Just. Keep. Going.

We’re starting to wrap up school for the year. A couple kids finished handwriting, and today Sterling finished PreAlgebra. Pierce is days away from finishing his math. We’ve signed up for classes next year for co-op. I rather love the beginning of the end of the school year. Finally, the end is in sight. Kids are counting lessons left and school days ahead and figuring out when they’ll finish each subject. Just. Keep. Going.

Lucy the cat had kittens. More specifically, the 4+ year old cat had her first batch, to our knowledge, of kittens. We’d given up on her capability. About a week ago, I heard a noise in the night outside, went out to check, and watched her have the first. I woke up the big girls and they got to watch the third one be born. We now have two sets of twin goats – Mack and Mally and Otto and Oakley, three baby kittens, and 19 baby chickens. Spring is in the air?

I started new curriculum with Elliot, teaching her to read. Seven kids in, this is still my least favorite part of homeschooling. You think it should be all cozy and wonderful and such a bonding experience. You’re opening the world to them, after all. Instead it’s thirty six minutes of wanting to claw your eyes out as they sound out the same word they spent four and a half minutes sounding out three minutes prior, then they say the correct word twenty three times without realizing it’s actually a word and they’ve figured it out, and no amount of encouragement changes that. At some point you move the cherub approximately six inches away from you on this big couch, needing space lest you lose the happy smile you’ve plastered on your face for the joyous moment. They scoot back over twelve seconds later, because, despite this feeling anything but bonding to you, they don’t feel that way and are having a great time learning how to put you in the loony bin.

Toward the end of the lesson, you start giving outrageous hints to make this over, and cheer when it’s done. They ask for another lesson, you tell them time most definitely does not allow, but promise you’ll pick up again tomorrow. Then you remember tomorrow is Saturday and realize you just signed away your perfect excuse for a day off from reading lessons.

This is my life. Take Seven. And despite all my agony, she’s having the best time learning to read. She told me so, four seconds after I bit my tongue rather than express frustration at the fifty-second time that she sounded out the word “Ed”.

I even bought a brand new curriculum for this venture with this child, in hopes it would be better. For the record, The Good and the Beautiful is well done. They have a lovely approach that I appreciate. We’ve started with their k4 and it’s great. Elliot has learned a lot and loves to do it. But after many, many minutes staring at the page while my dear daughter has the best time sounding words out, nothing is considered remotely pretty anymore.

Except the end of the lesson. That is a beautiful sight indeed.

And… we’ll do it again tomorrow. And the day after that, if I don’t be careful to remember the weekend looms!