Under "Why We Homeschool"

Well, we're just not going to talk about the second half of the day, which involved my poor mother getting into a totally-not-her-fault fender bender on the freeway and my going to pick her up and then talking to about eight mechanics at the tire shop where it was towed about all the resulting problems on my mother-in-law's very nice car -- a conversation which, if you know me, you know is totally not my cup of tea. I am so clueless when it comes to cars that all I can think about the whole time, as my blood pressure finally climbs over 100, is how they MIGHT be taking me for a giant ride, under the chauvinistic assumption that I am one of those females who knows nothing about cars and will therefore nod seriously but uncomprehendingly to anything they tell me. Wait -- I AM one of those females. Argh.

So anyway. Except for that whole deal, the worst of which was just feeling bad for HER since she obviously felt so bad about it, our day was quite smooth. And here are a couple highlights:

Ian, who holds tenaciously to the philosophy of "Buy people the gifts you want for yourself," has designed a "star chart" for Caroline so that she can earn Bionicles. Now, she may be advanced in some ways, but the kid ain't ready to be assembling 86-piece Bionicles, so guess who's going to do the work for her? Anyway, he's super-motivated to help her along, so this morning as I cleaned the kitchen, he got her out of her pj's and into a clean dress and underwear, helped her brush her teeth, and then presented her for inspection. "Caroline did her morning list, Mom. Can she have a star on her chart?" Love that!

Then, I had a real coup with our "lessons" this morning. You know somewhat my constant angst over how to stir up enthusiasm among my young charges for the activities I have planned (by "charges," I really mean the eldest one). Well, they had an absolute barrel of fun with this one! I traced the outlines of Spanish and Aztec shields (we're studying the explorers) onto some Shrinky Dink paper, they colored them and decorated them, we popped them in the oven, and lo and behold, let the Shrinky Dink fever begin! I felt like Mom of the Year, especially since crafts are not usually my strong point. Now that was one impulse buy at Michael's yesterday that really paid off!