A Day In the Life: School in Spring

For Valentine's Day, we did
some candy heart chemistry
experiments!

The sun is shining. The temperatures are breezy. The leaves are budding and the air smells just delicious. 

But none of that matters, because we're doing school!

Actually, we don't have to--but we do need to reach 186 days of instruction according to state law. Plus we need to check all the boxes that count, because the kids have that kind of a mom-teacher. 

Besides, my kids insist on a real summer vacation, and so do I. 

So here's what it's like to school in the spring:

Lately, the kids have been hopping out of bed relatively well most days. In the winter, they would easily lie around for 45 minutes or an hour if we let them. Kalina still tries to sneak in extra reading time (not exactly a crime), but they know they have animals depending on them and it's sunny, so they get up.

A very common scene lately as
Elise says hello to her tiny
critters. In the background,
Naomi has arranged fake
flowers for us. She's always
loved vases of flowers.

Elise has further motivation, which kind of energizes the whole room. She's intensely into freshwater plankton right now, and has set up a portion of kitchen counter as her lab (plus the entire stream). The other girls, fortunately, have not asked where their portions of kitchen counter are and they, being used to Elise, roll with it when she talks of nothing but hydras for basically the entire day. It's been hydras, copepods, daphnia, and not much else for a good week. The microscope gets used hourly, as do the pocket microscopes the girls received for Christmas. This will be a common theme throughout our day, so I'll stop for now.

Everyone completes their chores quickly today. Naomi has her bunny jobs done before I'm even downstairs, and she informs me that Daddy changes the water nowadays since there are usually escaped fruit flies in it, plus hay and fur that shouldn't go down the drain. I'm beyond grateful for this solution, because it's been a problem as Naomi is terrified of all bugs except, amazingly, bees and wasps. The wasps because we've had so many in the house that she's just kind of grown up with them, like siblings. Except you don't usually go after your siblings with a fly swatter or Daddy's special salt gun (even if you really, really want to at times). Once a pest control guy came to our door and was freaked out by all our wasps, dodging and ducking them, while Naomi placidly let them dart around her head, not blinking an eye. So proud! And the bees because they're her favorites. But harmless ants and fruit flies? She's still not using the bathtub in the kids' bathroom because for about a week when the weather warmed up there were ants around it. Just terrified. [Just FYI, the wasp problem was finally taken care of last spring when Matt started working from home...yay!]

Everything is better
with a cat! This
particular one was
caught pin-pawed,
having slept on
Kalina's chalk
drawing the night
before. This was
not her first
offense, either.

Kalina scoops the cat litter (but doesn't refill it, which it totally needs) and Elise empties the dishwasher. Usually it takes her about 20 minutes because she darts back and forth to tadpoles, micro-critters, cats, tadpoles, and any other distraction she can possibly find, but today it's pretty much finished by the time I'm downstairs. So nice not to have to nag on that one today.

 Sooner than usual, we're ready for breakfast, over which we begin a little Bible schoolwork to start our day. I relay the news--the wood ducks who'd been nesting at Grandpa's have flown away and the mask mandate in our county has been lifted--plus I list the girls who will be able to attend Nature Club later (not many this time, but at least one friend for everyone). They're super excited about Nature Club, and so a little more motivated than usual. They choose outfits accordingly, with Kalina in her hiking pants and new peach activewear shirt, Elise in some new shorts and a nature T-shirt, and Naomi in her dark-blue dress that she wears whenever she knows she might get wet or dirty. It's her version of old shorts and a T-shirt, but she always looks totally put-together in it. Sometimes she reminds me of the women who wore full "bathing costumes" for a dip in a lake.

I tell Elise that she has a good 45 minutes if she wants to dress quickly, brush her teeth and run outside to look for hydra (she's obsessed with the idea of keeping them as pets). She insists that there aren't any in our stream. 

"Really, the entire stream?" I challenge.

"Mommy, I just feel like I would have seen them. I look really closely."

"But how long have you been looking for hydra?"

"Just yesterday, but I see everything, I would have found them by now."

"But they're tiny/how can you possibly search the whole stream/I'm not taking you to the pet store to look for them until you have spent a lot longer looking for them here, etc." (She knows they're invasive species and has heard you can find them living on snails and plants at pet stores.)

I ask her if her watch works since she hasn't been wearing it lately and she has to be inside at 9:00. She says the time is off but it's still ticking. When she brings it to me, I reset it from DST and we're good to go.

Later, she concedes that maybe there are a few places she hasn't looked, and I concede that she really might be right, but I want her to give it a really good try, and I'll even go looking with her. She's satisfied for now, but then wonders how she'll feed them because they eat live food. 

In the end, Elise ends up simply staring into space a while and then reading either a Gordon Korman book from the library (thanks, Uncle Tom) or a Diary of a Wimpy Kid which is basically trash, but they have to learn pop culture somehow. She acts surprised when I call her to start school, but I know it's just an act.

Kalina seems ready to start early, and indeed agrees to a head-start on math. Her most recent assignment had some sloppy mistakes, and a few that aren't-so-sloppy, so I bring them to her attention. Fortunately she handles it all quite gracefully for a pre-teen, and quickly figures out the right answers. She's very analytical and doesn't mind math, but by the last two problems I had planned to go through with her, she's tuned me out and instead become fixated on some little thingy she had in her hands. We're in a good spot, so I give up and leave her with her day's assignment. She's been more motivated in math lately because every Monday morning she Zooms with a friend to complete part of an assignment together. Amazingly, they're at about the same level, and we're coincidentally doing the same curriculum, so it's been a great arrangement for both of them. Next year, they'll both start Algebra 1, and we've agreed on to use the high-school curriculum so we can keep it up. 

Kalina's comments from a month or two ago about how effective my help is:

Kalina: "Every time you help it's like that show where you go through an obstacle course and they dump slime on you and squirt you with giant tubes of ketchup and mustard and stuff."

Me, caught completely off-guard: "You mean Double Dare? Huh. Is there a way I could help more helpfully?"

Kalina: "No, it's pretty helpful."

We both cracked up.

By the time I finish getting Kalina started, it was 9:00 and time for Elise and Naomi to begin. I'd been hoping to put through an Old Navy order for a few summer clothes this morning, but it got put on hold in favor of doing math with the youngers.

Naomi has been sailing through her book and working almost completely independently lately, although for the first 3/4 of the year she insisted on my joining her (which was fine!). But the girls' math curriculum is written so well that as long as a child is somewhat motivated, they can pretty much learn it themselves step by step, and now Naomi doesn't always like to wait on me. It's also called Math Mammoth, which is another reason we like it, because we were able to acquire a stuffed mammoth "support animal" to accompany it. Naomi used to take possession of Barney, who would "check her work" amid joyful giggles at the end of each assignment (because Barney is a very majestic, very funny mammoth), but now Elise is more likely to be holding on to him.

Elise is enjoying
candy heart math
around Valentine's
Day! 

Because Elise is just a mess when it comes to math. Not in the sense that she gets the problems wrong, because she generally doesn't, but because she is terrified of doing so. She also doesn't like that each problem only has one right answer, and that it's really dry, and that there are a million other things she'd rather be doing. She hates it almost as much as dentistry. Lately, the thing that works best is for me to crochet while she snuggles up to me on the couch, and I nag her through the assignment between conversations about miniature pond life. It's very relational and sweet, if you can get over the extreme grumpiness, whininess, and self-pity. Tell it to the mammoth, Child. She's currently getting introduced to decimals and frequently shows a solid understanding even while freaking out about them. She hasn't always been this way and I know I need to nudge her out on her own again, but this is working for now, and summer is so, so close. It's like letting a 12-month-old nap in the swing for the nap they'll be giving up really soon.

And yes, I constantly remind her that scientists need to be good at math. Now that she's decided she wants to be a plankton biologist when she grows up, it's almost working. "Finish these 5 problems and then we can look at another page of your microorganisms book."

Today, she actually begins her math outside for the first time in a while, which I let her do but remind her to come in and get help right away if she needs it, and that she can only work outside if she actually works outside. Naomi wants to work in her room, probably because there's a cat on her bed.

For about 5 minutes I'm living the homeschool mom's dream: each child is actually working on math independently and no one needs help. I finish the breakfast dishes--before lunch! And I reflect that that's one thing I love about school in the spring--the kids have finally learned the routine given up all resistance and have finished a subject or two entirely and really figured out others. It's so much smoother than, say, October, when things are just starting to get hard and they all still remember summer vacation. 

Then Elise charges back inside--which I'm grateful for because it means she's not daydreaming her math time away in the crabapple tree--and demands help. We initiate the couch routine.

Naomi is learning
about perimeter
and area with her
hearts. (Kalina
refused a photo.)

Naomi, who loves nothing more than a checklist she can mark off, unless it's a fully marked-off checklist, zooms through most of her usual 2 pages before approaching me near tears for help with the final problem. At which point I discover two more tiny mistakes that I know she can fix. She tries again, and comes back actually crying because she's not sure exactly how to do it. It's one of those things I know she thoroughly understands, but it just tripped her up today, so I do my best to reassure her and help liberally so as not to shatter her confidence. Elise also helps cheer her up. Crisis managed.

I'm trying to peel Elise off of me now that I know she understands the new concept (something she usually denies, and then proceeds to get all of the problems right while simultaneously trying to hide from them under couch pillows) so I can help Naomi with her language arts when Kalina enters the room, flops down on the schoolroom floor, and announces that if she does any more math her head will explode. I totally understand, so I offer for her to work on something else for a while. In fact, I'm kind of delighted that she has acknowledged this--as I noticed a couple months ago that Kalina and Elise had both developed the (normal, developmentally appropriate) tweenage skill for making a simple math assignment drag on for 1 1/2 or 2 hours, I've been encouraging them to switch gears if they're stuck and return to it later. I feel like focus has been better all around lately, which means a lot less time spent on school and more time for microbiology and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

I get Kalina started on Duolingo Russian, which we just started recently. Matt has been diligently working with the kids on Spanish, and while I hate to slightly compromise his efforts, the kids are all actually excited about the "renegade" language of Russian. I mean, just look at the alphabet! So as long as they're motivated.... Plus Kalina just seems to like languages, and I think secretly doesn't mind learning Spanish, too, but can't let her little sisters know that because they're pretty vocal about their negative feelings. Although I think secretly Naomi might also like it. But Elise is loud, so.... Kalina works for a long time on Russian, even getting the tricky verbal portions right, which I'm glad Elise didn't hear, because she struggles with them. In fact, I even stop her so that she has time for her other subjects. 

We quickly do spelling with none of the usual pushback, and then I send her upstairs for writing. She'd begun a poetry analysis assignment yesterday and finished it today, again without the usual "Why are you forcing me to do this?" or "Can't I just read?" or the sarcastic "Yes, your majesty" that I would enjoy except that I can just hear the eye roll in it. In fact, afterword Kalina even sweetly admitted that she doesn't dislike all poetry (which she'd been leading us to believe as we've all been reading and memorizing poetry this month), but she only likes the really good stuff. I compliment her taste and say that she shouldn't like the bad stuff. Fortunately, the assignment in the book was about a poem she actually does like, even though you'd never have known it on Wednesday when we discussed it together ("The Bells," by Edgar Allen Poe). She completes the assignment and moves on to her "booklist" literature assignment, which is due today and that she's had a month to do.

Romeo and Juliet
was not on Elise's
reading list--it
just happened! She
read it in 2 days and
asked for more. "Do
you think the library
will have A
Midsummer Night's
Dream?"

This is one of my favorite things: every year (for two years now!) I've created a list of quality books I want the girls to read (this was triggered when Kalina read nothing but Harry Potter for about 3 months--nothing against Harry Potter, but she needed a nudge). This year, I put them in 5 different categories (science, history, etc.). They must read one a month for the 10 months of school. For each set of 5, they get to choose a book for me to buy. Naomi's list is more simple because she only started reading really fluently about a year ago, but next year it'll be more in line with her sisters. They also have to fill in a form to prove they read it and supply some insights, vocabulary, etc. They actually appreciate the book recommendations, and love the system, so it's a win-win.

Naomi working studiously on
geography. She used a guide
to draw a whole world map
in one sitting!

Meanwhile, I've completed language arts with Naomi. She learned (a little) about symbolism, worked on rewriting some sentences to make them sound more descriptive (she loves this), practiced a few spelling rules, and wrote complete sentences to answer questions about a chapter of a book (which always stresses her out to the point of tears because there aren't usually enough lines to write a complete sentence). Then we did a little literature lesson together where she learned what a yoke was. She colored a paper yoke and set up a pair of bunnies in it. She also loves this kind of thing. I set her up to copy the poem I'd written down for her yesterday--"Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear"--so she could practice her Z's, which she still gets backward because really, how often do you write a Z? She enjoyed drawing a fuzzy bear to illustrated it--as she also loves drawing.

I'm not going to name names for who my easiest one to teach has been this year.

When she was done, she delightedly wiped these subjects off of her whiteboard list and noticed she was nearly finished, with only piano and history left. I'd purposefully kept the lists a little short today because of the beautiful weather and impending Nature Club, but lately Naomi finishes everything quickly. "Mommy, I like to get everything done so I can have free time, but then sometimes when I have free time I want to do school!" I can totally relate--why do you think I homeschool?

At this point, Elise has completed her math, Russian work, and literature book form. Since I'm available, I seize the opportunity to work on spelling and grammar with her. Or try to, anyway. She's back at her lab, fishing critters out of the cup of streamwater she's keeping them in, and slipping them into the microscope. I realize these are problems you want to have, but even microbiologists need to spell. Eventually I drag her over. She just switched to a new spelling curriculum a few weeks ago, having gotten bored with the old routine. We find we get super bored with spelling unless we switch it up every 6-12 months, and she's a good speller, anyway, so I don't stress about the lack of continuity. Last time Elise kept making really sloppy mistakes, but this time she's more on her game, and only misses the words that are actually difficult and new. This takes a good 20-25 minutes, though, as we keep having conversations in between sentence dictation passages. About what? One guess.

Naomi completes her piano practice independently during this time, and asks me to print off a new practice chart so she can track her time. When we used to attend lessons in person, her teacher would hand out the occasional prize for a completed practice chart, and Naomi hasn't kicked the habit of recording her time. I'm certainly not going to stop her, plus we start in-person lessons again on Monday.

I straighten up the house a bit, but since we did a lot of cleaning up yesterday so it's not to bad. This not only gives me a little more time to work with the girls, but just makes me feel better at life. Most days, it's a constant battle, emphasis on the word battle, to keep the house clean with all of us here all the time. Although I think if we eliminated pencils, books, and couch pillows, that would go a long way.

After Elise studies her spelling words, we move to grammar. By this time, Kalina is working on typing and is sitting with us, plus Naomi's around for some reason, so I quiz Naomi on her parts of speech, and Kalina gives Elise a few pointers on simple/progressive/perfect-tense verbs, and then goes off to try to finish her book form. Next year for grammar, we're planning to work with our good friends in Pella on the same exact book for our oldest kiddos via Zoom. It'll be a much-needed review for Kalina as this particular grammar book covers everything, and new for the rest--but newest for Elise since she's the youngest. Fortunately, Elise finds grammar fairly intuitive, and is sailing through at the moment, so I think she'll be alright. At least she's highly motivated. Today, she learns that a prepositional phrase works as a single part of speech, plus she practices labeling the verb tenses. I tell her she needs to finish before lunch, multiple times, as she ping-pongs back and forth to her lab. It's taking forever for her to get it done. Finally when she's up again, I actually raise my voice (which I don't do much these days due to overused vocal chords that need a break), only to find that she is done, having completed the final 1/4th of the assignment in the approximately 60 seconds I took to pour a few lunch pancakes with Naomi. I swallow my comment about how much free time she could have if she just applied herself the same way through the rest of her assignments, as she's heard it already.

It's hard to see, but
we made prints on
notecards a week
or two ago as an art
project. Hers
has two bunnies
that are just adorable.

Pancakes are for lunch because we virtually never have them for breakfast and they're something everyone will eat. Plus I make them with with whole grains and protein, so they're fairly healthy. Naomi's finished with all her work and is starting to bug her sisters, so I invite her to help me with pancakes. She mixes them a LOT, and then pours them into the pan, making little baby pancakes, too. Which are really hard to flip, but I don't mind because we're actually running a little earlier than usual for lunch. We round out the meal with fruits and veggies and such, and I heat up some leftovers for myself because I get tired of kid food, amazingly.

During lunch, we always watch CNN-10, our favorite news program. When that's over, we sometimes watch a portion of a documentary, Geography Now, or our new favorite, Tudor Monastery Farm on Amazon Prime, which goes along great with our study of the middle ages. We're all together all day, and this gives us something new to talk about. But today, we work on some memory work songs until everyone starts to wander away.

Generally after lunch we have recess so the kids can get some outdoor time or read if the weather is crummy (plus I can get a breather), but today we launch right into history so we can finish up for Nature Club. Elise wants to do it outside, so we gather everything and head out, with me stipulating that if anyone starts mowing, we're heading in. No one is particularly happy at this point--they mostly enjoy history, but are antsy to be done.  

Sometimes for
history and science
you have to do the
less-academic
projects, like
building a castle out
of Rice Krispie
treats. We kinda
sorta learned
parts of a castle,
but that's really
a stretch.

It goes downhill. Half a paragraph in, Elise recognizes that she went through the exact chapter (Copernicus and Galileo) two days prior in her co-op history class. Which she signed onto anticipating that it would be the "activities" portion of history, and later found out it was the same reading that we do as a family. She still mostly enjoys it for the lively discussions, and knows all the answers. I let her go hang out on her monkey line until we start the questions and mapwork. Naomi immediately becomes jealous, so I semi-patiently explain it in terms she can understand. Kalina asks to sit inside the screen door and pet the cats while I read. Everyone is annoyed with everyone, and Naomi keeps asking if I would tell her what to write on the map so she could just get done with it already! 

Fortunately, we are able to finish even with the general grumpiness, and with only a few arguments over colored pencils. I make everyone grab a history-based book for a little individual reading, and the girls all scurry off to complete their work. I end up reading Naomi's aloud, because I can. Matt arrives home from his second Covid vaccine, and starts working on various projects.

This fall while Kalina
attended orchestra,
Naomi and Elise
did nature study and
other subjects with me
at the nearby park.
We've only done it once
this spring thanks to
weather and general
busy-ness, but it was
great while it lasted!

Soon-ish, it's time to be ready for Nature Club! We are still plastering on sunscreen when the doorbell rings and two sisters from church Elise's and Naomi's age arrive. My girls rush out the door and dash to the stream. It's almost quiet in the house!

The rest of the girls eventually arrive (only a couple more this time), and I step out to chat with Kalina's math friend's mom about some options for next year before she grabs her bike and rides the trails. And then, as Matt has settled into his "home office" (corner of our bedroom), the house is actually quiet. I soak it in. Some chocolate is involved.

I can see the girls from the window, but when I hear a little too much laughter and Kalina suggesting a water fight, I rush out the door and remind everyone that their parents might not want them to get soaking wet. (I also get tired of lending out dry clothes out to everyone--but fortunately several of the girls had brought their own changes of clothes.) Although one has already fallen in, and they insist their parents will be fine, they all agree to tone down the water fight. Later, they come back for walkie talkies and head out a short distance away on the trail. 

It's the blubber experiment,
using Crisco and ice water! I've
been wanting to do this with
them for years. Naomi found
her seal mask for the occasion
and is being a seal.

By the end of it, Elise has needed a band-aid, the two sisters needed their changes of clothes, and everyone got somewhat covered in red clay that kinda stains. But they had an amazing time! I chat with the parents during pickup, but have to leave soon with Naomi. One of her besties who's about to get a new baby sister had invited her over for an outdoor playdate and I figured we should take the opportunity for some playtime. Yes, it's a lot in one day--but it's also April. I have Naomi clean up (she puts on her favorite dress) and I fill a container with soapy water to receive Elise and Kalina's stained clothing in an effort to get the spots out.

After dropping her off, I head up to the grocery store for my own second Covid vaccine. While I'm waiting, I read a fiction story from one of my writing students, text Matt to have the girls soak their clothes, text with Aunt Nancy, and check headlines. After the vaccine, I pick up a few groceries, and, amazingly, it's time to pick up Naomi, who bursts into real tears because "she doesn't want to end on soccer!" We graciously give them a few more minutes, and Naomi shows me their giant hopscotch (they made it to 200!) and shoots some baskets in their hoop. Huh. Naomi's friend's mom and I talk about the possibility of meeting up at the ice cream food truck that's supposed to be at the neighborhood pool that evening.

Our one indoor field
trip this year: the
local aquarium! We
were first inside and it
was practically empty,
but it really
complemented our
marine biology
study!

Back at home, Naomi and I wolf dinner--Matt has already mentioned the food truck to the girls, and we're all eager to go. I also work on the clay stains. Kalina grabs her bike and Naomi and Elise get their scooters--it's only about a 12-minute walk, and a shorter ride. They also each grab money, because Matt and I offer to pay for the cheapest item only. Normally, we'd use after-dinner time for a simple walk, board game, showers, and/or music practice, but the urge to walk/ride to ice-cream with friends and beautiful weather is too strong. 

At the truck, Kalina and Elise both enjoy double scoops (they're humongous), and finish them, and want more. Naomi enjoys her scoop of vanilla on a cone, but even more, seeing her friend again. We all chat way too long, such that our friends have to bike home in the dark, and we ride through our dark woods 

This is the latest we've been out in a long time, and people are ready to settle in when we get back. Matt reads the Tripods books to the girls, and I read the next chapter of our American Girl book to Naomi. we're through most of the girls, and we both thoroughly enjoy the books.

And that's a wrap!

The big presentation

Kalina, a.k.a. Theodora!

It's not super often we have a firm deadline, a specific set of expectations and an audience for our schoolwork--unless you count "these three pages of math problems need to be finished before you eat lunch, and you need to have most of them right, unless you're really stumped, in which case you need to do what you can and then ask me about what's stumping you, but not wait, like, 30 minutes to do so." Can you tell we kind of need a lawyer present whenever we assign work in this house?

So when we do (have deadlines, expectations and and audience--not a lawyer), we like to take advantage. Or at least, I do. We figure out the steps we need to take. We begin well in advance so we won't be scrambling at the last minute. We hone in on the exact requirements. And we revise and reconsider at various points in the process. Or at least, I do.

Kalina and her class. She correctly
guessed that one of the two others
girls would be Cleopatra. Because
there just aren't that many others.
P.S., not sure why the formatting is
weird with these pictures.

And this is where my path diverges from my oldest's. In the beginning, we're mostly on the same page. Take, for instance, an assignment to write a paper and prepare a short presentation based on a figure from ancient history. With the unwritten, but generally understood, guideline that if you're a girl, you're likely going to want to choose a girl, since you'll need to dress like the person you present about. Yes, at this point, Kalina and I were on the same page: slightly disgruntled at:

1.) How few women in ancient history we could even think of. Outside the Bible, it was about two.

2.) How little information was out there about any of the women--even the rest of the 40 or so names we found on a list. Unless you count the mostly fictionalized Disney movie, Mulan, about a character who may or may not have been real.

3.) How little age-appropriate information there was about any of the women (or at least, I was disgruntled about this)

Still an animal lover!

I totally would've let Kalina choose a guy at this point, but she wanted to stand by the women. Because apparently virtually no one else did.

After some deliberation, she picked a woman for whom we actually do have one age-appropriate, but possibly somewhat fictionalized, source. According to the requirement, we'd need four more sources--but I figured one good one was probably all we were going to get anyway and we'd really be scraping for the rest (we were).

Armed with a choice, which can be hard to wrestle Kalina into any hour of the day, I nevertheless optimistically started searching...and searching...and searching. Surely someone, somewhere, has mentioned the great Theodora, renowned empress of the Byzantine Empire in the early 500s, in an additional children's biography, or overview of the era? We found a brief mention in a book on her husband, Justinian, whom  Theodora saved from virtually abdicating his throne as we later found out, as well as influenced in the writing of his famed Justinian's code; and another in a book about the Byzantine era. None of these added much to our overall knowledge. Theodora was just an interesting tidbit--a sidebar one could easily overlook. (Spoiler alert: Kalina changed all that.)

Kalina and her birds at the zoo.

I had some luck with grownup books but they were just that: not for children. I pre-screened some sections for her and called it good. And then we looked up all our bigger questions online, because you could occasionally get things answered via Google, which will one day take over all the libraries if the libraries don't find out a way to educate schoolchildren on obscure information they need for papers and presentations. (Can you tell I'm not wanting to type "Theodora kids" into a search box ever again?)

Step one, sources: check.

Step two: Outlines
Last year, for this same assignment, Kalina studied Sacagawea. There's hoards of information about Lewis and Clark, and a very respectable amount about Sacagawea: her childhood, her life as a whole, how she helped L&C, etc. Even as told through the eyes of a dog. The only stressful part about writing an outline last year was the physical act of writing it all down.

We saw two baby penguins
at the zoo!

This year, poor Kalina had to piece together small tidbits of information, some of which disagreed with each other, thanks to her overly-simplified children's book about Theodora. Which was the only source that was actually interesting to her.

I felt for her, but made her wrestle through it--the task was doable, just not as enjoyable as, say, petting the bunny or rereading Harry Potter. I gave her plenty of advice throughout the process, though. So that's something. Because everyone likes advice when their mothers think they're NOT FOCUSING or GETTING TOO DISTRACTED! You can imagine how my advice sounded but, to her credit, she got the job done, and done well. When she actually focused.

Step 3: Write
Many parents feel the need to sit down with their kids to help them write their papers. I've done that before, especially last year, but no longer can:
"Born in Constantinople, Theodora acted in the hippodrome." "Mommy, don't you think it'd be really fun if... tree house, and at the base is a secret pulley that... pet goat... maaaa!!!... hidden under the tree stump that folds back... maaa!!!... and then you could... one room of the house just for cats... meow!!!... *yawn* *stretch*... and how many locks should the treasure box... by helicopter... and when the... oh, but what about... and as you slid down, you'd..." etc., etc., etc. It's hard to write a sentence when ideas get in the way. Multiply that by a bare minimum of 20 sentences to make a (rather short) paper and you'd want to crawl under the couch cushions, too. Or at least start dinner.

Baby penguin!

(Yes, I realize that Kalina's imagination is amazing and shouldn't be stifled. There's plenty of time for her imagination to run wild when I'm not helping her write a paper.)

Seeing as Kalina's a very good writer, and I've seen her pull papers virtually out of thin air, I didn't feel too guilty leaving her to her own devices after explaining the process and making sure she knew what she was doing (which she totally does). "Go upstairs and work on your paper, not play with the bunny, and come downstairs and show me when you have something. And remember, this is your time for working on your paper, and there won't be other time later, so if you don't do it now, you'll have to use your free time. If you get stuck, come down and ask me, but don't sit there and stare at it for 20 minutes if you're not sure what to do. Give it 5 minutes, and then come down right away, or you'll be using up all your time not getting anything done. I'm totally happy to help you if you need it. And if Elise or Naomi come in, just tell them you're working and try not to get distracted by them. See if you can get a good chunk of this paragraph done--possibly even the whole thing, so you'll be in good shape for your deadline. I'll check on you later." (As you can see, this is not the first time I've sent Kalina upstairs to her desk to get some real work done.)

Ready for Easter, or bed, or
something.

The writing process took some time, because of bunnies and other distractions, or staring blankly at the paper and not asking for help, or just not really feeling into it, being annoyed about the project as a whole, or having too many other ideas, or whatever. Plus, we had the introduction to figure out (hook, bridge and thesis statement, Kalina, and "Theodora was intelligent and courageous" is not a full thesis statement!), the conclusion (restate your thesis--yes, now you have to say it a different way!) and the title (at the time of typing this blog, there's still no title).

Now, REVISE the WHOLE THING! Yes, revise it. Because it can be better. (And yes, Kalina totally made it better, and it only took one day of non-focus and another of actual focus, and it wasn't painful, because she has a good eye for a poorly constructed sentence or idea and can totally handle a good revision.)

Elise created a recipe for her
own soup, and then made the
soup! We legitimately liked
it! Yes, she's wearing roller
skates while holding a pot of
soup.

Step 4: The presentation
It's one thing to write a paper, and it's another to present it. Kalina, infatuated with Theodora's (pretty remarkable) speech to Justinian, wanted the full text of the speech, and then to quote from it for her presentation. These were supplied, and she blew me over by actually copying a full note card's worth of speech onto a note card. I counted this as her spelling for the day but I didn't tell her that we could've photocopied and pasted instead. She was actually motivated, and it was such a great quote to copy. Mean mom? Maybe. Smart mom? Absolutely.

It didn't go this easy at first, though. With a relatively relaxed week, plenty of time made available for her to work, and a deadline of a practice run-through Thursday, I believed Kalina had all she needed to whip her presentation into shape--not a difficult task for this girl. Apparently, though, she was missing something: a sense of panic. This was evidenced by the full hour she spent producing half a sentence on a note card. Despite having everything she needed to get the job done in a non-rushed fashion, Kalina finished her presentation note cards in the van on the way on Thursday. She was a tiny bit stressed.

Naomi came up with the idea
of a unicorn puffball critter!

Step 5: The costume
The weekend before the big event--when all the kids in the class would present dressed up as their chosen people--Kalina and I made a trip to Hobby Lobby (after a brainstorming session at Dairy Queen). We hit up the clearance and sale section and scored some awesome trim, gold satin fabric, and other great finds to make a killer Theodora costume. Oh, and we painted a paper plate gold. We depleted a box of 50 safety pins, but the girl looked positively regal and fairly Byzantine. Kalina's favorite part was the sheer purple sashy thing. We totally nailed the costume, and with minimal nagging/suffering.

Step 6: Last-minute panic.
The week before the big presentation left much to be desired by way of actual preparation. And when the week of the presentation--a much busier, shorter week, I should add--began with the same lackadaisical approach, I decided to try again to instill the fear-of-deadline mindset that has served me so well all these years. This time, possibly because the deadline was real, she'd more or less missed the last one, and the due date was truly impending, she stepped up her game.

Every winter and every summer we all
feel like sewing for a day. It used to be
I who sewed for the girls; now they've
taken over!

Still, due to the craziness of the week, the girl ended up practicing her final presentation all of, like, 4 times. And the last time she got so interrupted by life that I'm not even sure if she quite finished it.

By time 4, however, she had the bulk of it memorized, including (especially) the actual quoted parts of Theodora's speech.

Good thing, because during this process she lost her note cards at least twice. She got very little sympathy from me. "Sorry, Hon, it might be quicker to just redo them than to find them." True story. At least one of these times, they were in plain sight on the kitchen table.

Step 7: Show time!
A nervous Kalina cared about her costume (she loved being Theodora--but try to get her in a dress any other time). She kept track of her notecards. She focused. She allowed me to put her hair in a bun.

Elise made this pocket pillow
on the sewing machine after
Kalina taught her how!

And she was Empress Theodora to the core. Kalina spoke with confidence, getting into character for Theodora's quoted speech, speaking to the audience instead of her note cards, telling a good story instead of reading a paper. She portrayed poise, confidence and clarity. She was intelligent and courageous.

And here's the thing--I've probably sounded uncaring, unrealistic, too hands-off throughout this process (with the exception of the nagging). But I've seen Kalina pull it all together at the last minute over and over again. I knew she'd do a fantastic job. Plus, she did actually get plenty of encouragement from me at the end of each step. Just not always when I caught her staring off into space over empty note cards. For the third time.

Kalina's paper was probably not the most polished of all the papers. Her presentation was one of the shortest. And she listed far fewer facts than some of the other kids. But hers was a memorable and engaging presentation, and she can truly say that she did the whole thing all by herself. Because nagging is definitely not the same thing as writing, and writing isn't even the same thing as performing. Many people can write, but it takes a true girl of character and confidence to wow an audience as she di. We're proud of you, Kalina!

Stories and poems

This picture was taken pre-Buttercup.
This is not what all of our homeschool
mornings look like, but a few of them!

We've been studying poetry and writing some of our own. So we thought we'd share! But first, one of Naomi's favorite stories from Grandpa Les and Grandma Jan's recent visit. Naomi adores this story and requests it often, and I tell it as often as I can manage, usually to the accompaniment of giggles and ear-to-ear smiles. For this reason, I try to make it as cute as possible, so some of the details may be a bit fluffy:

Once there was a soft little grey and white bunny. She lived in the bin of a gift shop on a children's farm. There were many other soft animals with her in the bin, including horses, cows, sheep, pigs and even roosters! One by one, the other animals were all chosen by children and bought, and taken out of the gift shop. But no one chose the little bunny.

The little bunny really wanted to be chosen, and she used to dream of who she'd like to be her owner. Most of all, she wanted to be owned by a nice little girl who would take good care of her, and play with her, and read books with her, and cuddle her, and take her out on adventures, and sleep with her. She also thought it might be fun if there were other stuffed animals to play with, too, and especially other bunnies. But day after day, she wasn't chosen.

Then one day, a family with three girls came in: a bigger girl, a middle-sized girl, and a littler girl, who was still pretty big. The bunny became excited: this looked like a lovely family to belong to! She thought the littlest girl looked like she would make an especially nice owner, and she hoped the girl would pick her up and choose her.

She watched as the girl walked right over to the bin and then she felt herself being lifted, and carried in the girl's arms! The bunny was delighted--would the little girl choose her? She heard the girl say something to her mommy, and then saw the mommy shake her head. The little girl put the bunny back down into the bin, nestling her in with the other stuffed animals, and slowly walk away.

The little bunny was disappointed, but knew there would be other children in the store. Someone was sure to by her sometime. She nestled in among the other stuffed animals and took a nap.

The bunny was just finishing her nap when she felt herself being lifted again. The little girl was back! But why was she back? She wasn't able to buy the bunny, so what was she doing? The little girl tucked the bunny under her arm, and went up to the counter. She set the bunny on the counter, and the bunny could see the girls' grandma paying money to the cashier. Then, the bunny was returned to the little girl, who tucked her under her arm again. Soon, the whole family was leaving the store.

And the bunny realized, I've just been bought! I belong to this little girl! The bunny was couldn't believe her happiness! And the adventures began right away, as the little girl showed the bunny around the farmyard--pointing out real bunnies--before bringing her home.

At home, the girl named the bunny Buttercup, which Buttercup thought was the most perfect name in the whole world. Just as she'd hoped, there were other stuffies to play with, including bunnies. And they all lived happily ever after.

__________

As you can see, Grandpa and Grandma's visit was magical, in so many ways--not the least of which was that they managed to see three end-of-year events and several activities the girls are involved in. How nice of everyone to plan everything the same week! The week was possibly even busier than the one before our wedding or any of the weeks after bringing a new baby home from the hospital, but the girls relished the chance to show off their stuff to their grandparents.

___________

To finish out the school year, the older girls and I have been doing a poetry unit. We've read famous poetry, turned at least a couple poets into household names and written some of our own. Here are some of our favorites:

The Cow, by Kalina
There was a cow who wouldn't moo.
The farmer said, "What should I do?"
So he gave it a scare,
And tickled its hair,
And then it gave him an "achoo!"

The Stream's Song, by Kalina
The stream has its own special song.
It sings and sings all day long.
When it rains, the stream's song increases,
When it's dry, the stream's song ceases.

Grandma's project: wool felt
snakes! How perfect!

The stream sings and sings like a bird,
It sings so it can be heard.
It flows and whooshes along,
While the rocks take part in its song.

Haiku by Kalina
Looking up so high
Leafy branches spreading out
Dancing in the wind

A clerihew poem by Kalina
Tommy, the fixer,
Got caught in a mixer!
He's still stuck in there,
And he's caught by his hair!

Ready to perform!

A diamante poem by Kalina
Music
Full, amazing
Drifting, floating, inspiring
Violin, conductor, artist, paintbrush
Beautifying, coloring, amazing
Bright, peaceful
Painting





An acrostic by Kalina
Kind to mice
Animals love her
Loves her family
Ice cream, her favorite!
Never forgetting friends
Always ready for fun.

The Squirrel in the Tree, by Elise
There once was a squirrel in a tree
He said, "Oh hehehe!"
Then he climbed down
And made a big frown
But then laughed a big "hehehe!"

Flowers, by Elise
Seeds are fun because they grow so big
When they're big they turn into a flower.
Maybe they grow an inch a minute,
Maybe they grow an inch an hour.

Watch them grow day by day,
It's so great.
They're so big and colorful--oh how fun.
Many shapes, riffles and smooth petals
And at the flower contest, I won!

Tadpole, by Elise
Tadpole
Black, little
Splishing, splashing, swimming
Resting on the bottom
Polywog.

Naomi, by Elise
Naomi
Silly, little
Running, shouting, singing
Makes us laugh
Little sister

Enjoying a good story together.

Acrostic poem, by Elise
Energetic Elise
Loves to climb trees
I love to explore the stream
Swimming is great
Everything's fun with Elise

Beautiful Giants, by Elise
Trees are like houses,
Dear and strong,
Except for our animal friends.
Their big, sturdy branches
And long limbs are great,
For the animals' beautiful nests.

And finally, a narrative poem (kind of?) by Naomi
The bunnies hop
Between the grass
They see some carrots and hop over them.
They have so much fun hopping over them.
And they eat some, too.

A little girl comes outside and the bunnies hop into her arms.
She doesn't notice that there are bunnies in her arms.
She goes inside.
Then, the bunnies start playing with her and jump on her head and say, "Ready, set, we'll go!"
And they were all babies.
And the bunnies all took good care of her.

In return for all this work, I wrote limericks for the girls!

Naomi "teaches" Grandpa
Les how to play Candyland.
Lots of giggles, mostly from
Naomi!

All day, Naomi happily
Each one of her sweet, furry friends.
She gives them her best,
Pretty blankets for rest,
And ice cream, for breakfast, intends.

Elise, who climbed everything high
Just felt more at home in the sky.
With the squirrels and breeze
She perched in the trees
Even when people called out, "Oh my!"

Our beautiful ballerina danced
as a flower in Alice in
Wonderland!

There once was a girl named Kalina,
Who danced as a sweet ballerina.
But she liked piano too,
And wore out her shoe,
As she danced, and played a sonatina.

A day

Twizzler DNA

Today I woke up in a semi-panic. My to-do list:
1. Naomi to ballet. Do not forget; take the poor girl, who missed 3 out of 4 January classes, to ballet.
2. Kalina MUST work on her two papers. MUST.
3. The upstairs cleaning that was supposed to happen yesterday still needs to happen.
4. Make meringue cookies for the co-op's Valentine party on Wednesday, because time is even shorter tomorrow and Kalina's been begging me to let her make these.
5. Compile a total of 88 valentines spread across three girls
6. Have Kalina and Elise practice piano for the first Kansas City piano lesson tomorrow.
7. Meals + snacks
8. Clean downstairs, too, if at all possible. And vacuuming would be totally amazing.
9. At least 2 loads of laundry, maybe 3.
10. Snow play?
11. Routine cleanup, dishes, refereeing, playing baby bunny, etc.

Plus the usual amount of schoolwork.

I began by shaving my sweater. The girls were curious, as was Matt: does that thing really work? How? Can I try? Can we empty it out and can we see what the sweater fluff looks like? Do we have to throw the fluff away (okay, they didn't actually ask that, but I know they were thinking it and I was surprised it didn't come up)? Although this item wasn't on my to-do list, it proved to be as satisfying as pretty much the rest of it. Progress!! Immediate, visible progress that doesn't get immediately undone!! It's like a drug.

At the time of sweater shaving, the girls were all in various stages of the routine called "getting ready for the day." I reminded those who needed reminding (seriously, don't we do this every day?) and helped those who needed help, with reaching outfits, brushing hair, etc. When I woke the girls at 7:15 (before the sweater), I found Naomi carefully lining up small stuffies on her bed rail. Apparently, there was already drama: one animal refused to admit that it was the bunny's turn to be line leader. Fortunately, Naomi is as good at solving her animals' conflicts as she is creating them. She was dressed in good time, and soon busy lining up all her animals, this time through her doorway and into the hallway--this time there were no line leader negotiations, as they had been fully resolved earlier. The older girls had a chuckle when I mentioned the hallway needed to be cleaned as part of morning routine. "Um, Mom, I think that's going to be a challenge!" they smiled. Soon, however, the troop of stuffies had somehow made its way downstairs, possibly by being tossed individually, and the hallway was clean shortly after breakfast, thanks to good moods and the fact that I'd whisked away not-cleaned-up possessions in a laundry basket, not to be seen again for a week, in recent memory.

Over breakfast, we chatted about our upcoming presentations for Classical Conversations, and reviewed the schedule for the day. Everyone was quick and cheerful, and I was able to whip off a couple emails while they cleaned the hallway (albeit breakfast dishes still on the counter), trying to reserve a TV for the writing class I'm teaching Wednesday and signing up for a field trip to a bakery (which I knew would be full by lunchtime). I also communicated some details about a field trip to the art museum I'm planning for Classical Conversations. Then I finished most of the breakfast dishes, and brushed my teeth and braces, which just takes a while. I put all the couch pillows back on the couches, even though they never stay there long.

As the hallway was nearly clean, I headed upstairs to let the girls know I wanted to vacuum, and pushed them to also straighten their room. They amazingly put up no fuss. Soon enough, however, Elise was hiding in the playroom because, "It seems like Kalina always takes Naomi's side when we have arguments!" Not wanting to begin a she-said she-said while I was on such a roll with cleanup, I hugged her for a while and told her she could hide out for a bit. Kalina and Naomi were all smiles, but actually got the room clean, so I finished my vacuuming. Except the playroom, which might not actually get cleaned, ever, between Christmas and spring break.

I figured Elise could use some more time, so I told Kalina to grab 10 Skittles from one of two gigantic boxes of Skittles (seriously?) her Nutcracker buddy had given her during the Nutcracker and sent her down to practice "the tricky part in Fur Elise" 10 times. She joyfully trotted off, and I finished breakfast dishes, threw in some laundry and cleaned up in the schoolroom, not only to start the day but also because my hopes were up for getting to vacuum another level today.

Back in the fall, we made blood out of
kitchen ingredients! They will
remember this one forever.

Naomi made her way downstairs with some stuffies and started dragging out blankets and couch pillows to make beds for all of them. I reasoned that Elise could probably use a visit, and I found her standing in a wooden cradle and gazing out the window. We went downstairs together, no more mention of the argument. By this time Kalina was done, so we all began school with a little Bible verse study, Valentine's-Day themed. Kalina and I then dove into her writing work, outlining a report on Sacagawea, which went pretty well since the interruptions were minimal and I was actively participating. Elise worked independently through some three-digit, subtraction-with-renaming word problems, grumbling all the way but getting them all correct. I then gave Elise 10 minutes to "see how much of this math review you can do," and she breezed through most of it, needing my help with an old-concept, new-approach problem they threw in 3/4 of the way toward the end. She decided to have her "banana break," as did Naomi, and then we worked through spelling together, while Kalina kept plugging away at her outline, still making real progress.

Not sure anyone could be
terrified of this princess
monster! I think she forgot
she was wearing a crown.

Naomi, meanwhile, was knee-deep in the project of cleaning out and reorganizing her play tent, wearing her ballet slippers. Out came brownies, pancakes (with toppings!), Lego Snow White, an assortment of necklaces, blankets, and more. She kept the couch pillow she'd claimed, along with a blanket, and added a nice doll/stuffie bed with handles, a doll and a baby bottle. She then put together a similar setup for her purple stuffed bunny.

Rather unfortunately, Naomi was also listening to the piano's "demo" feature, which plays a loop of mostly horrid songs. We all get annoyed with it, but Naomi adores turning it on and letting it run. The first song is pretty and she doesn't notice the rest, so she could listen all day. The rest of us couldn't, however, and Kalina's very reasonable suggestion of turning it down completely disrupted Naomi's peace. No agreement could be reached, even after Mommy set the limit, so the piano went off and Naomi pitched a major fit more annoying, by far, than the piano. Fortunately, she ran out of steam after just a couple minutes and returned to a placid, cheerful state.

As Kalina's progress was coming to an end, and it had been nearly an hour, I moved her to cursive and spelling, while I worked on Elise's writing assignment with her (which is mostly a simple mix of listening, answering questions in complete sentences and copywork). Today we got to read a poem, which Elise liked, and Naomi readily sat through, still tired from her meltdown. After that, we  read Madeline, which Naomi had waited patiently for and which worked well alongside Elise's poetry work. Elise then headed off to copy a stanza of the poem (capital letters at the beginning of each line!), and I played Mommy and baby bunny with Naomi for a couple minutes before helping her get ready for ballet. Then she wanted a bun, so I did the best I could with a ponytail holder and 4 bobby pins--which was enough to not fall completely out during class, only partially.

On the way to ballet, we reviewed our Classical Conversations memory work, using the CD with the songs on it. Naomi happily danced into class, where she gleefully fulfilled the all-important role of Line Leader, and actually followed the teacher rather well, despite all her missed classes. Soooo cute. Kalina dug into Captain's Dog, a book about Lewis and Clark told from the dog's point of view (totally up her alley), taking a break only to work on a periodic table scavenger hunt I'd printed off for her. Elise read a chapter of her latest Sophie Mouse book, but soon preferred to discuss imaginary animals that could live in Eliseland instead. Besides, she likes to savor her books one chapter at a time, lest she finish them too soon (don't we all know that feeling?) Fortunately, she'd brought paper and pencils, so we could draw the animals we thought of, and then name them, and next discuss their characteristics, as well as the general governance of Eliseland. I'd been anticipating using the time to plan the Wednesday writing class, but, well, imaginary animals are more fun anyway.

Sometimes Naomi still naps at
downtime!

Back at home, I gave Kalina the task of de-bunning Naomi and helping her get changed while I made lunch and Elise helped/tasted. Or tasted/helped--her favorite task. During lunch we chatted a bit, and then reviewed more memory work. Afterward, Kalina was sent off to practice piano and Elise to do handwriting while I quickly cleared dishes, brushed my teeth and took Naomi up for downtime. On this particular day, the older girls were so engrossed in whatever they were doing that they didn't sit in on stories. Naomi had chosen a ballet book and was able to very sweetly try all the moves uninterrupted. She also chose Madeline again, and I was able to answer all her questions and we were able to count all the girls in the two straight lines, several different ways, again with no interruptions. Shortly after, however, Kalina breezed in with her book and planted herself on her top bunk, not wanting to come down even for her own story (Olga Meets Her Match, by the author of Paddington), I think still upset from a question she'd gotten wrong earlier. No problem--I enjoyed reading Elise's choice to her--a humorous book about becoming president (she does not want to).

After the story, I let Elise grab a box of Valentines and get started assembling them, and since Kalina was still upstairs and Elise is such a companionable little being, I let her sit beside me and work on them during downtime. She tried her best to keep conversation to a minimum (but not a complete lull--a nice amount), respecting the fact that I had more emails to answer, math workbooks to order and planning to do (for that writing class), and did a great job putting together a fraction of the 43 valentines she's responsible for.

About 20 minutes before the end of downtime, I began to hear a few too many noises from upstairs. Apparently Kalina was feeling better and she and Naomi were playing--which usually means Kalina has created some huge inventive scenario and there's going to have noise and hilarity and stuff all over. And it was true: as I found out later, Naomi's bed had become a boat, and they needed provisions, among other things, which was somehow related to the reason there were stuffies all over the floor. I let them go because this doesn't usually happen, but I literally heard them bouncing off the walls. Kalina: "Naomi, bounce off the walls!"

Seeing an opportunity, I asked the calm, obedient child if she wanted me to send her sisters outside to play with her in the snow, and she did. Kalina and Naomi, who usually only go outside if forced unless the weather is tropical-island perfect and/or there are popsicles, couldn't argue: they knew they'd been bouncing off the walls. I told them if they stayed out long enough, they could have hot chocolate, and then pushed them all out the door. We got out the sled, and they took a few passes down a very shallow hill in our yard. Soon enough, though, I heard crying and saw a snowy Naomi being walked by her solemn sisters up the super-shallow hill toward the house. She'd fallen off. I accepted the youngest inside ("Yes, Naomi, you'll still get hot chocolate!") and denied the other two--it had been all of 15 minutes and we don't usually have snow.

I'd been using the time to clean up (because there's always cleanup to do), and make progress toward my goal of vacuuming the main level. I put a now-just-fine Naomi to work with a few minor tasks (getting the markers and paper out from under the piano, for instance) and finished the job just as the oldest two were trying, again, to see if they could come in. As it had been 30 minutes, and I wanted to move on, I let them. We did have hot chocolate. I cleaned up the kitchen while they drank and dipped graham crackers, dripping all over themselves and the clean tablecloth. As Kalina was finishing, I broke the terrible news that although she'd finished her old math workbook last week, I had forgotten to order her new one until today! I didn't mind too much--she was delighted at my mistake, and the teachers' guide told me how to begin teaching decimals, which was something Kalina was motivated to learn anyway thanks to a math game she's been playing. In 25 minutes, I managed to get some lightbulbs turned on and introduce some new concepts that would probably need another lesson anyway before she dove independently into the workbook. I sent her and her sisters upstairs with valentines while I thoroughly vacuumed downstairs. Triumph!

Kalina emerged with completed valentines just as I was finishing, and I used the opportunity to rope her into a grammar lesson. We discussed object complement nouns and direct objects while Naomi made stuffie beds on the clean slate of a freshly vacuumed floor, with couch pillows. Our lesson was cut a bit short by the fact that I really, no really, needed to start dinner, but we got the main points. I tried to start Naomi coloring a seal picture she'd wanted (she was really into seals for a while), but she refused it, saying the seals both looked like boys. Although clearly it was a mommy and baby seal, right up her alley, I was in no mood to argue beyond offering to draw eyelashes (she was having none of it). I found her a puppy coloring book and she set to work on one that was "too cute," and that I had to make a copy of before she would color it, apparently the original being too sacred. She then cut it out and I eventually wrote down a story she made up about it after dinner. I began to brown meat and chop veggies for tacos, while Elise worked on her piano, trying one piece from memory.

Matt arrived home and one or more of the girls trailed after him to chat. I finished dinner and let Matt carry the conversation, which he thankfully did. After dinner, we still had meringue cookies to make! I quickly cleaned up a few things and got out the supplies. Matt read to Naomi, and Kalina and Elise switched off on separating egg whites, with only a few mishaps. Kalina then piped the cookies into the shape of hearts (roughly--it was challenging) , while Elise sprinkled them, until she got her hair into the batter one too many times and needed to be sent up with Naomi for a bath. Kalina, who had been stressed out by the pressure of piping hearts, was only too glad to step down to the role of sprinkler, while I finished piping. Into the oven!

While the younger two were bathing, Kalina and I stole 20 minutes to work on her other writing assignment: a hopes and dreams paper. (Kalina, in class: "All my dreams are disasters and all my hopes are unlikely." Pretty often true, actually....) She wanted to write about owning a farm someday and about becoming a gem cutter. We got her thoughts down--enough for a rough draft--and then looked up beautiful photographs of waterfalls and mountains for a few minutes.

Matt had the girls washed, so I simply had to unload Naomi from the tub and coax her into pajamas. I had Kalina help clean up the room, which was still a disaster from the downtime escapades, and then Elise joined us for stories because she didn't like the book Matt's reading to her and Kalina (again, about Lewis and Clark). Miraculously, Naomi didn't put up a fuss that Elise got to choose one of the stories, as it's very rare for Elise to join us. We read peacefully, braided hair, arranged stuffies and hugged goodnight. All very good-naturedly.

I said goodnight to Kalina, too, and then began the rest of my work for the day: finishing dinner dishes, and some more cleanup to the sounds of Matt's new guitar. I sat down to a pile of laundry and Matt and I chatted a bit before he headed upstairs and all was quiet for the first time today.

Quiet! Heavenly, blessed quiet! Most nights, I finish emailing, ordering, planning, etc. Tonight, as I didn't have more pressing issues, I wrote this blog.

Then I noticed that the meringue cookies were still a bit squishy in the middle, which resulted in a flurry of Google queries regarding soft meringue cookies, salmonella, and what to do. I decided it couldn't hurt to stick them back into the oven for another try in the morning, and then reevaluate.

And Matt wonders why I rarely turn out the light until 11:30.

The Art Show

Kalina with "My
Chinese Fan" (bottom)

I think one of the many pleasures of being a little girl (because Kalina still is, really) is that you see beauty everywhere. And then you think you can create it--and in many cases you can. The other times, you might get super-upset, crumple your paper and throw your pencil across the room, but that's beside the point, and more likely to happen during spelling assignments than art, for the most part.

At any rate, we've long known that Kalina's sense of beauty tends to bypass frilly dresses and instead show up when she's admiring spring flowers (even the weeds), gorgeous classical music or cursive writing. She has remarkably good taste.

Which is why when the opportunity to participate in a homeschool art show presented itself, I asked Kalina if she'd like to. Her "yes" answer brought with it fresh inspiration to create new art, as well as a discriminating look at some projects she'd done throughout the year. She settled on two pieces inspired by our beloved around the world study, which we prepared and entered.

"My Chinese Fan" was created during a study of China, after we used Google to look at the breathtaking Chinese landscape watercolor paintings you can find on the handy-dandy Internet. We used extra-long paper, then fan-folded our finished and dried work. I will always remember this project because Naomi participated, and Elise's fan turned out lovely, too. Kalina's shows a flowing river, fish, flying birds, a footbridge, trees, bushes and mountains in the distance and I was quite impressed.

Kalina and "Northern
Lights" and her little
sister/associate art
critic.

Kalina painted "Northern Lights" as we explored Norway and after using YouTube to take us on a tour of some spectacular displays caught on video. She was immediately enchanted, and again used watercolors (her favorite medium) to show her impressions using a rather nice hand-picked color palette. Elise also did a picture, and they all turned out nicely (how could they not?). We matted Kalina's picture, then she insisted on painting the mat brown to look like a frame. Which totally made sense to me, I suppose.

In further preparation, we speculated about how many people would enter the show, and the likelihood of receiving a prize. We'd recently read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which helped us put this potential "golden-ticket moment" in perspective. Did Kalina think she'd win? I casually inquired. "I don't really think I'll win a prize," my little realist reasoned. I continued the same vein of questioning later: was she excited for the show? "Yes, I'm so excited that I could win a first-prize ribbon!" It seems we had just the right combination of realism and fantasy. And I had my hopes up for her. The only challenge remaining would be to temper my hopes and help Kalina (and myself) enjoy the event, win or lose.

On the night of the show, Kalina donned her best pocket dress and sparkly gold shoes, put Lisa in her best Easter dress and even refrained from putting up a fuss about brushing her hair. We were all excited to see Kalina's artwork on display!

Kalina was given a ballot to vote in the artists' choice award. She'd get to pick a winner from each grade level, and yes, she could vote for herself (although she almost didn't!).

As we approached the kindergarten work, I briefly wondered if we'd accidentally stumbled upon third grade. Large-scale collages, bright paintings and drawings better than my own met my eyes. Whoa, these kids are good! Or assisted...

And my heart sank as we headed to first grade: Among a few show-stoppers, Kalina's watercolors seemed sweetly pale in comparison. I was glad to see that my little girl at least enjoyed seeing her artwork displayed, and seemed every bit as interested in other kids' art as she was in her own. I gave up hope of Kalina winning a prize amid the semi-professional 6-year-old creations and moved along with the girls through the rest of the show while Matt managed Naomi in the crowd. I also mentally prepared my strategy for consoling a heartbroken young girl when she walked out ribbonless, and for convincing her that the evening wasn't wasted.

Kalina gave all the artwork careful and gracious consideration (rushing only through the last of the photography, as her capacity for enjoying art became depleted), most often voting for flowers and pretty pictures or sculptures, including an oven-bake-clay nativity, a graceful ballerina paper sculpture, and several flower photos. Many of her choices won prizes. She also bypassed the sole cake entry (cakes are art, and thank goodness I managed to get Elise away before she could sneak a tiny fingerful of that particular work of art) to vote for a butterfly picture instead. Elise, on the other hand, vocally voted for any artwork with any sea animal theme, in addition to her very enthusiastic (loud) bid for the cake. It's a good thing she couldn't spell, or she would've seen that I'd written Kalina's choice instead--Elise watched me very carefully, but didn't find any grounds to contest the fact that "cake" doesn't, in fact, have nine letters in it.

Then Elise pulled us through the refreshments line, eagerly claiming a large cupcake as her own, and we joined Matt and Naomi with full plates to wait for the prizes to be awarded. And wait, and wait. The room was stuffy, the wait was long and three little girls approaching their bedtime needed to run around outside. So we did for a bit while Matt saved our seats.

When the awards ceremony began, the speaker made all the kids promise, out loud and in unison, to be okay if they didn't receive a prize ribbon. They would all receive a participant ribbon (Kalina perked up and smiled, and I quickly and quietly made sure she felt okay about walking up to the front to receive it--she said she was), and they all might receive a prize on a different day with different judges, as all the work was beautiful. But not all would receive a big fancy prize ribbon. This was a good reminder for the parents, too, and especially for me and the other mommies in the room. I braced myself.

It was cute to see the kindergartners head to the front to claim their prizes, and I briefly wondered whether I should've entered Kalina as a kindergartner even though she's doing first-grade work and could very well be in first grade. But I think I answered my own question.

Then it was time for the dozen or so first-grade entries to receive their awards. The judges were kind in that they often awarded a couple honorable mentions, even going as far as double first-prizes if it was warranted. And a volunteer was kind enough to follow around the judges and record their comments so that each winning artist would know something about how their artwork was received. The first honorable mention went to a child whose painting made good use of lines and dots, and I knew it couldn't be Kalina's.

Kalina is in the back row with her
artwork and her ribbon!

But the second honorable mention was described as showing the emotions of the artist and making good use of the paper. And then the title "My Chinese Fan" was read, and then Kalina's name, which I didn't even hear, and before I knew it I was ecstatically urging a smiling Kalina out of her seat and up to the front to claim her prize! It took a little urging, but Kalina's not actually one for stage fright, so she confidently made her way through the audience and accepted her ribbon. Her ribbon!!! The first prize she's ever won! A first prize for Kalina (which was an honorable mention)!

The unassuming burgundy ribbon Kalina brought back to her seat validated my parenting, and my whole life up until that point. Honorable mention. The professional judges who know about these things regarded my firstborn's work as worth honoring, and mentioning in a public ceremony. They agreed with me that she is incredible, a work of art herself. We She won!

Plus, I wouldn't spend the ride home trying to convince Kalina that it was just fun to see her work displayed, and others' work and get to vote for other kids. There's always next year...

I was proud of the judges for seeing beyond the bright colors and "I took an art class and this is what my teacher told me to do" artwork and awarding home-grown, simple art that they believed showed something beyond a pretty picture. I was proud of Elise for supporting her big sis even when the evening wasn't about her (at least there were treats), and for only asking to hold a ribbon, not keep it. And I was proud of Kalina and I for winning an award. I mean, Kalina.

I started to notice, though, that I was a bit more excited about the ribbon than Kalina was. I asked her: how did it feel to be up there with your ribbon? "Not too scary," she replied. I haven't been able to get much else out of there other than a smiling "No!" answer to my question about whether she thought she'd win a prize, and a few affirmations that she's proud of herself.

One thing's for sure, and that's that there will be more art. There may be more art shows, and possibly more ribbons, but either way, it sounds like Kalina will continue to be enthralled by the beauty around her, and occasionally capture it in a way that pleases her. And as she moves forward in life, that's really the best prize of all.