A Week of Celebration

We are full swing in our craziest time of year.

Yesterday was Rosh Hashanah and we spent the day in the mountains, per our tradition. (We visit the creek there every year in part to perform the ritual of Tashlich that Margaret speaks of here.) It was great, and friends/family joined us this year which made it even more adventurous. The weather, as it has been in years past, was perfect. 70s, cooling off in the evening.

We enjoyed honey cake & round challah, kite flying, hiking, dam building, downtown perusing and a delcious dinner at a new place in Boone (at least new to us). There should be heavy napping today...

On top of all that, tomorrow we are headed to Raleigh so I can go to a friend's bachelorette party--i love a good night out with the girls. Sunday Naomi will be 7. WHAT?! so, we'll be celebrating that with the requested picnic with family and friends. Then, back home and Monday will be a day that goes down in infamy as my 30th birthday. I'll take a slow day for that, the older I get the less I want to do and the more I have to, so a nice day of mosey-ing about would hit the spot.

Anyway, older is better. Recently one of my oldest friend's and I discussed our aging. It's not nearly as dreadful as you think it will be. When you're twenty you think life can't get better, but it does and that's surprising and it's really the best part of my birthday is thinking about how I have SO much of what I want out of life and I'm still relatively youthful. Not that I can't think of other places to go, or more goals to reach, but, to quote Anne Shirley, "I'm pretty nearly perfectly happy."

The fun won't end this week. October is FULL of camping for Sukkot, Leviah's birthday, and the general celebrating of Fall--which is (once again) my fave.

A Counting Board and a Toy

our curriculum instructed us to make one of these, and I'm excited we did. It's a really neat tool. I'm pretty certain I don't understand all the ins-and-outs, but this is what you make when you count by 3's.

and this is the process of counting by 4's. Naomi discovered that counting by 6's creates the same star. And, she has been playing with it all afternoon making all kinds of patterns. Who knew learning could be fun?! ;-)

Perhaps some of you know how to use the circle for even more learning opportunities?

Cooling Off Where You Are?

It's cold (squeal of delight) and Eliza is now wearing the hat I knit while she was in-utero. It's cuter on & all the flaws are much less noticeable when her sweet laughing eyes are peaking out from underneath. Here's more on the pattern. Is there anyone who doesn't think aviator hats are adorable?!

What cool-weather knits are you pulling out of hiding?

The Girl Can't Read--words.

Naomi started Violin lessons over the summer. There's a notion that most public schools don't embrace and that is that when a child is ready for something, they'll do it. A year ago an hour of time spent trying to teach Naomi how to tie her shoes was fruitless and frustrating. Last week I demonstrated it twice and she walked away knowing how to tie her shoes.

Back to violin. Naomi has been taking 'music' lessons for some time, but they were introductory and more about rhythm and getting them comfortable with looking at notes, hearing tones, etc. Now, though we weren't sure until she began, Naomi is ready to play violin. She picked it up, and can even read music after only a few months--it's amazing. I expected to suffer through months, if not years of cat-fight-sounding screeches, but most of what she plays is actually pleasant. Not to say it's all on key, or that she's some sort of prodigy, I am just very pleased with her ability to enjoy it so quickly. The groundwork was laid and now she will be able to progress, not without instruction, but it's coming very naturally to her--like with the shoe-tying.

I'm not embarrassed to say that Naomi can't read. She'll be 7 in a few weeks and though at times it's been difficult not to feel like we're doing something wrong by NOT forcing it, I really feel that we're still in the foundation-laying time. Drew and I both read, we read to her constantly; her vocabulary is huge and her comprehension fantastic. When the time is right we will be ready for her readiness; but now, as always, I remind myself that late readers are often the ones who enjoy reading the most (according to a recent article I read), and what are we trying to prove anyway? I'd rather she know how to be kind, so I'll force that learning on her instead for now...

Too Much To Say

So much going on around here I can't pick a topic to stick to. So, I'll summarize in pictures.

first there was the beach. great time with sweet friends.

then there's the booth downtown where I'm now selling some of gremlina's vintage wares.

then we had the indie market, which is always fun.

and we'll end with our first real day of homeschooling, today. it wasn't laborious, so don't worry too much. stories, letters, verses, circle time...more tomorrow!

Each of these things is somewhat lessened by being listed in this manner, but I assure you, they're all significant and there will surely more about them later.