The past couple of weeks...

For someone who's supposed to be using this blog as a record of our home schooling journey, I really need to post more often. *L*

So what's been going on in the couple of weeks since I last posted?

The biggest thing first, I guess.  Raider King has moved in with us, so we're now a family of five.  We can only offer him a couch, but by gosh, it's a comfortable couch! ;-)  He's got a full time job and is saving his pennies to get his own (shared) place, hopefully by the end of November.  At least that's his goal.  He's more than welcome to stay with us longer, if needs be. 

Eldest had her first job interview.  She showed up a bit early, only to be told they'd phoned to reschedule for an hour and a half later.  Except she never got the call.  She had her cell phone with her, and there were no missed calls, nor was there any message on the home phone when we got back, so I don't know what happened there.  She's not too impressed with herself over the interview, but we find out next week if she's got the job or not.  Getting a first job from a first resume drop off and first interview would be quite the thing.  Raider King dropped off more than 70 resumes before he got any calls, and for the job he did get, he took full advantage of their desperation for staff. *L*  So we'll see how that works out.  There's time.

Youngest, after saving up her allowance and birthday money for almost a year, finally bought herself an acoustic guitar.  In fact, after trying different ones, she was able to get a guitar and soft case (with back-pack straps), with money left over.  She was planning to figure out how to play on her own, but things didn't work out as expected, so we'll be looking into lessons for her.  I was really happy with the store we bought it from, and the salesman that helped us . I'd made a point of telling her she didn't have to get the first one that caught her eye, and that we could look in different stores, take time to think about it, etc.  What had me convinced that this store was the right place to buy from was then the guy started listing the lifetime care they give to any guitar they sell.  There's an automatic one year warranty with every sale, but they will also do free tuning, neck adjustments, string changes, and so on, for the lifetime of the guitar.  Then, when we started asking about picks (we made a point of telling him from the start that we knew nothing about guitars), he ended up giving Youngest one each of all the different types of picks they carried.  Picks don't cost a lot, but we're still looking at about $10 in free picks.  Then he tuned the guitar, polished it, and showed her how to place it in the case, putting the neck support where it belonged for her in the process. 

She was so happy! :-)

Ah, well.  I tried.  Time to stop writing.  Dh is waiting his turn on the computer. *L*

I'll catch up again later.

 

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1.03.01

I could get used to this

My, how things change.

It wasn't that long ago when having kids meant lots of hustle, bustle, noise and business.  Sometimes, it still does.  Now, however, the girls are older and so much more independent.  As I write this, they've walked to the library and I expect they'll go for a coffee or something afterwards.  Maybe wander around in the mall nearby, or just go for a walk.  Eldest has her cell phone, so I can reach them if i need to.  Otherwise, I only have a general idea of where they are right now, and that's just fine with me.

Dh is home from work/working from home today.  His back is acting up again, but he's mobile enough that he can long onto his office computer from the work laptop at home and actually get things done - at least until he can't sit anymore.  The muscle relaxants he takes to control the spasms also make him loops and sleepy, so he's now napping.  Later on, he'll be back "at work" from home. 

Which means that, right now, there is almost total silence in the house.  Even the cats are napping. 

I could get used to this!

Okay, so it won't last long.  I need to start supper soon, Dh will be getting up and the girls will be coming home, and we'll be back to the hustle and bustle.  I'm okay with that, too.  Still, I'm becoming increasingly aware that it won't be too much longer before it's just Dh and me.  Eldest is on the hunt for a job (she had an interview next week, and I have every confidence that she'll be accepted for the position).  Raider King has a job, too, so if things work out for them, it won't be too much longer before they start looking for an apartment to share.  Youngest has a few more years, yet, but when the time comes, I know she'll be well prepared for independent living.

Which means we'll be looking at an empty nest before very long.  *sigh* 

I'm going to miss them, but they're going to be just fine.

I'm so proud of my girls. 

At long last... a library list

Our library days have been touch and go for the last while, with too many things taking precedent.  We've been managing to get back into them again.  Eldest in particular has been going more often, as it's where Raider King's bus stop is, and he's as much a bibliophile as she is. :-D 

So here's a look at some of the stuff we've got right now (though Eldest did return a bunch of stuff today while picking up her holds).

Film & Video Budgets:  Eldest got this one, as she and Raider King are planning to make a video.

Semantic Antics - How and Why Words Change Meaning: One of Eldest's choices, and quite interestings food for discussion.  Did you know, for example, that the word "meat" used to mean all foods, not just animal flesh? 

Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis: one of many dvd's Eldest has been taking out and watching with Raider King.

Argumentaion - The Study of Effective Reasoning: This is one of those course lectures on cd.  Another she just returned was Creating Humans - Ethical Questions Where Reproduction and Science Collide.  This is what Eldest listens to while playing WoW in the mornings.

Damp Squid - The English Language Laid Bare
Seeing Salvation: images of Christ in Art
The Arts of China

The above three are also Eldest's choices, though I don't know that she's have much chance to look at them yet.  Some more recent additions to her pile are:

Leonardo's Lost Robots
Maybe I'm Dreaming (cd)
Ocean Eyes (cd)
Castle in the Sky (dvd)
Princess Mononoke (dvd)
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (dvd)
Paprika (dvd)
Them (dvd)
Fallen Angels (cd)
Robinson Crusoe on Mars (dvd)
The History of the English Language (cd set of lectures, part 1)


Youngest has finally started to take more stuff out again, mostly with dvds.  Here are her current selections.

books:
The Annotated Brothers Grimm :  She's taken this one out a few times now.
The Saga of the Volsungs - The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer
Sundays With Vlad - from Pennsylvania to Transylvania, One Man's Quest to Live in the World of the Undead (we've actually taken that one out several times)

dvds:
The Professionals
Nothing to Lose
Midsomer Murders - set twelve
Get Carter
Agatha Christie, Miss Marple, Series 4 Volumes 1 (Pocket Full of Rye) and 2 (Murder is Easy)

As for myself, I got tired of going through the craft section and only seeing books I've taken out several times already.  Instead, I went searching and put a bunch of stuff on hold.  This is what's come in so far.

Sexy Little Knits - Chic Designs to Knit and Crochet:  I'm afraid we got this more for amusement then anything else.  Like the fuzzy underpants with caterpillar thingies on the butt.

Party Crochet - 24 Hot Designs to get you in the Party Mood:  This one I've actually taken out before, but quite a long time ago.  I wanted to revisit it.  There isn't much I'd actually make in there, but I do like almost all of the designs.

Lost Crafts - Rediscovering Traditional Skills.  I'm actually kind of disappointed with this one.  I'm always on the look out for new crafts to learn, and picking up older, traditional crafts greatly interests me.  The title is a bit of a misnomer. I'd never thought of "farming" as a craft before, nor did I expect things like stone walls.  It's interesting, but you're not going to actually learn how to do many of the crafts and skills from it.  Not enough information, I found.

Glorious Crocheted Sweaters.  This one was a pleasant surprise!  While I'm not to keen on some of the patterns and colours, it's got more to do with my personal preference for solids and textures over multi-colours in funky shapes and patterns. 

The Simple Art of Japanese Temari - 45 Traditional and Contemporary Designs.  There aren't a lot of temari books in the library system, so I was glad to find this slender book.  I'm thinking I need to start doing temari again.  It's quite fun.

The French Chef 2.  I actually found this one by accident.  I've recently read Julie Child's My Life in France and really enjoyed it.  Of course, I've heard plenty about her show, but had never actually seen it before.  What a hoot!  It would never make it on the air today, and that's a shame.  We could use more geese trussed with knitting needles, suckling pigs closed up with 2 inch finishing nails, giant hunks of swordfish below a mallet, cleaver and hacksaw wielding Julie Child, and demonstrations on how to flay a duck and using the skin to make a pate.  Gosh, what fun to watch!  I think I'm going to renew it, as I've yet to watch the 3rd disc.  Then I want to find out how many other sets are in the series and put them on hold.

Scared Sacred - Unwrap the Darkness, Reveal the Light.  This one piqued my interest when the description talked about how people turn sites of mass tragedy into sacred spaces.  It was filmed over 5 years, in the middle of which 9/11 happened.  Considering recent controversies about the "Ground Zero Mosque" and people mocking those who oppose it for considering the space sacred, I thought it worth checking out.  I watched about half of it before I had to stop it to do something else, and I've got no desire to go back to it.  The topic is interesting, but the narration of the guy who did it was driving me nuts.  The video wasn't about the any of these sacred places and the horrors that happened there.  It was all about him and his personal, self-indulgent journey.  I didn't want to hear how these places make *him* feel or what *he* thinks about them. What little he covered about these places and the people affected by them still managed to be more about him then about them.  Totally self-aborbed and annoying. 

Well, I think I've got most of what we have right now listed.  I'm pretty sure I've missed a few things, though.

Oh, well.  Tomorrow is library day.  It's probably all going to change, anyhow.

A quick catch up

It's been a while since I've updated here, but it's not for lack of activity.  Unfortunately, I've only got about a 20 minute window to write.  I figure I'd better do it now, because I don't know when I'll get 20 uninterrupted minutes again next. LOL

The biggest change for us lately is that Eldest's best friend, the Raider King, has moved back to our city.  He's 18 now and can live where he wants, and this is where he's chosen to be.  He's living with another friend while he looks for a job.  Eldest is job hunting with him.  At the same time, they've been taking every chance they can to spend time together.  As I write this, they are exploring our river valley, where Eldest is taking still photos that will be used for a stop motion movie she's working on.  She has to get them done before the seasons change too far.  They've also put together the post-apocalyptic costumes they've been working on for the past (three?) years and gone out in public.  It's been a hoot.  The reactions have been interesting.  Mostly, it's people avoiding looking at them at all.  The reactions from children have been overwhelmingly positive.  One guy driving by in a car yelled out "nice mask, fa***t" at Raider King (who's costume includes a real gas mask), then actually turned his car around so he could drive by and yell the same thing again.

Perhaps most amusing of all is the number of people approaching them for mundane things, like asking directions, or striking up conversations.  Totally unexpected.

With the new school year kicking in, we need to put together an education plan for the girls.  For Eldest, this is going to involve preparing her for independent living; putting together a resume, applying for jobs, and eventually getting her own apartment (she and Raider King plan to share an apartment to cut costs), and all the things that she'll need to know to live on her own and support herself. *sigh*  This will be on top of her usual studies, which she is in complete control of.  The variety of subject matter and the depth of her research is far greater than anything I would have come up with, so I just let her do her thing in those regards.

Youngest is getting restless.  She wants to go into mechanics of some kind, but I don't know how to facilitate that yet.  We're also going to be looking at riding lessons for her, but that'll just be one month of lessons, not the whole year.  We're also looking into the possibility of her taking one of the online courses available through our school board, on one of her favorite topics, Fables and Fairy tales.  I still need to look into that.

However, my 20 minutes is up.  Time to let Youngest have the computer while I start on supper.

(Not) Back to School

Well, it's official.  At least it is for most of the local schools.  The kiddies are back in school - just in time for the long weekend.  Actually, at least one local school started their year over a week before anyone else. 

For us, it was our annual Not Back to School Picnic.  While other kids were getting up early, backing their bags and heading for the classroom, we headed out to a park, pita wedges and hummus in tow (both store bought), where we met up with a whole bunch of other families.  Everyone brought snacks to share; store bought cookies and home made, fresh fruit and raw veggie trays to brownies and peanut butter squares, and plenty more.  The kids ran around, climbing trees, using the play structures and checking out the huge jackrabbit that paid us a visit.  The ground hog seems to be done, though, the opening to its den now blocked by a burdock plant.

My own kids were among those visiting the riverbank and came back with thoroughly muddy boots.  Youngest got mud up to her knees.  Today she spent her time scraping off the dried mud, washing, the spit shining her boots.  Both my kids enjoy polishing their boots, but Eldest is keeping hers muddy for now, in keeping with a costume she's working on.

Our focus for this year is going to be different than any other.  Eldest's best friend has moved back to the city, and they've been having a blast.  They're both working on costumes and plan to do a film.  They're also both job hunting, and eventually plan to share an apartment, since that's about the only way anyone just starting out can afford one out here.  *sigh* 

Youngest wants to go into mechanics this year, but I'm at a loss as to how to go about that.  Hopefully we can find something for her.  Meanwhile, if her goal to be a mechanic doesn't pan out, there's still her back up plan of becoming a singer. She's still got a few years to work things out, though.

It should be interesting to see how things work out this year.