"So if not all Victorian women scorned sex, why do we think of them as prudish?"
An amazing article. Too bad the prescriptive was confused with descriptive. I imagine that single fact has by now had the opportunity to ruin generations worth of expectations, at least in certain venues. How very compelling and gratifying then is this small body of research.
Yes, I am here because I should be doing something else. I'm taking a few minutes off from being a grown-up. I'd like to be cocooning somewhere, welcoming in fall while wrapped in a blanket in front of a fireplace and reading, or something. Whine.
Q's had some trouble sleeping over the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping it was the virus he seems to be over now. I do not do middle of the night on call mommy like I once did. I may be slightly past my peak in that regard. Whine.
Perhaps what I really need to do is three good things. Yes. If I were a grown-up, which I will not be for another three minutes, that is what I would do. (She sits, still, waiting for the time to elapse...)
Okay.
First, some amazing contacts have been made lately. County and state developmental disability people are just incredible. Good things are afoot and miracles abound.
Second, school is going pretty well for all concerned. Some of us have some speed to pick up, some of us have some organizing to do (spreadsheets are a girl's best friend), but overall, wow. Q loves Preschool. S loves her new math book. K loves the opportunity to be silly with her English. E loves thinking about never having to do schoolwork ever again. And G loves that one day he won't have to discuss Latin or Algebra or writing with me ever again. And I'm a little bit floored at how quickly those days are approaching. Yikes!
Third, time with the kids. We've been running together, averaging three times a week, using the Couch to 5K layout. The app for the iTouch is pretty cool - K and I have made playlists for the runs and the C25K app shuffles the songs for us and then rings bells at us and hollers "WALK" or "RUN" when it's time to switch out the interval. It is an experience that sort of knocks me over, running with them. We start out all together, so we can hear the music in the cheap little clip-on speakers that hang from the back of Q's chair. We can't make it too very loud, or Q will go deaf and people who pass by us will get snippy, but too soft and no one can hear the bells and voice or the music, both of which we've all decided we have to have or we just won't make it. As we warm up and then run, we spread out a bit. G's legs are so incredibly long, he can outlope us all and make us look just silly. S's legs are so short, comparatively, but she runs hard and often passes some or all of the rest of us. And whomever is pushing Q has harder work to do - usually me - and mostly ends up in the middle, trying not to lose sight of anyone. We begin in a clump, cheery and full of extra wind, so that anyone more than a few steps away will be brightly hollered at when it's time to run: "We're running!" By the second round it's, "Running," and by the third a flat, "Run." This cracks me up every single time, though I'm not laughing because I'm too busy gasping, "Cool down!" So when we're out there, and I'm watching them moseying around a track or down a trail, I think about how blessed I am to be there with them, watching them do this cool thing, and participating in their growing up. It's so big that it's almost too much, like accidentally getting an eyeful of the sun itself. It makes the runs feel short indeed.
I'm heading to bed because I can. :o) Hope you're getting good rest and plenty of renewal.
P.S. We helped some friends last week who had flooding in their house. I still don't have words to express how horrifying it is to see a home so terribly disrupted. And I cannot imagine having to be the people in charge of whipping various subcontractors and insurance issues into shape so they will all produce what has to be a livable space once again. It's heartrending and completely overwhelming. They could use your prayers, and probably some dinner if you're in the area.
I'm rewarding myself with a moment here, because I've all but finished certain portions of curriculum planning and wrangling for the school year. First Year Henle is no longer scaring the bejeebers out of me, but I'm still expecting to be visited by spectors in the night: The Ghost of Latin Past. And of present subjunctive active. And then of perfect and future infinitives active.
We began today and I'm just rounding out the rest. This week is our "find your neck braces kids, and let's get ready to roll at full speed" week. So the kids are immersed in workbooks and reading times and refreshing their wee (or not wee) heads on math concepts - how do math concepts just escape like that? And I have one who is now a talker, who wasn't so much this way last year, and her sibs are not inclined to tolerate her happily in this regard. We'll be working on that.
So I'll be writing actual lesson plans over the next few days, filling up our binders with spreadsheets and other bits and pieces that need to be adjusted, and cracking open a lovely box of new pencils. Good times. There are a handful of books to order yet, a couple from the UK, some from Amazon, and a few from more obscure (educational) publishers.
Earlier this evening (or yesterday) we attended the last concert in the park for the summer - a group of five young men who play all manner of stringed things, including fiddle, and are/were homeschooled. The sense of humor and stage presence was neat - they were very comfortable up there, in contrast to some of the other acts we watched in other weeks. Really talented guys, and we especially enjoyed the oldest's favorite hymn (Come Thou, Font of Every Blessing) and the youngest's take on James Brown's "I Feel Good." So we're carrying that with us as we go forward to our own fun evening tomorrow, when we head out to a local assisted living facility to play our little hearts out for the residents there.
Happy almost fall, peeps! In honor of the time of year, crack open a book you've been hoping to read. You know you want to. XO.
So I've been working and reworking the budget in order to be reasonable and attentive and, you know, grown-up. I've been laboring for some weeks under the idea that I was being extravagant with the amount I was allowing for groceries. Not so! According to this table, I'm low. Even lower than the "thrifty" budget, and by enough to make me feel quite thrifty, indeed.
Hooray for me, she says, tongue planted in cheek.
Equal parts of low-fat or non-fat Greek yogurt whipped with cream and a little bit of vanilla sugar makes the nicest accompaniment for nectarines and peaches. It has a little zip, like creme fraiche, but a ton more protein and less fat and everyone loved it, right down to Q. Tomorrow we'll be trying it with blackberries and nectarines. Slurp. It will be especially tasty because we will be sharing with friends and eating it all outside before and after some hikes.
Last week Q rode in his pack and just loved it. This week we're going to try it again, for a little while, then try the chair again on the same paths where he laughed the whole mountainside (and all its grinning hikers) silly a couple of years ago. And we'll be having a vat of homemade potato salad (inspired by the kids' exclamations of delight at their daddy's version and the fact that I haven't made potato salad in at least a couple of years now - hope they like it!), and another of this lovely combination of quinoa, black beans, corn, baby sweet peppers, cilantro, lime, sweet onion, and a splash of EVOO with salt and pepper. Yum. Avocado for those who want it. Then sandwich stuff and fat, juicy tomatoes and cottage cheese, too (summer food). And lots and lots of water to drink.
I folded four loads of laundry after the kids went to bed, maybe more like five and a half. I've got one more load to start and then I'm for bed. I know mamas always say that the laundry is never done (and they're right, unless the kids are nekkid and suspended in stasis), but here, with Master Q keeping us busy, busy! It needs to keep on moving, or else it would become a hazard. (shudder) So down the stairs I go.
Hope you're looking forward to a sweet and restorative weekend with your favorite people. Or person. ;o) And some very tasty food. XO.
The Five Languages of Apology, Chapman and Thomas (hard read, when one is looking at oneself)
Praying with the Psalms, Peterson (love Eugene Peterson)
The Myth of Laziness, Levine (haven't started it yet, but loved his "A Mind at a Time")
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science, Angier (completely loved her book on women - anatomy and etc., but occasionally find her tone to be smug here)
Getting to Calm: Cool-headed Strategies for Parenting Teens and Tweens, Kastner and Wyatt (very good, this one may remain on the nightstand for the next fifteen years...)
The Art of the Public Grovel: Sexual Sin and Public Confession in America, Bauer (I'm nowhere near starting this one since we're landing in the next round of studies here, but what a fascinating title, no? I've so enjoyed her other works, I can't wait to sink into this one - maybe on that cruise I'm planning for two thousand and never...)
I also have The History of the Medieval World (Bauer) to read and I'm feeling terribly guilty about it. I had received the advance e-version from the author with a promise (mine) to write about it when it released. I did not (hangs head). I hadn't finished it and felt, well, as if my gushing wouldn't necessarily add strength to her accolades. Since I hadn't finished it. Silly, I know, but there it is. So I'll go ahead and gush now.
My kids adore history and it's not just because I constantly talk about how cool it is. It's not just because we read biographies and encyclopedias, or Genevieve Foster books. It is in no small part due to the fact that we began reading The Story of the World series almost eight years ago. (Can that even be right? Someone tell me if I'm wrong.) We've been through them all a few times now, and the kids can quote portions of the audiobooks. They color maps with confidence (from the student pages), and have enjoyed staging a war while painted blue, as Celts, among other fun activities. We had high hopes when beginning The History of the Ancient World and weren't disappointed. G made a point of reading short passages to anyone he could get to sit still and he laughed and learned and enjoyed it immensely. The timelines, maps, photos, footnotes, and well-told anecdotes have so engaged him. The second book in her series, The History of the Medieval World, has similarly been a delight. He's not quite into it yet, but I'm enjoying it thoroughly and he will too. After all, history is cool.
Go buy the book - or books. Could be that you personally aren't teaching children but haven't had a tour through a good history tome lately. Shoo. Find at least one of the series, maybe at your library, read it, and then come back and write comments. I can't wait to hear what you have to say.
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