April 26 2012

1. So week two of no-weight-lifting proceeds apace. I am whiny and sullen about this, but I am being very careful with my hands and arms, not doing lifting, not doing rowing machine, doing lots of stretches. Instead of weights I am doing a variety of bodyweight exercises. Supermans, where one lays on the floor [...]

Guppies and flying fish

When I watch my kids swim, I am amazed. They are unafraid. They swim better than I do, both of them. K is practically a fish, and M is diligently learning — he can swim lengths of the pool. Lengths. I am completely impressed. Learning how to learn, this is a thing I want both [...]

Ke$ha, Team Rocket, and homeschooling

J and I were talking yesterday about cultural literacy. At playgroup on Tuesday, one of the kids asked what this gully in the woods was, and J replied it was where the old trolley line used to run, and the kid asked, “what’s a trolley?” Now, the child in question is, I think, six years [...]

Friday morning

1. Now I’m following the political situations in Libya and Bahrain. I’m not certain what I get out of this, you know? There’s *certainly* nothing I can do for the people being shot by their governments. But I am very aware that the political struggles of people who are not white Americans often fall under [...]

The goal

My kids are old enough that, on mornings that J and I aren’t feeling well, they can get ready on their own. Sure, it takes them longer than it does when one of us is riding herd, but it gets done. Food, bathing, clothing, music practice, chores — it all gets done. While I sit [...]

Wikihistory

One of the supervisors in my area has gotten into the habit of asking me for the History Fact of the Day. This came about because he would ask me, when I came back from breaks, “so what do you know?” Finally I asked him if he actually wanted an ANSWER to that, and he [...]

Apologies

My job is a mixed thing, as far as raising kids goes. For one thing, in air traffic control, when I tell someone to do something, they do it. Immediately. A delay of two seconds before compliance is considered a long damn time. It is ridiculous to expecct my children to have similar compliance patterns. [...]

Autumn homeschool schedule

It’s September, which means all the activities the kids take/do/are in are gearing up. This was our last week of not-much-going-on as a family. We took advantage of the time this week and last by going to the zoo, visiting J’s father grave at the national cemetery, and going to the Valleyfair amusement park one [...]

Iowa

A few years back my sister moved to Knoxville, IA. It’s a small town in south central Iowa, an hour from Des Moines. If you’ve ever heard of Knoxville it’s because you’re a sprint car racing fan. Knoxville has a prominent track, and hosts the sprint car nationals every year. The nationals were last week, [...]

Pop lyrics

I finally put together a playlist on my Zune for the kids. It’s all the songs they say they really like when I listen to my playlists. It’s unsurprising to me that my kids like pop. Pop music is catchy as all hell, it’s got decent singers, and mostly you can understand the lyrics. They [...]