him if he could write a reasonable plea on the reasons why he should not have to read this book then I would consider the option. He wrote an impassioned page and a quarter on why this book is a classic and why I should exempt him from reading it. I had no idea that my oldest son was so offended by gossip and that was what turned him off of this book. I gave him permission to put it on the shelf. He was so shocked that I gave his opinion weight. I think he expected me to tell him to read the book anyway. This week I will have him read the Spark Notes online just so he has working knowledge of the book.

Littlest morphed into a little philosopher this week. Sometimes I wonder about this kid. Sometimes he sits on the stool in the kitchen when I am cooking. The stool is next to the refrigerator and the calendar resides by the stool. While I chopped vegetables Littlest discussed that calendar with me. He told me that even if tomorrow arrives the day is always “today”. Tomorrow never is right now. We can talk about tomorrow and yesterday but for us it is always today. Littlest is only five. But sometimes I wonder what happened to my little boy when he morphs into Little Buddha. I just hugged his little face and told him that if this is really the only moment that we have together, right here-right now, then I am going to cover him in kisses. So, I kissed my little philosopher all over his face until he laughed. Homeschooling seems like a major undertaking in those moments…