Midyear = first blog post

Woohoo!

The blog efforts take a backseat to all other efforts, natch. The boys and I have been and still are working through all the nuances of being home together all day every day; we have a certain amount of work we HAVE to do, and a certain amount of playing to get in, and scheduled activities and classes. We mainly go with the flow. Since last November the flow has dictated that I concentrate on the boys' happiness and fulfillment first, my schoolwork second, freelance work after that, and then housework and bills (sorry, honey). My health issues have ebbed and flowed as well, keeping me under the weather sometimes and lifting other times, but I am nowhere near as productive as I used to be. Looking on the bright side, exercise and sleep help a lot when I am fighting one of my low periods.

I made it through my fourth semester of grad school and pulled As. I have been working hard, but was still worried that I was going to pull it out. I have finally made it through all of my in-class work and can concentrate on graduation in December. I am going to TA and work on my "Culminating Experience," which is the school's term for the effort I spend on my thesis, exam, or project. I am opting for the exam.

The boys are doing wonderfully; we belonged to a charter school this year that caters to homeschool families. We chafed a little bit under the state requirements but when it comes right down to it the state's expectations are LOWER than ours and the boys had no problem showing competency in the required subjects without compromising our philosophy about child-directed learning. Their imagination and creative energy still drive our daily activities, with moderate detours into enforced math and writing. Everything else comes naturally into our learning cycle.

So, with summer I get a reprieve from the weight of my schoolwork and will be more inclined to write about our homeschooling life. The boys are both having fun with scouting, martial arts, music (Adon plays drums) dance (Zander is learning hip-hop), and lots of other stuff. LEGO still figures heavily into our daily life. We fly model rockets, do origami, make our own plush creations (monsters, mostly), and do whatever else comes to mind!