Rehab

Red Sox game.  Do we scream 'freedom'?

A few weeks ago The Honey and I got a chance to go to Boston.

Business for him, vacation for me.

We did manage to travel up a day early so we could have some time to sight see before he got busy with meetings and other top secret CIA missions.

Boston is a great city.  Lots of history, the beautiful harbor front, plenty of sports.

We took in a Red Sox game, strolled through Boston Common and along the Harbor.  We went to Harvard's campus and wondered what it would be like to be smart.

OK....I wondered what it would be like to be smart.

But most importantly we ate.  Boston has so much great food.  I am for this.  Any city that has great food is worthy of my vacation time.


And for your enjoyment.....Fenway Park singing Sweet Caroline.  The video is not great quality, mainly because of the half lit people around us.  But they sound so good, don't ya think?  We had to video it for our  Sweet Yahoo.  Which she loved.  Bless.

And I will go ahead and answer the number one question I get when we go away...
           
                                                   Are you taking the children?


Deep sigh.

What kind of vacation would it be, people, if I took the children with me?

No.  No I didn't take the children.  Hallelujah and Amen.

And it was..... fabulous.

 There, I said it.  Yes!  I enjoy being away from my kids from time to time.  And do you know what?  They enjoy being away from me.  Because they have these grandparents that have cable and poptarts and actually listen to them when they talk.  It's a win win for all of us.

But here's the thing.  After a week of pigging out on Cheetos and A.N.T. Farm, The Yahoos needed some rehab.

And for those of you reading that have little people and might be wondering if your own child needs rehab, here are some signs and symptoms of overly intoxicated children:

1.  If your child gives you a blank, blinking stare when you tell them to go do their chores, as if you are speaking another language or they have mysteriously turned into a pigeon.

2.  If the words 'whatever' or 'as if' or 'like' make up more than 77% of their lexicon.

3.  Noticeable tremors and twitching when you tell them you have no more Poptarts.

Rehab.  One week.  No TV, no iPad, no computer.

As far as the sugar goes....well....we didn't want to go too crazy.  They are children.  We chose to limit desserts to once a day.

And here's the deal.  I don't think they missed it that much.  There were a few hours of boredom, but eventually they got desperate enough to go find something to do.  Or, if they didn't and kept complaining I did find things for them to do.  Like weed the garden or rub my feet.

I wish I could tell you electronic rehab created world peace or fixed Kim Kardashian's plastic surgery addiction.  It did not.  But it was definitely quieter.  We had more conversations.  Thought provoking conversations.  Not conversations about how we can schedule our day around the Good Luck, Charlie marathon.

I tell you all this to say....Don't be afraid of The Rehab!  Tearing yourself away from Disney and even Food Network (gasp) probably won't kill you.  In fact, you might even feel like you are a little more alive.

My CC Blog

The last three days I have been hanging out with some fairly fantastic women at Classical Conversations (CC) Practicum.

I know what you're going to say.

"Mama, you keep mentioning this Classical Conversations thing.  You keep promising you will tell us about it.  Spill it, already!"

Fine.  I'll give you one paragraph.  But just one and that's it.  Because there are lots of, well, basically brilliant women who have whole entire blogs devoted to CC stuff.  Like my friend Melody here.   I read these ladies often.  Because I need more brilliant in my life.  But this is not that kind of blog.  This blog is more of a curl up on the couch with your bag of chocolate chips and jar of peanut butter while you occasionally snort a little from laughing too much.  Very little brilliance going on here.

So here it is.  CC is a community of homeschooling families who gather together as we teach our kids with a Classically Christian approach.  Well, what does that mean?  Basically we teach the main subjects (math, history, science, geography, Latin, grammar, fine arts) with an emphasis on having the kids memorize the crucial piece of information in the formative years, and then gradually building on that as the children develop mentally and logically.  What that looks like is that in grades K-6 the kids memorize information from each of the 6 or 7 subject areas. They are learning the who, what, and wheres of things.  By the middle school years the students are ready to take those pegs of knowledge they have gathered and begin to connect them together.  The whys and hows.  Then by high school they can go to the next level by using this understanding to impart truth and wisdom and beauty using rhetorical arguments and communication.

Did I make that sound more daunting than it actually is?  I hope not.  Because CC is not overwhelming.  Challenging?  Yes.  But not overwhelming.  In fact, CC provided the challenge and accountability our family was ready for.  When the kids were young I tried several different co-ops because I was under the delusional idea that we needed to be socialized.  I was wrong.  Because between sports and church and cousins and grocery shopping and library story time.....I was over the socialization.

 Secondly, I was still so insecure in my abilities as the kids' educator.  Every time some other mom told me about some great curriculum or strategy they were using I would feel this pressure that I should try that too.  So we bounced around alot,  A complete disservice to my kids and complete chaos to me.

So the past few years we have been keeping things simple.  We were sticking with the curriculum that was working for us.  We were in our groove.  It felt good.  But then I felt this pulling toward CC.  I can't explain it.  It was the same pulling I felt when we were making our decision to home school.   I can't put words to it.  I just know how it feels.  So I researched blogs and websites and asked my CC friends a bazillion questions and prayed and made pro/con lists and had lots of conversations with the voices in my head over if this was the right fit for our family.

They all said yes.

This past August we took that small step of faith.  And it was....delightful.  My kids loved making friends.  I loved making friends.  They flourished under the weight of the challenge and responsibility of the material like a flower flourishes under the heaviness of good soil and steady rain.  They were encouraged by their teachers and classmates.  It was such a breath of fresh air to our little family.

In April we had a little celebration to show the families of the students what they had learned during the year. We said goodbye to some friends that wouldn't be returning.  We ate some cookies.  It was nice.

Here's a 2 minute clip of the kids reciting one week of their memory work.  You might notice that all ages recite the same work.  This, my friends, is the beauty of CC.  All the kids are learning the same material.  The older ones can just go a little deeper with it.  This makes things so much easier  on the teacher of this one room schoolhouse.

Before you view.....It looks like I might have been a little nervous and/or alot drunk while filming.  My apologies.  

And before I leave you I will just have to plug and say that two of my children committed themselves to becoming Memory Masters this year.  A Memory Master is a student or parent that memorizes 24 weeks of information for each of the 7 subjects.  It is a daunting challenge and not for the faint of heart.  But they did it and I am so proud of them.  And humbled that God would choose me to be their mother.  I don't feel qualified, folks, and that's the truth.  But each day sweet Jesus equips The Honey and I to raise these children up in Him.  I just can't put words to the joy that brings me.

I am proud of all of them, but mainly of Baby for being so stinking incredibly cute with that look on his face.  Also, did you faint from seeing Ninja in a tie?

So there it is.  My CC paragraph that exploded into a full on post.  Obviously I do not summarize well.  But hopefully it was worth the read.  If you are interested in home schooling or in CC, please let me know.  I'd love to talk with you about it.  You can find more information about CC here.