in pursuit of wild things

Monday night the younger three dressed up and went trick-or-treating with their Dad through the neighborhood. The evening was unusually warm so Oldest and I sat outside and passed out candy to the two dozen or so kiddos that came a begging. Fortunately for me there were no scary characters and mostly just little Star Wars cuties. My friend Mary called toward the end of the evening because she needed me to “talk her through a panic attack”.  I’m not sure why she calls me to talk her through these emotional firestorms since she does most of the speaking. I just listen but I guess that is the point. She just needs someone to hear her, accept her and not attempt to fix her thinking.

I finished the novel Dinner with Buddha this week, which I loved. I enjoy travel themed novels and spirituality and this book combined both topics. I am hoping to pick up some more books by the author at the library. We were supposed to go today but I forgot. I woke up a bit frazzled this morning because of the time change. Littlest had already climbed in bed with us super early and was asking to play video games. Then, before I was fully awake I was treating Oldest for a bunny bite. His finger bled a bit but not in the copious amounts he described to me. By the time I remembered that I had wanted to go to the library it had already opened and closed for the day.

We spent part of today exploring the creek. Since it hasn’t rained in a while we were able to explore further along the edge than in the past. I hadn’t been down to the creek since early summer because of my allergies. The creek is a peaceful place to me. I love sitting on the edge and just listening to the birds and flow of the water. Today the sun really sparkles on the water and I tried my best to capture the brilliance of the light and shining colors.

Littlest read The Cat in the Hat this week and wrote his first book review. I should say he dictated his first book review. I write his words for him. He did write the title and then sign his

work. But since reading a book to me and then giving me his opinion on the book was a new part of his education he had to cry about it for nearly an hour. I was really frustrated with him and in past years I would not have been as patient. When he was calm enough to talk we discussed that education requires new experiences and changes as the student learns. I promised him that I would not ask him to do a task that he was not capable of undertaking. He is a clever little guy but changes in routine just tear him apart. He was all smiles by the time he worked on his first book review.

Sparkles finally decided to sleep in most of this week. She also wasn’t as sick this week as the past couple of weeks. I think her body just needs more rest in order to cope with the illness and general growth needs. I’ve also been encouraging her to eat healthier foods and go for walks. I always encourage her

to rest if she feels bad and do not push her to get her school work done. Despite how bad she feels she generally manages to get her work done most of the time.

Middle Boy is just wide open and nutty…a normal nine year old boy. He started and finished Charlotte’s Web this week, which for him is a record. He usually takes at least two or three weeks to finish a book.

Oldest is still learning to manage his work load but is doing fine academically. He completely forgot to do any of his grammar and spent today completing his lessons while I worked on lesson plans.

My husband and Oldest left on Friday evening to check on the house in western Kentucky. I have trouble sleeping when my husband is away. I kept myself busy on Saturday writing a resume. I’ve decided to apply for a writing coach position with Brave

Writer. I haven’t written a resume since 2002 for a business managerial reports course. Business writing and creative writing are worlds apart. I spent a bit of time looking for my old resume but realized that it would be useless in applying for a position with Brave Writer. Most of the articles I read recommended ways to hide the stay at home mothering years. I also could not find anything on how to document homeschooling on a resume. I ended up creating my own format and chose to highlight the mothering and homeschooling years and writing experiences. I am nervous about it but felt that tailoring a resume specifically to this position was more beneficial than a traditional format. Creating the resume was hard. Selecting some of my writing for submission is even harder. I hate everything I write. I spent a few hours looking through some of my old posts but everything seemed terribly flawed to me. I am so tempted to just let my fears and self doubts win. But I chose “brave” as my focus word this year. What is meant to be will be.

read alouds this week

Littlest fell asleep after getting up really early one day this week

My husband and Oldest off to western KY.

our neighbor hung out with me in the school room while I graded papers

sun sparkles

Middle Boy preparing meals for people in Haiti