Cowboy Supper

Yum.

Shredded barbeque chicken, baked beans, biscuits, applesauce, cole slaw, and for dessert, made-from-scratch gingerbread cake and whipped cream.

This little brainstorm was in memory of the wonderful dinner we had at a real Chuck Wagon supper -- run by a homeschool family, as it turned out.

We played the CD of their terrific harmonizing, and enjoyed our little suburban cowboy supper almost as much as the original. The only thing missing was the trail ride beforehand, the "shoot out" in the "main street", the Black Hills fresh air and scenery, the actual live performance (the dad and the three sons, including the youngest, a senior in home high school, who apparently was pretty cute judging from the number of photos taken by our daughter) ... well, OK, quite a bit was missing.

But we still had a great supper and lots of fun talking over the great time we had on that trip West this summer.

For anyone who is a mom ... or who had a mom...

This made me laugh so hard, tears were rolling down my cheeks:

I remember

I remember what happened six years ago today. I remember the horror, terror, and sadness.

And I'll make sure my children know this part of their country's history, unlike the children in this school in Utah.

Harry Potter fans: Is the Ministry of Magic running the show in that school? Let's pretend there is no evil, and we'll all be very good friends, now won't we? What a great philosophy to teach our kids.

Big, big sigh.

There is hope for the world

Couldn't help but get choked up. A simple, humble guy with an amazing gift. And why is there hope for the world? Because the audience got choked up and loved this, too. All is not lost, even in a Britney Spears era.

H/T to Tony Woodlief, whose blog is always worth reading.

On the other hand.

Parts of homeschooling I like. Other parts, not so much.

Like the fact that by Friday evening, the living room looked like a book bomb had gone off. The laundry hadn't been folded for 3 days. I felt like I'd been dragged by my feet through a buffalo stampede. Going the wrong way.

I have no idea what that means; I was just trying to come up with some way to describe the eye-popping, head-spinning, tail-dragging way I felt.

Maybe it was just because it was the first week. But I have to say I'd forgotten how hard it is to homeschool four kids, and how much easier summer is, and how much I'd rather lay around with a book and an iced tea. That's mostly because I'm lazy, and lazy is easier than hard-working.

I'm comforting myself with the knowledge that it was just the first week. I'm sure we just need some time to settle into a nice schedule. Besides, the good things far outweigh the bad.

That, and knowing that it's just nine months till summer....

First Day of School, and Why I Love Homeschooling

Because I get to see the look of joy and pride in our 10 year old son's eyes when I praise his work habits (he actually read the introduction to his math book and... drum roll please.... followed the directions!) ....

Because I can snuggle up with our 8 yo daughter while she's working on her math book problems, and I get to put the green smiley face ("green's my favorite color, Mom, did you know that?") at the top of her page...

Because I get to see the enthusiasm with which our 17 yo daughter... a senior in high school who's been homeschooled all her life ... digs into the new year's work...

And because I can spend time with our 15 yo daughter ... a sophomore... and laugh when she cracks jokes at the expense of the coursework (commenting on the Greek chorus in Agamemnon: "Yeah, well how exactly would a group of old men all say exactly the same thing at the same time for THREE SOLID PAGES, huh, Mom?!?")

I love it.

I also love the fact that right now, and for the next 30 minutes, I have an empty house all to myself! The two youngest are at their piano lesson and the two oldest are at Tae Kwon Do.... so yippee skippee, I get to clean the house and write this post... with NO INTERRUPTIONS!

Wow. Simple pleasures, indeed.