Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Bridges, Plans, and Basements

I may be able to finish this up today and then be caught up for a few days. That would be good, because this week isn't getting any less busy as it progresses.

Last night Will and I had an all-evening orientation at The Network in Des Moines. It's a homeschool co-op and this will be our first year of participating. I'm kind of excited about it. Will is just taking a writing class, but if it goes well this year, I may have him take something else next year. In the first session we attended the teachers all introduced themselves and explained a little bit about what subject they teach. A couple caught my attention. Will had a stinky attitude at the beginning of the evening. He has told me repeatedly that he already knows how to write and doesn't need to attend a class to learn how. I beg to differ. So, after the first session I asked him if he would be interested in adding any other classes to his schedule for this year. It would be a stretch, financially, but I'd be willing to do it for him. He looked at me as though I had suggested public castration. Ok, maybe not! But, by the end of the whole evening and after the second session, Will commented that he might be willing to take the computer programming class they offered. He doesn't want to do it this year because it would mean a 2 hr wait between classes, but it's something he's willing to consider for next year. He then commented that if they offered any meteorology or astronomy classes, he'd take those in a heartbeat. They don't; I'm going to have to find some other sources for him on those.

I came away from the meeting with a new perspective, too. For awhile now, I've had thoughts regarding homeschooling. I wonder how a homeschooler is supposed to make the leap to college life. I mean, I'm sure they will excel, academically, but my guess is that most would be weak in areas like time scheduling, note taking, deadlines. and just learning to work for somebody other than Mom. How does a parent begin to prepare their high schooler for college in those areas? They very clearly stated last night that the Network is designed to be a bridge between homeschooling and college life. I think I'm going to like this! They offer so much, too - drama, speech, all the basic subjects, chem labs, Bible, creative writing, etc. If I had the money, I could keep Will busy there all day long!

Well, we have yet another injury to blame on the basement project. Paul broke his pinky toe last Friday. He was carrying an antique jack up the ladder, when the middle fell out and landed on his toe - fully encased in a work boot, no less. It looks like a giant blueberry now (his toe does).

And, thanks to the ongoing project, I now have no downstairs bathroom. Paul disconnected the water to that room so now we are stuck using the upstairs 3/4 bath. This is not fun. It's a tiny room and there's no bathtub! I had to cart all my necessary supplies up there. I can barely turn around. Ugh - not happy! So, for that reason alone, this job must be hurried!

We rented a dirt elevator last weekend and some guys from church came over and helped, but it didn't get all done. So now we have to rent the elevator again for this Sat and hopefully the rest of the dirt will be gone. I was planning to go to Waterloo this weekend, but I called my mom today and said I thought I'd better stick around here. I felt guilty last weekend running off to Council Bluffs when Paul had all that to do. Not guilty enough not to go, but somewhat guilty, anyway!

Sunday we went to Pizza Hut for lunch and as we walked to our table, this older lady called out and asked, "Where did your boys get that curly hair?" I ended up sitting down with this couple and mostly listened to the lady. Boy, could she talk! But she was delightful to listen to - telling me all about her children, her babysitting, her grandchildren, her church, her house, and so on. As they were getting ready to leave her husband actually thanked me for sitting down with them. He said that most people run away from his chatty wife and it's the rare person that will take the time to listen to her. Kind of a different experience! But I really didn't mind doing it.

I'm caught up! I'm having my friend Gina and her boys over tomorrow so I need to do some cooking and cleaning. Thursday I am taking a meal to Jenny and her family (Jenny is the mother of Rebekah, whom I have mentioned. Rebekah is doing fairly well, but she is now in a care facility - actually at the same place where Ben gets respite care. Hopefully, hopefully, she'll be able to come home soon. She's almost 4 months old now). Friday evening Paul and I are working our church association booth at the Iowa State Fair (indoors, in air conditioning, thankfully). And then Sat. will be a big day for working under the house again. Busy days! One day next week we are planning to take the boys to Adventureland, so we'll have some fun in there, too.

Back to work for this tired mom...

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