Samantha, relaxing.
On April 24, the kids and I attended a "Home School History Day" at Tudor Place. The theme was "Greek and Roman History" and we learned how Tudor Place was built in Neo-Classical architectural style, where ideas were inspired by Ancient Greece and Rome, but with a lot of gold leaf and gold plating covering everything to increase the fanciness factor. We learned how to distinguish the three types of columns: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. We walked through the Mansion, and the kids looked for Greek- and Roman-inspired elements, which the guide explained. At the end of the tour, the kids got to design their own column in a style of their choosing, and also got to coat a plaster decoration in the shape of a sun, with gold leaf, and take it home. The kids had fun, and I found it really interesting, too. I'd like to go back again in the Fall.
On April 25, the kids went to work with Levi for "Take Your Kids to Work Day". His building had a whole program for the kids, with activities like scavenger hunts, etc. They had a great time and came home with goody bags full of stuff with the APHA logo.
Samantha has been enjoying Homeschool Gymnastics. I've been enjoying how much less crowded that building is in the early afternoon compared with early evening when most of the gymnastics sections are held. It is much quieter, and the parents don't have to fight for chairs and space upstairs in the overlook area.
Glenn is taking tennis lessons once a week, at the courts at the park near our house. It was what he chose, and he's been having a great time.
The County Library's Central branch had a giant book sale, and I found a load of classics for cheap. The sale continued for four days, and on the last day when everything was half-price, the whole family went back and the kids found some fun books to buy with their own money, and Levi found some fun things, too. We are all big fans of these huge library sales, now, and can hardly wait six months for the next one, despite our total lack of shelf space at home.
On Saturday, April 27, we all attended Robotfest at the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum, Maryland. They had life-sized radio-controlled R2D2 robots, a homemade electronic version of Pong using original Nintendo System controllers (on which I beat Levi, haha), some small drones, some robots made partly from Lego and K'nex parts built by competitive teams which are programmed to do certain tasks on a table, a couple of robot faces programmed to sing Dr. Demento's "Funny Farm", a table where you build your own rocket and launch it, and a guy selling kits for building a cardboard robot. The Electronics Museum had a bunch of really cool stuff, and Levi and I could've spent several hours in there, but we'd barely scratched the surface before kids had lost patience, so we'll have to come back another time.
Glenn has been busy building elaborate Lego contraptions, including the Hogwarts Castle. Since shooting this video, Glenn and Levi have improved and expanded this tremendously, to the point that nobody can use the upstairs computer because Hogwarts grounds takes up all the floor space where the desk chair belongs.
On Mother's Day I got a card from each of my kids, and Glenn gave me a CTR ring. All four of us made it to church. Glenn gave a talk in Primary about a time when Joseph Smith and Hyrum were near death with cholera, and Hyrum had a vision of their mother, who I can only assume must have been geographically distant from them, praying for them, and they did recover. Glenn said he was grateful for mothers because they pray for us and take care of us. Samantha bore her testimony.
The kids have attended three weeks of Ancestral Knowledge, now. They absolutely LOVE it. They have learned how to use their knives to make a spoon from bamboo, and have helped boil bamboo to eat; they've skinned rabbits, helped built a lean-to, found a weed that acts as natural sunscreen, and another weed that naturally treats poison ivy. They are learning which parts of which plants are edible, and how to effectively camouflage themselves if they need to hide, etc. I drop them off at Lake Accotink in the morning with their backpacks filled with lunch, a water bottle, their knives, a field guide, a notebook and pencil, and a bandanna. They come back at the end of the day filthy and so happy. I can think of nothing better for kids than simply being out in nature. This week Samantha had a lone star tick on her shoulder, which she showed to the instructor, who removed it. I might have to do a more thorough job of spraying the kids with bug spray next week. We do thorough tick checks every week on their return. It sounds like so much fun, and useful skills learned, that I wish I could do it with them.
We've been visiting one museum in DC per week, usually on Thursdays. The past few weeks we've visited the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of the American Indian, and yesterday, the National Zoo.
I've been reading about Charlotte Mason's philosophy of educating children. She has her students do "copywork" daily. I never did it as a child. I can see its usefulness. I'm not sure how often we will do it, but I think it's worth trying. Of course, if I really want the kids to use their best handwriting, I should probably have them sit up in chairs at the table.
The State of Virginia requires homeschoolers to provide proof of progress in the form of standardized test results, or an evaluation by someone with a Master's Degree or higher in an "academic discipline" (which means basically any discipline). We decided to administer the CAT to both kids. It's $25 per test, and can be administered by me, at home. It's a relatively short exam, especially compared to SOLs that the public-schooled kids are required to do. It only covers the basics: English and math. I took it myself as a kid in at least a few different grades, and remember it being fun. Samantha has finished hers already, and Glenn is almost finished with his. Both kids were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. I give most of the credit for that to the School District, or to their natural ability, since I've taught them very little formal academics thus far.
In other news, Levi interviewed for a job in Sacramento and didn't get it, but he very nearly did! We were hoping to be near family, and to be able to buy a house in that gorgeous climate, with multiple toilets, and a yard, and central air. First-world problems, no? That was disappointing, but we are fortunate to have employment at all, and for me to be able to be with the kids full time. My health is still up and down, but definitely up from where we were a year ago. I continue to juice vegetables and wheatgrass daily, which yields significant benefits. I still have days or weeks of severe headaches and associated neurological difficulties, and the headache, etc., are never entirely gone. I'm able to drive, with some days being easier than others. I've eliminated the potential of supplemental Vitamin D as a cause of the ongoing headaches. I avoided it completely for over a month, with no change in headache duration, frequency, or severity. So I'm back on the supplemental D, in case the ophthamologist and neurologist were correct who said I likely had sub-clinical MS. I also tried to discontinue supplemental HCl, but began to quickly deteriorate in terms of energy, pain, and cognitive function, and noticed food would simply sit in my stomach and not digest well at all. So I'll continue that, also.
I've done three liver flushes in the past six weeks, which consists of taking supplements that clear your bowels, and then drinking a large quantity of olive oil to force the gall bladder to contract and expel gallstones. It isn't fun, but the first liver flush was followed by the best day I've had since before I got sick almost three years ago, so I'm wondering if there's a possibility we may be onto something. It's controversial and not supported by mainstream medical practitioners, but I don't see how it could possibly hurt, so I'll keep doing more of those periodically. Levi and I are going to build a Hulda Clark-style "zapper", too, from a kit we've ordered in the mail. Supposedly an electric charge can kill some harmful organisms within the human body, and Hulda Clark, who was some type of doctor in Canada, claims all illnesses are the result of either parasites or pollutants, or some combination thereof. I haven't time to research it in detail. The validity of that claim is questionable, but Levi enjoys tinkering with electronics, and I'll try just about anything to feel good again no matter how ridiculous.
