(no subject)
Feb. 13th, 2011 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geminigirlThis makes me kind of sad. Not so much for the error, but because of the lack of clue. And you can probably figure out which comment is mine without much effort, too.
I am contemplating taking on a Super Sekrit project. If you are 1. a friend and 2. a supporter of midwifery and 3. Good at grant finding or grant writing, and are willing to give me some assistance, let me know please, and I can e-mail, IM, Facebook Message or Facebook Chat with you?
Naomi seems to be smitten with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladysmith's son. We spent Tuesday evening with them at a science program for the kids, and at dinner, they pretty much insisted on sitting next to each other. When we were getting ready to leave, Naomi got a kiss from him. (Her very first!) And a valentine from him too. Yesterday we'd planned on going to see a puppet show for Arts Fest, but it was sold out. We'd been playing in the play area outside the theater while we waited and we let the kids play while we figured out what to do instead. When we grown ups had settled on a plan, Naomi refused to leave the play area, and then we told her she could hold hands with him while we walked. And the smile on her face when that happened was beautiful. It's a lot of fun to watch the two of them together. I have a picture of them from dinner on Tuesday night, ladysmith has one of them holding hands yesterday, and we're all generally enjoying it, I think. I mean, it's nice that we parents all have fun together, but to see our kids getting along so nicely is bonus. Naomi has been asking when she gets to see her buddy again too-I think it will be hard for her to wait two whole weeks until their next playdate.
Naomi and I baked blueberry muffins together for the first time today. It was fun for both of us, though she really needs a proper step stool for the kitchen and I may decide to get a plastic measuring cup for her to pour with until I feel more confident in her ability to not drop my glass ones, but it was, all in all, a positive experience.
Life goes forward here. I'm looking at a new laptop, we're thinking about a new desktop computer for the kids-Naomi is old enough to want to mess with the computers, and I think she'll be less frustrated/more successful at doing for herself on a desktop, plus of course, the fragile laptop issue.
We've kind of decided to table the house issue for now-our house isn't right for us, but considering the housing market right now and the fact that we haven't decided at all what the plans for school for the kids are, it doesn't make much sense to move. If we opt not to homeschool, and we go through a charter or magnet program, it may influence where we decide to live. I do know that I won't be as willing to compromise on some things next time...the kitchen in this house makes me miserable and grouchy far too often.
And we're gearing up to look at nursery programs for Naomi. She needs more academic activity than I can really give her and more social activity than we can manage and still take care of Miriam and other responsibilities. So we'll look at a year or two of school-a year in nursery school (preschool) and a year in pre-K for her, hopefully Florida will still have VPK when she goes. And some time in the next year or two, we'll decide how we want to start school when she's school aged...if my Super Sekrit Project pans out, I may not be able to homeschool effectively, and I'm okay with that as long as we can find the right options. We've got a couple of good charter programs here-one downtown, one that's brand new (Montessori charter) and a bit south of us, but not unreasonably far. We've got good magnet opportunities, in particular we're interested in a foreign language magnet program. And our neighborhood school is pretty good at least for the early grades. So we're not without options. Although I'm pretty sure my Dad would ave my head if I didn't try and teach the kids to read myself if they're ready. Dad (who teaches at the high school level) is horrified by the skill level in reading and math that they come to him with. He teaches at a magnet high school for health professions and some of the math that was in the textbook I looked at when I was up there a few months ago was stuff I was doing in grade 6. And their reading comprehension isn't really any better. He's reluctant to encourage me to homeschool because of the additional committment to providing sufficient and appropriate social environments, and I can understand that-one of our concerns about homeschooling around here is the tremendous religious influence-while there are secular homeschoolers, it's a lot more limited than it would be if we were still living up north. And we don't know if it's right for us anyway-Naomi is well suited to a Montessori classroom, especially a true, multi-age Montessori classroom, and is very focused on mastery of a skill, but refusing to show it off until she's mastered it. And I need to choose what works well for her. For now that means offering as much play based learning as possible. I think next weekend, for example, one of our tasks might be to make a collage so we can learn about using glue. Big decisions ahead nonetheless.
I haven't talked much about Miriam. She's trying very hard to keep up with big sister. She's starting to climb independently now-I often find her on Naomi's step stool in the bathroom, but she can't get down on her own. She's starting signing (finally) and today someone asked me where she learned to use a fork. She's fighting me on being worn these days-I wore her for a while on Tuesday night though, when we were at the science program-I don't know if she was doing it because she was overtired or because she didn't want to be worn. She's really finding a balance between her independence and her clinginess-she's much more attached to me than Naomi was, and it's interesting to watch, though I'm still trying to learn how to parent her. I find my level of frustration so much higher with her than with Naomi due to the neediness, and I don't always like how I respond to her, but I'm working on it.
Tomorrow I think the girls and I are joining some other kids and Moms for a trip to a horse barn to see the horses. I'm not sure how my girls will take to that, but we'll try.
It's Sunday night. We had a nice dinner (with leftovers planned for use in another meal this week,) the kids are sleeping, and I'm going to enjoy the rest of my evening.
I am contemplating taking on a Super Sekrit project. If you are 1. a friend and 2. a supporter of midwifery and 3. Good at grant finding or grant writing, and are willing to give me some assistance, let me know please, and I can e-mail, IM, Facebook Message or Facebook Chat with you?
Naomi seems to be smitten with
ladysmith's son. We spent Tuesday evening with them at a science program for the kids, and at dinner, they pretty much insisted on sitting next to each other. When we were getting ready to leave, Naomi got a kiss from him. (Her very first!) And a valentine from him too. Yesterday we'd planned on going to see a puppet show for Arts Fest, but it was sold out. We'd been playing in the play area outside the theater while we waited and we let the kids play while we figured out what to do instead. When we grown ups had settled on a plan, Naomi refused to leave the play area, and then we told her she could hold hands with him while we walked. And the smile on her face when that happened was beautiful. It's a lot of fun to watch the two of them together. I have a picture of them from dinner on Tuesday night, ladysmith has one of them holding hands yesterday, and we're all generally enjoying it, I think. I mean, it's nice that we parents all have fun together, but to see our kids getting along so nicely is bonus. Naomi has been asking when she gets to see her buddy again too-I think it will be hard for her to wait two whole weeks until their next playdate. Naomi and I baked blueberry muffins together for the first time today. It was fun for both of us, though she really needs a proper step stool for the kitchen and I may decide to get a plastic measuring cup for her to pour with until I feel more confident in her ability to not drop my glass ones, but it was, all in all, a positive experience.
Life goes forward here. I'm looking at a new laptop, we're thinking about a new desktop computer for the kids-Naomi is old enough to want to mess with the computers, and I think she'll be less frustrated/more successful at doing for herself on a desktop, plus of course, the fragile laptop issue.
We've kind of decided to table the house issue for now-our house isn't right for us, but considering the housing market right now and the fact that we haven't decided at all what the plans for school for the kids are, it doesn't make much sense to move. If we opt not to homeschool, and we go through a charter or magnet program, it may influence where we decide to live. I do know that I won't be as willing to compromise on some things next time...the kitchen in this house makes me miserable and grouchy far too often.
And we're gearing up to look at nursery programs for Naomi. She needs more academic activity than I can really give her and more social activity than we can manage and still take care of Miriam and other responsibilities. So we'll look at a year or two of school-a year in nursery school (preschool) and a year in pre-K for her, hopefully Florida will still have VPK when she goes. And some time in the next year or two, we'll decide how we want to start school when she's school aged...if my Super Sekrit Project pans out, I may not be able to homeschool effectively, and I'm okay with that as long as we can find the right options. We've got a couple of good charter programs here-one downtown, one that's brand new (Montessori charter) and a bit south of us, but not unreasonably far. We've got good magnet opportunities, in particular we're interested in a foreign language magnet program. And our neighborhood school is pretty good at least for the early grades. So we're not without options. Although I'm pretty sure my Dad would ave my head if I didn't try and teach the kids to read myself if they're ready. Dad (who teaches at the high school level) is horrified by the skill level in reading and math that they come to him with. He teaches at a magnet high school for health professions and some of the math that was in the textbook I looked at when I was up there a few months ago was stuff I was doing in grade 6. And their reading comprehension isn't really any better. He's reluctant to encourage me to homeschool because of the additional committment to providing sufficient and appropriate social environments, and I can understand that-one of our concerns about homeschooling around here is the tremendous religious influence-while there are secular homeschoolers, it's a lot more limited than it would be if we were still living up north. And we don't know if it's right for us anyway-Naomi is well suited to a Montessori classroom, especially a true, multi-age Montessori classroom, and is very focused on mastery of a skill, but refusing to show it off until she's mastered it. And I need to choose what works well for her. For now that means offering as much play based learning as possible. I think next weekend, for example, one of our tasks might be to make a collage so we can learn about using glue. Big decisions ahead nonetheless.
I haven't talked much about Miriam. She's trying very hard to keep up with big sister. She's starting to climb independently now-I often find her on Naomi's step stool in the bathroom, but she can't get down on her own. She's starting signing (finally) and today someone asked me where she learned to use a fork. She's fighting me on being worn these days-I wore her for a while on Tuesday night though, when we were at the science program-I don't know if she was doing it because she was overtired or because she didn't want to be worn. She's really finding a balance between her independence and her clinginess-she's much more attached to me than Naomi was, and it's interesting to watch, though I'm still trying to learn how to parent her. I find my level of frustration so much higher with her than with Naomi due to the neediness, and I don't always like how I respond to her, but I'm working on it.
Tomorrow I think the girls and I are joining some other kids and Moms for a trip to a horse barn to see the horses. I'm not sure how my girls will take to that, but we'll try.
It's Sunday night. We had a nice dinner (with leftovers planned for use in another meal this week,) the kids are sleeping, and I'm going to enjoy the rest of my evening.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-02-14 06:37 am (UTC)(I'd have to look up Carter's VP - Ah, Mondale. D'oh. But I was 7 when Carter left office - my concept of Mondale was from the Presidential run.)
That said, I'd think that Quayle's name would at least ring a bell.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-14 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-14 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-14 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-15 01:59 am (UTC)Jacob gets out of school at 11:15. So we could theoretically meet for lunch and have a playdate.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-15 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-15 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-15 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-15 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-14 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-14 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-14 07:11 pm (UTC)We're thinking about it. We're not sure what will work well for our family, or what's best, so it's an option. The schools around here are less than stellar and we can't afford private school tuition. At the same time, I also want to give my kids an opportunity to learn in the environment and style best suited for them, which isn't necessarily what our local public school offers, so we're trying to figure out what would suit our family, our lifestyle and our options best.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-14 11:39 pm (UTC)Nor any public system, I think. I have been teaching Fin to read, and it's amazing to see how fun the process can be. I've done my best to keep it light, and to stop the lessons at the first hint of boredom or frustration. It's on his timeline, when he wants to, so that sometimes we have a lesson every day, sometimes not for a week. Each lesson is uniquely tailored to him, to his level of interest and of ability. A teacher in a classroom simply can't do that for each child, no matter how expert s/he may be, and no matter how good the method or curriculum. I strongly believe that homeschooling would be the best education for my children, but I'm not sure that it's financially feasible. We'll see how it goes, I guess.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 03:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 07:05 pm (UTC)Isn't it amazing that we lost touch for so long and we find each other and pretty well pick up where we left off?
I think you're adjusting beautifully to having Max around. And I'll still be here in a few weeks when you get really settled.