Hmm. Things progress.

"Schoolwise" - we're doing a lot of unschooling. Pretty much every waking moment is a teachable moment. We kind of let our thoughts and questions carry us to learning as it arises. We're also doing some more structured learning, but nothing that resembles a school day. It's pretty sporadic. For whatever reason, I thought my little bean would be so much more cooperative. HA. HAHAHAH. She is a bundle of activity, and needs constant supervision, and will not consent to being trapped in "baby jail". She's also loud, as most babies are, and so it is hard to read over her, when she is content to explore on her own. Tack on sporadic naps (as in some days, she takes none), and some days, not much structured learning gets done.

We're moving along nicely in Story of the World, and we're adding on more as we go. So, right now we're studying ancient Egyptians, and I've stuffed a whole lot more into that unit than they have in the book. Of course we're doing the arts and craftsy type activities they have in the book, as well as doing some of our own. When I get home from work today, we're going to pretend we're Khnum, and make people out of clay. (And maybe make them seed bombs...that would be a neat way to keep in with cycles of life....) We're watching documentaries on Egypt, and reading Egyptian mythology, took some books out of the library on Egyptian Temples and other such things.

We're also using a free Scott Foresman grammar workbook geared towards second grade, but we're definitely doing it sporadically. Language arts, aside from reading and spelling, are a major sticking point over here. We've been hung up on writing for awhile. I'm letting it go and we're going into some of the actual mechanics of writing, like sentences and paragraphs and stuff like that. It's funny, because A is well spoken, he has no problem with subject/tense agreement. Because he reads extremely well, he has little problem with spelling. But geez Louise. Try to have that boy write a story. I'd rather not come to blows over it, so we kind of jump around. I've got him doing Rainbow Rock on my laptop to play with multiplication and division. We're also working on fractions as they come up, and the mister and the boy are playing Mythmatical Battles when they have time, which is an awesome card game that focuses on mythology and multiplication tables.

In another news, little bean's surgery got put off. She came down with a cold 4 days before its scheduled date, so there was nothing we could do. It's been rescheduled for March 6th. I am praying that everything looks good enough to proceed.

Housewise, we are supposedly days away from getting the sale approval. We've gotten the FHA approval, and for the offered amount, it was just left up to the bank to approve or deny. We were supposed to have an answer yesterday. I was, of course, on pins and needles and irritable and crazy all day, and the answer did not come. According to my lawyer's assistant, we should have an answer Tuesday. In the meantime, I am nervous that the house we want to rent will slip away. We're about to put in our lease application and kickstart the process.

Foodwise, nothing particularly exciting to report. We're out of squirrel. Our 1/2 pig order just came in. Meat for everyone! Our farmer's market has early hoophouse greens. I cannot tell you how in love with them I am. Oh my goodness I miss the greenery so much.

I am thinking about doing a portable vertical garden this year. Gonna have to do some research on that. MM, work beckons. Of course, on my scheduled day off. *headdesk* Time to coffee up and motor out.

I need a mojo infusion.

Mama's feelin pretty out of mojo this week. We've been infested with those little bastards known as head lice. Hence, we are now all sporting bald heads. I've been tired and snappish, even snapping at the baby for yelling. (Because THAT makes sense, right?) She's not sleeping well, so the mister and I are not sleeping well. I have to believe there are babies out there who sleep like a dream. Mine does not, and will not. She wakes 4-6 times a night...minimum. She has a hard time napping, too. She is cutting teeth, but they're just not breaking the surface. And since she's learned to pull up, she pulls up on everything, but cries if I am not right next to her. If I am next to her, she is climbing on ME, pulling off my glasses, tugging on my plugs, tearing at my lip, head butting me, and tearing out my hair, when I still had some.

Sometimes you forget, when your child is older, that your body is not your own, and when you have children, especially babies, they demand access to it at all hours of the night and day. That said, I love my sweet baby, and have amazing photos of all of us bald. (Except her, she's got a bit of hair left).

On the homeschooling front, the mister and I had a big ol meeting about it last weekend (and a date night too, so very nice), and decided to split it up - he'll take math and science, I get language arts and history. (man, language arts is the number 1 most difficult subject in this house. Of course I get it.) We determined the unit study was just not working for us. And because I'm more of a drill drill drill the facts in type, I thought it was better to have someone with lots of math experience under his belt (all the way up to and including number theory) take over. He's not focused on repetition til A gets it right, like I was. We also pulled up Michigan's GLCE's to have a base to move from. (GLCE's are grade level content expectations, and what teachers are expected to know and have their students know). It's not necessarily that we'll follow them, but just to see what other kids his age are working on...

So, for history I decided to start The Story of the World, and we're moving through it slowly. Just a little bit at a time. We're putting together a family tree book. For LA, we read a lot, and try to link it in with whatever we're talking about and working on at the time. Yesterday was Imbolc/Oimelc/St. Brighid's Day, so we discussed the agricultural and seasonal significance behind it, as well as some customs (we were going to make pan bannock and butter, but didn't get around to it, so we're doing it today), and then talked about the Celtic goddess Brighid, and what she represented. Then, because Brighid is the goddess of poetry, we read poetry together (this covers language arts too....sneaky!), including ee cummings, Thomas Lynch, and Shel Silverstein. We're doing some stuff out of a free grammar workbook intermittently, not pushing it. I'm just trying to wrap some of these things into our daily lives, so learning becomes a full time activity. I don't want to "do school". At all.

On the crafting front, I'm working on a pair of convertible mittens for Wes, and A and I are still working on felt chinese dragons, and lanterns for the lantern festival. Gotta get rollin on those.

Foodwise, I have to say, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker cookbook is the worst cookbook ever. Two strikes...you're out. Buh. We actually ate takeout Wednesday night, which was the evening all of our heads were shampooed, combed out, and shaved, and the entire house was laundered. Too exhausted to do much else. My bushel of oranges are here....know what I'll be doing this weekend. I also killed the water kefir. It grew mold. Guess I'll be tossing that and starting again. :( I'm wondering if it's this HOUSE, because everything seems to grow mold. Our shiitake mushroom kit, buttermilk, kefir of both the dairy and water varieties, other fermentation projects....

Homewise, our house is a disaster. Of course. I'm over it. As far as the selling goes, who knows? We had our BPO last week, but haven't heard anything about it. I'm anxiously awaiting the Friday email update from our lawyers. I'm still eyeing the house in South Lyon, as well as one in Ferndale that I'm kind of in love with.