Patience is a difficult virtue

The temperatures climbed all the way into the forties today for the first time in nearly a week, this on the heels of snow, ice, and violent storms, a day each and in quick succession. The weather is being down right weird.

About the word weird, Calvin read a book to me today while we were grocery shopping (this is a fun way to grocery shop, by the way), and in so doing came across the word "weird" which he first asked how to pronounce, and then, before I could answer, said "oh wait, I know that one, that says 'weird.' In this family one just has to know that word." The somewhat elderly lady standing nearby in the squash seemed to find that hilarious. I found it interesting not because he called me weird, but because he was speaking with the sentence structure of Baum's Oz books, but reading to me from A. A. Milne's original Winnie-The-Pooh. I think I prefer it that way around, as opposed to his reading the Oz books with Eeyore-like gloominess or Pooh-like inanity.

I suppose it's a hazard of the hobby. We are, after all, actively reading six books between the two of us, not including the audio book I listen to while running. Calvin is working through the original Winnie-The-Pooh and Dinosaurs Before Dark, and I just started Journey to the End of the Night and The Monk in the Garden, plus the Prose Edda, and I am still reading Oz aloud. Quiet times are a whole new joy now that Calvin is reading so independently.

We're also still traveling through Spain to some extent, and today we got a picture from the actual travelers of a fantastic castle they just visited on the road to Barcelona. Perhaps if we box ourselves carefully enough we can join them?

And my hand is continuing to heal, but what they say about age and healing is true, and the going is slow. It has taken me a half-hour to pick out this post with the working fingers I have, which is why I've stuck to mostly short and sweet as of late, but I've missed writing, so here I am. It's the little things I miss the most, like fluid typing, adept chopping for dinner preparation, and painless driving. That being said, it has been a real treasure to see just how helpful, how willingly helpful, Calvin is by nature. I have a pretty fantastic husband in that manner, too, and it really can't be long now, can it? I guess you can count that as two things I am eagerly awaiting—spring and usable fingers. Patience is definitely a difficult virtue.

Sunday in pictures

Too windy to play outside...

Saturday in pictures

Losing a landmark

Snow today. Not much, and it didn't stick, but enough of it in the air to remind us that winter isn't done just yet. This time last year it was unseasonably warm, and remembering that I can't help but be disappointed by spring's tardiness now. We lazed about this morning, eating cherry walnut pancakes and playing geography games. Jon and Calvin practiced the piano while I hit the treadmill (really, spring, I'm ready to run outside already). After lunch, though, we broke our winter coats back out of the closet and headed out into the still frigid world. Jon was teaching, but Calvin and I spent that time perusing the jumbled and dwindling shelves at the closing Borders store in Ann Arbor.

It's hard not to go there. We shopped there the weekend they announced its closing, when the discounts were much smaller and the shelves much more full. It's hard to resist sixty percent off classic fiction, science books, and even children's books. We usually buy our books used—almost always—but some wish list titles are hard to find that way, especially new releases or more obscure older ones, so we gave in on a few books, to the tune of a few dollars each. At that price it's almost like buying used anyway so all I have to reconcile myself to is the tree loss. There's a Tolkien rewrite of a Norse legend and a new Elizabeth Kostova that I can't wait to read. But after wading through shelves of books that are no longer sorted alphabetically, and barely even sorted by subject, I think we've said our goodbyes to the Arborland Borders.

Math manipulation

I love the medieval era. Actually, I could probably say that about any number of historical eras. What I really love is history. I love it almost as much as I love Saturdays, that day when we can always find a book sale somewhere to peruse. My mother was relieved when I assured her today that we also donate books to book sales, we're not just hoarding them all on our shelves. What I failed to mention is that the incoming volume probably far outweighs the outgoing. At least for right now. I didn't take a picture of today's finds, but I was really excited to bring home an illustrated hardcover of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and a copy of the classic Pinocchio as illustrated by Roberto Innocenti in library binding. I love library binding almost as much as I love Saturdays, history, and the medieval era.

When we got back from our morning out there was a box waiting for us on the front porch. If you've ever seen Christmas Vacation maybe you remember the ringing of the doorbell, each echo sinking further and further into the deep notes of doom. I heard that sound in my head the minute I saw what I knew to be a box containing curriculum on our front porch. Last weekend Jon and I went to a homeschooling book fair to visit Math-u-See, and check out their math manipulatives. I have no intention of starting a rigid curriculum of any kind with Calvin at this age, and after listening to the rep lecture us about having to take tests after each section, having to complete each section in order, yadda yadda, I was internally screaming "No! No! This rigidness is exactly what we are trying to avoid!" But I really liked the manipulatives so we ordered them, and, because another part of my inner self was crying out "I don't know how to do this!", we also ordered the primer book and teaching guide for me to read through.

My intention had been to read through the books and make my own plans for how to use the manipulatives to fit our needs, but now that Calvin can read the instructions for himself he is free to make some of those decisions on his own, too. His excitement over this stuff kind of surprised me, although I'm sure it shouldn't have. The moment I unpacked it he was sorting the blocks, and then, while I was cataloging and putting away our new book sale books, he launched right into the primer. He finished the first nine lessons (mainly number recognition) before he moved on and I breathed a sigh of relief.

And then, like a good child should, he played with the packaging, which is something I'm much, much more comfortable with.

I still have no intention of officially starting Calvin on this stuff. I balk at the mention of tests or curriculum, but I'm nervous about teaching math concepts without a little guidance. It's not that I'm uncomfortable with math, just that I'm unsure of my ability to teach it. What a terrible thing for a homeschooler to say! How many times have I told the doubters that anyone can teach, and learn, anything? But while I may not use the math curriculum, for some reason I feel better having that guidance available, and I really like the manipulatives. I'll get back to you on the rest of it.