School!

Okay, so I haven't posted much in the way of school lately. After our trip to Galveston for the Kitty Cat's birthday and Labor Day weekend, this week went into high gear. We got back Monday night, so there wasn't much we could accomplish other than unpacking.

Tuesday morning I got back into my workout schedule. Yay! I had actually missed working out---who'da thunk it? I scrambled to get prepared to lead AHG Pathfinders next week as well as gathering all of my information to finalize the curriculum for the day and contact the parents. I also had the kids back in school. With only Tue through Thu to do our book work, they were long days. Tuesday night I went to the Austin Charlotte Mason monthly meeting to meet with other CMers and discuss "Masterly Inactivity." It was a lot of fun, and I stayed late. :)

Wednesday brought the Kitty Cat to her annual well-child visit. She asked me point blank if she was going to get shots that day. I don't like to lie to my children, but "yes" blurted out of my lips before I could stop and consider another answer. Then I said "maybe," but the damage was already done. She threw a huge fit, screamed, cried, pouted, told me to "Shut up!" and so on. Anyway, long story short, she did go to the doctor's office and ended up not having to get any shots. In fact, no more until she turns 11! You should have seen the smile on her face! :D

Today brought in our last day of book work for the week. Then we went to the Transformer's first den meeting with his new Cub Scout pack. Okay, 2nd grade boys are crazy. Oh my gosh. I am glad that they want the dads to lead. And I can understand why all the meetings are limited to one hour's duration. In fact, the den leader told me that the last 15 minutes of each meeting is spent with the boys playing outside on the trees or in the playground! So that's really only 45 minutes spent working on their scouting activities. Our last pack's den meetings last 1.5 hours. The first 1/2 hour was with all ranks. The last hour was within each rank. However, a lot of the younger ranks ended up playing/wrestling during the last 15 minutes of each meeting. Yet they lasted for 1.25 hours! Granted, it was during the day too. Our meetings with the new pack are in the evening.

So, tomorrow, we are supposed to meet with a new group of Nature Study homeschoolers for a hike and study session. However, it rained today for the first time in forever with a 50% rain forecast for tomorrow and Saturday--so the hike may not happen. Keep our fingers crossed! The topic for tomorrow's meeting is Animal Tracks. Should be fun!

After the hike (if it happens and it isn't soggy), we may start going back to the local Friday park day for a few hours. We were really erratic about our attendance last year. I am hoping to be more consistent this year so that the kids can really make some good local friends.

Then the kids start a gymnastics class at the YMCA (for 5-7yo, just perfect for my kids!) at 4pm. By the end of Friday, the children should be nice and worn out. After we get home, I get to wrap up preparations for the Kitty Cat's 5th birthday party on Saturday. Her actual birthday was last Friday, but we didn't want to compete with Labor Day weekend for guests. We are expecting a total of 13 children as guests, and about 12 adults. She is having a Princesses and Knights Tea Party, so we'll see how that goes. I'm doing all right setting up the Princesses and Tea Party part, but the Knights part isn't coming along so well. The biggest difficulty is being on a tight budget. I've already spent more than I had intended to.

Anyway, it doesn't end there! On Sunday afternoon, AWANA starts up, and the Transformer wants to go check it out to see if he wants to join. So we'll go there and see what this one is all about. Both of my kids had done AWANA for a year in CA, but did not join last year.

Monday night is the first AHG troop meeting, during which I will lead the Pathfinders. Eek! And on the week goes, leading up to the first AHG service project at a nursing home on Saturday, along with the first Cub Scout pack's campout Saturday through Sunday. So this week and next are pretty crazy. But by then we'll have a new rhythm, and our schedule will feel easier. (I hope!)

In the meantime, the kids are keeping up with their studies! Whoo!