The Chicken or the Egg?

I have written before about how amazing and practical Aliana is. Check the archives for March 2008. I have further proof to offer today. She has solved the ancient question: which came first, the chicken or the egg?

She tells me that there was first a chicken, then an egg. She has a logical argument to back it up. I love classical homeschooling.

Her reasoning is based evolutionary theory. She imagines that there were birds pecking around in the jungles of Asia that were very chicken-like, the ancestors of today's domestic poultry. One day one of these extremely chickenish jungle hens mated with an all white-meat rooster. An egg was laid. It hatched. Out came chicken numero uno. This chick had enough of the features of what we call chickens to be so called. Since then we have had chickens. Yum.

I don't do Sudodku...

but golly do I play games.









Back when I was a working girl I took over a department in my company that was staffed by three people. After helping to move the facility to a newer and much more efficient space I staffed it by myself for quite awhile. Around this time the president of the company brought in an efficiency expert. Yeah, really. He was a little bossy leprechaun of a man. He made his way to my desk one day and interrupted my work flow by asking me, "What did you do to bring down the payroll numbers in your department so drastically?" I attempted to hide my irritation at the interruption and find words that wouldn't sound too condescending. "I figured out how to do things as efficiently as possible, I made them buy me a telephone headset and I come in really early before everybody else gets here and wants to make small talk." He clearly wanted more from me, but I really didn't know what else to say. I worked as fast as possible for eight hours or so every day. I was well rewarded for my work. Asking for a raise after proving able to work as well as three people was easy.





But really, that was not my motivation. In this life it is necessary to do certain things. Different things for different people, and even different things at different times. These tasks can be performed in a perfunctory manner or with pleasure, even, dare I say, relish. At that time in my life I needed to go off to work every day for dollars. So, I found a way to make it downright fun. It was a terrific game to figure out ways to shave a few minutes off my tasks. When I had a boss it was satisfying to say, "Okay, finished that, can I go home early now?" When I was the boss it was great to have enough time to work on tasks beyond the normal scope of the job. It made my time at work far more interesting to vary my involvement in the company that way. But, really just the game of it was loads of fun. By the end I was probably shaving seconds off my time, but it was still enjoyable. It kept my mind awake.





These days my work keeps me home. I rear children and animals, tend gardens and rising bread. I continue to adore my efficiency game. Just as I was able to cut payroll costs for my company all those years ago, I can now take my pleasure in trimming dollars, and sometimes even cents, off our utility and grocery bills. Years ago I had to go to work. These days I truly must find ways to save money. Life for our family has changed in many ways over the course of the last year, and I am far from my single working girl days, but I am still enjoying my favorite game.

Routine but not dull

I like to stay home. It is absolutely my favorite place to be. I view errands in town with a general level of grumpiness and usually turn them over to dear Patrick, oftimes with a list more detailed and controlling than I care to admit. I have turned grocery shopping into one giant expedition once every month or so, when I drag Aliana along and show her some real world application for all that damn math I make her do. When the garden really gets rolling I think I will be able to cut the frequency down to every few months. Long live the chest freezer! All of that means I'm now only obligated to venture out once a week to take the kids to a day of workshops at our homeschool program site. My dear Patrick climbs out of bed every morning and drives away to ensure we have a small cash flow, while I have the liberty to stay at home and find ways to avoid spending those dollars. I am grateful beyond words for his willingness to divide our labor the way that we do.

So, what do I do all day.? Have a bon bon and let me catch you up on Days of Our Lives...

The hours in my days are neatly bookended by animal chores. Every twelve hours I milk Rosie the goat. Every single day, 7AM and 7PM. In summer I'm outside in the sunshine both milkings, in the winter I hide under cover from the rain or dark or cold at least once. I love having a living being depending upon me to be on schedule. It makes me actually do it!

Caring for other animals and the garden takes up time every day. Dishes, laundry, cooking, and homeschooling happen every day. My days are nearly all alike. I do have a loose weekly plan to accomplish things that don't need to be done daily, such as checking food stores on Friday, making cheese and bread on Tuesday, or planning our school week on Sundays.

Living the way we do, like sardines in a can, means that working surfaces must be kept clear when not in use. So tidying things up happens all day, every day. Flat surfaces with elbow room are at a premium in an 800 square foot home. It is enormously difficult for me to begin a cooking project if the counter is full of dirty dishes and condiment containers. Any hope of concentrating on a math lesson rests on beginning with a clear table. After many gentle and a handful of far from gentle reminders we have all settled into the habit of cleaning up one mess before we begin making a second one. Naturally we all need occasional reminders, but generally the house stays pretty tidy these days. I wouldn't want a visitor to peek behind my cupboard doors, and the laundry regularly overflows the capacity of the basket by about 700%, but I find it much easier to keep my head above water than I ever have before.

One thing at which I continue to marvel is the fact that even though we let go of truck loads of material goods when packing and moving last year, we are still finding things to give or throw away. Once a day I give the kids a few minutes warning, and then walk around to find things that aren't put away, threatening to donate anything I find lying around to the thrift store. The first time I found toys on the floor I tried to be lenient and give the kids another chance. to tidy up. Much to my surprise Isidore informed me that they had left them on the floor because they didn't want them any more. The choices they make about what to keep or give away fascinate me. Legos stay, tinker toys go. Wooden dolls and little metal cars stay, the marble maze set goes. Homemade cardboard shield and fabric scrap cape stay, fancy animal costumes go. Less toys mean less clean up for the players.

Living in our teeny abode has made the housework load many time lighter, as well. Sweeping the floor takes a few minutes. That's the whole floor, not one room. Once a week I wash the windows. All three of them. In order to simplify the dish-washing chores we each own one plate, one cup, one bowl, etc. Even 4-year old Elizabeth can rinse her bowl out after breakfast and leave it ready for lunch.

Less is good.

Extra fun from school

Our homeschool program just moved into a marvelous new facility and expanded its library. This week we borrowed a nifty electronics kit. It has been a nice way for Patrick to get in on the learning fun. It has all the pieces that come in a regular electronics kit, but they all just snap together, making it manageable for Isidore's little hands. Naturally they bypassed the simple stuff at the beginning of the project book and went right for the laser gun, followed by the the space battle.

I hear the school also has telescopes, so we might plan a few heavenly lessons next month.

Before Dawn

Our family wakes up early these days. At least for a week or two, Patrick is working a shift that begins at 4:15 AM. He and I have always watched each other suspiciously from opposite sides of the divide between cheerful morning people and night owls. Can you guess who's who?

For me this radical change has been a slightly uncomfortable pleasure. Getting up out of the warm bed is tough, but my reward is the quiet, still space of time ahead of me. I relish an hour of Internet addiction time, tidy up the house, get something of some sort rising or fermenting or stewing. Around the time the light begins to fill in the details of my view out the window I bundle up and head out with my milking bowl.

The world outside is really pretty raucous in the early morning. The hungry cows spot me as I step out the door. They don't moo so much as bellow. The roosters have been crowing for quite a while now, and when I open the coop they flap past my face in their hurry to get out to take care of chicken-business. The goats chime in next, saying good morning in three distinct voices. The geese and ducks splash and quarrel. As I milk, in the distance I hear cars taking children to the bus stop and dogs barking at those cars.

As I step in the door bearing milk and eggs Isidore is up and wants to know if we can get out the school books and get to work. He adores the math and reading books we began using a few weeks ago. Last week he began to really read, to sound out unfamiliar words. Though he enjoyed schoolwork already, this breakthrough energized him. After we do the brief lessons from the books he asks me to write down words for him to read. This game is still novel for both of us. After he tires of reading to me, I take my turn reading aloud. We dive into the workings of the human body, cowboy stories, and lots and lots of Halloween tales. Elizabeth joins us under the blanket on the couch, usually adding a poetry book to the pile. She has been rhyming words since she could speak, and loves to listen to poetry read aloud. I do wonder where that will take her. If Aliana is home we make room for her and let ourselves sink deep into the world of The Hobbit for awhile, our latest daily pleasure.

I am so glad they weren't in one of the cars bound for the bus stop this morning.

Song of the Week #2

This week's song was selected by Aliana. She spent years learning to tell good jokes, and is quite the aficionado of all things silly. So we have a pretty goofy one this week. The first three verses came from The World Treasury of Children's Literature, a book I've had since I was a kid (Any idea where it came from, Mom?). The next part was made up as we drove to work.

Alligator Pie

Alligator pie, alligator pie,
If I don't get some I think I'm gonna die.
Give away the green grass, give away the sky,
But don't give away my alligator pie


Alligator stew, alligator stew,
If I don't get some I don't know what I'll do.
Give away my furry hat, give away my shoe.
But don't give away my alligator stew.


Alligator soup, alligator soup,
If I don't get some I thinkI'm gonna droop.
Give away my hockey-stick, give away my hoop,
But don't give away my alligator soup.


Alligator cake, alligator cake,
If I don't get some I think I'll fall in a lake.
Take away my gecko, take away my snake,
But don't take away my alligator cake.


Alligator juice, alligator juice,
If I don't get some I'll be in a noose.
Take away my chickens, take away my goose,
But don't take away my alligator juice!


Anyone else have a verse?

Isidore the photographer

When Isidore was attending preschool for awhile Patrick and I were naturally asked to take pictures at school for events and yearbook pages and things. Once when I had my camera along Isidore asked if he could use it. He uses both my camera and Aliana's all the time, so I thought nothing of it. A few minutes later he came crying to me because another parent at the school took the camera away from him, thinking he wasn't supposed to be using it. I explained that he had my permission to take pictures, but the other parent couldn't quite believe I would be so foolish as to hand such an expensive piece of equipment to a four-year old. Hey, I figure if I start his training now he'll be taking over sooner, and off to retirement I'll go!





Here are a few of his shots.

The really blurry one is Elizabeth somersalting. I love that one.

Why we should all be like Aliana

My oldest child is the most practical person I have ever known. She prefers the most direct way to accomplish any task, even if it’s more difficult, nobody else does it that way, or she looks silly doing it. She also really takes advice to heart. It doesn’t generally occur to her to ask for it, but if someone points out a way she can improve whatever she is doing, she tries it out.

She has been working on drawings of dragons and other strange creatures that her Nonna is going to make into a quilt. I noticed that the work wasn’t her best and made some suggestions about how she could use the direction of her strokes to create realistic texture. Like I actually know anything about drawing- give me a camera, thank you very much. But she listened to me and then dove into a pile of paper and crayons and came out the next day with a dozen gorgeous drawings.

I am very proud of her for her effort, but what really stands out to me is what she didn’t do. I imagine what I might have said to her had she taken it upon herself to critique a lousy meal I set in front of her for dinner. I have to confess it probably wouldn’t have been so polite. I might have defended my gummy rice and overcooked broccoli as acceptable, made an excuse about having a long day, or perhaps found something to criticize about her in return. I’m pretty sure most of us wouldn’t have behaved as she did upon receiving unsolicited advice.

She thanked me for my help and went to work.

I’m going to try that next time.

Song of the Week

Every week or so the kids and I try to learn the lyrics to a new song. This week we are working on Frog Went A-Courtin'. We have this version: http://www.amazon.com/Frog-Went-Courtin-John-Langstaff/dp/015230214X but I found a website that offers a much longer version of the ballad: http://home.earthlink.net/~highying/froggy/froggy2.html

The version we are learning goes like this:

Frog went a-courtin, he did ride,

Sword and pistol by his side.

When upon his high horse set,

His boots they shone as black as jet.

He rode right up to the mouse's hall,

Where he most tenderly did call:

"Oh, Mistress Mouse, are you within?"

"Yes, kind frog, I sit to spin."

He set miss mousie on his knee,

"Pray, Miss Mouse, will you marry me?"

"Without my Uncle Rat's consent

I would not marry the president!"

Then Uncle Rat he soon comes home,

"Who's been here since I've been gone?"

"A pretty little dandyman," says she,

"Who swears he wants to marry me."

"Where will the wedding breakfast be?"

"Way down yonder in the hollow tree."

"What will the wedding breakfast be?"

"Three green beans and a black-eyed pea."

"Who will make the wedding gown?"

"Old Miss Rat from Pumpkin town."

So Uncle Rat gave his consent,

And that's the way the marriage went.

The first to come in was a little white moth,

To spread on the table cloth.

Next to come in was a big black bug,

On his back was a cider jug.

Next to come in was Mister Coon,

Waving about a silver spoon.

Next to come in was a spotted snake,

Passing 'round the wedding cake.

Next to come in was a bumblebee,

A banjo buckled on his knee.

Next to come in was a nimble flea,

To dance a jig for the bumblebee.

Next to come in was the old gray goose,

She picked up her fiddle and she cut loose.

Next to come in were two little ants,

Fixin' 'round to have a dance.

Next to come in was a little ol' fly,

He ate up all the wedding pie.

Next to come in was a little chick,

He ate so much it made him sick.

The last to come in was the old tom cat.

He said, "I'll put a stop to that!"

The frog and the mouse they went to France,

And this is the end of my romance.

Frog's bridle and saddle are laid on the shelf.

If you want anymore you'll have to sing it yourself!

I'm a Criminal

I imagine you might have heard that an appellate court in California has ruled that homeschooling is illegal unless the parent is a certified teacher.

http://www.bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/mn/news/homeschool_opinion_030708.pdf

Wow. So until our lawmakers fix things up I am living on the wrong side of the law. Sure guys, and is is also illegal to kiss my kids' booboos when they skin their knees, limit after-dinner treats to one per day, or take them to the library? For our family, learning with our children is just part of how we choose to live our lives. The very idea that other people think they have a right to tell us whether or not we are permitted to do so boggles my mind. I could go on all night, but I won't. I don't think this ruling will be upheld by higher courts, so I don't worry about any real impact on our lives.

Math in the afternoon