Project 365 week 2

I finally (with help from Jon) got the template set up for this year's 365 book page. The design is not our own, but was a free download from this site, by designer Anna Aspnes. It's a lot less fussy than the template I made when we did this three years ago so it will be easier to use, and we like it better, too.

You can find the daily pictures individually in the Project 365 2013 photo album.

Days 8-14, January 8-14

...and an additional page just for fun. I'm really looking forward to this book.

Monday

What did Monday look like?

Awaking to the delicious smell of whole grain waffles thanks to an awesome father/husband (another big checkmark on our resolutions list: finding healthier breakfast solutions than our usual bagel and cream cheese).

Calvin practicing piano at 8:30 in the morning with songs like Ain't it Great to be Crazy? (definitely not before coffee).

A first thing-in-the-morning trip to the library so that I could put out a few proverbial fires raging in the sale room while Calvin did math and spelling worksheets.

Wine bottles and science! The Vacuvin wine saver and an empty bottle, a balloon, a glass of water and a straw, and a vacuum were all we needed for a lengthy discussion about air pressure and vacuums ("think of you, daddy, and me floating around this room bumping into things, then think of the three of us crammed in a closet trying to float around? Which situation is under higher pressure?").

Sentence diagramming. Strangely enough, he loves it.

After lunch it was off to gymnastics, the private homeschooling class version with friends (and the solution to the gymnastics issue? He has opted to switch his second class from the Wednesday melee to the Thursday private class filled with more homeschooling kids—it was a no-brainer when the instructor told him how many of his friends from HAA were in that class as well).

Back home Calvin cuddled under a blanket and lost himself in Greek myths. I went for a run, then spent the next ten minutes trying to regain feeling in my fingers. I knew winter would be back.

Tea, scones, and some photography practice—playing around with ISO (I have the greatest, and most inquisitive, model in the world, but it occurs to me to wonder what we did before the age of digital?).

ISO in order: 250, 400, 2000, 6400, 12800, and 25600

Then we made pizza together, and ate pizza together, and read aloud together from The Two Towers, because after work there's always together time.

And that's what Monday looked like. It's a cool job, isn't it?

January thaw

This is traditionally the coldest two weeks in our Michigan winter, but here we are right smack in the middle of January with a massive thaw, torrential rains, and balmy mid fifties temperatures two days in a row. Yesterday found us drawing with chalk in the driveway, today found me running nine miles (working on that half-marathon goal) and the guys playing happily in a muddy park.

It would be impossible for me to say that I did not enjoy these two days respite from the cold, but as much as I love our Redwall driveway art (inspired by his new favorite book series), I miss our real January weather. The season showed such promise early on, with actual snow, even! True, tomorrow it will be relatively cold again, but this is not the January I once knew and loved.

Mole hills

We started out on the right foot this week as far as resolutions go. Aside from daily photographs, Calvin and I got out and active every single day this week. For me it was at least a quick jog around the block (1 mile) every day, and for Calvin it was a couple of gymnastics classes and free swim added to our usual routine (which was just a single swimming class).

This is all well and good. Of course I signed him for a couple of gymnastics classes on well-used, probably filthy equipment surrounded by scads of other kids right in the middle of a flu outbreak (sometimes I question my planning), but as it turns out it wasn't the germs I needed to worry about so much. Actually, what had me second guessing the whole affair was his immediate pronouncement upon exiting the gym after the second class that "those boys are mean." Apparently throughout the class the boys were calling names, using ridiculous words (Calvin's term, not mine, for their use of such phrases as "diaper-face" and "poop-head"), and pushing, shoving, and the like. Although I'm pretty sure his feelings weren't hurt, he was uncomfortable and wasn't sure he wanted to go back. Calvin, being amongst the smallest, was the brunt of much of the behavior, and he also said that the teachers were unable to control at least two of the boys.

And so it begins.

I know a lot of parents believe that it's good for kids to handle conflict on their own, good for them to be exposed to the rougher side of childhood socializing, but this is a view with which I have never agreed. If I were attempting to learn a new skill I would not seek training from someone as novice as myself, so why would I want my six-year-old to learn social skills from another six-year-old? I want him to learn the finer points of socializing from people who already know them, like knowing that it's not okay to push someone just because. Not to mention that the skills he is learning now are preparing him for adulthood, and since most adults finding themselves unwittingly in a shoving match would either walk away or seek help, I can't see the purpose behind forcing him to stick it out through a situation in which he feels unsafe.

Of course there's also the whole running away from problems issue—don't be a quitter, and all that jazz. Those are definitely useful lessons or skills to learn, but gymnastics is brand new for Calvin, not something he's pursuing as a life goal, and it's intended to be purely fun. If it's not going to be fun then what's the point? And no I don't want to be the over-protective or coddling parent, but there's something deeper at stake here, I think, and that's trust: my trust that he can make this decision for himself, and his trust that I will give him whatever support he needs to make that decision and follow through with it. Jon and I spend a lot of energy trying extend to Calvin the same respect that we would extend to other adults. We're not perfect at this by any means, and we are always learning, but this is what we try to do, and part of that is giving him room to make his own choices and to live with the consequences, be they positive or negative.

All this over a mole hill.

Part of it is just my usual response to the general "what about socialization?" question that all homeschoolers will hear at least once in their lives, and the rest is really just me thinking out loud (in type). Jon and I have talked about it, and we talked a little with Calvin, too, but no ultimate decision has been made. It would appear that my plan right now is to ignore the situation, but really I'm just waiting for Calvin to think about it in his own time. The awesome thing is that the first gymnastics class of the week is a small class with other members of our homeschooling group (see picture below), so we can go to that class then talk again and see how he feels about class number two. And the more awesome thing is that I can trust him to think about it and decide for himself, and will support him in whatever decision he makes.

That, and knowing that after week one (two?), at least some of our resolutions are still in place.

Project 365_2013 week 1

I haven't been getting the camera out as often as I used to. I know that's hard to believe, but life has been busy, and I've felt either uninspired or unaccomplished on the photography front, so for a while getting the camera out has felt self-defeating. But I miss the joy of taking and having the pictures, so it's a goal of mine in 2013 to try and get back to my former camera-toting self. To get myself started I am going for another 365 this year, or a photo a day. I found a 365 community that posts a technique for each week, and a subject for each day. I won't be following those guidlines for each and every shot, but it's there to fall back on for those days when I'm feeling particularly unsinspired, or we're still in our pajamas at five when the light is quickly fading.

So, here's week one of 365 in 2013.

day 1, subject: resolution (phone shot)

day 2: new beginnings

day 3: repetition. For me, a favorite book I love to reread, and the repeating set of matryoshkas that sit in front of it (that's my Russians shelf)

day 4: fur

day 5: colorful food

day 6: with words (no match)

day 7: movement. Calvin's first gymnastics class (phone shot)