Wanted: Normal Children.... nah

We're having a snow day today.



Yes. Even homeschoolers can have snow days, but they might not look like a school kids snow day. Actually, I don't think anybody's snowday could look like ours.
I'm pretty sure that's a good thing.

Setting the scene:
Me? I'm standing at the sink washing the fingerling potatoes we rescued from the garden a couple of weeks ago.


My 8 yo walks up to me to chat.

8yo: "Mom? What if there are free floating electrons? Are there ever electrons just hanging out but not attached to an atom?"

Me: "Yes, I think that's what electricity is, electrons moving."

8yo: "No, not moving. What if they're just floating around? Do they ever do that?"

Me: "Hey, are you going to build a snowman?"
(Notice how quick I am to get myself out of that one? There's more than one kind of smarts.)

8yo: "What about the electrons?"

11 yo walks up.

11yo: "My bomb just went off in the house. " (he sighs)

Me: "Did you clean it up?"
(I'm not too mad. Did you notice what a great distraction he provided? I'm not up to par with these #@! electrons.)

11yo: "I got it into the bathroom before it exploded. It could have been dangerous, but it was just messy."

Did you notice he didn't mention if he cleaned up?

8yo: "What would happen if there were free floating electrons?"

Me: "Do you need help zipping your coat?"

I still haven't looked at the bathroom.

This is your brain, learning all the time

I know, I have been quite delinquent in my posting, or rather, lack there of. In my defense, I'm BUSY! Coaching an FLL team, doing music with the children for worship on Sundays, rehearsing and performing with two choirs, and oh ya, homeschooling three kids.... Which means while I have a lot I could post about, I don't have any time to post it. :^P

I've been reading some fascinating stuff recently. I can't quite tell where I'm going with the synthesis of it. One area I've been reading about is brain function and plasticity. With books like "The Brain That Changes Itself", "Proust and the Squid, the Story and Science of the Reading Brain", "Predictably Irrational" and then this video series:
http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/video/notes-neurons-full

It's worth watching the video series, if nothing else just to hear Bobby McFerrin.

September's books

• The Brain that Changes Itself, by Norman Doidge, M.D.
• What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman
• Dead and Gone, by Charlaine Harris
• Moby Dick, by Herman Melville

August's Books

• The Wanderer, by Sharon Chreech
• Sometimes God has a Kid's Face, by Bruce Ritter
• Mama Makes Up Her Mind, by Bailey White
• Black Hands, White Sails, by Patricia C. & Fredrick L. McKissack
• Imager, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
• Moon Awakening, by Lucy Monroe

We are on the road, drive across the country, staying with friends and family as we travel to the west coast for a sailing holiday. I am reminded again why it is worth all the effort to travel with kids.

We gain so much from this time. Of course, we get to see people we love, but live far from. My children met family they'd met before, some they remembered, some they didn't remember, and discovered the joys of playing with cousins their own age and being admired by a great-grandfather. We met up with dear friends continuing and strengthening those bonds. We've also met new friends. We've discovered that we have friends we just haven't met yet everywhere we go. It's wonderful to learn that the world is full of interesting and kind people.

We see places that are very different from our own home, yet we see the commonalities that all people share. It's fascinating to see how other people manage their lives. It's enlightening to see how many ways there are of being, to notice that our own way isn't the only way. It seems kind of old hat, these are things we all know to be true in the abstract. To experience it in person drives home the lesson in ways that a lecture or book just can't.

Of course there are things that aren't so great: tired and overwhelmed kids who can't hold it together one more moment, family drama and sorrows, the discovery that some situations/people can't be trusted. I'm learning that these are actually good things too. We learn how to cope with the less than perfect, we build resilience, and the knowledge that we are able to move beyond that and still enjoy what we have at that moment. That's a lesson that I want to remember!