Today's Poem

Snail
by Maxine Kumin

No one writes a letter to the snail.
He does not have a mailbox for his mail.
He does not have a bathtub or a rug.
There's no one in his house that he can hug.
There isn't any room when he's inside.

And yet they say the snail is satisfied.


We liked this one and wanted to share.

Confession

Homeschooling, house cleaning and hygiene...can they all get along?

We wear pajamas until 11:00 sometimes.  I won't say how long I stayed in PJs yesterday.   I will say I got dressed.  Before dark.  I think homeschooling has something to do with it.  I like the privilege getting more cosy and comfortable in my clothes, but I think Paul Bunyan's relatives are trying to kidnap me and maybe that's not a good thing.  "Wear flannel, buy a mountain retreat," they whisper.  Is this my new mantra?   I think I'm on day seven of the ponytail.  

I'm not going down that easy.

I just cut a deal with Zoë.  We can do the pajama deal every other week, but she has to be dressed for the day before noon and the same goes with me.  I do not want to sacrifice the rite of dressing, cleaning up, etc.  no more than I want a messy house.    It is as important as keeping my surrounding clean and uncluttered.    I know it's just me and Zoë many days so it's easy to go casual, but there's a fine line between casual and unkempt.  

Homeschooling, house cleaning and hygiene:   Shake and be nice to each other.



Classroom update:

Zoe and Lenny.  Oliver is in hiding.

We welcome Lenny and Butterscotch, our new guinea pigs, to Finucane Elementary.

Correction on the name Butterscotch.  Zoë has changed his name to Oliver (as in Oliver Twist).

Happy New Year and we love you, Norman Rockwell.

We're off to a slow start at Finucane Elementary this week, but I think it's safe to say neither one of us really mind that much.   For Zoë, she's simply tired and having difficulty getting back to our routine after Christmas break.  She stayed up late and slept in almost everyday.  And I did the same.  Sleep is such a welcome, but often neglected friend so I relished the opportunity to catch up on some of it.

The break also gave me some time to reflect on our schedule and make some changes.  For starters,  I decided to cut back our time at the Learning Arbor Cooperative this semester and opted for Gym/Game day with the Cary Homeschoolers at Middlecreek Elementary.   There was a conflict, so one had to go.  Truth be told,  I'm still learning to balance our family life now that homeschooling is in the equation.   The coop requires the parents teach the classes.  Maybe next year, but definitely not ready to add more to the pot.

On that note, I signed Zoë up for a girl's Science Club.  Now THAT is way cool.  She went to her first meeting yesterday.  It's a two-hour class taught by a retired professor from UNC.   Just eight girls and they'll spend every Monday from now until May working together.  Zoë was once again, smiling ear to ear after the class.  That's when I know I did right.  I'm also happy because I get a  two hour window to catch up on my reading and writing.  I went to the Cameron Village Regional Library, about three miles away.   There's a coffee shop and Wifi.  Perfect.

I'm tired as I write this.  It was supposed to be about our field trip to the NC Museum of Art today.    The docent handed Zoë a piece of paper and asked her to draw a stick figure of the above painting.   I love that painting.  She told the kids that Norman Rockwell started drawing at a very early age.  He drew his hands.  If you can draw your hand really well, then you're on to something.  I'm going to try that out, but I'm thinking  it will still look like the ones I traced in school and turned into turkeys.  Zoë, on the other hand, nailed it.

Dinner....oops.   Hungry children await.