Year 2, Day 9: Education for the Young and Old(er)

Phew, first Monday back at homeschool co op and it was a complicated one!  Not many pictures to show, so I'll have to describe it in the best words I can use at 10 pm.  Here goes.  We all woke up on time, and didn't have to rush out the door.  But, we had some kids whining and dragging their heels about this or that thing.  Pretty typical.  We got to co op with almost everything we needed (I forgot we needed gym shoes for gym!) and everybody was ready to go.  I only had 1 instead of 4 students today in my first class, so we read our new story and worked on a few pages together and then I let her play with Abishai the rest of the time.  She's 7, so we don't work terribly hard in that class anyway.  Then the teacher after me was sick, so I covered for her during the 2nd hr.

Meanwhile, Jared sort of got to his breakfast meeting, but the truck, which hadn't been driven in 2 weeks, was acting up.  He ended up over at the repair place by 9am and they got him in right away, thank goodness.  However, it was a pricey repair (partly because of it's age), at $1,150!  EEKKKK!!!!  But, neither one of us panicked because we know that Jared is working a full time now, and that we had it in the bank at the moment and that God will provide other monies for the rest of our bills this month.  We have to have two vehicles because of crazy schedules and being 20-30 minutes from just about everything we do.  We are definitely not in small town Charlottetown anymore, Toto.  But, I'm glad we are able to use a garage that has been there for 30 plus years, and one of the employees is the dad of one of Benaiah's best friends and a long term member of our church.  I, at least, am happy to pay my friends' salaries when we need services done.  Jared was also blessed that they gave him their wifi password so that he could work for a bit while other travel arrangements were being made.

Leah was tied up, so after I finished up with my class of 1, Abishai and I headed down (a 20 minute drive from co op) to rescue him, take him back to Gary and Leah's house, and I then headed back to co op just in time to do my duty of recess monitor.  Jared and Abishai ran a couple of errands, one of which was going to Kohl's clothing store to get himself a new pair of jeans.  He told me that Abishai enjoyed riding in the cart, and every time he would stop to look at something, Abishai would say, "Go, go, go!" He just loves going!  He even said it in the car later today with me whenever I stopped at a stoplight!

Anyway, Abishai took his nap at Grandma's house, and Jared tried to work for awhile and then brought Benaiah home from school.  Meanwhile, I finished up the day at co op, including some fun bantering with my upper elementary math students.  I have the second to last class time slot for the day, so I know by then, they need to get their wiggles out.  So, I make them do their math and then I let them talk and hang out and draw pictures on a wipeboard.  It's a great time!

So, the younger ones, and the teenager, had their education.  Well, I also had some education this afternoon after math class when a couple of moms introduced me to the flat earth theory.  I'm not going to discuss it in detail here, or really state my opinion, but I listened for an hour to what they had to say.  I've never heard of it, at least not in a modern sense, so I couldn't refute it or anything.  Just like I want to learn about other religions, or even about what the LGBT community has to say, I just want information, I'll do some more research, then I'll form a final opinion.  If we would all just LISTEN even when we might not agree at all, and we discuss things with respect, life would be a lot smoother.

Then, for the old(er) generation, I got to education Gary on what "Netflix and Chill" really means and what a "mic drop" is.  Someone had commented on my Facebook post about Gary being "on fire" during the sermon this week, and she said, "My boyfriend literally thought he would do a mic drop!" It's a high compliment I think.  It means the speaker or musician or whatever gets so excited that they literally on purpose or not, drop the mic on the ground.  During our service, I almost thought Gary would drop his Bible as he quickly walked out after his last point.  Yeah, you need to watch it!  You can google "netflix and chill" in the urban dictionary for it's meaning.  It's not appropriate for a family blog.

Oh, education!  One of Benaiah's teachers posted that she had the students use a REAL paper dictionary today and they were all fumbling and didn't know how to look things up, claiming that certain words weren't in there!  So, I asked Benaiah, and it wasn't his class she was talking about, but I also asked him if he remembered how to look things up in a paper version of the dictionary and he rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, Mom, I know how to do that."  And who taught you how to do that, Son? I did!  Just like I reminded my math students again today, the reason you have to do long division with paper and pencil instead of a calculator is so that you understand how the math is done.  You have your whole life to use a calculator.  I had to learn all about T accounts and tax law and do everything by hand for my accounting classes, before I was allowed to use programs that do a lot of the calculating for you.  Then you can bring up the reports and explain them to management and make recommendations.

EDUCATION and LIFE LONG LEARNING is such a must.  Don't ever let your brain get dull.  Like one of your favorite YouTube channel reads, "Smarter Every Day." (in real knowledge, not trivia).

Let's see, oh, I left out Abishai.  Well, he's almost 2, and he learns or does something almost every day anyway still.  He said, "Daddy" today instead of Dada!  I didn't use the stroller at co op today, so he walked the whole way from one building to the other mostly without holding my hand and with the big kids.  He is a bit pushy, so we need to work on him saying, "Please, move" instead of "Move, move!" He has this evil crazy laugh and knows how to play people.  Oh, and he started the high pitched scream that Keturah does when we tickle her, but BEFORE we even touch him to tickle him.  So, yeah, he's almost 2!  And crazy smart!

Um, I think he might be Ariel's, from The Little Mermaid's, brother.  He using a fork to brush his hair!  A dinglehopper!

If you haven't watched MY favorite childhood movie, The Little Mermaid, the seagull tells Ariel, that the fork is a dinglehopper and you use it to brush your hair.  Then when she is a human, she tries to use it as a comb during dinner with the prince.  She got some weird looks from Prince Eric and the wait staff.

Daddy's both today so they gathered up all the little trains we have so far and arranged them in various ways.  Gary and Leah brought back some souvenirs from their vacation, and Abishai's was the the multi color train AND a wooden train whistle!  We have one of those somewhere in Justin's stuff, but I'm glad Abishai can have his own now, too.  It's not an annoying whistle either!

Not only did he use the whistle to line all the trains up, but he had to arrange his TWO water cups in a perfect way as well.  OCD much, kid?

I squated down to play peek a boo with Abishai and then said, "Oo, I love this angle!  I need my camera!"  So, there ya go, I CAN use my camera differently!

Little man was exhausted from lots of playing at co op, walking in the snow, and going to the bank and shopping with Daddy.  Adorable baby!  Well, toddler now, I guess.  And yet, still a baby to me.

Post nap slow wake up snuggle in Grandpa's favorite chair.