HomeSchooling
That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not alone and isolated from anyone. You belong. - F. Scott Fitzgerald
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what did you learn today?
“Did you learn anything at school today?” someone recently asked my second grader. The second grader who is my student. The second grader that I taught that very day. The second grader that I hope learned something from my teaching. “No,” Scout replied. Inside, I cringed a little. (Or maybe a lot.) This isn’t the first time this has happened. And I am always anxious to step in and justify. Explain. Yes – you did, I want to offer. Remember learning about shadows? And the book you read all by yourself and the two sentences you wrote correctly and the picture you drew to go along with it? Remember history,…
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Sometimes Being A Parent Makes You Say Bizarre Things
Kevin said the silliest thing the other day. He was sitting at his desk (read: an old kitchen table set up in our bedroom) and looking through the doorway at Piper Finn and London. He sighed. And that’s when Crazy exited his mouth. “Man, Lacey. We need to have some more kids.” I am sure I gasped. Dropped something. And suffered a neck injury as my head spun off my shoulders. “Whuh?” Yes. That is the sound most closely resembling the noise I made. “WHY?” I asked incredulously. (Obviously incredulously. I mean – come on. More kids? We have six of them already.) “Just look at them. They’re growing up…
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about fragility, bravery, a girl and a horse.
I want to tell you a story about perhaps the most frightening parenting moment of my life and the bravest kid I know. We went to a horse farm for a field trip last week. The farm was tidy and organized and smelled of hay and dirt and horse manure and sky and life and my childhood. The kids admired the miniature horses, the black ram and the albino horse that is not allowed to soak up the sunshine for fear of his skin burning. We had been at the farm for maybe fifteen minutes. The instructor asked us to stand in the breezeway while she prepared our handsome steed,…
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don’t buy juice this month.
We have those weeks at our house. Like everyone else I assume. Weeks where the grocery budget has been spent and we end up eating tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (at an estimated cost of less than 80 cents per family member) or tuna casserole (a throwback from the quick, easy, low cost dishes of my childhood). I cut coupons and am currently trying my hand at the whole CVS game. And I’m not doing it because I like spending several hours huddled over newspaper ads or searching websites for great deals. I’m cutting coupons and planning low cost meals for the same reason everyone else is doing it.…
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let the school year commence
Today. It’s the first day of the 2010-2011 school year here at our home. And this year the School of Keigley has a record number of students. Three. A second grader. A first grader. And a kindergarten student. (Not to mention that we also manage and maintain a very elite preschool and a rather crème de la crème nursery as well. So sorry – all vacancies are filled.) Ahh – the new school year. The books we cannot gather locally are ordered from our school’s personal suppliers- a.k.a. Barnes & Noble and Amazon. The classroom has been tidied. (Read: the kitchen counters are cleared and the sunroom table is free…
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a good way to spend a day
It’s a long walk (especially if your legs are only about two feet tall). And carrying your baby brother only adds to the heavy load. But the hike is always worth the effort when we reach the top and stand in front of one my favorite local spots. Connemara. The home of poet and writer Carl Sandburg. I just love this place. I like the rooms that are teeming with books that Sandburg touched, read and studied. I love the view from this house and smile just thinking about the poet sitting in his chair on the rocks being inspired by the same image. I love remembering that I actually…
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poor.
Over the course of today I had the following series of conversations with my son Bergen. (He’s five, you know.) At The Breakfast Table. We sang a song we like to sing every morning after we eat breakfast. (It’s a song I was reminded of many months ago by my sweet friend Rachael.) And it’s a song I have been trying to claim as our family’s anthem. Pure & Holy Passion. I don’t know if I can even imagine a sound more lovely than the voices of my young children singing those true and simple lyrics together of an early morn. Berg loves the song. He grins while we sing…
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happiness. wisdom.
At the end of this school year it seems that London’s reading skills have finally taken off. She reads everything. All the time. Beckett wore a shirt that had an arrow and said “He did it”. London cracked up and whispered to me, “Mom, I think Beck’s shirt is perfect because it says he did it. And he probably did.” There was a sign hanging in Sally’s laundry nook. “Hey Mommy,” London announced. “I think this sign might be wrong. It says ‘farm’ then ‘dairy’ but it probably should read ‘dairy farm’.” And forget spelling any secrets out loud any longer. “What? It’s bed time?” Or “Hey everybody –…
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I Can & I Can’t. I Will & I Won’t.
Dear My Children, I can’t or I won’t pay the full cost of your first car. Your father and I probably won’t be footing the bill for your entire college education. The latest fashions at Abercrombie (or fill-in-blank-overpriced-popular-store-at-your-appropriate-age) won’t be paid for out of my debit card. I might not be able to afford one hundred percent locally grown, organic foods from the Whole Foods market for every meal. I can’t promise to answer “yes” to every question of “Can I?” that you will inevitably present to me. You will have opportunities that you will have to miss. Parties you will not be allowed to attend. You will hear the…
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Revisiting the River
And while I’m talking about the river. (DuPont State Forest – in the mountains of North Carolina. Worth the drive.) Here’s what we like about rivers, streams, creeks and flowing water in general. Wilder’s first ever experience walking in a stream. He liked it. He showed no fear. And he showed no concept of slick rocks and quick moving water, either. (That’s my boy! Here we go, son. Round Two for the Keigleys I guess.) Sticking the Nalgene bottle in the stream to keep it cool. Country refrigeration. (And this bottle glows in the dark. Which makes it even cooler. Bergen believes that having the bottle sit in…
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Location, Location, Location
They are right. Those cliche writers are right. Those real estate gurus know what they are talking about. It’s all about location, location, location. Today I served my kids a hodge podge, mostly boring though basically nutritious, type of lunch. But here’s the thing. They loved it. They devoured it. They thanked me for my offerings, meager though they were. They said everything was delicious. They asked for more. Literally, among six children, there was not even one complaint. And listen . . . . here’s what was on the menu. Peanut butter crackers. Raisins. Bananas. Applesauce. Grape juice. That is it. No fancy cups. We didn’t even have plates.…
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Summer time . . . and the livin’ is easy
It’s true around here. Summer time . . . and the livin’ is easy. A little too easy, actually. A lot too easy in fact. Remember our schedule? I think I forgot that it served a purpose. A really good purpose. I am okay with summer. I like it, in fact. A big fan, really. We all need a little summer. But as for our family, maybe we have been letting summer have us a little too much. I’ve been letting it all slide. I forgot to fix eggs for breakfast for the last three Wednesdays. Which is not at all serious. I know. Eggs are not the issue. (They…
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And This Is Why I Really Homeschool . . . . And How I Mess Up . . . . And How I Try To Do Better
This photo is bad. Just too much sun, bad timing. All that. But even its awfulness, I think it’s pretty cute. Because it still reveals a certain aspect of my kids. And isn’t life like that? Real. Funny in its irony. Joy in the failures. It’s what my life really looks like some days every day. And it’s what our school – the school at our house – looks like too. I have written about this before. Homeschool. The highs. The lows. And all that in between. Today I have the opportunity to write about it a little more over on this blog. Thanks for checking it out.
