Elemental Meridian

No, my daughter is not in the hospital and I’m sorry if you found this post while looking for ways to educate an ill child. I wish you all the best.

This post is about my mom being hospitalized and how much time we’ve been spending there, yes, including my 10 year old daughter. There’s no one else to keep her, nowhere else for her go on most days. So she’s with me learning about bacterial infections, dementia, getting old, pooping yourself and how to handle it when you’re in a room with a person who has and how to deal with it. She’s learning to cut up hospital food and feed her grandmother. She’s learning that 3 Equals is not too much sweetener (in spite of 10 years of indoctrination into the ‘if it’s not real food, don’t eat it camp).

The kid is a champ. She plays with her grandmother. She moves her flowers and balloons so that they can be best viewed from the bed.

Already one of the most empathetic children I’ve ever known, Martina is learning even more about what it is to care for someone and she’s getting it.

’nuff said.

We spent 3 days in London over the summer. We also did some other interesting things but one of the most fun was the day Martina and I spent on our own, touring the Tower, Platform 9 3/4 and Diagon Alley (or, Cecil Court).

Sadly, they are doing renos on the metro at St Pancras and Kings Cross, so we couldn’t get down to the actual platform where the train is embedded in the wall. We had to make due with this, on the sidewalk out front.

This was so cool we had to go back the next day and actually purchase things from the Witch Ball and from the bookstore.

Martina got Harry Potter MONEY from this store. It’s awesome. Unspendable but awesome.

I’ve been MIA for a while, particularly from this blog. In fact, I was thinking I might be finished with blogging. It’s something you have to do because you enjoy it, at least that’s why I do it. It’s not about fame and fortune but about sharing what we’re up to in our homeschool and sometimes, our family life and I don’t care about becoming famous. What I do care about is recording a few things for my kids to look back on and hopefully sharing some useful tidbit here and there for those of you who are also parenting and/or swimming along in the homeschooling currents with us. Maybe I’m not quite done after all.

This year Martina (and yes, I called her Minerva for a while thanks to a few creepers but I just can’t do it anymore) will be in 4th grade. We are moving away from a Waldorf focus, though not completely. What’s working for us right now is doing a lot of reading aloud in the mornings, music after lunch, then math and science, then hand work while we listen to audiobooks. Our days are fuller than they were and that’s part of advancing through the grades. I try not to answer the telephone until we are finished and often ignore my needy husband when he shows up in the midst of read-aloud time. We really do need to stay on-task this year.

In short, I’m feeling the pressure! Martina does well on the annual standardized tests required by state law each year and I want her to have that back-pat each summer. Regardless of my lack of enthusiasm for hoop-jumping, it is what it is: validation.

What are we reading aloud? So far our topics to cover are these: Vikings; the Middle Ages; English; Math; Science; Handwork; History; Nature Study; Foreign Language; Poetry; Local Geography; Zoology; Norse Mythology. Sounds like a lot, eh? But I’m not finished! We have a co-op where I teach and the Martian attends classes. I will be teaching Beowulf for Middle Grades and Norse Mythology for little people. My child will be in: Beowulf!; Girl Scouts; Celtic Choir and; Creative Gaming. Then there are the extra-curriculars! Piano; Ukelele; Recorder; dance; horseback riding; 4H.

Whew! It sounds like an awful lot and I think parents with school kids have a gigantic load what with school, homework and then soccer and PTA? Why do I think that? Oh yeah, I did it for a long time…yes, Kindy through a UNC degree for my eldest. I can’t see that either way is easier, except in specific ways that are so different they don’t even merit addressing. Parenting and schooling a child are work and no matter how you it, it’s hard and rewarding and wonderful.

Links for specific tomes are in the sidebar, listed by Grade Level and Subject.

Well, for one thing *someone* turned 10. This someone insists that she cannot be called a ‘double digit migit’ because she’s way too tall for that. And so she is.

We took her out to a Japanese Steak House with all of our closest kin. Two big brothers, one big sister, one big-brother’s-girlfriend and one, much older cousin (well, a year and seven months older cousin…). And we meant to go for Mexican but thanks to a hurricane that knocked power out for many people, the mexican restaurants were all packed and had waits that rival tickets lines for the Rolling Stones. So we spent more and waited less.

The onion volcano!

It was a nice time and while the sleepover was cancelled due to the arrival of Irene, how many people get a hurricane for their birthday?