Two days in a row!

Miracle of miracles!  I am blogging two days in a row here!  Wow!  That hasn't happened in a while.

Anyway, what has gone on today.  The children made messes, fought, bickered, didn't do any work, lied about cleaning their rooms, and all in all were typical children.

The ladders to Charlie's and Bethany's lofts have been fixed.  Charlie's had broken a while back and Bethany's was very wide.  So, Bethany's was disassembled, the steps cut in half, reassembled, and Charlie's put together.  The ladders are more narrow so they take up less speace, but are very secure and not just put up, but screwed into place.  I tested them out and they hold my weight no problem. 

Charlie fell a couple of days behind this week in his schoolwork so he got caught up no problem.  I'm in a bit of a quandry here, though.  He is pretty much grade 5 across the board.  And yet, he seems to be working through the stuff without breaking a sweat.  Keep in mind he is chronologically grade 3.  Do I nudge him ahead and see what he does, leave him be for the rest of the year and use the summer to see how he reacts to nudging or just let is go completely?  I don't want him bored but I also don't want him to lose his love of learning by pushing too hard.

Why am I always having this conversation with myself?  I go through these phases where I feel insecure about homeschooling even though I know my children are thriving.  Yet, I often doubt myself because they take so much in and learn so much so fast and keep wanting more that I sometimes feel like I can't keep up with them.  Obviously sending them to school would not be an answer.  They's destroy the school out of sheer bordom.

Oh, that reminds me.  Guess what I found out about the schools in this area?  At lunch time, children are not allowed to talk at all.  If they talk, their lunch is dumped.  Can you imagine telling Bethany "No Talking?"  I've tried it.  It doesn't work.  Even when she says "I am never talking again" she will immediately follow it with "But first, I have to tell you _______." 

In other news, it looks like our 275 gallon water tank has a leak.  So, we will be switching tanks out and see if we can find and fix it.  It will be easier to do tomorrow when it hits 40.  We also discovered (which mathematically it should not work or work at a slow negative) that we can run the inverter to run the charger to run the batteries which runs the inverter.  Yeah, it hurt my brain as well.  But, it seems to be working.

We've been cutting the fallen wood around our house for heat and cooking this week.  In the spring, we will be pulling dead brush into the driveway and burning it.  We still (and will consistently) live with an awareness of forest fires.  Someone was telling me recently that there was a 60something acre fire about 20 miles from here not too long back.  I remember seeing the smoke and even though it was "way that way" it was a stark reminder that it can happen here quickly.  But, just like anywhere else, there are risks and there are rewards.  (Such as agricultural/chemical sprays going on next to you and soaking the side of your house as happened in New Goshen.)

There really isn't much else going on.  I am enjoying being home and taking care of my family.  Husband is looking better with me being home these past few days.  The children are happier with me home.  I have a project list set up on the dry erase board including butchering the pig this week-end.  We've been doing rearranging and reconstruction on a few things.  Next post (if I remember) I will post some before and after pictures of what has been done so far.