Cindy's Life as She Knows It

My older son goes to a Catholic prep school.  He was homeschooled for eight years and then he went to Cardinal Gibbons for two years until the Archidiocese closed them down.  He now attends Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn.  If you've never had the pleasure to be in the company of prep school boys, let me tell you what it's like.  First, you will be called "mame" or "Mrs. ___" all the time.  You will be greeted upon their arrival or yours and you will be told thank you and goodbye when they or you leave.  They will ask you how you are and they will stand there to listen should you decide to tell them.  Do you need help?  Just ask.  All of them will be at your side in an instant, waiting for direction and happy to be of assistance. They are Christians.  They believe in God and they aren't afraid to say so.  They pray every morning before classes and every afternoon before going home.  Before every sp...

Fueled by the recent ridiculousness of zombie attacks and earth's impending doom tomorrow, I have given brief thought to what it was that I would want to do and say should this indeed be true.  If only given 24 hours until it was all over, I'd first want to bring my daughter home from North Carolina so we could all be together for as long as possible.  I would tell her how incredibly proud I was of her for realizing some of her dreams and for reaching for those that she has yet to achieve.  I would thank her for the wonderful anticipation of the last few months, when we have planned together to welcome her daughter, my granddaughter into the world.  I would thank her for being there for me always and for being not only a wonderful daughter, but a wonderful friend.  I admire her as much as I love her and I have learned so much just being in her company.  To my second daughter, I would tell her that I know that deep inside you is a wife and mother just waiti...

Today was my last day at Passport and I was afraid it would be too emotional and stressful, but it turned out to be a fun day.  The kids, for the most part, are oblivious to my not coming back.  For some of them, I'll see them in the fall.  For others, I won't, but I don't think they were aware of that.  We did our presentations on their imagined countries and had plenty of time left over to autograph each other's certificates of promotion and to play country hangman on the board.  Afterward, Dakota went to his science class and I went upstairs with the preK kids and did all their favorites with them...singing, dancing, reading, paper bag puppets and painting.  About half way through one of the moms burst in and said the fire alarm was going off and to get the kids out.  We scooped up the tiny ones, took the others by the hand and headed out.  It was hard to stay focused on my students and not go to find Dakota, but I knew Lavender would make sure...

Today has been gray and rainy and I've been fighting a severe sinue headache all day, but we know as homeschooling parents, that the kids could care less and your day must go on!  After dropping Brian off at school we came home and did our usual morning routine of breakfast, bath and chores and then we finished our two projects for classes at co-op tomorrow.  Dakota had to make up a report for his science class on his favorite body part and he chose the brain.  For his geography class he had to make up his own country, which is right up his alley.  He loves to create new scenarios, but I have to admit that he was less creative than I felt he could have been.  I guess he's done as much as I am!  We squeezed in time for a few reading books and then off to Kung Fu for his hour class.  He really enjoys this and today his dad came to see him.  He does a great job, but there are several little boys in the class and they are...well, little boys!...

I am not normally someone who likes to see life rush by.  I try to savor every minute, stop and smell the roses....all those old cliches that I really do believe in.  These days, however, I am counting the days to one of the best things that has happened to me in the last six years.  Next week, on Wednesday, May 25th, my oldest daughter...my very first baby...will be giving birth to my very first granddaughter.  I am beside myself with joy at this event and I am truly counting the days until my husband, youngest son and I can leave to make the drive to North Carolina to see my daughter and to be there with her as she takes this giant step in her life that she has been waiting so very long for.  I can't sleep at night and I can't focus during the day.  I think about the birth, my daughter, the first moment I lay eyes on my granddaughter.  I dream of holding her in my arms and starting a relationship with her that will last a lifetime.  Her mot...

Although the weatherman called for rain all day, it was absolutely gorgeous outside.  Dakota and I did his journal, which has really improved as the year has gone on, and his handwriting before curling up on the couch for a vocabulary reader and some reading by Dakota and to Dakota.  I read Click, Clack, Moo to him and found one of the lines hit my funny bone and the two of us giggled and laughed and enjoyed each other's company.  Afterward, our friends stopped by for lunch and we got an hour of outside time before coming back in, where Dakota's sister helped him finish his plant packet.  We went back outside and found 3 dandelions, in various stages of growth, and talked about them and how the cycle continues.  We also found a "helicopter" that had come off the big tree in our side yard and planted itself in our garden.  Luckily for us, a sprout had formed, but the curled seedling and the hard seed coat were still attached.  Dakota's reaction..."This ...

This weekend was wonderful for all the things we didn't have to do!  We found ourselves with an empty weekend and unexpectedly good weather, even though showers were called for all weekend.  My husband cleaned up the yard, mowed the grass and remulched the play area.  My sons hung out with friends, watched movies and played video games and I spent alot of time thinking, pre-planning for my planning (thinking it out more than actually getting anything done!) and getting a jump on my work for the psychology company I work for.  There was nothing particularly special about what we did, but that in itself was great.  Wish we could have at least another few days to chill out like that, but unfortunately, it's Sunday night and Monday morning will be here in the blink of an eye.  At least it looks like a pretty slow week around here, especially during the day.  For that I am thankful!

Blogger.com has been down and I didn't realize how much I had come to depend on the site for keeping track of the highlights (and lowlights) in my life.  It's the journal I never had the time to write and I love looking back and reading about our adventures.  As is often the case by mid May, homeschooling has taken a softer note, with more days off and less time spent doing our seatwork.  We have gardened, gone to karate, fun errands and played outside.  Wednesday evening we dropped our older son off at the Lake Shore baseball fields to umpire and then my husband and I took Dakota to Downs Park and hiked and looked out over the Chesapeake Bay and lingered in the Mother's Garden.  What a beautiful park!  I don't know why I haven't been before, but I can't wait to go back again very soon.  Thursday we had our last regular class at co-op and finished the continents by going over the details of Antarctica and then reviewing what they had learned over the...

Today we had our second and final homeschool review with the county for our kindergarten year.  The gentleman was new to me and looked stern and gruff, but he was actually a very kind man who went through our binder, chatting with us about what we worked on and allowing us to show off a bit.  He told us we were "incredible homeschoolers"!  Afterward we had a wonderful playdate with three other homeschool families and Dakota enjoyed the bounce house and swing set with his friends as much as I enjoyed the chatting and sharing with the moms.  Now it's time to relax a bit, work a bit, make dinner and head off to the Oriole game with family and friends tonight. 

As my time with my co-op classes comes to a close, I am feeling a little sentimental about the time I have spent with these kids.  Unlike the past few years, I am moving on to create my own co-op in the fall and will not be coming back to my current co-op where I have taught the same group of kids for the past three years.  I started here when Dakota had barely turned four and I taught a double period of preK/K that gave me the chance to work with the kids from 9:30 to noon.  They were 2 to 5 years old and just as sweet and open as then could be.  I think I started with 6, but ended up with about 12.  We did theme based activities and had a snack together and playtime outdoors whenever possible.  Today, as I taught my Around the World class, some of those very same children looked back at me, now "big kids" at 6 to 8 years old.  I have always considered them "my" kids and I have made it my business to know them well, to lo...

Today started out promising when my husband offered to take the older son to high school and I was given some free time while Dakota slept in to drink my coffee and check my email from the deck swing listening to the birds.  I thought it was going to be a great day.  My friend called and had to go into work for a few hours and I agreed to watch her children since her son is my son's best friend and it was perfect weather to break out the bounce house that had been put away all winter.  I thought I'd let the boys play for awhile and then get some school work done....NOT.  The boys, who usually get along well, did nothing but snipe at one another, repeat one another, tattle on one another and roll around in the bounce house beating on each other.  By the time my friend came home a little after lunch there were many time outs that had been given and my own son was punished for the afternoon for disrespectful behavior.  Okay.  So I was NOT in the mood...

This Christmas I was able to take advantage of a Groupon ( http://www.groupon.com/ ) for a trip to New York City for the two boys and my husband and I for only $25 a person round trip.  It was a good deal then and now, with gas at $4 a gallon, it was an even better bargain.  We lined the trip up to coincide with my older son's eighteenth birthday (two holiday specials for one! lol) and this past Friday we all got up at 5:30am and headed to the park and ride to get on the bus.  I was surprised at how well six year old Dakota did for those four hours, considering his movie player was only going to last the length of one movie and we couldn't find his Ipod.  When we got there we took a short walk around Madison Square Garden and then grabbed a quick bite to eat.  We walked to Times Square and I, personally, am completely fascinated with all the lights and sounds and flashing billboards and stories tall movies that are playing all around.  We found the giant To...

Today we set about regaining some semblence of normal after a very busy two week spring break.  We did our journaling and handwriting to start off slow and then we finished off a year long workbook about countries around the world and did his ATW homework for co-op this week.  I used PE, art and music from recent spring break activities and we sat together and read some books about Earth Day and going green that we didn't get to read for the actual Earth Day because we were away and began a new daily task that Dakota is in charge of.  He needs to read (and record on the paper taped behind his door) two books of his choosing each day sometime between waking and the time he gets ready for bed.  Every evening he watches a 30 minute tv show.  If his reading is not complete before it's time for the show, he has to read instead of watching.  My hopes there are to encourage independent reading and to add to our list of books, which never looks long enough to me. ...