why I haven't been blogging and probably won't for a bit longer...

Some of you around the country have already started school, or so it appears from facebook and twitter. Not so with me. Official school starts exactly two weeks from today. TWO WEEKS! Actually, I just read this post and now feel like I'm just whining.

What are we doing for school? you ask. Well, various things. A group of families, as I mentioned on this blog months ago, have been meeting together to start a Classical School in the Binghamton area. The name of this fledgling hopeful enterprise is Soli Deo Gloria Classical School. We, of course, longed to open our doors for a full five day classical program of K thru 6 this September, but as the days approached and minutes ticked by, we revised our plans for this year. We are indulging ourselves in a 4 half day tutorial/co-op and are registering still has homeschoolers, although doing as much as formally as we can.

I am on the "lucky" end of the deal. My kids get everything but history, Bible and fine arts in class and I get to teach literature, writing and geography. Some older students will have to go home and do Math every day. May God give them courage.

I am, therefore, wildly putting together lists of books and end of the year goals (so that I can make weekly plans and then daily plans--is it possible that one would be so organized?) and coping with a weeping Elphine who "just wants to stay home all the time!" I have a feeling its not that she wants to stay home, but that she Hates Change. Ridiculous child. Where would she get the idea that change is bad? (cough) Threatened her with boarding school this morning if she didn't stop crying.

So, you can see, we are in for a fairly colossal life change in short order. I have no idea how blogging will fit in in the weeks and months ahead (though it will! I just don't know how) or how I will fit in prayer and exercise. I am not a morning person and I generally do all these three things in a leisurely way in the morning as I slowly wake up. In two weeks, I will be back in the Kingdom of the Insane who wake up at 5:30, take a shower, dress 5 children and arrive cheerfully at school by 7:30 am. I can guarantee that I will not be walking up at 4 in order to pray and blog. I do welcome and covet your prayers as we start this new exciting life.

On that note, I am going to lay this aside and recover myself with all my bits of paper and lists! Good day to you all.

Monday Morning Haze: Birthday Edition

Did I mention that I was going to Maryland for a week (last week) to Rockbridge Academy's Teacher Training? Now the week long blog silence will be totally comprehensible and you will be able to put away your rage at my not posting, even as I am trying to put away my rage at the list of people (Lauren!) who are having a 'blog sabbath'. Honestly, what am I supposed to do if I have no blogs to read? Study? Clean? Attend to my children? Surely you will reconsider your family and spiritual commitments when you hear of my agony.

Rockbridge was excellent. If you're thinking about starting a school, and considering making it a Classical Christian school, then you ought to go to Rockbridge. They very much have discovered the winning formula and share it cogently and charitably. My only complaint was that the chairs were too tall and so for an entire week of sitting my feet were well above the floor and I came away with a back ache. Next time I'm taking a large pillow and a stool. 

I will have to process and organize my piles of notes from Rockbridge another day because today is the fourth birthday of Romulus and he intends that I will make him both a batman cake and a spiderman cake. When asked how he would like to spend the day, he focused exclusively on eating--toast, cream of wheat lathered in cream for breakfast, chicken lathered in sauce served up with rice for supper, two cakes, chocolate and butter sandwiches. That's just a partial list. I can see how he won't be interested in playing or riding his bike after so full a day of eating. 

Surprisingly I feel well up to the task of cooking all this food because the house is immaculate--clean enough, in fact, to be photographed. Left unaided with five children for a week, Matt undertook to deep clean and organize the house. This included polishing all the furniture, coping with the horrendous playroom, and training the children to clean up after themselves. Apparently, my method of telling them to clean up and then freaking out when they don't do it bore improvement. Now they clean up what they're playing with before moving as on to the next thing, and they don't smear butter everywhere. 

Romulus informs me that has finished his first course of toast and is ready for 'hot cereal without the cream mixed in'. Ta ta for now.

forgot to mention...

We're off to another interest meeting in an hour for the school if you are in town and have a burning desire to know more

Arrowhead Parable Bookstore
1 Harry L. Drive
10:30am

Obviously it would have been a lot nicer of me to give a few days warning. The next one is
Tuesday March 23, 6:30pm, same location.

I've been setting here for an hour trying to decide whether to blog or whether to link the long list of blogs I've been meaning to link for some time but keep forgetting, but have come to the ultimate conclusion that I don't have time to do either. See you later!

A Classical School for the Southern Tier

I'm so behind on blog reading and people are saying so many interesting things out there that I can barely be spared to write anything here.

HOWEVER, I need to come out of my not totally unusual silence and invite all of you in the Binghamton area who are trying to figure out how to educate your children to come to the first of many Informational Meetings for a school (March 13, 10:30am).

All my joking over the years about starting a school, like all good joking, had a big fat kernel of truth to it. I'm so excited about this new venture. You can read what the paper said here.

So, blogging has been light, and may continue so until we catch our breath. As part of the excitement, we've been meeting two days a week with some other interested home schoolers to just show ourselves that it will be possible to get up, get dressed and get out the door every morning, lunch and books in hand.

If you don't live in Binghamton and aren't old enough to enroll (because surely otherwise you would want to) I hope you'll pray. I've never been big on the whole 'seasons of life thing'. Its too much of a cliche, like 'bloom where you are planted'. I mean, of course, of course one should bloom where one is planted. Where else is one going to bloom? But this definitely sends us into a new 'season' where old routines have to fade away or take on a new character, and new things replace them. And if I'm not blogging much, its because I'm trying to do lots of other things. And on that note, if I don't move along, we will be late or forget something.